— 23 —
Bull was convinced it would be foolish not to let his skimmers go first and recon the area. Forests were great places for a man with a buzzbomb to set up and catch a tank unaware. Considering how green some of his men were, Bull felt it would be best to give the pongoes a chance to settle their nerves before they were called upon to do real work.
"The infantry goes first," Bull decided. "I'd have to send you forward through the forests anyway, and this'll give you officers a chance to work out any wrinkles before it's too late." The two new infantry officers exchanged glances. Bull smiled, remembering his first time fighting for the Slammers.
"Don't worry," he reassured them. "You'll have your own personal eight-barrel artillery battery to support you," meaning his tanks, of course.
He turned to Sergeant Major Ogren. "Your callsign will be Sierra Major," Bull told him, realizing how appropriate a sign it was for the leader of the softskinned vehicles. "How are your men equipped?"
"They got sidearms mostly, and a few of the twenty-millimeter powerguns," Ogren told him. "I don't want to lead them in a fight, Lieutenant. They'll have a hard enough time when we finally get to the crash site." He snorted. "Half of them are medics, and I've even got some civilian doctors who volunteered to help out."
Bull nodded. The situation was just about how he'd pictured it. "We'll make sure that the hardest work your people have to do is splint some fractures at the wreck," Bull vowed.
"Lieutenant Smyth," Bull continued, looking his ex-cellmate in the eye, "your platoon will take point. Alpha will take the left flank and Bravo the right." To Lieutenant Dyer he said, "Your platoon will provide support to the right flank; I'll take the left flank."
Dyer nodded. "How many cases do you plan to lose, sir?"
Many years ago Bull had started a platoon tradition of awarding a case of beer to any tank crew that destroyed an enemy tank. It was a pleasant tradition that had occasionally put him out of pocket money, but it was the sort of thing that kept a platoon together. The newly promoted Lieutenant Dyer had been a member of Bull's platoon until they had defeated Jebbitt's Raiders.
"Not to you, Lieutenant," Bull told him. "You now have the awesome responsibility of deciding whether or not you want to bear the burden of such a tradition in your own platoon!"
Dyer groaned but stopped midway and smiled. "Make you a bet, sir. I'll bet my platoon'll destroy more of the enemy than your platoon."
"Done!" Ennis cried from the observer's turret. Bull and the other officers stared up at him in surprise. Ennis turned bright red and stammered, "I mean, sir, you should take him up on the offer."
"My corporal is right, Dyer," Bull agreed. "I hope you still have that bounty money you earned when we destroyed Jebbitt's Raiders." Bull turned to address the gathered officers. "Now, gentlemen, let's earn our wages. We move out in five minutes."
Bull jumped into the turret of his tank, grabbing up his combat helmet in one fluid movement. Behind him the other officers hastened to their vehicles. Bull adjusted the boom mike on his helmet so that it was just in front of his lips, and tightened the chin strap so the noise of the blowers did not prevent him from hearing the radio. Inside the tank the other members of his crew hastened to complete final preparations. Sara Engles, his radio operator, finished her inspection of the four radios Lariat Two Six carried. Corporal Ennis adjusted his seat position so that he was exposed to the outside from the chest up and had a good grip on the twenty-millimeter machine gun the tank carried in the turret.
Far in front in another hatch, Greg Timmons waited, ready to feed power from the tank's fusion reactor to its four huge hover fans and lift the tank into action.
"Ready, Sara?" Bull inquired. She had magicked two extra radios from somewhere—Bull didn't want to know where—and quickly earned her reputation as a mind reader. Bull never had to tell her which frequency or "push" he wanted to communicate on. Sara always knew and switched before he started to say anything.
"You just talk, Lieutenant," she had told him in one of her rare moments of charity. "I'll do the rest." And she did. Many times her ability to second guess Bull had saved all their lives.
"Ready," she told him now. "Aren't you?"
Bull grimaced. It didn't matter that he was a lieutenant and outranked her, could dock her pay or even, in rare circumstances, get her thrown out of the Slammers. Sara Engles spoke to him as she did to everyone else, with the possible exception of a very rare "sir" thrown in from time to time.
"Foxtrot, this is Six," Bull said by way of reply. "Report."
"Foxtrot India, Alpha India, and Bravo India, awaiting orders," Pete Smyth replied, indicating that he had already assumed command of the infantry elements of Combat Group Foxtrot.
"Foxtrot Alpha Tango, ready," Lieutenant Dyer replied after a short pause to recover from Smyth's rapid-fire answer.
"Sierra Major, here. Let's move it," Ogren said from the rear.
"Central, this is Foxtrot, prepared to move. Over," Bull told Central on the regimental push.
"Get going!" the voice of Alois Hammer snarled back.
"Roger; out," Bull acknowledged. To his command he said, "Advance."
The soft whine of skimmers whizzed by him as the three infantry platoons took their forward positions, rushing out of the compound and into the city beyond. Bull noted that they herringboned their guns to the left and right as they moved into the city, trusting no one.
"Lariat, advance," Bull said to his own platoon after ensuring that all the infantry skimmers had left. Timmons poured power into the fans as soon as Bull had finished speaking. A short moment later he told Dyer, "Alpha Tango, advance."
"Roger," Dyer replied, the roar of fans coming with his transmission indicating that he had already started moving.
The huge tanks left the compound and gathered speed as they made their way from narrow city roads onto the main road leaving the city. Ahead of them the infantry skimmers had already spread out to either side of the road, nudging into nooks and crannies as they investigated potential trouble areas and reported them clear. Bull took his binoculars and peered ahead to the tee junction they were fast approaching, leaving the proper positioning of his tank to Ennis and of his platoon to Sam Lewis.
"Foxtrot, this is India. Orange secured," Pete Smyth reported shortly, indicating that he had reached the tee junction and found nothing out of the ordinary.
"Proceed to Aqua," Bull replied, telling Smyth to advance to the town of Plains. With his binoculars he could see Smyth's skimmers veer to the left as his platoon bracketed the road in its turn to the left. Farther out the other two infantry platoons made similar maneuvers. Bravo platoon had to really push it to make up the greater distance to travel, and Bull could see the infantrymen hanging on to their skimmers for dear life.
"Foxtrot, this is Foxtrot Bravo India," a young platoon leader radioed Bull. It was rare for an infantry leader to call on a tank leader, particularly the group leader.
"This is Foxtrot," Bull replied warily.
"Request permission to recon the forest to the northeast between Orange and Aqua," the platoon leader asked.
"Refer that request to Foxtrot India," Bull replied gruffly. If the silly fool didn't know who was running the forward recon, he'd soon find out. If he did know and was trying to go above Pete Smyth's head, he'd made a big mistake. Bull might be worried about Smyth, but when he gave a man a job, he didn't tie the man's hands.
"Permission denied," Smyth told Bravo India. "Again," he added with some venom.
To Sara, Bull said, "Put me on that young twerp's push!"
"You're already there," she told him in a bored tone.
"Uniform Two Six, this is Lariat Two Six," Bull growled. He wouldn't have his officers trying such tricks!
"Go ahead, over."
"You will adhere to orders issued by Foxtrot India until told otherwise by this command," Bull told the platoon leader forcefully. "Is that understood?"
"Roger," the young officer replied sheepishly.
"Lariat Two Six, out."
"Thanks," Pete Smyth said on Bull's platoon push.
"Nothing," Bull told him.
"I'd like to wheel under Aqua and let that young puppy secure it himself," Smyth told him. "It'd save us some time, and he could also set up road guards for Sierra."
"Go for it," Bull replied. With that change, the bulk of the skimmers would wheel southwest outside of Plains, leaving Bravo India to investigate and secure the town for the softskinned vehicles. The advantage would be that they wouldn't have a bottleneck as several infantry platoons and the two tank platoons tried to pour through the small village roads.
By way of reply, Smyth called over the radio, "Foxtrot Bravo India, secure Aqua. Foxtrot Alpha India, maintain relative position. We will pass under Aqua en route to Red. Foxtrot, request that Foxtrot Alpha Tango continue to provide support for Foxtrot Bravo India and Foxtrot Tango support all other India elements. Over."
"Bravo India, say again, over," the now nervous young lieutenant replied.
"I say again, secure Aqua. Over," Smyth responded calmly.
"Bravo India, wilco."
"Foxtrot Alpha Tango, wilco," Dyer added with a note of humor to his voice.
"Gotcha covered India," Bull told Smyth.
"Roger," Smyth concurred. "Foxtrot Bravo India, you are also required to provide assistance for the Sierra Major element in transit through Aqua. Over."
"Bravo India, roger." The voices of the young platoon leader sounded even less enthused than before.
"Never you fear, I'll look after you," Dyer chided him.
"Maintain proper radio discipline," Bull growled to everyone, especially Dyer. He was rewarded with a lengthy silence. "Ennis, mind the fort. I'm going to keep an eye on our young puppy."
"Yes sir," Corporal Ennis acknowledged, his tone indicating that he had kept himself informed of the goings-on in the various command networks.
In his binoculars Bull saw Bravo India's skimmers proceed into Plains. Behind them, moving more slowly, the huge tanks of Lieutenants Dyer's platoon waited to provide any aid required. Bull got an occasional glimpse of skimmers as they nudged around the outskirts of the town.
"Foxtrot India, this is Foxtrot India Bravo. Aqua is secured," the young officer told Smyth finally.
"Roger," Lieutenant Smyth acknowledged. Then to Bull he said, "Foxtrot Six this is Foxtrot India, request permission to proceed to phaseline Red."
"This is Six; go for it," Bull told him. "Foxtrot, proceed to phaseline Red," he said to the rest of his command.
Combat Group Foxtrot wheeled to the southwest, Lieutenant Smyth's platoon widening its dispersion to cover for Bravo India, which was providing security at Plains for the softskinned vehicles. Lieutenant Dyer moved his platoon forward so that it was to the west of Plains in anticipation of Bravo India's move out of the town and back into the standard formation. Bull's platoon maintained a position on the left of the road, covering both Smyth's and Peyton's skimmers. Things were going smoothly.
Dyer's voice broke the calm; "Foxtrot this is Alpha Tango. I've got a contact in the forest to the north of Aqua. I've got another contact on the hill to the west of Aqua. Four enemy tanks on the hill!" His voice was no longer calm.
"This is Foxtrot. All units engage!" Bull roared, but his voice was drowned out by a shell exploding just in front of them. Timmons swerved the huge tank sharply to the right, slamming Bull against the hatch coaming. Two more shells burst to their left, just where the tank had been seconds before. In front of him smoke was rising from several other shell hits. To his right he could see the explosions as shells from the tanks in the forest rained into Plains.
"Dyer! Attack those units in the forest!" Bull ordered. "Bravo India, provide cover fire!" To the rest of his command he said, "India and Alpha India, cover and fire to the hill. We'll cover for you!"
There are four enemy tanks on the hill to the west of Plains and two enemy tanks in the forest to the north of Plains. Each enemy tank has an Ordnance value of 2.
Bull's Combat Group Foxtrot has eight hovertanks with an Ordance value of 4, and twelve skimmer squads each with an Ordnance value of 2. Total the attack strengths and alternate losses.
The enemy exchanges no more than three volleys before withdrawing. Both the enemy and the Slammers attack using Chart C.
If the enemy is destroyed or withdraws, turn to section 27.
If the enemy destroys Combat Group Foxtrot, turn to section 29.