Headquarters was a portable modular structure at least 50 meters long. The general was standing just outside his door, rapidly firing out orders to three different officers. I laughed quietly to myself as I walked up. The three of them were having trouble keeping up with him. It had been a year since I'd seen the general, but one look and I could see he was his old self. When he saw me walking up I thought I could see a little smile on his face. He quickly finished up and dismissed the officers. I stopped a couple feet away and snapped him my very best salute. "Major Cain, reporting as ordered, sir!"
His return salute was no less sharp, but his greeting was warm and friendly. "Welcome to Columbia, Major. I believe you are somewhat familiar with the place." He pointed to the door. "Let's go into my office and catch up."
I followed him into the building and past a dozen desks with officers and non-coms sitting at workstations. He opened a large white door that had three stars engraved on it and motioned for me to enter. Once the door was closed we shook hands and he clapped his hand on my shoulder. "Erik, my boy, it's good to see you. It's been a long time."
"It's good to see you too, sir. Of course it's only been a long time because you sent me back to that political slime pit instead of taking me with you on the Outer Rim Campaign."
He laughed and scolded me a bit. "If you didn't insist on making yourself such a conspicuous hero all the time, I wouldn't have to send you back from the front to collect your medals." He noticed the small package I was carrying. "What is that?"
I'd almost forgotten. I handed it over to him. "Just a little gift from Earthside. With Europa Federalis and the CEL at war again, it might be the last you see for a while.”
He opened the box and pulled out the small crystal bottle. I had been right that night we shared that first bottle. It did cost a month's pay.
I could tell he was touched when his voice cracked ever so slightly. "Thank-you, Erik. Damn, it's good to have you back."
He walked behind the desk and motioned to one of the guest chairs as he sat down. He put the bottle on his desk and leaned back in his chair.
I sat down, and after a brief silence I asked what had been on my mind since I had gotten there. "So how is my battalion, sir? I know they were on the campaign, but I couldn't get any decent reports."
"Jax took good care of your people, Erik. After the fighting they did in the Tail, I assigned them to the reserve for the Outer Rim battles. They plugged a few gaps, but they made it through the whole thing with less than 20 percent losses. Not bad for four battles."
I was relieved and let out a breath. "Jax is a tremendous officer. There's no one I would rather have taking care of my troops."
He gave me a wicked little smile. "He did such a good job with the battalion I thought I'd let him keep them. I put through his promotion already." He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small box. "I've got his major's circlets here. He doesn't know yet; I thought you might like to tell him."
His words were still sinking in. Jax deserved the promotion, no question, and I was happy for him. But I never even considered not getting my battalion back. I felt a little sick.
The general was sitting there grinning. He must have read my mind. "Relax, Erik, they're still yours. I'm not taking your battalion away; I'm giving you another one too. You're going to command the regiment."
He watched me with an amused stare. I was too stunned to speak, so I just listened. "I've got your eagles in my desk already. You've earned them, but if it's OK with you I'm going to wait to make it official. Your rise through the ranks has been indecently quick already, a record in fact, as you know. So I'd like to wait a couple months instead of bumping you up again immediately."
I finally managed to stammer out a response. "General Holm, I don't know what to say. Of course. Whatever you think is best, sir. We can forget the whole thing. I'm happy to stay as a major."
I really meant it. I could barely imagine myself at my current rank, much less dealing with another promotion. But the general shook his head. "It is well-deserved, Erik, and you should be getting it right now. Effective immediately, you are the commander of third regiment. You've got a colonel's posting, and you'll be wearing those eagles before we hit dirt in an assault. My word as an officer."
He looked at his desk for a minute and then up at me, the friendly smile back on his face. "I'll bet the trip wasn't all bad. So how is your beautiful doctor?"
I smiled to myself for a few seconds. "She's amazing. She was the only thing that made wallowing in that mudhole tolerable. How in the world did you even know about us, general?"
He gave me a sly glance. "I have to know what my troopers need, Erik, or I wouldn't be much of a commander now, would I?"
We both laughed, but then I looked at him very seriously. "I am very grateful, sir. Until this trip we'd never had more than a few days together, when I wasn't her patient. I hadn't seen her in a very long time. You will never know how much it meant to me to have some time together with her."
His smile got wider. "Then I have another surprise for you. She's on her way here right now. As it turns out, I've got another little box with major's insignia in my desk with her name on it. She's going to be executive officer of medical support services for the campaign."
I tried to hide my excitement, but he saw right through it and almost started to laugh. "Don't get too worked up, Erik. You'll be on different ships. She's going to be busy; you're going to be even busier. This will be no protracted lover's rendezvous as I suspect the trip to Earth was. But on the bright side, if you manage to get half your body shot off again, she'll be here to help you grow it back. Again."
We caught up personally for a few more minutes, but then we started to talk about the campaign. Neither one of us was very good at not discussing business. The general went through his basic strategy with me, and when he was done he got to the things that were really troubling him. "Your surprise attack taking the station at Gliese 250 was a massive victory for us. It enabled the Tail and Outer Rim campaigns, and let us hurt the enemy like they had hurt us. In addition to the strategic implications, the effect on morale was incalculable.
"But I'm afraid there's one downside we might have to face on this campaign, and it's the result of those successes. The enemy can't get to the Tail at all without going through Gliese, and while they do have other approaches to the Outer Rim, it's still a long way, and they need time to get their logistics set up. Since Gliese is so strongly held, the enemy haven't even made a second attempt to get in there. Which means they have a lot of uncommitted troops.
"They've controlled some of our systems for eight or nine years. Look what we did at Gliese in the first six months. Can you imagine what fortifications they've built in that time? Our intel is very weak for this campaign. Are the troops not being thrown at us in Gliese or the rim waiting for us, entrenched on our captured worlds?"
He paused for a few moments, as if he was searching for the right words to express his thoughts. "Erik, I'm afraid we're going to have much more of a fight than anyone expects on this campaign. I'm going to need my most dependable, gifted officers to be at their best. I'm counting on you, and I want you to tell me immediately if you have any concerns or misgivings. I need your instincts on this one. If you have a bad dream about the enemy, I want you to tell me about it."
I hesitated, not sure I should really speak my mind. But this man deserved my honesty. "I agree with your misgivings, sir. I think we're going into a hornet's nest, and I'm afraid the scope of the campaign is far too broad. I don't see us taking all the objectives, not without massive reinforcements. And I don't see where those will come from."