“Purple roofs?” Prachep waved at some houses on the right.
“No accounting for taste. Barracks of the 9th Infantry coming up on the left. That should be their armored battalion.” She paused for a second. “Vehicles still in laager.” Her contralto voice was grim.
The road started to curve to the left. Ahead of them was a junction with the main road. The convoy still didn’t hesitate or reduce speed, it swung right on to the highway and kept on its way, leaving more stalled civilian vehicles behind them. Up ahead of the, a large dragon’s head had been built by the roadside. It and the steel gates beside it marked the headquarters of Third Army. Seeing her convoy approach, the guards threw the gates open.
General Asanee looked at them as they saluted her vehicle. “Find out who those guards are and break the entire guard detail to privates. Then assign them to mine clearance. We’re at war, nobody should be getting into this base without being challenged. Make that clear to their replacements.”
The Humvees swung into a car park in front of the headquarters building, a parking lot that was marked with the circular lines of a helipad. The five vehicles stopped in a neat line in front of the main entrance, the occupants debussing with the skill of long practice. It wasn’t the first time that they’d taken over a command post this way.
“Sergeant Tram? Go to the Sergeant’s Mess, talk to the President, find out what is really going on here. Corporal Vung? Do the same for the Corporal’s Mess, find out what troop morale and standards are. Rest of you come with me.”
The party burst through the doors of the headquarters, sending them slamming back against their stops. A receptionist was sitting behind a desk, she waved her hands ineffectually but did nothing to stop them. “One civilian. No armed guards.” Prachep’s voice was contemptuous.
“Fire her. She should have got on the telephone to warn people at least.” The General led the way down the corridor that ran through the center of the building, the slam of boots on marble floor echoing off the walls. She gave no sign of noticing but the members of her party were keeping in perfect step with her. General Asanee knew how to make an entrance. She reached the double doors leading to the command center and two of her men threw them open while she stalked into the room.
“We really must decide what is best to be done. ” Major General Thamassaret looked around in shock at the sudden interruption. “Who the hell are you?”
“General Thamassaret. You are relieved as commander of Third Army and Third Army Region. Effective immediately. Report to Supreme Command Headquarters for reassignment.”
Thamassaret looked outraged at the terse order and stormed out of the room. The General looked around the room then studied the situation map. Almost immediately she missed the American-supplied electronic displays and maps that equipped the Human Expeditionary Army. This map was paper even though it was covered with a perspex screen.
“Intellignce Officer?”
“Yes Ma’am?” An unidentified Colonel spoke up from a table near the map.
“Enemy forces, positions, axis of advance?”
“On the map ma’am.”
The General took a laser pointer from her pocket and shone it on a red marker sausage with the number ‘100,000?’ scrawled in it. “This?” Her voice was disbelieving. “This is the best you can do?”
“Myanmar MiG-29s stopped us getting recon flights over the area and…”
“You’re relieved of your post, report to Supreme Command Headquarters for reassignment. Colonel Prachep, take over his position. Logistics?” She pointed to the number on the map. “Try and explain that.”
The logistics officer gulped. “Well, Ma’am, its our best-guess estimate of….”
“How will the Myanmar Army supply 100,000 men over a stretch of country that has only a handful of roads when they have no air transport, no available railway and shift supplies using manpacks? If you can’t see the blatant impossibility of that number, you’ve no right to wear this uniform. You’re relieved of your post, report to Supreme Command Headquarters for reassignment. General Senawith?”
“Ma’am?”
“Why are there no patrols out? What about contact with the Tahan Phran? There should be several companies of them in the area.” Her voice was challenging, Senawith was a Thaksin appointee, he’d got this position due to his loyalty to the ex-Prime Minister, not any command ability.
“We took a decision to concentrate all our forces around this city. And you know what the civilians are like, every man they see is an army.”
“You’re relieved of command. Report to Supreme Command Headquarters for reassignment.” She pointed at his deputy. “Supadom, take over command of the division. Get it into contact with the enemy and keep it that way.”
“You wouldn’t throw your weight around like this if Thaksin was still in charge.” Senawith was stuffing papers from his desk into a briefcase.
“As it happens I did, but anyway, he isn’t, he pissed on the Army’s turf and he’s gone. My cousin is now the Prime Minister. And leave the papers where they are, we need to go through them. Chun, check him before he leaves.” Asanee paused for a slight second, then cut across him just as he started to speak. “Yes, I am a serious bitch. Now get out and let us get on with our job.
“First Regiment. How quickly can we get it on the road east? I want it up in Chong Sadao by dusk.”
“We can’t do it, we’ve only just moved into…”
“You’re relieved of command. Report to Supreme Command Headquarters for reassignment.” She looked around at her team. “Colonel Thawat, take over command of First of Ninth and get it on the road to Chong Sadao by noon. I want information on enemy dispositions and operations, not an inflated condom drawn on a map “
There was silence for a few seconds. “We need to get moving on this. How much gasoline and diesel fuel is in the city.”
The local mayor was in the back of the room, trying not to get seen. “I don’t know, give me an hour and I’ll have the information for you.”
“Good answer. We’ve got five divisions arriving over the next few days. First and Second Cavalry will be in the city by evening, First Armored by tomorrow, Second and Eleventh Infantry by the day after. They’re all mechanized, they’ll need fuel and supplies. Also the troops will need bivouac areas. See to it. I want to speak with the local head of civil defense. Get him here.”
She looked around at the room, there was an electric spark in the atmosphere that hadn’t been there before. She knew what it was, she’d seen it before. All it needed was somebody to take charge and set standards and people rose to the challenge. Once they’d done so once, they’d find it easier to do it again.
Outside the main center, Corporal Kasit was sitting in front of the radio communications bank, his feet on the desk, dozing gently. It wasn’t as if he wanted to spend the day that way but the inactivity while the brass in the operations room argued over what to be do had left him little choice. The crash as the door to his section was thrown open woke him and he found himself staring into a pair of black, expressionless eyes. Female eyes but still very professional
“And just what do you think you are up to?”
Kasit had been married for years and knew that when caught cold under these circumstances the best thing to do was to admit everything and throw himself on the mercy of the court.
“I was goofing off Ma’am.”
Major General Asanee looked at him carefully. “I’m promoting you to Sergeant. You’re the only person I’ve met in this building so far who knows what he’s been doing.”
Mess, Camp Hell-Alpha
“So you can’t get drunk?” kitten sounded very sympathetic.
“So it appears. We’ve tried hard a couple of times but it just doesn’t happen. The egg-heads say its because us dead’uns don’t actually absorb things from what we eat. Apparently we absorb energy from our surroundings just like plants. They say eating is just a left-over thing, we don’t have to if we don’t want to. Don’t ask me how that all works, I always was just a poor dumb grunt, now I’m just a poor dead grunt and I might have got it all wrong. Anyway, if we don’t absorb the alcohol, we don’t get drunk.” Sergeant (deceased) Tucker McElroy looked positively distraught at the prospect of spending eternity sober.