“I have been sent to teach you. Bring them, I will show you. Then you can demonstrate this to your subordinate commanders and all will be well.”
The Merkismathr made a call and a few minutes later a column of two dozen captured Mandarin regular soldiers were led out of the town past the checkpoint.
The Stallari said, “Bring them shovels, one for each.”
Another delay while Mosh warriors handed their entrenching tools to the prisoners. The assembled Mosh detachment now numbered more than thirty, standing to one side of the line of prisoners.
The Stallari said, “Prisoners, dig. All of you, to make one big pit.”
They dug. The Stallari supervised, pointing out the edge of the pit, the depth, where to toss the dirt. The hole was done, about a meter and a half deep, a meter wide and three meters long. The Stallari looked up at the midday sun and wiped sweat from his brow. He then told the prisoners, “Give the tools back to my warriors.”
The Mosh came forward and took back their entrenching tools. The Stallari paced in front of the line of prisoners. He looked toward the Merkismathr and said, “Mark my words. You will have to repeat them.” The Merkismathr activated a recording device, video and audio, handed the device to his immediate subordinate.
The Stallari faced the prisoners and said, “We are warriors. It is our tradition to accept warriors that surrender to us in battle as our bondsmen, but you are not worthy. You are not warriors.”
The prisoners simply stared at the pit in front of them. The Stallari said, “We come to conquer, to become the new rulers of this planet. The people will be our servants, certainly, and it is good, to serve the Mosh. What you do not understand, and will not understand until our conquest is complete, is that we are liberating you from the cruel tyranny of lies and deceit. We Mosh, our word is our bond and we are men of honor.”
A prisoner snorted a suppressed laugh. The Stallari pointed at him and said, “Silence!”
A Mosh warrior moved in behind the prisoner, sword drawn. The Stallari waved him back, signaled “Stand down.” The Stallari then said, “Your rulers, they send you to die for their sake. On this world of over two billion souls, they chose barely a million citizens to sacrifice. And then they leave you ill-equipped and poorly trained, no match for the Mosh, no match indeed. Your greatest efforts merely insult us. I shall demonstrate.”
The Stallari went back to his command car and came back with a captured Mandarin Army weapon, a standard-issue assault rifle. “They know we wear body armor and they send you to fight us with this? You might as well wave pointy sticks at us.” He handed the weapon to the Merkismathr and said, “Shoot me in the chest with this.”
The Merkismathr took three steps back and aimed, fired a three round burst. The bullets stuck to the chain mail and the Stallari brushed them away. “That alone should make you eager to serve the Mosh. But you have surrendered to the Mosh and you are not worthy to become bondsmen, so your life is forfeit. But I offer you a new life, a rebirth. Now, take off your clothes and toss them in the pit.”
The prisoners removed their shirts, shoes and pants, tossed them in. The Stallari said, “All of your clothes. You are being reborn so you will be as naked as the last time you were born.” They complied, stood nude.
The Stallari said, “The rulers, the tiny minority of elites who hold wealth and power, they have sent you to this fate. When the Mosh conquest is complete, life will return to normal for most of the people of Mandarin. The only ones who will suffer will be the approximately five hundred individuals who now hold real wealth and power. We will take that from them and rule this planet honestly. We will not tease you with the lie that some day you might also ascend to great wealth and power. We tell you truly, we are in power, and only because we said so. Not because we are better than you or smarter than you or anything else. We will not tell you your poverty is your own fault, because it is not. When our conquest is complete, when we rule, every person on Mandarin will have adequate food, clothing and shelter.”
The Stallari then pointed toward the town. “Now for the easy part. You walk from here as a newborn, dependant on the kindness of strangers for your very lives. Turn around and walk into town and beg the good citizens for clothing, sustenance, for employment. There is much work to do for the people of the town, serving the Mosh.” The Stallari drew his laser pistol and pointed it at the pit and used it to set the clothes on fire. “Go!”
The prisoners walked away, into the town. The Stallari said to the Merkismathr, “Do you understand?”
“Yes, Stallari.”
“Train your subordinates. This is what we do with soldiers who surrender. Now there is another matter to discuss.”
“Yes?”
“Tactics. One of our lead elements met with unusual resistance yesterday. They were ambushed in the mountains and stopped in their tracks and lost a platoon of tanks and a company of infantry. This can not happen again. All lead elements will exercise extreme caution, will recon ahead by a distance of no less than five kilometers. They will not move forward until fire support has been reserved. You understand this I am sure.”
“Yes, Stallari. It will slow us down considerably but will reduce our losses.”
“Indeed.” The Stallari climbed back into his command car and rode away to brief the next detachment.
Chapter Ten
During the week that followed, the Mosh managed to secure the mountains and then landed a third army in the northern part of the Skeleton desert. That army pushed through the mountains and advanced toward Cherry Fork. Galen sat in his Lion command tank on the back slope of a low hill and watched his screen, the image from his sensor mast providing a broad view of the battlefield despite the darkness.
Forward elements sent more feeds and reports. Limited amounts, transmissions kept to a bare minimum to avoid detection. Galen stared and watched as the sun rose behind him. Daylight brought the Mosh. He received reports all up and down the line of Mosh vehicles, tanks in battalion sized formations. Some light recon vehicles, some armored personnel carriers, and trucks following behind. Trucks loaded with infantry, followed by trucks loaded with supplies.
Then the Mosh stopped. Galen looked at the reports, called Tad. “Jasmine Three, what are they doing?”
Tad called back, “They’re held up. They stopped and they are eating. Having snacks, taking naps. Their infantry has dismounted and come forward to move with their tanks but so far, they’re just taking a break.”
Galen said, “We have a real opportunity. No one fires until I give the order.”
“Roger. I got the Fire Support Officer here with me and her plan is wicked. I suggest you defer the fire command to her?”
“Let me see it.” Galen received and reviewed the fire plan. Each and every weapon of the task force was assigned a unique primary and secondary target. The first shot was assigned to him, a blast from his particle cannon to destroy what was obviously the Mosh division’s command tank. A big, super-heavy vehicle stacked with comms gear, five hundred meters back but centered on the line of Mosh medium tanks. Galen said, “Looks good.”
The FSO said, “We’re timed off your shot.”
“Thank you.” Galen leaned back in his seat and looked over the reports again. Three Mosh armored brigades with three infantry brigades in support. They were just sitting in open ground, a klick and a half to the west of Cherry Fork. Galen had all five of his tank battalions on line, facing west from concealed positions. He also had a battalion of assault guns ready to provide indirect fire, a battery of self-propelled medium artillery and the five Ajax tanks parked behind a low hill to the rear. All along the line were Marines, dismounted and positioned to support the tanks of the Brigade. Galen had his mechanized infantry battalion positioned to hold open a route of retreat, or escape, or withdrawal. Withdrawal, most likely. The Mosh division in the kill zone had two more divisions behind it, still held up on mountain roads.