Galen said, “We can’t always get what we want.”
“I know. The bridge is coming down in a few seconds.”
Galen closed his hatch and watched through optics. Blasts at the anchors for the suspension bridge’s cables went off first and the road surfaces began to slacken. Before they fell two meters, heavier charges went off at the bridge supports, all of them simultaneously, at the water line. The explosions caused Galen’s heart to skip a beat, despite the dampening effect of the armor of his tank. The four main pillars fell with the road beds and a cloud of dark dust and smoke obscured the view. The Ajax tanks and other fire support units dropped a spread of incendiary rounds on the city across the river, a pattern that set thirteen blocks ablaze in a semi-circle that fanned out from the far end of the destroyed bridge.
A gentle breeze eventually cleared the smoke from the destroyed bridge and Galen popped his hatch and looked. The bridge was now a ribbon of rubble lying on the bed of the river. “Nice.”
The sun set and Tad called Galen and said, “On your order, Six.”
“It’s dark enough. Move out.”
The Ajax tanks pulled back first and got on the main road out of town heading east. The rest of the task force fell in behind them and convoyed along the paved highway. The Interceptors circled high overhead and attacked any Mosh fighter-bombers that got too close to the convoy. The task force made it back to the Jasmine Panzer Brigade Compound a couple of hours after sunrise and stood down.
Chapter Nineteen
Captain Davis, the Fire Support Officer for the Jasmine Panzer Brigade, stood wearing her soft cap over her curly brown hair, a strand of it in the corner of her mouth. Her thoughtful amber eyes stared toward the horizon as she chewed the end of her hair, her strong jaw line moving side to side slowly, her high, round cheeks bulging slightly with the practiced effort. Her gray and green mottled combat coveralls were cinched to her waist by her gun belt, giving her an appearance of more of an hourglass figure than usual, the loose material of the coveralls allowing extra room for her full figure.
Ahead of her were parked the five Ajax tanks. It had been a week of hard work, getting them back up to ten-twenty maintenance standards but it was worth it. They were now clean and serviceable and as functional as they had ever been, except for one important detail. The busted concrete beneath the tracks they left pulling into the motor pool gave evidence of their greatest flaw. With the lifters removed they weighed 95 tons. The lifters had reduced their footprint to fifteen tons, but the lifters were removed and shipped to Fairgotten, to prevent that technology from falling into Mosh hands.
That disability made them useless as tanks, but the Ajax vehicles were still excellent fire support vehicles. She heard footsteps approaching from her right and looked. Colonel Galen Raper approached. When he was within six paces, she gave a proper hand salute. “Good evening, sir.”
Galen returned the gesture. “I heard you’re fit to fight.”
“Yessir. The assault guns, the self-propelled howitzers, and the Ajax are all straight. No deficiencies noted on the final service inspection.”
Galen said, “It’ll be a couple of weeks before the rest of the task force will be ready for more action. You and your people can enjoy a little down time.”
She said, “Thanks. It’s getting a little chilly.”
Galen said, “Winter is coming. Wouldn’t surprise me if it snows next week.”
“Might have to find my jacket.” She rubbed her arms.
“Major Polar has winter gear ready for issue. We’ll hand it out before we leave the compound again.”
“Too bad about Chong-gok. I really liked it there.”
Galen said, “It’s a shame. The Mosh tore it up, and a brief attempt at a counterattack by the Mandarins leveled the whole place.”
“It’s weird, remembering a place that is no longer there, where I can never visit again. It claws at the soul.” She stuffed her hands into her pockets, shivered slightly.
“I…I know. And the fact that we’re partly responsible, that hurts too.”
They stood and stared at the Ajax line. Galen said, “Have you heard about the solar flares?”
“Yessir. That’s part of the reason I’m out so late. When it gets darker we might be able to see the ionosphere light up from here.”
Galen peered at the horizon. It was getting dark, and as it got darker the sky to the north began to glow with blue and green streaks, lights that danced like flames of a distant fire from the horizon to the sky, to an angle as high as nine hundred mils in places.
Captain Davis said, “It’s beautiful.”
“Yes.” Galen put his left arm around her shoulders.
She didn’t object, grateful for the heat of his body next to hers. After a moment she said, “I’ll bet ops has plans for that solar storm.”
Galen said, “In two weeks we’ll be under it. Right now it’s just blowing out the side, barely clipping our atmosphere. Ops has plans. The EM of the flares will screw up unshielded gadgets. Everything inside the armored vehicles will function normally, but fighting will be all line of sight and dumb bombs. Good for you, for artillery.”
“How’s that?”
“Air defenses won’t be able to stop your rounds. Better yet, the Mosh bomber-fighters aren’t shielded well enough to fly under those conditions.”
She said, “What about our aircraft?”
“Have to ground the helos, of course, but out Interceptors and the Marine’s assault boats, they can fly. They’re aerospace craft, designed to deal with the radiations of raw space.”
“I like that. We’ll have a clear advantage, a real opportunity.”
Galen’s voice wavered, “Tad said the same thing. But for now we have a couple of weeks to rest.”
Captain Davis said, “You need a hug?”
Galen said, “I didn’t think I was your type.”
“You’re not. I just want to stand here like two human beings for a while.” She turned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and they turned their faces to the north and watched as the lights in the sky grew in intensity. After a few minutes they stepped apart and went their separate ways.
Colonel Baek entered Tad’s office and said, “Can we talk?”
Tad sat up on the couch where he’d been sleeping, stood and removed the poncho liner and said, “Sure, have a seat.”
Baek sat. “I’m sorry to disturb your sleep.”
Tad sat at his desk and said, “No problem, sir. I’m at your disposal.”
Baek rubbed his hands together. “Do you have a plan for extraction?”
Tad flexed his hands. “Working on it. The problem is known jump points. The one I have in mind takes us to Alamo, but I think it’s known to the Mosh. The other two points, one is blocked by the Mosh right now. The second one, the Mandarin Space Force is parked near it. I’m not so sure they’ll let us go.”
Colonel Baek said, “I have a pirate point that puts us in the star system of the capitol planet of the Capellan Confederation.”
Tad turned and pulled back the curtain of the window behind him, pointed at the lights in the sky. “That will make space travel difficult.”
Baek said, “We’ll have another go at the Mosh before we leave, of course. In eight weeks or less, that solar flare up will end and then we can get the hell out of here.”
Tad said, “I’ve been looking at possibilities. Do you think the Mandarins will go for a negotiated peace with the Mosh?”
Baek scratched his head, shrugged. “Anything is possible.”
Tad closed the curtain, stood facing toward Baek. Colonel Baek stood and said, “Thank you for you time.”