Officer Cadet (UC) by Rick Shelley

Author:Rick Shelley [Shelley, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780441005260
Publisher: Ace
Published: 1998-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Lon squatted next to the lieutenant, watching his map-board during the briefing that Colonel Rowers conducted near the end of the rest stop.

"Charlie has been fighting a series of small skirmishes all day," Rowers said, indicating that company's movements. "Staying just out of reach of this rebel force, doing what they could to draw them farther from the siege and reinforcements. The other large rebel force, the one coming in from the east, coalesced this morning, rendezvousing here." The point he indicated was six miles northeast of the battalion. "They were apparently moving to intercept us. The last fix we had on them was here." This point was four miles from the first, almost directly north of the battalion. "At some point today, they must have gotten word of where we were because they now appear to be coming after us. CIC has intercepted a number of transmissions from that area. We have partial translations, but they're using a lot of code words that we can't identify. As of twenty minutes ago, they were four miles behind us, following the same route we did. The latest estimate is that this force is about the same size as the one that Charlie's been toying with—six hundred to eight hundred. That means that we might have to deal with sixteen hundred rebels, or more, at once if we can't take care of the first force before the second catches up. The estimate is not all that… certain. The true numbers could be twenty percent higher and it wouldn't surprise me."

Flowers paused, then said, "So, maybe two thousand in these two forces, another thousand or more still holding the siege of Norbank City. My own suspicion is that the rebels must have at least another thousand men under arms, either guarding their primary settlement area or elsewhere, undetected. That number could be extremely conservative as well. It behooves us to keep those various forces from consolidating, or getting us in a position where they can all hit us at once.

"For now, that means dealing with the force that Charlie has been in contact with as quickly as possible. When we started this march, I hoped to have complete tactical surprise, but now we have to assume that the enemy knows that we're in the vicinity. Since none of our scouts has reported any contacts with rebel patrols, they shouldn't know exactly where we are, but the commander of that force has become more reticent to follow Charlie's lead over the last hour or so. I think they're looking for a chance to move back toward Norbank City. So we're going to let them, and we're going to get in position here and here." He indicated the crests of two low ridges that paralleled each other. "Then we'll let Charlie funnel them in for us. It should be full dark before we make contact, which gives us the edge.

"I want our militia company here, at the right end of the northern ridge. Alpha will be to their left.

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