Tango Two Two by P.A. Piatt

Author:P.A. Piatt [Piatt, P.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2022-05-16T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

General Staaber looked up from his computer when his aide, Major Haardis, opened the door.

“General, Signals Warfare Site Number Two has been destroyed.”

“Humans?”

“We don’t know yet, sir. The sector commander has dispatched troops to investigate and report.”

“Has there been any other human activity?”

“No, sir, not since the air raid last night.”

“Activate Signals Warfare Site Number One, and report when it’s operational.”

“Yes, General.” Haardis turned to leave.

“Inform me when the troops report.”

“Yes, sir.”

When the aide was gone, Staaber studied the chart of Daarben that hung on the opposite wall. It was unnecessary. The defenses and troop dispositions were burned into his memory, but he tried to imagine himself as the human commander staring at a blank chart.

The destruction of the signals warfare site as part of a first strike was predictable, which is why he’d ordered the construction of two additional sites. The general knew that the humans feared Maltaani prowess in electronic warfare; the first military attaché to the human ambassador had admitted as much. They would seek to eliminate that advantage early. Otherwise, most of their systems would be inoperable.

What he didn’t know, and only time would tell, was whether the destruction was a deliberate act, and if so, by whom. The nationalists controlled most of Maltaan, but there was an active royalist resistance. An attack on the site could be an effort by the royalists to complicate the task of holding Maltaan against a human invasion.

Other possibilities included operator error or equipment malfunction. Most of the skilled technicians in the Maltaani military had been royalists who’d deserted when the nationalists prevailed. The nationalists did their best, but they hadn’t yet developed the skills necessary to effectively employ all the equipment.

In addition to a dearth of skill, the signals warfare towers were notoriously unstable due to their high energy requirements. Maltaani scientists hadn’t worked all the bugs out of the built-in power generation system, and system failures, while rare, could be catastrophic.

Staaber considered the human commander’s options. The air raid should have demonstrated the effectiveness of the air defenses over the city, which made a landing outside Daarben more palatable. He knew the human drop ships were vulnerable, and the key to defeating them was to destroy them before they landed.

He considered other possibilities. If the Space Marines were successful in their attempt to land an invasion force, Krieg’s advice about excessive casualties would become his strategy. The PCS, led by Colonel Mitsui, were expendable. Even if they suffered four-to-one casualties, that would account for the entire nine-division invasion force, and Krieg believed there was no way the humans would allow the casualty rate to reach those levels.

Krieg.

The GRC executive’s motive for siding with the nationalists was puzzling to Staaber. The general understood that if the royalists prevailed, the conglomerate would lose the mineral rights he’d promised in exchange for the PCS, as he knew those same rights had been promised to the humans by the royalist government in exile.

Staaber turned his mind back to the problem at hand and made up his mind.

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