The Way of Spider by W Michael Gear

Author:W Michael Gear [Gear, W Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-11-19T00:43:51+00:00

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CHAPTER XVI

John Smith Iron Eyes watched as the last of the battle plans came together.

"Any questions?" Ree asked, bent at the hips to lean over the holo depiction of Ekrania. Given his posture, he looked like a Romanan bear about to snatch a yearling calf.

"You all know your objectives?" Ree's hard blue eyes searched faces. "Dismissed, then. And people, good luck!"

The meeting broke up, Iron Eyes still studying the layout of Ekrania, trying to burn the details of the city into his mind one last time, wondering what it would be like down there.

He looked up at the feel of a hand on his shoulder. "Well, War Chief, what do you think?"

Iron Eyes straightened, looking down into Ree's eyes. "I think it's a long way from Gessali Camp. I wonder if Leeta had any idea?"

Damen Ree shook his head. "No, my friend, I don't think she did—and part of this is her making. If anyone foresaw, it was the Prophets."

"... And they never tell," Iron Eyes gave him a bitter smile. "I'd better be getting to my AT."

Ree nodded. "And I'm headed for the bridge. If everything goes well, we'll have the skies locked up tight. We should be able to provide tactical supporting fire from orbit if you need it."

"We'll see," Iron Eyes lifted his shoulder. "I've never had the advantage of such things in a raid before." He grinned. "Would have scared the horses."

Ree chuckled. "Yeah, guess so. At that same time, that worries me. This is an industrial world. So much could go wrong. Your people are still ..."

"Ignorant savages?"

"Yeah, but I'm too much of a diplomat to say it."

Iron Eyes filled his lungs and sighed. "If we get in too much of a mess, we'll try and withdraw, find a wild place and regroup, maybe work our way in from the fringes. My people might be more effective that way."

"There's not many 'wild places' down there. Originally, Sirius was a terraforming project. The Soviets did some wild things—cracking the CO2 cycle open, stimulating the greenhouse effect, and introducing Earth-normal plants. The first couple of hundred years were, uh, interesting for the Sirians." Ree frowned. "Maybe they got something funny in their genes as a result of the bio-engineering. Been troublemakers ever since."

Iron Eyes cocked his head. "Cee oh two? Greenhouse?"

"Never mind. If we live through this, you can catch up on terraforming."

"The hardest part is going to be keeping control of my people through belt comms. They're used to having a war chief within shouting distance. Again, maybe we'll have to adapt. Give a trusted man an objective and he can take the responsibility. So much could go wrong."

"You've given it some thought." Ree rubbed his chin, brow lined.

"I don't like losing," Iron Eyes reminded. "Nor do I like Maya and Arish behind my back. These other Patrol, I don't know them at all. They haven't had the benefit of being exposed to the truths of Spider. Like Raiders in the night, we can't tell their tribe.

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