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“I’m due to be relieved day after tomorrow. I will not force my successor to accept a plan that they might object to,” Platoon Private Markoczi was adamant on that point. She refused to allow us the use of one of the cutters until such time as her successor approved the plan.
“Sir, orbital scans clearly show the immediate area as clear of humans today. That may not be the case two days from now.”
“Then you’ll just have to wait until the area is clear again.”
We had no way to force her to cooperate, and we would need the goodwill of the commander of Bolthole Base. We wanted to get on with it, but sometimes the person in charge makes a decision you have to live with.
Our new contract was considerably more generous than our previous one. We had experience now, and a history of results. It called for each of us to be making twelve prime for every four days we were in the field, but we also received one prime each per day we were required to spend in non-field activities like waiting for a new commander to approve our deployment.
Love, we can’t win this argument, Asina told me. “Are you willing to offer your official opinion of our plan?” she asked.
“I see nothing wrong with your plan for deployment, and if I was going to be here even a few days longer I would have no qualms approving it. But my replacement would have legitimate concerns because your plan for deployment stretches into their tenure.” Shipbuilding required more tools, and more in the way of raw materials than blacksmithing. The schedule for initial deployment stretched over an eight day period, with room for slippage in the event we were under observation. I had to admit Markoczi had a point but the Empire generally accentuated the authority of the current commander on the scene. “I will recommend my successor implement your plan immediately.”
It wasn’t practical to haul the whole set of gear – metal, wood, canvas, and tools – the fourteen isquare between Bolthole Base and our chosen site on the northwest coast of Wimarglr. It would take sixties of swass-loads with even a minimal amount of lumber. N’yeschlass was as law abiding a land as existed on Calmena, but that wasn’t saying much. The odds were that someone would be tempted enough to try and rob us, and there were only two of us. Also, we wanted some more time to blur “Joe and Asina” in the minds of people we might have encountered before, and the trail out of the Collision Range led right past N’yeschlass the city. We had altered our appearance while off planet. I was now my original Earthly 5 foot 11 and had lightened my skin and hair color, while Asina had significantly darkened her hair and complexion and changed her eye color to gray, but mannerisms are hard to disguise and we didn’t want anyone on Calmena identifying us with our former selves. I was going to be working under the cover name of Ossitar, and Asina was going to be known as Tellea, as her daughter’s name was a perfectly normal Calmenan name. But since we wanted the use of cutters to shuttle our equipment, we had to have the agreement of the base commander. Markoczi was too close to the end of her tenure, and unwilling to approve it when the majority of the shuttle work would be done on her successor’s watch.
So we had to wait the two days for her successor to arrive. When the cutter shuttling in that successor arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was my old mentor Sephia, freshly promoted out of staff grade because she actually wanted the assignment to command Bolthole. She still looked young, with her nearly white-blond hair cut in a pageboy and bright blue eyes, but she’d lived through the Reunification of the Empire, nearly three thousand Imperial years previous. In the Empire, there wasn’t really a reason even natural state humans had to die, but eventually, between two check-ups, some catastrophic failure would hit – usually brain hemorrhage. Operants learned to check themselves over daily, leaving fewer chances for entropy to strike, but natural state humans generally went months between check-ups and eventually the dice would come up against them. I was pleased that it hadn’t happened to Sephia yet. “Sephia! What a pleasant surprise!”
“I told you this was where I was going to be young man,” she replied, “I’ve got your request, but I need to formally relieve Markoczi and then I’ll consider it. I hope you Guardians will allow this poor old natural state human time to consider your request before you start haunting me.”
“’Poor old natural state human,’ indeed,” I told her smiling, “You’ll be three steps ahead of me until the day one of us dies.” I’d met her when she was the Section leader here during my first tour, and she’d subsequently volunteered for three Staff tours. Now promoted to Platoon Private, she was the base commander and effectively the most senior military person on the planet, roughly equivalent to a major in the old US Army. Her new blue pips of rank looked good on her, one on each shoulder, backed by the black epaulets of line status. Her dress uniform was the blue with gold trim of the Imperial forces, in good thick nemourlon fabric. It might not be a combat suit, but there was some armor value to even the dress uniform. She had the red triangle imbedded with a stick figure of a Tertius-in-rank on her left breast above the pocket, ribbons for a Gold Star, a Red Bar, and several lesser, non-combat awards above her right pocket. Her unit patch held a suit of combat armor backed with a green and blue disc, the symbol of Planetary Surface forces. This was her second military career; she’d been a First Corporal (equivalent to a brigadier general in the US Army) at the end of the Reunification. She’d had to start over when she re-enlisted after a nearly three thousand year gap in service.
“Let me relieve Markoczi and deal with any immediate priority issues there may be, and I’ll call you in so we can discuss your plan.”
“Thank you!” Asina replied. We went back to the ‘club’ area to wait for her to call us.
We got dinner (picha ribs and a green salad that would be recognizable on Earth), and hung out for the hour and a half Imperial until Sephia called us to what was now her office. Markoczi was likely already back at Svalbard Base on Earth. She called up our plan on a projection, and said, “I don’t see any objections, but are the two of you really planning to go eight days without sleep? That’s well into fatigue state even for Guardians.”
“We want to get it done as soon as possible. We’re planning to take turns sleeping during the day so that we have the nights to work.”
“And if you can’t sleep during the day?”
“The plan does call for contingency delays if we’re under observation or too fatigued for a given evening.”
“You’re going to have to be doing a lot of physical labor, as well. I know you’re a Guardian now, Joe, but there are limits even for Guardians. I know you’ve got experience, but I’d rather schedule some rest and be willing to accelerate if it’s not necessary, than plan a solid work schedule with no room for slippage. The urge to meet the schedule strikes everyone. Let’s schedule nights four and eight for rest and plan to take ten nights, not eight. That also leaves you two additional days to make up work slippages. With that change, I’ll approve your plan. Your first load will go tonight. Peyer has been rotated back to Svalbard, so Staff Private Ayaadi will be your prime contact.”
“Thank you, “ Asina and I told her, turning to leave.
“One more thing,” Sephia said, “I want to help you, but I also want it understood by both of you that there is a sharp limit to the risks I will take. Your chosen location doesn’t have any current known demonic presence within ten isquare, but if that changes so will the plan.”
“We understand,” Asina said, “We know that the demons can’t be allowed evidence of Imperial presence.” If the demons knew the Empire was here, the war might begin immediately. The main mission for Bolthole Base had to be the Ears that passed through to gather intelligence on the demonic realms connected to Calmena. They were why the base was here, and a safe haven for those Ears in case of disaster was the only justification for Bolthole Base. Otherwise, the Empire would have stayed completely away from Calmena until they were ready to begin the war that was coming. Demons were lazy, not stupid or blind. That the people of N’yeschlass had been so successful pushing them back gave us a lot of room we would not otherwise have had.
Copyright 2017 Dan Melson. All Rights Reserved.
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