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«That'll do. Feed them those coordinates. I want to pound the follow-on forces as hard as possible. Do it.»
«Yes, sir.» The officer punched a series of keys. «So ordered.»
«Out here.» The general cut the display and leaned back. He zoomed the IVIS out to cover all of northern Virginia, punched in another series of commands and grunted. At current rate of advance, the ACS battalion was still six hours away. And he was fairly certain that one battalion was not going to be able to make a difference. The Eleventh Mobile Infantry Division was getting closer, barely ten hours away, but it was a division in name only, with a brigade and a half of troops fully suited and only partially trained.
He punched another button and called up the Chief of Staff.
«Okay, I've had a really bad idea.»
«Yes, sir?»
«So far we have failed miserably at every movement we have tried to make, but I think we need to get ready to make another one.»
«What, now, sir?» asked the COS, upset and startled. The corps was barely getting into its positions and he could not believe the general was preparing to move.
«Not now. I said prepare for one. With the way they are boiling out of there, we might have to turn this into a battle of maneuver. If so, I want to be as prepared as we can. This battle is in play mode; it's up to company commanders now. So get the staff working on a plan to pivot the corps to a north-south axis, anchored on the north by the Occoquan. Start the Nineteenth towards the west; they'll anchor the left flank. If we find ourselves being pushed out of position we'll need to pivot towards Manassas and slow their rate of advance towards Ninth Corps.»
«What about the Forty-First, General? They'll be swinging in the breeze.»
«Plan it with them on the north flank, but I agree that they will have problems completing the maneuver. However, they can retreat towards the Occoquan bridges or, barring that, they can move down to the Potomac and be Dunkirked under the cover of the battleships.»
«You're assuming that we won't be able to stop them, sir.»
«You are correct. At a tactical level we ca
* * *
«Aiming point this instrument!»
«Aiming point identified!»
The missing platoon sergeant and One Gun had linked back up during the move and Keren was back where he preferred to be. The L-T had handled the sudden move—and the linkup with the missing tracks—with remarkable smoothness. As the hammer came down the lieutenant seemed to be getting more and more into harness, like a young horse that never really shines until up against a competitor. He was laying in the section under Staff Sergeant Simmons's direction and doing it well. The guns were up almost before anyone knew it and almost simultaneously the released troops dove into their tracks to check the IVIS displays.
Red enemy marks sprinkled the entire front of the Twenty-First Cav, only six miles down the road, and the hammer of missiles and artillery could be heard from the distance.
«Look,» said Keren, scrolling the display to the west, «it's solid along their front all the way to the edge of the division.»
«So?» asked Sheila.
«I doubt that they just end there because the divisional front does,» snorted Riley.
«Huh?» The ammo bearer was only seventeen and straight out of basic training. Most of the symbols on the display were still foreign to her.
«The Posleen are probably out around the cav's flank,» explained Sergeant Herd. «And there,» he continued, pointing to a unit marker in movement down Gun Truck Road, «is the response.»
«Only a company,» muttered Keren.
«They're stretched thin covering a three-division front,» pointed out Herd. «Besides,» he pointed to a mass on the primary roads, centered on the cavalry division's forward units, «that's the main thrust. If the Posleen are off the roads, they're slowed down.» He turned towards the front of the track and began a fuel and maintenance report.
As the rest of the squad began maintenance or personal activities, Keren stayed to track the scout company as it rushed down the twisting backroads towards the threatened flank of the division. Before it was halfway there it flashed the purple of in-contact then dropped off the screen.
«Shit!»
«What?» asked Sergeant Herd standing up quickly and banging his helmetless head on the overhead of the crowded track. «Damn! Cocksucker!»
As the sergeant cursed every piece of metal ever designed by an engineer with the express purpose of making an infantryman's life uncomfortable, red enemy icons began popping up to the rear of the westernmost regiment of the Twenty-First. A fuel convoy, driving forward to refuel the thirsty vehicles of the embattled division, went purple then winked out. Other logistics units began to report contact as the main reserve of the division started a movement to the west.
«Posleen have turned the cav's flank,» said Keren. «They must have bypassed the security companies and they're in the rear area.»
«Shit.» Reed hung upside down from the top of the APC watching the inverted screen. «Better get ready to rock and roll, boys and girls.»
CHAPTER 44
The Pentagon, VA, United States of America, Sol III
1024 EDT October 10th, 2004 ad
«This is Bob Argent reporting from Continental Army Command. With the unauthorized firing of artillery by units of the Twenty-Ninth Infantry Division, the Posleen have started pouring out of their positions around Fredericksburg like ants out of a kicked hive.» The reporter looked like hell. It was obvious under the makeup that he had gotten as little rest as the soldiers he was reporting on. Under normal circumstances a replacement would have been sent in to cover for him while he got some sleep. But the veteran reporter would have none of it; this was the news event of the century and he was at the nerve center.
«I have with me Lieutenant Colonel Guy Tremont, aide to General Horner, the Continental Army Commander. Colonel, how do you rate the chances for the Tenth Corps forces, that is, can they hold?»
«Well, Bob,» the colonel said with a somber smile, «Tenth Corps is a very heavy corps and if any five divisions can do the job they will. We have great faith in General Simosin here at CONARC and everyone feels that if any general can command a defense like that, it is General Simosin.»
«What about the confusion overnight? We understand that many of the units got lost.»
«Define lost,» said the colonel, with a shrug. «It's central Virginia, they always knew where they were. In many cases there was great confusion about where they should be, but that happens any time that there is a sudden change of plan. Tenth Corps has recovered and is in position to handle the threat.»
«Is that an implied criticism of the President, of his sudden change to defend forward of the Potomac?»
«No, definitely not. The President is the Commander in Chief; his word is law for the military. If he wants us to defend in close, we defend in close; if he wants us to defend in Pe
«So you think that the Tenth Corps will be able to stop the Posleen?»
«There is no surety in war, and certainly no surety when the situation is as chaotic as this one, with the threat arriving before expected and by surprise. The Tenth will do the best that any unit can do. If they succeed, so much the better. If they do not, and have to retreat, there is another bullet in that gun. The Posleen still have to get through the Ninth Corps coming into position near the head of the Occoquan reservoir. One or the other should stop them.