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«He joined Bravo Company while you were on leave.»
Mike thought about the roster for a moment and grimaced. «Gimme Gu
The AID chirped after a moment and the Gu
«This new NCO that joined while I was on leave . . .»
«Duncan?»
«Yeah. Let me guess. He got put in charge of Second Squad of Second Platoon.»
«Yup. Only squad without a staff sergeant. Wasn't much I could do.»
«Agreed. So, how is Stewart taking it?»
«Fairly well. Duncan's a real experienced NCO as you know. Generally he lets Stewart continue to run the squad and helps Boggy with training. Stewart's actually started to pump him for information and support. They work well together.»
«Hold it,» Mike said after digesting this. « 'As I would know'? Is this Bob Duncan?»
«Yeah. Sorry, boss, I assumed you'd know.» The Old Man was damn near omniscient normally. «Shelly didn't tell you?»
«No. Damn. Shelly, bring Sergeant Duncan in on this conversation.»
«Yes, sir.» After a moment there was another chirp of co
«Captain O'Neal?» asked the quiet voice.
«Duncan! Who the hell let you into my company?» Mike snapped in a serious voice.
There was a pause. «Well,» responded the quiet baritone, «they wanted me to take a commission as a captain. They said there was this really screwed-up company that needed straightening out. I told 'em I wanted to infiltrate it first as an NCO. And here I am.»
Mike and the first sergeant both chuckled. «Like I said,» said Pappas. «He's a real screwball.»
«Yeah,» said Mike with a smile in his voice. «I've noticed that before.» He thought about the situation for a moment. He had some of the best experience in the battalion in the three way at the moment. He thought about bringing in Sergeant Bogdanovich, but she was undoubtedly busy with her platoon. There were four other combat veterans that he knew of in the battalion, but none of them were officers. From the point of view of suggestions, this was as good as it got.
«We've got a bit of a FUBAR situation in D.C.» He ran over the outline of what they could expect. «There's combat power to spare. But nobody has any sort of decent control and most of the line units have just been through a rout. The first problem on Shelly's list was artillery support. We don't have a Fire Support Team. And the automated system has been taken off-line. We need someone to coordinate artillery support.»
«Me,» stated Duncan.
«Right. If I had a FIST captain, it would be him. We don't. So it's you.»
«Is the arty go
«I'll take care of that,» said Mike. «Shelly, send General Horner an e-mail. Tell him we are assuming control of the defense of the bridges of D.C. under Standing Regulations for the interaction of Federation and Local forces.»
«Oh, shit,» whispered Duncan.
«Did you just say what I think you said?» asked Gu
«Yep. We now own the forces in D.C.,» said O'Neal in a definite voice. He suddenly realized that Major Givens might have liked to be informed. He had just sent a message to an Army General telling him that a lowly battalion, commanded by a major, was taking command of one of his Armies. If it was anyone but Jack Horner it would be impossible, whatever the standing orders. «Shelly, slug this plan to him so he understands what we're doing.»
«Yes, sir.»
«Are they going to listen?» asked Duncan.
«That is where you come in. The first order will be to reestablish the automated fire control network. The AIDs will stomp any virus they find so security won't be an issue. Get that up. After that, we will have control. Without direct orders to the contrary, the ca
«Then what?» asked Duncan. He knew his own AID would be taking in the details.
«Shelly?»
«The next problem is Command. We are short three of four combat company commanders.»
«Pass. Nightingale can carry the company,» said O'Neal. Lord, hear my prayer. «Same for Alpha's XO. We'll use Bravo for the shock company and Alpha and Charlie for support.»
«This scenario will require all three line companies to interact perfectly,» the AID demurred.
«If needs be, I'll take direct command of the suits. Start preparing a program to lead every trooper in Alpha and Charlie by the hand. We can slug them to replicate the actions of Bravo troops. That will give us three times the firepower for each Bravo shooter. Delta's Reapers will be under control of fire-support. They won't be a problem. Next.»
«Communications.»
«Handle it.»
«Captain, I ca
«Define the problem,» Duncan interjected.
«We will require the support of forces in the area to accomplish the mission,» his own AID responded, unexpectedly. The device had a slightly different voice than Shelly, more of a contralto. «Captain O'Neal, you yourself specified level eight difficulty. Given that, we will need the majority of the forces in the area for base of fire. We will need a complete fire control network. We will need communications to higher headquarters for logistical support. And we will need to maintain communications intelligence monitoring. We AIDs ca
«Agreed. Okay, okay.» Mike suddenly wished he could scratch his head. Inside the pod he couldn't even pop the helmet; there was no room. «Pass for right now. Next.»
«That's it,» answered Shelly. «With the forces in the area or approaching it we will have the force necessary to retake and destroy any two bridges that are no more than six miles apart.»
«Okay. Duncan, Pappas, I'm open to suggestions on the communications problem.»
«Debbie,» said Duncan, «how are you pla
«We would normally communicate with the local commander. However, there isn't a local commander. The units are fragments.» Suddenly on all three screens a map of the area around the Washington Mall popped up. It was scattered with dots and blobs of all the colors of the rainbow. There was little or no rhyme or reason to the colors. «Each of the different colors represents a unit which has made it to D.C. It is based on a spectrum of units from each of the divisions involved. Therefore, units that are from vaguely similar units would have vaguely similar colors.»
Mike made an okay sign with his hand. It was the body signal the ACS had developed to replace nodding the head. «Okay. Nice picture.»
«Thank you.»
«And of course,» he continued, «that's not what's there. These units are randomly mixed.»
«Correct. A complete higgledy-piggledy. A mishmash. A hodgepodge . . .»
«Yes, thank you. We get the picture. So that is the communications problem. You'd be required to find the frequency of each unit and broadcast to it.»
«Correct. We actually have the frequencies of all the units that have communicated. However, there are others that are not communicating at all. They might not even have radios.»
«Are they all at the Mall?» Duncan asked.
«Many of them are,» Shelly answered. «It is a prime destination. The units from Ninth Corps are trying to find transport to their bases. Tenth Corps units are just lost.
«Christ,» muttered Gu
«Dantren,» Duncan said, cryptically.