Gust Front

Unfortunately, as the Border Patrol had often said, there are virtually no terrain obstacles in the southwestern United States. The only forces that could fight the Posleen effectively without either fixed defenses or terrain obstacles were the ACS, so the ACS were going to be committed primarily to the southwestern U.S.

Jack Horner had, effectively, two divisions of ACS. Fleet had left behind in America the Eleventh Mobile Infantry Division, formerly the Eleventh Airborne Division of World War II Pacific fame, and three regimental task forces: the 508th, the 509th and the 555th Mobile Infantry Regiments. How he distributed these forces might make or break the defense. Some were going to have to be distributed to the coasts, especially the East Coast, with its broader plain and less defensible passes, but most would have to go to the Southwest.

He had a little time to decide on the distribution and he knew only one person on Earth who was more expert in the abilities of the combat suit units than himself. He decided it was time to call in another opinion.

CHAPTER 12

Ft. Indiantown Gap, PA, United States of America, Sol III

0922 EDT September 5th, 2004 ad

The grader was a Marine né Mobile Infantry Major from Fourth Fleet Strike Division. The unit was currently deeply involved in the battles on Barwhon. He was a dark-ski

The grader had maintained a deadpan through the entire company FSTEP. Mike was not terribly worried about the results; he had more or less written the book and was careful to follow it to the letter at each stage of the exercise. He was wondering, however, what the major made of it all.

They completed the last exercise, a prepared company defense, just as the first of autumn's cold-front thunderstorms came across the ridges. The hurtling cumulus started to darken the air as Mike bounded up to the major on the ridgeline. Mike unsealed his helmet, the molecular seal bright in the afternoon sunlight, pulled it off his head with a sucking sound as the shock gel released, tucked it under his arm, then lifted one eyebrow in question.

«That scenario was designed as a no-win,» stated the major, removing his own helmet with a characteristic slurp. His dark skin could only have come from ta

«Yes, sir, I know,» said Mike carefully. «I wrote it.»

«You obviously also know how to beat it,» commented the major. «Were you going to tell anyone else?» Mike could see the last of the na

«It's not something I am able to teach systematically, sir,» O'Neal admitted with a wrinkled brow. «It is a matter of reading the movements of the Posleen and shuffling your subunits to react to them along with careful employment of artillery and positioning of observers. I only break it about one time in ten. This time it was relatively easy and I wonder if the controller didn't adjust it. The Posleen acted . . . uncharacteristically during the final assault phase. They were almost timorous.» He spat into his helmet. The juice was a brief brown spot on the writhing gray surface. A moment later the juice disappeared, absorbed into the underlayer and begi

Another blast of wind whipped the yellowing beech trees around them in a frenzy as a distant branch cracked. A rumble of thunder rolled across the valley as lightning played on the ridges in the distance.

«Gust front,» commented the major, looking up at the swirling cumulus. The sky was turning black overhead.

«Pardon, sir?» shouted Mike, not quite catching the words over the wind.

«Gust front,» the major yelled back, redo

«The adjustment to Posleen actions is a random effect based upon their actions on Barwhon,» the grader continued. «Every now and again they do seem to turn timorous, as you put it. Good exercise,» concluded the major.

«Thank you, sir, we try.»

«Not that I was going to be able to give you a fail, even if you deserved one.» The mahogany face was covered with two inches of plasteel and another two inches of underlayer. But Mike could still see the angry grimace.

«I hope that is not the case.»

«Don't worry, Captain, your company seems well prepared for the invasion,» the major admitted. O'Neal's reputation as a tactical i

Mike watched his company assembling in the valley as visions of silver fire and swarming yellow centaurs swept across his memory. «I wish I could agree, sir. I wish I could agree.»

«Captain O'Neal,» the battalion commander's voice chirped in his earpiece.

«Yes, sir?»

«Report to battalion, on the double.»

«Yes, sir.» He saluted the major. «Sir, I have to go.»

«Roger, Captain,» said the major, returning the salute, «good luck.»

«And to you, sir,» said Mike. He dropped the salute and took off down the ridgeline, legs blurring into run mode.

* * *

The colonel was waiting outside the command vehicle, a converted Humvee since they had not yet received updated combat shuttles. The first generation of combat shuttles was determined to be deficient even before deployment when the humans discovered that one of the Galactic races, the Himmit, had incredibly effective stealth technology.

The Himmit were an inquisitive species of cowards. Although curiosity might have killed the cat, it never killed the Himmit because they were very, very good at hiding. They had reco

The weapons that the Posleen God Kings mounted on their saucer jeeps had continental range and autotargeting ability. While they seemed to have a blind spot where ballistic weapons were concerned, they would sweep away any item under power that crested the horizon. Therefore, tactical operations involving aircraft were basically out the window.

The original teams that designed the Galactic equipment that humans would use, such as the combat suits and the space dreadnoughts, designed a combat shuttle that was heavily armored, incredibly fast and surprisingly maneuverable. But on Diess they discovered it was still vulnerable to the God King launchers; of nine combat shuttles sent to succor then-Lieutenant O'Neal's cut-off ACS platoon, only one survived.