"Well, he ain't got no manners, but he's got it together. Between him and the stuff I heard you got from the Elsies, you should have a pretty good idea of the situation."
"It's true we were fortunate enough to capture one of their 'Pony Express' JumpShips and recover a substantial amount of military data from its computers. But unit dispositions are not enough. I want to know what you think of the opposition."
Nordica laughed despairingly. "You've read the reports and seen what they've done here on Vega. You've seen our supply situation as well. We're on the slide down, unless you've come up with something brilliant."
"I do have a few ideas, but first I want your evaluation of Leutnant-General Finnan. He is the overall commander as well as leader of the Third Guard, and I've been informed that you know him."
Nordica stiffened, hooding her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do," Theodore said softly.."As I said before, we must deal with the future. Your past is unimportant." Seeing that Nordica was still reluctant to speak, Theodore added, "You are of the Dragon now, Sho-sho,and the Dragon protects its own. Your knowledge of his character could help me know what to expect from him as commander of the enemy." Nordica raised a hand to her mouth, biting gently into the web between her thumb and fingers. With a sigh, she raised her eyes and stared into Theodore's. After several heartbeats, she dropped her gaze again.
"All right," she said. "He's a real hard-liner, fanatically loyal to House Steiner and blind to anything said against them. He takes the Third Guards' nickname very seriously. They're called 'The Ever-sworded Third,' and he wears an antique broadsword all the time, even in his 'Mech. He's a little weird that way."
Her voice dropped on the last words. Theodore followed her eyeline to the swords in his sash.
"No offense taken, Sho-sho,"he said. "Please continue."
"He must have come here straight from Tharkad. He's gonna be real uncomfortable with the weather here, but he's a vet and won't let that affect his judgment. He calls his troops 'Teutonic heroes,' and they're as fanatical as he is. They're Steiner mainline all the way."
"So ka.You would assess him as a traditional Steiner leader?"
"Well ..." she began. "Yeah, sure."
"Very good," Theodore said, satisfied. He slipped a disk into the holotable and tapped at the control keyboard. Red Kurita icons shifted to new positions, and faint orange arrows appeared, spearing outward toward the Steiner dispositions.
"These are the sites where we attack tomorrow."
The Legion officers studied the map, Heise licked dry lips and Nordica chewing on a finger. She asked for a replay of the planned attack and asked terse questions while Heise computed figures on his handset. After a few minutes, Heise furrowed his brow and raised his head from his computations.
"The attacks you propose will burn all the expendables we have left," he objected.
"That's true," Theodore conceded easily. "But soon or late, those supplies will be gone, whether we attack or not. Toujours I'audace, mon General!We should be able to acquire some more from the Lyrans as we push, them back."
"It's a big gamble," Nordica said, running the tip of her tongue back and forth across her upper lip. Her face showed her worry.
"You're the one who called me audacious."
"Yeah, I did."
"Well, audacity is a virtue of the Dragon. Do you have the courage to go along?"
Nordica bridled. Theodore guessed that she assumed he was slighting her courage because she was a woman. He knew better; Tomoe had taught him much about a woman's capacity for courage.
"I'll match you stride for stride, buster," Nordica ground out.
"Dekashita!"Theodore said with a grin. "We'll give the Lyrans a run."
30
Steiner Supply Depot, Cochus, Vega
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
17 October 3028
Fuhito cursed the weather, shivering as a cold trickle of rain found its way past his collar to run down his back. Thunder answered his words, reminding him that the weather was his friend. He calmed his mind, seeking to ignore the cold and wet. He had just put the discomfort from his mind when a Striker light tank rolled by and deluged him as its wheels hit a deep puddle.
Fuhito stepped back directly into a Steiner soldier marching alongside the column. The Lyran, the leutnant in charge of the guard detachment, shoved Fuhito away with a rough oath and said something in German. Fuhito only caught the name Kurita and the ill-tempered tone, but he recognized it as an insult.
A poke in the back from one of his companions reminded him to act cowed. He snatched a glance backward and caught a slight head shake from Ninyu Kerai. Though Fuhito generally found Kerai disturbing in some obscure way, he knew the man was right now. Needing cheap labor, the Lyrans had called on the populace with threats and empty promises to get it. Fuhito and the other disguised Kurita soldiers were supposed to be part of this group of people rounded up from the countryside by the Steiner invaders. To continue to hide safely among the laborers, they had to avoid suspicion. If one of the Lyrans got nosy and searched them, all would be lost. The patriots who had thrown in with the Kuritans for this mission would be shot as spies. The soldiers, even though they wore their DCMS tans under their rain ponchos, would likely receive the same reward.
"Move it, you malingerers! I don't plan to spend my night with you wetbacks," the Lyran leutnant snarled, his temper as foul as the weather. The officer shoved his laser carbine into the back of one of the locals, urging the frightened woman forward. "Come on, come on! The sooner you get to the compound, the sooner you get out of the rain."
The ragged line of miserable men and women trudged on.
Finally, they reached the gate to the Lyran supply compound at Cochus. It was a good site, ideally positioned to support the advance of the Third Lyran Guards against the capital. Supplies could be landed safely on Forsiar and ferried across to the city piers. From the coastal city, the Lyrans would send the supplies out by truck along the main highway, by monotrack to railheads at strategic locations, or by military carrier to almost anywhere else.
Huddling in rain, the Kurita soldiers and the conscript labor among whom they hid waited for their masters. The footsoldiers gathered under the leaky canopy that served as a gatehouse to conduct their business in relative comfort. Fuhito heard the compound guards complaining about the tardiness of their relief. He listened in surprise as the guard against whom he had stumbled suggested that the complainers take matters into their own hands and go kick their replacements' butts out of the barracks.
Fuhito found the concept of abandoning one's duty post because of personal discomfort to be treasonous, unthinkable. But these Lyrans were soft, always thinking of their own comfort. And they were cocky, too assured of being safe so far behind the lines. Only a pair of Strikers, buttoned up against the weather, stood sentry. Apparently, their crews were unwilling to get wet simply to watch over a bunch of submissive laborers. Soft.