“I’ll see that you get that information in the next two days.”
It was three days before a Colonel Hatch called her and explained that the only transportation available for the Academy was a unit of four buses usually reserved for transporting dependents. “And we need a week’s advance notice to reserve them,” Colonel Hatch said. “The forms for reservations are here in the transport division office—”
“That won’t do,” Ky said. In those three days she had reviewed all the information she had and conferred with the senior Land Forces instructor on urban tactics. He had not been encouraging about what she could hope to accomplish, and she was not in the mood for procedural nonsense from Transport. “Transportation is needed pursuant to Emergency Orders Local—”
“Emergency? What emergency? Why haven’t I been told?” Hatch sounded completely rattled.
“Emergency Orders Local states that, in case of attack, the Academy is tasked with supporting the honor guard at the Presidential Palace and Government House,” Ky said. “General Molosay has told me to develop a new plan for doing so, and that involves arranging transport from the Academy to those locations. As an attack would be without warning, that transportation must be immediately available.”
“But—but what if it’s scheduled for another—what if it’s full of dependents—”
“That’s why your initial option won’t do. The Academy needs a permanent installation of enough vehicles—armored, preferably—sufficient to transport cadets—”
“Cadets! You’d be taking cadets into—”
“A combat zone, yes. Because that’s what Emergency Orders Local says to do. So let’s start over. I need transport for the three upper classes of cadets and another fifty to sixty—”
“But that’s over a thousand—”
“Major.” Ky’s tone cut him off. “If you like, I can have this conversation with your commander. It’s true I do not have a Land Forces background, as you probably know. That’s why I’m not simply telling you what models and numbers I need. This is supposed to be your area of expertise.”
“We don’t have enough,” Hatch said, in a calmer voice. “A third of our transports are either off on remote assignment or in maintenance. Those four buses are all I have to spare, and they’re spoken for through eight days from now.”
Ky thought longingly of Vatta Transport and Stella’s ability to move trucks seemingly at an instant’s notice. But a convoy of Vatta freight haulers would be just as obvious and less secure for her cadets. She wondered, though, about Hatch and his reluctance to cooperate. “I’ll see if I can knock something loose for you,” she said, and ended the call. She was shaking her head when her new clerk came in.
“Something wrong, Commandant?” Bik Kamat, a corporal from Joint Services Headquarters, had brought a completely different feel to the former secretary’s office.
“Major Hatch of Transport,” Ky said. “What have you got there?”
“Major Hemins’s latest assessment of the second years’ performance, and Colonel Laurent’s notes on the defense of Government House. With annotated plats, as you requested.”
“Thank you,” Ky said. “Anything urgent in the next hour?”
“No, Commandant. Do you want your lunch sent in from the Academy mess or Commandant’s Residence?”
“Residence. I’ve annoyed Chef already by skipping too many meals.” Ky grinned at Bik, who grinned back. “Tell him to make that two lunches, unless you want what the mess has.”
“Thank you, Commandant; I’ll eat at my desk, too. That way the calls won’t interrupt you.”
According to Hemins, the second year was already improving, though still far from the goals Ky had set for it. But better was better. She turned to Laurent’s plats and comments. He had come to the same conclusion she had, that the complex of government buildings surrounding the Presidential Palace and Government House would be impossible to defend from a serious attack with twice the troops the Academy could supply:
“It would be better to remove the President and her staff, and the senior legislators, to a safe place—not that such a place exists at this time. The Academy itself would be easier to defend from ground attack, but not from the air. The only substantial bunker-like areas are under the oldest buildings. I do have a file of previous plans other than the one you sent me—I would have expected them to be in the Commandant’s office somewhere unless they were removed by the previous occupant.”
Ky felt a chill go down her back. Kvannis had taken the plans, of course, and that meant he was up to date on the most recent. She read further.
“My senior Land Force students participated in the updating of the plan every year, as well. I’ve shipped the copies to your desktop. However, I believe we need to talk about this.”
“Indeed we do.” Ky looked at her schedule and then his, then touched the button that connected to his office. “Colonel Laurent, this is the Commandant. I agree with your assessment. Do you have anyone scheduled for your office hours today?”
“No—are you free then?”
“Yes,” Ky said. “I will be scaring the second-years again today, but then I will come by your office on my way to the gym.”
“Thank you, Commandant.”
Ky looked quickly at the plans he’d forwarded. All brief, not much change from year to year. Starting back in the days when a ditch had encircled the future “government place” for drainage, the plan had been to place a cordon of troops around that margin—first using the ditch and the little mound on the inside as cover. Later, when the ditch was eradicated during the construction of Ring Street, the plan developed two concentric rings of “protection”—the outer being a ring of “checkpoints” where a small number of troops would supposedly control entry, and the inner being the perimeter of each building. At no point was defense of the government complex moved out across Ring Street to make use of the cover of other buildings.
“Insane,” Ky muttered.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
A few hours later, in Colonel Laurent’s office, Ky laid the plans on his desk. “These haven’t changed much in four hundred years.”
“True. And regrettable. I asked repeatedly for permission to expand the parameters, but was told there would never be an attack, that this was all theoretical. It would be a training exercise only and students could be told why it wouldn’t work.”
Ky shook her head. “Frustrating, I’m sure. Do you know who was behind the lack of planning?”
“Pure laziness and cost-cutting, I believe. We could use an engineering section, with appropriate machinery. But no. ‘Oh, no, we can’t have you making ruts in the roads or digging up the beautiful gardens.’ We could use a way to emplace anti-aircraft, but again, the sacred gardens. I’m not the first chair of the Land Force department to be told no, and I want to make clear that we all fought for better planning, but… this is what we have. Once a year, in the spring—the same date every year to avoid alarming civilians—we reserve some transport from the base, bus the two upper classes of Land Force cadets over there, and have them parade around the perimeter with empty weapons and practice peeking around the corners of the buildings. It’s Drill Day.”
“Not even the entire cadet corps?” It made no sense at all to Ky.
“No. Because the others will never need to know about land warfare, at least not until they attend Staff College later.” Laurent grimaced. “You would think the Unification War had been a little disagreement settled with shouting and sign-waving, something that could never happen again.”
“What is the presumed enemy for the drill?”