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Chapter 4
Time: CY 9866 – AD 4943 late OctoberLocation: Arzawa II - Anzapahhadu Island
Megaera squirmed uncomfortably trying to get her cuirass to shift into a position that didn't chafe her neck.. She was sweating like a marathon runner at the finish line and she hadn't done more than walk half a kilometer from the staff meeting at headquarters to her company's position. There was a spot between her shoulder blades that itched as if something crawly was gnawing on her. She wanted to scratch but it was in one of those impossible to reach places on a person's back and was covered by her cuirass anyway. Her combat uniform's load bearing exoskeleton could carry the weight of her weapons and ammo but the designers had designed it so that a Lancer wore his or her body armour on their person rather than the exoskeleton. That way if the exoskeleton was rendered inoperable the Lancer wearing it could slip out of it and still be able to fight while having the protection of their body armour. She approved of the concept in theory but in practice it didn't make wearing her cuirass any more comfortable. She recalled an image she had once seen in her history class of a an ancient Earth soldier. He had been called a Legionnaire and had been wearing a cuirass not much different in appearance from hers. She wondered if it had been any more comfortable. Probably not. She suspected that there was an oath that all designers of military armour took to make their equipment as miserable to wear as possible. The only good thing she could see about the current situation was that Arzawa's gravity was slightly less than than Tizona's. It made the weight of her armour fractionally less than it would be at home. Not much but some. and the way she was feeling any improvement was welcome She lifted her helmet up to wipe the sweat off her forehead before it ran into her eyes and made a mental note to herself to remind all her platoon leaders to make sure their men drank plenty of water. She didn't need heat casualties before they even met up with the enemy.
Her company along with the rest of the battalion was doing what infantry had been doing since time immemorial, digging in. The materials may have changed but the principle remained the same, dig a hole and hope that when the shit hit the fan it landed on somebody other than on you. The Hegemonists as the pro than faction was called had started the fortifications but they were now being expanded on and improved by the K-MAC forces. It wasn't just enemy fire that the mercenaries had to be concerned with. The weather on Arzawa could be even more dangerous than an enemy attack. A cyclonic storm was headed towards their position. Due to the fact that Arzawa was mostly open ocean cyclonic storms tended to be immense. The storm heading their way had winds of over 250 knots per hour. If the fortifications weren't constructed properly the battalion might survive an enemy attack only to be washed away in the tidal surges the storm created.
The staff meeting had gone as expected, which meant she had been bored to tears and learned nothing she didn't already know. The Hegemonists and the Freeholders as the other side called itself were still at loggerheads with neither side willing to make any concessions towards the other. From what she understood of the situation the Hegemonists were concerned about a Kalderan invasion and considering that they majority of the Hegemonists lived in Arzawa's few major cities they would be prime targets for any invasion considering that the Kalderans had no concern for civilian casualties, as long as the casualties weren't Kalderans. The Freeholders who lived in the less populated areas were concerned about loss of cultural identity and trade restrictions, They also feared that 'alien overlords', to use their term, would not protect the fishing industry. They were already claiming that the minority Nightsider population was blatantly exceeding fishing quotas and they feared that the Than would do the same.
The referendum to determine if the planet should join the Hegemony had ended in a virtual tie with the Hegemonists winning by less than 1000 votes. The Freeholders were calling voter fraud and demanding a recount with the Hegemonists insisting just as loudly that the vote was a done deal. The Freeholders had declared they would rather fight than accept the results of the vote and had hired an independent military force which called itself Boyington Security to assist them in raising and training a militia force capable of insuring their independence, and to protect them while they were building up said force. The Boyingtons had hired out two brigades of infantry each supported by an armoured amphibious battalion. They had arrived in a Leviathan Roused transport reconfigured as a troop transport escorted by a Consuming Fury class destroyer. What little organized military the planet had was largely controlled by the Hegemonists, but it was more of a police force than a real military, its primary duties being enforcement of fishing quotas and search and rescue. Realizing that their military would be badly outgunned by the Freeholders hirelings the Hegemonists had in turn had hired the K-MAC forces and now both sides were getting ready to settle the issue with bullets rather than ballots.
Tizona had sent the Forged in Flame and her sister ship Fortitude in Adversity, each with their attached regiment of Lancers, along with the group defense frigate Inflexible Defender and two Gazelle class corvettes to serve as a training cadre and protection force for the Hegemonists. The Flame's alpha and bravo battalions were to be stationed on the island of Ura-Tarhunta to protect the capital and act as the training cadre. Charlie battalion was establishing itself on Piyama-Radu, while Megaera's company along with the rest of delta battalion was assigned to Anzapahhadu. One of the Fortitude's battalions was currently stationed on Kupanta-Kurunta while two others were tasked with defending the island of Uhhazidi. The Fortitude's remaining battalion, along with the expeditionary force's drop ships ,was being held in reserve. In addition since the Flame wasn't carrying any Ung Taes her hanger had been modified to carry combat drones and Phoenixes. She was carrying twenty of the unmanned fighters, and twelve Phoenixes equipped for space to space combat. Another twelve Phoenixes were stationed with Charlie battalion on Piyama-Radu equipped for air to surface combat.
Both sides had placed surveillance and communication satellites in orbit around the planet. Unfortunately the planet's one spaceport was in Freeholder hands guarded by by a battalion of Boyington troops supported by one of their armoured infantry battalions and two battalions of semi trained Freeholder militia, so the offloading of troops K-MAC troops and equipment was a going to be a slow affair.
Intelligence estimated that the two forces were more or less equal in strength. Their main concern was the Boyington armour. The vehicles were amphibious assault vehicles equally at home in water as on land and superior in both firepower and protection to the K-MAC Gremlins. The K-MAC Ung Taes outclassed the Boyington armour but since the Hegemonists didn't want to be the ones to initiate hostilities the drop ships were to be held in reserve until the Boyingtons committed their armour. This meant that the first unit the Boyingtons attacked could be in for a rough time until the Ung Taes arrived
If anyone had asked for her opinion, Megaera would have stated that she thought the Hegemonists position was the better one. Even if the two factions decided to work together they would be hard pressed to defend the planet should the Kalderans decide to invade, and divided they would stand no chance at all. She had only met a few Than but they seemed sensible enough unlike the Kalderans, who when it came to maltreating the inhabitants of planets they occupied made the Dragans seem positively benign.
"Make sure you tell your troops to drink plenty of water," came a voice from behind her. It was Childers. He was wearing Lancer body armour but not carrying any weapons. He also looked like he was perfectly comfortable in the heat and humidity.
"Do I tell you how to pray, Sky Pilot," she retorted, still trying to find a way to scratch the spot between her shoulder blades . She had followed Sera's suggestion and had a talk with the priest about what happened on Alusdra. She still didn't like the man but she no longer actively disliked him either. She had had several talks with Sera as well. The knowledge that the AI had lost her husband in the initial assault on Tizona had made it much easier for her to open up to the computer intelligence.
"If you could tell me a way to get the Divine to always answer my prayers I would certainly listen receptively," answered Childers. "So far I've found it best to pray then to work on a backup plan just in case the Divine decides to say 'no'. And speaking of backup plans I'd be rather concerned about the seaward side of your defenses if I was your commanding officer."
Megaera gave the priest a sharp look. "I thought you were supposed to be a noncombatant," she said. "The Hegemonists are using their naval assets to cover that section. They're better equipped to do that than we are. The Flame and the other ships will be able to give us warning if they start heading our way and we can request assistance from the Phoenixes on Ura-Tarhunta. We have some mobile artillery on standby that can reinforce them if necessary but you have a point. We're an infantry unit on a planet that's 95% water."
Childers looked up towards the heavens, a worried look on his face. "Non combatant doesn't mean disinterested in your own safety," he said "Though I'm more concerned about orbital bombardment from the Boyington destroyer than I am about a seaborne attack. It was only Divine providence that you had a flight of Phoenixes equipped for anti ship combat in low orbit when the Kalderan cruiser commenced their bombardment. Otherwise you might have lost your entire division."
"Those were Kalderans, not humans, and they were using ship-to-ship weaponry rather than ship- to-surface weaponry. No one in their right mind uses ship-to-ship weaponry against planetary targets unless they don't care if the planet is rendered uninhabitable. The Arzawans are short enough on dry land as it is. They're not going to want to burn any of it down to the bedrock which is what would happen if that destroyer opened up on us. I suspect that the Boyington vessels will do exactly what our ships will be doing, acting as eyes and ears for the ground forces and as a mobile reserve."
"With luck there won't be any fighting at all. The negotiating team will be meeting with both sides tomorrow. We think we have some proposals that might satisfy both sides. Bend over."
"Wha?" asked Megaera confused by the Childers' command.
"Bend over," repeated Childers. "That will leave enough space between your cuirass and your body so I can reach under it and scratch that spot between your shoulder blades."
"All right," said Magaera willing to risk a bit of indignity for comfort, "but if your hand starts to wander you're going to pull back a bloody stump."
"Don't worry about that, Major," said Childers. "We Wayists have strict rules against that sort of thing."
"You mean not groping women you're not married to?" asked Megaera.
"We don't have any rules against that, but we do have rules about not groping women who can rip your arms off," said Childers
Megaera snorted in appreciation and bent over. As Childers had promised there was just enough room for him to squeeze his hand under the armour and scratch the spot that Megaera had been struggling to reach.
"Why," she asked as priest's fingers found the area that had been plaguing her.
"Why am I scratching your back? Because I saw your squirming around and I've worn Lancer armour before. I know the areas that you can't reach."
"No. I meant why are the Wayists so interested in working out a peaceful settlement with the Arzawans."
Childers removed his hand from Megaera's back. "Let me ask you a question," he said. "Why do you think your planet was willing to let us accompany your expedition."
Megaera thought for a moment. "Well for one we don't really need this battle. After the losses on Alusdra we don't need to loose any more personnel or equipment if we don't have to. "
"In that case." pressed Childers, "Tizona could have simply refused to take the contract. Why else would they be interested in getting involved. Who are the players in this game?"
The proverbial light went off in Megaera's head. "The Than," she said. "This isn't really about Arzawa, it's about the Than."
"Exactly," said Childers. "My enemy's enemy is my friend. Especially when he carries the biggest stick in the neighborhood. The Than are the most powerful military power in what's left of the Systems Commonwealth. Your planet's leaders feel Tizona needs to demonstrate that it is willing to talk as well fight, and that if they can arrange for Arzawan to be integrated into the Hegemony peacefully it should create some good will between the Hegemony and Tizona. The Than need allies or at least neutrals in their conflicts with the Dragans and the Kaldarans and if they can incorporate Arzawa into their Hegemony they may be able to incorporate more important worlds later."
"And you Wayists think that you might be able to score some points with the Than as well if you can negotiate a peace settlement,"said Megaera. "That's reassuring to know. I was thinking that you were doing it out of love for your fellow beings. It's good to know that you Wayists can have ulterior motives just like the rest of the us.
"It's not a crime to do well while doing good," said Childers. There was a tone of mild rebuke in his voice. "The two aren't mutually exclusive." He stopped talking and wiped the hand he had used to scratch Megaera's back on his trouser leg. "Your uniform is soaked with sweat. You need to make sure you're drinking more water too. You can't lead your company if you're in medfac being treated for dehydration."
"Megaera took the hint and took a couple of swallows of water from the canteen built into her cuirass. "One other thing," she said glad to get the conversation back to more mundane things. "You said you could cook. Can you turn a block of flat rats into something that doesn't taste like compressed wood chips?"
Childers shook his head ruefully. "I'm afraid, Major, that there
are some things that are beyond the capability of even the Divine, let alone
a mere mortal. And making flat rats palatable is definitely in that category."
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