All Enemies Foreign and Domestic (Kelly Blake series) (42 page)

      Ivor planned to enter the city at the northwest, west, and southwest roads and push through to the plaza, secure the plaza and barricade the city, with the 52nd Mechanized Division taking the north half of the city and the 68th Mechanized taking the south half of the city.

      Thereafter, his plans got murky.
 
They still had no way to communicate with the citizens or government to compel surrender or negotiate a peace.
 
The Supreme Queen was still considering the offer of terms and a phenomenon was occurring.
 
More and more T’Kab were dying and not being replaced.
 
With their queen captive, the attendants did not know what to do.
 
Analysts thought they probably were stuck in a decision loop on whether to hatch a new queen from the eggs they had or not, as she was still alive.
 
Therefore, they were doing nothing, and no new T’Kab were being hatched to take the place of those dying off in the normal course of their short lives of only two to three years, or as a result of the ongoing military operations.

      Ivor held his divisions in place and brought the 68th forward to line up next to the 52nd.
 
The 30th Armored would follow the 68th in support.
 
He really didn’t want three divisions entangled in the city, but if they met stiff resistance, it might be required.
 
He waited on the Marines to get in position, then he would launch his divisions.

* * * * *

      The 30th Armored Division feinted at the western roads into the city before dawn, to draw the attention of the city’s defenders away from the east.
 
General Allans’ 3rd Assault Landing Division came down out of the sky in the largest single simultaneous space to ground landing in history. All twelve of the AS-600 and 36 AS-500 landed at one time east of the city.
 
The Marines deployed into their blocking positions and the landers were on their way back into space in less than fifteen minutes.
 
It was an impressive sight to see.

On cue, the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions advanced on the north and south sides, and the city was effectively surrounded.
 
Today and tomorrow Ivor Tsien would rest his troops and the next morning he would assault the city.
 
He wanted the defenders tired and on edge when they went in.
 
Two days to worry and wonder what the humans are up to would affect the T’Kabs’ morale and their thinking, making them easier to defeat.
 

      Lieutenant General Baines got Lieutenant General Tsien on the radio first thing next morning.
 
He had been ordered to conduct extensive patrols to confuse the defenders on where the main attack was coming.
 
Marine patrols had come up with something and he requested the corps commander’s presence on the north side.

      Lieutenant General Tsien boarded his LT-10 transport ship with his G-3, G-2 and three bodyguards and flew to the location Wild Bill had specified.
 
They landed a half-kilometer from the outskirts of the city and got out to be greeted by Lieutenant General Baines and introduced to the CG of the 1st Marine Division.

      The division commander walked the party into his briefing tent, where five Marines were waiting.
 
“John, tell them what you found or didn’t find.”

      A staff sergeant, a little nervous in front of so many generals, went to the map and pointed out the patrol route he had taken.

      “Sir, we entered the city and it was quiet, so quiet we expected to be ambushed at any second, but nothing happened.
 
We made it to the cross street and still nothing.
 
We walked down the edges of the street and still it was so quiet we expected to get lit up any second, but nothing.
 
We turned north to leave and I just couldn’t leave like that with nothing to report.
 
I turned south and we walked towards the city center, expecting to take fire any second, but the place is like a ghost town.
 
We walked three blocks and could see the plaza in the distance through our night vision goggles.

      “Sir, there is no one there.
 
It’s spooky in there.
 
I broke into a house to see what I could see and it was empty.
 
It was fully furnished, just empty.
 
Sir, I think the city is empty.
 
I walked for a good five miles in there and didn’t see a single bug.”

      LTG Tsien turned to his G-2 and G-3 and ordered heavy recon patrols into the city in the morning.
 
It was time to see if the good sergeant’s instincts paid off.

* * * * *

      Sergeant Solbrig stopped her tank when the column came to a halt and pointed the main gun outward.
 
She took off her dust cloth, shook it out, wet it from her canteen and wrung it out.
 
One of the constants of warfare was being tail end Charlie might be safer, but it definitely was dirtier.
 
She wasn’t sure which one she preferred.

      They marched within ten kilometers of the city and established their lager.
 
A heavy division takes up a lot of ground when it stops for the night, much less ten divisions.
 
Every five square meters for twenty kilometers out from the city had a vehicle parked on it.
 
Ingrid’s was parked in the center of the company command post, with her gun facing the city.
 
The rest they got while watching the rest of the corps pass by came in handy, as they reviewed local defense procedures.

      She couldn’t see the city after dark.
 
The T’Kab didn’t use street lights or any lights at night.
 
She wondered if this was due to some night vision capability or just a cultural thing.

* * * * *

      The Reserve Fleet Queen Commander was almost in position.
 
She had maneuvered her reinforced fleet the long way around several systems, to come into her home world’s system opposite of where the invaders were oriented.
 
She hoped that they would be just a little bit sloppy on all around security, and the rest was up to her.

      She reviewed her fleet consist to see if there were any special tricks she could try.
 
She had 48 combatants under her command:
 
3 battle cruisers, 15 missile cruisers, 3 gun cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 15 frigates.
 

      The queen divided her force into a cruiser task force and a destroyer/frigate task force.
 
She would use the destroyer/frigate task force to feint, get the bipeds’ attention, and draw some of their little ships away from their big ships.
 
Next, she would deploy the cruisers to close and launch missiles, then follow the missiles and engage the biped’s ships with guns.
 
With her plan formulated, she ordered her ships to halt where they were and signaled for a Captains’ Call.

      When all captains arrived, she laid out her operations plan.
 
She chose her two highest ranking queens and made one the cruiser task force queen commander.
 
The other became the destroyer/frigate task force queen commander.
 
She ordered the destroyer/frigate queen commander to draw out the enemy and lead them as far away as possible before accelerating to FTL and escaping.
 
Once she had led the small ships away she was to make a wide circle and come in on the rear of the biped fleet, as they now would be oriented on the cruiser task force.
 

      She then ordered the cruiser task force queen commander to pick her way stealthily through the local systems to a final FTL jump into the home world system.
 
Once there, she was to close to missile range quickly, launch at 80 percent range, follow with guns, and close with them to make them not shoot for danger of hitting their own.
 
Once the cruisers were in their midst, the surviving destroyers and frigates would come into their rear and kill as many ships as possible.

      When the destroyers and frigates engaged, all would release their penetrators to concentrate on the large ships that launch the small ships.
 
Her orders complete and understood, she sent them back to their ships to prepare for battle.

* * * * *

      Ingrid woke up on the cold, hard ground in the dark and wondered how she could have been so tired as to not get out her sleeping pad, at least.
 
She stank and her hair was stuck to her head and helmet.
 
She climbed up on the tank and pulled her backpack out, which contained a change of clothes and her toiletries.
 
She threw her carbine around her neck and walked south to where she had seen a small creek on their way into this site.

      She found the creek and looked for a spot with some privacy screening bushes.
 
In a moment she was in a circle of bushes that would screen her from all but the most determined voyeur, but in the pre-dawn dark, no one could see, anyway.
 
She stripped down, entered the water, and rubbed her head with a bar of soap to get the grime out of her hair, then took a washcloth to the rest of her.
 
She wasted no time and soon trudged back to camp, cleaner and a good bit less tired.

      She climbed up on her tank and dropped her backpack in the bustle rack, then combed out her hair.
 
The first sergeant came out of the company headquarters’ sleeping tent and saw Ingrid braiding her hair.

      “When you get through fixing your hair, be so kind as to stand to.”

      “Wilco, Top.
 
I’ll get right on it.”

      He looked up at her and shook his head, laughing, as he walked off to shake out the rest of the company.
 
Ingrid fastened her braid and went looking for her crew.
 
She found them curled up together in their sleeping bags in a group of three stout trees.
 
She had been taught and always emphasized picking a sleeping spot away from the vehicles and amongst the biggest trees you could find.
 
It was too easy in the dark of a crowded lager to get run over in your sleep otherwise.
 
She kicked them all awake and waited until all were standing before she went back to the company command post in search of coffee.
 
The company intel weenies always had coffee.

      Stand to went uneventfully and Ingrid got her crew to chow.
 
When they returned, it was her turn and she came back to her tank to eat.
 
Her new charger, PV2 Liz Yarov, came over.
 
“Where did you find a place to bathe?
 
I can go a few days, but when I start smelling myself, it’s time to clean up.”

      Ingrid smiled and told her about the creek, but it was too light now for that.
 
Even her screened off area would be too exposed for bathing.
 
Maybe if they were here after dark she would go with her and stand guard.
 
She asked Yarov where she was from and to tell her about herself.
 

      “I’m from Kuybyshev in Old Russia.
 
My father owns the biggest dairy farm in Siberia with 600 cows – cows that have to be milked every day, twice a day, and equipment that must be flushed out and sterilized after each use.
 
That’s hard work and exhausting.
 
I joined up right after I finished Gymnasium instead of going to a trade school or university.”

      Ingrid’s driver, PFC Perkins, broke in.
 
“Sarge, what’s so important about this city ahead?”

      “Perkins, how the hell would I know?
 
The general hasn’t called me to discuss strategy in simply ages.
 
I heard the old man say it’s the bug equivalent to Chicago.
 
It’s kind of the transportation hub on this side of the continent for spaceships, ground transport, and local air traffic.
 
It has a huge spaceport somewhere off to the southwest of here.
 
No telling what’s going to happen today.”

* * * * *

      Alpha Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, the cavalry troop from 1st Brigade, 52nd Mech, moved down the east road into the center of the city, in a company-sized reconnaissance by fire.
 
Their orders were to shoot anything threatening.
 
The troop commander was in the second vehicle in the column and was ready with pre-planned artillery along the route.
 
The cavalry troop from 2nd Brigade was coming in on the southeast road and had similar guidance.

      Neither met any resistance or saw any T’Kab on their way.
 
They set up a 360-degree perimeter in the central plaza and felt reassured by the four ship flights of AG-122s flying overhead.
 
Captain Ethan Thompson, Alpha Troop commanding officer, took his infantrymen and double-timed over to what had to be the city queen’s residence and birthing facility.