The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (103 page)

“So, we are going to have to act
accordingly. The enemy will strike and we will be forced to shrink
back, abandoning cities, planets, and even star systems. This will
happen regardless of the resistance put up to stop it. We have no
choice.”

“All reports indicate that our enemy’s
strategy is to move quickly, strike fast and hard, create dismay
and confusion, and hurry on to the next objective. Our prepared
resistance, albeit small as it sometimes might be, will still slow
down his timetable, thus forcing his use of more supplies and war
materials. It is hoped that his warehouses are not sufficiently
filled for a protracted war, eventually blunting the spearhead of
his army, as it begins suffering shortages of various kinds.”

“These two things, the inability to
disengage and supply shortages, can be troublesome enough, but we
have even prepared other treats that await our brother. Specially
trained contingency forces will remain behind in captured lands to
offer their greetings to the invaders. Their job will be to
terrorize the occupying army, disrupt communications, destroy
supplies and transportation, and to neutralize any and all
leadership.”

“Our brothers from the Crimson Fleet have
offered their ships to our service. These will do search and
destroy, not only against the Stasis Pirates and enemy convoys, but
some of the Tarezabarian ships will be dispersed throughout the
hunter fleets - the wolf packs - if I may be allowed to borrow a
phrase from the Second Realm.” She glanced over to General
Finhardt, who smiled back. “These ships of the wolfpacks shall be
responsible for finding enemy supply lines. They will communicate
locations with other ships and will join into packs to attack, en
mass, against lightly defended convoys.”

“The Tarezabarians have also offered to be
dispersed among various ships within the fleets. Their dialect is
unknown to our ears, making their common speech like some secret
code. This will allow for rapid communication among our ships,
while confusing the enemy.”

“As we pull back, our military will become
more compressed. Our transportation, communication and support
lines will be short and well-defined. At a moment yet to be
determined, we will
trip
the hammer! An assault on all
fronts will simultaneously be opened against Asotos’ armies! Like a
swinging sledge, it will smash against our antagonist, its shock
sending him reeling! If successful, this punch will be the start of
the campaign to drive Asotos from this Realm!”

She then strongly cautioned, “Success here
should lead to victory later. But let me warn you, the victory will
come at an unprecedented cost! We expect
thirty to fifty percent
casualties
of all enlisted personnel with the winning of this
war!”

Planetee detailed how the Marine officers
ranked within the interdisciplinary relationships between both the
Army and Navy. “Although always united under one field marshal, the
chain of command structure has remained somewhat different in
either department of service. The acting captain of any ship has
been recognized as the traditional authority in deciding who should
stand the bridge in the event of his or her absence. Should a
higher-ranking officer be aboard at such a time, the acting captain
may still choose whichever officer he or she desires, and that
choice customarily remains final. A junior officer succeeding the
captain commands the ship with the same authority of his or her
successor, and that junior officer need not be selected in order of
rank among those of the junior officers aboard.”

“It has been decided by the chiefs of staff
to follow similar procedures for the Marine Officer Corps when it
comes to taking the bridge
except…
if a higher ranking Marine
officer comes aboard while another Marine has the bridge, the
senior officer, while not disturbing ship’s command, will
automatically take charge of the Marine troops. The reason for this
is that Marine commanders will often find themselves with mixed
combat units. Using the Army’s method of having responsibilities
fall upon the highest ranking officer present reduces confusion as
to who the lower echelon of soldiers are to receive orders
from.”

“As to the inter-relationship between the
Navy and themselves, generally Marine officers will not interfere
with the administration of the ship they are on.
But this I
do
want you to
understand:
A Marine officer of
the rank of major or above is a superior ranking officer to the
captain on board that ship and may, if necessity warrants, act like
a commodore or admiral, and seize command. In that event
,
the choice of command structure for the ship and its crew will fall
to the Marine officer who now controls the bridge, and this will
remain such until command is voluntarily surrendered or naval
admiralty officially decides differently.”

Planetee explained some of the minor details
concerning the training of new officer recruits and pointed out
that all Marines would be given special military training. All
future officers were to be drawn from active military
personnel.

The words of Centurion General SarahCnidus
were few. “From the ranks of your military forces, my students will
be gathered. The best and most cunning will disappear into the
darkness. Our ships shall hunt down the weak and unwary. Our
troopers shall decimate the secured encampments. Our very purpose
is to heap as much harm and confusion upon our opponent as is
possible.”

“The joint commanders have given me their
full support. I will be coordinating activities with them and will
be able to supply needed information regarding enemy troop
movements and activities. If my people do their jobs well, neither
you...nor the enemy...will be aware of our presence or activities
until our missions are finished.” She turned and silently drifted
back to her seat, saying nothing more.

Field Marshal TrishaQaShaibJal stood and
took the floor. She began with defining the new restructuring of
the Army. “Each army unit is to be composed of a given number of
corps, that number to be decided by need of efficiency and
enlistment. Between two and ten divisions are to be allotted each
corps, with each division having from four to six brigades. In
turn, each brigade will contain six regiments, and each regiment
will be composed of six companies. An infantry company will have
five hundred soldiers, excluding officers and adjuncts. Cavalry,
motorized combat, sea and air fleet, armor and transportation
commands are all integral to the success of our infantry. Their
structure is similar in makeup, as to my afore-described
arrangements, but with greater flexibility of formation and unit
size, which will be decided as need dictates by the corps
commander.”

“These aforementioned units are designed
around supporting the infantry divisions and brigades, operating
under the direction of those respective commanders. They will
remain fluid enough to act as infantry support, or when necessity
dictates, act as independent, compact, mechanized fighting arms. It
is also noteworthy to point out that the size and scope of such
units is currently limited because of our manufacturing abilities.
Infantry soldiers are relatively easy to equip and train, so their
growth in numbers is already outstripping the support elements of
our military machine. It will be necessary to have mechanized
forces if the invasion of MueoPoros is to be successful.”

“We are enacting a ‘recall and salvage’
operation to help bolster these forces. In general, defending a
position in a delaying action requires mainly ground support troops
combined with naval action. For this reason, in designated areas
believed to be untenable, we will begin to remove heavy machines of
war, mechanized weapons, aircraft, surface ships, and other
machinery. We hope to scuttle whatever remains behind. To assist
with future manufacturing, we will also dismantle factories and
other important systems in danger areas, relocating them to safer
territories.”

“If the battle is to be won, it will be done
by the hands and with the blood of volunteers! Yet there will be
some necessary actions forced upon us that we regret must be taken.
In areas of high risk of capture, our armies will be forced to
deprive the enemy of their plunder. We are forced to recognize the
need to remove or destroy any supplies or properties benefiting the
enemy. If possible, a record will be made of such losses to
individuals and, when practicable, they will be compensated for
their loss. This does not apply to loss caused by the enemy through
combat or occupation.”

“It has also been decided that all possible
effort will be advanced to help local inhabitants desiring to
escape danger of being trapped in enemy occupied territories. Safe
transport to secure locations is even now being offered to any
requesting it.”)

* * *

Darla softly stroked Ishtar’s arm while
staring into a tear-stained face, sweetly cooing, “Don’t be so
glum, my darling one. Our parting will not be for forever as you
say it will be. Just a little while…” She choked back her own
tears. “Just a little while is all it will be.”

She looked down at the tiny crystal figurine
Ishtar was fondling in her fingers. It was part of a winged
menagerie of her making - the flying stallion, KadashShure, a
magical creature from a tale told Darla by PalaHar when she was
little more than a babe. “Such a majestic and heroic beast it was,
saving a little child such as I was at the time, from wicked
monsters intent upon her capture.”

Reaching down and touching the figurine, she
mused, “That stallion became something symbolic to me, special… my
protector, I guess. To me, KadashShure became emblematic of our
great warhorses of LathraNesion - the KaminosKtisis. Wondrous they
are! There is none other like their kind, nearly indestructible,
fast and powerful, as if on wings they carry you. I first mounted
such a beast just before a battle during one of the Megiddo Wars, I
giving it the very name of my hero from PalaHar’s tale. Whatever…
my mount lived up to its name, protecting me throughout that
campaign.”

Through tear-filled eyes, Ishtar confessed,
“Pegasus...for me it looks so much like Pegasus...or so as my
father described it to be.” She looked into Darla’s face with
pleading eyes. “May I call it ‘Pegasus’ in remembrance of my
father’s tales to me?”

Darla smiled, tenderly closing Ishtar’s
fingers over the crystal figurine. “Call it as you like. It’s
yours, the hero you wish it to be. Pegasus is a fine name, such as
I believe your father was a fine man.”

“Thank you.” Ishtar grinned. “He was my
father, my world.”

Darla was surprised how difficult this
parting of souls was becoming. When healthy enough to travel, she
had made her way back to Ishtar’s village, lavishing as much time
as possible upon the child, knowing that all too soon other duties
would separate them. Neither woman wished to leave the other’s
company, so deeply close they had grown over the past few days.

Two weeks had already passed since the
Council of Eighty, and now only hours remained before the Shikkeron
left port on its eastern patrol. Darla requested the use of the
Shikkeron because of its availability at the time as well as its
crew’s familiarity with the Eastern Colonial Regions. This had not
set well with Captain Bedan, who saw Darla as a threat to his
authority, she being a superior officer of rank and able to take
the helm of the ship should the woman feel the need to do so.

Darla had done what she could to ease
tensions by assuring Bedan that his authority would not be
questioned when it came to ship’s operations, maintaining her only
desire was seeing to the welfare of the Marines under her command.
It was Leftenant Crilen who finally managed to broker an uneasy
truce, reassuring Bedan of Darla’s humble, honest desire to ally
herself with the captain in protecting the Outer Colonies. Since
then, Darla had divided her time tending to business at Palace City
Spaceport during the day while romancing the nights with her
precious charge.

Now they were come to the final hour. The
Shikkeron was casting off at the rising of the high summer moon,
taking Darla into its uncertain future. And Ishtar? Well, her
future still hid in distant shadows.

Ishtar whimpered a lonely whine, stroking
Darla’s long, satiny tresses, “Must it be this way? You say this is
Heaven, yet I have heard only troubling tales of coming woe while
watching my companions dress up in the garb of war to go marching
off into destruction! Now
you
are suited up in the attire of
a soldier, saying you are taking to the skies in one of those giant
birds of prey, and
I
…
I
am stranded here, all alone.
If this is really Heaven, our promised reward, why must you leave
me, and why does it hurt me so that you are doing it?”

Darla leaned forward, kissing Ishtar’s
forehead, softly answering, “Oh, my darling woman-child, should I
be the master of the game, then I would never leave your side,
making our sweet music together until the moon and sun were no
more. Yet it is not I who spins the hands of Gradian’s Clock, the
great timepiece that sets the months and seasons for this world.
Tomorrow… tomorrow, my love… We must look toward tomorrow while
dreaming of our yester-moments.”

Ishtar lowered her head, whimpering
pitiably, “I’m afraid I will never see you again! I have overheard
tales your people tell of death and destruction, lost lovers and
companions. They speak of love lost and aching hearts. Are you
immortal? That I doubt, if I am to believe your own words. I fear
your murder and my loss… my loss of never seeing… touching…
caressing you… again!”