Intrepid

This was battle. People died.

Through the phone, Gunny's voice came. ''The heavy infantry on your and my hills are down,'' was all he said.

The guy drowning in front of Kris wasn't the only fellow whose name would be on the butcher's bill for today.

No, maybe not.

Across the paddies from Kris, one of the white coats came to his feet. He had no gun, and his hands were held out in the universal sign for surrender. He climbed up onto the dike and hastily made his way to where his comrade lay, feet down.

Kris held her breath as the man pulled his buddy from the water, arranged him so that his mouth drained water, then gave him one or two breaths of artificial respiration. When the half-drowned man began to cough up water, the rescuer smiled.

A single pop, and the man looked down. Someone had put a sleepy dart right in the middle of the guy's chest.

And the guy lay down and went to sleep.

''Ha,'' Kris said into the phone, but for all to hear. ''Let's see how Colonel Cortez takes to our way of fighting.''

36

Cortez scowled. He'd watched that loving tableau of battlefield mercy through his binoculars. A moment earlier he'd watched as half a Guard platoon had been wiped out by hidden fire. Thus ended Cortez's planned envelopment of what he'd mistaken as a limited position.

''This is not a small force,'' Cortez muttered to himself.

''It must be at least battalion size,'' Major Zhukov said. ''Maybe bigger.''

''But how many of them are those damn Marines?'' Cortez asked, chewing his lower lip.

''If we can trust this scandal mag,'' Captain Sawyer said, unfolding the cheap newspaper he'd confiscated from a trooper, ''all the Longknife girl has is what's left of an embassy Marine company that she didn't get killed in her last escapade.''

''She's had time to return to Wardhaven, to be reinforced,'' Zhukov pointed out.

''Enough!'' Cortez snapped. ''We're here to boot her out. Quit talking and start booting. She's spread shooters wide to cover this whole front. She can't be strong everywhere. And if most of her firepower is these damn farmers, I'll bet you my eagles she can't get them to move an Earth inch under fire.''

Cortez gauged the reaction of his subordinates. Sawyer's face was a wolf's grin. And a hungry one at that. Zhukov's eyes had narrowed. He was holding his judgment. A good XO.

''Sawyer, your company is nearly full strength. Take it wide around the swamp side. Stay low on the far side of the farthest-out dike. Zhukov, send along a squad of the Guard.''

''It will be done, sir,'' Zhukov said, sprouting a tiger grin.

''You there,'' Cortez said, signaling to the youngest captain from the psalm singers. ''Take what's left of your company and climb those hills on our right. I want you to set up fire lanes down both valleys, the one where our Guard squads got hit and the next one over. Don't let them come around our flank. Don't let her move troops from one hill to the other without knocking some daylight into them. You understand?''

''Yes, Colonel.''

''And don't just sit on your hands. Probe those two hills. I don't want you launching a full-fledged assault, but don't let them ignore you, either. Probe for firing positions. Are they isolated spider holes or connected by tunnels? If they are connected, send me a runner and carefully, boy, carefully work at getting some of your shooters into their tunnels. I wouldn't mind at all if you broke them. Not at all.''

''Yes, Colonel.'' The kid looked scared and excited. Cortez would keep an eye on his left flank. He didn't intend for him to do much more than hold Longknife's troops there in place, but the kid might surprise him.

Good surprise or bad surprise?

''Zhukov, you go with Sawyer. I'll take the rest of the Guard and psalm singers and advance in the center. Not too far. Not too fast.'' Cortez eyed the ground before him. The trees along the edge of the swamp were the only solid cover he had to approach the farmstead. The hilly side showed some cover, even an orchard here and there, but nothing solid.

He turned to the Guard captain. ''Afonin, advance what I haven't given away of your Guard to that orchard. Looks like peaches. Set up fire lanes to cover that first hill. I'll take the last of the Jerusalem Rifles and set them up in the woods beside the swamp. Our job is to keep enough fire on the hill that they don't dare reinforce whatever they've got in those rice paddies. I think the dikes are hollow. Not sure how much they've got there. Zhukov, Sawyer, you will clean them out of the rice paddies and close on the hill. We'll roll them up from right to left,'' Cortez finished. That was the way to go. Roll them up a piece at a time. He had all the time he needed.

As soon as Longknife tried to maneuver a bunch of farmhands under fire, they'd break and run. Yes, this would do the trick.

''Any questions?'' he asked.

There were none.

* * *

Kris got a call up to the Wasp while things stayed quiet.