John Ringo - East of the Sun, West of the Moon

“I have meetings scheduled—” Megan snapped.

“Cancel them,” Edmund replied. “We’ve got the training facility surrounded by a fortified camp, now, with the whole Seventh Legion parked around it. If these things can get through six thousand legionnaires, we might as well throw in the towel now!”

“Oooh,” Shanea said. “More soldiers!” She paused and her pretty brow furrowed. “Six thousand… how long will that take…?”

Herzer had already done the math.

“Two hundred nights,” he sighed.

“Damn,” Shanea muttered. “Not even a year!”

“You could repeat,” Herzer pointed out.

“What’s the fun in that?”

Megan groaned and buried her face in her hands.

“Van Krief, Destrang,” Herzer said as the lieutenants entered the apartment. “Good to see you again. The lieutenant’s pips look good on you.”

“Commander,” Lieutenant Van Krief replied, formally. Amosis Van Krief was a small, heavily muscled blonde with her hair pulled back in a bun to reveal a face all made of angled planes. Small, sharp, nose, square jaw and high cheekbones.

“Hey, Herzer,” Destrang said, waving languidly. The lieutenant was tall as his counterpart was short, with light brown hair that was worn a tad long and long, rangy limbs that were covered with whipcord muscles. Where Van Krief seemed to march everywhere, her face pushed forward as if she were looking for a wall to smash, Destrang could stroll while marching in formation. “It’s got to be bad if you’ve called us for help.”

“Actually, I just recalled that you’d never finished that paper on the Inchon Campaigns and I thought this would give you an opportunity,” Herzer replied with a grin.

At that, Destrang had the grace to look abashed at least.

Herzer had been an instructor at the Officer Basic course when he was drawn out to accompany Duke Edmund to Newfell Base. That was where the new fleet was being formed and as they approached their first real conflict Queen Sheida came to the conclusion that an unbiased and knowledgeable observer was in order. Edmund had tapped Herzer to accompany him and instructed him to pull three of the ensigns in the school as aides. Herzer had chosen Van Krief, Destrang and Tao.

The trio had ended up doing far more than serving hors d’oeuvres. After the fleet commander showed himself to be disastrously inept, Edmund had been put in command of rebuilding the fleet and the follow-on battles that the victorious New Destiny pushed. Van Krief and Destrang had been unwilling participants in the Fleet battles while Tao, who had grown up with horses, rode over half the continent, arriving with the cavalry reinforcements to cap the victory over New Destiny’s invading legions.

“I’ve been tapped with another mission,” Herzer said, letting him off the hook. “The information load is getting too heavy so I asked Edmund for some staff.”

“And what is the mission, sir?” Van Krief asked.

“Come on in the living room,” Herzer replied. “And I’ll give you an initial brief.”

When he was done, Van Krief shook her head.

“Is it just me, sir, or do I detect a lack of enthusiasm?”

“No, it’s not just you,” Herzer said. “I don’t see a good way to win this one. I know I can stalemate it, crash the ship in other words, but I don’t see a good way to ensure we get the majority of the fuel and New Destiny gets virtually none. I’ve got an idea how we can get most of what comes down, but not a way to win. I don’t like half victories. And we don’t have enough in the way of intel.”

“That’s hardly a new phenomenon,” Destrang said, shaking his head.

“And that’s going to be your job,” Herzer said, handing him a sealed envelope. “This is to be delivered to Colonel Torill at War Headquarters, Office of Special Operations. He’s our liaison at Headquarters. He’ll give you your access, including to UFS Intel Group. Get with their analysts. Look for any scrap of intel that might relate to this mission. You’ll be staying in Washan, probably working out of this building.”

“Yes, sir,” Destrang said, smiling faintly. “A capital city tour sounds much preferable to being thrown into the breach in a burning spaceship.”

Herzer grinned at him, knowing that Destrang only half meant it. The lieutenant was one of the few officers he’d met who combined a dilettante’s manner with a real feel for battle. He was as comfortable in the middle of a skirmish as he was at a dinner party. The latter was one of the reasons he’d given him this task, however.

“I understand Tao is on the way as well, sir,” Van Krief said.

“He was up with Second Legion in Balmoran,” Herzer said. “He should be here soon. You will be working on the operations order for the mission. Tao’s going to be courier for the intel Destrang develops and working with the councilwoman’s security detail. Among other things as an officer escort.”

“For the councilwoman?” Destrang asked. “Lucky chap.”

“No,” Herzer said. “For her assistants. You might have noticed that things are a bit confused around here today. We had an attack on the building last night. I’m not sure if it was directed at Megan or because New Destiny got wind we were forming another team. Whichever it was, security has been increased. And that includes for the councilwoman’s aides.”

“Ah,” Destrang said. “Well, bully on Gerson.”

“Herzer?” Shanea asked from the door. “Do you want anything?” She had gotten over her hangover and was looking as perky as usual. If anything, more perky.

“No, thank you, Shanea,” Herzer said.

“Was that one of the councilwoman’s aides?” Destrang asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Herzer said, grimacing.

“Didn’t mention that, did you, sir?” Destrang asked, grinning.

“One of them will be staying here, as well,” Herzer noted. “Meredith is Megan’s political aide. She’ll be staying here to keep an eye on some of the political actions Megan has been pushing.” Herzer paused and frowned, trying to figure out how to put what he wanted to say into words. “You’re aware, in general, of Megan’s background?”

“Yes, sir,” Van Krief said sharply. “We are.”

“Well, all of her… assistants came from the same source,” Herzer said. “You’ll both be meeting Meredith I’m sure.” He looked at Destrang, frowning and shrugged. “I’d strongly advise against setting your lance, Lieutenant. Strongly advise against it. Meredith can kill your career with a word and… she would do so if you gave her offense. Clear?”

“Clear,” Destrang said quietly.

“She can be rather… cold when you first get to know her,” Herzer continued. “And generally stays that way.”

“Clear,” Destrang repeated.

“Just… use your best judgment,” Herzer said. “And speaking of best judgment; you’re both going to be exposed to some very high level information in this job. And Destrang, at least, is going to be moving around people who are not cleared for this information. Don’t be a source, understand?”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenants chorused.

“Destrang, you’ve been working in intel for the last few months?”

“I’ve been analyzing data from some of the activity in the southwest, sir,” Destrang said. “It’s all been low-level stuff and the position is only classified confidential.”

“Any training on how to avoid giving away information?” Herzer asked.

“Oh, and in gathering it, sir,” Destrang said with a chuckle. “Done a bit of it just to keep in training. You approach a person in a natural setting, give them a tidbit of information that indicates that you know all about what they’re doing then ‘talk shop.’ There are other techniques.”