S. Stirling - Against the Tide of Years

Hollard's ears popped; he looked northwest, straining his eyes for a sight of the retreating enemy. All he saw was smoke from the grass fires the battle had started. Vicki Cofflin broke his concentration.

"Sir."

He started a little.

"Sir, we're neutral at thirty-five hundred. That's as high as I'd care to go, with the wounded aboard."

Hollard nodded and turned back, sliding into the communications officer's chair and slipping the earphones onto his head. She was turning dials for him, and a crackle of static foretold success.

"That should do it, sir, if you want to try."

"Hollard here," he said. "Hollard here. Over."

"Republic Home here, receiving loud and clear. Just a moment, Brigadier Hollard…"

"Portsmouth Base here. Commodore Alston is monitoring this frequency… coming in loud and clear."

"This is the Chief." The familiar dry twang sounded in his ears. "Hear you had a bit of a dustup."

"Yes, sir," Hollard replied. "I'll be making a full report soonest. Bottom line, we ran into a force of Walker's Achaeans. We won, but we didn't break them, and they're better equipped than we anticipated. We suffered thirty-two fatals, our local irregulars about three times that, and the First Kar-Duniash about twice."

He looked off to the northwest, where the enemy force was withdrawing, like a wounded lion into a thicket, sullen and hurt but not seriously weakened.

"Preliminary prisoner interrogations indicate this was one regiment of a brigade that's been operating in support of Kurunta of Tar-huntassa, out of Miletus, for the past couple of months." He pulled a pad out of his thigh pocket. "Here are some specs on the equipment."

When he finished, Alston's soft Sea Island accent came on the circuit. "Damn," she said. "He found a way around the ammunition problem we thought he'd waste time on. We outsmaahted ourselves theah."

"Ayup," Jared Cofflin said. "Not the first time-we'll just try to make it the last. What's your appraisal, son?"

"Sir, we're in for a harder war than we thought. We're going to need more of everything, and we'll have to raise and equip more local troops. The First Kar-Duniash did very well… in fact, I think now that my sister's, ah, Lieutenant Colonel Hollard's-

"No need to get formal, son."

"-marriage was extremely fortunate. This was probably a probing attack to see if they could take over in Mitanni. But we need to link up with the Hittites, we need to raise the siege of Troy and get Councilor Arnstein out, and we need to field a substantial force here to counter the Achaeans."

"Marian?" Cofflin's steady voice asked.

"Essentially correct," she said. "Though I'd add that it's a very high priority to break the Tartessian blockade in the Straits of Gibraltar, so we can get some sea power out there, cut Walker off from Anatolia."

Hollard felt himself nodding. "That's God's truth, Chief."

Cofflin sighed. "If only we'd killed Walker…"

"We will," Alston said flatly. "In the meantime, Brigadier Hollard, I suggest that you proceed as you outlined. I'm preparing for the naval wing of our strategy, but that's going to take time, too. For one thing, if we do win in the Straits, we'll need basing facilities-Alba's too far away."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am."

"Consult with Councilor Arnstein and Ms. Arnstein on the political side," Cofflin said. "We have to keep those alliances as tight as we can and build all the influence we can."

"Roger on that, sir. I'll be getting the Mitannian situation organized over the next couple of weeks-it's crucial." He looked at his watch. "As a matter of fact, there's a meeting with Ms. Raushapa's supporters scheduled quite soon. I'll have a full report to you and the commodore when I get back to Ur Base next week."

"Good work, son, and Godspeed. Tell your people that from me and all of us, as well-our thoughts are with them, the whole Republic's are."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're doing reasonably well so far," the commodore added. "Just don't lose sight of the forest for the trees."

"Thank you, ma'am."

And don't screw up, he added to himself. Right, let's get the little princess secure on her throne…

"Thank you, Lieutenant," he said, relinquishing the comm seat to its usual owner. "Let's get me back on the ground."

"Yessir." In a commander's tone, smooth and firm for someone so young: "Off superheat, valve the maneuvering cell."

A hissing in the background that he'd scarcely noticed went away, and hot air ceased to flow into the big central cell in the airship's fuselage. The Emancipator's circling began to take her downward, like running along a huge, smooth invisible ramp in the sky. The orderly layout of the expeditionary force camp below swelled.

"Engines negative ninety."

Crewfolk heaved at the wheels; the dirigible's motion changed as the engine pods swung to point their fans at the sky, and the descent accelerated as they pushed it downward.

"Maintain. Altitude nine hundred… seven hundred… throttles back half. All right, sir, time for you to drop out on us."

Hollard nodded and walked back to the center of the gondola. Two of the crew helped him into a harness much like a parachute's. Another dropped a long coil of rope toward the ground; it seemed to shrink as it fell away, turning from wrist-thick hemp to a gossamer thread by the time it raised a puff of dust below, at the edge of the airship's shadow. Marines sprang to hold it.

"Rope through here, sir"-a click as the mechanism engaged- "and you squeeze this to slow down. Squeeze to slow, let go to go faster, sir."

"Thank you, sailor," he said, and stepped out over the hole. "Gungho!"

A long, swooping fall, exhilarating and frightening at the same time, like rock climbing or rappelling on an obstacle course. He squeezed at the handgrip as the faces below him swelled, then hit the quick-release catch in the center of his chest as the earth hit his boots. The Marines holding the line let go with a rush, and the dirigible climbed, turning for the southeast and accelerating as the engines pivoted down to the horizontal.

"Magnificent!"

Brigadier Kenneth Hollard turned and stepped into the chariot; Raupasha was driving herself now, and moving easily-it had been a graze, along her side.

"Magnificent," she said again. "I would love to do that myself someday, Kenn'et."

"That might be arranged," he said, laughing and ruffling Sabala's ears and then shoving the dog firmly away-the hound was a dedicated crotch-sniffer, like most of his breed. "Your people are going to hail you here, then?'

"Yes," she said, her mood turning serious. "Today we shed our blood together, as the true mariannu of old did; today we-and you- won a victory over an ancient enemy."

The Mitannians were gathered in the lee of a low, smooth hill; it cast some shade, now that the sun was inclining toward the west. They had lit campfires, a surprisingly orderly array, and they rose with a crashing cheer as the chariot swept up the hill. His brow raised when some of them brandished flintlock shotguns as well as spears and looted Hittite weapons. Well, he thought, we were going to try and talk Kashtiliash into authorizing some Mitannian New Troops as well. Probably it could be done…

Raupasha drew rein with a flourish and raised her free hand to silence the roaring waves of sound. She waited until the quiet was tense with expectation and then broke into impassioned speech. In Hurrian, of course, of which complex agglutinative language he spoke perhaps three phrases, including "princess."

"please," and "thank you."

Spears thrust up into the growing dark as men leaped and danced with joy; another paroxysm of sound struck when she grabbed Hollard's wrist and raised it high, then wrapped his hand around hers. The contact was very pleasant, and he beat down a touch of guilt as she let go again, giving his palm a squeeze.