John Ringo: Choosers of the Slain

Colonel Robert Pierson had been Mike’s “control” ever since his first mission in Syria. The colonel just happened to be the guy picked to talk on the phone with some madman who had traced the kidnapped coeds halfway across the world. Since then he’d received similar calls from Mike and made a few in the other direction. He never ordered Mike, who was after all a free agent, he just suggested or in a few cases pleaded. He was less a “control” than an information conduit. And in a way a friend.

“We did?” Mike asked, frowning.

“Slow news day,” Pierson pointed out. “And the Chechens are still a bugaboo after Breslan. Apparently the guy you wacked had a small piece of setting that up. At least, according to CNN.”

“Nice of them to tell us,” Mike said, rolling his eyes at Nielson.

“Seriously, what did you do, use all the trainers?” Pierson asked.

“No, it was mostly Keldara,” Mike replied. “Their first FTX. Right off of their first two days on the range. The mortar girls had had more range time, but not much.”

“Jesus Christ,” Pierson said, wonderingly. “How far are you into training?”

“Three, four weeks,” Mike said. “Depending upon whether you consider that training. Colonel Nielson doesn’t.”

“I didn’t say that,” Nielson said with a sniff. “Just that it’s interfered a bit.”

“Well, the boss man said ‘Good job’ followed by ‘next time, try to avoid the papers.’ ”

“Tell him I said thanks,” Mike replied. “Anything else?”

“Just that,” Pierson said. “I’ll add my own ‘good job.’ Take care.”

“Will do,” Mike replied. “See ya.”

“We were talking about an after action review,” he continued, looking at Nielson.

“I was thinking it might make sense to ask D.C.,” Nielson replied, gesturing at the phone with his chin.

“Thought about it,” Mike said. “Too many fingers in the pie. You’ll work up the AAR. Include me in the review as well as yourself. Get Adams and a couple of the instructors to do a forensic of the shoot site. I want a count of every round expended and a probable of who shot who. Work them all down and show them exactly what they did wrong. And I did wrong. Start with my forgetting to bring the mortars; I’m not used to having to think about integral heavies. And we had a major problem at one point with commo control. I want that hit heavy, along with the fact that it slowed down the pursuit, and I want Vanner to get started on what we can do about team freqs and sub-freqs. When Oleg told them to move by odd and evens, the security guys wanted to get out and pursue. That has to be covered, too.”

“Will do,” Nielson said, sighing. “Can I have Kat to assist?”

“Go for it,” Mike replied. “Hot-wash tomorrow, full AAR with all teams by the end of the week.”

“Got it,” Nielson said. “I’ll get started.”

“Vanner,” Mike said, sticking his head in the radio room. Vanner was pointing to something on one of the computer screens with his head nearly touching that of the Keldara female working the computer. Mike wasn’t sure who she was, but he was pretty sure she was from the Makanee clan.

“Kildar?” the intel NCO said, spinning around.

The term “Kildar” was what Mike was called by the Keldara but it had caught on with others. It was a unique name for the local warlord, translating as something like “baron.” What it meant, simply, was leader of the Keldara and that was enough for those who had come to know them.

Patrick Vanner was a former Marine, but Mike tried not to hold it against him. The guy was plentiful hardcore, but he was, nonetheless, the designated team geek. He’d been an intercept specialist in the Marines, then worked for the NSA for a while. After getting out he picked up a degree in computer science that was almost superfluous to his actual knowledge, which when it came to electronics and electronic intel was enormous. Short, stocky and crew-cut, he was proof positive that you could take the boy out of the Marines but not the Marines out of the boy.

“Got a couple of questions,” Mike said, gesturing for Vanner to follow him out of the room. Mike led the way to the war room and grabbed a seat.

“You look like you’re getting pretty friendly with some of the Keldara girls,” Mike said, raising an eyebrow.

“Is that why you wanted to see me?” Vanner asked, frowning.

“No, but I figure I should ask about it,” Mike replied.

“Gildana and I are just friends,” Vanner said, shaking his head. “She’s really good at picking out freqs. I’m being very proper in all my dealings with her. Speaking of which, I know these girls are being paid for this, but is there some way we can get them rank? They’re doing the job of commo and intel techs, which in the military would make them privates or specialists.”

“I’ll think about it,” Mike said. “But watch yourself. I don’t want some Keldara Father on my case over a pregnant daughter. Or even one that could be pregnant, if you get my drift.”

“Got it,” Vanner said.

“On the real reason I wanted to talk to you,” Mike continued. “We had a real breakdown in commo on the op. Not a breakdown, exactly, but…”

“The team net got filled with chatter,” Vanner said, nodding. “That’s partially a matter of training so they don’t just jump on the radio.”

“I’d like more,” Mike said. “Sub freqs for the sub-teams, a general freq for the whole team, then on up. Something where the commander doesn’t have to think about it to pass stuff down, though, and can listen in on the chatter. Also, I want to start working on a battle net. Something where call-for-fire, at least by those with the right equipment, is point and click. Probably with a voice backup and confirm, but I want to be able to point to a spot on a map and say: ‘Send fire there.’ I’d also like to be able to sketch out movements for the teams.”

“I can get all that,” Vanner said. “Some of it’s off-the-shelf and unclass but some of it’s classified U.S. and European systems, mostly U.S.”

“I think we can swing that,” Mike said. “You find the system and I’ll get permission for us to get it. Keep an eye on whether it can be integrated into U.S. battlefield systems. If we end up in a situation where we can call for fire from God, I’d like to be able to do it. Look around at some of the firms that do C2 and offer free field trials,” he added, grinning. “Try to get a deal; it’s not going to be cheap gear.”

“Will do,” Vanner said. “Anything else?”

“If you and Gildana get to be more than friends, tell me first,” Mike said, seriously. “I’ll see what I can do with the Keldara. Unless it’s a lot more than friendship, in which case you’ll be going home with a mother-in-law.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Vanner said, frowning. “But it’s a thought. She sure as hell is gorgeous.”

“And she can cook,” Mike said, nodding. “But she’d have to adapt to an entire new culture. A very, very different one. Think about it carefully.”

“I will,” Vanner said.

“Now we’re done,” Mike replied, grinning. “Take care.”

“What we’re going to do here, is go over the action you just engaged in just like any other test,” Nielson said to the gathered Keldara. The hot-wash on the action was being conducted team by team, taking the whole day to go over known faults. They’d started with Team Oleg as the one that had been involved in the most combat. They were using one of the basement rooms in the serai for the review and it was packed with the Keldara sitting on folding chairs and looking nervous. “We will do one of these after every action, so get used to them.