John Ringo: Choosers of the Slain

She liked Givi and thought he would make a good husband. He was hardworking and at least had a sense of humor. She really had no dreams beyond having beautiful and healthy children who would live.

Then everything changed. The new Kildar had come and now everything was topsy-turvy. As one of the better readers and writers among the women of the Keldara she had been chosen to assist in the “ops and intel” section and met Sergeant Vanner. He had opened up a whole new world to her and the girls who worked with her. They now controlled the communications for the Keldara militia and some of them worked in the intel section intercepting what they could catch of the limited Chechen radio traffic. The work was long and often boring, but far more interesting than cleaning the house, cooking, hauling water and keeping the fires going. Sergeant Vanner had even gotten her a “correspondence course” on satellite communications and she was working on it assiduously. Along with it had come several other courses on mathematics and she was working her way through those at the same time.

Life was looking up.

“Kildar,” she answered in a calm and lilting tone, “this is Keldara Base. Say situation, over.”

Calm and unhurried. Sergeant Vanner had drilled that into them over and over. The last thing anyone wanted to hear over the radio was that anyone was stressed out. Keep calm, no matter what was happening.

“I was going out to observe Team Sawn, operating in the vicinity of valley 415. I am at position 918 in view of a convoy of probable tangoes moving down 415 from the east towards a probable rendezvous at 228. Count is thirty tangoes, eighteen pack animals. Weapons not observable at this range. Clear?”

“Tango convoy at valley 415, moving east towards 228. Your position 918. Count is thirty tangoes, eighteen pack animals.”

“Roger. Unable to determine position of Team Sawn. Probable vehicle movement from north along Tbilisi Road for link-up. Get Keldara Two, Three and Five in contact. Contact Team Sawn, have them display UV source. Will vector Team Sawn to ambush on convoy if possible. Vector second team to road if possible. Tell teams to go red on ammo.”

“Roger, Keldara Six,” Gildana said, scribbling notes. She looked over her shoulder at Sergeant Vanner who had slipped on a headset and was nodding at her notes. “Keldara Two is available at this time, Six.”

“Roger,” the Kildar said. “I’m going to sit tight until I’ve got an idea where Sawn is. Get cracking.”

Vanner had already opened up a window on his screen showing the locations of all the teams and shook his head.

“That’s funny,” he said. “Sawn’s just to the east of him, down in the valley. They’re in an ambush position along the side valley, so they’re not in position to hit the Chechens. Call them up.”

“Sawn Six, this is Keldara Base,” Gildana said, switching frequencies for transmission but leaving open the Kildar’s frequency so she could listen if he called.

“Sawn.”

“Be aware, there is a Chechen force, thirty tangoes, eighteen pack animals, moving down valley 415, approximately three thousand meters from your position. Kildar is on the ridge behind you, observing from 918. Show UV marker so the Kildar can vector you to them.”

“Roger.”

Mike blinked as a hot-spot appeared in the valley and then a UV light was laid out, clearly marking the position of the ambush team. They weren’t more than five hundred meters below him and they’d been completely invisible to IR. They must have covered themselves up pretty damned good.

He checked his frequency sheet and changed to Sawn’s codes. The different connections weren’t frequencies, but packet codes for the distributed network that had been laid in over the last few weeks. Besides going out on patrol training, the Keldara had been laying down dozens of “black box” retransmitters. The devices were encrypted and distributed information in frequency-hopping burst packets. Weighing in at a bit less than two pounds, they functioned something like the internet, picking up the packets and moving them along the best routes. The boxes were now in so many places in the nearby mountains that communications were virtually solid throughout the local area. But only for the Keldara. The system was locked out for anyone else, short of very high-tech and aggressive hacking.

“Goddamn, Sawn, you guys are hidden like a bitch,” he said approvingly. “But we’re going to have to move. Pick up your team and move south to the trail along 415. And boogie. Go hot at this time.”

“Roger, Kildar,” Sawn said. The Makanee boy was not by any stretch his top team leader, that would be Oleg Kulcyanov, but he was pretty damned good. And if he could hide that well, it boded well for the mission. Now if the team could just move fast and quiet.

“I’ll link up somewhere around the river,” Mike said. “Tell your guys if they frag me I will strangle them with my bare hands.”

“Understood, Kildar,” Sawn said, the humor evident in his voice.

“Kildar, this is Keldara Base.”

“Gotta go, Sawn,” Mike continued as more hot-spots appeared. It was apparent that the entire twenty-man team had been lightly dug in along the hillside. Too bad they weren’t in position to hit the Chechens; it had been a perfect hide. “See you at the stream. Go Keldara Base.”

“Kildar, Keldara Three is here,” Gildana said, looking over her shoulder at Colonel Nielson. “He recommends vectoring Team Padrek onto the road to the north.”

“Have him handle that end,” the Kildar answered with a slight grunt of effort. “Be aware that my damned Expedition is in full view on the road. If the Chechens steal my car, tell Padrek to run far and fast.”

“Roger, Kildar,” Gildana said, smiling slightly.

“I’m going to go link up with Sawn and cover that end,” the Kildar continued. “Get the trucks.”

“Roger, Kildar.”

“Kildar out.”

Gildana looked over her shoulder at Colonel Nielson quizzically.

“Vector Padrek to point 583,” the colonel said, pointing out a spot on the map near the road to the north. “Interdict all vehicles moving from the north, standard road block. The Chechens will probably be carrying contraband. Rules of Engagement Three. Do not fire until sure of resistance, but stop everything and use full care. Roll out the support team, have them draw RPGs and MGs. They need to be on the road in fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, sir,” Gildana said. The Kildar had bought a specialized database and she and Vanner had modified it slightly. This was the first test of it in a “real world” mission.

She brought up the database and punched for live-mission. A screen gave her a number of options, each of them marked by large buttons or icons. She chose “roll response team,” then “heavy weapon loadout,” “roadblock,” punched in the code for the location when the box came up, chose “rendezvous,” then hit the icon for Team Padrek, which was the head of a ram, and last chose ROE 3.

The system automatically generated an operations order including what weapons and ammunition pack each member of the team would carry, which vehicles were available and a map to the position. In addition, there was a frequency list and information about friendly forces in the area.

She hit send and got a pop-up screen that read: “Please detail commander’s intention.”

She hit the “modify” key and rapidly typed in data on the current situation including the fact that there was probably a truck or trucks headed to rendezvous with the Chechen mule train. Then she reloaded the frag-order.

Nielson considered it for a moment and then nodded.