Never Sound Retreat Part 17

He hesitated for a moment. "You can take my horse."

Jack grimaced as one of his staff tightened a tourniquet above the shattered knee.

"Don't think so, Hans."

Hans knew his friend would reject the offer. He was tempted to take him anyhow. Jack was a d.a.m.n good corps commander, a month in a hospital and he could be back in the fight. But the hospital was still over a hundred miles away by land, then five hundred by s.h.i.+p. And there was the cruel bottom line, that if he made an exemption for Jack, what would be said by the hundreds left behind-that rank did have its privileges. This was the Army of the Republic, and officers, no matter how high up, had to share the rations, the wet ground, the filth, and the risks faced by the lowest of privates. If it ever became different, the Republic would never be quite the same.

"I'm thinking about forty thousand men, Jack."

"I know, Hans, fate of the game. I'd do the same."

Hans looked back toward the ravine.

"Twenty rounds for each man who stays behind. Maybe they can buy us some time. This is a h.e.l.l of a position for men with rifles."

As the columns headed out Hans struggled with the wish simply to move ahead.

"Keep them moving," Hans snapped to his staff. Reining his mount around, he trotted to the back of the square, the men in the ranks looking up at him, knowing what he was doing, and parting to let him pa.s.s.

The column slowly pushed on as he headed back to the ravine. The air was thick with the smell of blood and torn bodies. Bantag corpses had been dragged out and piled up along either bank to act not only as a barrier, but also as a taunt.

Hans got off his horse and walked up to the edge of the ravine and knelt. Fis.h.i.+ng in his pocket for a plug of tobacco, he held it out.

"Care for a chew, Jack?"

Jack smiled and shook his head.

"Got my pipe, Hans, never could stand chewing, bad for the teeth. How your wife allows you to kiss her is beyond me."

Whatley tried to smile, hiding the pain coursing through his body.

"Anything you want me to take back to . . ." he paused.

"Olga," Jack quickly slipped in, covering for the fact that Hans could not remember Jack's wife's name. He shook his head. "Don't believe in that farewell-letter routine. Too melodramatic, my friend. She'll know I was thinking of her."

"Anything I can do?"

"Well, if you could arrange for a new leg, that would be a fine place to start."

Hans lowered his head. "Jack, I just wanted . . ."

"No need to explain, Hans, I know. I'd do the same if things were different. You've got to get the rest of the boys out."

Hans nodded. Raising his head, he looked down the length of the ravine. Nearly a thousand men were waiting for the final act. Most of them were silent, a few moaning or crying softly. Hans forced himself to look into their eyes. He saw rage and bitterness in some but what was worse was understanding on the part of so many, a forced smile of encouragement, nods of recognition from faces that he knew from other fields of strife.

He slowly stood up and raised his field gla.s.ses looking again to the northeast. There was definitely something there. The rain of the previous three days kept the dust down; otherwise, he could have spotted them from forty, even fifty miles away, but they were there and coming on, most likely reaching here by dark.

Hans knelt again and lowered his head to whisper.

"It won't be long, Jack. Three hours, maybe four. They'll see the carnage and come on hard, wanting revenge."

"Long way from Antietam, isn't it?" Jack sighed. "Gettysburg, took one in the chest there, thought I would die for sure, but I came back, remember?"

Hans nodded, saying nothing.

"Funny, survive all that, only to die in this stinking ditch on a d.a.m.n world Lord knows how many billions of miles from home. d.a.m.n, wish I could just see Va.s.salboro one more time. Take a canoe and fish on Webber Pond in the evening."

"Maybe you will after this," Hans whispered, pat-ting his friend on the shoulder.

"Getting religious on me, Hans?"

"No, just a thought. Maybe we go where we really want to go after it's over."

"Like to believe that, Hans, but don't know if I can"-he chuckled sadly-"but h.e.l.l, I guess I'll know soon enough."

Hands trembling, he fished in his haversack, pulled out a tin of matches, and relit his pipe.

"Watch your flanks as well," Hans said, and he nodded toward a scattering of mounted Bantag who hovered just beyond rifle range, having re-formed after their defeat. "They'll be looking for vengeance. Most likely wait, though, until their friends come up with reinforcements."

"Let 'em try. There's one of them I'd love to see again." Whatley absently patted his shattered knee.

Hans looked down at the dozens of unconscious men lying along the sides of the ravine.

"Don't worry, I know what to do for them," Jack said, and his composure wavered for a moment. "h.e.l.l of a war, d.a.m.n it. At least the Rebs would give ya a drink, and patch you up the way they did me at Gettysburg. Not this. Just don't like the idea I'm going to be dinner for them b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

He forced a smile through his tears.

"Hope some b.a.s.t.a.r.d chokes on me."

Hans, unable to speak, patted his friend on the arm and stood.

"G.o.d be with you, Hans Schuder."

"And with you."

Hans climbed back into the saddle, snapped off a salute, and reined his mount around, glad that no one could see his tears.

Chapter Nine.

Vincent could see that Ferguson was nervous as he slowly paced back and forth behind the land ironclad and battery of guns while waiting for Kal to arrive Jack Petracci, who had just finished the first demonstration flight of the two-engine short-range airs.h.i.+p strode over to join them.

"Good machine there, Chuck," Petracci announced. "Handles well, sharper turns."

"Still not fast enough," Chuck replied. "I want my new engine design on it before you go back out to fight."

Jack nodded, and the two started into a technical conversation which quickly lost Vincent. Figuring it was best to leave them alone, he edged over to wher Gates and one of his artists were busy sketching the scene for the paper. Vincent, smiling, motioned for the sketch pad, and the artist handed it over. Vincent leafed through it. The artist had a good sense of detail; the new biwing design for the airs.h.i.+p was rendered to perfection, and a close-up front view of the land ironclad, though roughly drawn, was sketche with the crew standing next to machine so that scale was clearly shown.

"I have some bad news for you, Gates," Vincent announced.

"What's that?"

Vincent tore the sheets of paper off the pad the artist was working on, crumpled them up, and tossed them on the ground.

"This is a military secret and will stay that way."

"Come on, Vincent, you can't do that."

"As acting commander on this front, I've just done it," Vincent said with a smile. "If these d.a.m.n things work, there's no way we want any details in the paper, ever."

"d.a.m.n it, Vincent, everyone in Suzdal knows about the machines. h.e.l.l, they're made right here. I've got to report something."

Gates smiled as if he had suddenly drawn a trump card. "And besides, the colonel gave me permission to print some pictures just before he left for the front."

"All right, all right," Vincent replied, nodding toward the land ironclad. "But I want to see your drawings distorted, make it bigger, guns sticking out in every direction, and no details about armor."

"Vincent, aren't we getting a bit too nervous about all this?"

"Gates, how many thousands of our comrades died back on Earth because of the loudmouthed press I can't even begin to imagine."

"Listen, Vincent, you didn't even join the regiment until d.a.m.n near the end of things, so don't pull that 'comrade' line on me. I was with the Thirty-fifth from the beginning; you weren't."

Vincent did not react to the taunt-he knew that more than one of the "old hands" resented his rapid rise over them in the race for promotion.

"You're right, Gates, but I am in charge here now. This Ha'ark can read, and a week from now your paper will be in some soldier's haversack up at the front." He didn't add in the details, the thought of a field of dead, the Bantag butchering them, and a copy of the paper being carried to Ha'ark.

Gates stood silent for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.

"You can be the most reasonable newspaper m I've ever met," Vincent said with a smile.

A carriage came over the crest of the hill behind them, and Vincent snapped to attention, the battery gunners, land ironclad crew, and Chuck following suit. Kal, putting his stovepipe hat on, stepped down from the carriage, and walked up to Chuck, shaking his hand.

"So you think you have something, do you?"

"Yes, sir, but you know how these things go. They work until you try them for real, so I hope you understand if it goes wrong."

"I saw the airs.h.i.+p flying on my way over here."

"Still some problems, but it should be ready to go in a few more weeks."

"I want it now," Vincent interjected. "It leaves on the trains heading out later today."

Chuck looked over at Jack Petracci, who was walking back to his airs.h.i.+p and shouting orders to the ground crew.

"Vincent, it hasn't been shaken down yet. That was the first flight."

"There's no telling how it might help us. I want it up at the front."

"Jack will scream b.l.o.o.d.y murder; the s.h.i.+p isn't ready for combat."

"We're in a crisis of the worst kind here. He'll understand."

"What about our other miracles?" Kal asked, nodding toward the firing range and cutting the argument short.

Vincent looked over at Jack, wondering if his abrupt order had just been a death sentence for one of his oldest friends with the regiment. He pushed the thought aside; there was no time now for such sentiments. Airs.h.i.+ps were needed if his plan was to work, and that meant Jack had to fly, whether the machine was ready or not.

"Ready for you to watch, sir," Chuck announced and, leading the way, he took the visitors over to the ironclad crew.

"Sir, you remember my a.s.sistant, Gregory Timokin?" Chuck said, nodding toward the ironclad commander who stood at rigid attention.

"Your father, blessed be his memory, and I were old friends," Kal said warmly, extending his hand.

"I know, sir. Father used to tell me stories about the two of you back in the old Boyar Ivor's court."

Kal smiled and leaned forward. "I hope you're not repeating some of them."

"I wouldn't dare, sir."

Kal laughed as he stepped back from Gregory to examine the ironclad.

"Is this ready to fight?"

"We just finished the changes on the drive system, sir. It's ready."

Kal motioned that he wanted to step inside the machine, and Gregory leapt forward to open the side door. The president, removing his hat, bent low and scrambled through the hatch, Gregory, Chuck, and Vincent going in behind him.

Vincent, felt a sense of uneasiness as Gregory slammed the hatch shut, as if the doorway into a tomb was being sealed behind them. Though it was still early morning, the air chilly and dry after the storm of the last three days, the inside of the machine was already uncomfortably hot, laden with the scent of steam, oil, grease, and coal.

The boiler filled most of the aft end of the machined the heat from the firebox and the glow through the open firebox door giving the interior of the machine a h.e.l.lish feeling. The forward gun, a cartridge-loading ten-pounder occupied the s.p.a.ce toward the front.

Chuck leaned over, features pale, and, clasping a pink-tinged handkerchief over his mouth, started to cough.

"Chuck, get out of here right now," Kal ordered.

Without waiting for a reply, Vincent, who was grateful for an excuse to get out of the machine, took Chuck by the arm and forced him to the door, leading him back out.

Sitting down on the ground, Chuck gasped for breath, Vincent kneeling by his side.

"After we s.h.i.+p out today you can take it easy for a while Chuck."

"A long rest, that's what I need," Chuck whispered, his breath rattling, coming in short gasps.