Chapter 8

I wanted to hit that camp with the captives as soon a possible, before they could be shipped to a slave auction somewhere or somewhen; it was logical to assume that the auction would be held on a different time line. Our job was to mount the rescue before the auction could take place.

Working on the assumption that the larger the attacking force, the more likely was the attack to succeed, we loaded our entire little army into our trucks and headed for the Bustol camp. We used the same logistics plan as before, with supplies transported in to our projected next camp location so that we didn't have to carry the supplies with our scarce trucks. I planned to stick with this strategy until we were forced to make a change.

Things went so well for us that we needed only three days to travel the 100 klicks to the enemy base. This time, we didn't want to warn the Bustols that we were coming, but I didn't worry too much about it. If they weren't expecting trouble, they were too stupid to worry with.

We surrounded the enemy camp and laid into them with all of the firepower that we had. Our only limitation was to be careful not to shoot the women captives. I split the four Bofors up so that the camp was covered on all four sides and there would be no weak spot for the enemy to escape through. I was hoping for captive Bustols for questioning this time, but this was at a low priority level.

I wanted to cut off all means of escape, so I had the Eagles look especially hard for the location of the Bustol transporter. It turned out that the installation was easy to spot from the air if you knew what to look for. The transporter unit at this end was purely passive, so they had to have active cooperation from the other end of the circuit for anybody to escape. What I wanted to do was to destroy the signaling device that called for a transfer. Without that, the Bustols on this planet were not going anywhere!

The Eagles were ordered to reduce the transporter facility to rubble as early in the attack as they could manage. The problem was that the facility was defended by machine guns on mounts that let them be used as AAA. That was also an advantage to us, since it kept the machine guns out where they were easy to reach with our fire.

The Eagles, all five of them, attacked the transporter facility like a swarm of avenging hornets. They made strafing pass after strafing pass until that section of the camp was obliterated. We did suffer one casualty—a pilot was killed by defending machine gun fire, but the wounded observer was able to fly the shot up ultra light well enough to get it back camp and make a crash landing. Eagle 3 was a complete write off, except for the guns and a few spare parts. Hasup asked for a replacement, but we wouldn't get it until well after the battle was over.

The battle for the camp on the part of the infantry was the usual story of an urban battle. Emotions ran high and there were no prisoners taken. I expected this, but I had hoped for a little luck in the way of prisoners, since I had some "philosophical" questions to ask, like "was this a government or a private operation?" It didn't make much difference as far as our war was currently concerned, but it could make a difference on whether or not it could escalate into a major conflict with thousands of well trained troops. The sooner we find that out, the better off we will be.

Most of the battle was spent in torching the buildings and shooting the defenders as they ran out to escape the flames. The result was 100% casualties for the enemy and almost none for our side. Most of the injuries suffered by our people resulted from burns; they were rarely hurt by bullets.

The women we rescued were not in bad physical shape, but, mentally and emotionally, they were badly scarred. Only the virgins had not been raped at least once a day, and the virgins had been forced to perform oral sex many times each day. They were in bad need of psychiatric help, and they were transported to hospitals in Time Line Prime where they could get it. There were 257 of the captive women who had been gathered from miles around; this seemed to be a major processing point for the sex slave traffic. I gathered that the long range plan was for pregnant sex slaves to be transported back to this time line to bear their children who would be raised as sex slaves, themselves.

Our Air Force was figuring more heavily in my tactical plans, so I requested seven more planes to be delivered. Gen. Isrult's office agreed to supply the planes, but the general did ask for an explanation of what I had in mind to do with that many planes. I explained that I wanted to do a more thorough air surveillance of the countryside. I was concerned that at least one entire camp had been set up after we had made our last aerial survey.

I also wanted to do more close air support of the ground troops. The artillery was fine for what it did, but it was not flexible enough to meet all of our requirements. I said that I would be asking for even more ultra lights as I integrated the ones I had into my plans. I pointed out that the ultra lights did much of what helicopter gun ships did, but the pilots were a hell of a lot easier to train, and the planes did not need nearly as much maintenance as helicopters. I think that my last comment touched a nerve, since I found out later that ultra lights were being integrated into the regular Arklet Army.

Another advantage of the ultra lights was that they afforded a heat-seeking missile a very poor target, since the engine was so small. Also, an AA-12 with a 20-round magazine firing buckshot on full automatic could put out enough shot to knock down a missile before it could get close enough to do serious damage. That, combined with defensive flares, made an excellent defense against the shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles.

Of course, it's a case of "you pays your money and takes your chances" when it comes to bullets. I wasn't worried too much about those antiquated bolt action rifles, but we have had proof of what a machine gun can do. At this stage, we can't do anything about it, except hope that our bullets strike first. I wish that we could afford a Warthog or its successors, but we have to live with what we've got.

Ansa, Hasup, and I were working on tactics that would help keep our pilots and observers alive during a strafing run, but we didn't have anything definite, yet. However, we would keep trying for as long as it took. Then it dawned on me: body armor. "Can one of you ladies enlighten me? Does the Arklet Army have any form of body armor that would do us any good?"

Ansa said, "I'm sorry to say that we don't have anything that can do any good against machine guns, though we do have body armor that is reasonably effective against rifle bullets and light shrapnel. What do you have in mind?"

"It has occurred to me that we need to get whatever protection we can for our people. The air crews can use it for the morale effect, but I think that we should think seriously about getting any body armor we can for the infantry. What do you think, Hasup?"

"Yes, I agree. I kick myself for not thinking of it. I'll send off a request right away. It may take a few days to get enough for everybody, but we can start the ball rolling." Hasup turned immediately to her communicator to send in the requisition.

"Ansa, I would like for Eagles to loiter over the field all of the time. We have 10 tactical units, 11 if you count mine. What do you think of splitting our forces in half and having five at a time fly overhead cover and have the two flights relieve each other say every two hours?"

"That sounds good to me. Now that all of the Eagles have radios, we can have them call for help if the battle starts to get out of hand. However, if we do it that way, I would like to have at least four more Eagles so that we would have a reserve."

"OK, that sounds good to me. Have Hasup put in the requisition."

We talked about other things until Hasup returned to the conference after putting through the two requisitions. "There is one last thing I want to bring up. I am considering having my command post operating from my Eagle. I think that I could keep a better handle on the fight if I could see more of it at one time. As I think about it, I would like for Hasup to be my pilot and Ansa to fly in one of the spare Eagles as an FAC (forward air controller). Ansa, find somebody to be your pilot and start practicing with your air crews this afternoon. I want to hit the next Bustol base as soon as we can be ready."