Chapter 66

Dear Will,

I understood why you got a bit testy, but it was still a surprise. Back on Earth you would give as well as you got, or you would just ignore me when I decided to play.

I am glad to hear that your planet is closer to figuring out the problem with the burned ships. It sounds a bit spooky though. I don't know too much about space and space combat, but I have heard that most energy use results in electro-magnetic emissions that can be detected. I understand that people try to mask them, but I've been told that you can't stop them all. Any shielding will end up showing up as a null energy field that shouldn't be there. So I have to wonder if the race that left the weapons is even still there. Most likely they've been gone for a long time, but some kind of automatic defenses have been left behind.

And don't think that isn't possible. Char said they found what was clearly some kind of ruin of an alien outpost on one of the moons in the Tufts-at system. She never visited, but the stories she had been told said that the aliens did leave behind some automatic defenses in the outpost, which was actually what drew attention. There was just enough of a power bleed in the system to pop up on a casual scan. They never managed to take a close look however, the Sa'arm showed up before a research team could get up to the outpost.

As for the marines who visited. I'm guessing that a huge part of why they were on the tour was their negative attitude. Colonel Frost has brought in a couple "morale" officers. But these aren't martinets who prance around and try to intimidate the troops. Instead they try to visit with every unit regularly and talk to all the troops and even many of the concubines. We found out what they are doing after they made a visit to the Artillery company. Everyone had heard about Corporal Emma Holmes. She was one of the loaders on the guns. Over the last month or so she had grown increasingly pessimistic about our chances even as we drove back several Sa'arm expeditions. The morale officers met here and a week later Emma was being transferred to a training company on Adirondackat. Commander Fabio admitted to us in a briefing the next day that Colonel Frost wanted us to have a positive attitude about our chances. Anyone who might reduce our confidence would be replaced.

Of course in Third Company that spawned a bunch of very tongue-in-cheek malingering complaints for everyone during our next downtime. Unfortunately this occurred just as Colonel Frost arrived to discuss the possibility of adding a fourth company to the unit and having our men assist in the training. The debrief after that incident was ... Tense.

As for "winning" tactics. That I can't help you with. We are currently winning on Wadi mostly thanks to the small initial Sa'arm population. They couldn't expand fast enough to sweep us off the planet and we were able to limit their expansion. This gave us a huge advantage and we've since been able to aggressively hem them in around their landing site. By now we can tell they are suffering from a lack of food. They are no longer as fast as they used to be.

Of course, the fact that we do appear to be doing well has resulted in someone issuing new orders. Our tank battalion now has two attached training companies. Command has asked that our experienced tank crews work with the new trainees and show them all of the tricks you can only learn with experience. Colonel Frost has been very careful to make sure that no trainee follows Erica and me if we head into battle. We have been asked to spend time with the crews though. I end up sitting next to the trainee drivers as we go through some obstacle courses we set up on a large island far to the south of the Sa'arm stronghold. Erica will work with the gunner on the same tank.

We did get a huge surprise when the second training company arrived. You remember the four men who saved us from the Earth Firsties back when Erica and I were in training on Earth. They and their wives all retested and each one got a six point five. The women wanted to be with their husbands so they formed two mixed crews. Carol, Dennis, Lisa and Carl form the team in one tank while Steve, Mary, Kate and Martin are the crew in a second tank. Steve is still in command in one tank with Martin as his driver. Of course that is not my favorite time to train. Martin is not the most sensitive of men, and I've had to slap him a couple of times. I understand that Kate is getting a little tired of him. She's the gunner for that tank and has told Erica she'll probably ask for a transfer before they leave Wadi.

Personally when they first arrived I was amazed to see that they were all still together. When we met on Earth I thought all four ladies were too old, but it turns out that while Mary and Lisa has started going through menopause, they were still fertile, and my understanding is that the Confederacy only bans women who have finished going through menopause. So Mary and Lisa were able to be picked up.

Anyways, I've been working with Martin in the one tank and then Carol in the other. Back when we met on Earth, Carol was this lithe woman with small, saggy breasts and greying hair. She was nice to talk to and seemed willing to be adventurous. When Erica and I were looking to thank the men, Carol was quick to agree back then, and I've found her just as lusty now. She's the driver for her tank while Erica works with Carl the gunner. Sadly, much like how Kate is probably going to leave her former husband Martin, Carol is pretty sure that Carl will be leaving the tank eventually. He's unhappy about how things have worked with Lisa. The funny thing is that Lisa has relaxed a bit about sex and from what I hear has been involved in a few foursomes and moresomes. What bothers Carl is that at the pickup she selected two guys as her concubines, and she decided that a combined household was not what she wanted...