Free Jump Pay by Rick Shelley Page B

man. On the other continent, Colonel Jesiah Kane of the 5th SAT was in local operational control.
    "I hope Stossen's not out of commission long," Dacik told Colonel Ruman, his operations officer, after learning that Stossen had been taken to the hospital. "Foss may be good, but he doesn't have Van's experience."
    "I've already sent a man over to check with the doctor," Ruman said. "Should be hearing from him soon."
    "Van's going to miss this first fight in any case, and that's bad enough." Dacik looked down at the large mapboard laid out on the ground between them. "This whole operation depended on timing, and that damned moss screwed it from the first pair of boots that touched down. There's no way we can make up five hours."
    "We knew we'd have to improvise, General," Ruman said. "You emphasized that hard enough. Besides, the 8th and 13th are used to improvisation."
    "But it's that much longer that the 5th and 34th are going to have to hold on without reinforcements on the northern continent," Dacik said. "As far under strength as they are, it's going to be dicey as hell."
    Colonel Ruman didn't say anything. This entire operation had been dicey from its inception.
    —|—
    An hour past noon, the Accord had moved its lines within sixty and seventy meters of the Schlinal defensive lines on three sides. Recon platoons from both the 8th and 13th were operating on the fourth, the east, side, to keep the Schlinal garrison from getting out where they could maneuver and endanger the entire Accord line. Sergeant Dem Nimz had the 13th's 3rd recon platoon. SAT recon platoons were twice the size of line platoons, sixty men—at least in theory. None were at full strength for the landing on Tamkailo. Of the four in the 13th, only the 1st recon platoon had a lieutenant, a platoon leader. The rest were commanded by sergeants. Junior lieutenants were in short supply throughout the spaceborne assault teams, and reccer lieutenants had to be a cut above their peers in the line companies. Just as enlisted reccers were an elite within the elite SATs.
    Third platoon's four squads were operating independently, not a rare circumstance. Dem stayed with first squad. Sergeant Fredo Gariston was the nominal squad leader. The two men had worked together closely during the 13th's previous campaigns. Each knew how the other thought, what he was likely to do in almost any situation. It made them extremely effective together.
    "Best thing we can do is find a way to get in the middle," Dem whispered to Fredo. Both men had their visors up and their radio transmitters switched off. The squad was concealed in a shallow ravine eighty meters from the southeastern corner of the Schlinal base. "Create as much confusion as we can."
    "And hope our own people don't clobber us?" Fredo replied. "That place is a free fire zone, if you recall."
    "We're not going to be that big a target," Dem said. His grin was tight. "We get in a bind, we can always get our guys to lay off."
    "Don't forget, we're not supposed to give the Heggies a chance to capture that new rifle." Fredo pointed at the weapon Dem was carrying. A new rifle: Dem was one of a dozen men giving the weapon its first combat test. It too was a product of the research that the Corey team had done in their hidden laboratory on Jordan. The rifle didn't even have an official name yet. For the moment, it was simply the XAG-1.
    "I know," Dem said. "Long as we've got three seconds, we can turn it into something nobody could analyze. In the meantime, it might give us the edge we need."
    "We're gonna have to liberate a few Heggie explosives if we're gonna do much damage," Fredo said. "What we've got with us won't do a hell of a lot to those stone buildings."
    "So we'll help ourselves. This place is supposed to be loaded with munitions. Maybe we can put one or two of their warehouses in orbit."
    Fredo just shrugged. He had seen the pyramids on Earth. His father had been a trade representative, stationed on "the Mother