Fourth Vector Ch. 40

"The real me won't allow myself to answer that question seriously," said Cash, making Thomas laugh.

"Spoken like the man that you are," said Thomas with a chuckle. "You can't admit when things are going our way, can you?"

"No, I can't," grumbled Cash.

"Well, things could be a lot worse," said Thomas. "For now, let's wait things out. We'll hear contact from the crew members that are already out in Java searching for Jack's family. And then we'll rendezvous with the family and we'll be long gone by the time they figure it out. Everything is working to plan, brother. Have a little faith!"

"I think you'll have enough faith for both of us," said Cash.

Thomas grinned. "If that's what it takes, then I will!"

*****

The morning after the Battle of Sepolz, General Ambros Ferberg sat in front of a map of the area with a tall cup of ice cold water. Other men usually preferred coffee or tea for the first beverage of the morning but not Ferberg. For him, ice cold water was the drink of choice. He disdained the taste of anything else and liked the simplicity and the abundance provided to him by having water alone.

It might as well have been a victory cup. Yesterday's battle against the Allied Army was a near total tactical victory for the men of the Swabian Empire. At this very moment, his advance units were occupying the town of Sepolz, hot on the heels of the retreating Allies as they moved further south and farther away from Dagobern.

It had been one of Ferberg's finest victories, added to the laurels he'd already received for capturing Dagobern for the Emperor as well as taking Daban in Picardy.

And now he had a victory over the Galician King himself. Jack Kincardine was a curious figure to General Ferberg. He'd met Kincardine when he was captured in Dagobern the previous year, right before he was released to the Galicians under Eric Rosdahl. By all accounts, Kincardine seemed to be a regular man--not the sort that was inspiring enough to lead a collective war effort amongst nations. The fact that he'd managed to roll from victory to victory seemed a matter of luck instead of skill, and that notion was sorely put to the test yesterday.

And seemingly vindicated with Kincardine's retreat.

Now the Allies were in a headlong retreat south with what was left of their army. By the reports of his scouts, it appeared their numbers were just above twenty thousand in size, while Ferberg's army was almost five times greater. It would be the finest victory of his life to snuff out the life of the Allied Army and capture the Galician King himself, a feat he looked to attain with the next engagement.

But where would that engagement come from? How far south could he press Kincardine before he made his last stand? There was a lot of Swabian coastline left before the Allies finally ran out of room. And Ferberg was determined to get a force around them and trap them along the coast.

It would be a similar move to what the Allies did in Apulia, trapping a Swabian army under Godric Katla against the coast and destroying it.

And soon, the very same maneuver would be performed against them.

There was an irony in that notion that was hard to deny.

For now though, Ferberg would need to keep the pressure on his enemy. He'd been delayed in following the Allies south, tending to the wounds of the Swabian Army, especially those that had suffered in battle. Ferberg had taken more than ten thousand casualties in the course of the day, and most of those came from those that had been wounded instead of killed. Of course, the enemy's naval artillery played a role in that as well, but their lack of ships made it not as bad as it could have been.

It was a high price to pay for the victory he attained, and ultimately it was the sole reason why he wasn't putting more pressure on the Allies at this moment.

It was also the last thing that the Emperor wanted to hear.

The dispatch that Ferberg received from the Emperor this morning admonished him for not pushing hard on the Allies, hoping to achieve their submission quickly. Ferberg crumbled it and dropped the dispatch to the ground. Avila may have thought he was a military mind but the only reason he entertained such notions was because he'd been able to rely on Ferberg for nearly his entire life.

And Ferberg believed this current course was the right one.

He would crush the Allies in time. Letting them have a few more days of life would not hurt anything. If anything, it was a showcase of mercy. He would allow them the precious few days to enjoy what was left of life before he crushed them.

And in doing so, he would etch his name in the history books for all to remember.

Ferberg allowed himself the moment to daydream before turning his attention back to the map. It could be dangerous to allow himself those notions of grandeur. If he didn't pull himself back from the brink, he might invite danger to his position.

And Ferberg fully intended to remain in control.

Ferberg looked back at the map and traced a line south, moving along the Allies marching path until he reached the next major city--the city of Murgullah. It was the largest city around, and it had given the name to the strait of water right next to it. It was just north of the original invasion site of the Allies, and now they would be forced to retreat back to it.

It was also a place where the rocky interior highlands broke in one spot--a due west road that ran out of Murgullah and toward the interior of the country. The Allies wouldn't know about that road but Ferberg did, knowing this country's geography intimately. If he could get a force around the interior and march up that road, he just might be able to hit the Allies from behind.

And end this war right now.

"Get me General Aviz," he snapped to his nearby aide. "I have a mission for him and his men."

*****

Several miles away from the victorious Swabians, the defeated Allied Army was moving with its tail between its legs.

Jack walked alongside the rest of his men, staying close to his soldiers after their first taste of defeat.

It was his first real defeat as well. For the first time since he'd entered the West, he'd had to retreat from a battlefield without victory. Sure, there had been setbacks before. The conflict in Andalucia was remarkable for all its ebb and flow, and that also wasn't counting the fact that Picardy eventually fell to the Swabians too (although it fell after he was captured).

Still, those were both more setbacks than true defeats. This time it was real, and Jack could see the sting of the loss in the faces of the men walking beside him.

He even felt it internally. He hadn't slept at all the previous night, tossing and turning until the morning hours and keeping Kat and Abigail awake in the process. Tonight was bound to be no better. Every time he closed his eyes, he thought about all those men that were sacrificed for no reason.

Their deaths hadn't brought them any closer to ending this war. In fact, they were nowfurther from that goal and the more they retreated south, the worse the situation became.

At least Jack knew somewhat where he was going. The southern route along the coast eventually led to the only city in the area--the Swabian city of Murgullah--which they had already passed through once. The only nice thing about Murgullah was that it had a functioning port, and it would be an ideal place to receive the inbound reinforcements from Picardy.

For that reason, Jack gave the word to the fleet to reroute to Murgullah, planning to meet them there and await their arrival.

Even still, that was several days of marching away. It also meant keeping the Swabians at bay, although that didn't seem to be too big of a problem for now. The Swabians had shown no inclination of following up their victory with a hasty pursuit, and the last Jack had heard from his scouts, they hadn't even left the town of Sepolz yet.

Jack would take the advantage. The army needed every advantage it could get right now.

At least it managed to get to Murgullah without any further harm. It took nearly three days for the army to stumble into the provincial city and take command of all the strongpoints, including the port.

Their arrival was just in time. The following morning, the long-awaited reinforcements finally arrived.

There was no more sweeter sight to the Allied Army than the sight of the endless armada of the fleet escorting transport after transport all the way out to the horizon. Jack, Kat, Abigail, Bill, Art, and Greg were amongst the few to welcome the new arrivals at the port--all of them showing signs of hope for the first time in days.

It came as no surprise that King Aedan was the one nominally in charge of the reinforcements, and he, along with General Neil Fagan, were the first to disembark.

"You have no idea how happy we are to see you right now," called out Jack as the distance closed between the two groups.

"We heard you could use a little help," yelled back Aedan. "So we brought you about twenty-five thousand men to do the job."

Jack couldn't help but grin. "Your help is greatly appreciated right now!"

The two men clasped hands as the rest of the party embraced like long-lost friends. Of course, the battered sight of the troops already in Swabia was a cause for worry right from the start.

"Many of these men look like they've never tasted defeat before," said Aedan with some concern. "My hope is that they're not broken before the next engagement can even begin."

"Many of them haven't ever been defeated on the field of battle," said Jack. "That's why it's so hard for them. But this is a good day right now. The sight of so many reinforcements will stiffen their spines and give them hope again. I know it does for me."

"How far behind you are the Swabians?" asked Aedan.

"At least a day and a half," answered Jack. "They haven't been that eager to pursue us after the Battle of Sepolz. My guess is that they think we'll be crushed easily since they outnumber us."

Aedan arched an eyebrow. "And do they have a point?"

"Somewhat," replied Jack. "The truth of the matter is they outnumbered us more than four to one before your arrival. Now it'll be more like two to one. Not great odds but still better than what we had."

Aedan let out a low whistle. "I hope you have a plan for evening those numbers out a little. We could surely use one."

Jack nodded. "That's what my generals are for. And thankfully for us, the terrain around this city is excellent for a defender. I have a few ideas myself on how we might be able to hold it against a much larger force."

"At least I get to see some of the war still," said Aedan with a small smile. "I was half-afraid you'd be in Dagobern by the time I'd arrived here."

Jack started to chuckle and put his hand on Aedan's shoulder. "I made sure to save plenty of fighting for you. Don't worry!"

For the rest of the afternoon, the reinforcements unloaded from the transports and steamed into the city, where they were then directed into their sections of the defense, taking the burden off the other troops. By nightfall, Jack's army was a strong forty-five thousand, and with the Swabians arriving in the next day, the task was set to make Murgullah impenetrable to enemy forces.

For that reason, he gathered Art, Greg, Aedan, and Neil in his command tent that evening as they sketched out a plan for the next battle.

"The biggest question in front of us is how do we turn defeat into victory?" asked Jack as he looked around the room.

Like usual, the main table they gathered around had a crude map of the area of Murgullah centered on it. Jack called it crude because it was an old map of the city that had been scavenged from a nearby house and it really only showed detail on the northern approaches to the city. The rest of the map had been torn off with the passage of time.

"One thing is for certain," said Greg as he looked around. "We can't use numbers to our advantage. We're still heavily outnumbered."

"So we'll rely more on tactics," replied Jack. "And this seems to be good terrain to do such a thing."

"Aye, I can agree with that," added Art. "The northern approaches to Murgullah are excellent defensive ground. We can assume the Swabians will come down the northern road and use their superior numbers to force their way into the city. We can make them pay heavily for that."

"Why is that, Art?" asked Aedan. "What's so good about the ground?"

Art stood up and gestured to the hilly terrain just outside the northern gate of the city. "The city itself is built on the coastal lowlands but the coast shoots out to the east as you move further north. There's one road that follows an ancient valley going north--the same road that we descended on our way here. The nice thing about that road is that it's the lowest point in the entire valley. It's surrounded on both sides by hills."

"Not just any hills either," added Jack. "These are more like cliffs in some spots. It's jagged, rocky terrain, much like the coastal formation that's been directly to our west since we've been here."

"I think if we got the proper amount of forces in place, we wouldn't even have to use guns," said Art. "We could just roll rocks down on the heads of the Swabians."

"And they will for sure come down this road?" asked Neil. "Is there no other route to the city?"

Greg was the first to speak up. "There are two other roads. A southern road which seems unlikely since the bulk of the Swabian Army is in the north. There's also a western road that leads deeper into the interior but from our reconnaissance, it seems unlikely they would be able to send a major force through the interior and then cut back in that direction. There just wouldn't be enough time."

"And the Swabians are stubborn enough to want to force their way through the north, no matter the consequences," added Jack. "They don't care how many men have to die as long as they are masters of the city by the end of it. To me, that represents a unique opportunity."

"So what are you thinking then, Jack?" asked Neil.

Jack took a moment to draw some lines on the map. "I'm thinking we position our troops along the cliffs on either side. We draw the Swabians closer to the city and once they're deep enough, we open fire on three sides at once. We'll decimate whoever gets caught on that road."

"But we need to make sure they take the bait," said Aedan. "What's to stop them from occupying the cliffs on their own and coming down on the flanks of the men we have stationed there?"

"Bait," answered Art succinctly.

Aedan blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"What I mean is that we station troops on the main road as far out as we can and have them steadily give ground while the Swabians pursue," replied Art. "They won't be able to resist a smaller force in their way and will have no option but to follow them as they pursue. As long as everything goes right, we can draw in the bulk of their army and spring the trap."

"Something tells me this won't be that easy though," said Aedan as he crossed his arms. "Don't they have airplanes as well? Won't they be able to see our forces waiting to spring the trap?"

"We'll have to have our planes guarding the battlefield as well," said Jack. "We'll need to stop them from getting direct reconnaissance over our lines. But in case that fails, the men will have to hide themselves. It shouldn't be too hard with this terrain. Much of it is overgrown in this area. As long as they stay low, they will be incredibly hard to spot from the air. We can also get support from the navy now that it's here in force. We'll be able to keep a steady fire on their position and cause a lot of chaos for them."

"It seems a little risky that we concentrate so much of our force on this one northern approach," said Neil. "What about the other two routes? South and West? Should we not have men to guard those as well just in case?"

Jack shared an apprehensive look with Art and Greg. "We don't have enough men to concentrate on both tasks. We have to make a number of assumptions. One, that the Swabians aren't concentrated with any force in the south."

"And that's been confirmed by aerial reconnaissance," added Greg.

"And two is that they won't strike from the west because they won't be able to get a force through in time," said Jack. "However, we can't afford to station no one there. I'll have a few regiments put there just in case but it'll be those that took the heaviest beating during the last battle. Men who could use the rest. Any questions about this plan?"

For a moment, the room was silent. Greg managed to shake his head while Art seemed to be studying the map for more answers. Only Aedan met Jack's eyes directly.

"It seems just a little too easy," said the Picard King. "We draw the Swabians into our trap and expect them to just keep pushing until they're surrounded? They aren't the brightest people but even I'd smell a trap when I saw such a force in front of me."

Jack spread his hands. "It's about the only option we have on this terrain. If you have another plan, I'm willing to listen to it."

Aedan's eyes flickered back to the map and then to Jack's. "No, this will have to do then."

Jack nodded. "All right, it's settled. Let's get the men into position. The Swabians will be here tomorrow."

*****

"What exactly does he think he's doing?"

General Ferberg muttered quietly as he examined his own map of the area of Murgullah--the one marked with the starting positions of the Allied Army as evidenced by the information from his scouts. It was the day after the Allied war conference and Ferberg's forces were now within striking distance of the city.

And so far, the Allied position didn't seem to make any sense whatsoever.

Ferberg studied the map intensely to find sense in the current placement of Allied troops. His scouts had run into a well-defended group about two miles north of the city. Their position occupied the road and the immediate environs on either side but the reported size was far lesser than the total size of the Allied Army.

So that begged the question--where was the rest of the Allied Army?

Ferberg thought he knew where it was. He knew the territory of Murgullah well, and he understood that the road into the city was prone to ambush. Even though he had no reconnaissance data to support him, he suspected the Allied plan was to draw in a portion of his army and then ambush it once it was closer to Murgullah. It was just the sort of move he would pull himself if the shoe was on the other foot, but Ferberg had an advantage that the Allies hadn't considered.

He now had a sizeable force under General Aviz that was marching double time to move through the overgrown interior and attack from the west. His last communication with Aviz's forces was that they'd managed to find the western road into Murgullah and were now moving with all possible speed toward the city.

They would be there by dusk.

And if their attack just so happened to be coordinated with the northern attack into the city, Ferberg hoped to crush the Allied Army between his two forces, achieving the ultimate victory he was looking for.

But this movement would have to be timed correctly. Aviz's force was still smaller than the entire Allied Army. If he moved too quickly, Ferberg risked the total concentration of the Allies on Aviz's smaller force, which would be enough to destroy it. There was also the risk of the Allied Navy, which could create a lot of havoc on his own coastal forces if they lingered too long in achieving their goal.

No, he would have to keep the Allies fixed on the northern road for just long enough. That meant he would need to attack with full strength before Aviz was in position.

It also meant springing the Allies' trap for now. A good number of his own men would die today in such an ambush but their deaths would be necessary. Even if he took heavy casualties today, it would mean crushing the only army that could stop the expansion of Swabian power.