Fourth Vector Ch. 47

"A woman, Sire? What do you mean?"

"I mean just what I said," said Bancroft. "When was the last time many of them felt a woman's legs wrapped around their waists?"

Menard stammered for several moments before answering the question. "Most of my men are young and unmarried. There's always whores at the garrisons, but it's usually the uncouth ones that only service soldiers. Most of them could be mistaken for farm animals in the wrong light. I doubt most of these men have had a woman who didn't have legs hairier than theirs."

"Well, that's something we'll have to rectify," said Bancroft. "I want it to be known that beyond the higher payer, my Elite Guard will give certain perks to the best men that are able to join their ranks. To that matter, I'm going to empty the brothels in Belfort tonight, on my own coin of course. Five hundred of the best whores in the city will descend on your barracks by nightfall. Give the men the night off and have them enjoy themselves for their efforts."

Menard's eyes went wide. "That's incredibly generous, Sire. I'm sure the men will love that."

"See to it that they do," said Bancroft sternly. "And remind them of whose generosity provided those whores. Make sure they know that their loyalty to their emperor will always be rewarded. In return, I expect fidelity until death. Is that clear, Colonel?"

"Crystal clear, Sire. I will remind them that it is only by your hand that they are able to enjoy the soft touch of a woman."

Bancroft grinned. "Excellent, Colonel. I think you and I are going to get along very well."

With those words, Bancroft rose from his seat and approached the door. Before he left, he stopped and looked at Menard.

"Grab two whores for your exclusive use tonight, Colonel," said Bancroft. "Have you ever been with two women at the same time before?"

Menard gulped and shook his head.

"You must experience it for yourself. Do so at my express orders and remember that such delights will be forthcoming as long as you obey my every command."

Before Bancroft could leave, he saw the first hint of a smile appear on Menard's face.

"Thank you, Sire. I will do as you command at all times."

Bancroft left the barracks a very happy and satisfied man.

No doubt, the rest of these men would feel the same way after tonight.

*****

Trevor placed a damp cloth against Nina's forehead, wiping away the sweat that had accumulated on her brow. In the past twenty-four hours, she'd gotten worse. At this point in time, she was no longer conscious, but her body was trembling every so often as it struggled to battle against whatever was causing her to feel this way.

"Is there anything else we can do?" asked Trevor to one of the medics with his force, an older Tyrolean man who'd been a doctor in his village.

The older man shook his head. "We keep her comfortable for now, at least until we can figure out what's affecting her and the others. It's a most strange malady that attacks them now, one that I feel like I've seen before but I cannot place right now."

The medic's words reminded Trevor that at least ten others were down with similar conditions in his camp right now, all part of the senior leadership that was close to him. No one else in the army had reported similar circumstances and it looked to be confined to this small group.

Trevor had to suspect foul play as one of the options. How could something be this targeted against the leadership of the army?

And why hadn't it gotten to him yet?

The flap to Trevor's tent opened and Gavin stuck his head in. His eyes focused on Trevor.

"Trevor, we're ready to attack. The men are in place. We need you."

Trevor sighed and looked back at Nina. He reached out to grab her hand, squeezing it gently. It shocked him to find that her touch was cold and clammy, almost as if she was on the brink of death.

"You'll send word to me if her condition worsens, won't you?" asked Trevor to the medic.

The medic nodded. "Of course, sir. Go on now, she's not in mortal danger at the present time."

That statement was less comforting than Trevor would have liked. The truth of the matter was that two others that had been afflicted weren't expected to make it throughout the day. If Nina was in that much danger, he didn't want to leave her side.

However, there was his duty to consider. He had a duty to lead this army against their enemies, and the Javans cared little for his personal feelings.

Such was the nature of leadership. Personal feelings were always sacrificed for the public appearance. Trevor just hoped that by the time he got back, Nina wouldn't have gotten any worse.

With one last squeeze of the hand, Trevor left the tent in the medic's hands and emerged outside with Gavin.

"Any changes?" asked his deputy.

"None," said Trevor curtly. "Come on, let's get to the position."

Gavin accepted the gruffness of his answer and didn't raise any further questions. For now, bigger things were afoot, and today was the day when they would engage the Javan Army and hopefully push it back decisively. For the past few days, Trevor's forces had been ramping up their pressure on the Javan right flank, anchored in the southern hills just a short distance away from Trevor's position.

That right flank had been the subject of repeated pressure to the point that the Javans had now reinforced it with more men, pulling their troops from their center and left flank in order to do so.

It was just the kind of movement that Trevor wanted. His plan was to smash through the left flank that was anchored on the Narbo River, and in doing so, force the Javans to retreat back up the road to Belfort.

If a decisive victory could be gained today against the Javans on their own soil, it was believed that peace could be within sight. There was only a few hundred miles between the two armies and Belfort, and if they continued to push back the Javan Army, sooner or later there would be nowhere else to go.

First, they had to break the army in front of them. It was only yesterday that Trevor heard the news about the reinforced right flank. Taking the last twenty-four hours to reposition his men, he now had the bulk of his forces lined up along his right flank, directly opposite the sparsely defended Javan left flank on the river. The rest of his troops were opposite the Javan right flank, where they would kick off the attack with a strong feint against this position.

He was weakest in his center, where he was bargaining that Ryan wouldn't have the confidence to strike back against his forces. All the action today would be on the wings of the army if Trevor could help it.

For now though, he had to get into position. He followed Gavin forward to where the bulk of the troops were gathered on their right flank. All of the men were dug into the soft earth near the river. For the sake of secrecy, they'd been ordered to keep movements and talking to a minimum, with the hope being that the Javans wouldn't notice the shuffling of forces.

So far, all appeared calm on this side of the battlefield. The men scarcely moved as Trevor walked through their positions, stopping near a clearing that looked out on the bend in the river where the Javan Army was anchored.

"How's the situation been here this morning?" Trevor asked Gavin. "Any sign that they're aware we're here?"

Gavin shook his head. "From what I can tell, they don't suspect a thing. We can tell there's less of them as they shifted more men over the night. So far, we're not expecting much resistance when this whole thing kicks off."

"Good, let's get word to Monty on the left flank then," replied Trevor, referencing a lower level commander who was in charge of the Tyrolean left. "Let's get our feint moving. I'm in the mood for blood."

Gavin gave him a long look before giving the order but thankfully, he said nothing further. No doubt, he knew why Trevor was anxious to start fighting, and it was all because of one woman fighting for her life back in their camp.

Gavin used their radio to give the signal over to Monty. It was acknowledged right away, as Monty was as anxious to get moving on this attack as they were.

Suddenly, the quiet sounds of nature around them was interrupted by the sounds of mortars going off in the distance. Following the mortars, the sound of small arms fire could be heard on the Tyrolean left flank.

Trevor put his binoculars up and looked out upon the Javans in front of them. They'd heard the noise but many of them only had a passing interest in it. That made a lot of sense to Trevor, as for the past few days, they would have heard all the sounds of fighting on their right flank, far away from where they were.

Today though, it would be different. These Javans didn't know two things were different today. The first was that the attack on the Javan right flank was more ferocious than the raids that had occurred before.

The second was that very soon, these Javans in front of them would find themselves overwhelmed with just more than a third of the entire Tyrolean Army attacking their position.

They soon seemed to understand the first point. Nearly twenty-five minutes after the attack began, Trevor observed movement on the flank. No doubt, they understood the ferocity of the attack and were shuffling their troops now.

This was the best moment to strike. The men were unprepared and in a state of flux.

"Attack now," said Trevor to Gavin. "Give them everything we've got."

Gavin nodded and gave the order to his lower level commanders. All the mortar teams went forward, clearing the trees for open ground and readying their ordnance for attack.

The attack kicked off like fireworks on a summer evening. An explosion of fire and blood ripped into the Javan flank on the river, completely paralyzing the position. After several mortars were unleashed, the bulk of the Tyrolean Army moved forward, using the terrain to their advantage as they closed on their unsuspecting enemies. Gunfire was short to start but soon it became steady as they moved their way forward, crashing into the first enemy foxholes.

Trevor observed the fight from afar. The Javans closest to the front lines were sitting ducks. Shell-shocked by the sudden rush of mortars, they had no time to prepare to act against the sudden rush. Many of them were killed outright in the first minutes of the battle, their holes occupied by Trevor's men as they continued to push forward.

The Javans never could get a defensive toehold against their attackers. There were just too few of them to resist the rush of Tyroleans that continued to move forward. Soon enough, the advance troops radioed back to Gavin about capturing a Javan colonel near the rear ranks of the flank, totally crushing the troops that had been defending there. On the extreme Tyrolean right, the attackers were now following the bend in the river, but those closest to the Javans were now instructed to pivot to the south, where the bulk of the Javans were.

It was at this point that Gavin's radio went off with a request from Monty on the Tyrolean left.

"Gavin, are your men making ground?" asked Monty through the radio. "My men are getting butchered over here. My casualties are out of control. We need to end the feint attack!"

Trevor gestured for the radio to be passed over so he could talk to Monty directly.

"Just keep up your pressure a little longer, Monty," instructed Trevor. "Our men have broken through the Javan flank and are now putting pressure on the center. Just hold on."

Monty's response was less than confident. "We'll try our best, sir."

That last thing that Trevor wanted was for the Javans to be able to shift their men toward the center to block off his attacking men, but he also didn't want Monty's flank to cave in from the attack either. In such a case, all the Javans would have to do was push forward, and they would negate any gains made by Trevor's men against the other flank.

Monty's flank just had to hold a little longer.

It was only twenty minutes later that another request came in from Monty.

"Sir, I'm respectfully requesting that you end this feint attack at once," pleaded Monty, his voice full of panic. "If the Javans attack us now, they'll shatter our flank!"

Placed in a hard position, Trevor finally acquiesced to Monty's request.

"Pull back and look to the integrity of your forces, Monty," replied Trevor. "We'll take it from here."

At this point, Trevor passed the radio back to Gavin. "Full attack on the center now. We need to distract the Javans on the flank to protect ours. Give the order."

Minutes later, the smallest force of Tyroleans, those posted to the center, plowed ahead into the Javan position. The attackers that originally started on the Tyrolean right flank were now nearing the center, collapsing all opposition in their way.

Those victorious Javans on Tyrolean left now found themselves being fired upon from two sides, and it was only a short while later that their confidence fled.

By midday, the battle was nearly over. It had only lasted three hours in total but those Tyroleans closest to the front were reporting that the Javans were abandoning their fixed positions and pulling back along the road to Belfort.

"Sir, it's the greatest thing I've ever seen," said a jubilant lieutenant as he reported to Gavin. "Those that can run are doing so at great speed right now while those that can't are throwing down their weapons. I have at least five hundred surrendered Javans right here in front of me right now and that's just my sector!"

Other sectors reported similar findings. Those that surrendered to Trevor's forces were mostly old and infirm, men whose fighting years were long since past. It was a stark reminder of the situation that Java found herself in with the lack of manpower after so many years of devastating war.

"Trevor, you won't believe this," said Gavin finally, as they moved forward to the old Javan positions after the battle. "By all accounts, we've taken about six thousand prisoners. A good portion of them are older men, with some young ones sprinkled in as well. We're still collecting the dead, but so far the count is in the thousands, very heavy on the Javan left flank but we're expecting to have caused at least ten thousand casualties to the Javans today."

"What about our own casualties?" asked Trevor. "Has Monty reported back on the damage to his men?"

Gavin nodded soberly. "He took nearly two thousand casualties in the process. They paid a heavy price for distracting the bulk of the Javan Army."

"By my account then, we should be nearly on par with the Javan forces now in front of us," said Trevor. "And it seems most of those that got away were the younger men."

Gavin grinned. "More than likely, they were scared out of their minds. If Bancroft has only boys left to defend Belfort, we can potentially win this war for good."

Trevor allowed himself to feel a degree of elation at the victory. "And it adds another victory against General Ryan. I'd hate to be in his shoes right now. The man must be a nervous wreck."

"More than likely, he'll be removed by Bancroft now. Or just flat out executed for his failure. In any event, who would they replace him with?"

"Nobody of consequence we can hope," muttered Trevor. He looked toward the sky to get an approximation of the time. He'd been away from his headquarters for a number of hours now, and there had been no word about Nina in the interim. He hoped she was okay, and he looked forward to letting her know the news when he got back to camp.

Unfortunately, the lack of word wouldn't hold for very long. Trevor's radio went off as they continued to collect the dead.

"Trevor, this is Medic Kole. Can you come back to headquarters as soon as you are able?"

Trevor had never moved so fast in his life. Putting Gavin in charge of the rest of the army, he practically ran back to his original camp, yanking open the tent flap to find the medic and Nina.

Initially, Trevor's spirits soared when he found that Nina was awake.

They soured when he saw the look on the medic's face. It wasn't long after that when Trevor noticed that Nina was crying.

He rushed to her side. "I'm here, love. Everything's okay. It's okay."

Nina shook her head with what little strength she had. "It's not okay, Trevor. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault for being sick," he explained, grabbing her hand. "We're going to make you better, I promise you that."

Nina's eyes fell on the medic. "Tell him please."

"Tell me what?"

Trevor turned his head to look at the medic, who was now standing on the opposite side of Nina's cot.

It was then that he realized that the lower half of her cot was stained with blood.

"Please, outside for a moment, Trevor?" asked Kole. "We need to talk."

Trevor marched outside quickly, yanking the medic with him.

"What's wrong? Is she going to be all right?"

Kole let out a deep breath and nodded. "I think the worst has passed for her. Her vitals are starting to recover but there's something you need to know."

Trevor gave him a confused look. "What?"

"The baby didn't make it."

It felt like someone slammed a sledgehammer into Trevor's stomach. Did he hear that right?

"The baby? What do you mean the baby?" asked Trevor.

Kole shook his head. "Nina was pregnant, sir."

Just like that, Trevor found the strength leaving his legs. Before he knew it, he was on the ground as his eyes welled up with tears. His hand started to shake as he tried to make sense of the medic's words.

The medic put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She will live though, sir. She'll have to go through a period of recovery but I have every inclination that she'll get through this."

"Why?" asked Trevor. "What happened? What caused this?"

"This was no natural infection," replied the medic. "This has every indication of being something foreign, like poison. It would explain the responses in the others who've become sick as well."

"Poison?" repeated Trevor. "How?"

"Very likely within the food supply. Easiest way to introduce something that would go undetected otherwise."

Trevor managed to get to his feet. He grabbed the medic's arm and yanked him closer. "You will instruct my men to find whoever did this. I want this poisoner to be found and brought to me at once. Find out who did this immediately!"

The strength of Trevor's grip made Medic Kole a little frightful. "Of course, sir. Right away!"

He walked away, only to run headlong into one of the member's of Trevor's security force. Judging by the frenzied reaction, the security forces were soon underway to find the culprit.

Satisfied for the moment, Trevor summoned his courage and entered the tent. His eyes shied away from the dried blood on Nina's cot as he moved closer, kneeling beside her.

Nina's eyes were on him suddenly. "I'm so sorry, Trevor."

"Shh," he interrupted. "You have nothing to apologize for."

She bit her lip as her eyes welled up with tears. "I... I had a suspicion. Not confirmed but I had a... feeling. This was the worst way I wanted to find out."

"It's okay," lied Trevor, trying to be brave for her. "You're going to be just fine. We're not going to lose you too. Just the... just the..."

Try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to say the word baby. It was just too much for him now, a future that had been robbed of them.

A tear fell down her cheek. "I'd rather have died to let that child live."

Those were the last words said of any consequence. For the next two hours, Trevor just held her, not wanting to let go or face the truth of what happened. At least Nina wasn't as feverish as before. The cramps were subsiding as well, and she was more lifelike than before.

She was still dreadfully exhausted though, and she fell asleep by the time of nightfall.