go quickly now.' Heifetz scanned the earnest faces. 'Everyone has a hard copy of the order? Yes? Good. The flow copies and all of the supporting data are being loaded into your on-board control systems at this time. Each of you will run a standard up-load check immediately upon the termination of this meeting.'
Heifetz touched a button on his remote control, and a bright map filled the briefing screen, covering the area of the Soviet Union from Novosibirsk in the northeast to Dushanbe in the southeast, then west as far as Yerevan and back north to Perm. A second button filled the map with colored symbols and lines, green denoting the positions of the enemy, red for the Soviets, and a tiny spot of blue marking the assembly area of the Seventh Cavalry. The little blue island was separated from the green enemy sea by only a thin, broken reef of red symbols.
'As the S-2 briefed you,' Heifetz continued, 'the Soviet front east of the Urals is in a state of virtual collapse. Our mission… is to attack the enemy in depth, with the immediate intent of destroying or dramatically disrupting key elements of his forces so that the Soviets are allowed time to reestablish an integrated defense. Beyond that, it is the overarching intent of the President of the United States to send a message to the enemy that we will not permit the dismemberment of the USSR by external powers.'
Heifetz waved the remote at the screen. The image dissolved, then the map reappeared with a more detailed representation of the actual operational area of the Seventh Cavalry, still covering almost half the territory of the initial situation map. The friendly and enemy positions still showed, but now blue arrows and control measures began to trace over the battlefield.
'Execution,' Heifetz said. 'The Seventh United States Regiment of Cavalry crosses its line of departure beginning at 2400 hours, local. First Squadron, with fourteen operational M-l00s of sixteen authorized, leads on the left flank. First Squadron has the greatest distance to cover. You will deploy along axis Red-one, as shown here, in route south to Objective Ruby in the vicinity of Karaganda. During the passage of lines, all Soviet air defense systems will be under orders not to engage unless specifically attacked. Of course, we know that some of them may not get the word, so, on a practical level it means we will risk going with only our passive defense up until we cross the line of departure. There is no point in giving our enemies advance warning that something is coming their wav. In any case, your scout drones will be immediately preceded by unmanned light cavalry jammers from the Tenth Cav forward detachment. In-depth electronic warfare support — we're talking very deep — has been laid on by the Air Force.'
'Don't hold your breath,' someone mumbled from the audience. There was a splash of gloomy laughter.
'Knock off the bullshit,' Taylor said in annoyance. 'This is war. We're all on the same side now, and I don t want to hear any more of that crap.' The colonel looked back over the rows of officers, a fierce parent. Then he settled back down into his chair. 'Go ahead, Dave.'
'First Squadron does not engage unless fired upon prior to reaching Objective Ruby. I know you're going to be looking for a fight.' Heifetz said, 'and there will be plenty of stray targets out there. But your target-acquisition systems are initially going to pick up mostly junk that belongs to the rebel forces. And there may even be roving pockets of Soviets out there who have been cut off. We can't sort them out, since their equipment is essentially identical— and, anyway, we're after the Japanese-built gear. Which brings us back to Ruby and Karaganda. As Merry briefed you, there are two principal targets in the objective area.' The screen narrowed its focus all the way down to the area under discussion. 'First, the most critical target — the Japanese maintenance facilities and the forward marshaling yards. I think that is what the old American Army called a 'target-rich environment.' There are over a thousand of the latest Japanese fighting systems on the ground at Karaganda, awaiting greater or lesser repairs. The volume… is irreplaceable. Further, the maintenance facility itself is a critical node. The Iranians — and the Arabs — are breaking their gear like toys. And if the Japanese can't repair the stuff, it's useless. I know what you are thinking: you want to kill shooters. But the maintenance facility is your primary target.
'Your secondary target at Ruby is the assembly and reconstitution area for the III Iranian Corps. They've pulled off-line to reorganize while the rebels carry the fighting northward. And they've grown overconfident. The sin of pride. The Iranians are just sitting there. You've seen the imagery. Barely an attempt at camouflage, no meaningful dispersion. They are so sure that the Soviets cannot touch them any longer.'
Heifetz switched back to the midsize operations map. 'Anticipated time on station vicinity Ruby is twenty minutes for either target area. Dismounted operations are not planned, except for the local protection of disabled systems. All right. Following action at Ruby, First Squadron continues along axis Red-two, with the mission of screening the left flank of the regiment. You have a long flight ahead of you, so you must not become distracted by insignificant targets of opportunity. You're on picket duty in case the Japanese have a surprise up their sleeves and get some sort of interceptors up into the air fast. You will be the first element across the line of departure, and the last to close. You will come in to Assembly Area Silver here, near Orsk. The S-4 will have fuelers waiting for you, and you'll need them. Axis Red stretches the capabilities of the M-100 to the maximum. Finally, some very good news,' Heifetz began, telling the closest thing he could manage to a joke, but without the slightest trace of a smile. 'I will be flying just off-echelon from First Squadron to help the regimental commander control the flank defense effort. I will not, of course, be interfering with the command of the squadron, but I will be there to keep you all company.'
The officers of First Squadron, gathered behind their commander, groaned theatrically. It was all right. Heifetz was glad they could still make a joke of things.
'Any questions, First Squadron?'
Lieutenant Colonel Tercus, the squadron commander, shook his head.
'It's just a long goddamned way,' Tercus said. 'But we've got good horses.'
'Any chance of getting those two down systems back up before you lift off?' Taylor asked the squadron commander.
'Doesn't look good. The motor officer's working on one of them right now. That's a straightforward hydraulics problem, but we're missing a part.'
Taylor looked at Martinez.
'Shortage item, sir,' the supply officer said. 'We're authorized three on PLL, but we've already used them. It's turning out to be another bug they haven't gotten out of the system. We're trying to get an emergency issue from the States, but I can't even promise you the manufacturer's got spares. They may have to strip them from the new birds coming off the line.'
'How about the birds that are down in the other squadrons, Manny?' Taylor asked. 'It's your call. If the regimental motor officer has one he doesn't think he can fix by mission time, let's cannibalize it. We need every possible system up in the air.'
'What we might as well do, then,' Martinez said, 'is cannibalize Bravo one-four right in First Squadron. She's never going to be back up in time for the mission. Software problem. That way we can keep the can-job under control within one squadron.'
'How bad is Bravo one-four,' Taylor asked, 'really?'
Martinez looked at him earnestly. 'Sir, she's not going to be back up in time for this war. The software problem's bad. It's depot-level maintenance.'
Taylor turned to Tercus, the First Squadron commander. 'Bud,' he said, 'I'm going to do a job on you. Sorry.' Then he turned back to Martinez. 'Manny, I want you to write off Bravo one-four. Combat loss. Then strip it for every damned part you're short. Get every bird up that you can in all three squadrons.'
'Yes, sir.'
'Dave?' Taylor shifted his attention back to the operations officer. 'Go ahead. Give us what you got.' Heifetz cleared his throat. 'Second Squadron,' he began, 'you will deploy along axis White-one to an initial target concentration vicinity of Objective Diamond, near Tselinograd. The Iranians and the rebels have clusterfucked themselves around in there. They're probably massing for the big push into western Siberia, to the northwest of the Kokchetav sector. A successful attack on Diamond takes the pressure off the seam between the two Soviet armies just to the north and turns the tables by splitting the enemy's front in two. Gut the forces near Tselinograd, and the breakthrough area to the northwest starts to look extremely vulnerable.'
Heifetz traced along the continuation of Second Squadron's route. 'Following a thirty-minute action on a broad front at Diamond, Second Squadron continues the attack along axis White-two to Objective Sapphire, engaging significant targets of opportunity en route. Sapphire wraps around Arkalyk — here — where the Japanese have another forward maintenance site with extensive yards. Your mission here is identical to First Squadron's
