He didn’t need that permission, and they all knew it. He was simply making Tinnen March complicit in his plans. The commander was still staring at him speechlessly when he turned and hurried off.
Edinja watched him go without comment, her mind already working through the choices she would have when he returned. Without glancing at Tinnen March, she said, “Hadn’t you better get working on a plan for defense of the city, now that you know what we are up against?”
March and his adjutants moved quickly away.
Keeton caught up with Wint as he was speaking with another two-man pilot from First Response. “What have you found out about those soldiers in the watchtowers?” he asked his second.
The other shrugged. “March gave no order for their return, so they’re still out there. I have a transport and five flits standing by to go get them. Unless you want to let them try it on their own. They might have time for that. That army doesn’t seem in any hurry to do anything.”
“Maybe. But they were quick enough to send someone after us when we left the protection of the city walls. I don’t like the idea of those people trying to get back here on an open road. It’s two miles front to back, and that’s too far.”
“A transport then?”
Keeton shook his head. “Too cumbersome. Speed and maneuverability are important. Let’s use sleds. Hook them to the flits, fly them out, load them up, and make a run for it.”
Wint grinned. “Sleds, huh? Can I drive?”
The sleds were wooden platforms with rings and loops for tying down ropes and chains. The platforms rested on steel rails filed and sanded down until their surfaces were so hard and smooth, they could skim over rocks and hardpan and not shatter. Mostly, the sleds were used for quick supply transport rather than for conveying soldiers, but they would serve the latter purpose here just as well.
Wint was already ordering a team of First Response soldiers to the storage lockers to haul out four of the sleds to hook up to the flits. Keeton went to help, deciding to switch the rail slings in favor of fire launchers. Rail slings might not be enough against whatever was out there. The effort took less than twenty minutes, and when everything was ready he called pilots and weapons officers together.
“This is the plan. We have four flits with sleds to rescue the men and women in the twelve towers bracketing the approach road. We’ll start with the ones that are farthest away and work our way back. Fly out, swing around so we’re facing toward the city, land on the road, load everyone aboard, then pull for the city. When the soldiers in the towers closest to the city see what we’re about, they’ll come down to ground level right away and we’ll load them, too. They might even start out on their own.”
He paused. “The second and I will be in the last flit, flying interference against anything that gets too close.”
“It won’t be easy getting everyone aboard the sleds,” Wint said. “There are a lot of people in those towers.”
Keeton gave him a look and then directed it toward the others. “Everyone comes back. No one gets left behind.”
He beckoned them close. “No heroics. No unnecessary risks. We don’t know exactly what we are up against, and that’s part of what we’re going out there to discover. But let’s not make that discovery the hard way.”
They murmured their acquiescence. Eight soldiers—five men and three women. He knew them all. None of them had combat experience of the sort they were about to encounter. Nor had he. It was a definitive moment for all of them. Training and character would be tested. The Prime Minister and the military high command would be watching.
But he didn’t tell them that. They didn’t need to know any of it to do their jobs. They just needed to remember who they were and what they were about.
“Wint, assign the towers for each two-man and let’s fly.”
He broke the circle, and the eight members of the First Response team caught the Second’s quick orders and raced to board their vessels.
Atop the walls above the west gates, Edinja Orle was watching them. She saw Keeton speaking to his team, watched as he dispatched them to their flits and then boarded his own with his second. Quick and efficient, no hesitation, no delay. The flits powered up, then one by one they rose into the golden light of late afternoon. She squinted at the sky for a moment. It was a clear, cloudless day, but the sun was sinking fast over the western horizon, its rays lancing into the eyes of the fliers as they raced toward their targets. What must that be like, flying half blind at an unknown enemy?
She kept watching as the flits crossed above the wall and sped toward the watchtowers, towing the sleds behind them. Clever of Keeton to think of using sleds instead of transports. She didn’t like the man, but she admired his intelligence. His manners could be improved but she couldn’t find fault with his military skills.
She glanced down the wall to where Tinnen March was conferring with his officers in a heated discussion. She saw them all gesturing at him, saw him shake his head and walk away.