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any signs of Heggies coming out.
    "Still following the plan," Walker said. "We're to move east and establish a perimeter, hold until the rest of the force lands. Take your platoon due east about a kilometer and take up positions. First platoon to your right, third to the left."
    "Where are they bringing in the heavy stuff?" Joe asked.
    "Farther west."
    "I hope they've got something besides this moss to set down on."
    Walker didn't bother to reply.
    Joe relayed the orders to squad leaders and deployed the platoon. The footing remained treacherous. The slick moss seemed to cover every square centimeter of the rocks.
    It'll make everyone keep their heads down anyway, Joe thought. The troopers scuttled along on hands and knees. Where there was any significant slope, they had to move on bellies, scraping away moss to get at the rock below in the worst places. It didn't take long for men to discover that the rock below the moss was extremely hot to the touch, almost scorching, even so soon after dawn. The moss itself did not feel particularly hot. Somehow, it absorbed sunlight and passed the heat on to the rock layer without holding much of it.
    Joe stayed close to first squad, the squad he had led before he got the entire platoon. Even after more than a year as platoon sergeant, Joe still thought of first squad as "his." He knew the men in the other three squads better now, but that had not yet completely broken old habits. The men of first squad viewed it as a mixed blessing.
    All eight infantry companies were on the ground now, spread over the western section of the rocky area and beyond. Shuttles were beginning to bring in the Havocs and support vans for the 13th's Wasps and Havocs. Other shuttles were bringing in the engineers and their equipment. The 8th SAT and one of the light infantry regiments were landing at separate locations to assist in taking Site Alpha.
    Everybody rides but us, Joe thought.
    The men of Echo Company had no chance to set up a defensive perimeter once they had covered the first kilometer of rock. New orders came through. They were to move another four kilometers east, closer to the enemy.
    Crossing five kilometers of the slippery rocks was painfully slow. Long before Joe had covered the first kilometer, his knees were scraped raw beneath his battle fatigues. His elbows and hands were also cut and scraped. Every muscle in his body ached. The forty kilos of gear he carried felt like a ton.
    Echo was too far from the Schlinal depot to be in range of most small arms fire. Wire couldn't begin to reach. But there were clearly a few snipers with rifles that could strike at more than five kilometers.
    "Keep down," Joe warned. "Those aren't mosquitoes whizzing around."
    Second platoon suffered no casualties from the light sniper fire, but one man in third platoon was hit below his visor. The neck wound ripped the man's carotid artery. Before a medic could get to him, the man was dead.
    After consulting with the first sergeant, Joe called a break for his men. Then he just flopped, cheek against the moss, while he dragged in several deep breaths.
    Can't get enough air, he thought, uncertain whether the slight difference between Tamkailo's atmosphere and those he was familiar with could be that noticeable. All in my head maybe, he acknowledged.
    After a moment, he rolled onto his side, almost on his back (his pack prevented him from getting fully supine). He lifted his helmet visor just long enough to wipe sweat from his face. The perspiration had been pouring into his eyes almost from the start of this crawl, stinging, burning.
    Off in the distance, he could see aircraft fighting, more than a dozen planes. I hope our guys keep 'em busy, he thought. We'd be easy pickings here. The rocks might give decent cover against enemy rifle fire, but a strafing airplane would mow through them.
    "Let's get moving again," he said over his link to the platoon's squad leaders. "We're too exposed here."
    —|—
    Zel sent three of