The Cresperian Alliance Read Online Free PDF Page B

as little as necessary. Your only job is to reassure your fellow Cresperians and induce them to come with us. We do not want to lose you. Am I making myself clear on this?"
    "Yes, colonel.” The Crispy ducked her head but Bangler saw the little smile that appeared on her face before she did. He began to wonder how much trouble she was going to be. Somebody has her own ideas on how things are going to go down, I suspect, he decided.
    Chadwick resumed. “Then I think we should move on. We have little enough time as it is. Ladies and gentlemen, I call your attention to the screen again.” A map of the British Isles appeared. Within seconds, it zoomed in to the main island. “For those who are unfamiliar with the geography, this is the island we normally call England, but which is actually the United Kingdom of Great Britain, consisting of England, Scotland and Wales. The totality of the kingdom also includes Northern Ireland, but that is irrelevant to us at this point. Our mission and objective is located in Scotland, here.” A pointer moved, then the map zoomed in further to the northern third of the island, leaving only Scotland, a bit of England below it, and the seas around it.
    "As you can see—” the pointer shifted to a small circle near the coast of the northern mainland between the Outer Hebrides and Orkney Islands. “This is the North Sea area. The waves run high here with few natural barriers or harbors to ameliorate them. There are a few fjord-type structures in the coastline, however. We'll be coming in from the north, making our drop almost directly onto our objective. We break in, pick up the Crispies, then follow this valley back to the sea. Shortly before and during the mission every attempt will be made to blanket all electronic communications. I don't expect us to cut off all data warning of what's going on, but we do hope to seriously confuse matters until we can make our escape. Besides the electronic interference we anticipate some help by a few diversionary attacks nearby to help draw off the defenses. However, whether or not they take place, we go.
    "Bear in mind here that everything, and I do mean everything, is timed. There are no contingency plans and no allowances for delays. We go in, do our job and get out on time or we don't get out. End of story."
    Chadwick stared grimly at his audience. Bangler thought he was doing his utmost to convey the seriousness of his statement. He personally believed the Colonel. For all his ordinariness, there was a hard look about him. Bangler was willing to bet that his tunic concealed a set of extremely well developed muscles.
    "First squad will be point, doing the initial break-in. Second squad, with Sira attached, will be next and they will make the actual recovery while first squad lends whatever help inside is needed. Third squad will wait outside and cover while the recovery is made, and also provide fire on the flanks while First and Second run for the sub, with First protecting Second and Second protecting the Crispies AT ALL COST! I cannot emphasize that enough.
    "I'm going to leave this with the individual squads for now. You'll have all the maps and data you need, concerning anticipated defenses, terrain, anticipated weather—I can tell you now it will be bad—and all other intelligence we have been able to gather.
    "I'll see you all back here tomorrow morning at 0800 for integration of your operational plans. We leave the day after that at 0400. One more thing.” He glanced at his watch. “I'll give you all from now until the noon meal to watch television. I suggest you do so. It will tell you why this operation is going down in such a goddamned hurry.” He nodded to his audience and quickly departed.
    "Television?” Jan Wersky said with a puzzled expression. “Why in the bloody hell are we supposed to watch television?"
    "Come along, Corporal, and we'll find out. Coming, Peggy?” He remembered Sergeant Nunez's name easily. It was displayed