The Tejano Conflict Read Online Free PDF Page A

You didn’t fuck with them when they were deployed. Not all wars used them, but the big ones usually did, and probably even the small ones here on Earth would. Part of doing business.
    Kay would try to spot the source of the scent without being seen, to ID and narrow down the location, but that was less important than avoiding contact. They hadn’t come to shoot, only to look.
    After a few more minutes, Kay subvocalized into her com: “Here he is. Appears to be a human in a yowiesuit, crouched, not moving.”
    â€œNot a Monitor. Sounds more like a sniper than a ranger. Unless he spots you and starts shooting, best leave him be.”
    â€œAffirm that,” Kay said.
    They were almost two klicks into the forest from the edge, and there were opposition rangers, so they’d have to move carefully if they were going to finish the recon.
    They’d have to come back later for the section where the enemy had a squatter, chances were the scout wouldn’t stay there, and they could log that area once it was clear. If he wasn’t gone when they were ready to withdraw, they’d come back another day.
    An initial crisscross recon didn’t have to be perfect, but the more you knew, the better. Might be something important where the enemy scout was, and it would be shortsighted to assume otherwise.
    After six hours, they were done for the day. Studies had shown that rangering skill on the ground increased for the first few hours, peaked at five or six, then began to decline. There was no sense in pushing it; they had covered a lot of territory, had recordings of it, and knew considerably more than they had before.
    Formentara would add what they’d collected to the maps. Zhe would also talk to the locals Gramps had found who knew the area. Paying them was cheap, and often, locals would know things even a thorough CCR would miss.
    They nodded at the Monitors outside the forest as they headed back toward their vehicle.
    â€œNice work,” Gramps’s voice came over the com implant. “Got some information: Looks like our opposition is Dycon Limited.”
    Jo said, “Ah.” They were reputed to be one of the better SoF companies around, though CFI hadn’t been on the other side of the battlefield from them.
    â€œIn fact, we got a call from them not an hour ago. They want to meet with us, have a chat.”
    â€œReally.”
    â€œYep. Rags thinks you and Kay should go.”
    â€œAnd why is that?”
    â€œYou two are our best observers, you’ll pick up stuff the rest of us will miss. And Gunny, if you are eavesdropping, don’t even bother with the blind-deaf jokes at my expense.”
    â€œAh’m sure Ah have no idea what you are talkin’ about. Which would make two of us.”
    â€œAnd why CFI in particular?”
    â€œI dunno, ask him when you get there.”
    Jo said, “We are going off-line. See you in an hour or so. Discom.”
    After they shut down their opchans, Kay said, “Can Gramps and Gunny truly not see how they feel about each other?”
    â€œIf they do, they don’t want to admit it.”
    â€œHow interesting,” Kay said. “The human capacity for denial sometimes seems to be quite large.”
    â€œAin’t that the truth.”

FOUR
    The caller was in San Antonio, and after Jo and Kay got cleaned up, they arranged to meet him that evening. Gunny and Singh were backup, in a following vehicle, just in case the opposition was trying to be cute.
    The trip was uneventful, if slow. The traffic-control autodrive notwithstanding, there was only so much the TCA computers could do once the carts and lorries and assorted scooters climbed past a critical density on the road. Plus, there were always drivers who got around the rush-hour controls and elected to do it manually. Despite strict licensing requirements that demanded public-vehicle operators be skilled and knowledgeable, there were always idiots who