Part 58 (2/2)
”Fine. I expected that, or something like that, anyway. I'll speak with her.”
Sada pointed at a long line of tractor-trailers, led by a white-painted sedan. ”She's over there.”
Carrera didn't consider GraceCorps to be the enemy. Did he think they were stupid? Absolutely. Misinformed? Generally. Inexact? Especially. Hopelessly optimistic? Of course. But they weren't the enemy. They did what they did, help the needy, and they did it rather better than most of their sort. They were among the few Kosmos of whom it could be said, in his opinion, that they were more interested in doing good than in doing well.
So he was polite, unusually so for him in his dealings with the Kosmos.
Smiling affably, he began, ”Ms. Lindemann, how can I help you?”
She smiled as well. ”You could begin, sir, by having your men let us through.”
He shook his head, as if with regret. ”No...no. I'm afraid that won't be possible. This town is besieged.”
Lindemann didn't seem to understand. ”What difference does that make?”
”It means we've cut off all access. If you have medicine that might be needed by the inhabitants, I can arrange an airdrop. The law of war requires that. But no food is going in and no people are coming out anytime soon.”
”You can't do that!”
”Why?” Carrera's face seemed genuinely puzzled.
”Food's a human right human right,” she answered. ”Those people will starve.”
”So?”
She opened her mouth again, as if to speak. No words came out.
Carrera reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sheaf of folded paper. This he handed over, saying, ”This is the law of war as regards sieges. I intend to abide by it completely. Read it, then come back to me. Note that while the country that has sponsored us, Balboa, is a signatory to the Additional Protocols, neither my organization, nor our principles, the Federated States, are.”
Lindemann was at least somewhat familiar with the laws of war. After all, her organization often came in on the tail end of human-inspired and created destruction.
”You're required to let out pregnant women, the very ill, and very young children,” she said.
”Really? What a surprise,” Carrera answered. Then he asked his own question. ”When?”
Lindemann looked confused. ”When?”
”Yes. When When does the law of war say I must let them go? I'll save you the trouble. It doesn't.” does the law of war say I must let them go? I'll save you the trouble. It doesn't.”
”But the garrison may not feed them!” she countered.
”That'll be their doing, not mine,” he answered.
At that time another series of explosions rocked the town. Even at this distance, several kilometers, Lindemann and Carrera were rocked by the blasts.
”What was that?” she asked.
”We're destroying the food stocks in the town,” he answered, calmly. ”This is a siege siege, Ms. Lindemann, not a game. This is war, not a boxing match. Now, you can take your trucks back, or you can sit here, or you can do whatever you like...except resupply that city. That you will not be permitted to do.” resupply that city. That you will not be permitted to do.”
”What about when the people try to escape? You know they will.”
”Then, Ms. Lindemann, we will do what the law of war permits. Besides, before they get out they'll have to clear mines. They're not really equipped for that. We won't let them, anyway.”
”You are are going to let them out at some point, aren't you, Patricio?” Jimenez asked. going to let them out at some point, aren't you, Patricio?” Jimenez asked.
”'Course I am, Xavier. I can't tell you when, exactly. I'll let the Kosmos beg, and chide and nag for ten days or maybe a couple of weeks. Then, I'll exact some concessions from them. I'm still thinking about what concessions I'll want. Maybe we'll make them grovel and thank us for abiding so completely by the law of war. Maybe we'll just make them feed us first. Maybe both and maybe more.
”After that, we'll drop some leaflets and let the pregnant women and the sick out. Then the Kosmos can care for them a few miles downstream.”
Pumbadeta, Sumer, 9/7/462 AC The leaflets fell from the sky-specifically, they were dropped by Crickets-before sunrise. On one side they showed pictures and diagrams of who would be allowed out and where. The pictures showed one woman with a large belly, a man on a stretcher, and a very small child. The diagram was simply the place where Highway 1 met the encircling berms and minefields. More complex instructions were written on the back. Most of Pumbadeta's adult residents, male and even female, could read.
Fadeel was mixed about the prospect. Food was already scarce; this would reduce the number of mouths he had to feed. On the other hand, he was counting on the presence of large numbers of noncombatants, when the a.s.sault finally came, to sully the reputation of the coalition. Then he remembered: This part of the coalition doesn't care a goat's a.s.s for their reputation with the humanitarians. They'll kill without compunction. Better, then, to let go whoever will be allowed out, to stretch out the food that remains.
Three hundred thousand people, give or take, had been trapped when the siege fell on the city like a thunderclap. Of those, perhaps five or six thousand were truly sick. An additional ten or eleven thousand women may have been pregnant or nursing. And there were many small children.
Nothing like that number came out. Nursing women would be allowed to leave, but what if they had children over the age of six, which was Carrera's stated cut off? Would they leave those behind? For the most part, they would not. What about women with children who would be allowed out as well as children who would not be? They tended to stay behind as well. And the sick? If they were truly ill, they needed to be carried. Stretcher bearers from the legion were standing by to take their litters. Few men inside the town were willing to bear them to the demarcation berm.
In all, perhaps five thousand, or a few more, of the citizens of the town actually left. Then the wall closed down again.
As that wall closed, Fernandez and his people, supplemented by Sada's, descended on the refugees, pumping them, without violence, for any information they might have on the defenses and the defenders. Most knew little. A few were better informed.
”Why so few sick?” Lindemann asked. When Carrera explained, she volunteered, on behalf of herself and her workers, to go in and carry the deathly ill out.
”No...you would just be held and become hostages,” he answered, feeling a measure of grudging admiration. ”They get out on their own, or with the help of those inside, or they stay there. I'm still willing to airdrop medicine, remember.”
”What good is medicine without doctors to administer it?” she asked.
”Not my concern. But if you can talk Mustafa into letting Doctor Nur al-Deen he's the enemy's overall number two, you know? jump in by parachute, I'll be glad to let him do so. Course, I'll hang the b.a.s.t.a.r.d right after we take the town.”
Pumbadeta, 11/7/462 AC The air defense maniple that loosely ringed the city was useful only for low flying aircraft. For any that flew higher Carrera had Turbo-Finches armed with machine gun pods. These, with a top speed of only about two hundred and fifty miles per hour, were extremely poor interdiction aircraft.
On the other hand, the Castilla-built Hacienda-121 was a very good light cargo aircraft, but its top speed was only two hundred and twenty-five miles an hour. Thus, when the pilot of the circling Turbo-Finch saw the Hacienda kicking bundles out the door, he had little trouble closing the distance and investigating. The Hacienda was decorated with a Red Crescent, sign of the Islamic version of the Red Cross. The serial numbers on the side of the Hacienda indicated Yithrabi registration.
Since he was weapons free, meaning he could engage any aircraft that fit his rules of engagement, and since he was expressly instructed not to permit any airdrops or aerial deliveries into the town without prior authorization, he armed his gun pods. If he worried even in the slightest about his commander's reaction to his shooting down a civilian aircraft he had only to remember that this was the third anniversary of a very important date to that commander.
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