I had an independent command. A regiment of my own. Countess Aneli was right: there was no shortage of recruits. After Tonol, and our victory parade, hundreds of women wanted to join up.
Captain Chardeia, one of the Company Commanders, had distinguished herself at Tonol. With Aneli's approval, she was promoted to Major, and would act as my second-in-command. Chardeia was a bit stuffy - she didn't appear to have a sense of humour - but there was no doubting her courage.
With the help of our Captains and sergeants, we selected the 100 best marksmen - markswomen - and formed a first company of sharpshooters. Kanitz had promised me rifles, and a soon as they began to arrive, I issued them to my 1st Company.
Muskets are smoothbores, like a pea-shooter. When the bullet is expelled from the barrel, it can go anywhere. A rifle has grooves on the inside of the barrel; they literally spin the bullet, like a tight spiral on a football. Much more accurate.
In fact, there's not much value in aiming a musket. Point a lot of them at the enemy, and let fly. A significant part of a volley's impact is the effect on your enemy's morale: it can be absolutely terrifying.
There's a cumulative effect, too. After standing and facing several volleys, even veteran soldiers start to wonder about the law of probabilities. How long can it be before one of those bullets hits her?
But rifles are more accurate, and have a longer range. I had plans for my sharpshooters.
The remainder of my veterans were distributed in two ways: I formed an elite 2nd Company, and then used the rest as corporals and file leaders, to help integrate and train all of the new recruits.
Langoret did the same. I never took a step without discussing it with her first. She talked me out of one or two innovations, but generally she agreed with what I wanted.
Our iron ramrods began to arrive, thanks to Kanitz. Nonetheless, I wrote her letters, to keep her abreast of what we were doing, but also to badger her for more money.
Countess Aneli had already come up with much more coin than she'd promised. I didn't know how she was doing it. We were also camped on her estates, and the two regiments were rapidly eating her out of house and home.
That gave me another idea, though. I broached it to my colleague.
- "I think we should march to your estate." Langoret was a Countess in her own right, and just as wealthy as Aneli.
- "That's almost 200 leagues!" she said.
- "I know."
The veterans didn't grumble too much. "Here we go again." they said. It was like the race from Tonol to Cercen all over.
The new recruits were astonished. If their seniors weren't objecting, though, they weren't about to complain. It was hard for them, but they kept up.
It was a nightmare for me. I made it on determination and willpower alone. I needed a week to recuperate, on Langoret's estate. We ate her livestock, for a change, and gave Aneli a short respite.
- "You know," said Langoret, "this has been a bonding experience for the veterans and the new recruits. You're very clever, Cook."
Darned right I was - especially since I hadn't expected that.
***
There were times when I wished that I'd been more of a hands-on technician. I'd read time-travel stories, and enjoyed them. Somehow, the hero always knew how to build a laser pistol with odds and ends he scrounged up, or could accurately predict the date of the next eclipses, solar and lunar.
Unfortunately, that wasn't me. I understood the principles behind some of our modern gadgets, but when they broke, we didn't fix or repair them: we just replaced them. If I'd ever wanted to know how to build a laser pistol, or memorize the date of the next eclipse, I could have learned it in Sleepread.
Instead of becoming an engineer, I'd studied military history. Here and now, I thought the Westrons needed me a lot more than they did a technician. Besides, what could a techie do without magnetics, or plastics, or extremely rare metals? Was there even any accidentium on this planet?
Then there were the social costs to consider. Sure, mass production of muskets would probably help the Westrons win this war. Repeating rifles would be awesome, too. But what about the
next
war? Or the one after that?
Mass armies could lead to mass destruction.
In the Seven Years War (1756-1763), they had technology very similar to what the Westrons and Crolians were using. The armies were small, and slow-moving. Non-combatants got out of the way - although I'm sure that thousands were killed or rendered homeless.
The Napoleonic Wars used much the same weapons, but with massive armies (about 800,000 combined at the 3-day Battle of Nations in 1813).
Millions of civilians died in World War One, a century later. And the Second World War killed tens of millions.
With that in mind, I wasn't too disappointed that I couldn't revolutionize Westron technology.
***
In one sense, Tallia was absolutely useless as an aide-de-camp. She had no leadership skills whatsoever. I would never be able to have her replace an injured officer, or lead a small group of soldiers in any kind of special task.
She had a hard time mastering our marching pace, too. I could only do it on guts and sheer willpower. Tallia was suffering.
But as an executive assistant, she was absolutely amazing.
She kept my maps organized, and knew exactly where each one was, if I wanted to consult them. She found food fit for humans, so that I didn't have to live on a 90% meat diet.
Tallia also found me some natural scents. It was odd - like putting on cologne every morning. But the senior officers all noticed, and they thanked me for it. Apparently, my natural odours were distracting for them.
- "How did you know?' I asked Tallia. She just grinned.
Tallia had other skills, which she demonstrated early on. Langoret and I were discussing tactics, when she admitted that her 1st Company - modelled on mine - weren't even remotely ready.
- "Only half of them have rifles, Cook." said Langoret. "And we haven't practiced enough. I don't want to use up all of the powder."
- "Pardon me, Colonel." said Tallia. "You have 61 rifles. And we have more than enough powder, if you would like to practice. Six more barrels arrived today."
Langoret wasn't the only one who was amazed. I asked Tallia to find us a tally of all the extra gunpowder - that is, what we hadn't already issued to the soldiers.
- "31 barrels." she said, without a moment's hesitation.
Langoret slowly turned to look at me. I could only shake my head.
- "Tallia - how do you
know
that?" I asked.
She lifted her chin. "Why would I
not
know?" she retorted.
She had an encyclopedic memory. That alone was impressive. But Tallia could summon up that knowledge before you could snap your fingers. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how she did it.
"I've always been able to do it." she said.
***
I had 30 dummies - scarecrows, really - set up. Then I formed up a company, about 75 yards away, in a two-deep line. Then I gave the order to fire a volley.
- "Reload!"
