Stark's War by John G. Hemry Read Free Book Online Page A

you are! I expect no repetition of the events of earlier today. Is that understood?" Ringon waited for only a second before continuing. "That is all. Except for you, Sergeant Stark. I want to see you alone."
    The other Sergeants filed out, closing the office door behind them, as Stark remained standing at attention, face professionally blank. Ringon raised one angry finger, shaking it in Stark's direction. "I've heard about you, Stark. I've heard you're difficult. I've heard you don't like to take orders." Stark stood silent. "Well?"
    Stark kept his voice emotionless. "I obey orders, Captain."
    "You question every one of them!"
    "I express my opinion in appropriate circumstances, Captain."
    Ringon turned an even darker shade of red. "There are no appropriate circumstances, Stark! You're a Sergeant. You don't have an opinion." She paused for a reply.
    "Yessir."
    "You do exactly what you're told when you're told."
    "Yessir."
    "You keep your mouth shut."
    "Yessir."
    Ringon glared in frustration, then pointed toward the door. "That's all. I better not hear any complaints from your new Platoon Commander."
    "Yessir."
    Stark saluted smartly, holding the salute until Ringon was forced to flip a quick salute in return, then pivoted on one heel to exit the office. There he found himself facing the impassive presence of Vic Reynolds waiting just outside. "Mind if I walk with you?" she asked.
    "No problem." They walked for a few moments, past rows of identical doors ranked like faceless soldiers. "You hear what went on in there?"
    "Every word."
    "So what do you think?"
    "I think you are one lying son of a bitch. None of those 'yessirs' meant anything."
    "They weren't supposed to mean anything. I was just acknowledging her statements, not agreeing with them."
    "Ethan, you can't keep pushing the edge all by yourself. Sooner or later some officer will call you on it for real."
    "Not these gutless wonders. Besides, I gotta protect my people."
    "You've got to lead your people into combat, Ethan. That's why we're here, to fight wars, regardless of how worthwhile we think they are."
    "I know that. I also know there's more than one way to fight a war, and I'm going to fight the smart way."
    "You may be right. People still talk about that stunt you pulled in the Mideast."
    "Stunt?" Stark questioned. "Look, some Major who didn't know his head from a hole in the ground ordered me to do a head-on assault against troops dug into a damn mountain."
    "Which the Major was told to do by some Colonel who was told by some General."
    "Which is beside the point! If I'd charged straight in I'd have lost half my Squad, at least, and not taken the objective."
    "So instead you suffered a mysterious communications failure, assaulted the hill next to the mountain, took the hill, looped around behind the mountain, and started pounding on the enemy headquarters, which panicked and pulled its own troops off the mountain to try to stop you."
    "Yeah," Stark agreed. "We blew them away, climbed up the back of the mountain, and planted the flag. Objective taken. What's the problem?"
    "The problem is that immediately afterward that comm problem of yours disappeared. The techs never did find out why your Squad couldn't hear any incoming transmissions for more than an hour, did they, Ethan?"
    Stark shrugged. "I guess it was one of those, um, intermittent things. You know."
    "Uh-huh. How did you explain not following the last instructions in your Tactical?"
    "I thought I'd heard new orders that superseded the old Tactical before we lost comms. You know how our Tacs can get slowed down because of enemy jamming and our own clogged comm circuits."
    She nodded, as if accepting the explanation at face value. "And where was your Platoon Commander during all this?"
    "Bleeding to death." Stark made an angry face. "He'd tried to lead First Squad up that damn mountain like Tac ordered. Too bad. He actually listened to us sometimes when we offered advice. Unfortunately, he also did