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.The Provisionals still have notmanaged a proper assault, but when they started the shooting they did push theEscaliers over to us.We have a bridgehead into enemy territory; we now needonly to funnel our troops over in sufficient quantity- Uncertain hope catches in Aiah's throat."Do you mean it worked? The missionwasn't. "Not a total failure, no.Our forces went on two-hour standby as soon as youPage 214 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlcrossed to the other side.As soon as we received word of the enemy'smovement, we started the clock ticking.The guns are firing already, and assoon as everyone reports ready, we will launch." His lips curl in a wolfishsmile."We have some surprises in store the Sea of Caraqui provides anunconventional environment for warfare, and we will take advantage of it inways our enemies will not expect. Aiah looks up at the screens, at the scenes of violence repeated in one videodisplay after another, Aground multiplied a thousand times.Let itall be for something, she thinks."May I.watch?" she asks.The words just fall out, and Aiah regretsthem at once.She does not want to witness the catastrophe of Aground allover again, and multiplied a thousand times.Amusement glimmers in Constantine's eyes."Find a perch," he says.She begins to look for a chair, then hesitates and turns back to Constantine."Where is Karlo's Brigade?" she asks."Mobile reserve, well out of the fighting." He points at a map."We hope toshift them to exploit any breakthrough." He bows toward her with mockingcourtesy."// you approve, of course. Aiah clenches her teeth."Ask me when the time comes," she says tartly, "andI'll let you know. Aiah finds an unused chair and sits.Suspense gnaws at her insides as shewatches the preparatory bombardment, the reports of Provisional units beinghammered, of plasm stations hit, ammunition barges blown up by dolphinraiders, of the enemy net, almost all their reserves, being tightened aroundLandro's Escaliers.the enemy response, actions not as certain as thegovernment's, nor as strong, but still finding chinks in the government armor,causing delays as units have to improvise their way around the trouble.invisible mage attacks on both sides, perceived only in an occasional flash,or through a verbal report.and then an ominous glow, a towering figureof fire.The Burning Man walks along the front, his body a raging holocaust.Aiah'sheart leaps into her throat.A mage out of control, buildings igniting at histouch.and she knows that the Burning Man consumes not only the worldaround him, but the mage's own body.The Burning Man withers and dies as someone cuts off the mage's plasm source,but the district he walked through still burns.The battle seems tohave slowed down, and despair invades Aiah again, a giddy sense ofhopelessness that makes her sway in her chair.When the last unitreports its readiness, and Constantine gives the command to commence thebridging operation, Aiah wants to cry out in relief.A thousand mortars near the front open fire, dropping smoke into theno-man's-land between the forces, bright swirling splashes of green or purpleor red.Government artillery increases its rate of fire, shells droppingright into the enemy front line.And then the soldiers begin to cross thewater, thousands of small powerboats moving forward under the cover of smoke.The Dalavan Guard aims at Lorkhin Island, driving straight at the enemy'sstrongest point, and the Marines cross elsewhere.Aiah turns from the screens to watch General Arviro of the Marines.He hastrained his corps, labored long on their operational plans, and as thepowerboats begin to roar he looks up at the screens, chin tilted back, neckmuscles taut with tension.He looks as if he is willing them across thedanger zone.They cross, most of them.There are too many for the enemy to stop.Theboats of the Dalavan Guard drive ashore on Lorkhin, running right up onto thefirm ground of the island, and the Guard spill out onto pathways that, it canonly be hoped, mages and explosives have already cleared of mines and traps.Elsewhere, avoiding Lorkhin and its strongholds, the Marines storm across thedanger zone.Unlike the Guard, they do not assault the enemy strongpoints thePage 215 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlgiant, forti- fied buildings on their tall pontoons but instead bypass them,swarming through the dark watery passages beneath the startled, entrenchedenemy.Then, grouping in rear areas, the Marines seize communications links,break electricity and plasm connections, and assault the enemy from behind.At the same time the Army attacks from the front.The Provisionals, when theycreated the no-man's-land in front of their position, did so by guttingbuildings and pontoons, turning them into barges filled with rubble, and bysinking others to create lanes of open water.Instead of building bridges androads across the danger zone, as the enemy expected, Constantine has simplybuilt new pontoons, each more than a stade long, colossal structures shieldedfrom magework by bronze plates and mesh, with highways built not along thetops, but safely through the interior.Seagoing tugs, guarded by telepresentmages, shove these massive structures into position, and military engineerslink them together to create long tunnels that stretch toward the enemy.Aiah goggles at the sight as, on video, she sees these monuments being drivenalong watery lanes and into position.Shellfire plunges down, fountaininghigh in the water or hammering the armored roofs of the bridging pontoons.Occasionally a tug is hit and explodes in bright flame, or listing is forcedback.But still the long bridges, link by link, drive toward an enemy stunnedby bombardment, confused and cut off by attacks in their rear.The first bridge to be completed, because it was unopposed, links governmentforces with Landro's Escaliers, and government mercenaries roll to the attackin an attempt to expand their bridgehead.Other bridges are, with muchgreater difficulty, at length fixed in position.Crossings begin, againstferocious opposition."Yes, Triumvir." Constantine presses a gold headset to one ear as he repliesto Parq's pleas."We are doing our utmost to get the bridges across toLorkhin. He winces, then holds the headphone some distance from his ear.Parq'shysterical voice, released from the cup of Constantine's ear, cries itsdistress to the room.The Dalavan Guard have stalled on the Island, cohesion broken, the soldiershuddling in whatever cover they can find.Parq screams for Constantine torescue them."We will reinforce," Constantine reassures."I guarantee it, Triumvir. Aiah suspects that the bridges trying to reach Lorkhin may be used more forretreat than for reinforcement
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Tematy
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