David Sherman - Backshot

By David Sherman and Dan Cragg

Starfist

SCHOOL OF FIRE

BLOOD CONTACT

TECHNOKILL

KINGDOMS SWORD

KINGDOMS FURY

A WORLD OF HURT

Starfist: Force Recon

By David Sherman

KNIVES IN THE NIGHT

OUT OF THE FIRE

A NGHU NIGHT FALLS

CHARLIE DONT LIVE Here ANYMORE

THERE I WAS: THE WAR OF CORPORAL HENRY J. MORRIS, USMC

Demontech

GULF RUN

RALLY POINT

By Dan Cragg

Fiction

THE SOLDIERS PRIZE

Nonfiction

GENERALS IN MUDDY BOOTS

INSIDE THE VC AND THE NVA (with Michael Lee Lanning) TOP SERGEANT (with William G. Bainbridge)

Look! Jorge Liberec Lavager gestured heavenward at the meteor flashing across the sky. His daughter Candace was sitting on the bench beside him in the dark. Some of the best things in life are free, Candie, and nature is one of them.

I hope it doesnt hit anybody, Candace replied sarcastically.

Thats my girl! Lavager responded cheerfully. He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. Most meteorites are harmless, he continued. They burn up in the atmosphere before they reach the ground. Theyre nothing to be afraid of.

Candace sniffed. I know that, Daddy. Although she was only sixteen, in the past three years since Annie Lavager, Lavagers wife and Candaces mother, had been killed in an assassination attempt aimed at him, Candace and her father had become extremely close. For his part, Lavager was impressed by his daughters solid common-sense attitude toward world affairs. She was a realist and not afraid to speak her mind, and he appreciated that. Too many of the people around the former generalhis aides, his cabinet ministersonly told him what they thought he wanted to hear. She feigned a cough. Daddy, must you smoke those foul cigars? Youll die of something if you dont quit. And besides, theyre far from free.

I am shocked! Lavager said with mock outrage. Shocked that anyone could refer to a prime cigar like this Davidoff Anniversario as foul! He chuckled. And when you discount the things in life that are free, with whats left over you get only what you pay for. My first rule of economics, Candie. Besides, Im going to die of something someday anyway, so while Im alive Im going to live. Lavager drew deeply on his Anniversario, a terribly expensive smoke imported all the way from the other side of Human Space. He savored the cigars complex layers of rich flavors: a sweet earthiness tinged with a slight hint of leather and sweet spicy undertones, all blended into a smooth draw that burned perfectly. Slowly he let the flavors out through his nostrils.

Father, dont talk that way! Candace waved the smoke away with a hand. Ever since her mothers death, she had been very aware of her fathers mortality, and the fact that some people on Atlas wanted him dead only added to her growing sense of uneasiness. Atlass major moon wasnt visible and the stars overhead shone with particular brilliance in the night sky. The lights from New Granum, the Union of Margelans capital city, far below the mountaintop that was Lavagers getaway, glowed warmly down in the valley. Despite her best efforts to dispel the cigar smoke, a fine white cloud hung suspended in front of her fathers face. The thought occurred to her that with the tip of his cigar aglow in the night her father might make a good target for someone hiding in the foliage below. She hoped the presidential security team watching over them from someplace out of sight was alert.

Im going to smoke this cigar right down to the band, Candie. Your mother liked the smell of them, and what was good enough for her is good enough for everyone else, including you, my dear. He drew again on the Anniversario.

Cigar smoke was a smell Candace had associated with her father for as long as she could remember, and she did really like the aroma of a good cigar. But their bantering about his smoking habit was a game father and daughter played, part of the ritual they followed when by themselves, which was not very often these days.

Candie, Lavager said suddenly, lets go to Ramunchos! Im hungry. Ramunchos was his favorite restaurant in New Granum. He often dined there when his cabinet was sitting or when the planetary council, of which he was a member, was in session.

Daddy, its close to midnight! You have an important cabinet meeting in the morning.

So what? Like his daughter, Jorge Lavager often spoke just what was on his mind, inflaming his enemies and sometimes even his friends. Im hungry, I want some of Ramunchos paella. Come on, lets go. You can drive.

I can? That offer almost made Candace start for the car. Then she caught herself. What about your security detail? Daddy, you have to be more careful!

Lavager made a dismissive gesture with one hand. Let them sleep. Ever since the assassination attempt that had killed his wife, Lavagers aides had insisted on constant personal security for their head of state. Slipping off by himself, as he was proposing to do that evening, Lavager often gave his bodyguards fits. But giving in to the alarm in his daughters voice, he relented. All right, he sighed. Well order up a snackbut only after Ive finished this cigar.

They sat quietly for a few moments. Candace hugged her father tightly. Daddy, I dont want to lose you too, she whispered.

Dont worry, you wont, Baby.

But so many people in this world hate you.

Yes, and some with good reason, Candie. I made a lot of enemies when I led our armies. I had to do things Im not very proud of.

But youre not a general anymore, Daddy. Youre a statesman. She pronounced the word proudly.

Yes, I surely am. But you know, once a general, always a general. You never really take that uniform off as far as some people are concerned. Youre always on parade, as it were. He drew on his cigar and slowly exhaled the smoke.

Primarily an agricultural world, Atlas had early split into regional power centers that evolved into independent nation-states, rather than maintaining a centralized world government as had nearly all other human-settled worlds. Those nation-states, in the manner of nation-states throughout history on Earth, warred among themselves with the major center of power shifting from one nation-state to another over the years. The Union of Margelan, under a succession of astute leaders, most recently Jorge Lavager, had been highly successful for more than a century in defending its interests. Its military success had led it to impose certain demands upon the losers, mostly the cession of some territories and acceptance of Margelans hegemony over others. The Union of Margelans main adversaries had been the countries of North and South Solanum, Oleania, and Satevina. Margelans main advantage, aside from excellent leadership, was the fact that unlike the other nation-states it had developed heavy industry that could produce the weapon systems needed to wage modern warfarebut over the years this had proved a tremendous strain on its economy.

Atlas was fortunate in one way, however. When the world was first settled three hundred years earlier, it had been on the fringes of Human Space, but by Lavagers time it sat astride one of the busiest spacelanes of the Confederation of Human Worlds. That enabled the nation-states of Atlas, when they werent at war with one another, to easily export their products to other worlds. Gradually it dawned on the politicians of Atlas that if they could attain a state of peace among themselves, no matter how uneasy, everyone would prosper. To that end it was agreed to form a League of Nations that would represent the interests of all the nation-states and, it was hoped, settle their differences amicably. The League had sat at New Granum since the end of the war that had established the Union of Margelan as the most potent military power on AtlasLavagers predecessor once removed had demanded that as a major concession for peace.