"Gordon R. Dickson - Childe Cycle 04 - Tactics of Mistake" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

them and pinch them off with hidden, superior forces of your own."
"Nothing new about that," said Eachan.
"No," Cletus said, "but apply the tactics of mistake to essentially the same situation. Only this time, in
a succession of contacts with the enemy, you entice him into picking up a series of what seem to be small,
easy victories. Meanwhile, however, you're getting him to engage a larger amount of his available forces
with each contact. Then, when he finally commits the greatest part of his strength for what he conceives
as one more easy winтАФyou convert that contact into a trap and he discovers that you've gradually drawn
him into a field position where he's outflanked and completely at your mercy."
"Tricky," Eachan frowned. "Too tricky, perhaps тАж "
"Not necessarily," said Cletus. "Imperial China and Russia both used a crude version of this, drawing
invaders deeper into their territories, until the invader suddenly realized he was too far from his supply
and support bases and completely surrounded by the native enemy тАж Napoleon and the retreat from
Moscow."
"StillтАФ" Eachan broke off suddenly. His gaze had gone past Cletus; and Cletus, turning, saw that
Dow deCastries was now in the room. The tall, dark and elegant Secretary to the Outworlds for the
Coalition was now standing in conversation with Melissa, by the opposite wall.
Glancing from the two figures back to Eachan, Cletus saw that the older man's face had become as
cold and still as the first sheet of ice on the surface of a deep pond on a windless winter day.
"You've known deCastries awhile now?" Cletus asked. "You and Melissa?"
"The women all like him." Eachan's voice was grim. His gaze was still on Melissa and Dow.
"Yes," said Cletus. "By the wayтАФ" He broke off, and waited. With reluctance, Eachan removed his
gaze from the pair across the room and looked back at him.
"I was going to say," said Cletus, "that General Traynor came up with something strange when I was
talking to him. He said he didn't have any jump troops here in Bakhalla. That surprised me. I did some
reading up on you Dorsais before I came out here, and I thought a jump course was part of the training
you gave your mercenaries?"
"We do," replied Eachan, dryly. "But General Traynor's like a lot of your Alliance and Coalition
commanders. He doesn't think our training's good enough to qualify the men for jump-troop workтАФor a
lot of other combat field duties."
"Hmm," said Cletus. "Jealousy? Or do you suppose they look on you mercenaries as competitors of a
sort?"
"I don't say that," said Eachan, frostily. "You draw your own conclusions, of course." His eyes
showed a desire once more to wander back across the room to Melissa and Dow.
"Oh, and something else I was going to ask you," said Cletus. "The assignment sheets for Bakhalla
that I looked at back on Earth listed some Navy officers, on detached duty as marine
engineersтАФsomething about river-and-harbors work. But I haven't seen any Navy people around."
"Commander Wefer Linet," said Eachan, promptly, "wearing civvies, down at the end of the couch
across the room there. Come along. I'll introduce you."
Cletus followed Eachan at a long slant across the room, which brought them to a couch and several
chairs where half a dozen men sat talking. Here, they were less than a quarter of the distance they had
been before from Dow and MelissaтАФbut still too distant to catch the conversation going on between the
two.
"Commander," said Eachan, as they reached the couch, and a short, square-faced man in his middle
thirties got up promptly from the end of the couch, a drink still in his hand, "I'd like you to meet Colonel
Cletus Grahame, just out from Earth, to be attached to General Traynor's staffтАФtactical expert."
"Happy to meet you, Colonel," said Wefer Linet, shaking Cletus' hand with a hard, friendly grip.
"Dream something up for us to do besides dredging river mouths and canals and my men'll love you."
"I'll do that," said Cletus, smiling. "It's a promise."
"Good!" said Wefer energetically.
"You've got those large, underwater bulldozers, haven't you?" asked Cletus. "I read about them in the