First to Fight: Book One of Starfist

It's a military truism that no intelligence system, no matter how good or how thorough, ever provides enough information to the people who need it the most--the fighting men. Marine, navy, and Confederation intelligence on Elneal failed to provide a couple of vital bits of information to Ensign Baccacio. Of course, if the intelligence establishment had had those two bits of information, all of the Marines on Elneal would have been operating in a different manner to begin with.

One missing bit of intelligence was Shebeli's Raptors. They were a well-kept secret, though many people had been involved in that deal and there had been plenty of time to ferret out the information. But no one ever considered that such weapon systems might have been imported for the use of people as primitive as the Siad. The other thing the Marines didn't know was that Shebeli had adopted the method of movement developed by the thirteenth century Mongol horsemen.

The way Ensign Baccacio saw it, Captain Conorado was "micromanaging" when he'd ordered him to put out security during the daily all-hands. Today, with the company commander off "micromanaging" one of the other platoons that didn't need his meddling, and with Staff Sergeant Bass, who Baccacio was convinced was incompetent, away on his totally unnecessary field test of the UPUD, Baccacio found himself free to run his platoon in what he thought was the right way, without interference. Third platoon adhered to the routine that he knew could only build the morale and self-confidence of the people of Tulak Yar and the surrounding area. At sixteen hours, the few security watches on the village's perimeter were called in for the daily all-hands meeting. Even if the Siad had any hostile action in mind, Baccacio knew that as of yesterday they were two days' ride away. Even if the Siad came, the goatherds and crow-chasers would be able to give more than adequate warning.