The Flint Knappers - Chronicles [Episode #11]

Name: Newman Smith
Mission Date: d+370

Well, tomorrow looks to be an interesting day. After more than a month of preparation the assault on the Rakshasa stronghold will begin at dawn. Everyone of us will have a role to play and our Vanara friends will be helping as well. We are confident that by the time the next sun sets the threat to our survival will have been eliminated.

It should be noted that we have all had serious misgivings over the gravity of the task before us. We have however witnessed enough loss of life either directly or indirectly from the Rakshasa that we see no alternative. The normally indifferent Vanara have even encouraged our joint effort and they seem tired of the tribute system dreamed up by the Naga.

So, well before dawn we will all move into positions and begin our coordinated attack at the first light of day. In order to maximize the element of surprise the Vanara have agreed to attack at the time the Rakshasa would least expect. There has never been a morning as long as anyone can remember when the Vanara didn't all stop what they were doing to appreciate a sunrise.

Coordination will be achieved from a network of signal fires from teams positioned high up on the ridges. They will also be placing crude mortar tubes that will fire the ceramic shells Vijay has come up with. This started as an idea I had the first day I ventured into the mountains overlooking the valley where the Rakshasa tend to congregate. My experience in the Black Watch as a mortar-man so long ago had me seeing the whole area as firing arcs and blast radius estimations. Finally being able to bring the pieces together, even if it is crude will give us the edge we have been waiting for.

Once we shake the bushes with the mortars a number of different things could happen. If they flee in a single group they will overwhelm us at any given point. Our strategy depends of getting them confused and separated so that we can pick them off with well placed ambushes. A follow up team of our most elite Vanara warriors will be on standby to act as a quick reaction force.

All of the Vanara women and cubs will take refuge in the caves and will be vulnerable for some unknown period of time. Any warriors that are wounded will also retreat to the caves. If the attack fails then everyone knows to fall back to the caves and defend to the death.

One of the classic lessons of war is that your plan goes to hell as soon as the first battle begins. Still, you plan, plan some more and then do your best to make it happen like you trained. So far that approach has kept me alive in this exotic new world and I don't plan on being spontaneous now. My next entry will hopefully be able to tell you how it all came out. If there are no more entries than you can probably guess things didn't go so well.

To be continued...

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