Shadow of the giant

her and Bean. Her life hadn't ended yet, even though it felt like
she was dying with every breath she took.
     
     
     
    22
     
    RUMORS OF WAR
     
     
    From: Graff%[email protected]
    To: PeterWiggin%[email protected]
    Re: debriefing
     
    Attached are the data to the division level, including names
of commanders. But the gist is simple enough: Russia is gambling everything on
the quiescence of eastern Europe. They're all supposed to be terrified of a
newly aggressive Russia. This is the move they thought they were going to be able
to make when they had Achilles with them and kidnapped all of Ender's Jeesh.
     
    What you can tell them, with authority, is this: Russia IS
newly aggressive, they ARE bent on proving they're a world power again. They're
dangerous. But:
     
    1. They don't have Vlad. They have his plan, but can't adapt
to any changes.
     
    2.   We have Vlad's
plan, so we can anticipate every move they make while they follow it, and the
generals in command are going to follow it with religious devotion. Expect no
flexibility, even after they know we have it. Vlad knows the men in command. In
the Russian military these days, any leaders with the imagination to improvise
don't rise to the level where it will matter.
     
    3.    Han Tzu is being
provided with their plan, so their main army will meet with disaster in the
East.
     
    4.   They stripped
their western defenses. A fast-moving army, competently led, should take St.
Petersburg in a walk and Moscow in a week. That's Vlad's opinion. Bean has been
over this information and concurs. He suggests you take Petra out of Armenia
and put her in charge of the campaign in Russia.
     
     
    When Suriyawong got the word from Peter, he was ready. Prime
Minister Paribatra and Minister of Defense Ambul had kept their affiliation
with the FPE secret for just this occasion. Now, armed with Burmese and Chinese
permission to pass through their territory, the Thai army was going to have the
chance to face the Indians who had begun all this nonsense with their vicious,
unprovoked invasion of Burma and Thailand.
    The troops went by train all the way into Chinese territory;
Chinese trucks with Chinese drivers ferried them the rest of the way to the
spots that Suriyawong had mapped out as soon as Peter suggested it as a
contingency. At the time, Peter had said, "It's a remote possibility,
because it requires incredible stupidity on the part of some nonstupid people,
but be ready."
    Ready to defend China. That was the irony.
    But Han Tzu's China was not the China that had embraced
Achilles's treacherous plan and crushed everyone, carrying away the entire Thai
leadership and Suriyawong's parents. Han Tzu promised friendship, and Bean
vouched for him. So Suriyawong had been able to persuade his top leadership,
and they had persuaded his men, that defending China was nothing more or less
than a forward defense of Thailand.
    "China has changed," Suriyawong told the officers,
"but India has not. Once again, they're pouring over the border of a
nation that believes itself to be at peace with them. This goddess they follow,
Virlomi—she's just another Battle School graduate, like me. But we have what
she doesn't have. We have Julian Delphiki's plan. And we will win."
    Bean's plan, however, was simple enough. "The only way
to end this once and for all is to make it a disaster. Like Varus's legions in
the Teutoburger Wald. No guerrilla action. No chance of retreat. Virlomi alive
if possible, but if she insists on dying, oblige her."
    That was the plan. But Suriyawong needed no more than that.
The mountainous country of southwestern China and northern Burma was ambush
country. Virlomi's ill-trained troops were advancing on foot— ridiculously
slowly—in three main columns, following three river valleys with three
inadequate roads. Suriyawong's own plans called for a simple, classical ambush
on all three routes. He hid relatively small but heavily armed contingents at
the heads of the valleys, where they would be passed by the Indian troops. Then
far, far down the valley, he had far larger contingents with plenty of
transport to move up the valley upon command.
    Then it was a matter of waiting for two things.
    The first thing came on the second day of waiting. The
southernmost outpost notified him that their column had entered the valley and
was moving briskly. This was no surprise—they had had a much easier trip than
the two northern armies.
    "They're not careful