The Colonel had been in command of all Byelorussian armor and infantry units in Lithuania for many months. The loss of the attack helicopter the night before, and the subsequent appearance of his

manding general at the crash site, was turning into a real nightmare for him. This irritation was going to ice it for him-he would be lucky to hold on to his position for another hour.

The Colonel looked aloft and squinted against the swirling dust. "It is a damned Lithuanian helicopter," he said. "I will deal with-"

Suddenly a man leaped out the portside cargo door of the hovering helicopter. At first it looked like a suicide attempt, because the man virtually leaped headfirst. But the shock wore off quickly, and the Colonel recognized the maneuver-a man doing an Australian rappel, the fastest assault rappel known. In only two seconds the man reached the ground, pulling himself upright three meters before his face smashed into the earth. He was followed shortly thereafter by another man, accomplishing a more conventional feetfirst rappel from the same rope a few moments later.

Soldiers accompanying the two Byelorussian officers unslung their weapons and held them at the ready, but the first rappeller ignored them all as he strode right up to General Voshchanka. "What in hell do you mean by ordering me away from this area?" the Lithuanian officer yelled after waving the helicopter that he and the second man had dropped in safely. The chopper veered away. "I demand to know what in hell is going on here."

Voshchanka's colonel recognized the man as none other than Palcikas himself, commander of Lithuania's puny self-defense force.

"Who are you?" General Voshchanka demanded. "What is the meaning of this? Colonel Gurlo, arrest this man.

The Colonel knew he was not authorized to touch Palcikas-it would be an act of war for a foreign officer to touch a general on his own soil-but he motioned for two security officers to move closer. They immediately surrounded Palcikas but did not touch him. In Russian, the Colonel said, "General Voshchanka, may I present General Dominikas Palcikas, commander of the Self-Defense Forces of the Lithuanian Republic. General Palcikas, I present General Lieutenant Voshchanka, commander, Western Corps Armies, Republic of Belarus, and commander of security forces of the Baltic states for the Commonwealth of Independent States."

Neither man saluted the other.

Palcikas' face remained dark as he removed his thick rappelling gloves. But Voshchanka said, "Palcikas! We finally meet. I've heard a lot about you. That was quite a stunt for an old war horse."

"I'd be happy to teach it to you, General," Palcikas said in very good, well-disciplined Russian, "but it is not a maneuver for the faint of heart . . . or those with big bellies and soft hands."

Voshchanka, a rather short, stocky man who had never even been inside an assault helicopter, let alone jumped from one, calmly smiled away the ofibanded remark.

palcikas, eyes dead-on Voshchanka, said, "General, you will explain to me why your troops have destroyed this farm, and why your unit has been ordering my aviation and ground units away from this area."