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"The Posleen are the ones with their backs to the wall now, but they have enough forces to hold in both directions and there isn't a good way to break that stalemate, not in time for it to matter." Mike threw up a schematic of forces driving into the Posleen from either side.
"Something has to hit them in the flank, preferably from the sea, and drive them inland to open a corridor to the walls." The landward arrow disappeared and the seaward arrow drove in, pushing the Posleen out of position. The lines of friendlies drove forward in support and the Posleen symbols were gone.
"And it looks like that's gotta be us," he concluded. He took a sip of the chilled suit water and smiled ferally. Dropping buildings on the bastards was just numbers; he could call up the estimates if he cared. But this was going to be one on one, at ground level. Point-blank slaughter. It was time and past time to build the samadh. Pile it high.
"Why us?" asked one plaintive voice. "What about the Germans?"
"Their ACS is shoring up the MLR inland," Mike answered, checking that status of that unit. He was careful to keep the low snarl out of his voice. "And it's nearly as beat up as our battalion. We are it, people."
"Fuck that, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"
"Shiiit!"
"At the fuck ease!" snarled Sergeant Green. "The LT was talkin'."
"Hell, Sarn't," Mike laughed. The sound was just a bit on the high side. "I agree. But like the man said, `ours is not to question why.' On your feet, troopers. It's time to follow the bouncing ball."
Mike wondered when one of them would get the idea to frag him, but so far so good. He suddenly felt a wave of energy enter him and his fatigue fell away like a cloak. He feared it was because he saw the future of glorious battle this morn'.
His sudden desire to close with the enemy frightened him. He had no purpose leading troops into battle if he could not control his hatred. But he also could not see any alternative. The German ACS unit was well and truly engaged and could not be redeployed. An ACS unit was the only effective unit under the circumstances and his platoon was the only remaining mobile ACS unit. So, time for some payback.
"Okay, here is how we are go
"There is no way to do this except brutally. I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve. They might keep us undetected even after we fire.
"When we deploy it will be no place for scouts, your lighter armor'll be useless. Stay under water until we open fire, then lift up under AG and enter the buildings. Go up a few stories and move to sniper positions. When you reach them start snipering the God Kings. I can't believe their targeting is going to detect directed fire in the heat of battle, but I'll take the first targeted shot at them just to be sure. Oh, yeah," he chuckled for a moment, "no grenades without my call." Some of the troops laughed grimly. "We're here to pull the Germans out, not kill 'em all." The platoon had hit sea level and ducked into the still, black water, their inertial compensators flying them through the muck towards the intake.
The water was packed with siphonophores feeding on the detritus of the plant's backwash. When the pumps failed, the water that had been in process flowed backwards and stirred up thousands of microscopic fungi that lined the walls. The jet-propelled siphonophores had rushed in to partake of the unexpected bounty, and the water was a mass of darting jelly creatures, each intent on getting its share of the feast. As they fed they vibrated internal organs that pulsed low-pitch sonar through the waves. Much of the sound was in the audible spectrum, a caressing wave of soprano cries.
Slashing through their midst were the oversized carnivorous polychaetan worms. As the suits brushed the jellies they gave off multihued luminescence and little distress cries so that the platoon seemed to be flying through singing fire. The flash of a jelly's death as it disappeared into the maw of a worm was a contrapunctuation to the symphony.
The unalloyed beauty of the moment was lost on the platoon. They had entered the narrow straits between normal life and battle and in that chastened realm there was no room for distraction.
"Now, when we were fighting our way over here," Mike continued, "I saw God Kings break and run twice, so they can be routed. I want to scare the shit out of these bastards as we come out of the water. They just lost hundreds of thousands of troops and God Kings under those buildings and when we come out I want it to be the last fuckin' straw.
"We are going to maintain camouflage until we are on the beach, using holograms of the waves. Once we are fully emerged I'll kick in a special hologram program for camouflage during the battle. Remember to let your barrels drain for just a moment before you open fire. At that point we will give them the whole can of kick-ass. Clear?" He finished the brief operations order just as the platoon reached the intake. The light beyond dimmed the flashes of light from the dying siphonophores and the water transmitted thunder of battle overwhelmed the delicate creatures' subtle cries of distress.
"Clear, sir," they sounded off as they flew through the shallow water to deploy parallel to the shore.
"Engineers, we're go
"And that my bo
"Yes, sir!" Whatever their individual doubts, as a unit they could say nothing more. Pride and unit-integrity, sin and savior, drove the soldier as always.
"So, what are we go
"We're go
"WHO WE GONNA DANCE WITH?" His helmet crept out of the water and the fury of the battle beyond was shocking. Tank ca
"THE DEVIL!" screamed the troopers, the powered grav guns dipped to drain in awful synchronicity. A blast of fire from a God King's heavy railgun sawed through lead Posleen and grappling grenadiers, their red and yellow blood flashing up in a fountain of gore. The fire from the God King saucer was abruptly silenced by a German sniper.
"WE GONNA LEAD OR WE GONNA FOLLOW?" shouted Mike as he cycled his rifle and charged his grenade launchers.
"WE'RE GONNA LEAD!" they shouted as the guns raised in unison. Barrels shifted slightly as individual Posleen were targeted. In the midst of the battle one of the God King saucers rose up and leapt across the battleline, diving on a panzer grenadier holding only a knife. Mike, and several troopers drawn to the movement, tracked in on the Posleen saucer.