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Shortly after that the engineers got back, full of stories of their adventures and set up a charging station. Sergeant Green took the precedence of rank and then had the scouts come in one by one and recharge. There were four charging stations so he figured they would be able to fully recharge in about an hour. He ordered the engineers to set up a shunt and start charging the suits of the perso
As the first turnover of rest groups was occurring an FX-25 French Main Battle tank nosed out of the rubble of the human-occupied building, turned and sped to the intersection, grinding the Posleen pulp on the street to a finer slurry. Sergeant Green bounced over to it and waved for it to stop. A bare-headed captain occupied the TC hatch of the vehicle which had a long deep scar ru
"Sergeant First Class Alonisus Green, 82nd Airborne Division, Monsieur Kapitan. I take it you're the first French unit?"
"Captain Francis Alloins, Sergeant, Deuxiéme Division Blindée," the captain responded and saluted with panache. "Enchanté. Yes, we're the first. We have many wounded, do we have to fight them out?"
"Well, sir—" Green's AID overrode the conversation with an incoming transmission.
"ACS 325th, ACS 325th, this is Medevac Flight 481, we need to know where to land."
"Medevac is inbound, sir," said the sergeant, gratefully. "You can take your wounded down to the water. If you could detach a unit to handle the medevac I'd appreciate it, we're really shorthanded." Sergeant Green switched from external to the medevac frequency and started coaching in the birds.
"Certainement," agreed the captain, unaware that he had already been effectively dismissed by the NCO. "Pardon." He picked up his radio and barked rapid orders into the handset. As he did more FX-25s poked out onto the street, followed by APCs and support vehicles. A cavalry scout vehicle pounded down the boulevard and slid to a stop opposite the tank.
A tall and gangling general in camouflage descended from the scout vehicle, looked around and hitched his belt into a better position. He was immediately followed by a squad of heavily-armed infantry who spread out to cover him. The captain jerked to attention and threw a parade ground salute. Sergeant Green, nettled, clanged a gauntlet into his helmet and left it at that.
"Bonjour, Sergeant, bonjour! I must say that I am extremely pleased to make your acquaintance," the general said, returning the salutes and then taking the sergeant's gauntlet into his hand and pumping it strenuously. "There were any number of times I was sure that I would not. And good day, Captain Alloins! Fancy meeting you here! How was the ride?"
"Simple enough, with the flanks secured for once, mon General," the captain said with a smile. He gestured grandly towards the suit of armor. "General Jean-Phillipe Crenaus, may I introduce to you Sergeant Alonisus Green of Confederation Fleet Strike."
"Yes, yes, I have already been apprised of Sergeant Green," said the general. "And where is the indomitable Lieutenant O'Neal?"
Sergeant Green wrinkled his eyebrows, an expression impossible to see beyond the blank mask of his helmet. Where had the general heard of Lieutenant O'Neal? "He's taking a nap, sir. He's wiped out."
"I'm sorry to hear that," the general boomed. "Sergeant Duncan assured me that he was made solely of steel and good quality rubber! It seems beyond the pale that he could require such a mundane thing as rest!"
Sergeant Green was begi
"Yes," said the general. He looked around at the windrows of bodies with a mildly pleased expression then kicked a Posleen forearm out from under foot.
"I agree with one exception. I believe that I have the largest cohesive unit left. I insist that Deuxiéme Blindée should hold the intersection until the other units are past, although I agree that your ACS unit should maintain the final retreat. It is uniquely suited for it since it can, in extremis, exit through the buildings or for that matter over them." He smiled again at his little joke.
"Major?" asked the sergeant, tiredly, wrinkling his brow again.
"Fine by me," said the panzer major, "we're down to a short battalion after that last push by the Posleen."
"Excellent!" exclaimed the general, rubbing his hands together. Sergeant Green could not believe he had so much energy. "We can begin the relief within fifteen minutes. My unit will form up on the boulevard. We will continue to send the wounded to the seaward side to be evacuated by air. Sergeant, since you are the only one with effective communications, please ask your perso
Sergeant Green passed on the word and watched in bemusement as the intersection was rapidly and effectively invested by the French forces. The perimeter was pushed farther out and the rubble walls reinforced.
The exhausted ACS and panzers thankfully turned over their positions and dropped back to assembly areas. Soon, a continuous stream of medical choppers was shuttling to the seaside ramp, now cleared of Posleen by the simple expedient of dozering them into the sea. Sergeant Green told off first and fourth squads to help the Germans drive to the MLR.
The French general had decided he had enough troops to hold the intersections as well, so all the Germans had to do was reach safety. Sergeant Green monitored the nets as the reduced division organized itself and moved out. Within forty minutes after the first French XF-25 had appeared, all the Germans in the perimeter, the wounded, the hale and the dead were gone, by tank, truck, foot or helicopter and Sergeant Green decided it was time to trade places with his commander.
39
Andata Province, Diess IV
1037 GMT May 19th, 2002 AD
Az'al'endai, First Order Lord of the Po'oslena'ar, clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth as he fought a rising tide of te'aalan. His finest genetic product dead and his oolt'ondai, including that thrice-damned puppy Tulo'stenaloor, in full retreat! If these threshkreen thought to triumph they were sorely mistaken!
"All security oolt'ondai to the command ship," he barked into the communications grid as the oolt'os of his bodyguard looked on with adoring eyes. "The command ship lifts in five tar!" Let them try to face his just wrath as he swooped upon them in his oolt' Posleen. He stewed as the scattered battalions and their vehicles, including the Posleen tanks used for ship security, were reloaded into the vast dodecahedron. Thousands of normals and their God Kings filed into the cavernous holds packed with cold sleep capsules and all the machinery necessary to set up a Posleen civilization.
"I shall have the get of my enemies as thresh!" he snarled, switching from screen to hateful screen. "And the structures of my enemies shall burn beneath my claws. I shall reap the blood and sear the bone. They will burn and burn until the burning sends word to the demons of the sky that none shall oppose the A'al Po'oslena'ar!" The scattered lampreys, trapezoidal craft that attached to the facets of the command craft in space flight, were left with their own small security detachments as the vast ship lifted under anti-grav and ponderously thundered towards the fragile human lines.