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"Oh."
"More good news. Sort of. Your girlfriend is at the farm with a mixed group of
civilians and military personnel. You can enlist her as a pack mule."
Tommy's jaw worked inside the armor and he counted to ten. "You want me to
bring
Wendy up here!?
What in the hell is she doing anywhere near this shit
?"
"The same thing my daughter is, surviving," O'Neal said with a smile in his
voice.
"Your daughter
?"
"She apparently survived the nuke that killed my father," Mike answered and
gestured to the northwest.
"They're about six miles that way. That's where I grew up."
"Oh, holy shit, sir. I'm . . ."
"Don't worry about it," Mike said, waving a hand. "Let's just say that we both
have good reason to hold this position. And to survive doing so." He paused
for a moment then gestured helplessly. "But . . . even if we can retake the
pass after we pull out, we're probably not going to walk out. Or, hell, even
be carried out . . ."
"They're sending the SheVa, sir. . . ."
"Yeah. One SheVa, about a million Posleen. I'm sorry, but, no offense, I
wouldn't even expect the Ten
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Thousand to make it. Much less one unsupported SheVa. The point is . . . when
you see my daughter . . . Just tell her I love her. Okay?"
"Okay, sir." Tommy started to reply then stopped at a raised hand.
"I've given your AID all the information it needs about the cache and the
link-up point," O'Neal continued. "We're critically short on time so I want
you to pull out right away, even before the rest of the battalion. Despite the
time issue, you should take some R and R time when you meet up with the group.
And your lady-friend." O'Neal waved vaguely again then tapped the knee of the
lieutenant's suit. "Take what you can while you can get it, Tommy. There's
only so much that God gives us in life." With that he rolled back out of the
hole and crawled towards the battalion position.
* * *
"Boss, there's a little problem here." Sergeant Major Ernie Pappas still
preferred the term "Gunny." He'd retired as a Marine Gunnery Sergeant long
before aliens were anything more than science fiction. But as one of the early
rejuvs he had been either training or in the frontlines since the first
landings. And he knew a screwed up tactical situation when he saw one.
"Sure is," O'Neal replied. "Pulling out is going to be a stone cold bitch."
The battalion was laying down a continuous curtain of fire but the Posleen
seemed to be limitless. They had slowed down in their advance, and all the
forces to the north had pulled out, but they still were in continuous contact.
When the battalion pulled out, it had basically two choices. It could pull out
fast, above ground, or it could dig backwards. But in neither case could it
maintain fire. And some of the suits, despite refills, were reaching red zone
on power again.
"We're going to get chewed up when we exit," he continued. "Shit happens."
"We're not just going to get chewed up," the Gunny said. "We're going to get
hammered."
"What if they pursue us?" Stewart asked. "I have to take their side, here."
"We'll go up Black Rock Mountain," O'Neal said. "They're going to find pursuit
tough."
"They're hearing all of this, you know," Duncan interjected.
"Yeah, but I don't think their attacks can coordinate this fast," Mike said.
"Otherwise they'd be all over us. We've been hit hard, what, five or six
times? If whoever was running the show over there could hit us hard now, he
would."
"Traffic control must be a beast," Stewart pointed out. "So we should get
while they're limited?"
"Except we're still going to get hammered," Gunny Pappas said.
"You keep saying that, Gunny. I know."
"We'll get less hammered if somebody stays back to suppress them."
O'Neal turned his body towards the veteran NCO. "You've got to be joking."
"I can run a simulation, sir," the Gunny replied formally. "We're looking at
nearly fifty percent casualties if we just pop out of the holes and run. We're
out of grenades, we're out of mortars, we're out of anything we can use to
knock them back. We're getting five to six God Kings on the line at a time,
now. Unless they're engaged they'll hammer us even under holograms."
"I know, Gunny, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sacrifice some pawns to
save the king," O'Neal said quietly. "Or a knight. We're all going out, as
fast as we can. We only have to get around the corner of the ridge. Fifteen,
twenty seconds tops in view."
"With every Posleen in sight hammering us from the rear," Duncan pointed out.
"Which is our most lightly armored spot. Except on you."
"Thanks," Mike replied coldly.
"We've got a few troops that are . . . mobility challenged anyway," Pappas
said grimly. "Nagel and
Towbridge both lost a leg. Others have been hit. Leave me behind with a group
of the worst off. Lowest on power, shot up, the sick, lame and lazy. We'll
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provide cover fire as you unass."
"We can fall back by fire and maneuver . . ." Stewart said. "Except I'm not an
idiot and I know the
Posleen just walk right into it. Christ, Top!"
Mike looked at the ground as the other suits turned to look at him. Finally he
spoke.
"Fifteen. That's enough to suppress their fire as we retreat. I'll dump a
list." He paused and switched over to a private frequency. "Top, I forgave you
for First Washington a long time ago."
"I know you did, boss," the sergeant major replied gruffly. "You want to stay,
but you know you can't.
The battalion will just . . . go away if you buy it. You need Duncan and
Stewart to watch out for the details. I can hold the . . . I can hold for long
enough."
* * *
Mosovich led the way up the slope and over the hill. At this point, between
the continuing rain and the heavy traffic into and out of the cache, there was
a noticeable, and slippery, trail into the cave. The wet and the slope were
not the only obstacles with which they had to contend; the hills were littered
with fallen trees.
The area had suffered repeated multi-kiloton strikes and while none of them
had been on the near side of the hill the ground shock and pressure wave had
still dropped trees and caused small landslides.
They moved carefully, crawling over individual fallen trees, detouring around
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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