Chapter 549: 4th & 10 (1/2)
”The Confederacy is what the Council should have been, had a hundred million years to be yet was not. Everyone together, as equals, all striding toward a future where everyone had safety, luxury, comfort, and the right to try to find happiness in a malevolent universe.
”Instead, we were monstrous.
”And the Mad Lemurs of Terra have always sought to slay monsters rather than hide from them.
”Their allies learned well.” - Former Grand Most High Sma'akamo'o, from I Have Ridden the Hasslehoff
During the Clownface Nebula War General P'Kank had been a lowly Captain, a member of the vaunted 75th Rangers (Treana'ad), having transferred from the artillery to infantry. His first operation had gone so smoothly that he had asked the Team Daddy if it was always that easy.
The Team Daddy had simply said: ”When the ops plan is good is it very very good, when it is bad it is horrid. But good ops plans can go bad quickly, rarely do horrid ones become good.”
P'Kank had never forgotten that.
Now he watched as the fighting entered the twentieth hour. The Atrekna were collapsing on all fronts. He knew the Atrekna had expected him to send men into their fortresses.
Instead, he had ordered the sonic implosion charges used and watched as the crystalline fortresses vanished, to use a pithy phrase, up their own asses.
P'Kank wasn't interested in prisoners or enemy data.
The people of Hesstla had spent four years under threat, under attack, by the Atrekna. For four years P'Kank had been forced to husband his forces, carefully ensuring that he did not show his true strength, move them around so they were never where they appeared to be. He had presented the anvil to the hammer, had presented water to the blade, and fog to the searching eyes.
P'Kank watched as the green mantid Glider Corps (Death From Above) swept another fleeing Atrekna out of the sky, flashing ”ENEMY DOWN” on the screen with video and phasic sensor evidence.
Not to say the battle had been bloodless. While he was under projected casualties, he knew that fate could turn on him at any second. He was careful to take no chances, take no risks, and assign overwhelming force against any Atrekna forces.
Second Armor had been masquerading as having broken down tanks, and the sudden line drive haymaker straight into the thickest of the Atrekna robotic war machines had shattered them all before the Atrekna knew what was happening.
When the Atrekna had mistaken Second Armor Division's feint for the main attack and repositioned their autonomous war machines, P'Kank had launched the real attack.
First Armored Division and First Infantry Division, along with the 5th Lanakallan Herd and 2nd Telkan Marine Division had hit across the planet, backed by air support, artillery, and orbital fire.
When the Atrekna had tried to disengage from Second Armor Division the tankers had pressed the attack, refusing to let the Atrekna retreat and reposition.
P'Kank had kept his attacks coming in steady waves, always holding back a third of his forces for refit, rest, repair, and sleep, always a third engaged, and always a third maneuvering. He kept them moving as one coherent whole, with sealed orders to keep the enemy guessing.
He had lost control in two places, briefly. Third Armored Cavalry Regiment had suffered a communications failure and attacked the wrong group, putting them out of position for artillery support for nearly eight minutes, but the 3 ACR commander had realized his mistake and quickly adjusted position under fire, pulling the Atrekna forces into an artillery barrage that had ripped them to shreds.
The 167th Treana'ad Armored Swarm had lost their orders and come under complete communications blackout, forcing the CO to use his best judgement as he ordered his tanks and heavy grav-skimmers into combat. P'Kank had managed to get a fast courier to the commander before he had moved too far out of position, but it had still allowed a sizable force to slip through a narrow corridor and make a lunge at a field hospital.
15th Forward Support Battalion had been providing support to the units around them for the first 2 waves and had gone into 'refit' mode when they had been informed that the Dwellerspawn were on the way. With no infantry, armor, or power support, the battalion had been ordered to withdraw to 11th Field Hospital, with P'Kank ordering 4th Infantry's Second Brigade to move at all speed.
P'Kank had watched as it became obvious within minutes that the armored fighting vehicles of 4/2 weren't going to reach the hospital in time.
P'Kank had ordered 15th to withdraw again.
To which the commander had replied, via the radio: ”Service above self,” and then disconnected.
P'Kank knew he should order the battalion out again, should feel anger that his direct lawful order was being disobeyed.
But there was nothing but a support unit between Dwellerspawn and a hospital with nearly a thousand patients still being evac'd, with 4/2's vehicles nearly two hours out.
P'Kank had merely transmitted: ”Witnessed” and crossed his bladearms behind his back and watched with a cigarette in each mouth.
He had no reinforcements, nobody was coming to help, and P'Kank had experienced what it meant to have the want of a nail.
15th was largely full of Hesstla, Tukna'rn, Telkan, and Welkret, with only a handful of Treana'ad and Rigellian Saurian Compact troops.
P'Kank had watched on the orbitals and drones as 15th FSB had stopped the Dwellerspawn dead. The Dwellerspawn had pushed harder, but the troops of 15th FSB had dug in hard and refused to give an inch. Even when they were overrun they kept fighting, calling artillery on their own position and what little close air support that could be spared was called down on their own heads.
At one point someone Bowie-Spiked the whole battlefield with a shoulder fired 75kt atomic weapon, firing it 250 meters straight up. The purple 'snap' with the gold corona told P'Kank that it had been loaded with a phasic and chronotron kicker.
P'Kank had watched as the unit's casualties had mounted, spurring them to greater and great efforts even as they died with their fingers on the triggers.
But they had held until 4/2 had gotten there.
P'Kank doublechecked that sector out of habit to make sure everything was still under control.
11th Field Hospital was almost overloaded and was shunting casualties to 19th Evac Hospital.
He could feel victory, but could also feel the sour taste of defeat was still possible to ruin the ice cream cone for everyone.
”You should get some rest, General,” P'Kank's aide said.
P'Kank nodded. ”I should,” he said, staring at the holotank.
He simply lit another cigarette.
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”I CAN STILL FIGHT!” the Hesstlan male yelled, fighting with the two nurses trying to hold him down. The infantryman's left arm and right leg were covered by spray bandage and one of his ears were missing. ”LET ME GO! LET ME GO!”
Melinvae moved up to him and looked down. ”Control yourself, Lieutenant,” she said.
The Hesstlan officer looked up at the gas mask covered face and nodded, going still.
”Take care of my men first,” he whispered as Melinvae pulled the anesthetic beam projector into place even while the two civilian volunteer orderlies strapped him down.
”By triage,” Melinvae said. ”Worst wounded first.”
”We held them,” the officer said. His eyes closed. ”The Digital Omnimessiah was with us. We held.”
”I know,” Melinvae said softly. She put her hand on his head. ”You held.”
She waited a moment, then moved away, going back to where she had been sitting.
The volunteer nurse sitting next to her looked at her for a long moment. ”You can remove your gas mask, Specialist,” she said gently.
Melinvae reached up and pulled off her helmet, then pulled the gas mask hood over her face before breaking the seal and pulling it away from her face.
The air tasted of scorched metal, burnt artillery propellant, and scorched biological tissue.
Melinvae folded the hood to the side of the mask and made sure it was in her carrier properly, putting her helmet back on.
”Boss, you should get some sleep,” Canton said.
”So should you. Defrag and recompile,” Melinvae said. ”That's an order.”
”OK, boss, just get some sleep, all right?” Canton said.
There was the three toned beep of the eVI going offline in her ear and Melinvae looked around.
The hospital was busy, to say the least. Grav-strikers landing and taking off, patients being unloaded, troops running up and climbing on the strikers, troops hauling mass containers for the nanoforges.
Melinvae wanted to help, but she was too tired.
She rotated her forearm, looking at the inside of her armored forearm guard. She thumbed the stud and holographic icons popped up. She closed her eyes and hit a stim.