Simple Things, page 20
part #13 of The Valens Legacy Series
"I doubt a single one of these goobers remembers bayonet drill," Chief Murphy growled.
"Probably not," Jack agreed. "But they've had it before, so they'd be a lot faster to train than giving them something new."
"Colonel, you have a delivery at the gate," Jack's secretary called out. That was another thing he was having to get used to, along with being called 'colonel' constantly: having a secretary.
"What is it?" he asked, turning away from the window.
"The guards say it's a tractor-trailer being driven by the ugliest man they've ever seen, and he's got no paperwork, but he asked for you by name."
"On the way!" Jack yelled and sprinted for the door. "Come on, Chief!"
Thankfully the main gate wasn't far from the office, at least not for a cougar hybrid. When Jack got there, he saw the truck sitting in the middle of the lane, blocking everyone, while a very rude driver argued with the sentry at the gate.
"I got it!" Jack yelled, causing them to look up. The sentry saluted as Jack slid to a stop. Sure enough, the driver was a goblin.
"This the stuff from Sawyer?" Jack asked.
"Who else would have me drive my rig all the way down here to deal with the mundies!" the driver grumbled.
"Gimmie the keys, I want to check the back."
"What, don't you trust me?"
Jack laughed. "Course I do, just don't ask what for! But I gotta see exactly what's back there, so I know how many I need to unload this, so we can get you out of here nice and fast."
The goblin driver tossed him a couple of keys on a ring. Running around to the back, Jack undid the locks, opened up one of the doors, and hopped up inside.
"Is that what I think it is?" Chief Murphy asked.
"Yup. You're getting old, Chief. Was beginning to wonder if you were gonna show up."
"I don't run for nothing that ain't a steak anymore, Colonel."
Jack laughed and looked at all the crates stacked to the top of the truck. "I think we got enough for everyone, and then some. Call everyone in the regiments over, and let's get this truck unloaded as fast as possible. I'll have him pull it over by the exercise field."
"You got it, Sir," Chief Murphy grumbled.
"Oh, cheer up. I heard they infected another thousand regular infantry this morning. We get to deal with them tomorrow!"
"The colonel is just too kind, Sir."
"Just doing my part to make the rank stick; you know as well as I do only bastards get the birds!" Jack laughed and, jumping out the back, he told the driver to follow him and had the guards wave the truck through.
Pulling out his cellphone, he called Oak once the unloading got started.
"What's up Jack?"
"I just got that shipment of ammo Cali told us Sawyer was sending. Do you need any?"
"Nope, that truck down there is one of the two he sent us."
"Wow, I think I need to meet this Sawyer once this is done. You need anymore rifles, or did I send up enough yesterday?"
"We're definitely good. Sure you won't get in trouble for raiding the armory?"
"What armory? Those just fell off a truck someplace," Jack said with a chuckle. "I gotta go bust heads with my 'O' corps, then check on the motor pool."
"Colonel," Captain Davis called, trotting up with most of his company behind him, "how much of this is ours?"
"All of it, boys! All of it! Let's get it out of here so the nice man who brought it to us can be on to more productive work. Tonight we get to spend our time loading every magazine we can lay our hands on!"
"You're loving this far too much to be healthy," Chief Murphy grumbled as he turned to get his non-coms organized.
Jack smiled and, grabbing a box of ammunition from one of the pallets that had been unloaded, he headed back to his rack. He wanted everyone to see that even their colonel would be loading his own magazines tonight. Once he had that done, he'd make the rounds, just in case. The next window opened at midnight, and from that moment on, anything could happen.
Eighteen hours later, something did.
"Are we going to have to do this every time one of these gates open?" Chief Murphy grumbled as they bounced down the road at the head of a long convoy of trucks carrying troops.
"You're right, Chief," Jack said. "This isn't going to cut it. We've been on the road for a half hour and we're still almost an hour from the fight."
"How many of our people are there?"
"They've flown in about a thousand so far," Jack said, checking the updates he was getting on the secure tablet he'd been given by Sean's friend. "They're not doing as well as they'd like; they're being overwhelmed by sheer numbers."
"Don't we have any artillery?"
"Some, but they won't be in position for another hour, either."
"We need to be closer," Chief Murphy growled.
"Yup, we do. When this one is over, I think we'll just bivouac out in the desert."
"They're gonna hate you, you know."
"No," Jack smiled, "they're gonna hate you, because you're the one who gets to deliver the order. No one ever hates colonels, Chief. You told me that one yourself!"
Jack tried not to laugh at the glare the chief was giving him as he went over the maps of what was happening at this new gate. It was a large one, so they were definitely going to be in for a long fight. He'd also been told there was going to be a major push through this gate, and it was beginning to look like the demons were already starting to commit.
Chad's strategy had started off as one of simple containment, but now he was being pushed back, as more and more demons came out of the gateway. They had a few small mortars they were using to make it hard on the demons, along with some very effective fire spells from the mages, who had just recently been added to the mix.
But until the rest of the forces got there and got organized, the advantage of firearms was going to get overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
"Don't we have any airpower?"
"The only pilots we got so far are helo and transport," Jack said absently. "I think the Air Force is a bit resistant to the idea, while the Marines haven't gotten here yet." Jack sent the current status off to his company commanders. Chad had included basic directions to where he wanted them and what he wanted them to do, along with the fiat that things were subject to change once they finally got there.
"Damn, I miss taking the helicopter," he grumbled as they bounced along the road.
"You're going to be one of those 'lead from the front' types, aren't you?"
"If I die with the spot promotion, I get to keep it," Jack mumbled.
"If you die, your parents are going to kill me," the chief grumbled.
"Orphan, so ease your fears."
"Like hell you are."
"Nope, my mom tells me that every year after I forget Mother's Day. Says I'm not hers…"
Jack kept up the idle banter as they got closer. He hated waiting. At least the chief was taking his mind off it a little bit.
He pinged Chad when they neared the deployment point, got the latest orders, and forwarded them out to his commanders once again. Then he stashed his tablet and fired up his radio.
"Alright! Let's do it like we didn't practice it!" the chief called over the radio. "Dismount!"
Jack started up the nearest hill with his command team. Once there, he got out his binoculars and got a good look at the situation. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either. The numbers of the demons were increasing faster than he'd expected, and they were starting to form up into groups, obviously preparing for an attack.
Looking back at his people, he could see everyone had formed up and were awaiting orders.
"Okay," Jack said over the radio, "move 'em out. And let's be real clear here: With your shield, or on it! This ain't no joke, and if they get by us, there's nobody between us and Reno. We're gonna go in there, and we're gonna teach these demons about the ever lovin' honor of the infantry!"
Jack smiled as they all cheered, then his officers led them down the routes Chad had put on his map. This was going to be a nasty one, there was no doubt about it. They had almost seven thousand soldiers on the field, though that would increase by another thousand when the dwarves showed up.
The enemy had already pushed what looked like five thousand through the gate, and the word from Sean had been that they had probably thirty thousand more, for this one attack alone.
"Looks like it's going to be a very long day," the chief commented.
"Yup, let's go join A company and show those guys how a couple of old-school Rangers do business, Chief."
"Damn straight, Sir. Lead the way."
Chad watched the battle from the top of one of the hills, checking the camera feeds he was getting from several lookout posts that dotted the hills in the area. It was a meat grinder down there. His own forces, the experienced ones at least, had been making a decent accounting of themselves. The new recruits hadn't done as well, and there'd been heavy losses among those units.
The military units Jack was leading were doing a lot better than he would have expected. They were taking casualties, sure, but they weren't giving an inch. Jack had told him there were a lot of combat veterans in his regiment, and he'd obviously been telling the truth. They knew what they were doing, and they knew how to work together.
Twice over the last twenty-four hours the demons had broken out of their containment area, and each time they'd been beaten back in, with heavy losses. Chad suspected they most likely hadn't gotten everyone from those breakouts. They were definitely going to keep their eyes open and increase both security and their patrols. But he was getting a feel for this new guy. The last leader had been brash, overly so. This one was more…cunning.
Chad was positive he was just throwing his troops away. He wasn't here to win today, he was here to learn what he was up against, what the humans and the lycans had to throw at him. After all, his people came back. Eventually. Chad's people, once dead, were gone for good.
He was definitely going to have to change his own strategy, and that would include holding some things back until the main gate opened. Once that happened, it was party on until they got past the permanent gate issue. After that…well, after that, if Chad had anything to say about it, drastic measures would be employed.
But for now he had to win this fight. If the schedule he'd gotten was right, four more gates, then they'd get the first break in the war.
"I think they're forming up for another push," Adam called over the command circuit.
"Looks like," Chad said. "Let's see what they think of an artillery strike. Order everyone to dig in. You've got two minutes." He switched over to his spotters. "Okay, guys, dial in your artillery and let 'em have it. I gave everyone the heads down."
"Yeah, we heard the dig in orders," Corporal Lansing said with a laugh.
Hunkering down himself, Chad watched as the first ranging round came in; it was long, and it didn't explode. The next one hit dead center, and it did explode.
Thirty seconds later, it was like a black rain falling from the sky. A black explosive rain. They kept it up for half an hour, then cut back to one shell every twenty seconds or so, with the occasional extras thrown in to keep everyone on their toes.
"How long can you keep this up?" Chad asked the corporal.
"How long do you want us to keep it up?"
"Monday would be nice." Chad chuckled.
"I'll see what I can do."
They weren't able to keep it up until Monday; apparently they were starting to shoot out the barrels of the four pieces they had, and the accuracy was starting to suffer. Still, they shelled for almost twenty-four hours straight. By the time they were done, Chad was looking at ten hours until the gate collapsed, and all his troops were now rested and very well supplied.
He was curious to see what the demon leader's response to artillery would be. They'd have to do something, and Chad was quite sure, whatever it was, he wasn't going to enjoy it.
"So what happens now?" Max asked Chad as the silence stretched into minutes.
"We wait and see what they do once they realize the shelling has stopped."
"Maybe they've gone home and decided to wait until next time?"
Chad shook his head. "He's feeling us out. Trying to get an idea of what he's up against this time around."
"Who?"
"The enemy commander. This is the king Sean told the lions about. They're smarter and more powerful than the rest."
"If he's so smart, why did he just send twenty thousand of his people into a meat grinder?"
"They come back," Chad reminded her.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Sorry."
"Easy enough to do, I guess," he told her and, picking up his binoculars, he began to scan the gateway himself. Someone stepped out and looked around; they turned back around and started to reach for the gateway when their head exploded.
Apparently some of their better marksmen were keeping an eye on things.
"You know, if we keep killing them, they'll think the shelling hasn't stopped," Max said chuckling.
"Good point. Travis!" Chad called out on the radio. "Take your best shooters, circle around to the back, and get as close as you dare. Anyone steps out, drop ’em immediately!"
"Roger that, Chad!" Travis radioed back.
Chad watched as, over the next two hours, a demon would come out at random intervals and get killed before it could go back.
"I wish we had claymores." He sighed as another demon was killed.
"Why?"
"'Cause we could mine the area around the opening. Eventually they're gonna figure it out, or just make another mass charge. Then we could just wait until we had a lot of 'em down there, and boom, gone."
"We just need artillery pieces that aren't leftovers from overseas," Max complained.
"Yeah, I'm a bit surprised they wore out, too," Chad agreed. "Hopefully the next batch will last longer. Oh! Here they come!"
A dozen demons popped out of the gate, and four of them were dropped almost immediately. The rest turned and ran back for the gate.
"Looks like two of them made it." Chad sighed and, keying his radio, he called out.
"Okay! Everyone up! We're gonna be attacked here any minute!"
"What's taking them so long?" Adam called over the radio ten minutes later.
"Either they're trying something new, or they didn't think we'd stopped," Chad called back. "We got seven hours to go; I think we're going to see one last major push, and that'll be it."
"I'm putting my bet on a million-man rush," Jack said over the radio.
"I think you're right, and they'll put their heavy hitters in the front. Everyone, break your people into field of fire squads. Two on each area. One squad picks off the small fry, while the other one goes for the big guys. Oh! And put a team together to watch for magic users!"
"Got it!" they all called back.
Twenty minutes later a block of ridders pushed through the gate, with a second line of biskops, raseri, and a few others Chad had seen before, but didn't know the name of.
"Called it!" Jack radioed as everyone opened fire.
"So got anymore tricks up your sleeve, Hon?" Max asked as the fight started to develop.
"Not that I want to show our enemy," he said, shaking his head. "We're going to have to slug the rest of this one out the old-fashioned way."
"Swords?"
"If they break out again, yes." Chad sighed. "Swords."
"You make it sound like the end of the world."
"It's just, when we have to get that close, we lose people. I'm tired of losing people, Max. Especially when they don't."
Max gave him a hug. "I'm sure we'll figure out a way to kill them so they stay dead, eventually."
"Thanks, Max. Let's get the reserves organized so, if they do manage to break out again, we have somebody to plug the hole."
"So, how'd it go?" Roxy asked Chad on the radio when the gate finally collapsed.
"Over all we did well, real well. Casualties were low, and if it hadn't been for the need to send people down to clash with them directly when they broke out, we might have gotten away with the lowest number to date."
"Well, that's good at least. I think the way we were getting hit in the beginning was starting to effect morale."
"I still hate that theirs come back when we kill them, but ours don't. We need to find a way to change that. By the way, we're going to have to get our patrols out looking for stragglers and such, because I'm positive a few small groups broke off and got past us."
"Okay, I'll get our search and destroy teams on it."
"Any word from Sean?"
"We'll go over it in the after action briefing tomorrow. Get some rest, Chad."
"Will do."
Homeward Bound
"I see you made productive use of your time while the gateway was open," Mahkiyoc said, motioning towards them.
Sean smiled and nodded. "With all the energy here, it was easy to fix a few things and create one or two more."
"I find that most intriguing. The manipulation of the elemental forces is one we never mastered without the use of machines. Is this something lions do?"
"Some, not all. The same is true for humans. I'm surprised you're not able to do it, considering how much use you make of those forces."
"I guess the combination of my colleague's essence and yours created some new abilities," Mahkiyoc said, looking thoughtful once again. "I wonder how they managed it?"
Sean shook his head; this was something he definitely wasn't going to share. 'Oh hi, we ate your friend' isn't something most people wanted to hear, he was sure.
"I wasn't there; I was born much later."
"I find it interesting, too, that you are able to fight the demons. We cannot stand before them mentally without our machines and our protections. Of course, we are no match for them physically in most cases, either."
"They can't eat us," Estrella said. "We're too different from humans, or you. I guess the combination of your friend and us changed us enough that they can't touch us. But," she smiled, all teeth, "we can, and do, eat them."
