The Assault of Orion I

Part Five

Rhame knew he had to let his people know about the news he had just received before the rumors started flying. Keying the mike on the Platoon frequency he gave them the bad news "Third Platoon listen up. The General has decided to pull in the perimeter on the north and west sides so if you see movement that's what it is. The east edge is staying dug in along the city line and we are staying put along this ridge so don't get twitchy." Rhame silently counted to himself "5.....4.....3.....2...." "Ummm Sarge ."a voice popped in on the com. "At least there is one constant in the Universe" Rhame thought. "Yeah LP what's your question?" There was a long pause before Trooper LaPare replied. "Is it true we are pulling in because we don't have enough troops to hold the outer line anymore?" Rhame's jaw clenched a moment as he wished that LP would someday ask an easy question. Rhame never lied to his people and this time would be no exception."Yeah LP,the General wants a bigger reserve force inside the perimeter in case the Antarans try another breakthrough like last week. The only way that's gonna happen is if she shrinks the outer line enough to free up some more units for the reserve." Rhame hoped that would be enough to shut LP up but the speaker popped one more time. "Sarge , are we gonna get anymore help on this ridge if they pull in the other areas?" Rhame had asked the same question of Captain Lewis so he couldn't blame LP for asking."The word we got from Command LP is that since we have done such a great job of defending this ridge,that the Antarans won't make a major push from this direction again." Rhame didn't blame the men for their silence as he knew it was a load of flarg when he heard it from the Captain 15 minutes ago.

Rhame saw a warning light on his command board as he scanned the horizon. "All tanks check hull integrity." He transmitted. "Looks like they are trying a new bio or chemical agent on us." Rhame shook his head as the A.I. sampled the agent and posted an evaluation. "A self replicating blood crystalization agent,very nasty." he thought."Oh yes,these bastards need to be exterminated from the galaxy if they can think up stuff like this every few days." Capt Lewis came over the Troop frequency "Stand to A Troop,we are under biochemical attack and you know that means a ground attack follow up soon." Rhame heard Cpl Dunphy snort and mutter."Tell us something we don't know Cap." Rhame keyed his mike."Third Platoon status check." The replies came back quickly . Sgt Jenkins' drawl always made him sound like he was talking in slow motion "Two tank: status board straight green Sarge,when are you gonna send us some more targets." Sgt Golden's voice sang out "Three tank: status online but Laz thinks the turret traverse controls need to be checked out." Rhame frowned as he heard that. If things got bad enough for Laz to complain,they must be pretty awful. "After this attack wave,report to the maintenance point and see if they can do anything." The last reply came a moment later from Sgt Kindred "Four tank: status green,we are ready Rhame." The command board started to light up as enemy units started moving in on the Corps perimeter. "Where are they all coming from." Rhame thought for the 14th time in as many days.

General Parker checked the numbers for the fifth time and came up with the same answer. "Not enough left"She said to herself. "just too much perimeter and too few troops left." All she learned in 25 years of military service couldn't help her conjure troops out of thin air to fill the gaps that were starting to show up. "And if I pull the perimeter in much more,the enemy artillery will be able to hit the support troops that were holding the Corps together by a thread." She looked over the status reports and all the enemy attack evaluations."If we demolish a few of the buildings on the east perimeter,the Marines there should be able to hold the rubble with only half the tanks they have now." She looked at the map again and her finger came down on a ridge along the south edge of the spaceport. "So the Antarans don't seem to like attacking through the desert anymore. I don't blame them after the way they have been chewed up by the tanks there,no cover all the way to the ridge." She called up the status of the units assigned there."A Troop,almost full strength. Good well we will leave 1st Platoon , no wait they are short a tank. Well then 3rd Platoon,looks like you get the easy job of guarding that ridge all by yourself while the rest of your Troop goes into my reserve to plug some holes." She punched in the orders on her command board and smiled as units began moving.

The crew of Rhames tank were ready for the explosion and it didn't dissapoint them when it came. "That slitch must have lost her freaking mind! She expects FOUR tanks to hold a section of perimeter we were barely holding with 13 and expects us to be grateful that she left us with the easy assignment! If this section falls the Antarans are going to gut the whole spaceport area before we can blink and then the whole Corps is gonna be wiped out." The crew let him wind down as he always did and expected him to begin planning how they were going to defend the ridge with just the four tanks of the Platoon. When nothing more came from Rhame,Cpl Dunphy looked over his shoulder and was shocked at what he saw. The Sarge seemed to have aged 10 years since he looked back a few minutes ago. "Sarge,you Ok?" Dunphy asked quietly. A set of empty eyes looked back at him and Dunphy barely heard the reply "I'm just tired kid.I am just too worn out and used up.You know how many assault drops I made?" Dunphy could hear Cahill listening in on the comm as he said gently."No Sarge how many, we always were afraid to ask." The shrill laugh raised the hair on the back of Dunphy and Cahill's neck."You were afraid to ask and I was afraid to remember." There was a pause and then Rhame started in a monotone "PhycoAuroraMintakaMirackSmonLeonidsJuzaEndorraXolasPavoIshiAchirdSchiff and now Orion" Dunphy whispered "Fourteen ... this is fourteen assaults for you Sarge?" The voice seemed to come from miles away "You know that A Troop was mustered in my hometown.There were almost fifty of us in the original Troop and we were all volunteers,no draft in those days. We were so proud marching down the street heading for the starport on our way off planet for training. I still remember the cheering and my schools band playing us aboard the transport. I never saw Suji again after that." Dunphy felt like he was going to throw up and he heard Cahill say "No one knew you were from Suji Sarge, how soon after you left..." Rhame cut in "Did the Harvesters invade? Two months later Cahill, I was still in training when they told us. The whole Troop tried to get assigned to try and take Suji back but the decision was made to sterilize all worlds that Harvesters controled. The Troop fought over and over and one by one the last of us from Suji were killed and we got replacements and we kept fighting. And now that Cheng is gone I am the only one left who remembers that day." Dunphy had heard of troops that had red-lined before but the Sarge always seemed too strong for that and he wondered how the Platoon was going to survive if the Sarge went totally 'around the bend'. Dunphy chose his words carefully "Sarge we only have to hold on for 5 more days before the other troops get here then we will all have a nice long rest. Maybe we will get sent back to Schiff and we can all just hang out on the beach for the rest of the war." The gunner saw this wasn't having any effect on Rhame when Cahill's voice spoke up "Sarge, I know we aren't as good as the guys you had in the original Troop but we all try hard to be good enough for you and we really need you to help us make it through this fight. Sarge,we want to live so we can go home, can you help us do that?"

Dunphy saw something in Rhames eyes flicker and he saw a long shudder go through his sergeant's body and in a voice that still sounded far away "Home? Sure kids I'll make sure you get home then I can rest a while."