NUKE.ZERO Chapter 3
Erwin Kane looked over the latest reports from Newcago theater. It wasn’t good.
Over the six hours since the assault had commenced, across the three theaters the American and Canadian Cataphract Corps had virtually ceased to exist. The Martians were simply too overwhelmingly superior in that area. While both nations still had vast reserves of conventional forces, the rapid destruction of the Cataphract Corps spoke poorly of the ability of human technology to resist the invaders.
Now, the 597th Militia Brigade was less than an hour away from Newcago. They were tasked with holding the line against the Vers forces long enough for the civilians of the city to be safely evacuated from the path of the invaders.
Erwin put away the tablet he was reading his report on away. He had a few ideas on how to do that, but they would be risky, heavily dependent on deception and taking advantage of the arrogance the Vers commanders and pilots would hopefully be feeling after running roughshod over Earth’s forces for hours.
The door to his compartment on the transport train opened, and an unexpected face entered. Alberich Kranz, former Executive Officer of the USS Alaska, entered the compartment.
“Hello, Erwin.” Alberich said, closing the door behind him.
“Oh, Kranz,” Erwin said absently, not looking up from The Plan he was beginning to draft. He hadn’t been a ground commander for a long time, and had zero experience dealing with Cataphracts. It would take every ounce of the tactical genius he wasn’t at all sure he possessed to pull off anything against the Martians, and- “Kranz! What the hell are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be executed?”
“I could say the same of you, sir.” Alberich said dryly, looking at his present and former CO’s new uniform. Then he saluted. “I’ve been appointed your Brigade XO, if you’ll have me.”
“Fine, fine, sit down anywhere.” Erwin said, still not looking up. “We have a lot of work to do if we’re going to beat these bastards, and not a lot of time to do it.”
“I came here to inform you that the Tac-lasers you ordered on overwatch have shot down a Vers reconnaissance drone.” Alberich said. “A retrieval team has been dispatched, though given the amount of energy we had to beam into it’s hull, I don’t know if they’ll find anything.”
“You only show up now to tell me that?” Erwin said. “This train hasn’t slowed down to take on passengers, so you have to have been onboard since we left Pittsburgh.”
“How do you know I didn’t jump?”
Erwin gave him a long stare.
“Anyways, why are you only making your presence known to me now?” Erwin said. “I could have used you help this past hour.”
“The President ordered that I not make my presence know until we cross into the combat area. The Vers are fond of jamming and destroying coms equipment, so we probably couldn’t let anything slip, even if we wanted to, or so his logic goes.”
Erwin grunted. “Still. I have a few plans for facing the Vers in urban combat, but they’re all pretty risky.”
“I don’t think either of us are dangerously risk-averse.” Alberich said. “We’re proven that much already.”
“Fair enough.” Erwin said. “So, the first idea I have involves-”
“Don’t you want to meet the rest of your staff?” Alberich asked.
“Rest of my staff?”
“You don’t run a submarine with just one man, and a Brigade has a whole lot more people than a boomer.”
“I assume you have them waiting outside?” Erwin said.
Alberich nodded slightly.
“Send them in, then.”
“This is Aaron O’neal, your Command Sergeant Major.” Alberich said.
Aaron entered. He was a clean-cut man who oozed the image of a veteran Centurion.
“Hello, Colonel Kane.” He said, as he walked towards Erwin’s desk and extended his hand. “I believe it will be a pleasure to work with you, sir.”
Aaron performed a smooth about-face and walked back to the corner of the room, where he stood facing straight ahead.
So he is like my Chief of Boat. Erwin thought. The senior enlisted man in the unit. I run the Brigade, but he runs the men. Best not to forget that.
“Next, we have Stefan Weathington, your Personnel Officer, or S1.” Alberich said, gesturing to the door.
Another officer entered, wearing the insignia of a Major. “Hello, sir. I’m glad to be working with you.” He said, not approaching Erwin’s desk.
“And now we have Johnny Glenn, your intelligence officer, or your S2.”
Another man entered bearing the marks of a Major entered, this one short, with raven black hair and pale skin. He approached Erwin’s desk and placed a flash drive on it. “The latest reports of the Vers force distributions.” He said.
“How did you know I wanted these?” Erwin asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re a planner. You like to be informed.” Johnny said simply. When Erwin tilted his head, he said, “I like to be informed too.”
“Fair enough.” Erwin said,
Johnny retreated to the back of the room, where he assumed a somewhat less perfect parade rest stance than the other officers.
“Next is Evangeline Wagner, your Plans and Operations officer, S3/S5.” Alberich said.
A tall blonde woman with her hair done in a small bun entered the room. She walked towards Erwin’s desk with quick, measured steps, and held out her hand.
“I anticipate it being a pleasure to work with you.” She said, bright green eyes locking on to Erwin. “I hope our time together will be productive.”
“Likewise.” Erwin said, shaking her hand. She had a perfectly firm grip, as though she had practiced shaking hands extensively before.
Evangeline turned around and began walking towards the back of the room. Her gaze fell on Johnny for a moment, and he straightened his stance. She shook her head slightly and returned to the back of the room.
“Now we have Vince Becker, your Logistics Officer.” Alberich said.
Vince entered the room. He seemed to saunter as he entered. He was a shorter man, with greasy black hair. He approached Erwin’s desk casually and put down a slip of paper.
“Nice to meet you, Colonel.” He said. “I found three hundred extra Dragon-II missile launchers in depot before we left Pittsburgh, but if we could expend them quickly, that would be great.”
“We... weren’t issued any Dragon-II launchers.” Erwin said. “Where did you-”
“Hench the need to expend them quickly.” Vince muttered. “Sir.”
Erwin closed his eyes. “Very well.”
Vince walked to the back of the room, glancing quickly at Evangeline. She shook her head.
“Last, we have Samuel Mantel, your communications officer.” Alberich said
Another man entered the room. He was an African-America man of medium height, with close-cropped dark hair. He looked around slowly, then approached Erwin.
“Hello.” He said, holding out his hand. “Glad to make your acquaintance.”
“Thank you.” Erwin said.
“I have nothing to report at this time, beyond the fact that we’ve lost most intercontinental communications and that the Vers are jamming heavily.” Samuel said. “I hope to be of service, Colonel.”
“You can call me Erwin.” Erwin said. “Everyone else does.”
“Very well, Erwin, sir.” Samuel said, nodding.
A frown flickered across Evangeline’s face. Erwin glanced toward her, but she had already suppressed the expression.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we have quite a situation on our hands.” Erwin began. “The Cataphract corps have been wiped out, without scoring a single confirmed kill on the enemy Cataphract. It’s our job to change that. I’m open to suggestions.”
“What do we know about their capabilities, sir?” Evangeline asked.
“The enemy mechs demonstrate a variety of different abilities.” Johnny said, stepping forward. “We are having a hard time compiling a list, given the communications jamming, but confirmed abilities include vaporizing material on contact, electrical generation, energy tentacles, force blades and others.”
“The enemy is also fond of disrupting our command and control systems via jamming.” Samuel said. “That helped them disrupt the operation of the Cataphract Corps and take them apart piecemeal.”
“The enemy combat systems are very durable.” Evangeline added. “We have observed this first hand when destroying their observation drone.”
“So, concentration of forces will be essential.” Erwin said, clenching his fist. “We need to hit them with everything we've got in one place if we want a chance to win this thing. What are we looking at in terms of air support and assents?”
“Very little.” Johnny said. “They own the skies above the horizon of their landing castle, and we’re lost dozens of planes and drones trying to fight them there. Not to mention that their aircraft are just as crazy good as their Cataphracts.”
“However, they don’t seen to be very keen on ground attack.” Stefan shot in. “That’s keeping morale among troops at the front from being as low as it otherwise would be. Also, if they have artillery, they haven’t rolled it out yet.”
Erwin took out a piece of paper and put in on his desk. He drew a pen from his pocket and wrote down concentration of forces, no air cover, and big guns never fire.
“So, once we get to Newcago, what’s our mission?” Erwin asked. He already knew what it was, of course, but he figured he needed to get the discussion on track.
“We are to assume a position between and ahead of the lines of the 74th and 75th divisions and engage the enemy in skirmishing operations.” Aaron announced. “We have considerable operational freedom, as long as what we do slows down the advance of the Martians.”
“So we’re a picket?” Alberich said.
“It would appear so.” Samuel replied.
“Kamikaze picket ships in World War Two.” Alberich said. “Do you have any idea the kind of casualties they sustained?”
“I think high casualties are a given at this point.” Erwin said softly.
“That’s the sort of attitude that tends to get a lot of people killed in a commander.” Stefan warned.
“I’m not sure that my attitude really matters here, Major.” Erwin said. “That notwithstanding, we need a plan.”
“First, let’s examine the terrain we will be fighting on.” Evangeline said.
Erwin wrote use terrain on his sheet.
“Excellent idea.” Erwin said, unrolling a map on his desk. His staff approached, and took up positions around the table.
Newcago was near the southern tip of Lake Illinois, which had expanded somewhat following the Heavens Fall. The 597th Brigade would be deployed west of the city, in Suburban terrain.
The collected staff officers looked at the map.
“Feel free to point it out if you see anything, because I don’t.” Alberich said after a moment.
“There is a general upward slant to the ground across our area of operation.” Aaron answered.
“Great. Now how do we use that?” Erwin said. “And while we think about that, another thing to consider is that we’re fighting in a suburban area interspersed with light woodlands. Do we demolish the houses in our AO or not?”
“I’d say we don’t.” Aaron said. “They give our infantry some cover, and you know how hard it is to dug ACS infantry out of cover.”
“Agreed.” Stefan said. “Demolishing them would be time and labor intensive, and would distract our troops from the task of digging in, which could be essential.”
The present officers all looked at the map for a few moments more.
“What if we put our Main Line of Resistance here,” Erwin said, tracing his finger across the map, “and our headquarters here.” He tapped a large shopping center.
“That’s awfully close to the front.” Vince said. “We’d be one artillery shell away from losing Brigade command.”
“Yes, but we will also be able to coordinate our forces effectively.” Erwin said. “Johnny, do you have the numbers on the Vers jamming?”
“Of course, sir.” Johnny said, making an elaborate bow. “The enemy jamming strength is .38 jigawatts per kilometer cubed per second squared.”
Erwin looked at Samuel expectantly.
“Aw, wingnuts.” Samuel swore. “He’s right. With the wireless transmitters we have on hand, we need to be close to communicate effectively.”
“Hence my choice of HQ.” Erwin said. “At that range we can burn through their jamming, and the Vers don’t make heavy use of artillery anyways, and we’ve got a whole battalion for counter battery fire.”
“Very well, sir.” Evangeline said. “What of our formation? I assume entrenched infantry with the tanks as a mobile reserve?”
Erwin tapped the sheet he had been writing on and smiled. “Not at all.” He said.
Thirty Minutes Later
Michael threw his cards down. “I fold.” He said.
“Aww, come on, man.” Edwards said. “That was a pretty good hand.”
“I don’t know.” Michael said. “Is it really worth the risk? It’s not that good a hand.”
“It was worth the risk.” Caroline said, showing her hand. It was terrible. “Sometimes you’ve got to roll the dice. The enemy always has problems, too. You just don’t always see them.”
“Alright, but how does that help me now?” Michael said. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m out of money.”
“You’ve still got plenty.” Jason said. “You make more than any of us, now that we’re actually getting paid for this shit.”
“Yes, but I’m not gambling any more of it.” Michael said. “You always hold something back.”
“Fair point.” Caroline responded.
The quartet were sitting on the turret of their tank, playing poker. They were all wearing their battle dress uniforms (armor) in expectation of the coming contact with the enemy.The uniform was a comfortable yet durable ballistic fabric perfect for operating in the cramped interior of the tank, and able to protect its wearer from minor spalling into the interior of the armored vehicle. Each had a belt tether securing them to the short railing on the edge of the main hatch of the tank, on the off chance they fell off.
Wind whipped their faces from the speed of the train’s passage, and the scenery of northern Indiana flashed by them. The land here still bore some scars of the Heavens Fall, but had mostly recovered from the disaster that had devastated the world.
That was soon to change.
“So, what do you think we’re going to run into out there?” Edwards asked, lying down and resting his head on the slightly elevated battle of the main gun.
“I have no idea.” Michael said softly, just loud enough to be heard over the wind. “Do you guys really think we’re going to make it out of this?”
“I have no idea.” Caroline said. “But I don’t think it matters.”
“What do you mean?” Jason asked.
“I mean, we have no choice but to fight.” Caroline explained. “A few nutjobs decided to kill their princess, so the Vers decided to kill us all. That means-”
“Actually,” Michael said. “I think the princess thing was just a pretext. They would have invaded us eventually.”
“I don’t think that matters.” Caroline continued. “What matters is that they invaded us. We as a species have no choice but to fight. That means that we as individuals must fight, or take the chance that someone else will fight to protect us.”
“If we fight, we may die.” Michael said. “But if we don’t fight, we will die. That’s what you’re saying, right?”
“Yeah.” Caroline said. “And I, for one, will not go quietly into the darkness. Hell, I’m not going into that good night at all this year. I’m going to go to war, kick those Martian bastards asses, and live to tell the story to my grandchildren. That, or get piss drunk. I still haven’t decided.”
The was a momentary pause, then the rest of the tank crew started laughing.
“What?” Caroline demanded, looking at her comrades one after another. “What the hell are you all laughing at?”
“Nothing.” Michael said, then began gathering the cards up. “I think we’re almost at our destination. Let’s wrap up the games at make sure we’re prepared for battle.”
NUKE.ZERO
Fredrick checked the seals on his suit for the upteentith time. There was no telling if the Vers might deploy chemical weapons, and he didn’t want to melt in his armored shell if they did.
His seals checked out, just as they had the past five checks. With a sigh, Frederick began his armor integrity checking. It was probably too late to get a replacement plate if something was wrong with one of his, but it would be nice to know.
“Hey, Corporal.” Jefferson said. “What’s the latest?”
“Don’t you get the Brigade command feed?” Frederick asked, “I mean, we all see the same stuff.”
“Yeah, but some of it is rank-restricted.” Jefferson said. “I mean, its not like anyone actually keeps that stuff secret, but if you-”
“We’re here.” Frederick announced, as the train began to come to a stop. “That’s probably what’s on the tactical feed right about now.”
“Shit, seriously?” Jefferson said. He began patting the mag-clamps holding the various trappings of his engineering trade to his suit. “Where are we headed?”
“Forward skirmish line.” Alica said, as she walked into the compartment, carrying two boxes like oversized suitcases. The sergeant had her helmet on, and was speaking through the voice projection systems of the fighting suit. “I don’t know what that entails, but I doubt it’ll be good. Frederick, take one of these.” She passed him one of the boxes she was carrying.
“What is it?” Frederick asked, taking the case.
“Its a Dragon-II ACGM.” Alica responded casually. “I got it from Brigade command. They were handing the things out in the logistics car.”
“I thought we weren’t-” Frederick began, but Alica cut him off.
“One of the conditions of taking them was no questions.” Alica said. “I have no idea where he got them, but they’re a serious improvement on the Wyverns we’ve been issued. It was one per squad, but when I told them we were on the forward skirmish line, they gave me another.”
Jefferson gulped. “That doesn't seem like a good sign.”
“No, it doesn't.” Frederick said. “But I’m glad for the extra firepower.”
“Amen to that.” Alica said.
NUKE.ZERO
With a crash, 165-odd tons of M8A2 ‘Regan’ Main Battle Tank crashed through the barrier separating the suburban rail station’s platform from its parking lot. Caroline skillfully negotiated the small hill leading to the parking lot and took the tank onto level ground. Unfortunately, she failed to account for the extra kinetic energy gained by sliding down the hill, and the tank continued forward a few feet extra, smashing into a red sports car left behind in the evacuation of the area.
Caroline shrugged, and before Michael could give an order to the contrary, she gunned the engine, and sent the massive tank climbing over the civilian car, crushing it under the left tread.
“The Vers did that.” She said quickly, as Michael shot her a look. “What? If they hadn’t invaded, then I wouldn’t be driving this tank here, and that car wouldn’t have been there, and we never would have met.”
Michael sighed. “It was probably in the way anyhow.”
“All systems report status as normal.” Jason said. “No offence commander, but the girl was sort of designed to do that.”
“If we weren’t at war right now, you’d be in such big trouble.” Michael said, still looking at caroline, who was holding her driving controls with an innocent look on her face.
“Why do you think she did it?” Edwards asked, not looking away from his gun controls. “I mean, I’d take out that house over there if I could. Stupid pink shutters.”
“If we survive this thing, I’ll consider letting you follow through on that.” Michael said. “Anyway, we need to get into position.”
“Aye Aye, commander.” Caroline said. “Leave it to me.”
The tank rolled forward again, just as a self-propelled gun rolled down the slope. The gun rotated and began to drive in a different direction, Caroline just barely moving the massive tank clear of the long barrel of the 185mm howitzer of the ‘Cochise’ self-propelled gun.
The tank began rolling slowing through the parking lot, following the directions of a flag-waving man on foot.
“Where are we going, anyway?” Caroline asked, following the flag-waver.
“The right flank of the MLR.” Michael answered. “Not sure what we’re doing there, though. Brigade command is playing their cards pretty close to their chests on this one.”
“Spoken like a true veteran.” Caroline said. “Oh, wait.”
“There’s no need for that.” Michael said. “Besides, they usually told us a bit more when we were on maneuvers.”
“Well, on maneuvers we didn’t have to worry about Grant sending over spies, did we?” Caroline said. “Who knows who could be on the Vers payroll? You could be a traitor, commander!”
“I highly doubt that.” Michael said, as the tank rolled out of the parking lot and into a suburban street.
Thirty Minutes Later
So, what are we doing here?” Tyrone asked, looking through the sight of his battle rifle again.
“We’re on the lookout for Martian forces.” Alica said. “And why do you have your rifle out? Its not like we’re going to run into any Vers infantry this far out.”
“I thought the book said to screen Cataphract advances with Armored infantry.” Tyrone said. “Otherwise, they’re vulnerable to exactly what we’re doing right now.”
“That’s our book.” Frederick said, looking down the sight of the Dragon-II missile launcher. “I think the Martians have a different one. Besides, they have so few infantry compared to us, I don’t think they can afford to waste them on assaults. That’s what their Cats are for.”
“Besides, do the Martians even have armored infantry?” Alica said. “I couldn’t get a straight answer out of the intel guy.”
“I guess that means he doesn't know.” Frederick said.
“I wonder what they’re going to come at us with.” Tyrone said, switching weapons to his Wyvern missile launcher. “I mean, from with they hit the Cat Corps with, it could be anything.”
“Best stay on guard, then.” Alica responded, shifting positions.
The three soldiers were lying on the roof of a house, with the peak of the roof between them and the predicted axis of the Vers advance. The drop to the ground was no problem for the armored soldiers, and the position allowed them to see farther without compromising cover. The rest of the squad, and the rest of ‘A’ company, first Battalion, 597th Militia Brigade, was scattered in similar positions along the street.
The problem was, the Company was only three hundred soldiers, scattered along the entire Forward Skirmish Line. It simply wasn’t enough to effectively garrison all the available fighting positions, or put out the overwhelming number of missiles everyone was expecting to be necessary to take down a Martian Cataphract.
But there was nothing the trio could do. With everything out of their hands, they waited.
NUKE.ZERO
The Viper-10 Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicle floated over Lake Erie, electronic ‘eyes’ peeled. The drone was primarily intended as an aerial combat platform, but its small size, stealth, and expendability made it an ideal scouting vehicle against the Vers Empire.
As the drone floated, the operator, Lieutenant Harris,from his operations bunker in Newcago, spotted five high temperature signatures moving some distance inland from the shore of the lake. He manipulated his controls, and the drone rolled over and launched a radar beacon, which began an active search radar broadcast. Five sharp signatures became distinct against the ground clutter.
Cataphracts.
Lieutenant Harris logged the contacts, then armed his Hellfire-V missiles. He was free to engage targets detected, but given the defensive abilities of Vers Cataphracts, doing so would likely cost him his drone. However, the ground-pounders in the area needed those targets softened up, and his hellfires could do that better than almost anything they carried.
As Lieutenant Harris prepared to attack, a beam of light lanced upwards from one of the Vers Cataphracts, narrowly missing his aircraft.
Harris swore, rolled his aircraft out of the way, and discharged a cloud of chaff. Frantically, he targeted the largest of the enemy Cataphracts, a sixteen meter monstrosity, with his fire control radar. As he did so, a second ray of light shot upwards, searing through his could of chaff.
The tone of his fire-control radar changed, and Lieutenant Harris pressed the firing stud on his control handset.
One after another, six Hellfire-V missiles ripple fired from Lieutenant Harris’ aircraft. A fraction of an instant later, a third beam reached up and speared the Viper-10 drone, taking it out of the fight.
As Harris swore and threw off his headset, the rockets he had launched continued down toward the targeted Cataphract. One missile lost its lock and streaked away from the target, but the others bored straight in on the target and struck home.
A missile struck the machine in the shoulder, two struck in the chest, one hit the upper thigh, and one, amusingly enough, struck the Cataphract full in the face, extinguishing one of its glowing eyes.
None of the missiles penetrated the armor of the machine, but they did damage it. More importantly, the location and bearing of the Vers forces had been recorded, and a warning was sent to forces on the ground.
The Air force had no further available assets in the area. It was up to them now.
Fifteen Minutes Later
Frederick looked down as his wrist communicator beeped. “They’re coming!” He announced.
Alica and Tyrone looked down at their devices. “Five Cataphracts.” Alica read. “Coming this way.”
Tyrone hefted his missile launcher. “What’s their ETA?” He asked, glancing westwards.
“Thirty minutes,” Alica said, “Assuming they didn’t change speeds when they realized they’d been spotted.”
Great, Frederick thought, the waiting game. Wonderful.
The soldiers checked their missiles one more time, then waited for the coming storm.
Twenty-Five Minutes Later
As the massive MBT rolled out of the hull-down position where it had waited, Michael gave a command. The autoloader whirred to life and slammed a eighty-kilogram shell into the breach of the main gun.
Michael took a deep breath as the engine of the tank reved. Am I about to die? He wondered. The Tank had thick armor made of the latest composites, but the Vers had powerful weapons and the fuel of the tank burned hot.
Michael tried to reassure himself. The Tank possessed numerous defensive measures. It was equipped with Integrated Space Armor, with the gaps built into the hull in the armor filled with a heat-resistant foam. It the tank was struck by a thermal attack, such as a Vers laser weapon, the beam would have to burn through the outer layer of armor. Then, it would be scattered and diffused by the gas given off as it vaporized the foam, meaning that it would have to burn through a larger cross-section of the next layer of armor. After repeating that process several times, the beam would have to make it through the layer of carbon composite surrounding the crew compartment.
That wasn’t all. The flechette launchers that covered the surface of the tank could be discharged in waves by the tank’s onboard computer to shred incoming missiles or knock solid projectiles off target before they hit the tank, making the heavy layers of armor geometrically more effective. Jason was a hotshot with the defensive weapons. Michael tried to tell himself that he was in a safer place than almost anyone else on the front.
I must not fear. Michael though. Fear was counterproductive and would inhibit him from being able to complete his mission to the best of his ability.
That could get him killed.
The radio crackled to life. “All tanks, roll out. Good luck and Godspeed.”
“That was the Brigade Commander.” Edwards said.
“You heard the man.” Michael said, sitting back in his command chair as he pushed back on the fear nipping in from the edges of his consciousness. “It’s time to move out. Caroline, do your thing."
“Aye aye, commander.” She said, grabbing her controls.
“Standing ready to engage targets.” Edwards said, “Anti-Kat round loaded and ready.”
Michael looked around the crew compartment of the tank as rocked forward. He had a good team with him. He would make it through this.
NUKE.ZERO
Erwin looked over his tactical map They had relocated from the train too quickly to move the bulky holotable into the makeshift command center, so they were back to using a roll-up map with miniatures on it.
He took a deep breath as an attent received a phone call, then scurried over to move several miniatures slightly on the board.
“Sir.” Another attendant said. “The Tac-lasers have picked up another Vers recon drone on their radar nets. Shall we engage?”
“Burn it down.” Erwin said. “We can’t let them get images of our Main Line of Resistance.”
“The attendant listened on the phone for a second, then said, “engaging.”
A miniature representing the Vers recon drone was placed on the table. For a few terse seconds, no one said anything. Then the attendant said, “target destroyed.”
Erwin let out his breath. “Did they get an image of our MLR?”
“I don’t know.” The attendant said. “Based purely on the geometry, they could have, but there is a significant amount of ground cover in the way, so it is entirely possible that they didn’t see anything.”
Erwin grunted. “Tell the Tac-lasers to keep a lookout for any more recon drones. That was too close for comfort. Also tell them they don’t need my permission to engage next time. What is the status of the enemy Cataphracts?”
“Approaching.” Johnny said, entering the basement of the mall where Erwin had placed his command center. “We don’t know exactly where they are, but they’re close.”
“And what is the status of our forces?”
“Very good, sir.” Evangeline said. She hadn’t left the command center since the affair had started. “All units are in position and awaiting your command or the arrival of enemy forces.”
“It won’t be long now.” Erwin said. “Tell Artillery to lay down a smoke screen over our MLR. We want to convince the Vers we’re there in force.”
“Commencing.” The attendant said.
Until the enemy Cataphracts appered, there was nothing to do but wait.