The Pharaoh base held on with all its strength. All available reserves were deployed to protect the western defense sector. And although we did not have any problems in destroying the advancing enemy, their colossal numerical superiority still threatened to stretch the front line, and the enemy could also bypass the positions from the flanks. We thought for a long time about how we could correct the current situation and came to one right decision:
We must cut off the head.
Sooner or later the xorx will bypass the positions from the flanks and simply destroy us by overwhelming them with their numbers. Without taking risky steps, we would simply continue to wait for our inevitable death. Since with a high degree of probability we were in danger of death, we decided on this adventure of a landing operation in the deep rear without any kind of long-distance communication.
Leaving five thousand people alone with millions of giant bugs right in the heart of the hive was obviously a terrible idea, and yet we were left with no other options on how to defeat xorx. We considered the option of quickly fleeing east closer to the sea, but we risked encountering more dangerous life forms than xorx, as well as exposing hundreds of thousands of people to biohazard. Well, of course, if we did this, we would simply expose our backs to xorx, and this is already guaranteed death.
Even though we had combat suits for each person, the energy reserves in the batteries were not endless. Our current position in the middle of the desert was the most advantageous and safe for us. It’s best for us not to leave the “great desert” at all and stay here while collecting resources and building a new ship in order to return home to Republic space. However, xorx and their collective consciousness want to destroy the uninvited guests in the person of us, which leaves this option of current actions unfeasible.
To save our lives and our positions it is necessary to destroy xorx once and for all. For this purpose, we assembled an elite group of troops “Troy” and sent them into the heart of a swarm of giant insectoids. I really hope that the operation will be successful and as we hope xorx, after the loss of their “queen”, they will simply become disoriented and become nothing more than animals, even if this was unlikely, but still we need to try and see what happens in the end.
It is not known for sure whether this will happen at all or not, but we knew for sure that eliminating the center of the collective mind is now a priority for our survival. Even if the “swarm queen” does not directly control xorx, but only gives general orders, this would still play into our hands in terms of defense. Maybe a power struggle would begin among these individuals, and we could buy time to deal with them once and for all. It is also possible that they will be able to destroy us before they realize the loss of their command center.
In this case, we will take them with us to hell.
"Third group of shuttles for takeoff."
"Accepted. Let's begin takeoff."
"Good luck."
While at headquarters, I looked at the holographic map of the fighting, which displayed a flat landscape and icons indicating our forces and those detected by xorx scanners. From the east, like a rising tide, a monstrous horde opened its mouth, trying to encircle the thin blue line that marked the close concentration of Republic troops in the western sector of defense.
At any moment, xorx can simply break through this thin line and easily crush, devour and gut all the remaining people on this planet. It is extremely important for us to prevent this from happening under any circumstances and to defeat the enemy at any cost.
"General Kudrinash, a message has arrived from the «Troy» group of troops."
"What's there?"
I turned to the communications officer sitting inside the command center.
After a short time of viewing the message, the signalman replied:
"«The Trojans» successfully fulfill the assigned combat mission of defending the circular perimeter, however..."
"What?"
I didn’t really want to hear bad news and yet...
"However, the xorx are compressing the encirclement ring ten times faster than we expected."
Ten times faster?
These words instantly dulled my enthusiasm. The chance of winning dropped from 18% to less than one. This means that already in the second hour xorx will simply take and destroy all the surrounded soldiers.
Catastrophe! Oh shit!
I didn’t hesitate and immediately gave the order:
"This is General Zeonid speaking. Urgent order. Send reinforcements to the Troy force of up to thirty thousand people."
“But sir, the line of defense in the west is too stretched to begin to withdraw such significant forces to form new ones as reinforcements. We cannot...”
"This is my order."
I said more sternly, almost gnashing my teeth.
"We need to support the operation with all possible means so carry out my orders immediately."
"Yes, sir..."
The officer answered stutteringly and began handing out credentials on closed air.
For a brief moment, I noticed frightened looks inside the headquarters; rather, they turned out to be not even frightened, but condemning. Many were dissatisfied with the fact that I gave priority to carrying out the operation instead of protecting the main forces of the 127th Army of the RVSC, and yet it was necessary. Perhaps, because of my order, a breakthrough zone will arise in one of the defense sectors, or we may even have to give up a huge area of territory to the enemy in order to narrow the front line. The fighting can be transferred directly to the Pharaoh base, where many objects have already been erected, forming the future settlement of our army.
If the fighting moves to «Pharaoh», then, firstly, there will be great casualties, even greater than we can imagine, and secondly, all buildings will come under attack and can be destroyed during the fighting. The loss of resources and human lives is absolutely unacceptable for us in the current circumstances. In this case, even if Operation Achilles is successful, we will not be able to recover from possible losses and destruction.
Looking at the screen where fierce fighting was taking place, I added in a whisper:
“We need to take risks, otherwise we won’t see any victory.”
***
The third hour of a grueling battle marked the triumph of xorx, who were still able to break through our positions. Much worse is that it was our positions that became the main vector of attack for these creatures. Like one giant spear from the sky, the earth and from under the surface, they rushed to one point.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
It seemed that I was their main target.
I wanted the attention of a beautiful girl, Colonel Yuna Sherwood, for example, but I sure as hell didn't want the attention of those damn bugs! DIE!
I fired a machine gun.
From the outside it could have looked very cool, as one man in a black combat suit, holding a machine gun at the ready, continuously fired at xorx that were about to pounce on him, barely getting closer, and mountains of beetle entrails grew around him. But in fact, feeling the living aggressive waves of chitin rushing towards you was scary as hell. I was almost in a panic, firing at all the nearest xorx that could have been about to tear me apart, but I’m a human, you can’t put me back together like a droid.
DIE! DIE! DIE!
The rest of the platoon stood nearby and also shot at the xorx who got close. At one point, one of the beetles even grabbed the paratrooper with its mandibles and tried to split the durable combat suit, shaking the soldier in all directions.
"Help!"
The one captured on the air screamed.
"Just don't shoot! Oh Damn! Aaaaaaaa~!!!"
We were not distracted by the poor fellow and continued to fire at the advancing xorx. We would hardly be able to help a comrade in arms since we could accidentally hit him with a burst of fire, which we obviously didn’t want. However, we could not stand by and just watch as xorx squeezed its limbs and could simply tear a person apart at any moment.
"Armenia!"
I shouted and immediately received a positive answer on the air.
“I know! I’ll do everything now, sir!”
"Hurry up, otherwise he'll..."
My voice at that moment was drowned out by a heart-rending scream.
"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A~!!!"
Before I could finish speaking, a heartbreaking scream filled the airwaves, and the data of one of our soldiers disappeared from the display inside the combat suit. For a brief moment, among the dust, lead and yellow guts, I saw a red splash of human blood and a severed bloody hand. Just a short moment, but it angered me so much that I, unable to restrain my outbursts of emotions, turned the barrel of the machine gun at the xorx, which had just killed our fighter.
"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
Several streams of large-caliber shells from me and a couple of other platoon soldiers and the creature itself was already dead. I continued to turn this creature into shapeless slurry in a continuous burst because I didn’t even want to see it safe and sound!
HOW DARE YOU?!
In complete rage, I continued to shoot, simultaneously blaming myself for allowing the loss of the fighter.
Why the hell didn't I do anything?
"SIR!"
Someone shouted over the air and immediately I returned my attention to the rest of the horde.
"WATCH OUT!"
The next moment, one xorx reached me and, crashing, pushed me back far beyond the positions of our platoon. I fell to the ground and dropped the machine gun, simultaneously feeling the ringing from a powerful blow, fortunately the combat suit was reliable and protected me. However, the disorientation and sudden attack took me by surprise. I barely tried to get to my feet, but I no longer had enough strength to do so. Even the stimulants were powerless and no longer had any effect on my body.
Crap!
I cursed, looking at the tactical map.
Xorx have broken through our position, we are rapidly losing the integrity of our defenses. They are about to break through the perimeter and rush to the center where our engineers were working on the “bomb.” We must under no circumstances allow xorx to break through further, otherwise we... we will all die anyway... so what's the point?
Suddenly I was overcome by apathy, my body was tense and did not want to make any movements. There was complete chaos going on around me, and I felt unprecedented satisfaction from calmness and laziness. This world became so indifferent to me that I just wanted to die, almost completely losing the instinct of self-preservation.
Soon the loud roar of the monsters made me flinch and come to my senses.
No. Get it together, Ted! All is not lost yet. We must fight. Get up, you son of a bitch!
And I stood up, quickly assessing the tactical situation and when I did, I began to give orders:
"All Platoon D1-1-1A2, I order to begin withdrawal. Platoon D1-1-1A3, be ready to engage the enemy. Platoons D1-1-1A4 and D1-1-1B1, watch the flanks. Lewis, lead the squad behind yourself, continue to shoot to kill, don’t spare ammo!”
Having given all the necessary orders, I climbed to the top of an artificial hill, where the turret placed was firing continuously. The battle continued to the death. We were already in a chitinous crater and were forced to constantly fight off insectoids while located in the lowlands. Right now we were at a disadvantage, and even firing dozens more nuclear missiles around the positions did not improve the situation.
"Sir, look!"
One of the fighters pointed up and looking up I saw the newly arrived supply shuttles, but there was something else that really confused me. There were many more shuttles; instead of five there were dozens. As soon as the vehicles landed inside the perimeter, more soldiers ran out from the lowered ramps and new equipment drove out.
Many drones circled around the perimeter and dropped clouds of unguided bombs on xorx and launched a colossal number of missiles into enemy rear areas. More nuclear explosions were heard somewhere beyond visibility; this can be judged from the visible flashes from afar.
Reinforcement?
I was surprised, looking at how entire regiments began to move towards our position.
At that moment, I heard a woman’s voice on the radio:
"Second Lieutenant Tad, we are assigned to you as support. We are at your complete disposal."
Three dozen new names and data on their vital functions appeared on the display of the combat suit. I simply could not help but rejoice at such a gift of fate, and therefore I immediately gave new orders to the newly arrived soldiers.
"Sergeant Guinea, support Platoon D1-1-1A4 with your team and begin a counterattack. The current mission is to regain lost ground and push the enemy back outside the perimeter. Is the order clear?"
"Yes sir!"
I heard an answer from Sergeant Guinea.
"Great, proceed to carry out the order!"
I had never had the opportunity to command so many people, it was as if I had been given a whole regiment and this gave me more hope. There were even more missiles overhead, as well as our firepower, but xorx also became no less. On the tactical map you can see the appearance of three more advancing beetle wedges, all of them moving from the east.
Right now we could close the breakthrough from our northern positions, but then a breakthrough could arise in the east. I am not in command of the general defense, but if I were Horta Umika, I would immediately transfer more forces to the east, but for some reason he does not.
Don't hesitate, Ted. Hort knows what he's doing.
I decided not to be a hero and focus on closing the breakthrough from the north. Fortunately, we managed to push the beetles back further, but the positions previously captured by xorx, which we used for defense, no longer represented anything and became a kind of chitinous carpet.
"Guinea, take designated positions. Platoon D1-1-1A3, begin rotation."
I gave new orders.
"Sir, Private Finn is alive!"
Finn? Wait, isn't this the same one?
I couldn’t believe my ears and demanded a report.
"State of health?"
"The lower part of the body and the right arm are missing. Protective mucus has covered the internal organs, blood loss has stopped, but the vital signs on the scanner are fluctuating. He is in critical condition and urgently needs medical attention!"
"Understood. Begin immediate evacuation of the wounded man. Hand him over to the medics and return to battle."
"Yes, sir!"
I felt enormous guilt for not being able to help this brave fighter in time and even daring to think that he had died. Apparently, when the suit was torn into pieces, the sensor that read his vital signs fell out, which made me think that he had died. However, he was close to dying and I couldn't let that happen. Right now, as many people as possible must survive, otherwise I don’t know what we are fighting for here and we risk losing our lives.
Meanwhile, the battle against xorx continued. And although reinforcements arrived, the chances of victory were still slim. New people meant future problems with evacuation after the completion of the main goal of the operation. Some may not even be able to fly away in time when this happens. Right in the middle of the operation, the number of personnel involved was increased multiple times, which could cause difficulties.
Most likely, the task of covering the evacuation will be left to us.
I couldn’t help but think about it without sadness.
And although I, like any other person, did not want to die, at the same time I did not want to put my personal goals above the lives of all the soldiers of the 127th Army. We must get out of here alive, and even if not me, then at least one of us with a human heart beating in us.
Crap!
I cursed in my thoughts and, having found my machine gun, joined the battle against the beetles.
There were only three hours left until the end of the operation, half the journey had already been completed, but the second half obviously for us would not be as easy as it was before, but would become much more difficult. Even if we survive successfully, few of us can fly away. Most likely, the shuttles will take the most valuable of us, which will provide further support, and leave the recruits or infantrymen for withdrawal.
I'm not against this arrangement, but in this case...
Let us be remembered then...