To their credit, the militia had reacted swiftly as well. The compound was full of activity and spotlights swept the area. I was dismayed to see the hangar that stored the militia’s TAC armor had taken a direct hit and was in flames. I knew two of their units were undergoing repairs in the maintenance bay on the far side of the base but they wouldn’t do us any good at the moment. I saw that Nate had powered up his unit and was following me out. My unit was designated Delta 2 and was a medium model with backward canted legs and triangular tracks on the feet. It mounted average armor and was fairly fast. It sported a laser cannon in each arm, a missile rack over the right shoulder, and a variable grenade launcher over the left shoulder. The grenade launcher had chaff and smoke rounds loaded and the lasers were at full power. Nate’s unit was designated Charlie 1 and was a heavier, slower model also with backward canted legs. Charlie 1 mounted two large bore lasers in a turret style head and had twin gatling guns for arms. His unit also had a missile pack in its chest, but neither the missile pack nor gatling guns had live ammo.

I headed for the front gate, wondering who would be dumb enough to attack the planet with a Red Fang squad present even if it wasn’t at full strength. From the tracer rounds and explosions lighting up the night sky in the distance, it appeared the fighting was concentrated at the starport. I doubted the starport’s security force would last very long. From information relayed to us from the starport’s control tower it appeared that a heavy transport disguised as a merchant ship had opened fire on the militia base before it touched down at the starport. Its hidden naval class guns had decimated several buildings around the base but had not hit those housing the Lone Wolf. We had either been lucky or the attackers weren’t aware of a Red Fang presence on planet. Whoever it was knew exactly where to hit the militia though. Along with the TAC armor hangar, they had hit the militia’s headquarters building, barracks, and motor pool. They must have somehow bypassed the security satellites in orbit that would have detected the hidden weapons aboard the ship. I decided to concentrate on the task at hand and let someone else worry about the implications. Secondary explosions ripped through the burning buildings, creating more chaos. Some of the militia were attempting to control the fires but it didn’t look like they were having much luck. The reinforced front gate had been one of the targets as well and was now a jagged hole in the otherwise untouched perimeter wall. The blast had been so powerful it had left a deep crater in the ground. The commander ordered us to stand guard while the techs loaded live ammo into the rest of the squad. They would relieve us while Charlie 1 and Delta 2 were likewise loaded with live ammunition. The wall had crumbled around the sides of the blast hole which allowed us to squeeze our TAC armor through while avoiding the crater.

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“They could fit an entire battalion in a ship that size.” Nate sent over the comm. I looked out towards the starport and watched as new explosions lit the night sky. “In which case we’re seriously outnumbered, so what else is new?” I answered back. Despite repeated attempts, we had lost all contact with the starport after their first message. Within 15 minutes the techs had finished with the rest of Lone Wolf’s TAC armor and we rolled Charlie 1 and Delta 2 back to the hangar for reloading. Other techs were busy outfitting Lone Wolf’s AG vehicles. I was glad to have Delta 1 fully armed. It was heavier than Delta 2 with more human like legs and carried a rail gun mounted in each arm, a missile rack over each shoulder, and an anti-personnel gun in the chest. The commander sent units Alpha 1 and Bravo 2 out on recon. They were both light, fast models with backward canted legs. He also launched a recon drone, which quickly gained altitude and headed for the starport. The drone circled the starport from a distance, aiming its high-powered optics and sensors through the smoke that obscured most of the facility. Watching the drone’s feed and it looked like several structures were on fire and the fighting had died down. The attackers now had control of the entire starport. It appeared that the powerful anti-ship emplacements circling the starport had not fired a single shot and were now probably under the control of the attackers. That would be bad news for the scout vessel that was supposed to pick us up, unless we did something about it.

My thoughts were interrupted as the feed to the drone was abruptly cut off. “They swatted the drone.” Sonya reported. It was up to the recon team now. It didn’t take them long to travel the mile from the base to the starport. Most of the streets were deserted, the civilians either still asleep or wisely staying indoors and away from the fighting. I sifted through the data the drone had collected while waiting for the recon team to report. The enemy used mostly AG vehicles but did have at least one squad of TAC armor that the drone had filmed exiting the transport. I couldn’t make out any unit markings to give us a clue as to who the attackers were. They all seemed to be painted in the same grey urban camouflage. The commander ordered my units to patrol the perimeter of the base while the remaining two units, Charlie 1 and Alpha 2, guarded the hole in the perimeter wall. Our AG vehicles would guard the command vehicle until needed. It was going to be a long night.