I kept one eye on the feed from the recon team as I did my perimeter sweep. When they reached the outskirts of the starport, Alpha 1 took point. Both units were equipped with jump pods and were able to vault over the short retaining wall that circled the starport. They ran towards the nearest cover, a drab looking storage building, and poked their sensors around the corner. The enemy was just starting to spread out from the landing area and apparently wasn’t expecting such a swift response. “I count a full squad of TAC armor, three squads of mixed AG vehicles, and accompanying powered infantry.” Reported Iella, the controller for Alpha 1. “Their command vehicle must still be aboard the transport.” Iella continued. Somebody finally spotted the scouts and took a pot shot at Alpha 1, hitting the building instead. Alpha 1 quickly stepped out from behind the building and answered back with a salvo of missiles. Bravo 2 used telemetry provided by Alpha 1 and sent its own missiles arcing towards the enemy from behind the protection of the storage shed. “That should get their attention.” I muttered as I watched secondary explosions fountain up from the distant starport. “Good work, break contact then double back to keep an eye on them.” ordered Commander Jacobs. Both units launched smoke rounds and ran out from behind the shed towards the retaining wall, firing another flight of missiles as they went. This time the enemy was prepared and countered with their own missiles, lasers, and cannons. Alpha 1 was already over the wall but Bravo 2 took a few hits before vaulting over and landed badly. I toggled over to Bravo 2’s damage schematic. It had taken hits in the back and legs and was now limping. “Damon, return Bravo 2 to base, Alpha 1 will carry on as planned.” The commander ordered. “Copy that, returning to base.” Replied Damon sullenly. Iella used some hit and run tactics to occupy the enemy while Bravo 2 limped back to base.

Sonya had finally been able to get a hold of the militia’s current commander. The surprise attack had killed most of the command staff along with a good chunk of the militia’s TAC armor team. The next in command was a nervous lieutenant named Tony Andrews. He reported they had over half of their AG vehicles left but only the two TAC armor units in the repair bay had survived the attack. Commander Jacobs ordered the damaged TAC units, all the ammunition, and the spare parts to be loaded onto transports. Once loaded, the transports would head out the back gate, through the training grounds, and toward the distant mountains. The command vehicle would lead the way while the damaged Bravo 2 guarded the rear. All remaining personnel were to hitch a ride with the transports. The mountains were riddled with caves that the Red Fang sometimes used during training and would be an excellent fall back position. The remaining militia AG vehicles would guard the convoy on the way to the caves. Iella reported that the enemy was moving toward the base, so our job would be to bloody them and buy the convoy time to reach the caves. We would hopefully lose the enemy in the forest between the base and the mountains and then make our way to the caves.

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The commander placed our AG vehicles around the training grounds by the back gate in case the enemy tried to flank us. He positioned Delta 1 and Charlie 1 on the street in front of the main gate and hid the rest of our units behind burning buildings inside the base. This would help mask our heat signatures and give us an element of surprise. Iella jumped Alpha 1 through the front gate over the crater just as we were getting into position. “They’ll be here any minute.” She reported. “They have scout AG craft in the lead followed by their TAC armor, with a squad of heavier AG tanks following them up. I don’t know where the rest of their AG vehicles went.” She continued. Thirty seconds later two AG scouts sped around a corner one block north of our position. I let loose with both rail guns while Nate cut loose with his gatling guns. Both scouts exploded under the withering fire, their light armor no match for the combined firepower. The next pair of scouts was smarter and kept going straight across the intersection, firing at us along the way until they were behind the cover of warehouses on the opposite side of the street. Nate still managed to clip the trailing AG scout, but didn’t destroy it. The AG scouts would be back since they had gone down a dead end street. So far the enemy had failed to hit us, their shots going wide, but that was about to change.