According to the rules I couldn't physically help or even move around. So I was forced to watch as Michael did an amazing job of rallying everyone and organizing the project.

"Okay everyone, I know you're all wondering how we're going to do this. It won't be easy to explain and time isn't on our side so you're just going to have to trust me. Before I joined the Starforce I was an engineer and I worked on robots, like a lot. Just do what I say and we'll get this done in no time." Michael said as he addressed everyone.

"How many hatchets do we have? If you have one, raise your hand." He asked. Eight raised hands, three were guys on the ground. "Good, if you are standing and don't have one, grab theirs," Michael pointed at the guys on the ground with hands up, "you see this tree?" He asked, wrapping a hand around it. It wasn't very tall and only a couple inches thick. "There are tons like it all over the area, I need you guys to chop them down at the base, bring them over and make a pile here." He gestured to a spot to his right.

"But, I need two of you to chop down two of the bigger ones like this." He pointed to another tree that was about six inches thick. After the eight went to start chopping trees he was left by himself. He addressed everyone on the ground. How much rope do we have Jon?" He asked me.

I thought about it for a second before I answered. "Total? About five hundred feet I think. Ten fifty foot pieces."

"Great. That will really help." He said.

"I think I can see kind of where you're going with this, but, how are you planning to do the wheels?" I asked him.

He winked at me, smiled and said "I'm not. I'm making a sled. But I'm going to make it modular so if we find some kind of wheel or better cutting tool later we can add them."

The next three hours were amazing to watch. He had everyone strip branches as they brought in the feld trees and went to work. He started by laying the two thickest and longest poles down on the ground parallel to each other at about five feet apart. At one end he used a small bit of rope to tie each to a smaller stick he had placed under them. The two large poles were trimmed to be the exact same length and he had the guys pick out the ten thickest remaining sticks. They were trimmed down to six feet in length and tied to the two large poles as crossmembers at about a foot apart. Then the remaining sticks were placed longwise on the crossmembers and tied down in batches.

He made many tweaks to the layout and at one point had everyone sit on it to make sure it was structurally sound. It was. He finished it off by taking about thirty feet of rope and tying both ends around the joints between the two large poles and the one stuck that was placed under it at the end. He explained as he did. "We are all going to be standing within this loop of rope pulling. It's not going to be easy or light, but we have Archimedes on our side. These guys will literally weigh half their normal weight this way." He finished tying one end off and said "I'm using these kinds of knots so that as we pull, it gets stronger and holds the two sled rails to this runner board." He stood up. "Alright let's get these guys loaded."

A few of us were loaded at a time and the sun was almost at full noon by the time we were ready to move. I, and the other guys who were dead, held on to the sticks as Michael, Christian and the other nine guys got in position, lifted the rope to chest height and began to walk. The rope quickly went taut. The guys leaned into it and the sled began to move. It wasn't fast, but they were able to maintain a walking pace without strain. Everyone cheered.

I had them stop for a five to ten minute rest every two hours and at the third stop we broke for an hour to eat lunch. After lunch we did another three stops and I halted everyone to stop for the day. We struck camp and this time I made sure to set up six night watch sentries that would rotate two at a time. Thankfully the evening was uneventful and in the morning as the sun was warming the sky I sat by a low fire with Michael and Christian as we made plans for the day.

"How do you guys feel after dragging us all day yesterday?" I asked them.

"Not bad. My calves are a little sore but nothing that would prevent me from doing it again today." Christian said, and Michael confirmed with a nod. "And honestly I feel that it is more from the long hike that I'm not accustomed to, not so much the haul."

"Great. Okay here's what we're going to do. We're going to break the squad up into three groups. One will be hauling, one riding and the third will act as an armed escort with weapons ready. It was easy to follow the trail that Darryle and Abrams left yesterday. I think we'll catch them today." I stood, waved my hand at one of the guys to catch his attention and waved him over before sitting back down.

He ran over and stood between where Michael and Christian sat. "Sir?" He asked.

"McCormick, I want you to run ahead with Tyler. Relieve Darryle and Abrams of their scouting posts and have them report back to me. I want you two to watch the enemy camp. Leave sign behind you of where the enemy is headed. Don't get caught and don't engage. Try to leave numbers that say what hour you left the mark, that way we will know when we're getting close." I finished with, "Do you have any questions?"

He thought for a moment then answered "no sir".

I nodded my head to him and said, "good, grab Tyler and headout now." I turned my attention back to Michael and Christian. "I figure we'll rotate the three groups, pulling, resting, guarding, in that order. That way we'll have fresh bodies at the highest level of attention." When the others agreed with me we rose and began to get the men ready to move out.

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Basher had been one of the six on night watch and was still sleeping. I woke him and the others up and got them moving. It took less than twenty minutes to pack up camp and be ready to go. I broke everyone up into groups of six and had the night watch start in the rest position.

We did a light jog consistently for three hours, long enough that everyone had a turn in all three positions. That's when Abrams and Darryle showed up. I called a halt for a ten minute break while I debriefed the scouts. "Report" I said to the two.

Abrams spoke up first. "We followed them as ordered. You're only about two hours behind them."

I raised my eyebrows, "really"?

Darryle snickered "Yeah. Wilks spent half the morning yesterday congratulating himself for taking us down. Once they started moving they did okay but they kept stopping. Like ten minutes every hour. They made camp about four in the afternoon yesterday and Wilks had them setting traps. They dug two shallow pitfall traps and used a couple logs tied in the trees with triplines."

"Not to worry. We watched everything they did and after they moved out today I stayed behind and broke the triplines and filled in the pitfalls. So everything is safe now. They are moving slowly though and Wilks was talking shit about his traps that are 'going to lay us out, we'll have Injured guys so we'll have to move slower'." Abrams concluded with air quotes.

"Did he set up a watch last night?" I asked them

Darryle smiled and said "one. They had one guy on night watch the entire night. And he wasn't even given a chance to rest this morning before they started moving." His grin got wider. "One guess who Wilks had on guard duty. It was Cox." He said before I could answer.

I face palmed. Cox was a nice guy, but a guy that clearly didn't have what it took to be in the military. He was jumpy, always complaining and a hypochondriac to boot. I shuddered remembering the nightmare we went through training in the mud with him. To his credit he hasn't given up yet though and has persevered.

"If Wilks did that last night he's likely to do something similar tonight. He was putting his weakest soldiers on guard duty at night so his best men were fully rested. He was assuming that I wouldn't sink to his level. He thought I would attack during the day 'if' we caught up to them." I said to myself with emphasis on the if.

I had a plan. I looked up at the two, then over to Basher. "You ready for some payback buddy?"

Basher gave me a wicked grin in response.

******

We followed Wilks and his men until they stopped, staying at minimum, an hour behind them. Close enough that we could attack quickly but far enough back as to remain undetected. All of my guys were rested thanks to the speed Wilks was moving and the sled. As night fell I didn't let my guys setup camp or start fires. Instead I gathered everyone together into a quiet huddle.

"Christian, you are going to take five guys with you. You're to take the sled and carry it through the trees. I want you to carry it, don't drag it. Take it around them and stay far enough away they don't see it. If Wilks or one of his guys sees it he might get the idea to duplicate it tomorrow and I don't want that. Drop it on the road a good five hundred plus yards beyond their camp so they don't see it. Then join the fight from the far side in a flanking maneuver." I said before turning to the scouts.

"Darryle and Abrams, when the fighting starts, find Tyler and McCormick, make sure all four of you make it to the far side." They nodded and I turned to the rest of the men. "Everyone else is with me. We're going to wait until they are settled for the night and most are asleep. Then were going to hit them hard. Try to stay quiet until they start waking up."

I held out my hand and everyone crowded in so that they could all stack their hands on mine. I could see everyones excitement and as the hours passed by I could see the excitement grow in everyone's eyes. When the fated hour finally broke, my men were practically salivating with bloodlust. I was rather shocked at the transformation in them. But they needed this. Needed a chance to strike back hard for the previous slight Wilks' band had inflicted on my company.

With hand signals I motioned to Christian to grab five and stay behind. I then pointed to Abrams and Darryle, then forward. Continuing with hand signals I broke the remaining men up into three groups with Michael, Basher and Myself leading the groups. I motioned for Basher to go right and Michael to go left. Finally I waved my men forward and they followed me at a light and silent jog right into the enemy's base.

All three squads broke through the trees into the enemy camp at the same time. The sentry jumped to his feet but Basher shot him before he could make a sound. Unfortunately, tonight Wilks had decided to set two sentries and the second was out of sight up in a tree. He began screaming bloody murder as all three squads began unloading into sleeping men indiscriminately.

The warning had given some of Wilks men a chance to reach weapons and return fire and I lost four men by the time we had neutralized the entire camp. I had Basher organize recovery of the four as I searched for Wilks.

I eventually found him, half out of his sleeping bag and vibrating from the energy of the taser. I crouched down next to him and his eyes followed me. I slowly looked him up and down, then I looked around at his camp before returning my eyes to him. I was actually struggling with myself. I wanted to gloat so badly but I also didn't want to sink to his level since that's exactly what he'd do. So, I just stayed quiet and waited for him to say something.

"You're, gah, not going, ugh, to get away with this." He spat out in a rush

I just stood up and walked away from him, following my men into the dark of the night beyond the camp.

"This isn't over." He managed to screech, following me with his eyes as long as he could.

I met up with my squad and everyone was ecstatic, even the dead guys. "Good Job everyone but this isn't over yet. I don't know about you guys but I'm amped. No way I can sleep right now." They all cheered. How about we run through the night and put distance between us and them." Another cheer. "And the best part. Midnights in an hour so you four won't be laying there long." A third cheer came from my men and we began to jog down the dirt road. I had Basher and four guys hang back about a hundred yards from the squad to make sure Wilks didn't send anyone after us but he never did.

Things were looking up and we could probably win now if we could maintain a good pace.