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Greensborough was deserted.<\/p>\n
As the Reservists mobilized, the Regulars had evacuated the frontier towns, moving the civilians to the city of Celadon. There were no cars on the street, no lights streaming from the houses, no families or lovers taking a late-night stroll. Knowles had never seen the town so empty.<\/p>\n
The only people here were legionaries. Parked at the edge of town, his weapon close to hand, Knowles peered out the windscreen of his truck and stared at the star-filled night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink the Horde will make planetfall here?\u201d the driver, Richard Foster, asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s anybody\u2019s guess,\u201d Kelvin Lake replied from behind him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWherever they\u2019re landing, we\u2019re going to meet them,\u201d Zack Wayne said. \u201cCount on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
New stars abruptly blossomed in the sky, vanishing just as quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s starting,\u201d Knowles said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo get \u2018em, High Guard,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n
Knowles appreciated the sentiment, but he already knew the outcome. Ogma was a second-wave colony planet. Low on the list of defense priorities. The local High Guard squadron consisted solely of patrol ships. Good enough for customs duties, search and rescue, and orbital cleanup. Nowhere near enough firepower for combat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose flashes are nukes, aren\u2019t they?\u201d Lake said. \u201cOnly reason we can see them from way down here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose nukes?\u201d Foster asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the big question,\u201d Knowles said.<\/p>\n
The lightshow continued for a couple of minutes. As abruptly as it started, the last flash faded. Moments later, the truck\u2019s radio sparked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll call signs, Hunter Six,\u201d Fox said. \u201cThe High Guard\u2019s been wiped out. But they inflicted heavy damage on an enemy transport, and the space observation platforms are still intact. Expect the enemy to make planetfall shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The High Guard\u2019s space observation net was a swarm of pebble-sized satellites, virtually indistinguishable from space junk. The enemy couldn\u2019t wipe them all out.<\/p>\n
More waiting. More nothing. Ogma had a single surface-to-space laser array, the same array the Celadon spaceport used for orbital launches. It was a stationary facility, easy to avoid. The Horde wasn\u2019t suicidal enough to force a landing within the laser\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n
But where\u00a0else<\/em>\u00a0would they land?<\/p>\n A robotic female voice cut through the radio net.<\/p>\n \u201cHammerfall, hammerfall, hammerfall.\u201d<\/p>\n Knowles summoned the truck\u2019s tactical map display. Blue dots indicated friendly positions. A massive scarlet field overlaid the entire area. The Horde had launched an orbital bombardment. And the red zone indicated the estimated impact zone.<\/p>\n Knowles\u2019 heartbeat accelerated. Taking deep breaths, he willed himself to relax. This early in the game, the entire planet was at risk. Nobody knew where the rods would land until they made their retrograde burns. And if they were lucky, the rods might pass within the laser array\u2019s targeting envelope.<\/p>\n \u201cAll call signs, Hammer Six. Enemy\u2019s launched dropships. They\u2019ll land right behind the kinetic strike. ETA forty-five minutes. Prepare OPLAN Gamma.\u201d<\/p>\n OPLAN Gamma was simple. The closest available legionaries would probe the Horde\u2019s landing zone and greet them with fire, delaying them long enough for the rest of the Legion to mobilize. But the enemy would expect that, and heavy casualties were expected.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t matter. The Legion had to go. They didn\u2019t have to come back.<\/p>\n Ten minutes passed. Fifteen. Twenty.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in their crosshairs,\u201d Lake said.<\/p>\n The display updated. Eighteen rods were burning into the area of operations. Right behind them were twenty-eight dropships. And counting.<\/p>\n Twenty-five minutes. Thirty. Thirty-five.<\/p>\n The red zone receded from the map. The Horde had targeted a forest to the northwest. Greensborough was safe.<\/p>\n \u201cPolaris callsigns, Polaris Six. We have estimated position of the enemy drop zone. Converge at grid niner-seven-three-two-one-eight and prepare for dismounted hasty attack.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTime to get to work,\u201d Knowles said.<\/p>\n \u201cRoger,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n Foster hit the gas. The truck surged into the night. On the map\u2019s orbital view, Knowles saw the Horde space fleet spreading out, adjusting their orbits to cover the dropships\u2019 approach. Anyone caught in the open would be lanced from above. The only way to avoid that\u2014probably\u2014was to get in so close to the enemy they couldn\u2019t use their superior firepower.<\/p>\n Glancing out the window, Knowles saw more trucks forming up around his, rolling across the vast, empty plains. Knowles prayed the Legion would arrive before the warships were on station.<\/p>\n But if they didn\u2019t, at least the Horde would only be overhead for a few seconds.<\/p>\n Blazing white streaks burned in the sky. They grew larger, closer, brighter. They were the incoming rods, burning in at hypersonic velocities.<\/p>\n The forest came into view. A hundred meters out, Foster jammed the brakes. Knowles slammed into the safety harness. The tires protested. The truck shuddered and rumbled to a halt, stopping right in between a pair of gigantic hardwood trees.<\/p>\n The Horde fleet was thirty seconds out.<\/p>\n \u201cDismount!\u201d Knowles shouted.<\/p>\n Grabbing their gear, the legionaries piled out. Knowles sprinted deeper into the woods, his men right behind him. All around, the rest of the company entered the woods and abandoned their vehicles.<\/p>\n The defense AI cut into his suit\u2019s radio.<\/p>\n \u201cSkyflash, skyflash, skyflash.\u201d<\/p>\n Knowles flung himself next to a tree. Pressed his helmeted head against the dirt. Opened his mouth and\u2014<\/p>\n Dazzling green light flared from behind him, reflecting off the trees and the clouds. The ground shuddered. Knowles\u2019 helmet momentarily darkened his visor and shut off his hearing. Turning, he saw plumes of dark smoke rising above the trees.<\/p>\n \u201cPolaris callsigns, stay down. Kinetic strike incoming in thirty seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n Foster was to Knowles\u2019 right, Lake and Wayne to his left. They were safe. Knowles patted down his coilgun. Magazine, check. Grenade, check. Power cell, check.<\/p>\n A constellation of shooting stars flared through the sky, hurtling right towards him.<\/p>\n \u201cHammerfall imminent. Five, four, three\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n He pressed himself against the dirt. Opened his mouth. Closed his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo, one\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n Whiteout.<\/p>\n The ground quaked. Shockwaves slammed into him, rattling his bones, shaking his skull, pounding his organs into jelly. Terrible nausea washed over him, and the suit quickly injected a dose of antiemetics and medical serum. The world shuddered again and again, each quake like a terrible blow from the hammer of the gods, and it went on and on and\u2014 His bones were rubber. His muscles were jelly. His blood was water. A terrible scream filled his ears. The scream of retrorockets. Trembling, he forced himself to his feet.<\/p>\n \u201cFOLLOW ME!\u201d he roared.<\/p>\n The kinetic strike had blown down vast areas of forest, creating a clearing for the dropships. He beheld a broken wasteland of shattered trees and broken stumps. His suit rapidly shifted colors, fading into the environment. Moving from cover to cover, he sprinted towards the landing zone, his men right behind him.<\/p>\n At the edge of the blast zone, he saw a massive shallow crater. A group of bus-sized dropships had landed within the crater, dropping ramps and disgorging men and machines. More dropships were in the air, burning their retros.<\/p>\n Knowles checked his tactical display. His team were with him. The rest of the company was close behind. He trained his weapon on the nearest dropship and lased it. His legionaries oriented themselves to target the enemy vessel. He settled into the prone, and waited for the rest of the company to catch up.<\/p>\n \u201cPolaris callsigns, Polaris Six. Fire at will.\u201d<\/p>\n He pressed the trigger. His coilgun spewed a stream of five-millimeter hypervelocity flechettes, so fast they practically exploded on impact. Above the scream of the coilgun, he heard an even louder\u00a0RIP<\/em>. That was Foster\u2019s squad support weapon, its ten-millimeter rounds blowing thick holes into the enemy spaceship. Hypervelocity missiles clawed for the skies, seeking the vulnerable underbellies of the dropships.<\/p>\n Knowles selected his grenade launcher and fired. The grenade flew straight and true and\u2014<\/p>\n Exploded with a blinding flash.<\/p>\n Laser drones poured forth from the dropships, shooting down incoming munitions.<\/p>\n \u201cTarget the drones!\u201d Knowles ordered.<\/p>\n Withering fire swept the landing zone. Flechettes tore up the drones, grenades shredded men. Knowles called the targets for his team, adding the weight of his fire. The Horde was beginning to shoot back.<\/p>\n But it was too late.<\/p>\n \u201cArty incoming! Danger close!\u201d MacYoung warned.<\/p>\n Knowles hit the deck.<\/p>\n The barrage came thick and fast and heavy. Kinetics pounded the invaders, airburst shells showered them in shrapnel, white phosphorus cooked the survivors.<\/p>\n All too soon, the barrage ended. His magazine was empty. He sped through a reload and looked up. His squad\u2019s target was obliterated, and so was everything around it. But there were more ships incoming. He lased the closest, still burning its retros, and fired a grenade. The dropship\u2019s laser turret knocked it out. But Lake and Wayne had fired their own grenades too, and the turret couldn\u2019t catch all three.<\/p>\n The grenades destroyed a retro, sending the dropship into a fatal corkscrew. As the dropship desperately tried to compensate, a hail of slugs chewed up its soft underside and ignited a secondary explosion.<\/p>\n Before him was a wall of fire and smoke. Impossible to see through. But there were more dropships incoming. Keying the team net, Knowles called, \u201cMoving up!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMove!\u201d Foster called.<\/p>\n Picking himself off the ground, Knowles sprinted\u2014<\/p>\n \u201cSkyflash, skyflash, skyflash.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014for a nearby stump, counting to three, and dove\u2014<\/p>\n Blackout.<\/p>\n
\nIt stopped.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Cheah](\"https:\/\/steemitimages.com\/0x0\/https:\/\/steemitimages.com\/DQmNPjQAkaGvtrys87bjqAghP62AqHAB7edWEt44bH8yfwD\/Cheah%20Git%20San%20Red.jpg\")
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