Sniper 24578 a.k.a Derek

An In Constant Chapter

By Zachary Furr

The sniper teams had been dropped off at the specified planet one week before the planned invasion. Three teams, in twenty regions, consisting of one expert sniper, three rifle men, and one heavy. Three hundred troops in total.

The heavy was a pack mule of suppressing fire, carrying two auto-turrets and a heavy machine gun and being able to carry it all while running. Big and bulky and terrifying in close quarters.

The rifle men carried one long rifle that could fire semi- or auto- loads and provide necessary cover for the heavy or the sniper. Light and fast that provide confusion in the field that makes the sniper have an easier time picking off stragglers. 

The sniper carries two heavy PREDIC rifles that when supported by orbital ships, satellites and ground optimal relays, or GOR, then they can shoot off miles at a time. Each sniper is issued two sets of ammunition, high explosive for long accurate range artillery and heavy tungsten steel for piercing shots.  The rifle is equipped with a special Virtual Intelligence that can accurately calculate a bullet’s path and destination and time required to get there. The rifle utilizes the GOR to further increase magnification that provides for better accuracy at incredible distances.

The sniper is the commander of the small group as well as the link to orbital command. As they can see the battlefield as a whole and are the furthest from the primary battle, they are by no means leading from behind. The sniper’s PREDIC rifle accuracy clears the path for any troops within their field of vision. The rifle comes with three snap on barrels to extend the range for the distances that it needs to reach.

The Setup

Sniper 24578, or Derek, had been handpicked and placed on Cabon by Grand Admiral Retton for the mission of stragglers and artillery. Derek was one of thousands of snipers that were used for missions such as planetary invasion. He was in charge of his own team and was the communication relay between them and orbital support.

His team consisted of himself, Robert as a heavy, and the three man rifle team of Grant Kerry and Frank. Each of the rifle teams had three GOR markers that could be placed out miles away from the snipers’ nests so that they could make precision shots without having to displace to get closer. Something for the rifle team to do while the orbital command could strategize and organize without having to worry about the smaller incursion teams. 

A small orca dropship dropped off three teams to make their way toward their assigned areas usually always on top of some mountain or hill. This was one time that they got dropped off to cover a warp before negotiations took place. Retton had felt that negotiations would not go well and ordered the snipers to cover the warp from an almost immediate assassination. 

The sniper teams came in the dead of night quickly and quietly they moved through the woods and past the tree line and just below the snow line. Spent a whole day making camp and setting up perimeters. Rifles were slung and defensive measures were set. The landing zone was a minefield that could be activated with a push of a button, for now they remained inert and harmless. 

Derek had built himself a watch tower with the help of Robert, so that he could see farther across the valley and into the next. 

The next day, the three riflemen went out into the valley setting markers at three miles seven and ten as far around the area as possible. They ran into their counterparts from other teams and used their markers devised to go further out into the next valley for at least twenty-one miles. Where the battle was supposed to take place in the next three days.

Derek tracked their progress through the sniper scope and identified the marks as the guys moved forward. Things got more dangerous the closer to the battlefield that they got. Grant and Kerry came within fifty feet to one of the patrols, as they took cover the reconnaissance revealed that the enemy did not seem to be preparing for battle as their long flowing robes  No armor, no visible weapons. They looked like easy targets for the picking. But they decided to wait until after the parley before they engaged in conversation. They waited till they were alone again and continued to set their markers.

The Parley

After a solid week of setup and preparation the three teams were ready for their Duck and cover operation. There had been no scouts whatsoever along the mountains and hills. No signs of preparation whatsoever. Tents had been set up in the far away valley, some small vehicles had been brought in but nothing to really be threatened by not for the huge force waiting for deployment in orbit to be waiting for. The tanks alone would simply run them over, but there were tanks and fighter planes and infantry by the millions, nothing down there warranted the overwhelming force that waited in orbit. 

From what the rifle men had scouted nothing in the enemy’s clothing had said that anything was wrong. No armor, no armaments, and a carefree attitude that seemed to be the envy of most people in the empire.

Turco was scheduled to arrive soon and negotiate the surrender of the planet. Vice Admiral Darrel C. Turco, the warp commander, Derek had only met him once and that was during an addressing of the troops about three months ago. The guy as weird looking as he is seemed to have his head on straight. Lot straighter than that of most of the other senior staff that Derek had met.

Turco was a warp and because of that his strategy and planning and just overall intelligence was far superior to that of any in high command. And is the only being to get promoted from Lieutenant to Vice Admiral in a single battle. But around the rumor net, it was because he completely decimated an entire planet. The Grand Admiral that was in charge of the fleet promoted him so that no one man could control that power ever again. 

Derek, sitting atop his perch, was observing the enemy tent down in the valley. They had placed a single white tent in the midst of the field with two guards outside of it and one man had been seen going inside of it. The negotiations were supposed to take place in one hour, but Turco had not yet appeared. The fleet had appeared yesterday and were currently holding orbit ready to deploy.

“Derek,” Grant down at the bottom of the mountain had decided to be quite talkative today. “What’s going on at the parley site?” 

“Nothing at the moment.” Derek responded. “The same three guys are down in the field waiting for Turco to appear.” 

“So, how much longer till he shows up?” 

“He’s supposed to show up within this hour to try for a peaceful surrender. And no word from Orbital Command about anything different.” 

“Snipers 24578, 36115, and 7547,” Speak of the Devil and he shall appear ran through Derek’s mind as the orbital radio came to life. “Turco declares that this world is not worth his time. Admiral Fina will be in command of the Navy up here and General Cane will be in charge of ground troops. A single Orca dropship has been deployed to the planet to commence the negotiations of surrender. As the messenger is expected to be killed during the talks, we will be sending down the Diggers pods and commencing the attack on the planet. After the first wave deploys you have full permission to open fire with high explosive artillery. Pull in your teams to better secure your position. That  is all. Good luck with the battle.” 

They sure know how to boost morale, Derek thought.

The radio did not go completely silent as a long stream of commands were quickly issued throughout the orbital frequencies. Orders for ships to encompass the planet. Orders for the Diggers to get in place for their drop. And off in the distance an Orca dropship landed near the white tent.

“Team,” Derek said over his team’s frequency, “Fall back to my position and prepare for battle. The Diggers are on the way.”

Derek’s fellow snipers 36115 and 7547, Samuel and Emile respectively, both signaled that they were doing the same with their teams.

Three men exited the Orca down at the white tent. And one was instructed to enter the tent while the two guards, one a chrono trooper and a legionnaire, stayed outside.

“They’re not pulling any stops for this failure, are they?” Derek heard Emile over the radio. All the snipers in the twenty regions had their PREDIC rifles trained on the meeting place, Ten miles away, 10.75 seconds to hit and the major predicted movements of the planet’s guards suggested that they would be dead on the ground six seconds before any bullets would hit. 

Derek, looking through his scope, looked up from his sight to survey his surroundings. Birds singing songs. Insects crawling around his perch. He saw a finger length green insect crawling down the barrel of his second rifle, the one he kept in reserve should the first one break. He shooed the bug away off of the rifle. He then heard two cracks from the corresponding mountains where his counterparts were at. He looked back through his scope, zoomed in all the way back to the white tent to see the tent was missing and replaced by a giant worm-like creature. 

The legionnaire and the chrono trooper had disappeared and the creature had filled the field. Derek once again looked away from the scope to look at the far off field. He could see the creature from so far away that he thought it very unlikely that it was real.

“Orbital command, please advise on the situation.” Derek said into his radio. 

“Open fire. Diggers are on their way. The legionnaire and trooper know of the danger and are pulling back toward your position, Sniper 24578. Be under advisement that the worm is following closely behind the legionnaire. The enemy shows the ability to transform into a giant worm and meld with other like creatures. Making the worm bigger with every melding making it hard to kill. Kill it quickly before it becomes too late.” 

That was all Derek heard as the radio continued to mutter on. He reached over to his portable command console and activated all the mines and traps that he could. He then told Grant to come up on the perch and help him twin fire the rifles’ HE round as fast as they could. And he told the rest of the team to get ready. 

Looking through the scope, he felt like he didn’t even need the scope to hit his target that was rapidly closing on his position. Its teeth bared as it came closer.

*CRACK*

His bullet flew straight and barely went pffft on the worm’s nose as it just kept coming.

*CRACK* 

The bullet again seemed to do nothing as the worm came closer.

Explosions of mines, meant for infantry and light vehicles, racked beneath the creature. They were of no inconvenience to the monster. It was almost to the tree line still chasing what was presumably the legionnaire. Derek had no time to see if they were still there. 

“Orbital, I need some heavy support! This thing’s not going down.” Derek shouted at his command station.

And as he shouted for help, a heavy destroyer descended from the clouds and released high temperature lasers to cook the creature.

“Roger that, Sniper 24578, a heavy destroyer has been sent to help.” 

The newly cooked creature was still moving slowly up the mountain and ascending up to the tree line. The legionnaire came into the clearing of the perch. Robert had sent the legionnaire on up to the tower. 

“Sniper teams, this is the heavy destroyer, Crossing the Horizon, duck and cover we got some drill missiles in coming.” 

“Duck and cover!” Derek yelled into the team frequency. “That thing’s gonna blow!”

Derek and Grant both covered the scope of their rifles by laying on top of them.

Crossing The Horizon let off a salvo of six missiles that drilled into the creature and exploded inside of the monster, causing a rain of guts and juices all over the mountain sides.

Derek and Grant looked up, after they felt no more rain. They saw the monster was half gone and it’s corpse lay still. 

The legionnaire, who was at the bottom of the tower and looked as if she was half naked, but there was not a drop of goo upon her. “What does the field look like?” She asked.

Derek looked through the scope. He saw that the Diggers had landed, and their troops deployed, and began to fight against the large infantry population and the creatures that they summoned. Though none of the creatures were near as large as the worm. Derek relayed the information through his team frequency. The legionnaire had placed herself upon his frequency so that she could hear.

Crissy. A legionnaire. A title bestowed upon those that had killed hundreds of thousands of enemies from at least three different campaigns. This young lady had run ten miles without resting with a giant worm chasing her. Now she stood at the base of his tower listening to everything that he saw. She was standing there ready to go back out.

Three more friendlies appeared at the base of the tower. No warning or anything they just appeared out of nothingness. Derek’s head’s up display showed that they had CT before their name and number, Chrono Troopers. If they were here that usually meant something bad was headed this way. 

Derek, veteran that he was, knew that this battle was far from over.

The Battle

Tanks, men, blood, guts, bullets, and bombs; the battlefield was in utter chaos. The Digger command posts had emptied their troops onto the field and the tanks had rolled out and began to march towards the tents and the infantry followed the armor into the fray. 

Derek had allowed Grant to return to his defensive position and try to refortify the mountain. He told him to take the second rifle to a protected spot as he felt that the battle may push toward them at any moment. Grant obliged with the request. As most of his high explosive ammunition had been spent fighting the worm, he had switched to his tungsten ammo for piercing shots.  

Crossing The Horizon hung in the sky, it’s looming presence was that of a wolf watching its cubs hunt. The weapons that it had unleashed on the worm remained hot and ready. 

Orcas had come and dropped off their loads, adding to the already substantial army. Then they returned to orbit to reload, return to drop off more. 

Derek and the other snipers had switched to pick off more valuable targets, such as the leadership or support groups. Only to further add to the chaos that raged. The PREDIC rifle made it too easy, very few missed shots even at this distance.

The enemy seemed to be using some sort of energy manipulation to launch fire, ice, stone, animals, and in a few cases just pure energy. A few seemed to be able to manifest shields that could block a small amount of the flying lead. The high piercing shot of the PREDIC rifle could annihilate any three or four people that stood in its way. The created shock wave peeled the crowd that created gaps that allowed the infantry to gain footholds. 

The beasts proved to be as much of a challenge for the tanks as they seemed to be able to shred metal and devour the operators. On more than one occasion the sniper artillery was ordered to clean the beasts off. Derek felt terrified at the thought of fighting one of those beasts on even ground. 

“Orbital, this is sniper team 24578. I have run out of HE rounds necessary for the continuous artillery calls. Requesting resupply of all sniper ammunition.” Derek had begun to feel that his firing had not even made a dent in the continuous reinforcements that the enemy was constantly coming up with. There had to be millions out on the battlefield mixture. Energy and lead and steel and organics all colliding into each other, all making pain and suffering run abundant. 

“All troops be prepared.” Orbital calling in a system wide announcement. “Enemy troops are beginning to exit mountain tunnels and catacombs. Surrounding the current troops and starting their attacks on the outer barriers sniper teams. We are sending down Legion support to end this quickly.”

The comm frequency switched to sniper channel six. “This is Orbital for sniper teams 24578, 36115, and 7547. Ammo resupplies are on the way for your entire team. Make sure that none of these guys get away. They are all here at this battle. The planet is empty except for this war. Make sure that they pay for their insubordination. Orbital out.”

“Samuel, Emile, switch to our defensive posture. We’ll take them out as they come up the hill. Samuel covers my hill, I’ll cover Emile’s, Emile will cover Samuel’s hill. We will turn our valley into a big bowl of popcorn.”

Of course all the snipers knew what was meant by Defensive Formation, but the current audience needed to be made aware over the radio waves that they would no longer have sniper support. 

Three Orcas did a fly by on the mountains and dropped off the ammunition that Derek had been lacking. Grant brought him up two steel drums of belted ammo meant for these types of battles,

As he turned his gun toward the base of Emile’s hill, waiting for the oncoming slaughter, Grant descended from the perch. Derek saw through the PREDIC scope and began to unleash a torrent of lead onto the approaching crowd. His rifle teams and his heavy began to lead and herded them all into the firing range of the rifle’s armor piercing ammo so that ten to fifteen died charging up the hill. 

The bang of rifles echoed all around the mountains and hills, the smell of discharges of weapon fire and blood filled the air. Infrared sight on the scopes was needed to see through the building smog. Derek’s arms were starting to become numb from the constant recoil of the belt fed gun. His need for water became great, but he knew that if he was to stop that they would be overrun in a matter of seconds.

“Orbital,” Derek’s command console lit up an all frequency broadcast. “This is Crossing the Horizon, we are moving in to provide fire support for the sniper teams near us. The crowd that they are shooting at is nothing compared to the ones moving up the hill.”

“Crossing the Horizon, be advised that there is a massive energy source being gathered beneath your position.”

“Roger that, we’ll be sure to target ther….”

The signal cut off abruptly.

Derek looked up from his scope, and Crossing the Horizon had been hit. A jagged hole had destroyed the forward bridge and through to the back control room. The ship began to fall. Explosions rocked the ship, tearing it up, raining metal and fire as it fell on the mountains of Emile and Samuel.

The resounding ring of metal to rock rang all over the valley, a deafening sound all over the valley. The shock wave and resulting quake threw Derek off of his tower and he blacked out from the over pressuring blow as he hit his head on a tree. 

He felt someone pick him up by his combat harness and he was picked up and carried away. He fell back into blackness.

The Retreat

Derek woke up in a cave. He was covered in dirt. He patted his pockets to see what he had. His leg holsters contained both of his small pistols, weapons to be used as a last resort. His right leg pocket contained a map and a small compass, all snipers were taught to work without technology so that they may survive. His left leg pocket contained his food rations and two extra pistol magazines. His canteen was half empty. 

His head felt as if it had been split open. His battle armor was cracked along the backside and scorched along the front, brittle in every place. It saved his life, now, completely useless. He stripped it off of himself, and felt burns across his front.

A pair of guys walked into the cave from outside. One smaller than the other, Grant and Robert. Grant pulled a t-shirt out of his backpack and gave it to Derek.

“Here ya go, sir.” Grant said. 

“Thanks. What’s the situation like outside?”

“A dust storm is covering much of the area of where Crossing the Horizon went down. And there is a radiation area close to the ship, I suspect the reactor is leaking.” Robert reported.

“Has Orbital given any orders on the situation?”

“We’ve been out of contact with them since the ship fell.” Grant said. “But we have set a collection point here for all of our forces in the area. But we have yet to hear from the other snipers.”

“They’re dead.” Derek said.  “I saw the ship crash on top of both of their mountains. How many troops do we currently have?”

“Chrono Troopers and some rifle teams have been pushed back this far. We’ve kind of put up a last stand here in this area.”

Derek mulled this over.

“Who is in charge of our ragtag group then?”

“Going by the standard procedure of who has been on the planet the longest, you are sir.” Robert said.

All snipers are technically lieutenants anyway, but for no other officers to be present did not bode well. Derek was a veteran of ten different campaigns may as well have been a captain. He never felt like an officer, but he was expected to lead a small fireteam and sometimes a platoon. A retreat group was no different from that, however, his fireteam acted on their own according to mission parameters. They differed to his eagle-eye judgement for stealth engagements. 

“Alright, let me get up and I will assess the situation.” As Derek stood up, his blood rushed to his head and made him dizzy. He shook it off and put on the t-shirt that Grant had handed him. On his way to the mouth of the cave, Grant handed him his second PREDIC rifle and two magazines for it. He hefted the weapon and walked out into the sunlight.

What he saw was beyond his expectations. The cave that he exited was behind a Digger Command Center. Looking at it more closely, he saw that its top had been peppered, destroying its communication array. The center actually provided a decent cover as well as a rally point to any forces in the area.

He moved through to the tank bay of the pod, empty. He heard a collection of men up in the troop bay. He exited the tank bay and headed toward the barricades in front of the pod. There he saw a small collection of troops reloading their weapons. 

“How y’all doing?” He asked as he casually walked up. The three men looked at him disbelieving that he was sauntering up to them. 

Four enemies popped out of the dust storm in front of the barricade. Derek, without thinking, readied his gun and using the PREDICT scope he fired off four shots and four heads popped off like champagne corks.

“What’s going on out here?”

“Captain, the three of us are maintaining this barricade. There are three Legionnaires and probably about twelve Chrono Troopers out in the dust. They’re out fighting and making sure that what few troops there are come back safe. There is a medical suite in the upper crew bay. There are about fifty wounded. Other than your Personal Guard there are five other groups around the perimeter of the Digger here.” 

“They’re not my personal guard, just the guys that came here with me. Does anyone have a radio or a satellite uplink in the camp?”

“The Legionnaire’s crew may have an active uplink within their suits, but I would not suggest going that way. Last man that saw the Legionnaires, said that they were in their full wrath. They can’t tell friend from foe. The troopers are there just to keep enemies in the area and allies out.”

“Do you know if there are any more reinforcements?” 

“Couldn’t tell you sir.”

A bolt of dark purple lighting lashed out of the dust cloud, burning the ground ten feet away from the group. Not so much scorching the ground, but rather absorbing it, making a layer of craters. 

Derek saw the storm above the dust cloud, it covered the sky and lightning streaked across the sky. The dark purple tinge made the storm above seem otherworldly, like something that had not been seen on the planet since its creation.

“Cripes that were close.” Derek said ducking his head in cover. “Is there a storm coming?”

“You haven’t fought around Legionnaires very much have you, sir?”

“I don’t fight around any at all. I sit on a perch and shoot my rifle. I’m a sniper and content to be so. I am not used to leading soldiers but I can delegate tasks to mount a defense. You three stay here and make sure that you screen any returning troops by asking for their identity code and if you see any hesitation shoot at them. Every one of our soldiers should be able to rattle off their ID as soon as asked. We have to do it to receive food on the ships. ID should be second nature. I’ll visit the other posts and relay the same instructions. Then me and Grant will go out into that purple storm and try to make contact with the chrono troops there. So that we can establish a link with the orbital.”

Derek got up and left the forward defense post and went to the left and right flanks. Relaying his orders then went back to the center of the tank bay where Grant and Robert stood. They nodded at him as he approached.

“I think that we will be okay for the moment, but it bothers me that we are not under a worse attack.” Derek said as he rested his rifle on the ground to rest. His head still felt like it was throbbing. “Grant, you and I are going to find a chrono trooper that has a link to Orbital and get them to send down a care package and hopefully some reinforcements. This whole situation got turned upside down when our capital ship came down. Now there is a giant purple storm out in front of the rally point. Our only hope of getting out of here is talking to Orbital. Robert, I need you to stay here and help bolster the defenses and lead these men till I come back.”

Derek and Grant walked out of the bay toward the forward barricades. They stopped at the edge, took a breath and walked into the storm. 

The dust storm was like walking into a wall of dirt. It was hard and hard to breathe. Derek’s one-size lite armor could not quite get his rebreather mask on his face. He placed his hand over his nose and mouth to at least stop some of the stuff from getting into his body. 

Grant patted Derek on the back to get his attention, looking back Derek saw that Grant had a small screwdriver. He motioned for Derek to bend toward him so that he could adjust the suit. With a few turns of the tool Derek’s rebreather snapped on across his face.

Derek gave a thumbs up sign as thanks for the quick fix.

 The winds howled and the sand and dirt hit the armor like punches. The two men marched forward with the hopes of running into a Chrono trooper.

The hope was shortly rewarded as they approached the edge of the storm, a chrono trooper stopped them as if he had appeared from thin air.

“What the heck are you two guys doing here?” He said with irritation bordering on anger. “I swore that I told those border guards to keep everyone out of the storm for their own safety.”

“You did.” Derek answered. “But I need a solid link to Orbital for a massive resupply, and I know that Legions and Troopers maintain a constant connection to command. And I need to regain my command.”

“Okay, Captain, let me tell my troopers that I am escorting you two back to Digger.” He paused for half a moment and said, “Let’s go. This storm is not safe.” 

At that moment another bright purple bolt streaked over their heads towards the mountains. And Grant who did not duck fast enough lost his head. 

“Cripes!” That was all Derek could say as his subordinate fell in the dust, in the midst of the storm. It may have meant more to Derek if Grant had been his first lieutenant to die, that was more or less his thirtieth. And no telling how many troops under his command. 

The Trooper grabbed Derek and rushed him through the storm and the two popped out of the dust cloud in front of the barricades of the Digger. 

“Don’t shoot!” Derek shouted.

“We won’t,” The guard said. “The trooper radioed ahead. Come on in.”  

Derek and the Trooper entered into the Digger where Robert was waiting. 

“I see you lost another rifleman…” Robert said nonchalantly. “…and picked up a Chrono Trooper.”

“He is just here for a quick call. Speaking of which, let me contact Orbital.” 

“I already have, they have sent down a care package. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to return to my unit. Don’t venture beyond the barricades again.”

Derek blinked his eyes and in that split instance the Trooper left the Digger.

“Care package incoming!” A soldier from the side barricade shouted. A small closet sized box opened its parachute and a small cross breeze pushed the sail into the open bay of the Digger.

Both Robert and Derek rushed to it and opened it as quick as fire to reveal a holographic projector along with two small crates of spare rations. Derek tossed the Holo projector on the ground as a man appeared upon it.

“Sniper 24578, you were counted among the dead since Crossing The Horizon went down.” Colonel Orlean said as she stood on the pad.  “It gives me hope to see you alive now.”

Pim Orlean was Derek’s twin sister. She was placed in Orbital Command instead of Sniper School. As the choice was given to both but the siblings parted ways and led different lives but never too far apart.

“Evening Pim, what are the current plans for this debacle of a war?” Derek asked.

“The valley north of where Crossing went down is still a large scale battle going on. But the enemy has occupied most of the valleys and mountain sides near your area. There are at least three other Digger sites where pockets of our men put up a firm resistance against the enemy. The Legionnaires are providing solid storm walls that not even the most practiced stealth users can find a way through, but none of our people can go through them either. The chrono troops are using their tactics to funnel larger groups into the eye of the storms so that the groups will be annihilated more quickly. 

Our main force is trying its best to work down to the south towards you and the others, but it will take some time for that to happen. Can you hold out for the next two or three days?” Orlean asked.

Derek looked around at the base. The vehicle bay was filling up as stragglers continued to pour in from the constant battle outside. Some men looked bedraggled while others still had a fire in their eyes. Even the men that came from the medical floor looked as if they could go two or three more rounds. Thousands of small battles raged outside and thousands more yet to be had. As long as those purple storms came no closer, then small skirmishes could be deployed. 

“Yes ma’am, I believe we could. And provide some much needed distractions as the main group comes down. Mixed companies will be our primary tactics and we will continue to decimate the enemies around our Digger. Connect to the others in the area and strengthen our force and resolve to allow the relief to flow back to this area. 

But I will need the wartime tactics and command center of this Digger to be placed under my command while I am here.” Derek stated.

“It’s done.” Orlean replied. “Good luck, brother.”

Derek looked around at the weary, haggard faces and decided that a pep talk was in order. He hooked into the Digger’s public announcement system and said: 

“This is what we’re going to do. It’s going to be a three-line defensive formation and 12-hour shifts. the first rank is going to be the closest to the Digger, second rank will be in the middle, third rank will be farthest out in a way we need to keep away from the Digger at all cost, because artillery keeps bombarding the Digger. No matter what we do they see it as a station of hope, so what we’re going to do is to hold 3 defensive lines, as far as possible from the Digger without actually abandoning the Digger. We’ll use the Digger as a medical and resupply station. We will send out various small groups to keep forcing them to keep their distance while holding while maintaining a defensive line. That’s a 12 hour shift go the first line will move up to the second line first, then the second line being relieved by the first line will move to the third line position, then the third line will retreat back to the first line to rearm and resupply. We will continue this tactic until we either run out of men or we run out of ammo. We should not run out of ammo because we have orbital support on our side, which means resupplies about every 8 hours. We do not have any vehicles though, so this is our major flaw. The chrono troopers keep pouring in as legionnaires fade-out and will use them as a quick reactionary force to fill in any gaps that there may be in the lines. We will continue doing this until the main force to the north comes south to relieve us of our position. There aren’t very many of us here, so we will have to do as best we can until the main force arrives. You are fighting for the survival of your lives and the survival of your brothers and sisters here. Out in the battlefield we’re fighting for each other not for Whiskey or the Nursery. We are fighting for our own survival.”

After laying out the tactics and plan Derek, headed to the top of the Digger and began to hope for the best as his PREDIC rifle unleashed a barrage of bullets that did not seem to end.

    The Resolution

    Three days was minimum for how long the main force would have taken to get to Derek’s Digger. In reality, It took the main force five days and six nights to reach the Digger. But the Legionnaires only lasted three days and were immediately taken off world, thus the newly liberated chrono troopers were folded into mixed companies and into a fast paced reaction squad to respond to the defense of the Digger. 

And all the time, Derek stood on top of the Digger and with his PREDIC rifle maintained a strict defensive perimeter. And as the fighting got closer the casualties got higher. Fewer and fewer companies came back from the fronts. The Digger became an impromptu fortress. It had withstood hundreds of small arms and several large explosions along with losing the medical wing. But as long as the command center remained buried within the cone of the Digger then the Fortress held together with an absolute certainty that even the mightiest bomb could not knock down. 

And Derek stood on that roof with his bodyguard, Robert, and there they both surveyed the land that they were fighting for. They stayed there for five days and six nights, never sleeping and barely eating. And with Derek’s resolve to stay and stand his ground, his men under his command fought and survived and there in that war torn valley they triumphed over the death that was ebbing them on. 

As soon as the main Nursery army had caught up with that particular Digger eleven thousand four hundred and thirty-six single shots had been fired from Derek’s rifle and it had almost literally fallen apart from the sheer usage that it had received. 

Derek was no better off. He and Robert had collapsed from exhaustion as they had watched the main force file in through the bay doors and taken command from Derek as they sent him and his men back into Orbit aboard a Orca Dropship. Upon the Fleet Medical Frigate Saviour he slept for three solid days and nights. When he woke on the fourth day he saw a familiar face staring out the window of his recovery room.

“Six days of constant fighting and I have to wake up to you?” Derek said in an exasperated sigh.

“It’s good to see you too, brother.” Colonel Orlean said to him as she turned to him. “The Admirals and Generals thought that it was a miracle that you managed to survive that battle at all. With a destroyer coming down on top of you and then becoming completely surrounded for almost a week with only supply drops to sustain you. It truly is a miracle that you survived at all.” 

“My men are okay? How many survived?” Derek asked as he sat up a bit in his bed.

“Of the ten thousand assigned to your Digger’s area, only one thousand and twenty-five survived. And your men were the only Digger group that was completely surrounded to make it out at all.”

Derek sat in silence for a moment. The thought that his group were the only survivors, for days he had been nearly soaked in sweat and blood. He had fired his weapon almost non stop for a week, and in doing so had saved a tenth of his assigned forces.

“Is there anything else I should know, Pim?” 

“You are to be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel Derek Orlean, also known as the Prescion. Another two wars like that and you’ll be a general before me.”

“I lost another rifleman, right before I contacted you. It was just an instant that the Legionnaire’s area effect blew off his head. And there many times after that the Legionnaire’s lightning seemed to strike the Digger more than the enemy. I nearly rejoiced when I saw the storm fade, because I knew that the main force would stay back until the Legionnaire retreated. Meanwhile, my position was bombarded from all sides, friendly and enemy. The soldiers wanted to go and fight if only to get out of the nearly non-stop artillery action.” 

“Do you regret surviving then?” Pim asked her brother, whose eyes were closed as if he was trying to convince himself that the past two weeks was just a bad dream.

“No. If anything I regret not trying hard enough to save more. I have a few thoughts on the design of the Digger though.”

“Get some rest first then you can talk to the engineers on board. Then maybe we can take a trip back to the surface to pay final respects.” Pim said as she made her way out of his room. 

“Isn’t the fighting still going on?” Derek asked, settling back down into his bed.

“After the final Digger was rescued, the enemy seemed to lose the will to fight and surrendered in an instant. Three billion enemy combatants, reduced to three million. Three million that live in the valley camps under constant watch.” Pim walked out the door and left.

Derek all alone, fell back asleep and dreamed of no war, no battles, just a house in seclusion where he didn’t have to worry about fighting anymore.