John Ringo: Against the Tide

Joanna, seeing that the plan was finally working, headed for the furthest portal to the east. It was just north of the east gate and after she’d flicked it, and its fellow, over with her tail, she headed for that. More Blood Lords moved to follow her.

“Major Herrick,” Colonel Heiskanen said as he made his way through the pandemonium around the gate. “What is going on?”

“Sir, there is no time for explanation,” Herzer said, grabbing a passing officer. “Lieutenant Julicher, grab your platoon and as many others as you can. Head for the south gate,” Herzer said, pointing. “Get it open. Second Legion is coming through at a double-time.”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said, and immediately began bellowing for his triari sergeant.

“Joanna!” Herzer bellowed.

“Yo!” Joanna yelled, swinging her tail around and knocking a couple of orcs over.

“Get to Megan and Bast!” Herzer shouted. “Let the troops get the gates. Make sure Megan is okay!”

“Got it!”

“Lieutenant Sosinsky,” Herzer said, grabbing one of the officers just emerging from the west portal. “West gate. Take your platoon, as much of it as you can find. Take it and hold it until relieved.”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said, dashing in that direction.

“Take your platoon , I said!” Herzer shouted. “Sergeant Turzak! Get the platoon and try to keep that young idiot alive!”

“Yes, sir!”

“That’s a fisk load of orcs!” Colonel Heiskanen said. “Captain Wallo!”

“Leave ’em alone, sir!” Herzer shouted. “Let them run out the gate! Get the portals knocked over! Then close the gates when they’re out !”

“ That’s what this is about!” Heiskanen said, looking around. “Then they’ll beÑ”

“Out there and we’ll be in here with Second Legion, sir,” Herzer said. “No sweat.”

“No sweat, you said!” Gunny Rutherford yelled.

“Oh, shut up!” Edmund yelled back, braining an orc with his hammer.

They were on the front lines of the legion, helping to hold back the first spray of orcs from the main force while half the First Legion did a world record job of constructing a parapet behind them. As promised the lines had been marked out and everything to hand but the timing had turned out to be… a little tricky.

“I should be going swimming about now!” Gunny Rutherford yelled, slamming his shield into an orc and then gutting it from the side. “Making my sacrifice to the Bull God! Maybe having a haircut or picking out which mermaid wench to try to have half-breed babies with!”

“You know you love this shit, you old coot!” Edmund shouted, blocking a blow with his shield and then slamming the hammer into the orc’s unprotected knee. They always forgot to guard the legs.

“We’re about done here, sir!” General Lepheimer yelled from the parapet.

“Well then get the damned archers to give us some fisking space !” Edmund shouted just as he heard a grunt from Gunny.

He leapt to the side and brained the orc that had his sword raised for a killing blow over the fallen noncom. Gunny was still breathing but he had a gash the size of a forearm in his side, the heavy blow from the orc having smashed the loricated plate in. Ribs were visible. Gunny Rutherford wasn’t the only legionnaire down and the shield wall was well and truly broken, just scattered legionnaires left in front of the parapet trying to stem what seemed like all the orcs in the world.

Edmund let out a curse and activated his armor. He’d been saving the charge for desperate times and these seemed desperate enough. It began to glow blue and he felt the fatigue wash away as nannites scoured his body of toxins, enhancing his strength and speed. Not as good as the old days, when he’d first met the gunny and they’d been young idiots trying to bring some order to the shambles that was Anarchia. But good enough.

The general waved the archers forward to the parapet and looked over, searching for the UFS commander. It took him a moment to find him in the pile of bodies. Edmund was a blur . He appeared to have Gunny Rutherford over his back and was wading through the orcs as if they weren’t there, headed for the right-hand bastion.

“Ropes!” the general yelled, pointing to the remaining legionnaires. Some of them had gotten some movement room, if only because Edmund had killed everything in front of them. “Archers!”

The portals were metal set in concrete blocks. They were well stabilized but six or eight Blood Lords could generally push one down.

Lieutenant Sivula stepped back and brushed his hands together, just as there was a thump from underneath the fallen portal.

“That’s gotta hurt,” he said, wincing. For the orcs that had been running through the portals, it had to be like running face first into a brick wall. However, the blocks left a certain amount of space underneath and he could see hands starting to scrabble around the edges. “Ah, weel, now, that’s not on,” he muttered drawing his sword and stabbing under the gate. He was rewarded with a howl and smiled. “Sorry!”

“Oh… shit,” Conner said as the last portal was tipped over. He could see figures swarming over the south wall, where the orcs, attacked from in front and behind, were running around uselessly. Speaking of useless, the last of the main force was just about through the north gate and they were being followed by a line of legionnaires. He could picture what was going to happen in his mind’s eye. They’d take the gate, shut it, and then the New Destiny force would be trapped on the outside , caught between two legions.

“Indirect approach,” Rachel said. “Strike where your enemy is vulnerable. Gotta hand it to Daddy. If you don’t, he’ll take it anyway.”

“Right,” Conner said, his face firming. “We’re out of here.”

“What?” General Kossin snapped. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Conner said. “You can handle the rest. You’ve still got more forces than the legionnaires. But Miss Ghorbani and I are out of here. Roc. Bring her.”

Rachel stumbled forward at a hard shove and looked over her shoulder at the elf-thing.

“I’m going, I’m going,” she muttered, following Conner down the stairs. His tent was in the northeast quadrant, which was still free of UFS forces. She looked around, desperately, but he was careful to avoid the Blood Lords headed for the gate. He had his back to her but she could see the glitter of a personal protection field. She touched her chest and grimaced, looking to the west where she knew safety lay. Only a few meters. Only a few.

“Don’t,” Roc growled, touching her in the back. “Go.”

She looked down one of the streets of tents and saw a familiar figure trotting to the north.

“HERZER!”

For the next step, Herzer had to see . He’d headed for the north gate, which he could see Blood Lords fighting for. There weren’t many defenders and as he watched the gates started to swing shut. From up on the command tower he’d be able to see how the rest of the battle was going. Down here it was total chaos, but a chaos that Colonel Heiskanen could handle, not to mention General Magalong. But what happened next would be the key.

He was about sixty yards from the gate when he heard his name shouted to the right.

“Rachel?”

“Great,” Conner said, shaking his head. “The heroic rescuer. Roc. Take him.” Conner waved to drop his personal protection field and grabbed Rachel by the wrist. “Come on, bitch.”