Saxon Andrew - Love conquers all

A medic turned Richard over and said, “Sir, we’ve stopped the bleeding, but we need to move you out to set that leg.”

Richard said, “I will not leave my men. Go help someone who’s really hurt, I’m not moving.” All of Richard’s command heard the exchange. His radio was damaged and stuck on transmit on the general frequency. They heard the medic say, “Sir, your leg is broken in four places, you have shrapnel in your left arm, and your armor has lost its screen.”

“Medic, I’m not accustomed to repeating myself,” Richard replied. “Help my men that really need it. Now leave.” The medic left with a heavy heart, and Richard’s remaining marines felt something in them grow into hardened resolve; they vowed vengeance on the Alliance for what they had done to their commander. “Company commanders report,” Richard ordered.

“Sir, five of our six commanders are either dead or too wounded to fight,” Lieutenant Dunn said.

“How many men are still combat effective?” Richard asked.

“Three hundred seventy-five, sir.”

“We’ve lost 625 men,” Richard thought with a heavy heart. Then he asked, “Have we heard anything from surveillance?”

“Yes sir. The first regiment the Alliance sent against us was pretty much destroyed. They are massing the second regiment to attack in force through the valley. I think they feel that attacking the whole perimeter stretches them too thin. It appears that the entire regiment is approaching en masse down the valley.”

“Are our weapon platforms still hidden?”

“Yes sir, but they won’t be enough to stop them all.”

“Then we’ll just take as many of them as we can. Have all units move to the front, and then please inform the men I’m proud of them. They held up to the finest tradition.” Richard’s com was still set on transmit, and his men could hear his pride of their actions. They looked at each other and reached out and shook armored gloves. The Alliance was going to pay a high price, and they were going to sell their lives at a high premium.

Tag was watching as the final Alliance ships were being chased. Then he heard communications say, “Sir, the marines at Rossville are taking a beating. They’ve lost two-thirds of their troops and the Alliance is massing another regiment against them. All of the other marine units are tied down and are unable to relieve them.”

Kosiev said, “All our forces are chasing Alliance ships that are trying to escape. We’re the only ship here, and we have to be ready to go after any ship that drives toward the sun to escape. They’ll have to hold out another forty minutes.”

The communications officer looked at Tag and shook his head.

Tag left the bridge and went to the hold that was housing the escape pods. He closed his eyes and saw where Rossville was located and entered the coordinates into the pod’s computer. He closed the door and pressed the activate button on his console. The pod shot through Washington’s screen and headed toward the planet.

“What was that?” Kosiev asked.

“Sir, an escape pod has been activated and is heading toward the planet,” Lieutenant Kelley said.

“Who was it?”

“Sir, it was Thomas Gardner.”

“Get that pod on the speaker now!”

“Go ahead, Admiral,” Tag said.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to help a friend.”

“Tag, you’re more important to this war than all of us combined. You can’t risk yourself.”

“Admiral, make sure no one escapes. I’m going to help down there. Do not come for me until all Alliance ships are eliminated. That’s a direct order.” Then Tag turned off his radio.

The Alliance regiment was advancing through the valley. It was heavily massed and was moving fast. The regiment could sense the end for the human defenders was near, and they wanted this to be over. Suddenly, both sides of the valley erupted into flame and blasts as the naval marine heavy weapon platforms finally opened fire together. Fully half of the advancing forces were wiped out immediately. The survivors returned fire and slowly eliminated the weapon platforms. Then the Alliance survivors continued on an eight-hundred-yard front toward the remaining human defenders.

Richard looked at his remaining soldiers and waited until the Alliance force was seven hundred yards from them and opened fire. The Alliance troops were falling, but so were the marines. Richard could see that there were just too many. They were 150 yards from his troop’s position when an escape pod dropped from the sky between his lines and the Alliance advance and landed with a blue-green strobe flashing. The Alliance and human forces stopped firing and a human stepped out of the escape pod and waited for the Alliance representative to approach. A regimental command officer approached the human and began talking. “What’s going on sir?”

“I don’t know,” Richard said.

Tag waited for the Cainth officer to approach him and then said, “Sir, I’m going to request that you withdraw your men and return to your positions at the head of this valley. Your fleet has been destroyed and we are currently finishing with the last ten Alliance ships. If you withdraw, I’ll guarantee the safety of your men and ensure they are treated fairly as prisoners of war.”

The Alliance officer said, “Look around you, human. We are going to finish your ground troops, then take those civilians hostage, and make sure you behave yourself or we’ll execute every one of them. We may kill some just for fun, to let you know we mean business. You may have won the space battle, but we will win on the ground.”

“Sir, I ask you to please consider the lives of your men. You have lost three thousand troops today. I don’t want the rest of them killed needlessly.”

“And just how are you going to do that?” The Alliance officer sneered.

“I’m going to do it, alone. You will not harm another one of our troops. If you choose not to listen and continue this attack, then fire a blue and green flare when you’ve had enough and I’ll stop killing your men.”

The Alliance officer looked at Tag and said, “You will be the first to die.” He then went back to his lines and ordered every soldier on the front line to fire at the human on his command. Tag turned off the strobe and hoped that Atlas had given him adequate protection. The whole Alliance front line fired on him.

Tag stood in the middle of that hellish fire and felt nothing. Even the sound was muted. Heavy weapons fired at him: primary laser platforms and heavy slug throwers emptied their magazines into his force field, and he was untouched. The marines watched the firepower being directed at the single human and knew he should have been dead. He didn’t even have on battle armor, but there he stood, unmoving, at the center of what should have been instant death. Then Richard heard, “You’ve done well here, Rich. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here earlier, but perhaps I can take part now. Please have your men ready to take some prisoners.”

“Tag, get out of there. You’re too important. Men, prepare to charge. We have to rescue him.”

“Richard, it’s a little late to charge; besides, if I were in danger, I’d already be dead. Get down behind your screens and prepare for mop-up operations.”

The Alliance forces began to advance, and Richard saw Tag raise his arm and point it toward the advancing forces. Suddenly, an incredibly bright blue beam was fired and run across the front of the advancing Alliance formation. Twelve rows of Alliance troops and all their equipment disintegrated. Then that hellish beam crossed the formation again and one-third of the remaining Alliance forces were blown away. There was a pause while Tag held the blue beam slightly over the heads of the remaining alliance forces; immediately a blue and white flare was launched from the rear of the Alliance formation and they began laying down their arms.