Chương 15: Chapter 14

The next three minutes were tense silence. I used the time to study the terrain more carefully. The valley below was maybe two hundred meters wide at its narrowest point, flanked by steep rocky ridges that would make any flanking maneuver slow and obvious. Our position on the hillside gave us clear sight lines down to about three hundred meters, where the valley curved and disappeared behind a rocky outcropping. That was where they had come from. And that was where they would probably come from again.

"Infantry A, ammunition count."

"Sixty percent, Commander."

"Infantry B?"

"Fifty-five percent." His voice was steadier now. The first engagement had settled his nerves somewhat.

"Infantry C, D?"

"Seventy percent."

"Sixty-five percent." We had burned through more charge than I expected, and I didn't see any spare capacitors lying around. If they came back with real numbers, we'd run dry before the timer hit zero.

"Conserve ammunition," I ordered.

"From now on, I want aimed shots only. No suppressive fire unless I call for it."

"Understood, Commander."

"What else do we have?" I asked. The men looked at each other before Infantry A responded, "A couple of grenades. Nothing much beyond that."

"Okay," I said, trying to inject as much confidence in my voice as possible.

"Then we'll be fine. That's plenty to last us through this." I repositioned myself slightly, moving to a rock formation that gave me a better view of both the valley and the western ridge. Something about the western approach bothered me. The slope was gentler there with more cover. If the Orcs had any tactical sense at all, they would use it.

"Infantry D, shift left. I want overlapping fire on that western approach." She moved without hesitation this time. At least there was that. Nine minutes remaining.

"Contact!" Infantry C's voice was sharp.

"Movement on the western ridge. Three... no, four hostiles." I turned to look. Four Orcs were picking their way along the ridge, using the rocks for concealment as they tried their best to sneak forward. Unfortunately for them, Orc and sneaky were two things that didn't go together.

"Hold fire," I said.

"Let them think they're hidden."

"Commander?" Infantry A sounded uncertain.

"If we let them get set up—""They're a distraction. Watch the valley." As if on cue, Infantry B called out.

"Valley contact! Twelve hostiles, coming fast!" Twelve. Triple the first wave. And four more on the flank. Sixteen Orcs against four soldiers.

"Infantry C and D. You guys engage the flankers. Keep them pinned. Infantry A and B, valley targets. Rapid fire on my command." I watched the Orcs in the valley advance forward. They weren't probing this time. They moved with purpose, spreading out to present more targets and using covering fire to support their advance. The orcs that fled had clearly given them intel on what to expect. I kicked myself. We probably should have pursued and tried to kill all of them, at least a little. One hundred eighty meters.

One seventy.

"Fire!" Laser fire streaked down the hillside. An Orc stumbled and fell. Another dove behind a boulder, clutching its arm. But the rest kept coming, and now they were shooting back with real aggression. Slug rounds cracked against our rocky cover, sending chips of stone flying.

"Flankers are moving!" Infantry D shouted.

"They're trying to get above us!" I split my attention between the valley and the ridge. The flankers were using the distraction of the main assault to advance, scrambling from rock to rock while our attention was focused below.

"Infantry C, suppressive fire on the flankers. Keep their heads down."

"That's a lot of ammunition."

"Do it!" Infantry C opened up, las-bolts stitching across the rocky ridge. The flankers dove for cover with their advance stalled but I had just violated my own earlier order. I felt the very real sweat trickling down my back as the stress started getting to me. I'd played sim-games before, but nothing ever approached this level of fidelity, and getting shot at was not what I would consider fun! At all! Seven minutes remaining. The valley Orcs had closed to one hundred meters.

At this range, their slug-throwers were actually dangerous. A round ricocheted off the rock next to Infantry B's head, and he belatedly ducked.

"Stay on target!" I barked.

"They want you to flinch!" Two more Orcs fell to our fire. But ten were still coming, and they were close enough now that I could see their snarling faces. Like the pictures that I had seen, they were brutal and savage creatures. As if someone took humans, made green caricatures of them, enlarged them, gave them tusks, and then gave them all consuming hatred towards me, specifically. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Grenades," I ordered.

"Infantry A, Infantry B. One each. On my mark." They pulled grenades from their belts. The Orcs were at eighty meters now, close enough that the grenades would be devastating if they landed true.

"Now!" Two grenades arced through the air. The Orcs saw them coming and one actually tried to bat the grenade away with his weapon, which accomplished nothing except ensuring the explosion caught him directly. The twin blasts tore through the center of the Orc formation, sending bodies flying. When the dust cleared, four Orcs were down. The remaining six had scattered, seeking cover, their momentum broken.

"Push them back!" I shouted.

"Concentrated fire on the survivors!" Laser bolts hammered the rocks where the Orcs had taken shelter. An Orc poked its head up to return fire and immediately lost it to a shot from Infantry A. Another tried to retreat and took three bolts in the back. The last four broke and ran, disappearing around the valley curve.

"Flankers?" I demanded.

"Still pinned," Infantry C reported.

"But I'm almost dry on ammo." I checked my display. Five minutes remaining. We had survived, but at a huge cost. Almost all the rifles' capacitors were critically low, and the flankers were still out there, waiting for an opportunity.

"I can spare some," Infantry A volunteered.

"No, you need everything. Infantry D, redistribute yours. Give C half your remaining charge."

"That'll leave me at thirty percent, Commander."

"Do it anyway. C needs to keep those flankers pinned." That took thirty seconds. Then, before we could catch our breath, the next wave came.

"Contact! Valley approach! Twenty-plus hostiles!" Twenty. My stomach dropped. They poured around the valley curve like a green tide. These Orcs were bigger and better armed than the raiders that had come before. Mercenary Unit 'Choppa Boys', the ICI helpfully labeled them. Close-combat specialists with brutal melee weapons and just enough ranged capability to be dangerous even before they made physical contact.

"Commander, we can't hold against that many," Infantry A said.

"Request permission to fall back to secondary position."

"There is no secondary position." I studied the approaching horde as my mind raced through options to hold checkpoint that we had.

"The objective is to hold this approach. If we fall back, we fail."

"If we stay, we die."

"Then we die holding it!" The words came out harder than I intended. Harsh, even.

"That's our duty." Infantry A was silent for a moment.

"Understood, Commander." The flankers chose that moment to make their move. All four of them broke from cover simultaneously, charging up the ridge toward our position.

"Flankers incoming!" Infantry C opened fire, but with only thirty percent charge she couldn't sustain it. One Orc fell. Another. But two reached the rocks right below us and began climbing.

"Infantry D, handle the climbers! Everyone else, valley targets!" Four minutes remaining. The Choppa Boys were at one hundred fifty meters and closing fast. We shot them down as they came. I counted five, six, and then seven that fell to our fire. But there were always more, and our ammo counters dropped with every burst. Infantry D grappled with an Orc that had crested the ridge. She drove her rifle butt into its face, then shot it point-blank as it reeled. The second climber grabbed her leg and pulled her down.

They rolled across the rocky ground, struggling for dominance.

"Infantry C, help her!" Infantry C turned from the valley and fired at the Orc grappling with Infantry D. The shot took the greenskin in the shoulder. It wasn't a killing blow, but it was enough to let Infantry D break free and finish the Orc with a knife slash to the throat. Those few seconds of distraction cost us.

"They're at the rocks!" Infantry B screamed. I turned back to the valley. The Choppa Boys had used our moment of inattention to close the last fifty meters. They were in the rocks below our position now and too close for effective fire. In seconds, they'd be on top of us.

"Climb up to the top! Tight formation!" We scrambled up the last few meters of the ridge to the very top of the hill, which I had already mentally marked as the place where we would make our last stand. Normally, such a spot would be a naturally defensive position that would give a significant advantage, if we had the firepower for it. In this case, all that meant was a flat area maybe ten meters across, surrounded by rocks that offered some small cover. It was the best we had.

The Orcs came over the ridge like a green tsunami.

"Fire at will!" Bolts cut through the first Orcs to crest the ridge. Bodies tumbled back down the slope. But more came behind them, and more after that. Infantry A took a blow to his left arm and kept firing with his right. Three minutes remaining. Infantry B went down. An Orc had gotten inside his guard and slammed him to the ground. Before I could react, Infantry C shot the Orc off of him. Infantry B struggled back to his feet, blood streaming from a gash on his forehead, and kept fighting.

"They're surrounding us!" Infantry D called. She was right. Orcs were coming from every direction now, flowing around our small hilltop position like water around a stone. We were an island in a sea of green.

"Back to back!" I ordered.

"Cover all approaches!" We formed a tight circle, me in the middle and the four soldiers facing outward. I cursed the sim for not giving me a weapon of my own. Lasers flickered in every direction. Orcs fell, but there were always more. My soldiers were bleeding and exhausted. Two minutes remaining.

"Ammunition critical!" That was Infantry C. She fired her last bolt, dropped her rifle, and drew a combat knife.

"Going hand-to-hand!" An Orc charged her position. She met it with a slash across the throat, then took its own heavy blade and used it to hack at the next greenskin that came at her. Blood, green and red, splattered across the rocky ground. Infantry A's rifle clicked empty. He reversed it and used it as a club, smashing an Orc's skull with the stock. Another Orc grabbed him from behind. Infantry D shot it off him, then turned to face two more coming from her sector. One minute remaining. Infantry B collapsed.

Whether from blood loss or exhaustion, I couldn't tell. He fell to his knees, then onto his face. As much as I wanted to help, I couldn't given that the simulation hadn't given me a weapon or even a proper physical body. Any time I tried to grab a rock, a knife, anything really, my hand would just go right through it.

"Protect Infantry B!" I shouted.

"Form at the center!" Infantry A and D dragged Infantry B's unconscious body into the center of our shrinking perimeter. Infantry C stood over him, Orc blade in one hand, knife in the other, covered in blood and screaming at the horde. Thirty seconds. They came at us from everywhere. Infantry A was fighting one-handed, his left arm hanging useless. Infantry D had abandoned her rifle for a captured Orc blade. Infantry C was laughing as she hacked at anything that came within reach.

Infantry A went down, buried under three Orcs. Infantry D was backed against a boulder and fighting desperately. Infantry C was still standing. Zero. Everything froze. The blood in the air, the cries of pain, C's insane laughter, the clash of steel, everything. I alone stood, breathing heavily, as I watched the macabre painting of violence and death in front of me.

══════════════════════════════════════ SIMULATION COMPLETE ══════════════════════════════════════ PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS: Objective: ACHIEVED (Position held for 15 minutes) Units lost: 2/4 (50% casualties) Units wounded: 2/4 (50% combat-impaired) Enemies eliminated: 47 Command decisions: 13 (6 effective, 5 neutral, 2 suboptimal) Unit cohesion: EXCEPTIONAL - Unit fought beyond projected capability SPIRIT EXPERIENCE GAINED: +23 PROGRESS TO NEXT LEVEL: 23/100 BONUS MODIFIERS: Held position against superior numbers: +3 Direct combat command participation: +2 Unit exceeded projected performance: +2 ══════════════════════════════════════