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.“Follow me.”The male shot forward on his suit grabbers, a dozen other warriors following, all firing their weapons at maximum power.The officer was the first to go down, followed by several of the warriors.Two suits continued on their internal power, carrying dead Cacada who absorbed more fire before their wrecked forms went over the Birds’ barrier.Grenades and missiles hit the Birds’ positions, blasting through suits, sending Bird warriors into the air to strike ceilings and walls.And suddenly there were a dozen Cacada warriors over their barrier, sending red beams of protons into anything that moved.“Take that room,” yelled the General, waving more of his troops forward.They flooded down the hallway, taking the other Bird position that was guarding another corridor from behind.“Get the power hook ups on that gate,” he yelled, running into the medium sized chamber that contained what he had come for.The silvery surface he had heard of, the entrance to the central part of the enemy’s realm.Engineers went to the side of the gate and started attaching power leads to battery packs, preventing the enemy from cutting the energy that kept the gate open.Supposed to be a magnetic field holding negative matter in place.Can’t use that much energy to power that field, and we only have to keep it open for a couple of hours.“First platoon,” he yelled, looking away from the gate and toward another junior officer.“Get through that portal.Kill everything on the other side, and get me a perimeter around that gate.”The first male went through the gate as the engineers continued to rig their connections.It might take some time getting all of my males through that that gate, he thought, looking at a portal that, while wide enough for more than two Birds or humans to go through at a time, was definitely not made for his people, who had to duck on the way through.* * *THE DONUT.That first male to come through the gate was completely confused by the experience.It had seemed like he had died, and gone to the heaven of his people.He saw the past Emperors, sitting on their thrones around a semicircle, throngs of worshipping males arrayed before them.A sense of well-being came over him, followed by a feeling of ecstasy.It was everything he was hoping for, what he had been told would be one of his rewards for going on this mission.He dropped his weapon and knelt with the others, taking in the glorious aspects of the past Emperors.Days went by, then a week.And then…He was standing on some hard surface, strange looking beings all around him, some pointing fingers in his direction, some screaming unintelligible words.Something in a strange uniform was pointing a thing at him that looked like a weapon.He knew he needed to do something, but couldn’t figure out what.Something slammed into his back, sending him sprawling forward, just as a stream of pellets cracked over his head.There was a grunt behind him, and the warrior went sprawling to the ground.His head was still fuzzy, but he knew he had to defend himself.He was surrounded by enemies, so he took his weapon and held down the trigger, sending a buzzing beam of angry red into the largest clump of creatures.Clothing was set afire, flesh vaporized, and scorched bodies and pieces of bodies fell to the floor.A moment later another particle beam joined his in striking the, humans, he knew them now to be humans, and hated enemies.He got up from his sprawled position and ran toward a hard stone structure filled with soil, strange plants growing within, and dropped behind it, looking for targets.Now the warriors were coming through the portal, pulled to the ground by those who had already regained their wits until they could function normally.Within a minute there was a platoon in the large chamber.Humans with weapons were starting to flood in from both ends.A pair of missiles, both tipped with one ton mini-nuke warheads, covered the hundred meters to both ends of the room and stopped that influx, while the armored Cacada sought what cover was available.* * *After the first company had come through, the General followed.“What in the name of the Gods was that,” said the senior mission officer, sweat running off his face.“It passes, well, not quickly, my Lord,” said the Company Commander, helping the General away from the gate so more could pass without knocking him down.“But it does pass.”The General stared about the room, not the first human inhabited structure he had ever seen, but still strange to his eyes.He took in the destroyed ends of the room, and all the smaller bodies lying about.“Start moving your men in that direction.Start taking territory as fast as you can.I’ll send the next company through the other way.” I don’t know much about this station, except that it is enormous.And that I want my bombs set as far apart as possible, to do the maximum damage.He became aware of the siren like sounds filling the air, and the flashing lights.He looked back at his engineers, who were hooking up power packs to the gate, and severing all other connections.“And Engineering Officer.Send some males to shut off that disturbing racket.”Chapter Twenty-FiveFENRI SPACE.NOVEMBER 19TH, 1001.“The Fleet is pulling out?” shouted one of his battalion commanders in the meeting chamber of the bunker.“And leaving us behind? Who the hell came up with that plan?”“Not me, Colonel,” said Baggett, rubbing his eyes.All were in their soft skins, the uniforms they wore under their armor.Baggett had ordered it for all personnel not on the perimeter of a compound, or out on patrol.And now it might be a while before we get out of the damned things again, he thought, shaking his head.“It was decided to evacuate all the warships, and that includes our transports, until they can bring up the other task groups and retake the system.The transports had to run for the barrier as soon as the news came in, so they would have a chance of getting out.”“Just like the Goddam Fleet,” spat out another battalion commander.“Look after their own, and leave the damned grunts to die in the mud.”“I can’t blame any of you for your feelings,” said Baggett, raising a hand to stop further recriminations against their sister service.“It does us no good to sit here and complain.Now, how are your units, as far as fortifying their locations go?”“We’ve got as many bunkers prepared as we can,” said the new Assistant Brigade Commander (ABC).“Primary, secondary and tertiary.As soon as the word is given, we can post to them.”And the word will be given as soon as the enemy is on final approach.As long as they don’t know where the bunkers are, they can’t hit us with kinetics.But if they do locate one, the kinetics come down and that position dies, and anyone in a suit who can’t get out is dead with it.“Any idea when the Fleet will return?” asked the first Battalion Commander to speak.“Your guess is as good as mine, Colonel.But if I had to guess, a week.Maybe more.They’re concerned about gathering enough of a force to beat the Fenri Fleet completely, while not sustaining many losses themselves.”“Sound military planning,” said the ABC
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