Chapter 335.5

Palgret was a Maktanan, with brown and tan and cream colored fur that swirled in patterns across his body. His ears were wide and at the side of his head, his gold eyes were square pupiled and wideset in addition to being fairly large. His nose was large and sensitive at the end of his short muzzle. His hands had gripping pads, his feet had walking pads, and he had blunt claws between his fingers and toes from his tree dwelling forebearers. He was two-thirds the height of a Lanaktallan, muscular from years of exercise, healthy from a steady balanced diet, and was toughened by years of training.

He was a Sword Hoof infantryman.

Which is why he was standing with his fellow infantrymen, in full armor, carrying his weapons and equipment, and drawn up in front of what had to be the largest lemur he'd ever seen.

It was in a uniform that blurred and shifted coloration and pattern constantly. Palgret had heard it referred to as 'adaptive camouflage' and after asking around had discovered that it was the duty uniform of the Terran military. It wore an equipment belt with a pistol on its hip. Palgret had to admit that the pistol looked exceedingly lethal. Heavy, blocky, almost unfinished looking. He had asked around and found out that it was a magnetic acceleration weapon with magnetic coils on the end of the barrel for various uses, from stabilization to putting a spin on it, to separating flechettes for maximum damage. A mask designed to protect against inhalants from nanites to fallout to chemical or biological weapons was on one hip.

All in all, Palgret had to admit that the Terran looked frighteningly efficient and lethal.

The Terran was inspecting the armor that Palgret and the other two hundred odd members of his infantry company wore. She held the plates by opposite sides in her two hands and flexed her wrists and arms.

Palgret had to admit, he didn't expect the plate to so much as shiver.

Instead she bent it almost into a U before releasing it. It sprang back with a bell-like tone and she lifted it up to look at it from the side.

"Pops right back. Good kinetic recovery," she said. She scraped a nail against it. "Superconductor layer doesn't abrade easily," she nodded. "Not bad armor. Lighter than I'd prefer, but we don't have time to completely rebuild everyone's equipment and train them."

"How long do we have?" Palgret's commander, Tarnmak Numsret asked.

The Terran blinked twice. "Fifty-one hours."

Numsret nodded, swallowing. "My men have fully mustered. I was informed that Terrans would be joining us."

The Terran nodded again. "Only six of us. A half-squad."

Palgret wondered how much difference six Terrans would make.

"We'll be providing heavy assault and heavy weapons support for your company," the Terran said. She scratched her leg through the adaptive camouflage. "We'll be running with assault drones, so make sure your men's gear is hardened against radiation."

Numsret flicked his ears in worry. "Radiation?"

"We'll have four anti-armor drones, they pack a 90mm Hellbore cannon with a maximum output of 500 kilotons a second of firepower," she said. "Anti-armor penetrators, but we can go omnidirectional if things get too hot."

"Uh, what other drones will you have?" Numsret asked the question Palgret was thinking.

"There's only a half squad, but we're running a full squad's worth the drones," the Terran said. "Four Hellbore anti-armor, four quad-system eight-barrel air defense systems, four six tube self-propelled artillery drones, six mission variable drone clouds, two logistics drones," she tapped her black warsteel datalink. "That's not counting what we're running right here."

Palgret realized that apparently six Terrans handled enough firepower to stop dead a force much much larger than he had previous thought.

"And the six of us," the Terran smiled. She slapped her legs. "I'm not armored up, but Terrans aren't exactly easy to put down," she looked around. "Right now, I'm here to observe how your training carries over to how you fight."

"How we fight? We fight well," Numsret said.

"No, no, do you use Treana'ad Infantry Horde tactics, do you dig in like the Hhrundarak for extensive trench warfare, or are you more like humans and do a combination of digging in and rapid maneuvering?" the Terran asked.

"We dig in and allow the enemy to come to us, force them to charge our entrenched position," Numsret said.

Several Maktanan grumbled in agreement.

"Damn. Well, it's too late to change your training now," the Terran said. She shrugged. "Do you at least train to take the enemy's position or assault enemy positions?"

"No. That is what artillery and bombing runs are for," Numsret said. "We are infantry, not assault."

The Terran blinked several times. "All right. You're single function entrenched infantry. Got it."

Numsret nodded.

"How long does it take you to dig in?" The Terran asked.

Numsret slapped the automatic position emplacer on his hip. "Less than sixty seconds," he said proudly. "A team of four, working together, creates a fighting position in one hundred and eighty seconds, can place their weapon thirty seconds later, and the fighting position is fully online within ninety seconds after that."

She nodded. "That's right. You use the popup popdown style of fighting positions," she said.

Numsret nodded. "Yes."

Palgret stared at what was coming out of the building behind the Terran. A knee high insect, clad in the adaptive camouflage with a flank covering that looked to hold tools. It moved up beside her.

"Am Here,: it grated out from between its mandibles. "I am here."

The Terran looked down, then back at the company of Maktanan infantry. "This is Technical Sergeant Second Grade 119, one of my squad weapon engineers. He and his team will be checking out your armor and weapons and equipment."

She held up her hand at the muttering.

"We have less than three days, only two local days. He and his men check my own unit's gear as well," she said.

"Check gear," the Mantid chirped. "Checky checky."

To Palgret he didn't sound very smart and wondered if he was caste born to just do military equipment tasks.

"While we call him 119, his actual name is the equation describing the wear of magnetic force on the non-ferrous alloys that are part of the warsteel armor laminate," the Terran said. "He probably already knows more about your weapons than you do."

"Checky checky," the Mantid said again, although this time Palgret thought he saw some kind of flickering between the Mantid's antenna.

"All right, let's get your gear checked out, issued, then we'll run a few drills, see where you are," the Terran said.

Palgret wondered why the Terran thought she was in charge of the infantry company, feeling his pride in his unit well up.

"Fall out," she snapped, turning away.

Numsret motioned for the infantry company to follow her into the building where the armory was.

-----------------

By dinner Palgret's attitude had changed.

He'd seen the Terrans do an 'infantry charge' against a static position, one that he was manning, and frankly, he never wanted to see it again. They moved insanely fast, firing and maneuvering, taking cover before any heavy firepower could be brought against them, using their weapons to high effectiveness.

Palgret had even seen one throw a practice grenade nearly a hundred meters in a negligent appearing throw, the grenade lobbing up and dropping down through the firing gap in the bunker. Their accuracy with their weapons was almost insane to Palgret, and even more amazing, Palgret had found out that the accuracy they had displayed on the firing range had taken place without the humans being allowed to use their cybernetic systems, which would do nothing but improve their accuracy.

Palgret sat down with his squad, looking at his plate of steamed, boiled, and fresh vegetables.

"Did you see that human jump over the wall?" Stungut asked, setting down a stalk of gold-leaf.

They all nodded. The wall had been over the human's head and it had just ran up, jumped high enough to grab the edge, and flung itself over.

"Watching them mount the higher wall was even more frightening," Kritmak said, referring to when the team of six Terrans had run up to the wall and quickly helped one another over in less time than it would have taken Palgret's squad to set up a siege ladder.

Commander Shu'uluka, a Lanaktallan infantry officer, moved up and sat down with the Maktanan soldiers.

"What is your opinion of our new allies?" he asked carefully.

Palgret looked around, then looked at the Lanaktallan directly. "We do not understand why they have diluted their strength by breaking into smaller units and combining with us."

The Lanaktallan closed his eyes a second, but his tendrils remained gently curled. When he opened his eyes he signified amusement. "The Terrans believe that the whole is more than the sum of the parts, and that we will all fight more efficiently together."

"What do you believe, sir?" Stungut asked.

The Lanaktallan tapped his own chest with two hands. "I believe that they have resoundingly defeated every race and force that has gone to war with them," he put all four hands on the table. "I, personally, believe that working with the Terrans will ensure my family survives this war."

They all nodded. They knew Commander Shu'uluka had two calves and a colt as well as a beautiful wife.

Palgret went back to his food as the Commander got up and moved to another table.

The others talked about how they weren't sure how much the Terrans would help.

Palgret had realized one thing the others hadn't.

It seemed like it should be a small thing. Maybe the civilian part of him still thought it was.

But he was an infantryman, and the small thing loomed large in his mind.

The Terran had been a soldier for over two hundred years.

That, by itself, wasn't the small thing.

The small thing, that loomed large in Palgret's thoughts, was simple.

She had seen combat.

Nobody at his dinner table had.

----------------

"The purpose of the BOLO Continental Siege Engines is to deny the enemy landing areas," the Terran said, this time dressed in body armor. She looked like a big bug. "A BOLO can shoot down a Djinn in orbit, even take out a Balor with a clear shot. That big 250mm gun that it packs could blow a crater in your moon you'd be able to see."

Everyone nodded. Numsret had asked how the Terrans knew where the AWM's would make planetfall.

"The clankers won't be able to land near a singular BOLO without being reduced to scrap metal, and since we have them working in teams of five, with an entire BOLO Battalion defending just this planet alone, that leave the clankers with very few places they can land," she called out.

The troop transport started dropping.

"The city has been evacuated. Everyone is in shelters. Anyone who did not follow the government's orders is just shit out of luck," the Terran female called out. "We have thirty hours to prepare fighting positions, preposition ammunition and supplies, create rally points, and build medical treatment areas, as well as establish vehicle rearming and refit areas."

The transport's thrusters screamed for a second before it set down with a thump. The doors rolled open, revealing a park, the trees scorched and charred. Other transports were setting down.

Palgret's entire infantry division was going to be part of the forces defending the city.

Palgret jogged out, his platoon pulling off to the side. The six Terrans split up, three jumping out almost immediately, the other three following after the platoon got off. The other four platoons followed, all of them jogging in perfect time.

His stomach was clenching already.

30 HOURS REMAIN