Part 7: No Retreat, No Surrender

	"Fugi, cover us from here with your rife. Unholy will watch your
back." Jose motioned to a staircase leading to the ground inside the base.
"The rest of you follow me." Jose ran down the staircase with the rest of the
unit in tow.

	"Which way now?" asked Preston.

	Jose pointed down the central road, "Straight ahead."

	"Do you think that's wise, Cap?" asked Crow.

	"No time for anything else. Besides, its the last thing they'd ever
expect." The group moved forward at a brisk pace. Neo troops began to fill
the street. "Fire at will!" ordered Jose. He snapped off a few shots, felling
a Neo intent on shooting Henderson. Preston took out one as he stepped from 
 doorway and into the street.

	"This is bad!" yelled Dagger. He and Henderson jetted to either side
of the street in an attempt to avoid a blast strong enough to rock the earth
they stood on.

	"Hover tank!" yelled Crow.

	Powers activated her rocket launcher and brought it over her
shoulder. She took aim. Suddenly Jose grabbed her arm. "No, don't!"

	"But sir!" protested Powers.

	"We need those missiles to take out the GraF shield." He looked to
Preston, "RPG."

	Preston nodded and pulled out his launcher. Its contents slammed into
the left side of the tank, but it kept coming. Preston put the launcher away,
"Armor is too strong."

	Powers trigger finger itched. "One missile, its all I ask." she said.

	Another blast from the tank's cannon drowned out any answer that Jose
could give. He opened his comm line. "We're sitting ducks out here, we'll
have to pull back!"

	"Wait sir!" answered Preston. "I can take care of it, just keep it
busy for a minute."

	Jose raised his hand in the air and did a semi-circle with his index
finger. The jumptroopers spread out and tried to circle the tank. With too
many targets to choose from, it seemed to hesitate before deciding to go
after Dagger. "Why do they always pick me!?" he cried.

	Preston opened the top right compartment of his backpack and removed
three grenades. He tossed them to Powers. "Throw these at it, I'll do the
rest!"

	Preston broke wide right and charged the tank from the side. Powers
stepped directly in front of it and let the grenades fly in rapid succession.
"Eat this!" They harmlessly bounced off the tank, creating a thick cloud of
smoke. "Gas grenades!? He had me attack a hovertank with gas grenades!? I'll
kill him!" yelled Powers. The tank fired blindly. Jessie hit the ground as
the blast went overhead. "Assuming I don't die first, that is."

	From the ground, Jessie saw the hulking form of Corporal Preston land
on top of the tank. It began to spin wildly, trying to throw him off. Preston
wrapped himself around the tank's long barrel and shimmied to its end. He
pulled a rectangular object from his belt, flipped a switch on it, and rammed
it down the barrel. Releasing his grip, Preston soared away from the tank and
used his jets to cushion his otherwise rough landing. The tank steadied
itself and took aim at him. Suddenly the barrel blew apart, taking most of
the hovertank's turret with it.

	Preston got to his feet while admiring his handiwork. A Neo popped
out from behind him and took aim at his back. As he prepared to fire, a shot
struck him square in the chest. Preston looked behind him, "Thanks Fugi."

	"You mean, 'thank you Captain.'" corrected Jose. Jose heard a low
grunt and the sound of a body hitting the ground.

	A voice came over the comm line, "Now YOU can thank ME, Captain."

	"Nice shot Fugi. Preston and Dagger, take point!"

	More and more Neo soldiers began to appear, making progress to the
GraF shield tower slow. A full squad of Neos set up a blockade ahead of them.
"Dig in and take cover!" ordered Jose.

	The jumptroopers hid in the alleys to either side of the main street,
Preston and Powers on the left, with Jose, Mengele, Henderson, and Dagger on
the right. "This is ridiculous! We're never going to make it at this rate!"
yelled Henderson.

	"No we're not." stated Mengele.

	"But maybe I can change that." Crow bolted from his position, in what
looked like a full retreat.

	"Crow, where the hell are you going?! Get back here!" bellowed Jose.

	"In a sec, Cap. I got an idea!" Crow disappeared a moment later.

	Preston finished firing off one of his clips and moved from the alley
corner to reload. Powers took his place and opened fire. "I only got one
battery left." he announced.

	"They're good for a 1000 shots." said Powers reassuringly.

	"I had three when we came over the wall."

	"I see your point." replied Powers.

	"I hope Mengele has something good up his sleeve." said Preston.

	"I'm sure the Lieutenant will come through for us, he always has."

	After what seemed like forever, Crow managed to pry open the hatch.
He slipped inside and looked around. The three person crew was dead. He took
a few minutes to dump the bodies outside, then settled behind the controls.
"Now if only she still works."

	"Jumpcrops express coming through!" yelled Mengele.

	"That crazy nut." muttered Jose. The half-destroyed hover tank from
before came barreling down the street.

	"Battering ram." said Powers.

	"I wouldn't want to be in the Neos shoes about now." added Preston.

	The tank wobbled and shook while it moved, but it none the less
moved...fast. It struck the center of the barricade, plowing straight
through. Crow brought the tank around and prepared to ram again, this time on
the right hand side. The panicked Neos made easy targets. Those that weren't
run over were shot. Those that managed to avoid both were retreating. Mengele
stopped the tank near Jose's position. He ordered the remaining troops to
squash inside it.

	"Where to, Cap?" asked Crow.

	"Straight through that wall, Lieutenant."

	The GraF complex rumbled before the wall on the South side gave way,
allowing a damaged hover tank in. It quickly stopped and began spitting out
jumptroops. Staffed only by maintenance personnel, it took only a few shots
to send them all running. The GraF generator hummed lightly in front of them.

	Jose looked at Powers, "Any time you're ready, Sergeant." Powers
activated her launcher and took aim. She fired off a single shot, all but
destroying the machine. She reloaded her weapon and fired again. "That's
enough Powers." ordered Jose. She ignored him and fired off one last shot. "I
said that's enough!"

	Powers put the weapon away. "Sorry sir, I just wanted to make sure
they couldn't fix it easily."

	Jose stared for a moment at the small pieces that used to comprise
the machine. "I think you succeeded. Crow, radio the fleet."

	The antenna on Mengele's backpack extended upward and began to
rotate. "Den Mother, this is Wolfpack. Objective complete. Repeat, objective
complete." A voice answered him, confirming the information, then Crow shut
down his equipment.

	Jose pointed to the tank, "Time to go."

	"They're heading out." reported Fugi.

	Unholy looked skyward, suddenly aware of a distinctive sound. "Sounds
like the fleet isn't wasting any time. They better hurry."

	"They're coming in too fast!" yelled Henderson.

	Jose pushed Henderson aside and looked for himself. In the distance
he could make out the distinctive shape of approaching e-frames. "They're
supposed to wait for our notification that we're clear." muttered Jose.

	"I don't think they're the patient type." replied Crow.

	"Then they need a reminder. Preston, take over for Mengele. Mengele,
get on the roof and send a transmission to those e-frames."

	Crow slipped out the driver's seat as Preston squirmed his way in. He
opened the top hatch to the tank and extended his communications antenna out
it. "Approaching e-frames, this Lt. Mengele of Sierra Three Platoon. We are
not clear of the compound, and will not be able to get clear before you
arrive. Repeat, we are not clear! Give us five more minutes! Respond! Please
respond!"

* * *

	"Commander Hobbes, I'm receiving a coded transmission from Fortress
Selene. Its on an exofleet frequency."

	"Patch it through to me, Elan."

	The comm line went silent then crackled to life once more.
"Approaching e-frames, this Lt. Mengele of Sierra Three Platoon. We are not
clear of the compound, and will not be able to get clear before you arrive!
Repeat, we are not clear! Give us five more minutes! Respond! Please
respond!"

	Hobbes adjusted his comm system and began to reply. "Attack is in
progress, we cannot abort. Respond."

	"We're not asking you to abort, just slow down." replied Mengele.

	"We have orders, Lieutenant. If we halt our advance, we may lose our
opportunity to take the base."

	A hostile sounding Mengele replied, "You're an officer, you should be
able to to interpret orders as well as give them!"

	"I AM interpreting them Lieutenant. If we slow down, the Neos will
have extra time to get ready for us and we could have severe and unnecessary
loses." replied Hobbes patiently.

	"And Lord knows, we've consistently tried to avoid THAT during this
campaign." snapped Mengele.

	"I'm sorry, Lieutenant. But its a simple matter of numbers. Good
luck. Hobbes out."

* * *

	"Well?" demanded Jose.

	Crow closed the roof hatch to the tank and sat next to Dagger.
"Hobbesy-boy is very sorry but its not mathematically feasible to give us a
chance to save ourselves."

	"That miserable S.O.B." muttered Dagger.

	Jose looked to Preston. "Get us as far from the center of the base as
you can." He sat down on the floor as he said, "That's all we can do."

	Henderson sighed deeply before saying, "You all have to promise me
one thing." The platoon members stared at him expectantly. "Whoever survives
this mess has to give Hobbes a pop in the jaw for the rest of us."

	Powers rested a hand on his shoulder, "That's a promise, soldier."

	The chaos of the operation seemed to halt for a precious few seconds,
allowing the members of Sierra Three to reflect on what they have done or
might now never do. Jessie thought it funny that in a moment just before her
life might end, she was calm and at peace. It was not destined to last; as
her rare moment of placid reflection was interrupted by the first barrage of
e-frame ordinance.

To be concluded...