“The first Naval Marine Division will be ready in twenty days.”
“You will receive your orders from Admiral Mikado within six hours. Get your men back on base and get moving.”
“Yes, ma’am, right away.”
Richard jumped from his chair and yelled for his XO to get his grump in his office immediately and bring the staff with him. The ten staff members entered and Richard said, “It looks like we’re going back into the fray. Cancel all leaves, recall all our men, bring all of our armor and weapons platforms out of storage and into battle readiness. I want all of our officers down to company commanders in my briefing room six hours from now.”
Col. Jeremy Watson was packing his gear and thinking about the call up. He had been promoted to battalion commander knew that this call up was not a drill; there was going to be fighting. A pretty dark skinned lady came in and wrapped her arms around him from behind and hugged him tight. He turned and took her in his arms and kissed her lightly. “Please don’t worry, Maria. I’ll be fine.”
“How you can stand there and tell me that I’ll never understand; especially after my last husband was killed on Ross. However, I know who you are what you are and I know that you have to go or you wouldn’t be the man I love so much. Just do you utmost to come back to me. If I lose you I will thank the creator for our time together but I don’t want to lose you. Come back to me, Jer.”
Jer looked her in the eyes and said, “I miss Al too but I know he’ll be there with me. I’ll come back to you or die trying.”
Maria smiled and said, “That’s not funny. You know I’ll be waiting and I love you.”
“I love you too, Maria.”
Admiral Dorg had Tgon-Gee, Terl, and the Vgrig chancellor on his com screen. Tgon-Gee looked at him and said, “What are you up to, Admiral?”
“We are going to take the Pydres planet back from the Plants and we need some drop troops to make it happen.” The Vgrig Chancellor actually grinned and even Tgon-Gee and Terl looked excited. “We are going to need a total of eight Divisions to make the initial drop with all of their fighting gear. They will be on the eight asteroid forts with a division stationed on each with their transports. They will drop on the planet and then the forts will turn on the screen. We will hopefully have Naval ships overhead to support your drop but I can’t say how many will survive the fleet action to be available. You will not be brought in until we defeat the fleet the Plants send in against us. I am asking you the members of our Realm that have the finest fighting tradition first to see if you want to participate. If you don’t I will go to other Allies.”
“Thank Gexel our war god that you have found something for my warriors to do. They have not fought each other since we joined the SR but they are getting more and more anxious; they need an outlet. We could provide all eight divisions if you like,” the Vgrig Chancellor said.
Terl and Tgon-Gee both shouted at the same time that they needed the campaign as an outlet for their warriors also.
Dorg said, “Calm down, we may need to call in reinforcements if the ground battle goes poorly. The Vgrig will be allowed to contribute three divisions, the Cainth two, the Glod two and the Humans one.”
“Who will have overall command of the campaign?” Terl asked.
“The Human General Richard Wiseman who defeated two regiments on Ross with one small Battalion will be in overall command. The Human division will have the best technology and their Commander has been tested in battle. I need you to get your division commanders jumped to Earth to meet with him within three rotations. We have scheduled the mission twenty rotations from now. Are there any problems with the command selection?”
The Vgrig Chancellor looked at Dorg and said, “I’ve seen recordings of the action on Ross. He is one that I can count on to stand firm in the worse conditions. I support your decision.”
Terl said, “I also support your choice but I must make a decision you might not like, Admiral.”
“What is that Clan Leader?”
“I am going to give one of our divisions to your brother. After his defeat on Ross and the subsequent imprisonment by the humans, he has had great difficulty living with the shame of having murdered the Human Colonists. He must be given a chance to redeem himself. Fighting alongside these Humans may give him the release he so desperately needs.”
Dorg looked at Terl and said, “It was I that ordered those murders. My brother was a victim of my stupidity. I thank you Clan Leader for the opportunity. I could never have made that decision but I know he and I will never forget your kindness. Friends, you have twenty rotations to get your troops ready for transport. We will provide all their provisions; you need only worry about their military needs. You will be facing more than two million Plant soldiers. Make sure your warriors are prepared adequately.”
All three leaders looked at each other with the knowing expression that any warrior would recognize as the longing for the good fight against a worthy adversary. Then each of them went to notifying those that were lucky to be in the coming battle and explain to others why they weren’t going this time. It was going to be glorious.
Mikado studied the Algean fleet around the planet. There were 20 thousand ships with some of them more than 20 miles long with hundreds of missile and beam projectors. The Ultras and Empires were being refitted with pulse penetrator ports and all of them were supposed to be ready in 6 rotations. It was the success of that particular weapons platform that would determine the success of his fleet. His ships were going to be too busy knocking those anti-matter missiles out to really fire their weapons accurately. The penetrators were shoot and forget weapons and Mikado made sure that every ship’s Captain knew that he could not stock too many. “Fill every available space with all you can hold. You can get your provisions from the Asteroids after the action but you won’t need the provisions if you run out of weapons. Needles and penetrators; don’t get caught without them.”
Richard Wiseman stood in front of the auditorium facing the leaders of the troops that the SR was sending to take back the Pydres Planet. He thought long and hard about what to say and then turned on the video showing the plants attacking the Pydres settlements. The speed and viciousness of the Plants in their attack was incredible. They wore no armor but they had energy and projectile hand weapons. The floaters provided most of their heavy weapons fire. “What you see here is the enemy. They will not retreat, they will not back off, they will come at you in unimaginable numbers until they over run you. This is like nothing you have ever seen before and these creatures are incredibly strong. Picture a jungle vine capable of picking up a floater and you’ll get the picture of what they are capable of doing. They don’t use armor because if you shoot off an arm or leg, they grow a new one. We will have to totally burn all of the ones we hit. We are not going to wait for these nightmares to come to the southern continent to attack us. We are going to land close to their largest concentrations and dare them to take the ground from us. What I want all of you to know is that I and my Brother Marines will not leave you to die. As long as there is power in our armor, we will support you our brother warriors. We will not run and leave you defenseless. We know the importance of being able to trust your comrades to protect your back.”
The leaders in that room listened to him and knew he meant what he was telling them. They sat straighter and looked at their fellow warriors and each of them vowed to do the same for each other. “We will drop our fort in on the Algeans largest concentration which is located in the center of the northern continent. We will surround it on four sides with two divisions per side. General Dorg’s Division and my Division will take the northern side. Two of the Vgrig will take the south. The remaining Cainth and Vgrig divisions will take the east and the Two Glod Divisions will take the west. We will immediately dig in upon landing and get ready for the assault. We will not have to go to them; they will come to us. We need to handle them quickly because once the word goes out over the Plant message center that a new food source has arrived; reinforcements in the hundreds of thousands will be rushing to join in the conflict. We will need to have completed our fortifications to hold off the coming horde. We think we will have support overhead but we are uncertain of how much. I will let my XO cover you on your individual assignments and I will speak with you again once we are on the ground. There are millions of warriors around the Stars Realm that would actually kill to be in your place right now. Let’s go show them how real Warriors fight and give them something to try and better.”
The entire room stood up and cheered. Death stood among them and cheered with them and the warriors knew death waited for them on Pydres but they didn’t care. This is what they lived for, and this is what they were willing to die for. “This is a strong group,” Richard thought. “Let’s hope this new armor is all they say it is.”
Mikado was sitting on his new Megaship Rising Sun with Colonel McAllister who was charged with weapon development. “Colonel, I’m concerned that our pulse penetrators may not get thru the Algeans screens. The first needle fired at their scout ship did not get thru thought the following two did. The Ultra’s primary beam did make it thru one of their medium cruisers screen but I’m concerned that the way our hornet’s guidance systems are
