Assault on Ft. Peralta

They shouldn't le here. We should have been ready. They needed more training, they

Needed more battle that didn't include training pads or helmets.

Jeremy has a hole through his forearm. The bleeding is under control. The hysteria is still building, though I can see he’s trying to be brave. He’s doing his best to keep Jamie and Erin from assuming the fetal position and shifting to a liability.

Gina, holy shit, Gina. The wallflower came alive in the panic. She took control of five others and mounted a real defense once the line broke. A whole new girl looked me in the eye and told me to stop bleeding everywhere.

Liam didn’t stop her. The rising L.T. Didn’t argue about the help. He kept his cool when the chaos hit the fan. He kept everyone’s heads down. He took the help and kept as many alive and uninjured as he could.

When the news broke about the peace accords failing in spectacular fashion, we were knee deep in our typical afternoon training. The kids, these kids I wouldn’t admit I’ve got a soft spot for, were complaining about gnats and mosquitoes. The sun was high, hopes were riding the promise of lunch in the mess hall.

“Sir? Sir?!” Hector called to me, quickly crouching to look me over. My injured arm reached up to console him by the shoulder. The kid always looked at me for confirmation, probably a bit neurodiverse, ‘cause he didn’t wanna do the wrong thing.

“Get me a rifle, cadet!” I ordered with practiced authority. His face lit up, he just needed a task for that hamster in his head to start running on. Hector helped me to my feet, and I instantly pulled him down to crouch with me.

Rounds zipped overhead before a canister spewing gas landed between us. Hector didn’t think, he just grabbed the canister and threw it back. He looked back at me with an expecting smile. I lifted my hand to give him a thumbs up and shouted “Rifle,” and pointed a direction over his shoulder.

Hector ducked into another handful of kids huddled behind rubble. Our training facility looked like fresh dropped shit in Cleveland. The Zah’durs had been stationed a days flight outside our atmosphere. Refueling, resupplying, they told us. It proved to be a damned forward deployment position, and we were the first victims.

Kids. Under armed, under prepared and under strict supervision to NOT have a full contingent of proper ordinance. They came after kids that only had a small chance of mounting a viable defense. A lot of colorful things had been said about the Zah’durs given their slimy, amorphous appearance. I liked to stay out of it.

C.O.’s needed to stay above the petty squawking but these slug-looking sacks of shit were coming after kids. They were coming after MY kids!

A whole line of them popped up over cover to return fire. No spraying, those kids took five shots each before ducking down to deny returning shots any targets to aim at. The Zah’dur rounds flew past with trails of green.

“Andie! Attack that right flank!” I called to the group of them. It’s been weeks of getting this group used to calling each other by their last names. I just noticed I had reverted to calling out their first names. I was worried, I was scared.

Before I knew it, I was huddled with Jeremy, Jamie and Erin. Toby and Zack were hit with a boom, Jamie and Erin pulled from rubble and got them safe. The boys were breathing, bleeding from the ears and lucky to have all their limbs. I tapped Jeremy.

“How’s the arm?”

He looked back at me and held back most of his sarcasm with that pretty boy smile. “I got another one.”

Good, the adrenaline was kicking in. Hector slid into us like a baseball player desperate to get second base. He quickly scurried and handed me one of the rifles cradled in his arms. Jeremy pulled him behind cover as I primed the bolt and switched the safety off. Hector followed as I peaked over cover, got sights up and fired off five shots, two being successful deliveries to slug 1 and slug 5.

Booms erupted with spires of dirt and smoke just behind the group I engaged. None of my kids had that kind of ordinance… unless…

I turned to see Amie, the trouble half between her and Andie, execute a beautiful hook shot to deliver another explosive down range. It WOULD come down to the pyromaniac to be the first to use the ‘fun’ equipment. I had already scolded her twice for trying to persuade me to skip a few lessons and allow her, and the class, to get their hands on them. When that didn’t work, she tried to sneak them. Now I had a smile plastered on my face just glad she wasn’t afraid to go find them.

I ducked down and pulled Jamie close. The poor girl was blubbering, she was back to being ten push-up deep convinced she couldn’t go on. I switched the safety on, opened up Jamie’s arms and shoved the rifle into them for her to use.

“Cadet Algala!” I called to her. Her face jumped up to mine. All her freckles on a background of red said was hyperventilating. “Breathe dumbass!”

Her hand found the pistol grip as she forced her lungs to pull air deep in her. The damn green shit could keep flying, we were here breathing dammit.

“Algala reporting, sir!” She barked back at me with a steeled gaze. I motioned for Hector to come close. I was making a move, the two were gonna give me cover fire in three… two… go!

Andie was holding the line and doing the whole platoon proud, but her little group was growing roots. I made it to them and looked over my shoulder to see Jamie and Hector already ducked