Chapter 2

He called his Warlocks together. "The death ships saved our butts that time!" he announced. "They only threw about a thousand men at us. I took a rough count, I think there's about 300 bodies out there. They're not going to try a frontal assault again, especially if they've lost their artillery. They'll probably bring up what mortars they've got now, probably right along the edge of the woods. I want our long range mortars on either end. I want them targeting the enemy's mortars. We'll keep the mediums in the center and use them to pound the next advance. It's 7:30. We've delayed them a half an hour. Let's see what they'll do next. They'll probably try to come in from the flanks, and, the rear. When we're engaged they'll try to center again. So the center position will guard the front, the right and left the flanks. Have the grenades ready. Let's go, gentlemen!"
Fifteen minutes later they came again, just as Twenty Ponies had predicted. A tank came in on each flank. They let them get close and lob in a few shells before they hit them with the thermite. After three rounds both tanks exploded. Twenty Ponies heard two explosions behind him and had a pretty good idea two more tanks were destroyed back there. The enemy was wasting his armor. With the tanks gone the enemy's troops fell back. Twenty Ponies took a look towards the woods. Their lasers had stopped quite a few mortar rounds that had gotten pretty damned close, but they'd stopped. Through his glasses he could see his people had done a pretty good job. Suddenly there was the whiz of a shell. One of the lasers fired and everybody ducked but the schrapnel hit the earthworks. The shell was stopped before it got above them.
"Well, they've got at least one gun working!" Twenty Ponies remarked.
Rabbits came up. "The passage behind us is blocked. Only a few men at a time can get around the wreck of the tanks. The hill is too steep for them to rush us. I suggest we leave ten men back there and bring the rest up here."
"Not right now," Twenty Ponies answered. "They still might try to make an effort. They might think exactly the way you're thinking and we can't get careless. No, we've done pretty good. It's 8 o'clock. We've held them for an hour. They're bound to start getting smarter. But until they do, we're hurting them. I'm concerned about ammunition. Why don't we put the robot together and send him out to gather what he can off the enemy dead? About the only thing that could stop him would be an anti tank rocket, and I don't think they're going to waste one of those. Every bit of munitions we have the better off we are."
"I'll get right on it!" Rabbits snapped.
There was a sudden thud and he spun around. Twenty Ponies dropped down behind the earthworks himself.
"You all right?" he asked.
"Yeah!" Rabbits answered. "Damn! Cut right through my helmet strap! Just about took my head off! That hurts!"
One of his men down the line fired a sniping rifle. "Did you get him?" Twenty Ponies asked.
"I think so," the sniper answered. "But I think there's more of them. The sun's still behind us and I keep seeing flashes in the trees. Might be eight or nine of them. Anybody who isn't under cover better not stay in one place too long. Once the sun get's high it's going to be hard spotting them."
He fired again. "Looks like I got that one!" he remarked, "He fell out of the tree!"
There were two loud dings as bullets hit his protective shield. "Ooh! They didn't like that!" he remarked.
Twenty Ponies grabbed a telescope and went back to observing the enemy. "Looks like they're getting ready to try again," he remarked. "Long range mortars. The big tree, off to the left. I think they've got their OP right beside it, to the left. Can you reach it?"
The mortar crew didn't answer but a few moments later there was a whoosh and seconds after that there was an horrendous explosion by the left of the tree.
"We can reach it, sir!" someone called.
Twenty Ponies sat back down. "I think this time," he remarked, "if they've got smoke they'll use it, probably make it look like they're attacking from the flanks again. They should only have two tanks left. They'll probably use them for artillery support, staying out of range of our mortars. But I've got a pretty good idea where they'd be. I need two anti tank rockets, and a volunteer."
In a few minutes Crow's Wing came up carrying the rockets and followed by a young soldier.
"My Demon 2," he snapped, "Sleeping Dog. He's the best we've got with one of these things. What's up?"
"I lay odds," Twenty Ponies remarked, "their tanks are going to be on either end of the woodline. They should thrown in smoke. When they do I'm gonna run out to the right, and hopefully when I come out of the smoke I'll be in range of this thing. You wanna have a go on the left, Damon?"
The Damon smiled. "Sounds good to me, sir! Taking out one of the tanks would sure make my day!"
"Then go get ready," Twenty Ponies snapped, as he headed for the right hand earthworks. Now they could only wait and hope the enemy cooperated. And they did!
What mortars they had left laid down a pattern of smoke shells. The tanks put some in, and that lone artillery piece dropped a few. Twenty Ponies took off. He cleared the smoke and the tank was right where he thought it would be. He popped off the rocket, didn't wait to see if he got a hit, and ran back into the smoke. Bullets whizzed by him. He reached the earthworks and got back to the center, grabbed up his rifle, and started firing. He emptied two clips then

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