The next few minutes were an incredible blur of explosions, screaming men, and total chaos. Twice explosions nearly got them, but they managed to escape destruction. Finally they had completed their run, and began their withdrawal, but there was no hurry. They quickly realized the enemy wasn't pursuing but had turned and was in total withdrawal. The tanks that had survived were hurrying back up the road in pursuit of their own pcs and armored cars. Samuel ordered his troops back to quickly salvage what they could.
They had lost one pc and one armored car, destroyed four trucks, captured two, three pcs and two armored cars.
"Quite a haul!" Samuel commented. "We don't have time to take this equipment with us, except for the armored cars and the pcs. The tanks will slow us down. But get them righted and back to the city. We may need them there. The rest of you let's get to the second position."
A frantic rush began along seldom used roads, and across little known fords. But in several hours they cut across in front of the enemy's main body and reached the second position.
This is too exposed for the pcs," Samuel commented, studying the area through his glasses. "We'd be spotted for SURE! But there's a place where the armored cars could conceal themselves and make a run after the artillery opens up. I'll take them down there. Leave the pcs up here. Let them get well within range of the rockets. Let the pcs fire on the first ones. The artillery concentrate on the ones further back. Maximize our firepower to its fullest."
Captain Daniel came up. "Sir!" he snapped, "We would prefer you staying up here. If we lose you we loose everything. I should lead the attack. No disrespect, sir."
Samuel didn't want to send someone else into harm's way and not go himself. But he knew they were right. He SHOULD stay where it was safer. "All right," he agreed, "but remember, go in one run. Chop them up. Get out of there. Don't try to stand and fight."
The captain snapped a sharp salute, gathered up the armored cars and headed off to take his position. Again they did not have to wait long. And again the enemy was showing little caution.
Samuel waited until they were so close their rockets had little chance of missing, then poured it into him. They tried to spread out, return the fire. A few shells exploded beneath them, but then the enemy AGAIN lost his nerve, and made a swift retreat.
Their casualties were light. They lost only two armored cars and again captured equipment....three tanks, one had a good size hole in it, but incredibly still ran. Their victory was not without a price, however. Samuel examined the three charred wrecks that had once been armored cars, one of them Captain Daniel's. But they had hit the enemy twice and twice bloodied his nose. This time they didn't move until they had everything ready.
They spent the rest of the day reaching their final position. They deployed in the woods on the far side of a long clearing the enemy would have to cross.
"Well, it worked twice," Samuel remarked, "lets hope it will work again. We'll let them get well into the clearing then open up with everything we have and come out from both sides, run the length of them, hitting them as we go. No fires tonight, set up your thermal shields and keep behind them. Move around as little as possible. We don't want our infrared signature to give us away."
His men used every precaution but unbeknownst to them their efforts were useless. In the middle of the night a man slipped through the sentries. He laid a coat on the ground that he had ripped up earlier and stained with blood, then headed off in the direction of the enemy. When a head count was made in the morning and the man came up missing they found his coat and fell for the ruse believing the had gone off to relieve himself and been taken unaware by some predator.
They watched the road, waiting. The enemy had just appeared when Samuel's radio crackled.
"Ground force! Ground force!" it repeated, "This is Sky Hammer! I've got ten nails ready for the enemy's coffins. Do you read?"
"Death planes!" Samuel cried. He turned on his mike. "This is Blue Serpent!" he cried. "We read! We read!"

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