by Sandy Addson
Losing power, the leg buckled under its own weight. The large spider-shaped walker should have lurched over to one side, but it too had a good pilot who had already compensated for the loss of that leg and so kept his walker upright. Planting its left centre leg firmly it used that as a pivot point to keep rotating its body in the hopes that Winnie would follow and come into the line of fire of the other German walkers.
However, Winnie wasn’t alone; Sting had also made it to the side of Zeus as well and it had been busy smashing its rear leg, quickly disabling it.
“Sarah put the AP round into the centre leg. Chantal rotate so she can get the shot,” Alex shouted over the intercom.
Winnie lurched around so that his cannon could fire. The shot, despite being almost at contact range wasn’t an easy one; being too close for sights and involving two moving targets. However, Sarah had practiced experience with such close-range shots and knew how to compensate. As she fired, there was a simultaneous shriek of metal as the capped armour piercing round succeeded in punching through the armoured plate protecting the leg to crunch deep into the mechanics.
Switching to the platoon net Alex shrieked into the microphone “Sting! Pull on your leg! Let’s get this thing on its side.”
Without even responding, Sting started to pull on the rear leg, as Winnie worked on the front. Soon the Zeus’s centre leg crumpled and becoming unbalanced the large walker toppled over on its side. The 88 which had been rotating to the side in a vain hope of being able to get a shot at one of the Grizzly walkers was driven into the ground. For several seconds it appeared as if the barrel would keep the large walker in a semi upright position. Then with a groan of bending metal, the Zeus continued over onto its side: hitting the ground with a very satisfying thump.
“Load AP Sarah we’re going to snipe at the other walkers while using this one for cover,” Alex ordered over the intercom. Then switching to the Platoon net Alex got a hold of Lieutenant Johnson.
“Holy shit! I can’t believe we just did that!” was the Lieutenant’s reply to the hail.
“Ma’am stay behind the Zeus, and let your gunner snipe at the other Walkers. I’d also suggest getting back to battalion and see if we could get some artillery hitting up here,” Alex said with increasing difficulty. Now that the adrenaline of this direct attack was fading the pain of her ribs was starting to make its presence felt.
But as it turned out there was no need for the any artillery attack. Their counterattack had been enough to make the Germans retire. While they only a counted for one walker, the confusion the two of them had caused in the German lines had been enough for the Churchill Meteors to plaster two of the Zeuses with their enzyme rockets putting them out of action. Without their cover, the Thors had been easy meat for the Fort Gary tanks. With a combination of regular armour piercing shot and Tesla created lightning all the remaining Thors were destroyed. The butcher’s bill had been high but the 2nd Canadian Brigade had succeeded in punching a hole through the German defences large enough for the 3rd Canadian Brigade to pass through to assault the third defensive belt. After which the armoured division would pass through in exploitation of the breach.
Chapter Eight: The Bill
They’d done it. They’d breached the Siegfried Line’s second defensive belt and fought off the first German counter attack. But right then Alex was in too much pain to care. As the two Seaforth’s Grizzlies made their way back to where the bulk of the battalion was deployed, Alex was sitting in her command chair with the blouse of her battle dress around her hips. Becky was standing in her loader’s hatch helping Chantal bring Winnie home while Sarah tied a pad around the sergeant’s chest to support Alex’s broken ribs. This kind of fracture was common among walker crews and all of them knew the proper first aid procedure.
Sarah had wanted to hit Alex with a syrette of morphine but the red-haired sergeant refused.
“I need to stay sharp until we know that we’re not needed,” Alex explained.
“Right, because being in intense pain helps someone’s concentration so much,” replied the gunner; disapproval obvious in her voice.
Alex was about to reply when Winnie lurched to one side causing Alex to slam the injured rib into the side of the walker.
“Damnit Chantal you already broke my ribs you can stop trying,” hissed Alex in new pain.
“Sorry, we must have a hydraulic leak somewhere in the right leg. It just seized up on me,” the driver said.
Getting her blouse at least half back on, Alex gingerly popped her head out of the command hatch. This was where she spent the most time while in Winnie and where she could best ride out Winne’s rough trip home.
As they approached their own lines again, she saw that two of the Guardians and a fair number of the automated infantrymen were still moving about the battlefield cleaning up the last of the German Totenkorps. The rest of the battalion got on with the job of opening more lanes through the Dragon’s Teeth or setting up defences so that they could hold the position against the German counter attack when it came.
Knowing that Alex wouldn’t seek medical attention until she’d reported to the battalion CO Chantal lurched Winnie to what looked to be the Seaforth’s forward Headquarters.
As Winnie pulled up next to Sting, Alex saw that the Lieutenant’s walker had made it through the attack reasonably intact. There were some deep furrows from where it had taken a burst from a light autogun, but otherwise she still looked battle worthy. The same could be said for her commander. Lieutenant Johnson had already clambered out of her Walker and though she looked paler than usual, everything was still attached.
Gingerly Alex got out of her walker and moved towards where the Lieutenant was currently talking to a medical orderly.
“However, here’s one that could use your aide private,” Lieutenant Johnson said when she saw Alex.
“I’m healthy enough to report Leftenant,” the sergeant said as she attempted to push aside the medical orderly and move to the where she saw the battalion’s command staff.
The lieutenant stepped in front of her. “Sergeant Mackenzie you will go with the medical orderly that’s an order,” Lieutenant Johnson said drawing herself up to her full height.
Then in a much quieter voice she said, “Alex you need to get to the aid station… It’s Sergeant Vergamy.”
Feeling like she’d just been gut punched, Alex followed the orderly without further protest.
When she got to the aid station she was taken back to where the bodies had been laid out for graves registration to take possession. There she found Ida, resting whole and without a wound yet still under a blanket very dead.
Confused and still in a lot of pain, Alex’s tight control broke. She took one of Ida’s dead hand into hers and started to weep uncontrollably over her best friend. After a minute she managed to croak out “How?”
“Her walker took a near direct hit from a Thor’s heavy howitzer. The armour stopped the shrapnel but the concussion from being so close to the blast…” the orderly couldn’t go on.
“She was always giving me a bad time about taking too many risks and this happens,” replied Alex. She then fell back into silence.
How long she knelt there holding her dead friend’s hand Alex didn’t know. Time stopped for her and only restarted when she felt two hands on her shoulders. Looking up she saw Lieutenant Johnson looking down at her with a mixture of concern and sympathy. Behind her was the rest of Winnie’s crew with the same looks upon their faces.
“Get her up, and out of here before Steves or another hard ass sees her. The Colonel’s left an armoured truck nearby. Get her in the back of it and don’t let her leave until she’s under control of herself again,” ordered the Lieutenant to the rest of Winnie’s crew.
“We’ve got this Leftenant,” said Chantal as she helped Alex to her feet.
The four women left as Lieutenant Johnson intimidated the orderly to silence regarding what he had just seen. It didn’t take much intimidating: th
e medical orderly had seen a lot of soldiers break down and as far as he was concerned what happened in the aid station stayed in the aid station.
Once they were in the truck the crew of Winnie just let Alex cry herself out. It took ten minutes but eventually the Sergeant was back in control of herself. Alex then looked at the rest of Winnie’s crew with a look of horror on her face.
Understanding her look Becky spoke up “Don’t worry, one slip up showing us that you are in fact human isn’t going to stop us from knowing that you could kick all of our asses anytime you wanted to.”
Alex started to laugh at that but stopped when her broken ribs reminded her that she was still injured. Seeing her grimace in pain Sarah handed Alex a wet cloth to clean up with and then got up and quickly looked out the back of the truck.
“Right the coast is clear, let’s get the Sergeant into the battalion aid station to get her ribs looked after,” she said to the group.
**
From the Headquarters tent Lieutenant Johnson watched as the crew of Winnie got their now composed sergeant out of the back of the battalion’s armoured command truck and to the front of the battalion aid station. While she believed that Sergeant Mackenzie’s paranoia about all males in the army was just that, paranoia. The British female officer was willing to admit that there were enough Major Steves out there that caution had to be used.
Fortunately, there were also plenty of men like Lieutenant Colonel Goodbar, and, she believed, Brigadier Sharpe out there. Men who looked to results first and gender second. The integration of women into combat roles was as dependent on men such as these as it was on the women who stepped up to fill those roles.
“Everything alright Leftenant?” asked a voice behind her.
Startled, the young woman quickly turned to come face to face with the commander of the Canadian Seaforths. “Yes sir, thanks to your help, I believe everything will be fine,” replied Lieutenant Johnson.
“Sergeant Mackenzie has good instincts. I trust her opinion, even when it paints me as part of the problem,” Lieutenant Colonel Goodbar said. He then looked Johnson directly in the eyes and said “Your Grace.”
The young woman’s guts dropped upon hearing those words. Even though it wasn’t the ‘proper’ form of address, it was clear that Lieutenant Colonel Goodbar knew who she was.
“Who told you?”
“Major Conner, Blastford’s liaison officer, let the cat out of the bag when we saw you following Mackenzie on that death or glory attack. He turned paler than the zombies we were dealing with and demanded that I recall you. I refused at first and it was only when he said who you actually were that I was willing to consider this request. But by that time, you two were committed to the attack and it was safer to let you finish than recall you.
Johnson sighed and said, “My father was at Jutland and no one got bent out of shape about that. That’s why I’m using the same last name as he did.”
“I’m sure someone in his chain of command did get bent out of shape, and besides you can’t blame Conner. If you’d been wounded or even worse killed, he would have been the messenger of that piece of unwelcome news. By the way how in the hell did this FUBAR of a situation come about anyways?” Goodbar asked with genuine curiosity.
“A case of the right hand not knowing what the left was doing. The maintenance battalion I was a part of was one of the ones tapped for female walker volunteers. I took the opportunity to volunteer and then made a mad dash to the powers that be to convince them it was a good idea before my opponents could bend their ear with their opposition,” explained the young woman.
“Sounds like you’re a born walker commander,” said the Lieutenant Colonel with a laugh.
“I know the importance of moving at speed when the situation calls for it,” Johnson replied. “So now what?”
“A lot of this is beyond my pay grade thankfully. To keep this from blowing up and embarrassing the high command I’ll have to downplay you and the Sergeant’s actions in the after-action report. I’m willing to do that: for now. But I will not allow your situation from impeding Sergeant Mackenzie and her crew’s advancement or from receiving the accolades that they deserve in the long run.”
“Don’t worry sir, the Sergeant will get everything she deserves, my father can be very persuasive with the General Staff when he wants to be,” said the young Lieutenant with a grim smile.
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About the Author
Sandy Addison has always been a story teller; either in the real-world or at the role-playing table. However, it has been only the past few years that he’s gained the courage to actually share his stories with others. He’s also a great fan of World War II wargames. Thanks to an email to Clockwork Goblin he’s gotten the chance to combine his two passions together.
Other books by this author
Please visit your favorite ebook retailer to discover other books by Sandy Addison:
The Red Death series
Sellswords
Children of the Plague (Fall 2020)
Konflict ’47
Counterattack
Seaforth’s Ladies audio format available
Seaforth’s Ladies Revised Edition
Going Dutch (Winter 2020)
Connect with Sandy Addison
Favorite my Smashwords author page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Sandy42
Check me out on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17023729.Sandy_Addison