“I see. So, three out of four of his platoons? I’ll assign each platoon to one of the commando squads. Which one has the least experience?” Fischer asked.
“That would be Lieutenant Forsythe’s 3rd Platoon,” Daniels said.
“Okay, I’ll take her platoon; Lieutenant Harlan will take 2nd Platoon and Captain Rhodes will take 1st Platoon,” Fischer said as he glanced over to Rhodes and Harlan, who nodded their heads begrudgingly.
Daniels nodded and then stepped back as General Williams looked about ready to say something.
“As you know, Captain Fischer, we have a strong line to the south. We’ve been defending it for awhile now, and from what I’ve gathered from General Snow, you want to abandon that line and form one closer to town, is that right?” Williams asked.
“Yes, sir, I believe we’ll have a much better chance for success if we pull back and form a new line just south of town,” Fischer said, but immediately he saw his plan met with disapproval from Williams’ regimental commanders who were standing to the right of him at the back of the room.
“Captain Fischer, I discussed that option with Colonel McGregor and Colonel Purcell, and they disagreed. They feel that we should maintain our current line, correct?”
“Yes sir, if we concentrate the bulk of our forces here, where the line is the strongest and narrowest –- with a good line of supply I believe we can hold them off indefinitely,” McGregor said as Purcell nodded.
“Do you not agree with this strategy, Captain?” Williams asked.
“General Williams, may I ask, what was the highest number of hostile bots you’ve faced on this front, two-hundred-thousand? If you notice, your defensive line sits here at the narrowest part of the valley, then expands farther south you go. When the attack comes, it will be in full force. All of it will be focused on this line and if you notice the defensive line is also below Leesville and Sherman, if the bots capture those two towns they could then spill over and flank us through these two passes here, behind the line,” Fischer said as he was pointing everything out on the holo map.
“The 4th Infantry Regiment will hold those passes, sir,” McGregor said to Williams, while he glared at Fischer.
Williams sat down at his desk and put his fingers together and stared at the holo map for a moment.
“Can we be so sure, Colonel McGregor? The 4th has ten companies. That leaves us with five companies to defend each town. If we throw everything on the front it leaves us without a reserve,” Williams said.
“General, sir, I believe we need to abandon the idea of defending Leesville and Sherman, those positions are untenable, and will be a determent to our main defense. I propose we defend just below the town here … where the valley narrows again. The robots will be forced through the bottleneck, one wave at a time. We can hit them with artillery piecemeal as they come up. We’ll also be able to see them come through the passes at the sides of the valley, and hit them as they come through. If we need to fallback we’ll have the buildings in town for cover for our withdrawal to another defensive line on the other side of the river. Once we’re across, we’ll blow the bridges. That should buy us enough time to hopefully bring some reinforcements in,” Fischer said, though he hoped it wouldn’t have to come to it.
“I see, Captain, but I have orders from the top to hold Leesville and Sherman. I propose we construct two more lines of defense one just south of the town and the other just across the river - like you suggested - but our original line will be our first line. Will that work for both of you?” Williams asked as Fischer and McGregor nodded in agreement “Okay then. Major Daniels, I want you to round us up some excavators, bulldozers, and people who know how to use them and get them assembled at Harris Park by 1400 hours, understood?”
“Yes, sir!” Daniels saluted and was out of the office in a flash.
“I’m going to contact Colonel Turowski of the 4th Regiment and let him know to start setting up defenses on the valley passes. McGregor and Purcell, start prepping our main defensive line,” Williams said.
“We’ll give those robots hell, sir,” McGregor said as he and Purcell saluted, and then left the office.
“Captain Fischer, do you think we can hold Grantsburg?” Williams asked.
“Yes sir, because if we fail – well, luckily we’ll never have to find out,” Fischer said as he saluted and walked out of Williams’ office with Harlan and Rhodes.
“This is insanity, Fischer,” Harlan said as the three of them left Williams’s headquarters. “We’re left with two regiments of Regs, a brigade of heavy plasma mortars, a battalion of reservists who have only been active for a couple of days, and three commando squads against, one million hostile bots!”
“It will be okay, Harlan; we just need to stick with the plan, right?” Rhodes said.
Fischer thought about it; the odds were long, maybe if they had another division, but there was just too much ground to defend and not enough people to defend it; eventually attrition would take its toll.
“Harlan - Rhodes, I want you to meet up with the reserve platoon leaders, explain to them the situation, and how you want them to deploy their people. If we do this right we can destroy a good chunk of the bot force before Leesville and Sherman are overrun,” Fischer said.
“You still want me to rig the bridges, Fish?” Rhodes asked.
“Heh… if I said no I think you would rig them anyway,” Fischer said with a smirk.
“Ha-ha this man knows me too well! I’ll have my squad get on that right away,” Rhodes said with all the enthusiasm of a little kid with fireworks, as he headed off to where his squad was.
“Just don’t blow them until we get across!” Fischer yelled at Rhodes.
“No promises, Fish!” Rhodes replied, smiling as he jogged off.
“So what are you thinking, Fischer, are we going to do a mobile reserve like at Taneytown?” Harlan asked as the two continued to walk down the street towards the old gray prairie school style courthouse downtown.
Fischer was looking at the old courthouse and noticed that it was constructed out of thick gray stones and not concrete; it still looked to be strongly built despite its age. The building had a clear line of sight to the south and sat on the highest elevation within the valley.
“Hey, are you there, Fischer?” Harlan asked as she was snapping her fingers to get his attention.
“What do you think about this courthouse, Harlan?” Fischer asked as he studied the building.
“It’s just a boring stone courthouse; it could use some clean up to get rid of those black pollution streaks …”
“No, I mean as a defensive outpost?” Fischer said.
“Hmm… the stone blocks look thick enough to withstand some laser and plasma blasts; if we can keep the Mark Threes and Fours away, we could really dish out some damage from here,” Harlan said.
“Exactly, I’ll have to bring this up with General Williams later today. I’m sure the commander of the mortar brigade will see this and requisition the building, but I want to make sure it factors into our delaying action,” Fischer said as he studied the building further and then looked to the south. “That is if we even make it this far.”
Fischer walked up to the entrance of the old courthouse and peered in through the dirty, cracked, double glass doors. The place looked like it had been abandoned since the start of the war. The outside looked sturdy enough, but it was the inside that now concerned him. If the interior had gone to hell there would be no way of setting up equipment - not to mention soldiers - inside.
“You know, Fischer, there is probably a reason Williams isn’t using this building. They’ve probably already had it scoped out and deemed it structurally unsafe, you know?” Harlan said as she peered inside too.
Fischer noticed the front door was pad-locked with a chain. The pad-lock looked like it was rusted shut.
“Well, if they got in, it wasn’t through here. Let see if we can find a way inside,” Fischer said.
“I don’t kn
ow, Fischer, I really have to meet up with that platoon commander, remember? Besides aren’t those three in your unit? Hey, isn’t that your new Lieutenant?” Harlan asked as Fischer turned around to see Sanchez, Hartford, and Brookes walking up towards the courthouse.
Chapter 17
“Ah… Grantsburg, I’ve never been here before, and from the looks of this place I’ve never had any reason too,” Hartford said as she, Sanchez, and Brookes were walking down Main Street.
“Yeah, a typical small town isn’t it, Hart? I like these little towns though. I like that there’s more room to maneuver and you still get the defensive advantage of fighting from the buildings,” Sanchez said.
“Yeah, but all of these buildings are just ready-made rubble piles. You know none of these would last more than five minutes once we have to retreat into town,” Hartford said as she pointed to some of the nearby buildings that looked dilapidated.
“Actually, I think it would be better if we tore some of these abandoned buildings down and converted them into cover and roadblocks,” Brookes said.
“I like your thinking, Lieutenant, but the brass would never go for it. Instead they’ll order us into a building to defend it, even though it’s an abandoned piece of shit like these,” Hartford said.
“Yeah, the shittier they are, the more likely we are to get sent in, right? Remember Cedar Creek, Hart? Those abandoned apartment complexes fell on us like dominoes. I couldn’t believe they even had us in those; they were made of nothing more than pre-war plywood,” Sanchez said with frustration.
“Yeah, just be glad you weren’t around for that one, Brookes; I wish I hadn’t,” Hartford said as she rolled her eyes.
Hartford, Sanchez, and Brookes continued walking down the deserted Main Street of Grantsburg. Some of the store owners were out boarding up their windows as though they were preparing for a terrible storm.
“I think they’re going to need something stronger than two-by-fours to stop plasma rounds,” Hartford said as she and the group walked by a couple boarding up their store front.
Brookes looked back at the old couple as they gave a nasty look at Hartford who was too busy to care about what she said.
“Hartford, I think these people are just trying to do what they can, doing something is better than doing nothing,” Brookes said as she looked back to Hartford.
“Hey, no I’m glad they’re doing what they can; I’m just saying that it’s a rather pointless exercise, that’s all,” Hartford said.
“I don’t think it’s pointless to board up your windows,” Sanchez said as he winked at Brookes.
“Ah, you too? Okay, finnne geez… It’s not pointless, it’s just not point-full ha-ha,” Hartford said chuckling.
“Where in the hell are we even walking, Hart, I thought we were going to find a greasy diner to eat at?” Sanchez asked as he put his hands on his stomach.
“We are! I just thought we could walk toward that creepy old courthouse,” Hartford said.
“What’s the big deal? It’s just a crummy old building; it’s probably rotting away on the inside like most of the buildings in this town,” Sanchez said as he gave a look to Brookes that said he wanted to bail and find his own food.
Brookes looked at the pollution-stained grey courthouse, then turned her head and looked down Main Street to the south. Except for a few large barren trees the courthouse had a clear line of sight straight down the valley.
“I’m interested. Let’s go check it out,” Brookes said.
“Whaaa…” Sanchez whined.
“If I know the Cap, he’s probably already heading over to scope the building out right now,” Hartford said.
“It definitely looks like a kind of building that he would set up a defense in.” Brookes said, thinking back to when she was a kid reading stories of Fischer leading heroic defenses of towns just like this one. Now, the thought of actually getting to participate in one sent a bit of a shiver down her spine.
“You know, Captain Fischer was kinda the reason I joined up,” Brookes said candidly.
“Really?” Sanchez said semi-surprised.
“Whoa… wait, what’s the story behind this one? Was he at some recruiting drive and you fell for him?” Hartford asked cracking a smile.
“No, when I was twelve I used to read stories about his and the Dark Horse Commando Squad missions; I was fascinated by them. The five robot factories, the mission where he rescued all of those people from Atlanta, and not to mention that masterful defense of Jackson,” Brookes spouted out like some pre-teen fan girl.
“Ha! Is that what the propaganda machine is feeding people? Listen, I was at Jackson. There was nothing masterful about that defense; we just got lucky that’s all. And Atlanta? You must’ve never read about how that Phaeton carrying all those refugees was shot down ten minutes after it took off, but no, they never report that stuff; doesn’t look good in the papers. You know what does look good in the papers? Heroes,” Hartford ranted.
“Hey, I studied the Battle of Jackson at the Academy; it was part of our Operational Defense class. Fischer plugged up the line at the last minute, saving the whole city,” Brookes said as the group paused for a bit outside of an old abandoned antique store.
“Yeah, but did they tell you how we got there fifteen minutes after the robots had already broken through?” Hartford asked.
“No,” Brookes said.
“No? Then you must’ve not heard about how the robots just sat there while we came up. Our heavy weapons guy at the time mowed a bunch of them down before they started attacking again, but by that time we had already won. It was the damndest thing; if they had pressed their attack they would’ve taken Jackson and there would’ve been nothing we could’ve done about it,” Hartford said.
“Yeah, we’ve seen that happen a couple of times, Brookes, sometimes when the robots breakthrough, they completely freeze up. If you get too close to them they attack you, but other than that they stay put. It’s almost as though they don’t want to win some battles,” Sanchez said.
“Yeah, Jonesy had a theory about them receiving their stop codes when they shouldn’t, but there’s no telling. They haven’t done it since we started breaking their codes last year,” Hartford said.
“Wow, I had no idea,” Brookes said.
“Yeah, nobody except those who have been on the front really knows or cares. High Command sure doesn’t seem to, except maybe Snow,” Hartford said.
“Makes you wonder what the UMI Service knows about it,” Sanchez said.
“Pfft… UMI. Those clowns couldn’t tell you the steps for putting your own pants on; even after you showed them how,” Hartford said, causing Sanchez to laugh.
“I guess no one is going to complain about it too much. They probably have it written off as robotic malfunctions or glitches,” Brookes said.
“Yeah maybe, but they didn’t do it all the time and even the newer models did it as well; it was just really bizarre when they stopped for hours at a time, sometimes,” Hartford said.
Sanchez looked off toward the old courthouse.
“Looks like you were right, Hart,” Sanchez said.
“Of course I’m right –- about what?” Hartford asked looking a little confused.
Sanchez pointed up to the courthouse.
“I believe that’s Harlan and the Cap up there peeking into the courthouse,” Sanchez said.
“Yup… come on let’s go and see what’s going on,” Hartford said as the three hurried toward the courthouse.
*****
“I’m surprised you aren’t eating at some greasy spoon,” Fischer said to the three of them as they came up.
“I wish, Cap, but these two wanted to check out this courthouse. Couldn’t let Brookes be all alone with Hart, being that she’s a bad influence ‘n all,” Sanchez said, causing Hartford to sock him in the arm.
“So you must be Lieutenant Brookes? I’m Lieutenant Harlan, commander of the CS-10 Red Hats. I hope Captain Fischer hasn’t been giving
you too hard of a time; if he is, you’re always welcome in my squad,” Harlan said as she shook Brookes’ hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Harlan. Are you checking out this old courthouse too?” Brookes asked.
“Nah… I need to go meet with some reserve platoon commander that somebody ordered me to go see. How about later tonight we meet up for some drinks?” Harlan asked.
“Sure, that would be great,” Brookes said, though she thought it would probably be a better idea to go to bed early, seeing as how she was going to be sleeping next to Kazir again.
“Okay then, have fun exploring,” Harlan said as she left toward the direction of the High School to the west.
“Hartford, I need you to try and pick this lock. Sanchez - Brookes, look around the sides of this building and see if you can find another way in. We need to check this building out and see if it’s structurally safe enough for us to deploy troops inside,” Fischer ordered.
Hartford groaned as she stepped up to the rusty lock. Sanchez in the meantime headed to the left side of the building, while Brookes went down the right side. The exterior walls seemed sturdy enough; there were no major cracks and the stone seemed to be pretty thick, or least as thick as it needed to be. Most of the windows had old filing cabinets or various pieces of old office furniture blocking them on the inside. Brookes couldn’t really tell what the interior looked like from the outside. The windows that didn’t seem to be blocked were heavily frosted over with calcium corrosion.
She turned around the corner at the north wall and saw Sanchez, who had just turned his corner.
“Did you find anything?” Sanchez asked.
“No, how about you?” Brookes replied.
“Nada, but this here might be something,” Sanchez said as he looked at an exterior basement door to his lower right.
The door was covered in moss and rust, but was otherwise intact. A small pile of dead leaves and trash covered a shallow pool of water in front of the door at the bottom of the steps.
Robot Wars: Thrown Into the Fray Page 10