by Jeff Inlo
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Voth Stonepillar took joy in bringing the force commanders under his authority, and they took joy in his desire for quick vengeance upon the humans.
"We attack tonight" the new War Com announced haughtily. "We will waste no more time on the construction of any war machines. In fact, I see no reason why we should weigh our warriors down with the burden of lugging them to Burbon. We will leave them here and attack in force as we did in Connel. How many surfacing tunnels have we constructed off the main tunnel?"
"Eight, sir," came a proud response.
"That is all we will need. Bring the diggers back now." Voth stole a glimpse out the window. The meager light of Dunop was already beginning to fade. The sun was setting on the surface.
"Strog was such a fool," he declared without challenge. "If he had prepared for an attack rather than waste time digging all those tunnels, we would have already destroyed Burbon. As it is, we will not have time for a twilight attack."
He turned his gaze back to Strog's battle plan. He wanted to crumple it in a bold display of his own superiority, but he needed the map. He shook his fist as he called for the attention of his underlings.
"We still shall attack tonight. All squads will have the same orders. We are not here to take supplies from the humans. We don't need them. The thrust of each team shall be to kill the humans and destroy their structures. Anything else will be a waste of our time. I will assign each of you to a surfacing tunnel. In most cases, there will be at least five force commanders per tunnel. Therefore, I will also assign a number and direction for your squads. You will follow these numbers for your surfacing. After that, I leave you to your own discretion. Find the humans and kill them all. Leave no structure standing. Have all your warriors prepared for a midnight strike."