I darted from one corner of the street to the opposite corner. Just in front of me, Sergeant Wye loosed off a burst from his assault rifle down the street, giving me cover fire. I hit the pavement hard, panting from the almost non-stop running we've been doing so far. I joined Sergeant at the corner and helped give cover fire as well to my other squad mates. I thought I saw a shot connect with a soldier down the street, but I couldn't be sure. Regardless, I was starting to grow numb to killing the enemy. I had already killed 3 soldiers, one at almost point blank range when he strayed too far from his defensive line to our position. I could not feel pity for these Hussars who had already ravaged our town.

            When I first saw the town through the binoculars of Sergeant Wye, I couldn't believe the devastation they had levelled in the town square. The Mechs had crushed the statue of our town's founder in the square, as well as waging war on the shops around the town square. I saw the smouldering hulks of our previous lance of defenders lying around in the town square, obviously their last line of defence. The wanton destruction fuelled my rage at the Hussars. How dare they destroy my town?! Even when retreating to the starport, they did not do so much destruction. It appears that in their desperate gasps at vengeance, the Hussars have abandoned their code of honour and started to wage war on the town as well.

            Our lance of Mechs was held back outside the town as we infantry were ordered in to locate the enemy Mechs first. Reconnaissance of the place revealed that two enemy Mechs had been taken down by our defenders, hence dropping the number of enemy Mechs to 6. They were still too much for our lance of medium Mechs, so we had to neutralise as many Mechs as possible first.

It was quiet at first, but soon the different squads started to report in enemy contacts. It appears that Lieutenant Jerry was right, the Hussars had brought in infantry support after all, but their soldiers were quite outgunned as they only wielded normal shotguns and rifles, while a few of us carried SRM launchers and man-held PPCs. They did have one sniper who claimed a few lives but a well placed SRM round blew out his sniper roost, sadly taking out our clock tower at the same time. More destruction.

            Sergeant Wye appointed me as his second-in-command after the sniper popped his previous one. So there I was, running around with an increased rank in a town where I grew up. But now where children's laughter used to ring, there was only the sound of death. Sigh. I even saw the grocery store Jay and I used to frequent engulfed in flames. I hoped Mr. Armstrong got away unharmed.

            Crossing a few more streets brought my squad of 5 men nearer to the town square, where we were supposed to converge with another two squads. We had already met up with armed resistance on three roads, but we knew how to bypass them and outflank their positions. Fortunately for them Sergeant Wye was very level-headed; otherwise we could've fell on their positions and tore them apart with our assault rifles. Instead we just skirted around them and went straight to the town square. At the town square, we stopped and met up with another squad, whom had not suffered any casualties on their way in. Then a call was made on our field radio.

            "Sergeant Mitch here! I've found the locations of an Awesome, a Bushwhacker and a Crab. They are undergoing repairs but are surrounded by a lot of enemy soldiers. Request backup before we engage them! Converge on Arturo's pub now!"

            Arturo's Pub was pretty near my house, but I felt apprehension at having to see my home soon. Would it be wreathed in flames like all the other shops so far? Would it be levelled like the statue in the town square? Would …. my family be alive?

            Nevertheless, we went to the pub and met up with the Sergeant Mitch's squad. We spied out an attic window to see three Mechs powered down in a small field, surrounded by techs and soldiers. There were a few tents erected around the location, obviously where the pilots and other command staff might be. Crates of ammo were stacked carelessly near a tent in the southwest corner of the compound. A good target. I made a mental note of those crates.

            "Where's Tara? She didn't meet you at the square?"

            Sergeant Wye responded, "Neg. We don't know where she is, and her radio is not responding. We left the square before our meeting time. Maybe they are engaging the last Mech now, with the other squads."

            "Never mind. We've got to take these Mechs out first before they power up. That will even out the odds by a lot. They still don't know we're so near to them yet, and so we've got the element of surprise."

            I spoke up. "Sir, I could get near that tent on the southwest side of the field by passing through that ditch behind it. I've gone through it many times last time. We can hit that tent so fast the enemy won't know what got them."

            Sergeant Mitch shook his head. "Not so soon, private. After you're done with them, you're dead meat. Furthermore we'll lose our element of surprise after that. There's half a company of men down there, more than what we have here. We must find the pilots first and kill them right away; otherwise we won't have a second chance."

            And, I thought, we won't have a second chance to live later anyway. We were still outnumbered.

            The three sergeants soon came up with an assault plan, which actually wasn't far from my original idea.

            Wye would lead my squad to destroy the southeast tent, and set up defensive positions which will make sure nobody could easily get near the Mechs. The other squad, under a Private Colin, would take out the southwest tent. Mitch and his squad will spread out to the surrounding houses, start the assault by blowing the remaining tent with their PPCs and snipe at the technicians and officers with their rifles. With much luck, the enemy will be so surprised that they will be in disarray long enough for us other two teams to wipe them out.

            But of course, as Tom told me before, nothing ever follows a plan in battle.

           While crawling along the ditch behind the two southern tents, I spied my farmhouse in the distance. It seemed untouched, and I felt a sense of relief overcome me. With my heart feeling lighter, I could fight better. We reached the southeast tent first, and our squad stopped there while Colin's team crawled on to the southwest tent. Later, they would give a birdcall as a signal to show their readiness. Lying on our bellies so close to the enemy, I felt extremely tense. Sergeant Wye continued to survey the scene through his binoculars. He looked so calm. I wish I could share his emotional reserves.

            Sergeant Wye turned back to us and whispered to us a brief plan. He and two other members of our squad, Daniel and Teddy will move out first and give covering fire. The job of moving out and lobbing grenades into the tent fell to me and Farrell. It would be a 50 metre run to that tent. Just my luck. Farrell was a reasonably experienced grenadier, so I hoped his rounds were enough to do the trick. I was worried I would blow my arms off with my own grenade. The other three gave us their grenades, and Daniel shook my hand.

            "Good luck. You're going to need it."

            We lay there for a minute in silence. The tension was becoming unbearable. I could hear some men joking and laughing out loud in the tent, but that served to heighten my tenseness.

            Then, there was the sound of birdcall.