Ceasera

"Sniper …Get down", the Fire Direction officer shouted. He reached out and grabbed a slow moving gorilla. His attention was on the dead forward observer slumped over the rooftop of the adjacent building. "I said to get your butt down, Private." The gorilla awkwardly toppled to the dirt and smashed his face into ground. A few of the other soldiers snickered at the sight. The ape's pride was wounded but he felt grateful to be alive.

"Knock off the adolescent crap and get your heads on straight before I shoot you myself." The Gunnery Chief sternly promised. To make his point stick he slapped the two laughing apes on the back of their skulls.

"Private Caleb" the Gun Chief went on to say, "Work your way up that building. Get up on the roof and see what you can spot; muzzle flashes, movement, support elements, anything."

"We've got smoke" one of the soldiers shouted.

"They're making a push" the FDO concluded. "They're not stupid either. Nightfall's approaching and we'll be severely compromised without our observers. We need to shift guns four, five, and six. They're out of the shooter's line of site."

The Gunnery Sergeant nodded and crawled back to the gun line. He began issuing orders and providing direction. Minutes later the Private who'd scaled the building shouted. "They're up there alright and they're dug in tight. I can't see anything but smoke in the valley. I do see mortars elements about three klicks out though."

"Sergeant, target the valley and walk it up to the emplacements on the hills. Caleb," The FDO shouted towards the Private. "Once those rounds hit the hillside you call down the adjustments. You've just been promoted to forward observer."

Caleb didn't acknowledge the order. The ape never heard it. His movement had been picked up by one of the snipers and he was now lying in a pool of blood. The Lieutenant shouted again and again. In desperation, he climbed the structure himself. A round wisped past his head. He immediately went prostrate. The ape yelled down to the artillery line, ordering them to commence with the counter fire immediately.

Just then, several pops sounded off, followed by an echo of loud clanks. All throughout the city smoke began to rise. It wasn't from fire or exploding rounds. It was an attempt to create even more confusion. And it succeeded. By the time the guns were turned, their visibility was nil. They fired but without any adjustments it was a futile effort, at best. The shells exploded in an empty valley void of troops. The ruse was working.

The lack of visibility was the least of their problems. Thirty seconds later mortar shells dropped in from every side. The FDO, Gunnery Chief, the gun line, and most of their equipment were saturated by the bombardment. The structure the Lieutenant and dead Private were on collapsed into a heap of dust and rubble. The few remaining infantry support elements fell into a rabble, in the absence of leadership. They turned from soldiers to a frightened mob. A few retreated and like fur covered lemmings the others quickly followed.

000

In the Flat Lands to the east a human male knelt on one knee. He supported the RPM (*RocketpropelledMissile) on his shoulder. With his opposite hand he pulled down the transparent visor and adjusted the optical tracking system. The digital display identified multiple targets within its range.

The soldier held one, of two, RPMs that the humans recently constructed from a relic discovered in the northern ruins. It was an experimental model and lacked some of the technical finesse of the original, but it was still proficient enough for the simple mission before it.

"Make it count, Jack" the officer next him said. "We don't have a second chance. And I personally vouched for you to the old-man"

Seconds later mortar fire popped off, followed by a rapid series of wails and explosions. It continued for several minutes and then abruptly stopped.

"Ok Jack, you're on". The officer stated with a brisk slap on his exposed shoulder.

Staff Sergeant James Jackson eyes locked onto the huge iron gateway, attached to the thick cement wall. He blinked once and his heads-up display went bright green. "I have a lock." He said firmly. He instinctively held his breath and gently squeezed the trigger. The projectile burst from the rectangular tube and in the blink of an eye slammed into the steel gate. It and several meters of surrounding stone shattered into pieces. The order to advance was sounded and every available infantry soldier rushed the ape capital.

The advancing human horde covered a quarter of the city in less than four minutes. Anything that moved was immediately engaged. St James had stated quite plainly that if the city had to be flattened first, so be it. Buildingscanberebuilt,peoplecan't, he'd declared. His soldiers were taking that literally. A senior NCO had noticed one of the artillery pieces was still in tact. He and his crew were loading any available ordinance and firing rounds into the far side of the city. An ape on horseback made a brave dash through the Flat Lands and towards Washington. He was cut to shreds by rounds coming from just about every direction. Small bands of resisters occupied building and houses but rather than fight it out St James ordered the combat support elements to rain mortars down and flatten the area.

The battle only lasted two hours. There weren't enough simian boots on the ground for the apes to hold, let alone push the humans back. Their senior leadership was on the move elsewhere. The one soldier who'd been left in charge was captured long before the battle ever started. In fact, his Intel had been invaluable. Sarref coughed up every detail of the cities fortifications, key troop emplacements, and their over all defensive plan.

Practically every uniformed ape combatant was now dead or severely wounded. Two gorillas and a chimp approached with a flag of truce. They were all civilian. Four human soldiers surrounded the group and were prodding them forward.

"Sir," the human Major said as he swung up a quick salute. "These monkeys want a word. They claim to represent and speak for what's left of the cities populace."

"Muh – Uhh …My name is, um, Petrus," the gorilla holding the flag nervously stated. The shop keeper was terrified and it was obvious to everyone around. He'd never seen the human animal and was now looking at a flock of them. "I'm not sure how this works but we've come to sue for peace."

St James held back his contempt. Instead he shook his head and used the opportunity to press his heels deeper onto the cities throat. He intentionally ignored the ape and turned to a group of men piling dead apes against a wall. "Leave them and set up security. We might have a few zealots out there and I want to be ready for them." He turned to his exec and added "we need to be ready for any couriers returning from the old capital. Get some men on their OPs."

He paused and glared at the gorilla. "Here's how it works, son. You don't sueforpeace. It's called unconditional surrender. Emphasis on unconditional. Do you get my point, boy? You bastards are to surrender all firearms, release all human captives, and rally in the town's center. You have fifteen minutes to comply or I'll assume you don't accept these terms. If that's the case, I'll level this city and kill every last ape in it; starting with you. Are we clear?"

The ape shook his head sheepishly. St James looked at the Major and said "Take him back and bring a Company of infantry men with you. Make sure they submit and understand our position. Kill anyone who resists" The soldier nodded and went on his way.

"This is history, Mitch." Lynch stated "No human has occupied an ape village in over two centuries."

"It isn't over Thad. It's all up to Neal and his team now." St James replied. "The ODN… We've got to have it up and ready or we'll never hold off a counter attack"

The terms were set and accepted. Business within the capital could resume. Construction would also carry on, but with human direction. The city, however, was now under martial law and a strict curfew was in place. If any ape, so much as, blinked at a human they would be shout without trial or exception. The only explanation St James offered was; "We're not here as liberators, we're here as conquerors."

Old Washington

General Grazot tossed the last dead ape into the hole with the others. His dreams of possessing human magic had come true. He'd just overwhelmed, not one, but two superior elements and he'd done it with ease. "Like shooting fish in a barrel", he mumbled, finally understanding what March meant. He looked at the miraculous weapon and snorted in mild disgust.

"You know General" March said "There's another saying where I come from that goes like this; becarefulwhatyouwishforbecauseyoumightjustgetit."

Grazot jumped in surprise and spun around. "Where in blazes did you come from? I almost shot you!"

March explained what happened back at the previous ambush spot. He didn't want to get caught up in the crossfire, so he'd laid low until it was over.

Grazot nodded and went on to clarify his thoughts. "It isn't the killing and it isn't the weapons. I've been a combatant most of my life. Killing is part of the job. It's the …redundancy. This Polk and his ilk are a threat but …"

The General paused naturally and March spoke up; "But this isn't really your fight. This isn't your country. I can relate to that as well. You know General, I'm weary of this too, but it's fourth and ten and there's no more time on the clock …"

Grazot shot the man a look just as he'd done several times in the past. "Ok, I know, speak English" March replied. "We call it battle fatigue where I come from. In my country, we stayed in the fight until it was won, but within the ranks we'd rotate units to the rear regularly. Everyone needs a rest from the stress and horrors of warfare. I think we've all reached that point, but this coming to a head. If Jonny and Karen can activate that drone we'll be able to put a big hurt on the far element. If we do this right and can hold long enough for human reinforcements, we'll be able to put this behind us."

Grazot expressed his thoughts on the subject and concluded by turning his attention back to their current situation. "That was the last one. What do we do with all this equipment?"

"We need to burn the bodies or this place will soon be riddled with disease." March replied. "As for the equipment, take what you want and we'll stack the rest in the bunker. But that can wait. Come on; let's get back to the others."

March pointed the A1X at the bodies strewn throughout the pit. The sight reminded him a prison camp the Soviets had established in Moscow. They'd slaughtered hundreds of American, British, and Chinese POWs when it was obvious they were going to lose the war. He'd only seen pictures but the twisted bloody bodies looked all too familiar. He squeezed the trigger and incinerated the remains.

Captain White Rose to her feet as she noticed March and Grazot approach. From the expression on her face March noted that she had some positive news. She confirmed his theory seconds later. "We've got it Tom," she said. "It took some digging but we uncovered it." She sighed and sucked in some fresh air. "It took a lot of work but we now have three operational drones."

March grinned and was about to respond but the woman went on before he spoke. "There's more. We have a lock on the transponder; it's forty four kilometers northwest of here."

"Ok, um Jonny …" March began to ask.

As if he could read the man's mind Hayes replied with "Just over twenty seven miles, Sir".

"Thanks" March said, looking back at White. "It gives me perspective." He explained. "I was never any good with numbers and I never understood why the rest of the world was on the metric system, while we … you know what? Never mind. Where are the others?"

The last update White gave was regarding Sullen's device. It had picked up a second transponder to the northeast. When Berger plotted the coordinates he was convinced it was coming from the human territory. It too was on the move. The Prefect, Ogden, and the Lieutenant were moving east to investigate.

The Ape Command Tent

"Sir!" the ape watching the radar shouted. "We have movement."

"Already?" Ulysses questioned as he spun around and shot an inquisitive look at the display. He gazed at it for a second and scratched at his neck. The image was odd. The blips were green with a series of numbers under each of them, "Hmm, there's only three."

Unknown to Ulysses, the radar unit was identifying three friendly transponder indicators. Well, friendly, according to its programming anyway. In reality, they belonged to Ogden, Sullen, and Berger. Of course the color meant nothing to the Major. All he knew was that activity had begun in the east.

"Sergeant" The ape said "Relay the map coordinates to the gun line. Have them adjust off the closest, preset, target. I want them to prep, but not to fire." He turned to a second soldier and added. "Get me Polk". The second ape flipped a few switches on the wired communication device. A dull green-grey image of Polk appeared on the monitor.

"What can I do for you, Major?" the voice asked. It was recognizable but scratchy.

"Did you order any of the salvage units east, by chance? I've picked up movement but it's only a few; three to be exact" Ulysses stated.

"No, but they're ordered to salvage and move to the next point. Maybe Lucas uncovered something and is scouting it. It could be a human scouting unit." Polk replied.

They talked for a few minutes and longer until Polk made a comment about conserving power.

"Ok" Ulysses said. "I'll monitor them for now"

000

Master Sergeant Strickland's heart was racing as sat crouched behind the cold rock. He didn't particularly care to be this close to the enemy, but the old man wanted answers. And he had a hell of a way of getting them too, Strickland thought.

The NCO was so close to Ulysses' position, he felt as if he could reach out and touch the ape. He squirmed inside as he took note of size of the gorilla just paces away. If he was spotted he'd most likely be dead. But luckily his mission was over. He wasn't going to hang around one second longer than necessary. Strickland lowered the cone shaped listening device and switched the recorder off. With great care, he shimmied off into the darkness and made his way back to the small recon unit a klick away.

He exchanged the challenge and reply with the security element. Once he was cleared, the man reported his finding to the officer in charge. "I got it Captain," He stated in a somewhat irritated tone.

"Good work, Strickland. I know you put your neck on the line" the officer said. "Let's get back to the rendezvous point. Colonel Neal and the main body should be there shortly." And with that, they moved out.

Shortly after, the small unit rejoined the main body. They reported the information to Colonel Neal and went back to their regular assignments. Neal sat with his staff officers as they listened to the recording.

"Opinions?" Neal asked.

"We could take out the two command posts" Major Childs suggested.

"No Nate" Neal replied "We have to keep tracking that force that hit our recon element. They're on some kind of time line. Otherwise they would have never left their wounded behind. Besides, Washington is too important. We going to bypass the two command elements"

"Yeah," Captain Yuden added "It's too bad we couldn't get prisoners either." The wounded ape soldiers had all been given poison, in case of capture. They'd used it too.

Captain Kelly Hass, the only female on staff, spoke up. She hated the apes and had lost an arm in days long past. Her loathing for the species drove passion as a soldier. "They're only hours ahead of us, Sir" she stated. "But given what's on that recording; I think we can use their own tactics against them."

"Ok, Kel, let's hear it." Neal said.

She leaned over, pointed at a spot on the map, and began to explain her plan.

Somewhere in old West Virginia

Philonus wrapped a blanket around himself as he tried to shake off the cold. Night had fallen and the sky was gray and cloudy. In the last hour or so the temperature dropped about ten degrees. The ape sipped on the hot coffee and chewed the warm bread he'd just received from the mess section. He was enjoying some peace and quiet. They'd stopped to water the horses and eat. It all had to be done in forty five minutes if they were to stay on schedule.

The Colonel watched the fog on his breath as he exhaled. "I hate the cold" he mumbled. His attention shifted to a small bright object that appeared in the sky. A falling star registered in his head but it didn't seem to fade and besides, it was cloudy. Others were now taking note and pointing.

Philonus grabbed the relic he'd taken from Polk. Possessing it gave him a sense of confidence and security. Unknown to him, it was also giving the drones a signal to hone in on.

The sort range weapons calculated their trajectory and processed the information coming from Norman, via Captain White. They pinged the transponder and processed more of the Intel. The fanned out as each one took position.

The ape Colonel shoved the butt of his weapon into his shoulder and gazed through the high-powered scope. His brain immediately processed trouble. The single light was now three. No sooner did he lower the weapon when Major Sidon appeared. He sounded a loud horn signaling for the apes to find cover. Sidon didn't explain himself. Instead he grabbed the Colonel and said "We have to get you to safety". The ape army scurried for any type of cover or concealment but it was dark and too late. The drones were traveling too fast and overtook the area in milliseconds.

The projectiles exploded but the blast, pulsed an energy wave, instead of traditional ballistics. Philonus, Sidon, and everything in the surrounding area was instantly vaporized. The grass, trees, and neighboring vegetation were scorched beyond recognition. The area flashed with light and seconds later was still and quiet. The temperature that had been dropping immediately shot up over three hundred degrees. Nothing was left of the fifteen hundred simians, their horses, or their supplied.