Chris Pohlman
Thermopylae
Thermopylae
Shells were whizzing past, mortars advancing toward the line of troops. They hadn’t expected an attack from behind; the enemy must’ve found the old path through the hills. Tim Mayflower and Eric had hastily arranged a skirmish line. But even so, if they couldn’t stem the tide of the rear-flank the base would be lost.
“Can we get any reinforcements, Eric?” Tim asked over the comm; he held command of the left.
“No. They’re still attacking in force at our front. These must be their reserves.” Every last one of them. This had to be a desperation move. After four days the TDF forces hadn’t given any ground. Wave after wave had been sent at them and had been repelled. The Insurgent commander knew he had to do something drastic if he wanted to win this battle. And this was it. “It’s just us.”
“Christ! These mortars are getting close!” With only Tim and Eric having the protection of the nanites, this battle came down to strategy; one pseudo-conventional force against another. “Sir, more troops coming onto the field!”
“Tim, we’re becoming outnumbered. We need to gain a tactical advantage. Anything on your end?” A few seconds of silence and then, suddenly, a mortar flew overhead from behind. ‘Good. We finally have a little artillery of our own,’ Eric thought.
“Sir, there is a small hill off to my left about 30 yards. If I could get an HMG up there it’d give us some room to push on their right.” Eric rolled it over in his mind. They would have to draw attention to the line’s right so the leftward maneuver would work. They’d also need to get troops ready to execute a quick shift and advance on the left. It was risky. The balance of forces was now tipping in favor of Chaos’s forces. “Sir, I think that position would have a direct line of fire up the old path.” That was the advantage that was needed.
“We’re doing it. Get a squad together. I’m going to start massing troops right to make it look like we’ll push from there. With some luck, if they do see your squad, they’ll think it’s the feint.”
“Really sell it, sir.” As Tim readied his squad, Eric began a slow and purposeful movement right. He kept crouched just low enough to keep out of the bulk of the fire but just high enough to be seen. The TDF forces wouldn’t attack without a nanitic leading, and the Insurgent commander would know that. As Eric went, he grabbed every third trooper, sending them to the right. At the same time, he passed along an order to their platoon leaders: “We’re feinting right and are going to push left. My end of the line will push down and fill in as the line surges left and advances through the hole there. Stand ready.” Eric’s platoon leaders knew they could trust him. Not once while in battle had he failed them, a streak he hoped to keep alive.
“Jon, over here,” Eric said, calling 1st platoon’s officer over. “Get your best NCOs on this. Two squads of what we have down here, intersperse them. When I call for it, they need to act confused, getting ready to advance but holding back, like orders weren’t communicated properly. And they need to sell it.”
“To what end?” Jon was a good officer. He didn’t want to unnecessarily risk his troopers.
“I want to draw some of their forces forward here on our right, catch them in the crossfire and some mortar fire, then Tim’ll have at their flank and blow the hole there we need to stop this,” Eric said.
“Yes, sir,” Jon replied as he went back to his line, passing the word.
“Tim, you ready down there?” Eric asked over the comm.
“Almost, sir. Just about set up,” Tim replied.
“Hold off firing until the mortars start falling again over here. Then we’ll surge your way.”
“Sounds like a plan. I have a straight line down the path.” Tim had gone with his squad.
“Jon?” Eric asked.
“Ready,” he yelled with a thumbs-up.
“Now!” Eric called. Jon yelled orders and on cue about a third of the troops on-line fumbled around. Some ran into each other, others looked around in a questioning haze. Eric kept his gaze downrange. As he had hoped, the Insurgent commander saw the confusion and broke his left into an advance. Covering fire dropped on the TDF forces and Jon’s men fell flat. “Hold fire,” Eric yelled. “Let them get closer!” They kept up the advance, heavy machine gun fire streaking by overhead. “Closer!” Shots began to zing closely by. It was hard to hide a man standing like a tree in a clearing. “Closer!”
“Sir!” Jon shouted, worry edging his voice. It was time.
“Jill, five rounds AG quick! Fire for effect!” Eric yelled over the comm.
“Five rounds AG quick, roger,” she replied.
“Open fire!” Eric yelled. Rifles and machine guns lit up the enemy’s left flank. The advance stalled. Thoomp! Thoomp! Thoomp!…Thoom-Thoomp! Mortars in the air. What must have been an Insurgent officer tried to get up and order retreat, but was thrown back by a burst to his chest. The mortars struck. One where the officer had just died. Another to his back-right. His left.
“Jill, walk rounds back for 30 yards on that pattern!” Eric said.
“Walking for 30, aye,” Jill replied.
“Jon! Shift!” Eric ordered. The final two mortar rounds struck as the TDF forces surged left. “Tim! Now!” From a hill some 30 yards beyond the left end of the line two HMGs opened up. “Jon, keep your MGs on them!” Eric ran down the line watching as troops hopped up and followed, two replaced by one. This was the moment where the entire battle was to be decided. They reached the left end of the line and turned, not even a hesitation in the movement of the TDF troops. Tim’s rounds zipped by overhead as Jon’s MGs sounded off on the right.
“Rounds complete. They need us back at the front, sir,” Jill said.
“Go, Jill. We’re too close for you now anyway. Thanks for the assist,” Eric replied.
“Always willing to do what little I can for the rear echelon,” she quipped. They were there. Eric saw the commander of this Insurgent group. He was frantically yelling orders, all the while stealing glances over his shoulder down the path where his reinforcements were pinned. This was it. Eric jumped over their line, his troops ten yards behind him, firing as they approached. He flashed out his batons. ‘The least harm,’ shot through his mind. It had been James’s order in the treatment of the enemy. His plasma rifle would have worked, but the batons would as effectively take enemy troops out of the fight.
Eric tore through their line, making a bee-line for their commander. He saw Eric and extended his arm, a blackened-glint shown off his hand. He was one of Chaos’s field commanders, a Dark Nanitic Elite! The attack at the front had become the distraction. This was their main assault! A field commander of a force this size wouldn’t be directing a flanking maneuver.
“Aaaaarrraaaaggghhhh!” Eric cried, a renewed sense of urgency in him. If he could take down the Dark Nanitic, the battle would be won. They saw in each other the marks of a High Leader. Eric dropped his batons, willing plasma-chutes out the tops of his hands. This would drain his energy, but was necessary. The first purple-plasma orb streaked out from his hand, striking and throwing back what must have been another of the Dark Nanitic’s officers. In that moment Eric knew his troops would understand how the battle had changed. He was now grateful Tim had gone left with his HMG team; he might be needed to finish this. A shot spat forth from Eric’s right hand, striking an Insurgent trooper on-line turning toward him. Eric realized then that time had slowed as the trooper’s look of surprise lasted and lasted, his body taking longer than it should to fall backward. Eric floated mid-leap. The plasma shots spat out and sped away at what seemed normal speed, one after the other. Gunfire, though, flew at a snail’s pace.
Eric felt Tim’s approach. He had leapt from cover when he saw the first plasma bolt. For him to be advancing in such a way he had to reveal the position of his HMGs, but hiding was no longer a necessity. Jon’s men…Eric could feel them pushing to advance. The TDF troops had caught a great number of the Dark Nanitic’s troopers in their feint. The Dark Nanitic was still trying to order troops to action. Eric was thirty yards away now. His foot finally met earth. Two shots toward the left as troops went flying backward, three spaced right toward their secondary line. Yellow bolts flashed toward the same area from behind him; Tim was opening a hole for Jon’s men.
For a micro-instant Eric passed his awareness behind him and felt his troopers shooting those in their path, advancing onward. It was a different fight. They knew that now, too. A Dark Nanitic meant well-trained troops. The TDF’s feint had caught them unawares. These were no reserve forces and could not be expected to give up even after loss of limb. The only way to stop them was to kill them. Purple bolts left, right, Yellow right down the line. Eric’s other foot met earth. Twenty-seven yards.
The man’s hand clenched to a fist. The Dark Nanitic had given up hope of command. Squared tubules formed atop his fist; plasma chambers. The battlefield darkened slightly. A black orb streaked toward Eric, missing by an inch as he dodged out of the way. Twenty-four yards as Eric’s foot hit the ground. The start of a panged cry went up from behind him. The bolt had struck one of his troopers. They didn’t kill outright, the dark bolts, but rather burned and slowly ate away at the body through the nervous system, cooking it by overheating. Eric turned his attention onto the nanitic. Purple streaked toward him, black toward Eric. A bolt struck Eric’s left shoulder, putting him off balance.
He stumbled as his foot found ground. Twenty-one yards. Eric fell, rolled left, four more bolts of purple shot toward the Dark Nanitic as Eric found his footing again. The Dark Nanitic stood tall as they struck him center-mass, driving him straight backwards, ruts formed by his feet. Eighteen yards. Yellow streaked in and struck the man, driving back his shoulder. Tim. Eric glanced over his shoulder and saw Tim taking his right. Tim was young and impetuous, feeling invincible. ‘Remember to roll with the energy,’ Eric thought to himself. If Tim didn’t, he would face the full brunt of the Dark Nanitic’s bolts. It could kill him even through his nanites.
More purple bolts as Eric turned back just in time to dodge three black bolts to his right. Fifteen yards. This man was holding nothing back, knowing that if he failed Chaos would kill him. Those bolts of his were beyond maximum safe yield. The man was draining all his energy into them. His left hand shot up, the tubules glowing, as three black-as-space bolts shot toward Tim. These were the man’s most powerful attacks yet. He was growing desperate the closer Tim and Eric came. Tim fell from Eric’s peripheral vision. Four more purple bolts, center mass. The Dark Nanitic was driven back again and fell forward onto his hands. Twelve yards. Yellow bolts came in low, flopping the man straight up against a tree. Purple bolts center mass. The tree leant backward and creaked. Yellow bolts center mass. An oaken groan pierced the battlefield, excruciatingly loud in slowed-time. Nine yards. Purple bolts center mass. Yellow ones from a higher angle, center mass. The last did not flash against the man. His nanites had failed!
Six yards. Eric stopped dead in his tracks and let go one final bolt. It struck true. The man’s eyes hollowed, his shoulders flew inward as his chest collapsed. His feet lifted off the ground and the great oak holding him up cracked backward. As its trunk broke in two, one final yellow bolt streaked in toward the man as he was yet semi-floating, a purple glow emanating from a pit in his chest. He was thrown back and suddenly through his chest came part of the tree’s trunk; the bolt had skewered him on the oak. Eric lowered his arms and time flowed back in on him.
Cries of pain and agony came from behind Eric, the smell of blood all around. He spun around and caught a man’s bayonet thrust, wrenching the rifle from him even as his momentum carried him past, smashing his head with the butt of his own weapon. Eric broke it at the action and dropped it. Tim’s HMG nest kept firing. Jon’s men had made it to the secondary line. The men following Eric were still fifteen yards back.
“Center forward,” Eric yelled, signaling. “Tim!”
“Sir,” came the breathless reply, approaching from his position to Eric’s right.
Looking at him Eric asked, “You okay?”
“I’ll live, Eric. My hands tingle a bit more than I’d expect.” So did Eric’s.
“The dark bolts. They eat at nerves. Our nanites blunted it, but some energy still flows to the extremities. Once this is over have some nerve-regen done.” Looking back along the old path he said to Tim, “Get our troops from the middle pushing up that path along with mine. Jon’s platoon will clean up here.” Like a physical blow, awareness struck Eric; the Dark Nanitic was still alive. Tim’s face betrayed the same awareness. “Right. Get to it. We have to push their flank now. We’ve broken their main attack and need to capitalize on it. I’ll see to their commander.” Eric turned and strode away from Tim, heading toward the Dark Nanitic who knew that he lived to relate a message.
As Eric approached the man, a raspy voice said, “Eric Pohlman. Being bested by you makes it worthwhile.” The man coughed blood. That he could still breathe astounded Eric. “As it should,” the man said. A mind reader! “That’s right, Eric. Your defenses are down just enough now.” Eric hastily put up the mental blocks Melinda had helped him perfect. The fact that his plan succeeded in turning this commander’s flank meant the man hadn’t had the Insight during the attack.
“What is your name?” Eric asked.
“Matthew Welsh, servant of Chaos,” came the proud reply. Chaos’s Commander of Commanders, his first and most senior Black Band leader, laid skewered on the oak trunk before Eric.
He stopped a pace from Welsh whose legs rested awkwardly on the jagged lower stump of the destroyed oak. “I know this was your main attack. Call off the rest of your forces and we will grant them leniency.”
“You know I won’t do that, Eric. You and the others of the TDF intercepted our message. We’re in it to the hilt, win or lose. You know what you face here.” The man aspirated blood. “You’ll have to kill us all to end this siege. You know that.” He spoke the truth, of course.
“Do you have any other final messages?” Eric asked both hoping to find a way out of the slaughter before him and out of pity for the dying man.
“Yes. One directly from Chaos at this point. You will win here. You will win the war. But it will cost you and yours dearly.” More coughing. The man’s head lolled to one side, his eyes began to glaze over, his pupils dilating independently. His voice changed subtly. “In the end, though, you cannot stop us. I will be seeing you soon, Eric.” The man’s head dropped back entirely, his whole body going limp. Chaos had channeled directly through this man and might yet be doing so. When Eric had the chance to withdraw his nanites from battle mode, his conscience would pay dearly for the deaths he had caused while making his way to this man.
“Jon,” Eric called. “Gas this,” he said as he pointed at the body. “Make sure it burns completely. We need no spying eyes.” Until the body was fully gone, Chaos could still extend his senses through it. Eric turned to look after Tim’s advance. It was progressing well. The HMG nest he had set up was now disassembled and moving forward. “KT,” Eric said over the general comm.
“Yes, Eric?” came the reply.
“How’s it going up front?” Eric asked.
“We’ve been worse off. Still can’t pin down their location out there. After a few shots their troops move. Seems like inbound arty is picking up a bit,” KT said.
“I would expect that. We stopped them and are pushing back toward the front. Ours turned out to be the main offensive.”
Eric heard the hesitation in KT’s voice as she said, “Are you sure? It hasn’t exactly let up since you went down there.”
“We killed a Dark Servant,” he replied.
After a moment’s silence KT said, “A Dark Nanitic?”
“The First of Chaos. The body’s being burned now.”
“Holy shit. You guys okay?” she asked in amazement.
“Acceptable losses, considering. Tim’s pushing the advance. Watch for their lines to shift when he makes contact, then push in. We’re going to finish this today.” Eric felt heat as the body was set ablaze. Inaudible screams emanated from the wretched thing as nanites perished in the fire.
“Yes, sir,” KT affirmed.
She was still in shock as she began giving the orders for an offensive. A Dark Servant! She tapped into her prescient knowledge, realizing Chaos must have known he would trap Eric at this base during this attack. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to send a Dark Servant, especially his Primus Inter Pares against this base. Against just her. KT knew it would have been massive overkill.
From the bunker that now served as the base’s CP she began calling up her weary troops. Even with the force which Eric had been trapped here, they were all being worn down by the constant shelling. Had the TDF not kept control of the skies throughout this war, things would have been much worse. At the very least, this bunker itself would no longer live to serve as a CP for an attack. Dog company shifted left on the line as Fox filled in. She knew the old path well and knew it would be, at most, 10 minutes until Tim’s forces made contact.
“Chris, mobilize everyone. Dog and Fox will sweep down, but I want to be ready in case of a surprise. Have the cooks trade ladles for rifles,” KT said to one of her officers.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. With a Dark Servant in command, the troops they now faced were members of the Black Band, the best trained of Chaos’s pseudo-conventional forces. KT didn’t want to leave anything to chance, going in under-manned.
“Jackie, get the mortar squads up on line in 5. We’ll be in close enough that they won’t be able to fire anyway.” The plan for Dog and Fox was simple enough. Tim would hit the Insurgents from the path and hills to the west. Sitting in the middle of the valley, KT would push Fox on the right and Dog up the gut in a classic pincer. The enemy could retreat or be overrun. And, if they were all Black Band, they would be overrun.
“Ma’am, Dog’s left reports weakening attacks.” Tim was efficient in moving his troops.
“This is it. Tim, come in,” KT said.
“What’s up KT?” he replied as she locked and secured the channel.
“Should we start watching for your guys yet?”
“I would,” Tim said.
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you down there with some champagne. Out. Chris, my cooks have their utensils yet?”
“Passing out the last 9mm ladle now,” came the reply from around the corner in the armory.
“I hope this won’t affect my dinner,” she called back to a chorus of chuckles.
“May be a bit delayed tonight, ma’am,” replied one of the cooks. Good morale. KT scanned the battle lines out the bunker’s windows. She could see all the troops of Dog and Fox in place, ready for battle. At times like this KT wished her foresight was as developed as Meng’s.
“Jackie, have the mortars join up with Fox. They’ll need the help on that end.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jackie replied, turning back to her radio. The center would open and split making one front two. The enemy’s back broken, it would still fight. This was to be a massacre. Suddenly all firing below her stopped, the forest calm. Wind whipped through the tree tops, swaying them slightly. A hawk screamed in the distance. Then came the explosive sounds of war. As if a whole storeroom of ammunition had been set on fire, the forest to KT’s left lit up, shots going out toward each other. Trees swayed violently as they were struck by rounds, the smaller ones falling to the fracas.
“This is it people! Load and lock!” KT had never been a front-line commander. She never personally led her troops into battle. She preferred to maintain distance and so a sense of the overall situation. But fate pulled her in a different direction this day. “Jackie, coordinate from here. I’m going down with Fox.” Once she was in the trenches below the bunker she called over the comm, “Jackie, report.”
“Tim’s line is moving down the hill eastward. Dog has made sustained contact. Fox is yet free.”
“Mortars?” KT asked.
“Firing complete and on line,” Jackie replied.
“Okay. Time to move the right into the fray. Keep an eye out from up there,” KT admonished.
“Will do, ma’am. Just think of me as your eyes in the sky.” Having come out on Fox’s side of the line KT could clearly hear the sounds of battle spreading toward her as she walked further right. Fox’s CO greeted her.
“Ma’am. Pleasure to have you down here,” said Captain Tom Harper as KT approached.
“Thank you, Tom. This is still your show. I just came for morale support.” Tom knew better. He knew that KT would throw herself fully into battle, but also knew he hadn’t the time to dig deeper as to the “why” she had come down.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a salute.
“It’s time to close the pincer, Tom. Move out.”
“Yes, ma’am. On-line! Advance!” No sooner had his men started out of their fox holes than all hell broke loose. “Ambush!” Tom managed before a round silenced him permanently. Once again, KT wished her foreknowledge were as good as Meng’s so this could have been avoided.
“Command on me,” she shouted.
“KT,” came Jackie’s voice.
“Go.”
“Dog made their advance with no resistance. Moving to flank.”
“Have half the company go west, half east. They were waiting for us down here,” KT said.
“Yes, ma’am.” KT suddenly regretted pulling the mortar squads. Some indirect fire would really be nice right now. Turning to one of her aides, “Get down there and have that platoon start pushing up!” She hated having to yell, but war was always so loud. “We need to relieve some of this pressure!” Her aide ran off. A man in the fox hole in front of her fell backward, wounded. “Medic! Medic!” KT yelled as she hoped into the hole, putting pressure on the wound.
“Ma’am, I’ll be alright. Just the shoulder,” the man said.
“Okay, trooper.” A medic jumped into the hole beside her. She left the trooper to him and spun around. The right flank was advancing and beginning to draw off fire. “Habari! Find out where my machine guns are, dammit!” Another aide rushed off. She grabbed the fallen trooper’s weapon, quickly running it through in her mind: G36. She swiveled its shot selector to 3-round burst and started firing. A cathartic moment hit her. Fox had made contact with the Black Band’s rear flank. “Forward,” she called. “Up an’ at ‘em!” She stood up, firing shots as she climbed out of the hole. Finally a machine gun opened up from her left, another from her right. A woman fell in front of her. Push the advance. “Medic!” KT called as she kept moving forward. She suddenly saw something she had hoped she wouldn’t see out here - a black glint off of someone’s arm - a Black Band nanitic. “Jackie, report!”
“Tim and the western half of Dog have their section contained.”
“We’re in a pickle down here. I just saw a nanitic. Where’s Eric at?”
“Should be by you any minute. He had checked in while crossing the base from the rear.” Thank the gods!
“Tell him to hustle that ass!” A black bolt sang past KT’s head. It wasn’t terribly strong. ‘Just a lieutenant, then. Good,’ she thought as she dropped her rifle and brought an arm to bear on the nanitic. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” she murmured as she traced the figure through the trees. A purple plasma bolt sailed through her field of vision, striking where the nanitic had been; Eric had arrived. Sensing around her as much as she could, KT could tell her troops were making headway. This battle with the Dark Nanitic, though, was hers. The glinting figure had taken off into the denser foliage as Eric came up and stopped beside her.
“Bait for a trap?” he asked, indicating the nanitic.
“Yup,” she responded, her foresight confirming as much.
“What’s the play?”
“This trap is only meant for us. Specifically you, Eric. We go in there and it works. We keep pushing forward like we are and it doesn’t. Simple.”
Eric surveyed her troops as she kept her hand trained at the woods. “They would do something so transparently stupid.”
Through a wry smile KT said, “They know they lost their leader. They’re desperate. This guy isn’t very strong. Must be trying anything he can to complete the mission. It’ll still come down to him and us.”
“Then keep pushing the advance. Your game.” Eric moved off to join the left of the line. Traps. Sometimes they worked, sometimes the prey wasn’t hungry enough. KT’s troops kept pushing forward. Be they Black Band or not, her enemy still fell like any mortals. Her aide pushed the right end of Fox out to try and envelope the enemy troops. Keeping in touch with Jackie, she knew Dog was doing similar on the back side of them. This had been a losing fight from the start, and now the noose tightened. Keeping an open sense on the future KT felt the trap slip away further and further until it vanished completely. There simply weren’t enough of Chaos’s forces left to enact it.
Yard by yard, troopers from both sides fell. More of Chaos’s troops than her own, thankfully. Then KT saw the glint again. She could now hear the gunfire from the other side of the pincer. The nanitic was still after her and Eric. A dark bolt flew out of the trees. She saw no trap anymore, but could feel he was still trying to draw them in. More bolts flew out, these striking her troops. Her choice was made. Sky-blue bolts flew from her hands into the woods, clearing a path in front of her. She broke rank and advanced in front of her troops. Black bolts again flew past her. That battle awareness some nanitics shared did not encroach itself upon KT’s consciousness. She was glad. Her foresight, heightened in such battle, was better anyway. She leapt left as bolts flew off to her right. Hers sailed into the woods and struck home. Purple bolts now flew into view and struck the nanitic. KT could see the man already dead before her in her mind’s eye. It was now a matter of playing out their roles. She brought both arms to bear on the man and let loose a string of shots, each one driving him backward, each one lighting up the dim forest around her. Two more purple bolts came in, one missed and the other was dull. Eric was low on energy.
KT pressed, letting loose another flurry of bolts against the man. With the last he stumbled and fell backward, a subtle glow on his chest. “Don’t kill him yet,” called Eric. KT approached the man, the killing shot glowing in her right hand’s center chamber.
“Twitch. Please.” She said to the nanitic.
Eric came to the side of the man, being sure not to block KT’s shot. “You wanted us. Now tell us why.”
“He has plans for you, Eric,” the man rasped. When would these nanitics learn that the nanites didn’t actually make them invulnerable? Of course, there were never any survivors to tell the rest otherwise, so...
“Of course he has plans for me. Such as?” Eric asked, exasperated.
“He failed this time, but all your minds,” the man’s gaze passed between KT and Eric, “will be his.”
“He cannot hive-mind with us. It is impossible.”
“He found a way. You,” the man looked directly at KT, “were to be the portal. He will find another. He did leave a present with me he knew you would enjoy.” KT saw fire. “Five. Four. Three.” Both Eric and KT turned and got off two steps before the bomb exploded. They were thrown to the ground, the blast enough to rattle them but not enough to cause damage.
“At least I won’t have to burn another body today,” Eric said as he picked himself up and dusted off.
“Ow,” was KT’s only reply as she came to her feet. “Jackie, report.”
“Tim’s forces report that their part of the battle’s over. We heard an explosion. What’s going on?”
“Just a lunatic going ‘pop.’ How does this half of the battle look?” KT asked.
“Casualties are significantly higher. Skirmishes are still ongoing. Members of Dog and Fox linked up on the far side, though. They’ve closed the pincer,” Jackie replied.
“Good. Eric and I are in the middle of it all. Tell the troops to not shoot us, please.”
“I’ll pass it along. CP out.” So that was it. The nanitic commanders of the force besieging Thermopylae were dead, their forces soon to be as well. KT already saw the figures for the battle. Including the siege, the TDF forces at Thermopylae had suffered roughly 15% casualties with around 30 of those KIA, including the loss of a few fine officers such as Tom. The Chaos fanatics they faced would end up losing 100% of their forces, by the hand of the TDF or their own. 675 troops killed including a Dark Servant and Nanite Apprentice. It was a dark day to be sure, and some of those numbers had yet to be fulfilled.
“Such is the battle of Thermopylae,” KT thought. “And Eric Pohlman its hero.”