“What are you doing?” she shouted when she saw he wasn’t returning fire on the advancing enemy.
“I am sorry I let you down… I love you more than anything,” he said as if those words were going to be his last.
“Keep on fighting!” she commanded. Her tone was stern and unbending. Richard had never seen such determination in her eyes.
“There’s no hope,” Richard replied in defeat.
“You promised to fight alongside me until the end!” Josephine yelled back.
Richard instantly remembered that promise, and lifted his rifle up, but before he could shoot, the incoming fire shattered the cart that Richard and Josephine were hiding behind. As they tried to retreat, they heard the distinctive sound of rockets being fired. Richard instinctively grabbed Josephine and pulled her close, as they braced for the inevitable. The resulting explosions shook the ground violently, but the impacts were surprisingly far off target. Richard and Josephine remained huddled closely together, expecting that the next round of rockets would find their mark. Again, the ground reverberated, but the explosions seemed even further away. Richard cautiously lifted up his head to see what the Augs were targeting, and to his amazement, they were running for their lives. Another round of rockets went screaming overhead, and exploded violently along the enemy’s retreating lines.
“Someone’s firing at the Augs!” Richard cried out as he watched their defensive line crumble. A fourth round of rockets came from the north followed by a cluster of explosions in the city. Richard had no idea who was responsible for the attack, but the impending rebel defeat had been miraculously averted. Cheers broke out from the back of the rebel line as a group of clansmen appeared out of the darkness.
“Oh my god it’s Jake!” Josephine shouted as she recognized the man out in front.
“What?” Richard remarked, looking on in disbelief.
“It’s Jake, with a bunch of other clansmen,” Josephine replied as the dawn broke.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner,” Jake said as he ran over to greet them.
“Good grief Jake, don’t apologize. You saved us all,” Richard replied as he shook his hand thankfully.
“I hope this makes up for my previous inequities,” Jake said half joking.
“No need to worry about that, I’m just glad you and the others made it in time to save our butts,” Richard exclaimed.
“Well, I’m glad I found you… and I am truly sorry that we parted on a sour note. I kind of lost it after the settlement was destroyed,” Jake admitted.
“Water under the bridge,” Richard replied.
“So what happened to you?” Josephine asked.
“Well, let me start at the beginning. We missed you at the rendezvous point because of the storm, so my men and I tracked you all the way up to Waterton Lake. Once we arrived there, we were told that you had already departed for Great Falls. So, we quickly resupplied and as we were about to leave, another group of clansman came down from the north to join the fight. Since they had some decent vehicles, we decided to try and catch up with you. When we reached the main road, we came upon a small detachment of Augs preparing to shell the settlement. I guess they weren’t expecting any rebels on the road once your force passed by them. After a brief fight, we took control of their mobile rocket launchers, and brought them with us. We thought they might come in handy,” Jake said with a smirk.
“I just can’t believe you made it,” Josephine remarked.
“You even saved the settlement,” Richard added.
“I was fortunate enough to have been at the right place at the right time,” Jake said as he looked around at the fallen soldiers. “Is my son Sean here?” he asked.
“He’s tending to some of the wounded over by the trees.” Josephine replied.
“I’ll be right back,” Jake said as he rushed over to see him.
“It’s nice that he’s back to his old self,” Josephine remarked.
“I know, I’m still in shock!” Richard admitted.
“I’m going to go over and give Sean a hand unless you need me for something?”
“No. I’m going to survey the damage, and try and determine what we should do next,” Richard replied.
“Okay, give me hug and I’ll find you later,” Josephine said as she reached out.
After Josephine left, Richard went back the overlook and used his binoculars to see what was going on. It appeared that some of the Augs were putting out fires resulting from the rocket strikes within the city while others were moving large concrete barricades onto the bridges to block off access to the city. From what he could tell, the bulk of their force had regrouped along the south bank of the Missouri in anticipation of a ground assault. In the distance, Richard could also see that the Augs had rebuilt the central building at the production facility. It was discolored where a rocket had struck it, but it was undamaged despite taking a direct hit.
“Son of bitch!” Richard muttered under his breath.
“What’s up?” Jake asked, as he came back over to see the damage he had caused.
“The production facility is still intact, it looks like they have really reinforced it. Are all of the rockets on the mobile rocket launchers you commandeered the same type?” Richard asked.
“I think so, they all said XM31 HE on the side,” Jake replied.
“How many more do you have?”
“None, we used them all to repel them. Perhaps I overdid it?” he remarked.
“No, you did the right thing. We were dangling by a thread, and without your overwhelming show of force they may not have retreated. I’m just disappointed that we keep coming up short each time we go after their production facility. A few more tanks, a few more rockets, and this whole damn thing would be over with,” Richard asserted.
“I did come with a bunch more volunteers. Surely that will help?” Jake replied.
“I am thankful for that, but unfortunately the added soldiers won’t replace the ones we lost this morning. Don’t get me wrong, you have saved the day, but I underestimated our opponent and nearly got everyone killed,” Richard said with an air of regret and disappointment.
“How could you have known that they had reinforced the city to this extent, or had so much hardware at their disposal? Past experiences have shown that they are usually very cowardly, and typically run from a fight,” Jake pointed out.
“I guess we were wrong, they seem determined to keep this city and defend the production facility at all cost. I just don’t understand why,” Richard replied as he rubbed his dirt-covered forehead.
“We’re not the only ones fighting for survival,” Jake stated.
“That’s true…” Richard remarked as he glanced down at the city.
“Since the troopers took out their mobile rocket launchers before the attack ended, then they probably still have some unused rockets nearby. If we could sneak down there tonight under the cover of darkness, we might be able to make off with a handful of those rockets and use them in the launchers that you brought down. Then we could target the production facility until it’s destroyed. I doubt it can take multiple direct hits. Another option is that we could send a team south and try to ambush the Augs as they resupply the city. We might be able to get some more weapons, or at least stop them from obtaining them,” Richard suggested.
“An ambush is a great idea. Nothing would make me happier than to steal more of their weapons and use them against them,” Jake said with a smile.
“Why don’t we do both,” Richard suggested. “I’ll see if I can infiltrate the city tonight, while you try to intercept any supplies coming in from the south. Between the two of us, maybe one will get lucky.”