His men quickly complied. The height of the floodlights would temporarily blind the Prophus. It also gave Enzo targets to shoot at. This was his first pitched battle, and two things surprised him. The first was the rush he felt being in the thick of it. His blood boiled, and he had never felt more alive. Every fiber of his being tingled, and he wanted to howl a battle cry as he moved into position, aiming shots at the yellow bursts that lit up the otherwise completely black forest.
The second thing that surprised him was the noise of battle. It was much louder than he could have possibly imagined. So much so that he had trouble communicating orders.
You should be in the war room, not engaged in combat.
“I need to feel the pulse of the battle in order to direct it.”
In truth, Enzo reveled in the carnage as he took out several of the Prophus soldiers. He turned to Palos. “Bring your unit. We’ll flank the enemy from the south.”
That is not wise. You should command.
“I cannot command men hiding in a room. They need to see me lead.”
You do not require their respect. You only need to demand they follow.
Another explosion in the center of the camp nearly knocked Enzo off his feet. He continued with Palos and his men as they crept out of the southern entrance and made the sprint to the tree line. There he spread them three meters apart as they cut their way west. It was quieter here in the forest, the sounds of battle far away.
“We must be outnumbered here three to one on this side,” Meyers’ voice came hurried over the comm.
“Eastern flank is completely dead.” Rowe said. “Pulling my men to assist Meyers.”
“You stay put!” Enzo whispered angrily. However, he wasn’t sure if Commander Rowe heard him. Furious, he tore off his headset. Palos motioned for him to be quiet as they neared the enemy. Something sounded strange up there, as if the sound of the battle was echoing through a pipe.
They found a Prophus soldier firing from an isolated position. He died before he knew what was happening. In the next ten minutes, the team encountered several Prophus fighting in isolated groups. Enzo began to feel uneasy.
“The enemy is scattered here. No nests. How could the attack force be spread so thin?”
They are not. The tree line is three hundred meters long, and the Prophus have been spaced out nearly exactly five meters apiece. That means the attacking force could not be more than sixty men. It is a decoy.
Then Enzo’s team encountered a large speaker sitting on a tripod piping in the sounds of battle. Enzo took off in a full sprint following the route he came. The undermanned Prophus had effectively lured the camp’s defenses into committing to the west.
Enzo rushed back into the camp, trying to call up Rowe for an update. However, by that time, it was too late. The enemy was already inside the perimeter, and the base had erupted into heavy close-quarter fighting. Enzo and his team mowed their way across the field to the building, cutting a swathe of death. His ranks grew as more and more of his men joined in to push the enemy back. By the time he reached the building, there were over a hundred fighting alongside him. The enemy thought they had victory in their grasp. He would show them how wrong they were. He felt like Achilles killing Trojans.
Dawn broke as the battle raged on within the confines of the camp. The Prophus had gained a foothold on the perimeter but were unable to take the main building housing the vessels. By the time the sun was fully up, they were forced to pull back. In the end, they had failed to rescue any vessels. They did, however, release two hundred humans, no doubt swelling their ranks. That, Enzo could not care less about.
He watched as the Prophus retreated and disappeared back into the foliage. Without missing a beat, he summoned all the officers and had Rowe put in cuffs. The idiot had disobeyed and deserted his position in an attempt to improve his standing. His foolishness had allowed the Prophus to infiltrate the base and almost steal victory. The Genjix commander begged forgiveness up to the moment Enzo shot him.
“From now on,” he declared, “all orders come through me. Follow without fail. Is that understood?”
Enzo then ordered Palos to see to the wounded and begin repairs on the fence. He rushed back to the war room and ordered a convoy of prisoners prepped to leave within minutes. They had just waged a large battle, so both sides were exhausted. Enzo now gambled that the enemy was not prepared to enforce their blockade.
That is clever. You have done the Genjix proud.
He was right. The next day, Chow received a shipment of twenty Prophus prisoners to continue his testing.
TWENTY-NINE
A DEAL WILKS CAN'T REFUSE
In the Quasing’s defense, neither the Prophus nor the Genjix were involved in the rise of the Third Reich. In fact, both factions considered the Nazi party an oddball group of madmen. After all, one of Hitler’s inner circle was a butcher’s apprentice. We thought they were a political party of clowns. Both the Prophus and the Genjix were badly mistaken.
All the Quasing with hosts in Germany during this time were swept into the service of the Reich. We had little choice but to make the best of the situation. My host nobleman, Rolf Hindler, became a young officer of the SS. It was ironic that Yol, never a warrior, was in a decorated general by the name of Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox.
Baji
“You’re not pulling my leg are you, Ms Tan?”
Jill batted her lashes at the sun-baked raisin sitting across the table. Senator Garritano must be the tannest man in his home state of Washington. Having been on numerous trips to Seattle, she didn’t think there was enough sun to cook Garritano to that golden crispy hue. He must either spend all his time in Florida or have a tanning booth at home.
Senator Garritano was the number six man in his party and one of the most popular in Congress. He was also so old that he might have been alive when the Roman Senate was in session. And one thing about those who were permanent fixtures on the Hill, they all had their kooky pet projects that everyone else thought were insane.
In Garritano’s case, his passion was an earmark for a high-speed rail from Northern California to Alaska. Never mind that the route passed through a sovereign country or that the business logistics of it were unsustainable. He believed that connecting the country together was of paramount importance and fulfilled manifest destiny, Canada’s objection be damned.
“Of course not, Senator,” she smiled.
Garritano sat back and scratched his cheeks in a way only geriatrics were comfortable doing in public. “Wilks and I have never seen eye to eye, him being a heretic of American exceptionalism. Why would he support me now?”
“I’ll take care of Wilks.” Jill gave him a reassuring pat on his wrinkled arm. Inside, Jill cringed. Wilks was going to wring her neck when he heard about this, but Garritano’s vote was cheap.
“Well, little lady,” Garritano winked. “You bought yourself a vote.” He squeezed her hand in a way that made Jill want to dig out her sanitizer. Excusing herself as politely as possible, she left the senator’s office and hurried to her next appointment.
That is five. One more and we have the filibuster.
Jill ticked off names in her head. She couldn’t believe it, but things were falling into place. The past few days had come down to the wire. She had worked the phones frantically, wheeling and dealing, and calling in favors from her entire Rolodex.
At this rate, she owed a quarter of the Senate favors in one form or another to be cashed in at some future time. But in doing so, she had assembled a package of earmarks, bills, and amendments that were not only favorable to Wilks, but to the Prophus as well. The big losers in all this were the Genjix. She just needed a few more pieces to push them over the edge.