Crimson Worlds Collection I by Jay Allan

Author:Jay Allan [Allan, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Military, Fiction
Amazon: B00EJUJM3I
Barnesnoble: B00EJUJM3I
Goodreads: 19138149
Publisher: System 7 Publishing
Published: 2014-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Near 1st Brigade HQ

Northern Spur of the Lysandra Plateau

Epsilon Eridani IV

“Give me another stim, Hector.” Erik Cain hadn’t slept for a week; the drugs were the only thing keeping him standing.

“Colonel, there is a limit to the dosages your body can endure.” The AI actually managed to sound genuinely concerned. Cain could never quite decide if he thought the quasi-sentient computer’s emotions were real or a carefully constructed illusion.

“Just give me the shot.” Cain was irritable, and he snapped his response, then sighed and softened his tone. “There is no alternative, Hector. I can’t exactly go take a nap right now, can I?”

Cain felt the injection, and within a few seconds the cloudiness began to clear from his head. He was grateful the AI didn’t feel the need to respond to his rhetorical question.

He hadn’t exceeded his orders when he attacked the enemy and seized this position, at least not technically, though he wondered if a board of inquiry would see it the same way. He knew in his gut they were in trouble on Carson’s World, and when he saw the chance to grab the northern heights of the Lysandra Plateau he took it. His attack went better than he could have expected, and 1st Brigade advanced deep into enemy territory.

His initiative had created an opportunity. His position was a knife thrust into the side of the enemy, and he was a threat to the flank of any advance they might make. They had to take him out before they could move south and overrun the rest of I Corps. But the position was highly defensible, and 1st Brigade’s men and women were veterans…and totally devoted to their brash, stubborn, and unconventional commander. They would fight to the last if he asked them to, and they knew if it came to that, Erik Cain would be in the line with them.

The enemy had been attacking non-stop for days, and slowly and at great cost 1st Brigade was being pushed back. Cain had no idea how many casualties his people had inflicted; he’d stopped trying to keep track when he hit 10,000. But 1st Brigade had bled too, and well under half its 3,600 troops were still in the field. Companies were holding lines where a battalion would have stood a week before, and squads were covering frontages a platoon would be hard-pressed to handle.

They’d been cut off for four days, and supplies were running low. Cain had been everywhere, rallying the troops and personally checking every position, sometimes moving an auto-cannon or other weapon a few meters to improve the field of fire. Outwardly he was determined and optimistic; everywhere his troops saw him he was the avatar of victory, utterly certain they would prevail. In his own head, he was wracked with doubt and not at all sure they could hold. He’d even developed a contingency plan to withdraw his survivors into the mountains to the east and turn them into a guerilla raiding force if they could no longer hold a conventional position.

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