Retribution: 4

Heinrich shook his head for the third time. Granita could plead as much as she liked, but he wasn't going to release his helmet to her.

She could have bullied someone else in his unit to lend her their helmet, but the holo casting came over the command channel only, and only he had a feed of what happened just west of the launch port.

It was not pretty. He could understand the rationale behind what General de Laiden was doing, even why the TADAT left behind followed him, but it didn't make watching the madness any easier.

At least Brigadier Idiot Goodard lacked even basic knowledge of what he could expect from Otherworld soldiers, and the federation troops handled their enemy as if they were some kind of local guerrilla back on Earth. That gave them time to act and react in ways soldiers equipped with spears and crossbows should never have been given the chance to in the first place.

When the third body walker went down the TADAT finally decided they had had enough and retreated. On their way back they poured out the last of their anti-personnel munitions and made it into the forest from which they had arrived.

Heinrich sighed with relief as he saw them temporarily safe. They had given as good as they took though. Now it was time for the insufficient help he was able to provide. Twice his two launchers roared and the four guided missiles he had brought screamed into the air. Within minutes four armoured vehicles would be gone, and that would force Goodard to assemble his anti-missile defences More time gained, but Heinrich wished he'd been back with his unit. They had enough short range missiles to turn another fifteen vehicles into burning wrecks, and that should have been enough to give Goodard a reason to halt.

Heinrich growled at himself, but he had his orders. Sometimes staying out of harm's way was more frightening than risking his life, and this was such a time.