Dimensional Travels: Chapter 135: Holding the line

Chapter 135: Holding the line

Eric frowned as reports ca in from the team leaders. In Jethrel’s office, he had a radio put in place, and with each radio checks, more concerning details were relayed.

"Chaos one, Team Echo."

Eric reached for the radio, sighing.

"Go ahead Echo."

"Four more wounded on the east wall. They are civilians."

"Copy. Bring them to the aid station."

Eric looked over at Erica. She was helping to compile the data from the field. With each new report that ca in, her forehead creased further. Her usually straight brown hair was becoming ssier as she would occasionally run her hands through it.

"Whats the status so far?" He asked as he set another docunt about Dresken to the side.

She sighed. "Team’s Alpha, Charlie, and Echo have three KIA each. We have ten FMC tanks, and eight FMC bradleys. All four paladins are still FMC. I am still recieving reports about small arms ammo expenditure, but we brought enough for one resupply."

Eric rubbed his face in his hands. "Nine KIA?"

He looked down, offering a prayer to Triamal before returning to his work. "Have there been any more fractures reported from the rear?"

"Yes. There was apparently a few more small fractures. This ti...."

She paused.

Eric noticed the tears in her eyes.

"What was it?"

"It was a school, Eric. An elentary school."

Eric clenched his jaw, processing the information in silent. He pictured Liara back on Earth without either him or Mia, and the papers in his hand crumpled.

"That’s horrible. Have we been able to contact the parents through social dia?"

"A few. We were able to contact the local police departnt on the other side. They inford General Milano that within the day all parents would be notified."

Eric set the crumpled paper down. "These fractures need to hurry up and finish already." He grumbled. "That marks like the sixth, maybe seventh ti that families have been seperated."

As he was still processing the elentary school fracture, the radio ca to life.

"Chaos one, Bravo Team."

Eric sighed. "It never ends."

Erica didn’t laugh.

""Go ahead Bravo."

"Master Sergeant, we found the last camp. The dwarves and Elves have all been accounted for. But Master Sergeant? There are children here."

Eric nearly dropped the radio. Erica looked up at him, her eyes wide. The two sat in silence, dumbfounded.

"Chaos One?"

Eric sighed. "Standbye."

Eric looked at Erica. "How many LMTV’s do we have, and what are they being used for?"

She checked her notes.

"We have six LMTV’s. Two of them are being used for ammo storage. Three for equipnt, and the last for troop transport."

Eric frowned, looking at the ISR reports. "The LMTV’s were attached to Hotel, right?"

"Yes."

"Team Hotel, Chaos One."

There was a mont of silence, and Eric checked to see if the radio was on. It was.

"Chaos one, this is Team Hotel."

"Offload your LMTV’s that are used for ammo and equipnt transport. Divert them to team Bravo’s location. All the civilians at that camp are to be brought back to Hood Hill ASAP."

"Roger."

Erica looked up. "If we divert those trucks, we won’t have -"

Eric shook his head. "I know. But, we have no choice. Dresken is about to get ugly. Uglier than it already was. Those children have already seen enough. Those families have already been through enough."

Tears fell from Erica’s face. "I was a part of this. I can’t believe I ever thought we were the ’good guys’."

Eric narrowed his eyes. "Snap out of it, kid. Look, right now we have a city to save. This is no ti to cry or fall apart. We just lost nine n, and we have a large army making it’s way here. That is the priority. The people that we can save, we save. The people that we can move, we move. We don’t have the luxury of crying for what has or hasn’t happened right now. That cos later. Right now, we need to do what we can to make sure we make it through this. You got ?"

Erica nodded, wiping the tears from her face.

Eric put his papers down, looking at her. "Go freshen up. Take a few monts to collect yourself. When you get back in here, we get this thing going. No more tears until this ends."

She nodded, setting her reports down and leaving the room.

Erica leaned against a mirror in the bathroom, gasping as she touched the wall. She slid down to her knees. Her chest tightened as she hugged herself. "Get it together." She murmured, slapping herself. She stood up slowly, and threw water on her face. "No more tears."

Eric leaned back in his chair, turning around to look outside. Fires burned in front of the city where the gates had been destroyed. Broken equipnt lined the streets where the elent had breached, and store fronts that had been damaged in the battle all had rubble spilling into the streets.

"New world, sa shit." He grumbled.

Erica returned. Her eyes were swollen red, and her makeup was sared, but she collected herself as she sat down. Eric nodded.

"Lets get to work."

Michael and Justin walked in. Michael sat down, Justin walked over to Erica. He hugged her tightly, breathing in her scent and not saying a word. Eric ignored the young couple and turned to Michael. "Report."

Michael nodded. "The camps were evacuated successfully. There were so minor skirmishes with the guards, but we were able to successfully capture and detain them. Four camps were cleared out. Twenty dwarves were saved. Fifteen elven won and..."

Michael paused. "Fuck man..."

Eric nodded. "I know. It’s worse than we expected."

Michael sighed as he unbuckled his ACH. He rubbed his hands through his hair. "Dude. Those people are sick. We were able to rescue as many as we could."

"So across four camps thirty five elves and dwarves were in good enough condition to be rescued."

Michael nodded. "And twelve children. So little more than infants."

Eric again thought of Liara.

Once again, the radio cracked. "Chaos one, Team Delta."

"Go ahead Delta." Eric said as he grabbed the radio.

"Master Sergeant, we have the east secured. None of the Llrathels we found were in usable condition."

Eric sighed. "Of course not." He grumbled before responding.

"Good job Echo. Hold position. I will provide updates on enemy locations when I have there. Chaos one out."

"Echo out."

Eric turned to Michael. "You will join Jessica and Felicity. Set up barricades where the destroyed gates are. I already have Fox, Gulf, and Hotel inside the city setting up fighting positions. We don’t let them breach. Here, we hold or we die. We have no other choice."

Eric then turned to Justin and Erica. "There are still a lot of civilians inside the city. I want you two to evacuate them underground. As many as you can. Get with Staff Sergeant Tie. He is the one already taking point on the evacuations. Assist him as necessary. When you are done, report back to ."

Erica looked up as her and Justin seperated. "Where will you be?"

Eric sighed. "At the front of the line."

Michael looked up from his phone. "Eric..."

"I don’t want to hear it. Nine of my n died today. Nine. We can’t afford to lose more. We have already lost too many n on this planet."

Michael narrowed his eyes. He looked at Erica and Justin. "Leave us. Go to Staff Sergeant Tie."

The couple nodded and left, shutting the door quietly behind them.

"Cut the shit. You know that you shouldn’t be at the front with how wounded you are." Michael growled.

"I can’t help it Mike. We have lost too many people."

Michael stood up and walked over, slamming his hands on the desk. "Do you want to be one of them!"

He looked Eric in the eye. "You may be powerful because you’ve acclimated to this world, but you. Are. Not. A. God. Eric. I don’t give a damn about how strong you think you are. This unit needs you. That kid!"

He pointed out the door. "Needs you. You have two goddamn daughters now, you fool! You always tell us not to he heroes, well look at what you are saying. Listen to yourself, you goddamn moron! You’re trying to go to the front even though as we speak, you are bleeding through your bandages!"

Eric stood up. "Who else is gonna do it, Mike! We have a bunch of young soldiers out there. We can’t let them be without senior leadership to guide them."

Michael stared him down. "Do you want to die?"

Eric stepped back. "What?"

"You heard . Do you want to die? Because that’s what this seems like. You should know how bad your wounds really are. If you take one more bullet, one more good hit, you will die. So... I ask you again, do you want to die?"