Chapter 81

Dear Brother,

I bet you received a letter from Phoebe long before this one reaches you. It's not that I haven't wanted to write, but Colonel Yarnway is a complete idiot and Erica and I haven't had a break in ages.

I hear that troops often complain about the general officers they serve under, but Colonel Yarnway is the first one who's so bad that I've heard someone mention fragging the officer. The man was originally in charge of a training center, and from what I've seen the marines on Darling Downs are well trained. They understand how to deal with adverse conditions and are steady even when the front is under pressure. Unfortunately his tactical prowess is nil. He wants us to set up in static defenses and then hold those positions. It might work against another human unit, but the Sa'arm send hundreds of troops. In fact in one battle, the one where Malachi and Derek's tanks were destroyed (8 and 9 if you need numbers) we looked at the video after the battle. We were facing more than three hundred Sa'arm for each human we had at the defenses. The only surprise was that we managed to get two hundred men out alive. Sadly, that meant we left three hundred dead on the battlefield, and that battle left only Horace's tank still active of our partners. Horace is a nice guy and a brave man, but he is only a Corporal for a reason. Without solid commands he will fail.

Major Fabio suggested that Horace work with Erica and me. I got another promotion. I'm now a Gunnery Sergeant. Colonel Yarnway doesn't pay any attention to that and keeps trying to give me orders, but Fabio made it clear before he was evacuated that our "transfer" was not a transfer of command. We came in to support Colonel Yarnway and coordinate with him, but we are not under his official command. The fact that I have been given the rank of Gunnery Sergeant has helped a lot since the only two other surviving gunnery sergeants on Darling Downs are both infantry specialists and know that they are lost when it comes to giving commands to tanks. They pass on what Colonel Yarnway wants, but only to Erica and me. We've shut down the comm gear in Horace's tank so that he can only receive from us unless we are taken out.

The situation is really bad. We've heard that Colonel Frost has already requested that his remaining troops be returned to Wadi. The infantry company he sent has suffered seventy percent casualties and you've heard about the situation with the tanks.

I did read your question about a hover option. No. Just no.

The truth is that the heavy gun we use would provide too much momentum for an anti-grav tank to work properly. Every time we fired the whole tank would move backwards. It would throw off Erica's aim and make driving the tank an adventure. The fact that we have treads in contact with the group stabilizes the tank when Erica fires.

And you're right that in the constant heavy winds we face on Darling Downs an anti-grav option would cause us to be pushed around constantly. The improved armor has helped some, but right now there are other areas that need support. The problem is that for the armor suits Erica and I don't have any access to the blueprints. Our suits aren't armor. They could just be described as Kevlar catsuits. They cover our bodies and can protect against the wind blown particles, but that's the limit of their protection. Any weapon would probably punch through without much trouble.

I miss my family right now. I'm sure this is true of most marines. If we aren't fighting to defend our homes, we are far from our families. Erica and I at least have each other, and our ladies manage to send regular messages thanks to Phoebe and Colonel Frost. The messages may take some time though. They are given to the ships passing through the Wadi-at system, but most ships don't jump directly to Darling Downs. Most will be jumping toward other Sa'arm controlled systems and it might be several weeks before the message gets passed to a ship heading here. I know there are the message drones, but the Sa'arm are actively fighting for control of the upper atmosphere and orbital area. Drones generally don't survive long enough to pass on messages, while ships can usually make a delivery of digital messages before being forced to retreat.