Exodus: Empires at War: Book 7: Counter Strike Read Online Free PDF

forces that had gone after the lower side cables of the station.  The com
was going in and out, even though he had men stationed along the way to relay
the signal.  The enemy jamming was getting more powerful, and he was afraid
they might also be listening in.
    And what in the hell is keeping those dolts
from getting to their target? he thought, following one of his groups on a
tactical holo.   The other battalion, almost four hundred males, was already in
position, their weapon ready to take out that support.  But the battalion he
was watching had run into opposition, and were having to fight their way
through.  They were still over ten kilometers from their target.  That might be
close enough to take out the cable, but probably not.
    The other bombs were set four kilometers to
either side of the central cable, close enough for the dual explosion to take
it out, and also destroy much of the lower hull of the station, weakening it
further.
    They only have another hour and a half to get
to the target ,
he thought, feeling the stress of the situation, almost overwhelming anxiety
that his mission might fail.  We can’t allow it to fail , he thought,
linking into the com and sending reinforcements to the bogged down unit.  That
meant weakening the defense of the port central side bomb, but it was more
important to get that peripheral weapon to its target.  If only I had those
other males, he thought.  But the Knockermen had set off their bomb on the
Elysium station before he had gotten all his troops off.  Those males would
have died anyway if they had gotten to the human station.  But they would have
died for a purpose.
    “The humans are increasing their pressure,”
said the commander of the troubled battalion.  “They are attacking with
increased ferocity, no matter the loss.”
    Of course they are.  Because they know if we
destroy this station, they have lost their war.  “I am sending you
reinforcements, Battalion Commander.  Keep pushing forward.  You must get that
weapon to its target.”
    I wonder if we could have sent the warriors
through space to the target , thought the General, second guessing his own orders. 
Then he thought about what would have happened if he had sent hundreds of males
and the weapon through space, where the enemy would have been able to attack
them with ship borne weapons.  He would have lost the attack force, and the
weapon.
    “We’re pushing ahead,” said the officer.  “But
I can’t guarantee we’ll get there before the weapon goes off.”
    The General growled, recognizing a plea to stop
the countdown.  He wouldn’t respond.  The Commander had his orders, and would
follow them to his death.  Stopping the countdown meant that the other weapons
were at greater risk.  And he wasn’t about to take that risk.
    He followed the progress on the com, sweating
out the lack of progress as the armored males fought armored humans.  The
humans were skilled warriors with powerful weapons, and the progress started to
bog down, while the reinforcements also ran into an enemy that was determined
to keep them from linking up with their comrades.
    Minutes ticked by, and the icons of his troops
continued to fall off the plot, while the humans icons, representing the
soldiers that were engaged with his males, continued to increase.  It was
looking like a losing battle on that front.  It could still work , he
thought, his denial that this mission was a failure kicking in.  It has to
work.
    “We’re starting to lose our perimeter,” came
the call of the Regimental Commander who was holding one of the bombs.  The
one I took the warriors away from , he thought.  He had robbed the
successful force to reinforce one that was already a failure.
    The General looked at the manual detonator,
determined that all the bombs would go off before the humans got to them.  He
reached for the arming switch, then pulled his hand back.  The bombs are
fused so they will go off if they are