Invasion of Kzarch Read Online Free PDF

silent, all turning to McKain, suddenly curious themselves. All of them had a great respect for their more experienced platoon sergeant.
    McKain shrugged, a bit bothered by all the attention.
    “Not much, sir, to be honest. I don’t think we really know enough to make plans; so we obviously we need to hook up with the group the mayor mentioned. But on the other hand…” The sergeant looked unhappy.
    “I think, whether we like it or not, we’re going to have to fight. Even if we hid ourselves, they’d be certain to find us… And attack at a time we won’t be ready for them. If we keep trying to move around, we’d be all the easier to detect. Further, even if we managed to hide ourselves, how long would we have to remain that way?”
    “In all, I think we’re going to have no choice but to pursue offensive operations; if for no other reason than to keep them off-balance.”
    This time there was a moment of silence. The platoon sergeant had laid their situation bare, as well as the few choices remaining to them.
    “At any rate,” Frank said briskly, “It seems our next move is to head to Newholm. Once there, and hopefully after we’ve made contact with the guerrillas, we’ll be better able to decide what further actions to take. And we’ve gotta get moving fast . Undoubtedly, the pirates are searching for us already. Let’s get to it, people!”
    A chorus of, ‘Sir, yes, sir!’ answered him, then the sergeants dispersed.
     
    ***
     
    “I still don’t-”
    “A question once asked is but a question, a question twice asked is foolishness, and a question thrice asked is insubordination.” The speaker paused for a second, then smiled a thin-lipped smile.
    “You don’t want to be… insubordinate , do you?”
    The other started sweating. It was at first hard to see why. The person at the head of the table was only of average height, with a slight build, black hair and brown eyes. Indeed, such a person hardly seemed to be dangerous. But that was only so until you looked into his eyes. Eyes filled with the darkness of the soul, with a restrained and focused brutality and violence, which you knew were only being held back because their owner thought you could be yet of use… So far.
    “N-no! I, ah-”
    “Good.”
    The pirate leader let the silence stretch out a bit, then spoke again
    “I will say again, for the final time, that a full fledged attack on these… Marines, would have been highly inadvisable, especially since their full strength was unknown. Even after committing half of our Blastfires, we lost one for absolutely nothing .”
    “That’s true,” agreed Hamil, his operations officer. As much as pirates had officers, anyway. “But the fact remains that we now know they only have a platoon. And we know where they are. Perhaps…?”
    “Where they were ,” the pirate captain pointed out. “To be sure, their destination is obvious; that stupidly named town, whatever it is. But they won’t remain there long.”
    “Still, if they do something dumb like staying there for a while, we could easily catch them off-guard!” broke in Bloody Jack’s second-in-command, Mad.
    “And throw down a barrage of missiles? Until the town is simply a plain of overlapping craters?” The smiles around the table grew bloodthirsty at the thought, though the thirstiest was on the face of their leader, Bloody Jack.
    The smile was still there, as Bloody Jack continued.
    “And, of course, losing most if not all our gunboats, for maybe a couple of Marines?” Everyone elses’ smiles suddenly disappeared.
    “Battlesuits and Marines are tough. If they activate their shielding… We’d have get a missile within less than ten yards to guarantee a kill on them. And how, exactly , do you expect to be able to locate them in a city? Plus the fire from an entire platoon of Marines would wipe away our gunboats in short order.”
    “Our sensors-” Hamil began.
    “Won’t be able to locate them. As soon as they learn