The Karn Dominion, The Hybrid Wars, Last Stand of the 7th Caprinae Cavalry.
This story is a tribute to all the brave soldiers who have died for what they fought for against impossible odds with no hope of victory. My stories are copyrighted to please no Takee!
The Karn Dominion, The Hybrid Wars
Last Stand of the 7th Caprinae Cavalry
By William W. Kelso
The small lizard lay sunning himself on a rock in the midday sun. He wasn't bothered much by the loud noises and popping sounds in the distance as they were far away and he could see no immediate danger. However when he began to detect vibration in the ground he lifted his head for a better look. He could still see no danger, but the vibrations were increasing so just to be safe he dashed under his favorite rock to wait out any possible danger.
The vibrations and other sounds became much louder and animals and other creatures began to run for cover. There was a sudden loud screeching sound and a huge fountain of earth and rocks rose up from the center of an explosion. Seconds later a mass of horses crested the ridge at a full gallop with their riders crouched low in the saddles as more explosions rocked the ridge. Several horses and their riders went down, but most kept going.
Major Benjamin Butler, commanding, reined in and took a quick look at the terrain ahead. It was as open and desolate as the rest of the West Texas countryside, dry and barren with only scattered Mesquite trees and a few rocky outcrops for cover. He ducked as another salvo of incoming mortars impacted on the ridge and more horses and riders went down. Damn, he thought, they've got our range! He made a quick decision and issued orders to his bugler who blew a loud blast which was echoed by the other troops surviving buglers. He decided he would move around the right flank of the moderate rise to their front as it should give them some cover once they were on the other side, and if he remembered there was a washed out creek bed less than a mile away which would also provide them with cover for a rear guard action against the pursuing Krill soldiers. With a loud belling cry he led him troops toward what he hoped was safety.
As they passed over the low ridge and headed towards the next the Krill's lost sight of them and the mortar fire became less accurate. Several rides that had lost their mounts were either picked up or ran after the rest of the command almost as fast as the horses were moving. They nimbly bounded and leaped over any obstacles in their way. A few left too far behind, or who were too badly wounded to follow, picked fighting positions where they would do their best to delay the enemy so their buddies could escape. They were not left behind by choice, but by the winds of war. They bore no grudge towards their retreating comrades. If they could buy them some time they would be satisfied. One Ram, his leg shattered by a mortar fragment, pulled a satchel charge from the saddle bags of a downed horse and concealed himself in a large clump of bushes. His coloring blended in perfectly and he would be almost invisible. He waited patiently, listening to the sound of the approaching Krill APC's. (Armored Personnel Carriers).
Major Butler rounded the side of the ridge with his command in close pursuit and reined to a halt with another curse. Less than three miles away he could see dust from another line of Krill APC's and soldiers advancing on this position. This has gone from FUBAR to a cluster fuck in no time he thought. He wasn't sure what to do at this point as they were obviously boxed in. God damn it! He looked at the troopers waiting for his orders. He knew what his only real option was and reluctantly gave the correct orders. "Bugler, sound Fight on Foot!" To his troop CO's he said "We'll set up on that ridge we just passed, it's the only high ground available. B, D, F Troops cover the front, C and G cover the reverse slope. I want E Troop on the Right flank, and H Troop on the Left. Have the Heavy Weapons detail set up one .50 Cal. on each side and get those mortars into action, I want fire on those Krill as soon as possible! Now move!" Riding their horses to the base of the ridge the troopers dismounted and taking the saddle bags full of ammo and other supplies they sprinted up the slopes to find the best positions they could and dug in. The horses were set free in the hopes they'd be able to find their way to safety. The horses knew what to do as their riders had told them.
"I want the command colors there, at the base of the large outcrop, he ordered, and get that radio set up." The captain watched as two pack mules passed him being led by one of the Heavy Weapons squads. One mule had a .50 cal. MG on it and the other had boxes of ammo. He approved as they picked their spot to set up the MG, good cover with excellent fields of fire. They quickly unpacked and then one of the troopers affectionately nuzzled the mules one at a time before setting them free. The mules did what their handler had told them and quickly galloped after the horses. The Captain moved nimbly from trooper to trooper giving advice and encouragement as they dug in and prepared for what was coming. They still had some time as the Krill were cautious in their approach as they knew better then to blindly rush into an unknown situation. They were too good a soldiers to make that mistake. They may be a bunch of bastards, but he had to give them grudging respect as they were also damn good soldiers. Tough as nails and they never gave up.
As he bounded towards another position he heard the first coughs of their own 82mm mortars as they opened up on the advancing Krill. He paused to take a quick look through his binoculars as the first mushrooms of exploding shells bracketed a Krill APC and sent the soldiers accompanying it diving for cover. A second later a .50 opened up from the reverse slope of the ridge and started peppering another APC with short bursts of tracer and AP rounds. As he watched the APC came to a halt and bottomed out as its lift chambers lost their compression and the crew bailed out. Excellent!, He thought. But even as he thought that the first Krill mortar rounds started landing on the ridge. It's those mortars that will do the most damage he realized, but not a damn thing he could do about it. At least there was some decent cover. Maybe, just maybe, they could hold out until night or help came. With a quick leap he cleared a large pile of rubble and landed next to a couple of troopers who had dug in behind some large rocks. The grenadiers, a Ram and Nanny looked at him and he gave them a thumbs up and told them to make sure they had good targets before they started using their grenade launcher, then he added that he'd send a couple or riflemen to give them some support. He gave both quick nuzzles and keeping low moved to the next position. He found the Donkey medics setting up a field hospital in the center of a large ring of rocks, probably the best protected area on the ridge. Only a very unlucky mortar round might reach them. They had strung camouflage nets across the rocks for shade and cover as they knew the Krill attack hovers would be on their way. His last stop was to make sure the mobile AA rocket battery was up and operational. It was a piece of captured Krill artillery and was wicked good at what it did. The NCO in charge just gave him a grim bleat and said, "They'll never know what hit them". Satisfied his troops were as ready as they could be he moved back to the command post. "Get me Col. Roth ASAP!" He told his radio operator, a young Ewe. She nodded and started giving the proper call signs into the mike as more Krill mortars impacted nearby and were answered by their own mortars.
The raid had started as a routine operation. They had started out five days ago and moved quickly, each Troop moving by different routes to help avoid being detected, and then they had rendezvoused the night before the planned attack. Their target had been a major Krill supply depot that was defended by a Krill garrison company. Unknown to them a Krill Light Armored Battalion had been passing through the area and boy had Intel fucked up on this one. Like Murphy's Law says, "If anything can go wrong it will at the worst possible time." The initial attack had been text book. Their mortars had taken out the Krill heavy weapons positions in the first few minutes and they had overrun the compound almost immediately. They had the extra horses and mules they had brought for the purpose loaded with valuable and desperately needed supplies and they had moved out with one Troop for escort. So far so good, but then one of the scouts had reported in and said. "Major, the shit has hit the fan. We've got Krill armor moving up fast from the south and the west and looks like they're pissed." He'd given the command to drop whatever you're doing and move out. By that time they were already taking fire from Krill mobile mortar APC's. He'd led his troops across the most broken country he could find, but those damn APC hovers were excellent all terrain hovercraft and he knew he'd only bought them a few minutes at most. And from there things had gone south big time, and now they were cut off and surrounded.
Major Butler and his command were all human/animal hybrids that had been created by the Karn as human livestock when they invaded Earth. Instead of fighting a costly war the Karn used mutagen viruses to transform the intelligent species of a planet they wished to colonize into docile livestock. In this case they had greatly underestimated the human need to be free, and even in the bodies of animals that spirit still lived on. You can change a body, but not a soul. The Major and his troops were all members of the genus Caprinae. They were all members of the goat or sheep family with the exception of the Donkey medics assigned to their command. There were many different types of goats and sheep represented, all native to this part of the country. They made excellent soldiers being able to live off the land, needing no clothes or uniform other then body armor, were very strong, fast and nimble, and were totally dedicated to one another as only herd animals can be. They also made excellent cavalry as they could literally talk to their mounts and were for the most part, with the exception of some of the bigger Rams, lightweight so the horses could carry more gear in addition to their riders. They were also tenacious and very stubborn. They did not like to lose and rarely surrendered. They were the fast moving light strike troops of the Resistance. They were feared and respected.
Major Butler ducked as more mortars impacted on the ridge and he heard the shrill bleats of a wounded trooper. He watched as a Donkey medic, totally ignoring the still falling mortar rounds, came racing by headed towards the wounded trooper. God bless all Donkeys he thought. "Major!", said his radio operator, "I've got HQ on line. They've sent for Col. Roth." He said, "Let me know as soon as he's available." The radio operator acknowledged, so he took his binoculars, another piece of amazing Krill tech, and carefully raised his head to take a look around. Damn horns, he thought, as he knew they stuck up way too far. The Nannies had told him they were his best features, but he thought they were a pain in the butt. He thumbed the zoom on the binoculars and took a look at the advancing enemy. They'd grounded most of their APC's and were moving up on foot. Like the caprinaes the Krill were fast and nimble as they looked more like raptor lizards than anything else. Their powerful clawed hind legs moved them along in fast bounds and dashes, low to the ground and hard to see or hit. He heard a .50 cal sniper rifle boom from his right and saw one Krill to go down, it kicked a couple of times and lay still. Well, he thought, not ALL of them were hard to hit. That must have been Eddy, he was the best damn sniper Butler had ever seen in action. Sure enough the .50 boomed again and another Krill went down. Then he heard what he had been dreaded, the high pitched whine of an attack hover. Raising his view to the sky he spotted them moving in fast and low from the West. He could see three of them in the flight. The damn things were armored weapons platforms. Like choppers they could hover and land straight up and down if needed, but unlike choppers they doubled as fast movers and could drop a payload on a target at high speed with deadly accuracy. Let them get close! He thought, but he knew his troopers were too well trained to open fire at long range with little or no chance of a hit.
The wounded Ram lay concealed in the thick cluster of brush. He lay perfectly still as the Krill advance soldiers skirted the brush instead of pushing through the obstacle. He hoped they didn't catch the scent of blood from his bandaged leg, but knew there were several dead bodies in the area so thought it was unlikely. He had been bidding his time and now he saw what he had been waiting for. He realized he had gotten lucky as the approaching APC had extra antennae and discs on top indicating it was a command or com vehicle. He'd lost his rifle when the mortar blast had killed his horse and wounded him. By the time he'd gotten free of his fallen mount all the troops had passed him by. Unable to try and run to keep up with them he'd pulled the satchel charge from the saddlebags of another dead horse and taken cover. As he watched the APC came to a halt and settled to the ground as its turbines shut down. The rear hatch opened and several Krill disembarked and started to set up what looked like a command center. The Ram smiled to himself. Carefully he stood up and found his wounded leg would still support his weight. There wasn't much pain as the pain killer from his FA pack had kicked in. He closed his eyes and said a short prayer. Pulling the igniter on the satchel charge he clutched it to his chest and with a belling battle cry he rushed out of the bushes past the startled Krill and threw himself into the back of the APC. The resulting explosion turned the APC into scattered wreckage and killed every Krill within twenty yards and wounded many more. It also broke the chain of command and the Krill units on that flank settled in to wait and see what developed due to lack of orders. It would buy his comrades valuable time. No one would ever know of his sacrifice, but he hadn't done it for glory, he'd done it for his herd mates. Soldiers don't fight for glory, they fight for their buddies.
Major Butler watched as the attack hovers moved into position for a run down the length of the ridge. The first peeled off followed closely by the other two coming in low and fast. Almost instantly he heard the muffled sound of several missiles lifting off from the AA launcher and watched as six missiles snaked into the sky. Immediately the attach hovers launched counter measures, but the missiles were also Karn and had been programmed to ignore their own countermeasures. They were a total and very unwelcome surprise to the Karn pilots. Three missiles were still taken out by "shotgun" anti-missile charges fired from the sides of the hovers, but two missiles hit one hover and it exploded in mid air showering burning debris over a large area. The remaining missile impacted the underside of another hover and it limped away trailing smoke. The other hover completed its run dropping deadly bomblets over most of the ridge, but quickly headed off when the fire from the two .50 cals began to pepper it. YES, outstanding! Thought Butler. That will teach them some respect! Get some! Yeah!
"Major, I've got Col. Roth on the horn!" yelled his radio operator. He lowered his binoculars and moved quickly to the radio,
"Col. Roth? This is Bulter. We're in a bit of a fix here, over."
"Butler, this is Roth, what's your sitrep? Over to you."
"Colonel, we really screwed the pooch on this one, raid went off like clockwork but ran into a damn panzer division before we could disengage. We're in a bad way. Over."
"Butler, any way you can break out, disengage and disperse your troops? Over."
"No way Colonel, they've got us boxed in good and proper. If we tried a break out we'd be massacred. Any chance of backup?" At first Butler thought the Colonel hadn't heard, and just when he was about to repeat the message the Colonel came back on line.
"Butler, that's a negative, only thing we've got close enough to reach you within two days is a feline recon commando unit, but from what you say I'd don't think they'd be of much use. I'll send them in, but just to recon the situation. Over."
"Better that then nothing Colonel, said Butler. Maybe they can take out some Krill officers and buy us some time. If we can hold out until dark we'll try to break out. If they can cause some confusion that would help. Over."
"Butler, I'll pass that on to them. They excel at causing confusion. They should reach you around dusk. How are you holding up? Over."
"So far we're kicking their butts Colonel, but they've got attack hovers with more on the way. Got ourselves a couple though that got too cocky. Over."
"Outstanding, replied Roth. I hope you can hold out until dark, but if things get really bad you have permission to surrender if you deem it necessary. No need to die for nothing. Over."
"Colonel, said Butler. You know the 7th never surrenders. We'll take a hell of a lot of the fuckers with us if it comes to that. But surrender and go back to being livestock? Never happen and I won't even ask my troopers as they would be insulted. Over." There was a long pause.
"Butler, this Roth. No insult intended, give them hell and tell your troops we're all proud of them. And I hope we meet again. Over."
"Roger that Colonel, I'll give you sitreps when I can. And Colonel, tell my mates and children I love them, tell the herd their fellows died well. Tell them not to forget us. Over to you."
"Roger that, and Butler, Garry Owen to Glory. Keep your head down you smelly old goat. Roth out."
Butler gave out a bleat of laughter. He looked up as he heard more missiles launch and saw another line of attach hovers moving for a run. This time they were ready for the counter fire and only one missile found a target and the hover went down in a controlled landing but was on fire. Then he heard an explosion from the launcher site and knew he'd just lost his only effective AA protection. We are fucked he thought. The .50's managed to shoot the shit out of another hover but one by one fell silent under the intense return fire and after that the Krill had total air superiority. And only one mortar was still returning fire. Butler turned to one of his runners and said,
"Bob, you still got that boom box of yours?"
"Yes Sir. Always.", answered the runner."
"Got fresh batteries?" asked Butler.
"Better yet Sir, I have it rigged to a Krill power pack."
"Then play it loud Bob, I want everybody including the Krill to hear it."
"Was wondering when you'd ask, Sir!" Bob turned to his pack and pulled out the old pre-invasion CD player. Carefully he pulled out an old worn CD and slipped it into the slot. He turned the volume all the way up and pressed the play button.
As the sounds of the march rang out every living Ram and Nanny or Ewe and a few Donkeys all threw their heads back and belled and brayed battle cry's. The advancing Krill paused at the strange sound, but a few of them had heard it before and knew what it meant. They hissed in appreciation.
Butler left the relative safety of the command post and moved down the line as life fire zipped past him as the Krill were now within small arms range. He landed next to the two grenadiers and saw the Nanny was dead, but the Ram was still lobbing rounds at the advancing enemy. The two riflemen supporting him were also still in action, popping up to fire quick bursts at the enemy then ducking down to dodge return fire. He gave them an approving bleat and moved on to the next firing position, bounding and leaping to make as poor a target as possible. The crew was dead and the .50 lay on its side, but as far as he could tell it was undamaged. At the next position he ordered the two Nannies to take over the .50 and they moved to obey his orders without question. A minute later he heard the .50 open fire and watched as several exposed Krill went down like sacks of dirty laundry. Get some! He thought.
He watched as a Donkey medic ran to help a wounded Krill soldier and then fall kicking as several rounds hit him at the same time. The wounded Krill sat up and from his sounds Butler knew he was hurling insults as his own comrades as it was a great dishonor to kill a care giver and the Krill was enraged. In their own way the Krill were honorable, and to kill an unarmed enemy medic, or care giver, was a great crime in their eyes. The Krill pulled the wounded Donkey to him and began to dress the Donkeys wounds. Butler knew none of his troopers would fire on them and they returned the honor by not killing helpless wounded Krill or their own medics. Any captured Krill or hybrid medics were always treated with respect and were given parole as soon as possible.
Butler felt sick at heart as he returned to the CP. At least half or more of his troops were dead or wounded. At the field hospital he had seen wounded troopers returning to carry on the fight while the Donkey's did their best to care for the more seriously wounded. There were only four medics left, the rest had been killed trying to go to the aid of the wounded. You just couldn't get the silly little buggers to keep their heads down. He ordered the others to stay where they were now and they didn't like it, but he knew they would obey. He had passed the carnage at the position of the destroyed rocket launcher and there had been no survivors, but he hadn't expected any. The Krill munitions had set off the ammo and there wasn't enough left of the crew to put in a bucket. He took cover as the attack hovers came in for another pass and dropped a payload of bomblets and HE. He felt a sting in his back and knew he'd picked up some shrapnel, but it couldn't be that bad as he still felt OK.
He heard the boom of a sniper rifle nearby and found Eddy well concealed behind a rock with a big crack down the middle. He had been hit in the shoulder but had it bandaged and seemed to be OK otherwise. He was surrounded by a big pile of spent casings and as Butler watched he put his cheek to the stock, took aim, and boom. Eddy gave a satisfied bleat and worked the bolt to chamber another round, then paused to carve another notch in the stock of his rifle. "What's the score Eddy?" Butler asked. "Pricks 0, Eddy 34" was the calm reply. "Keep it up buddy." He replied. "Oh yeah." Said Eddy. Boom. As Butler moved away he thought to himself, That is one weird dude, glad he's on our side." Boom.
With a grunt Butler landed back in the CP. "Run a com check and I want a sitrep from all units that answer." he ordered the radio operator. She spoke into the handset and strained to hear the replies over the increasing volume of small arms fire. She turned to him and said "A Troops reports holding their own but only seven still in action, E Troops was overrun but have recaptured their positions, H Troop is down to five effectives, no reply from the others Major. He could see the worry on her face, so said "They're probably just busy right now, we'll run another com check in a few minutes." With a hesitant smile she returned to her radio. Taking his rifle Butler moved to a good firing position and began returning the increasing incoming fire. Every time he popped up he could see the Krill were getting closer and closer. He fired a quick burst and dropped back down before he could see if it had any effect. Almost instantly the rock he was hiding behind was peppered with return fire. A grenade bounced off of it and rolled down the slope before exploding. Damn they're close he thought. He threw a grenade of his own and was rewarded by a loud hiss of pain. Get some! He thought. He heard a sudden burst of fire close by and crawling around the pile of broken rubble he found the surviving rifleman in the nearest fighting position engaged in hand to hand combat with two Krill. His three comrades and several dead Krill littered the scene. Raising his rifle he shot one of the Krill and the other went down under a butt stroke followed by quick bayonet thrust from the Ram. With a squeal of thanks the rifleman moved back into position and began to fire down slope.
Butler returned to the command post and radio operator who was the only one still manning it. He had sent his other staff to reinforce weak spots in the line. "Major, she said, all units I can reach say they're running low on ammo." Suddenly she listened intently, then looked up at him with a funny look on her face. "Sir, a Krill wants to talk to you!" He did a double take, "Say what?" "A Krill Sir, says it wants to take to the hybrids leader." She held out the handset to him. Hesitantly he took it and said,
"This is Major Butler, to whom am I speaking, Over?" A lisping hissing voice replied in fairly good English.
"I am Sub-Commander Kriiss. Is thiss the leader of the hybridsss?"
"As I said, I am Major Butler, I command the 7th. What do you want and how did you get on this frequency. Over?"
"Then you ssspeak for the feralsss? Asss fffor the radio we have captured one offf your primitive devicesss asss we cannot contact you with our own. Thiss ressitance, though admirable, iss futile. Sssurrender and you will not be punisshed, thiss I promise. You will be returned to a comfortable life ssserving our Massters."
"They may be your Masters, but as far as I'm concerned they can all go to hell. Now if you will surrender to us I promise not to let my troopers use you for target practice. Over."
"Hsss Hssss, Ssuch bravvado! You are worthy foesss. But it isss ussless, why do you not ssave your livesss? Why do you fight if you cannot win?"
"For the Honor of the Regiment, the 7th has never surrendered and never will! Butler Out!"
"That's telling the scaly bastards Sir!" The radio operator said with pride in her voice.
He started to reply and then suddenly heard the sound of attack hovers moving in for another run. With a bleat he dived behind some rocks and the cowered as the whole earth seemed to shake and he was covered with dirt and debris and let out a squall of pain as he was picked up and thrown through the air. He came to in a daze, his ears ringing and was aware of agonizing pain in his leg. Butler raised his head up and looked around. The radio operator was lying a short distance away, she was still alive but had a horrible wound in her chest that bubbled blood as she tried to breath. The radio was destroyed. Looking down he saw his left leg had been shattered and was a bloody mess. With a squeal he dragged himself to the Ewe and tried to put a compress on her sucking chest wound, but it was useless. Seeing the command pennant had fallen he managed to prop it up by wedging the pole between two large rocks. He looked up as it snapped in the wind. I hope we did you proud he thought. He propped himself up next to the rocks and took the Ewe's head in his lap and held her while she died, gently nuzzling her even though he knew she didn't know he was there. When the light faded from her eyes he gently closed them. The sound of firing had slowly been dying out. He heard a sudden flurry of firing from the nearest position, then the hissing sound of Krill voices. "Boom", he heard. Go Eddy! He thought. He pulled out his revolver, an old .44 Magnum, and as the first Krill stuck his snout over the top of the rocks surrounding the CP he put a round in the center of its forehead blowing its brains out of the back of its skull. Get some! He thought. __________________________________________________________________
The Krill officer had been inspecting the battleground since the fighting had finally ended. She was appalled at the carnage and destruction. Her unit alone had suffered 33% casualties and five APC's including the CO and his command vehicle had been destroyed. From what she had heard the other units had suffered similar losses. It had been the hardest fought battle she had taken part in during her thirty years of service. There had been no quarter given and none asked. She looked down at a large male hybrid who appeared to have been an officer but she couldn't be sure as he wore no insignia of rank, the hybrids never did. He was draped over the body of a smaller female hybrid as if he was shielding here. She wandered if he had been the one she had talked to over the captured hybrid radio. She thought he probably was. What had he told her at the end of their rather short conversation? "For the Honor of the Regiment.", if she remembered correctly. Yes, she could understand a reason like that, it was a good one. Her troops told her he had refused to surrender despite being wounded and they had had no choice but to kill him. She looked at the small banner flapping in the wind, it was red and blue with archaic crossed cavalry swords in the center. She had seen other banners scattered over the battlefield, but this was different from the rest. One of her troopers made to take it and she hissed at him "Leave it!" A little taken aback he hissed acknowledgement and retreated. As she looked around that strange song started again and she realized it was coming from a music box set on loop so it would play indefinitely. They had played that song throughout the entire battle. Who, or what, was a Garry Owen? She wondered.
One of her junior officers came up to report to her in a subdued voice. "None? She incredulously replied, No survivors at all?? But what of the wounded? What of their care givers?" The officer replied again in an awed and respectful voice. Even the wounded had died fighting! She realized. She hissed in sadness about the care givers, they gave life instead of taking it and so were honored. She had never seen anything like this before. Such valor. She had a feeling this was going to be a long war. Reaching up she removed her badge of rank and placed it at the foot of the banner, and one by one her fellow soldiers did the same. It was their way of paying respect to a brave and worthy foe by leaving tokens of that respect to honor their memory. To the Krill a brave and worthy foe was a rare and valuable thing and they would be remembered in their songs of honor. She regretted they did not have the time or resources to properly dispose of the dead, but they had their own dead and wounded to attend to. A short time later the Krill withdrew from the battlefield and left it to the dead and the sound of a haunting march that echoed across the now quiet ridge.
Tony the cougar watched as the Krill left the field and withdrew towards their main base several miles away. He and his fellow felines had crept to within sight and sound of the raging battle, but had been unable to be of any help. They had watched helplessly as the Krill finally broke through and the fighting had turned into brief hand to hand combat during the last few minutes. Once he had seen two goats emerge from their fighting position, and obviously out of ammo they had engaged the Krill with fixed bayonets before going down under overwhelming numbers. He waited for another hour in case of an ambush or stragglers, but finally decided it was safe to move in for a closer look. He signaled his friends to move up and gave a quick radio call back to those who had waited under cover farther back. As soon as the goats and canines caught up they're all moved forward cautiously.
As they neared the ridge they passed destroyed Karn APC's and once a downed attack hover. There was blood trace everywhere though the Krill had removed all their own dead. It was obvious from what they had seen and the amount of blood scent that the Krill had taken horrendous casualties. They found their friends and comrades where they had fallen. Many had been wounded numerous times before falling, and there was evidence of brutal combat everywhere. They found a sniper lying in a huge pile of spent casings and there were over fifty new notches carved in the stock of his rifle, he had died with a bloody combat knife in his hand. The field hospital was a charnel house as the Krill had to use grenades when the wounded refused to surrender and kept fighting. Two of the Donkeys had thrown themselves over the wounded trying to shield them with their own bodies. Tony found Henry, his Ram radio operator, cradling a small dead Nanny in his arms. Henry looked up him with tears in his eyes and said, "She was one of my mates, her name was Trixie, we have a son, she was so sweet to me all the time." And closing his eyes in grief Henry started to sob and squeal his anguish as he held his dead mate and lover. In time the other goats found him and did their best to comfort him.
They found Major Butler with a dead Ewe in his lap, he was draped over her like he'd been trying to protect her and had an empty revolver in his hand. At the base of his command pennant was a large pile of Krill rank badges. "Why'd they do that?" Asked Bruce, another Ram. Tony replied "It's their way of honoring a valiant foe that fought well. They don't do it very often and I've never seen so many before. And they left the pennant too, they usually take those."
"It'll be light soon, we'd better move out." Tony ordered. That brought instant indignation from the goats who insisted they had to bury their friends. Tony was adamant though, there was no way they had the time or ability to bury so many bodies. Besides no doubt the Krill would be back at dawn to police the area for weapons and other salvage. So for now they had to leave their friends to the elements until they could be properly taken care of. The only exception was for Henry who flat out refused to leave his mate like that, and they helped him to bury here under a cairn of rocks to keep the scavengers away. As they moved out and faded into the night they could hear the haunting sounds of the march for a long time. In the future that lonely place would always be known as Garry Owen Ridge.
When they reached their bivouac Tony had Henry send a brief encrypted message to the Col. Roth at HQ. It was simple and to the point. "Regret to inform you that on June 24th, 2076 elements of the 7th Caprinae Cavalry engaged a vastly superior force of the enemy and all 207 troopers were killed in action, no survivors."
END
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