Chapter 29 – Reunion
At The Alamo Station
The street was
littered with debris and bodies from the building we had destroyed. Cautiously,
I led my men around the wreckage and to the front of our station. The exterior of the station was pock-marked with hundreds of bullet holes. Seeing the damage,
I wondered how any of my men survived. As I came to the door a voice rang down
from above.
“Why, thank
you!” I replied. “How are things here? It looks as though you’ve had a hell of
a time.”
“Well, them
Martians kept us on our toes, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.” The
man said.
“Bully!” I
replied. “Is Lieutenant Ballard about?” I asked.
“Yep!” he said,
“and you can see him once the barricades are removed from the door.”
“Thank you,
Sir!” I said. My men and I then moved around to the main door. I could hear the
work going on behind the doorway. Shortly, the noise died away and the door
came open. Lieutenant Ballard was the first to emerge. He was covered in grime
and I could see a bandage under his hat, but he seemed to be fit.
“Charlie, what
happened to you!” I exclaimed
“Reytik’s men
spent a lot of time trying to knock down our watchtower with their artillery.”
He said. “They finally succeeded last night, and I was just a little too close
to it when it came down. I was covered with debris and got a bump on the head,
but nothing to write home about.”
“How has the
troop faired?” I asked.
“We’ve been hit
hard, there’s no question about that.” Lieutenant Ballard replied. “Let’s go
inside and sit down and I’ll give you my report.”
“Excellent
idea.” I said. I ordered my men to take up positions on the walls and keep an
eye out for hostiles. Then Lieutenant Coleman, Chronto, and I followed
Lieutenant Ballard to his office. We took our seats around the table and
Lieutenant Ballard began his tale.
“Things were
pretty quiet for the first couple of days, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Borlak
came by and told me that desert tribesmen were arriving by the hundreds.
Fighting began in the outskirts of town on the third day after you left. It was
sporadic at first, but became more intense after nightfall. Borlak’s men made a
good fight of it, but there were just too many of them. Borlak was continually
pulling back and Reytik was gaining more control over the city.
On the fifth
day, Reytik’s forces came to our block. Borlak’s troops were holed up in the
buildings covering our flanks and rear. First, Reytik tried to overwhelm us by
an assault with a great number of his soldiers. The densely packed streets made
it a turkey shoot for our machineguns and riflemen. We mowed the poor devils
down in swathes.
After that,
they disappeared for a couple of hours. Then, all of a sudden, the buildings to
the west there collapsed. Once the dust settled, they started shooting at us
with their artillery. Fortunately for us they only had a few guns that could
out-range our michineguns, They tried moving some of those fire projectors up
close, but we were able to cut down their crews before they could do any
damage.
Anyway, they
used their heavy guns to knock down our watchtower. I guess that was some sort
of moral victory for them. Either way, it was better for us, because had they
been pounding our walls instead, I have no doubt that our casualties would have
been much higher, if we would have survived at all.
The tower came
down about dawn. With that, the Martians renewed their assault on our position.
I think that was about the same time you started your attack on the forces
surrounding the fort. It wasn’t too long after that when we spotted the first
groups of Martians fleeing through the city.
Then things got
confusing. We were being attacked from one side and in other places Martians
were fighting Martians or one group of Martians was chasing another that was
fleeing. I assumed this was Borlak attacking Reytik’s men. We couldn’t tell who
was who, so I ordered my men to only shoot at those who were actually shooting
at us.
Then there was
that massive explosion to the east. That made the Martians scurry around
even more. At that point, there was no way to tell friend from foe, so I ordered the men into cover. We kept up a watch to make sure no one was sneaking up on us to blow the gates or something like that.
even more. At that point, there was no way to tell friend from foe, so I ordered the men into cover. We kept up a watch to make sure no one was sneaking up on us to blow the gates or something like that.
Some of
Reytik’s men rallied in that building to the North and put up a heavy fire on
us. Then you came along and put an end to their little party.”
After he had
finished, I asked “How many men did we lose here, Charlie?”
“Six killed,
and fourteen wounded, a couple pretty bad.” Lieutenant Ballard replied.
“You have done
well.” I said. “We will move your wounded to the fort with our other injured
fellows as soon as possible. That way Miss Linton and the others will have a
much easier time of caring for them.”
“So you rescued
her. Is she alright?” Charlie asked.
“Yes, she was
unharmed.” I answered.
“Then well done
to you, Sir!” He said.
“Thank you.” I
replied. “Now we need to determine what to do next. We must remove all of
Reytik’s remaining soldiers from town.”
“But we can’t
tell the friendly Martians from the enemy, until they start shooting at us,
that is.” Lieutenant Ballard said.
Chronto then
suggested “ I will send some of my men to find Borlak and bring him here. Then
we can coordinate our actions.”
“Bully!” I
cried. “That is an excellent idea. Please make the arrangements immediately.”
“I will be back
shortly.” Chronto replied. With that, he was up and out the door.