The waiting is always the worst. You sit there, in your defensive position, trying to joke with your brothers in arms, constantly scanning the horizon. Eventually, you all fall silent, eyes looking in the same direction, searching for the same thing. Both hoping and dreading to be the one that spots the enemy first and yells the words that will turn existence into a horrible mixture of fire, ash, blood, excrement, screaming, wailing, and crying.

"CONTACT!!" the words rang through Eirik's mind as he stood ready, full siege armor equipped, now with the m134 minigun permanently mounted on the right arm. It was only a matter of time before someone called out the magical words. He had given orders to open with at first sighting. They were outnumbered in the extreme, and even if their enemy had a massive preference for melee combat, Eirik still doubted they could put enough fire downrange, fast enough to grind the assault to a halt.

He heard walking behind him and whirled around. Everyone was in position, so whoever was walking had either left their post or did not belong inside the defensive perimeter, to begin with.

"Las'Tai, what are you doing here?" Eirik asked surprised. She was one of the last people he would expect to leave their post.

"I have been thinking about what you said earlier, Captain" Las'Tai said "And you are right. I need to choose a side, and I have chosen yours. Life as a Kloxna is no life at all. Not compared to the freedom I have seen the rest of the galaxy enjoy. I want my people to enjoy the same freedom. And for that to happen, I must fight for your side."

Eirik thought about her words for a moment before he replied. (What about your mother? As different as you are, she still gave you life."

Now it was Las'Tai's turn to be silent. Several minutes passed without a word, both of them watching the distant hills. "Yes, she did give me life..." Las'Tai declared. "But she also represents the old ways. The collective suffering of the common people for the benefit of the few high caste. That way of life is outdated and it is time for the Kloxna to evolve once more. If my mother wants to prevent that, I will skin her myself!"

Eirik raised a hand to get her to calm down a little. "Then it would seem we have finally discovered the purpose for which the gods burdened me with you." He winked at Las'Tai as he said the last words "But that does not answer why you are here and not at the fallback position."

Las'Tai unslung the rifle over her shoulder and touched a claw to the blade Eirik had made for her. "I plan to meet the enemy at the frontline. I must commit myself to my choice. The best way I can think of is to join the frontline defense. " She answered and looked at Eirik.

Eirik took a long moment to look at Las'Tai. "You have no idea how much you have changed since you boarded my ship the first time. When this is done, ask me about it. For now, run over to Jesper and make yourself useful. Look for the biggest amount of heavy guns."

Las'Tai started running in the direction Eirik had indicated but stopped after a few steps and turned around. "Thank you, Eirik." She said before she continued on her way.

Eirik had appreciated the distraction. Soon it was back to the crushing waiting period.

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Some 40 minutes passed with several soldiers coming up to Eirik and running back to their positions after exchanging a few words. Suddenly, a voice rang out from the center of the line. "CONTACT!!" and all eyes snapped to the hills. For a moment, it looked like the hills themselves were growing. Then an ocean of Kloxna started streaming down the hillsides. Numerous as ants and covering the horizon, they were closing on them fast.

Eirik cast a quick glance around and saw everyone stare hopelessly at the sea of bodies moving towards them, screeching and roaring with murderous intent. "FIRE!! FIRE, YOU MAGGOTS, IF YOU WANT A CHANCE A LIFE!!" Eirik yelled into the receiver in his helmet, sending his words out to every soldier keyed into his frequency. As Eirik started spinning up the barrels on his arm, his words took effect and the entire defensive line erupted.

Rifles started spraying their ammunition toward the enemy as fast as their guns would let them fire. Heavy machineguns started drawing patterns in the enemy formation with their large caliber rounds. Soldiers popped out of their hiding places and added to the firepower. Then the 9 miniguns spread out amongst Eirik and his wolf packs started firing, adding their vast destructive potential to the already ludicrous amounts of death being hurled toward the charging Kloxna.

The Kloxna died in droves. Hundreds lost their lives in the first seconds of the battle, thousands within the first minute, and they had yet to reach the improvised trenches. But they had not slowed down. If anything, they were moving faster than before, no doubt believing (rightfully so) that if they could just reach the defenders in melee, the fight would be over before it began.

As they got closer and closer, Eirik could see the results of the rapidly approaching enemy on his troops. Their aim was becoming worse, their fire panicked and their reloads were slow. This further inspired the charging Kloxna who grabbed their blades in the maws and dropped down to all 4's, maximizing their movement speed.

Just what Eirik wanted.

He knew from his time on the ship how deceptively fast a Kloxna with a purpose could be and had planned ahead. At the 150-meter mark from the line, he gave the order. "GRENADES!!!"

at the 100-meter mark, his men pulled the pins on their grenades. at the 90-meter mark, they threw them and resumed firing. at the 70-meter mark, they hit the ground and rolled toward the charging Kloxna. 2 seconds later, the entirety of the 2 first rows of Kloxna soldiers disappeared in the rippling explosions of the several hundred grenades that went off roughly at the same time. The shrapnel turned the 3rd row into a paste, covering both the ground and their allies behind them.

The grenade barrage forced the blind charge to a complete stop as the 4th and 5th row was blinded as they were covered in the remains of those in front and had to stop to clear their eyes. They never got around to it as the gunfire from the defensive line had now resumed and they were moved down where they stood. They had served their purpose though, their sudden stop forcing the lines behind them to do the same, and so on, all the way to the back.

Unable to regain the lost momentum under heavy fire, the Kloxna chose retreat as the only viable option.

Upon seeing this, Eirik's men stopped firing and started to cheer but were interrupted by Eirik's main weapons as he fired at the fleeing enemies. "NO MERCY!! NO RESPITE!! THOSE YOU DO NOT KILL NOW WILL RETURN LATER!!!" He roared as he kept firing and his men slowly joined in, unsure if it was the morally right thing to do, but fully able to see the wisdom in Eirik's words.

5 minutes later, everyone was busy getting rid of the spent brass casings, hauling new ammunition to their positions, and getting food and water in their systems. Las'Tai was walking around, looking for Eirik. Despite searching the entire line she was unable to find him and was about to give up when she saw a shadow move ever so slightly near the back of one of the buildings further into the complex. Following a gut instinct, she went to investigate and was surprised to see Eirik squatting in front of a wall, one arm pushed against the wall to support him, the other resting on the ground.

"Captain? What are you doing?" She asked worriedly. This was not like Eirik at all. She saw his shoulders tense at her words before he slowly got up and turned around to face her.

"I was taking a deep breath Las'Tai. Trying to ground myself, so to speak." His voice seemed normal, but his face looked different. Slightly red and swollen around the eyes.

"Did you get dust in your eyes, Captain? You seem to be having a reaction." She asked, concerned about his ability to fight. Eirik's hand flew to his face before he looked around quickly. Seeing no one else, he put a hand on Las'Tai's shoulder and pulled her closer.

"Las'Tai, this will never be told to anyone else. are we clear?" His voice was unusually sharp, even for having recently seen combat. She nodded.

"Good." Eirik took a deep breath, swallowed heavily, and spoke." To be honest, I was crying over what I did back there. Ordering the killing of fleeing soldiers. Thousands of innocent Kloxna... Daughters, mothers, cousins, friends, all of them dead. At my command. Don't get me wrong, I have killed before and most likely will again. But this is why I despise war. Why I wanted to end this in a duel with your mother. to avoid THIS!"

He threw his hand out in the direction of the entrance, towards the field of the dead. Tears were forming in his eyes as he looked over the hills outside the industrial complex. Wherever you looked, the dead lay in piles, the blood pooling on the soaked ground. Deep down, Eirik registered that leaving the enemy corpses where they fell would present obstacles for future attacks.

Eirik made a face at his own thoughts. He disgusted himself sometimes. Was he that much like his grandfather?

"Well, if it matters, I think you did the right thing. I would have done the same." Las'Tai said before turning around and walking away again.

___________________________

Dalle was fuming. He had hoped the Kloxna would at least get close enough to engage. That would provide him with the excuse he needed to shoot Eirik in the back. As always, the idiot was leading from the front. Something Dalle had plans to make a very bad choice. It was just a moment of timing...

______________

Eirik splashed some water from his canteen into his hand and washed his face. The soldiers would not benefit from seeing him having cried. They would not take him seriously as a leader. But the sheer number of meaningless death they had dealt today was getting to him. The worst part was, that they had just begun.