Free Revolutionary (The Athena Lee Chronicles Book 4) by T S Paul Page A

“we are under attack! Get into position.” There must be advance troops out there that the spotters missed. His men came running out of the barracks and jumped into the defensive trenches they had dug. The trench on the left exploded into flame, several of his men staggered out of the inferno on fire. They tried to crawl to safety but the combination of diesel fuel and thermite melted their bodies as if they had been made of wax. Horrified by what had happened to his men he missed the fact that the fuel truck was out of position and close to the gate. When it blew, the gate was shredded and now burning fuel had turned his defenses into cinders. The rest of his men, too afraid to use the trenches were taking up position inside the barracks and other buildings.
     
    High above the ESS troops, up on the water tower, sat Sergeant Yannos. His group had infiltrated the compound and taken up position. All it had taken was a few pounds of explosive to freak those boys out. What pussies! Training standards have definitely slipped.
     
    Yannos silently watched Captain Ridgeway. He had special orders concerning that one. His boys had already dug the pit. One thing this forest had was lots of Demon ants. Those things could strip a large animal in a few hours. Should be fun to watch.
     
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    Turning Sergeant Yannos loose with his team had so far turned out to be a great decision. Colonel Lee’s spotters had confirmed that the smok they had sighted was coming from inside the manufacturing compound. Once they regained control of their world that was one thing that would change.They need to move the manufacturing centers for the colony closer to the cities. He understood the reasoning for having it where it was. No one wanted to repeat the mistakes that Earth had made during the terror war. Those thoughts aside, it made too good a base for anti-government forces.
     
    The compound was now in sight. His tanks were taking up positon and the mortar teams were getting set. Using his scope, Colonel Lee could see that the external defenses were mostly destroyed. Smoke and ash was rising from inside the walls so something had taken place there. He would follow the plan. Yannos and his group was too great an asset to accidentally kill. Lee’s forces were the carrot. Yannos was the stick. Lee would let the special forces do their jobs.
     
    Now that all eyes inside the compound were on Colonel Lee’s assualt force it was time for the dirty tricks to start. All of the enemies snipers had been replaced with Yannos’s troops. A snatch team was getting into position. When Lee’s attack started that was the signal. Let the games begin!
     
     
     
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    Where in the Hell did the Militia get tanks! His spotters said they were setting up mortar pits too. This rebellion must have been festering for a while. How could our intelligence operatives missed the importation of heavy weapons to this world? Captain Ridgeway made a promise to himself. If he got off this stupid Frakking planet he was going to kill those intel geeks. It was getting dark. Attacking at night with armored vehicles was always a bad idea so he could relax a little. The captain began his tour of the defenses. So far everything looked good. The troops were starting to get tired being on alert. Hopefully when it was dark he could stand some of them down so they could rest. He had just finished his tour when the first mortar shell landed in the courtyard.
     
    The anti-personnel shell hit dead center in the courtyard spraying shrapnel in every direction. Captain Ridgeway hurried to the command center. It was the most protected area and could withstand a direct hit. Several troops were already inside. A corpsmen was working on one man’s leg. Looking at the sheltering troops he yelled at them “get back out there! You can’t fight the enemy if you can’t see them.”
     
    The troops all looked up at him and at that moment he realized that he had been tricked. He had