Free Tombstone by Jay Allan

me.  They were just words, after all.  But when he was done
I was so worked up I’d have faced the entire enemy force alone if I had to. 
I’ve never figured out whether it’s real confidence a leader like that inspires
or just mind games that provoke a response, but I never forgot how it made me
feel, just when I needed that extra bit of courage.  I would be giving a
version of that speech many times myself in the years to come, and I would
fight with other officers whose ability to rally troops would astonish me.  But
that day I was on the line with the captain and the lieutenant, and as far as I
was concerned, no Caliphate force ever made was going to make me let them down.
    I crouched down, digging my foot into the grayish gravelly
dirt and pushed up against the rocky spine, bracing myself and aiming my
mag-rifle out at the hazy, faintly glowing clouds.  My AI would take whatever
bits of data my scanning devices could glean and combine it with the info
gathered by the rest of the platoon, giving me the best guess at where enemy
troops were approaching.  The smoke was very effective, but it wasn’t perfect
cover.  Troops moving through would disturb the clouds, at least somewhat, and
if the AIs could factor out the wind and weather-caused effects, they could
actually do a decent job of finding concentration of troops coming forward.
    “Ok, platoon.”  The lieutenant’s voice was calm, even more
so than the captain’s.  “You men and women are the best soldiers in the field,
anywhere.  Janissaries are good troops, but they aren’t that tough.  They can’t
be that tough, because they’re not Marines!”  His style was a little different
than the captain’s.  His voice was relaxed, almost like a teacher in a
classroom, but then all of a sudden he’s amping it up and getting us whipped
into a frenzy.  “We’re going to do the work, platoon.  I want everybody to
focus.  I’m going to call out enemy locations as we have them.”  He paused. 
“And we’re not retreating, no matter what.  Anybody who leaves their position
won’t have to worry about Janissaries; they’ll have to worry about me!”
    My AI started projecting figures in front of me, the
shimmering blue images displaying percentages projecting the location of enemy
troops.  We didn’t have enough data to get any solid leads yet, but there were
a couple spots north of 40% probability.  I started firing some bursts at these
locations, and I could tell that a few others were doing the same.  I didn’t
know if I hit anything – probably not - but it was worth expending a little
ammo in the effort.
    The auto-cannon didn’t open up yet, though.  It was an
extremely effective weapon on defense, and the lieutenant didn’t want to give
its position away too soon.  With any luck, the enemy would blunder right into
the center of the field of fire.  Their own scanners were compromised by the
smoke too, so they couldn’t really attack with any precision.
    I’d been scared to death before the attack started, as I
always was, but now I wasn’t really thinking about that anymore.  I was so
focused and so pumped up by the captain and the lieutenant, the fear morphed
into a nervous energy, an edginess that made it hard to stand still.  I could
hear my heart beating in my ears like a drum.
    “Enemy troop concentrations.”  The lieutenant, still totally
calm.  My God, doesn’t anything rattle him?  “Transmitting coordinates.  Open
fire.”
    The enemy troops were off to my left, but I had a clear line
of fire, so I switched to full auto and sprayed the area.  The mag-rifle had
enough kick to knock a man over, and probably break his arm as well, but in
armor you just felt a small vibration.  I emptied an entire clip into the
smoke, and the autoloader slammed another one in place with a loud click.
    A few seconds after we started shooting, the enemy opened
up.  Their position given away, the advancing troops had no reason to