In the dark of the night,
the six of them went forward like so many ghosts.
And because they had no personal exoskeleton combat suits upon them, their moving was the better hidden for it,
while Zhao Jie and the rest kept close behind Zhao Chen throughout.
Zhao Chen suddenly stopped at one spot, and made the sign to halt.
The other five of the squad stopped moving at once.
But the place they stood in now was an awkward one.
For there was only a cylindrical thing at their side, like a water tank, to be hidden by.
And once they stayed here too long, they would very likely be laid bare.[1]
Zhao Jie would have spoken,
when at that very moment a shaft of light fell across the road they had been about to take.
It was a beam cast down by a sentry on a watchtower some way off.
And with that, Zhao Jie swallowed.
For had they gone on walking a moment ago, their movement might very well have been found out.
And from here there was still some way to the mecha store.
It was very dangerous indeed!
The time went by, little by little.
And that shaft of light drew slowly away.
And at this the hand Zhao Chen had raised made its fingers point slowly forward,
which stood for going on.
And thereupon Zhao Chen was the first to dart out, keeping his body low, the whole of him near enough level with the ground.
And the speed of it was very great!
And the five men behind him could barely keep up with Zhao Chen's way of going, and even then their own running was near out of all shape.
They halted again in another place.
Zhao Jie was somewhat out of breath, and one soldier behind him had his forehead all beads of sweat.
But Zhao Chen, to look at him, had not changed countenance at all.
By the look of it, the running just now was likely well within this man's compass.
And it may be he had gone at that pace purely to let them keep up.
And at this Zhao Chen pointed at the cover they were hidden behind.
One soldier understood at once, took out a timed charge, and set it in that place.
And on they went.
And so it went.
They walked and halted, walked and halted, leaving from time to time some small gift behind for this camp's garrison,
until at the last Zhao Chen's step came to a stop.
And from the mecha store in the distance there remained one last stretch of a hundred meters.
But within that hundred meters all was ablaze with light.
And there was no cover of any kind.
And what is more, upon a sentry post not far off, a machine gun was laid upon this open ground.
Being the military heart of this mecha force, the weight of the mecha store is naturally clear to everyone,
so that its being furnished with security of the highest grade is natural enough.
Zhao Jie swallowed.
He looked at that hundred meters, and knew it for the gate of hell.
And that these men of theirs would most likely die, the greater part of them, before that gate.
And that perhaps… only this man before him had any chance of it.
And that perhaps… his calling these five of them together had been so that they might serve in this action as bait.
And though they knew these things might be so.
They were soldiers, and a soldier's duty is to obey orders.
The more so as Zhao Chen had already won them death benefits at the highest rate.
And for a soldier, that is enough.
"Major Zhao. This last hundred meters, let us serve as the bait…" Zhao Jie spoke up of his own accord.
But Zhao Chen cut him off, his eyes going over this ground bit by bit.
For in truth he had this mecha base clear in his mind long since, by help of the planet map Song Chen had given him earlier, and of what he had seen looking down from the shuttle.
And in Zhao Chen's mind a drawing of it had been traced out long before.
Which is why Zhao Chen had been exact to every movement and every moment in avoiding the enemy's scouting.
"Two minutes remain. And then those charges we left behind us will go off. And in that instant I shall run for the mecha store. And your task, you five. Do you see that one, and that one, and that one there. Those three points." Zhao Chen pointed at one sentry post set high, and two points of fire that had cover to them.
"At these three points the enemy likely has a section standing watch at each, some five men apiece. I want you five, in three parties. While I go out and draw the enemy's fire. To work your way quietly to these three points, and destroy the enemy's fighting men upon them. And then to lay a covering fire upon every enemy unit that tries to come into the mecha store. And once I am inside the store, to win me three minutes."
And having said it, Zhao Chen looked at the five of them.
"You were every one of you elite aces out of the interstellar marines. Which is why I chose you. This task is no difficulty at all for such as you. Now tell me. Can you see it through!"
"We can!" said the five, their voices low and not to be shaken.
"Divide the work among yourselves. A hundred seconds remain," said Zhao Chen.
And without waiting for any other to speak, Zhao Jie pointed at that sentry post set highest and said: "That one is mine, and the other four of you divide into two parties. I was an ace of the Alliance's First Marines in my day. I have been on thirteen boarding actions against starships and five landings upon planets. Don't you young fellows go contending with me!"
Zhao Jie said it with a cold laugh.
And the other four could do nothing; here Zhao Jie held the highest rank, and without an order from Zhao Chen they could only meekly divide the work among them.
And it fell out two, two and one in three parties, with Zhao Jie the senior colonel a party by himself.
"Ten seconds after I go out. Then you move. I shall set you out a few lines of approach. But the working of it through is yours to master all the same."
Zhao Chen looked at the five of them one last time, then turned his head in silence and looked at the mecha store opposite.
"I shall see you presently."
Senior Colonel Zhao Jie gave a short laugh and clapped the two comrades beside him. "Presently I shall stand you both a drink."
"Since the senior colonel says so, then we must not stop till we are drunk!"
And when the words were done, there was nothing but severity in every face there.
And these men seemed to have gone back to the days when they were interstellar marines still,
and set themselves in their fighting postures.
Some with a laser pistol in hand, and some with a pistol in one hand and a light-blade hilt in the other.
For marines are every one of them good hands with a light-blade; it is a required study with them.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
All of a sudden, the sound of explosions carried through the mecha camp.
Explosion upon explosion without a break, which drew not the camp garrison's notice only; within the city too that sudden shaking tore the quiet of the night apart.
At the far end of this city,
above a high communications tower, a shuttle hung hovering.
Song Chen, through the port, saw the fire of those explosions.
And watched that scene with nothing but gravity in his face.
For he knew it for the sign that the plan had begun.
Zhao Chen's end had gone into action.
Song Chen drew a deep breath, and looked at the shuttle's pilot.
"Three minutes from now, you know what you are to do!"
"Understood!" the pilot said aloud.
Song Chen looked at the soldiers in the cabin. "All hands, hear the order. Make ready to fight."
"Yes!"