Holding Off Reinforcements (Part 2)

The hundreds of tanks that had just been lying in deathly silence suddenly erupted with roars, filled with hunger for battle.

The roars echoed between the rock walls, merging into one whole as the clamor shifted without pause.

The armored troops drove their steel flood onward. Roggmus sat against the heavy machine gun atop the turret, watching the rock walls race past on either side.

Then he saw the exit on the northern cliff.

"Just a little farther!"

He thought:

Once we get through there, we'll be there.

Beyond his sight, the road plunged straight into the crimson-tinged black night of Suffering Star's void. Everything several hundred meters beyond it had been swallowed by darkness.

He looked confidently at the gap, certain that he had made the right choice—and the only choice.

The command vehicle quickly passed through the gap. He turned to watch it until the opening vanished from view.

Roggmus continued facing the rear until he believed the entire regiment had driven out of the canyon. Only then did he turn forward again, ready to order the armored forces to accelerate. It was time to contact Captain Krentz.

The troops at the front needed to know he was coming.

"Ambush!"

"Enemy attack! Turn around! I told you—"

"Sir! Sir!"

Suddenly, the radio erupted into chaos.

Reports and curses flooded into his headset like a tide. The voices gradually became fragmented, thick with fear.

Roggmus swiftly scanned his surroundings, but all he saw was a neat column of armored vehicles traveling through the night behind him.

"What happened?! Stay calm! Report one at a time!"

Then he heard something in the distance.

He heard the consequences of his mistake—the sound of machinery breaking apart.

It gradually drowned out the engines, hanging over the entire regiment as it drew closer