Dinosaur Wars: Earthfall by Thomas P Hopp
***
Kit, Chase and Dr. Ogilvey had been summoned to the dining room where they stood silently listening to the voices on the radio. General Davis sat at the table, his expression grim as the rumble of distant cannon fire rattled the windows. A voice from the radio in front of him shouted, “Another Bradley knocked out!”
“Just my luck,” he muttered. “Eisenhower only had Hitler to deal with. Powell got an easy one with Saddam Hussein. How did I ever draw this enemy?” He looked at Gar in the living room and his eyes narrowed. “These guys are like Dinotopia, the Devil, and the Apocalypse all rolled into one.”
“Phaw!” Ogilvey exhaled. “Did you ever stop to consider the other side’s predicament? From the Kra point of view, they’re just trying to get home after a long odyssey and you’re doing your best to stop them. How do you expect them to react?”
Davis scowled at the paleontologist. “So, I’m supposed to open my heart to the enemy, is that it? Just say, ‘Hey, you’ve suffered too, let’s be friends’?”
Ogilvey nodded. “Something like that. Remember, Jesus said, ‘Love thine enemy’.”
“Well, that’s where Jesus and I differ, Doc. Do you hear what they’re doing to my men? Do you?”
“Yes.” Ogilvey clamped his jaw shut and fell silent as the rumble of gunfire intensified.
Davis looked at his watch. “Ten minutes before they were to be at their ready lines. I hope they had time to get the whole troop onto the main battlefield.”
Static crackled on the radio along with the sound of a thunderous explosion, followed by the rattle of machine-gun fire. A voice came out of the rising static.
“This is Fox Two requesting permission to withdraw. We are under heavy attack. We’ll be wiped out before we get near the tunnel.”
Davis grabbed a microphone off the table in front of him. “Abercromby, this is General Davis. You are ordered to keep attacking, do you understand? Move forward. Fight to the last man. Do you read me?”
Crom’s voice came over the radio thinly, breaking up. “Yes, sir. I read you.”
“It’s now or never,” Davis shouted. “You can’t fail!” He got up and paced the floor, stopping to listen as several more dull thumps reverberated outside in the distance. The radio came alive again, this time with Suarez addressing his command.
“Okay Fox Troop, move toward Point A. Fire at confirmed targets only.”
“At least he’s still moving forward,” Davis muttered, staring at the radio as if trying to see the action he was hearing. He wore a look of desperation.