Combat tended to be on the push and pull side of things, I found. Sometimes you waited days between getting attacked, sometimes it happened every 30 minutes.

  Right now, it was the a bit in the middle. Right now was a moment of quiet, in which I was checking her munitions, specifically her shells.

  Right now I was running low on slugs. Had been for a while. I'd requested a box of em last supply, and hoped they arrived soon.

  It was 5 in the morning now, the hog should be coming soon. If I ran out, my range would be cut by a good few meters.

  But, there was no use worrying yet. So, I switched to platoon coms. "This is Sargent Nivka, 5th squad, requesting eta until civilian evacuation is complete." I request.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Estimates are around another 12 hours. Plus or minus an hour, over."

  She wanted to curse. While their post could be worse, it could be much better. They were basically in the open here, and while that worked both ways, if they needed reinforcements, it would be harder to get them. Or retreat for that matter.

  But that, again, wasn't worth dwelling on. I sigh, and get up. I check coms, making sure 6th was good, then the tank. After that, my own.

  We were all a bit stressed, as lack of sleep and constant ambushes are wont to cause. I grabbed an mre, and headed to the perimeter for watch.

  It was still dark, and i mechanically mixed the shitty mre coffee and took a swig. It was, predictably, not great, but it helped keep her up. I slowly started working through the rest as night became daybreak.

  This planet was in winter, and while they were near the equator, which helped the temperature, the nights were still miserable.

  When I finished, I tossed the garbage over the perimeter, and continued scanning. I figured they were due an attack here soon. Perhaps because it was dawn, or maybe something else, but my instincts told her to brace.

  I rubbed both shoulders, where my mechanical arms connected and continue into my chest. They occasionally hurt, same with my right leg. The weather didn't help, nor did my feeling like I was going to get jumped, but I could do little but wait.