He looked around and pointed at some of them in the bushes just behind him.

“You five, into the building. Top floor. Work your way to the end but try not to attract attention. When I say now mentally, open fire on them.”

The five men his wave had encompassed all nodded, and they headed inside the building. He signed to the rest to move forward under cover of the hedges in the garden fronting the road. Then the bushes ran out, so he signed for them to press up against the wall and move forward that way. The gunmen had opened fire too soon, Toshiro decided. Just then, the dull noise in the background suddenly got louder in the form of a grinding metal machine noise, and a tank appeared behind them and began grinding its way up the left-hand side of the road.

Behind it came a force of maybe ten cyborgs and twenty former civilians led by a fellow in a black suit. Toshiro did a double-take when he realized it was his nephew Akiro, who was supposed to be in his second year at university.

“Akiro! What are you doing here?” Toshiro yelled at the young man.

“Drafted. The whole university was. They’re starting to fly unaffected people and cyborgs over from Europe, but it’s a slow process. Everyone’s petrified of losing our last portal. I am now Provisional Mentalist Akiro Sato. So what’s going on?”

“Resistance is stiffening. There’s a bunch of fellows in that building up there. If your tank can blow them out, that would be very welcome.”

Akiro closed his eyes for a few moments, then smiled at Toshiro. The tank’s turret rotated, and then it fired at the building, taking out a large section of the top floor. Toshiro thought he saw at least one of the enemy fall down with the rubble.

“Come on!” He yelled, waving everyone forward, and led the charge.

They stumbled into the wrecked building but met no opposition. The enemy had evacuated the building, probably when they saw the tank coming, so he pressed on. The next door led them inside the hospital proper, and he discovered that many of the beds were still occupied despite the staff having fled. He directed Akiro to take most of the troops upstairs.

“Check the other floors!” He yelled, and then he pressed forward as his nephew disappeared up the stairs

A laser flashed past him from one of the cyborgs who had stayed with him.

“Is the broadcast power on?”

“Looks that way, sir.”

“Right. Clear all the floors in here.” He ordered and headed out of the building, leaving the Cyborgs to the unpleasant task.

It was harsh, but they didn’t have time to coddle patients too sick to move. Besides, the Japanese worlds had always eliminated a much higher proportion of the natives than the Russian or German branches of the Alliance. It made even more sense if there was not going to be any more zivvy to keep them under control. Then there was the Plague to worry about as well. Eliminating all the patients still here would make for a messy clean-up later, but that wasn’t his problem. He had to keep pushing and take as much territory as possible as quickly as possible before the defenders got organized. Given the increased gunfire he could hear as he exited the building, he had a feeling the natives were getting organized quicker than he had been hoping.