The Captain looked down the road for a few moments and then nodded. In seconds, he was giving orders for troops to begin dismounting. As they formed up, he began spreading them out into the bush on either side of the road, although the troops on the right stayed within the bush without moving into the open ground out that way that Andrew had only just spotted. The lead battalion’s Colonel came trotting up and spoke with the Captain, and then he looked over at Andrew with an expression that looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he refrained. Simpson, the sniper, stayed glued to him as the squad assigned to his advance assembled in his vicinity.

“I’m going to put up a shield that is tinted slightly red. You should be able to see it clearly enough. I will make a hole, not much bigger than the barrel of your guns, for each of you to shoot through. Please don’t stand directly behind the hole because I can assure you the cyborgs will be able to put shots through those holes quite accurately.”

This brought a few smiles from the men and women assigned to him. He threw up the shield, and a dozen soldiers fanned out on either side of him, several of them reaching out to touch the shield gingerly and then spotting the holes he had created for each soldier to shoot through. He glanced behind to make sure Simpson was behind him, and she smiled at him, which he found quite enchanting. He returned his attention to his front and began to walk forward.

The bush at the edge of the road thinned, and he could make out a cleared area beside the road to his right that could be used as a viewing spot because, beyond the cleared area, he was surprised to see the sea. There was a sudden clatter of assault rifles firing, and he could feel the impacts of shells against his shield. The troops sheltering behind his shield fired back, and he was pleased to note they took care not to line up directly on the holes he had opened in the shield as they did so. The fact that his people were shielded and the enemy troops weren’t gradually told as he continued to slowly move forward, and fairly soon, he could feel the enemy troops falling back on either side of the road.

The Nuzeeland troops in the bush on the left were pushing forward as well, while those on the right were being more circumspect given the more open ground on that side of the road. Around the curve, a track leading to a farmhouse of some description branched to the right off the main road.  It went up and over a ridge while the main road continued on and then turned to the left below the ridge. The enemy fire was starting to slacken as his troops took a toll on those of the enemy that tried to stand and fight. His steady advance continued for maybe two or three hundred meters before the road curved around a flattish area that was some way above the road level.