Sorry people – forgot yesterday

Chapter 15

Driving forward.

Andrew saw the enemy mentalist crumple and collapse to the ground and then had a brainwave. He felt the enemy troops and put a mental shield around them, hoping they would stop fighting if they were cut off from the mentalists’ control. It was only partially successful, and a short firefight amongst the Japanese troops that ended in favor of the loyalists going on the fire coming his way, he resumed covering his troops with a tinted physical shield as they stood up out of cover in advance behind him, laying down fire on the enemy whenever they revealed themselves. Without the cover of a mentalist, the Japanese couldn’t hold against the attack and began falling back.

As the Japanese casualties mounted, the retreat began to gather speed and affected the troops on either side as more and more of the Nuzeelanders got into the fight. Soon the attack was over the ridge, starting down the other side following a street that led straight to the water. While the fighting became house-to-house on either side, Andrew strode down the street, protecting the troops advancing alongside him with his shield and taking out anybody that stood in the way. Word must have spread amongst the Japanese because as they got closer to the shore, they could see dozens of Japanese troops running along the coast road from the right and heading for the left before Andrew cut them off.

As his advance neared the shore, one of the armored gun carriers the Japanese favored appeared to his right and fired a shot at him before he could react. The shell exploded against his shield, knocking him down, but he stood back up and somehow managed to keep his shield up while collecting more power. He slashed the AGC before it could fire again, the slash impacting diagonally across the front of the metal shell that protected the compartment the gun was in, causing the gun to sag to the left and down and taking the machine out of action. From the red that appeared running down the shiny surface, he’d also taken at least one of the crew out of action.

The troops with him surged forward to reach the water and take up defensive positions trapping the goodly number of Japanese in the pocket that was created. He made sure the defense line facing east would stand up to an attack by the Japanese in an attempt to break through to their trapped forces and then turned his attention to the troops trapped in the pocket. He began advancing along the coast road even as more than Nuzeeland troops came down the slope from the ridgeline fighting house-to-house and driving the Japanese before them. The small portable mortars the Nuzeeland troops had gave them a distinct advantage against the Japanese, enabling the Nuzeeland troops to winkle out any Japanese troops in makeshift defensive positions. Advancing along the road, he spotted a group of non-cyborg Japanese soldiers hastily digging trenches in a section of soft ground near a parking bay and people using the beach.