Smoke thins over the coastal battery. The last missile hangs in its rail, the maintenance route below still and blackened. Daniel North, Sgt. Douglas, Justin Forester, and the two ROC soldiers stand over a radio set that keeps hissing with the same dead voice.
Justin Forester
It is a loop. Template-made. Not a man on the other end.
Sgt. Douglas
Then command is either blind, or bought. I am done walking my men into a butcher's pen.
ROC Soldier 1
If we hold here, they can still come through the breach. If we leave, the battery dies behind us.
ROC Soldier 2
The order on the wire does not sound right. It never did. But the sky over the coast is real.
A fresh burst of gunfire cracks from the maintenance path. Dust spills from the blasted concrete lip. The squad flinches, every eye turning between the radio and the breach.
Sgt. Douglas grips the handset, ready to answer one last time. Justin keeps one hand on the cracked receiver, waiting for Daniel North to choose the road, the lie, or the gamble.
“"Let's fall back to the pre-planned reload point." Daniel says. "This is a finished fight here."”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled +2)