Marines by Jay Allan

of vertical pipes that would offer decent cover and a vantage point to get a look deeper into the complex.  The fire was very light, and I couldn't see any enemy troopers until I was almost up to my objective.  I saw him half a second before he saw me.  He was running across my field of fire, clearly separated from his withdrawing unit.  I whipped around my mag rifle and fired on full auto, hitting him with at least ten projectiles just as he was launching a spread of grenades in my direction.
    My shots ripped through his bronze colored armor and tore the top half of him to shreds, but not before the first two grenades were loosed.  I paused for an instant to see my shots hit the target instead of diving for cover, and I felt myself flying through the air as the grenades hit just off to my left. 
    I could hear the fragments impacting on my armor, making a dull clanging sound .  My training took over and even before I hit the ground I was watching the electric blue numerals of the damage display projected in front of my eyes.  Good...nothing penetrated my armor.  I was unhurt and everything seemed to be fully operational.  Damn lucky.  Stupid, but lucky.  If I'd hit the deck sooner, rather than waiting to see my shots hit I'd have dodged the impact entirely.
    I ended up face down about three meters from where I was, lying pretty much out in the open.  There was a small crater about six feet away that would make a decent foxhole.  I twisted my body and rolled into my makeshift cover, and then I scanned 360 degrees to get my bearings.
    The grenades had ripped up the piping where I had been standing, and one torn off section was billowing a vast cloud of something that looked like sickly green steam, blocking my view of the rest of the team.
    "Team three, sound off!  Condition and location!"
    One by one all four of them responded.  They were all unhurt and in position.  That's good at least.  Apparently I was the only idiot to walk into enemy fire.  I ordered team three to hold fast while I checked on the rest of the squad.
    "Team two, report!"
    The second team ran into a few defenders at the storage tank.  They'd taken them all out, but Anderson had taken a hit.  She wasn't badly wounded, but her suit took a lot of damage, and she probably wasn't going to be able to keep up when we advanced.  I prompted my AI to display the diagnostic.  No, no way she was going to be able to keep fighting.  Not without major repairs to her armor.
    "Anderson, fall back toward the aid station.  Stay low until you get back to the trench.  The fire's pretty light, but don't get careless on me now."
    She paused just a second, and I knew she wanted to argue with me that she could stay with us.  But if there is one thing they beat into your head it's that you don't argue with your commander in the middle of a battle. 
    "Yes, Corporal Cain."  Her tone was dejected but firm.  "On my way."
     
    Team one's report was straightforward.  They were deployed around the control building and were taking sporadic and ineffective enemy fire from a ridge outside of the complex, just within small arms range.
    We were spread out in a semi-circular arc running about 120 meters from the storage tank, past the control building, to the section of pipes behind me.  I was ten meters ahead of the line in a makeshift foxhole in the middle of what had once been a street.
    The refinery had taken a lot of damage, and up ahead of us there were a number of tanks that had been ruptured, and one that was burning fiercely, pouring a dense black smoke into the air. 
    There were some structures that would provide moderate cover, but the approach to the ridgeline was completely exposed for the last 1,000 meters at least.  If they were going to defend that at all - and it was the best spot to put up a fight if they weren't going to just turn tail and run - they could give us a tough time. 
    Team 3 had the SHW, but I had given team 2 the SAW.  I had a