Ware Two

Von

Jun 02, 2025

Article voiceover

0:00

-7:04

The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Barcis knew that his position was the last stop before the clearing. His heart was pounding. His own kids and wife were in the clearing! No cursed Bogie was getting by him! He had twenty mini-lights at his personal command and he used his battle trained eyes and the heads up and watched, intensely, as the battle in the air… really just above the edge of the jungle… Played out in front of him. One after the other he shot them out and then dropped them down. On the ground they could survive an EMP, with their automatic, mechanical, systems changing their boards if the earlier one fried.

“Ware two!!” the ranker shouted and Barcis’s eyes flashed that direction. Sure enough there were flashes of light coming from that direction! And then there was a violent flash and all of his systems went dead.

“Switch,” he told the ranker and, himself, quickly flipped out the fried controller from his suit.

“Rumble, rumble, rumble,” he heard as soon as his suit was back on line. It was Tomirosh and, amazed, Barcis watched his heads up show dozens of strike drones lifting from near the front. They shouldn’t have been there! It was like this had all been planned.

“Barcis!” he heard, and his display showed Philiskos, along with a whole bunch of men. “Tom sent us up, where do you need us?”

“Eukles and His have got a bit of a breakthrough going on our five, but it seems like the buggers might be trying something on our two, so send half of yours each way.”

“Sounds good,” Philiskos replied, and he and his troops broke quickly into two groups and moved out, both commanded by Top Rankers.

More and more troops came up and the Top Ranker sent them down the same two vectors. If the enemy was coming, they would need support. If it wasn’t, their coverage would allow the front line troops to maybe break out.

And then chaos broke out all over. Hundreds of reports popped up, hundreds more drones launched…

“Deep Well, Sector four, Deep Well, Sector four,” Tomirosh said and Barcis realized, aghast, that he was calling in the navy!

But as shocked as he was, this opportunity couldn’t be missed. “Double time,” he sent to the troops he had sent forward.

Another EMP downed his view for another few seconds, and as soon as he changed his controllers out another one hit. He had twenty in his pouches, but all this changing was leaving him blind.

Suddenly he heard the warbling warning from a friendly EMP and he, and the ranker and, he hoped, all of the troops he had sent forward pulled their controllers back out and put them in a protective pouch. And then turned their faces to the ground.

He heard a ‘ping’, which was a purely mechanical signal indicating that and EMP had gone off and he quickly reloaded his suits controller.

“By all seven kinds of a general!” the ranker sitting next to him said, on their private com, “Will you look at that? The unit at our five is pouring forward!”

“Still all mixed with buggers tho and leaving holes that we need to plug,” the Top Ranker said. “Ware gaps in the line,” he sent to the troops moving forward.

“We see them,” he heard in return and blanched at the heads up which said the person commanding of his five o’clock troop was now a sub-commander. He must have gone past their position at a run while the Top Ranker was watching the front. A full sub-commander, and not theirs either (cowardly bugger was probably hiding under his desk at headquarters!). Barcis would have to be careful how he directed this battle!

The twelve o’clock reinforcements were still headed by that initial Top Ranker, but the sub-commander had taken him under his control… both of them theoretically reporting back to him as the ‘local front commander’!! He gulped, hoping he was playing this right.

But the unit at the front must have thought so, or he never would have sent so many troops pouring through the forward gap. And as time went on and the new troops finally made it to the line, it seemed that his luck was all in order today. The new troops moved into the gaps, and even spread out, with more of the front line troops going forward to support the flanks of their attack; and what resistance there was from the buggers all but evaporating.

He expanded his view. Technically the troops that had moved through were no longer under his command, but no one would blame him for keeping an eye on them. They were getting hit hard, broken into all sorts of little groups, but they had expanded into a huge area.

As he watched a point on the left of the advance suddenly turned flashing red. An enemy base. There were only ten of Eukles Own there, mixed with twenty of the front line troops, and the numbers changed to six and fifteen as he watched.

Then the flashing sped up and he saw a shuttle icon, one then two more, speeding toward the area, just above the tree tops. A rescue squad.

The front line troops were really getting hit in that area. They must be fighting to keep the aliens off the rescue squad. One after another their lights winked out, until a final two, Euckles Own, were all that held out. Barcis hoped that they would actually get rescued with the prisoners, but the Rescue Squad shuttles flew off and, mere seconds later, the last two lights winked out.

Then, ironically, some of Tomirosh’s own began filtering into the area, and the alien resistance seemed to evaporate.

Article 17

Article 17 is a military science fiction story with aliens and romance. It is set in a future reminiscent of Napoleon era Britain. The war was going very poorly until the military installed a dictator. This story follows one of the dictator’s great men: Cladin Tomirosh, Leader, and thrice decorated hero.

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Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!

Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.

If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!

If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.

Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books are published by Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:

The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid: A Christian historical fiction chapter book about four orphans who go to live with their aunt on a dairy farm.

The Bobtails and the Cousins: The sequel to Preacher’s Kid. The aunt has married, and the cousins come to visit. Meaning town kids dealing with chores and manure and…

The Bobtails go to France: The sequel to cousins. The Bobtails, and Preacher’s Kid, get to take a trip to New York, London, Paris, and a small town in France. To get some cheese.

and

No Ordinary School: A brilliant but socially clueless boy gets recruited for a special school. Where he makes a lot of money, gets a girl, and solves a mystery.

As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.

Arthur also has a substack, and a website. On the substack you can listen to some of his published books. Free.

Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,

Von