They had split up. Bonitelli and Dancer had proceeded straight as Mal and Morgan flanked the right cannon. The THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, of the cannons continued. Each thump was followed by a loud WHOOSH as the missile shot from the cannon would ignite and streak towards the sky. Sarge motioned him to stop. Mal dropped to one knee, and looked back. He could see the small red flashes on the gray shadows in the distance. Mal could just make out one transport coming back down. The angle of decent was too steep. Others still continued up trying to reach the safety of the black. Tears swelled in Mal’s eyes as he watched the destruction. A hand gently touched his shoulder.

“If you want to help them, see to the job at hand.” He paused and looked Mal in the eye. “Things will always go wrong, how you handle that makes you who you are. Dong mah?” Mal nodded as the Sarge spoke calmly into his comm. “Light em up”

Bonitelli and Dancer started firing on the right gun. Two of the five man team stopped loading and returned fire. The spotter grabbed his headset and started to speak. The bullet from Morgan’s rifle silenced him. The gunner seated on the other side of the cannon, continued to fire, unaware his spotter was dead. The third loader struggled to load another compliment of missiles into the rack. He looked up just in time to see Morgan and Mal charging. Before he could reach his weapon, Mal ended him. The two soldiers firing at Bonitelli and Dancer were both dropped by Morgan. Circling the cannon from both sides they closed on the gunner. He was gone. Mal pointed towards the second cannon. The gunner was sprinting the 50 yards between guns to warn them.

Mal and Morgan poured fire towards the second gun. Their attack elicited the response they needed, the second load crew split and returned fire. The gunner showed exception athletic skills as he dodged and duck his way towards the second cannon.

“Bonitelli move up. Take the gun now.” Morgan shouted into the comm.

“Sarge the gunships will be here soon let them t