“Which way are we throwing?” Kermit pinged.

“X form, corp,” Julio replied. “I’m throwing your way. So you sure as hell better be throwing mine.”

“On my mark,” O’Neal said. “Three, two, one, Mark!”

Julio realized it was the General right behind him as he threw the grenade. He threw it hard; as the first guy in the stack he had the best chance of getting it far down the corridor.

The General threw one as well then shoved him, hard.

Julio thought he was crazy. The grenades were on a three second delay which meant they would be running right up on Kermit’s grenade as they entered the corridor.

But as he rounded the corner he saw the General was crazy like a fox. There were four emplaced positions along the corridor but the defenders had seen the antimatter grenades skitter down the corridor. Julio actually caught a flash from one of the defender’s hyper-velocity missile launchers as the Posleen ducked back to avoid the explosion and the wash of antimatter. A mechanical shutter dropped over the hole, closing it entirely.

Julio felt a hand on his shoulder, an almost irrestistable pressure, as the General pinged in his ear.

“Down, son,” the General said. “Take it on your helmet,” he added, pressing the private down and forward.

The explosion, at this range, was almost as bad as the casta round. And he saw his suit counter drop, hard. His armor had taken a serious hit from the antimatter. But he also was within a step of one of the armored positions.

He followed a karat, leading him to a position further down the line. The armored door slid back before he’d taken two steps, though, and he paused, dropping slightly, and targeted the small opening.

Most of the rounds careened off to one side or another but a few got through. The wash of fire out of the opening was unnoticeable compared to the explosions to either side but it was apparently enough. No fire came down the corridor at him.