"The battle appears to be in our favor so far," Barek commented to Johnny as they led the troops over the pontoon bridge. "How long can they possibly hold out against such an onslaught?"
"Remind me to tell you about an the siege of the Alamo sometime," Johnny replied.
"Beg your pardon, sir?" the Bajoran nomcom asked.
"An old Earth battle in 1836: Texas separatists vs. Mexican regulars. Similar situation, with technology not terribly far ahead of what the Horde has. The Texans held out for thirteen days," Johnny replied. Not much about this campaign had given him cause for optimism.
"I see," Barek replied. Though no historian even of his own world, Barek was, if nothing else, a pragmatist.
As the Virgo and Borial forces advanced over the bridge the Horde forces began to storm out of the gates of Stonefist and form skirmish lines in front of the breaches in the gate and walls.
"Platoon leaders, dress your lines! Phalanx formation!" Johnny called out. The platoons separated out of the larger structure, forming into box-like formations with shields interlinked. The front rank of each phalanx presented its pikes and marched toward the Horde lines.
Horde footmen were skewered by the dozen by the advancing infantry. Occasionally a pike would be broken by a Horde sword or axe, only to be replaced by a pike from the rank immediately behind. Soon the Horde were up against the walls, pushed off the main field of battle. The last of the pikes broken or firmly embedded in Horde footmen, the Virgos and Borials drew swords and began the true hand-to-hand fight!
The time for massed-unit tactics was over, so Johnny jumped into the fray, his borrowed bat'leth slashing into the advancing enemy. Before the battle, Johnny had supposed he should use a native weapon, but given the choice between a weapon forged by a people who had only learned how to manufacture steel no more than a few months ago and a weapon, though technologically equivalent, which was forged by a civilization that had been industrialized for centuries, Johnny knew what he would choose every time. A Horde idej shattered as the bat'leth slammed into its blade. Johnny drew a Borial dagger with his free hand and gut-stabbed his attacker, then turned to face his next enemy.
Sergeant Barek was dispensing his own form of deadliness to Johnny's right, using two short swords to fend off a Horde attacker: parrying a blow with one, then drawing the other across the Horde footman's throat. Barek then spun around and planted a sword deep into the belly of another attacker behind him.
Johnny heard a bloodcurdling cry behind him and turned just in time to see a Horde soldier charging at him with a gigantic steel battle axe. Johnny drove the dagger deep into the Horde's belly, then threw him judo-style over one shoulder. The Horde tried to get up but was cut short (literally) by the sweep of an idej across his neck.
"Thought you'd like some help!" Jenara said, smiling.
"What are you doing in the front lines?" Johnny asked.
"Just because I ran out of arrows doesn't mean I've run out of fight!" Jenara exclaimed as she jabbed her idej into another charging Horde footman bayonet-style.
The Horde dead began to pile up around the army's ranks, although more than a few of Johnny's army lay dead or wounded as well. Still, the Horde kept coming, though not in as great a number or with the same intensity as before. Johnny, Jenara, and Barek formed a triangle, each one guarding the others' backs, as they moved toward the city walls. Already the first Virgo and Borial forces were beginning to advance into the city.