I doubt Trivval will show up. He hasn't been on the site in weeks.

My thoughts were this...
1. The mortar barrage is either late or only picks up the trail of the Salvesh counter attack. Maybe a few to a small squad of casualties.
2. The UCAV A10 would have attritted their numbers down some, maybe 10%. 
3. The survivors of the mortar fire and UCAV attack would then rush into the 1st and 3rd squads on line in their positions, higher elevation than the attacking Salvesh.
4. Eventually, the forward two squads plus the MG teams pull back beyond the 2nd squad. They would bound past the 2nd squad and set up in a new location about a hundred meters beyond the 2nd squad. Maybe the 2 MG teams and one of the rifle squads could reinforce 2nd squad?
5. THis second line, focused on Hellis' squad and then we make this series of retrograde leaps and bounds, 50 - 100 meters at a time, drawing the Salvesh into us, sacrificing space for time knowing that they outnumber us.

Yes, we should take casualties with all this movement going on.

I did forget about the annoying news source. They can be humorous. :)