Battle Earth II (5 page)

The fleeing Moon defence colonists rushed across the crater and debris-strewn ground, occasionally turning to fire back. The Mechs were advancing slowly down the tunnel. Kelly winced in pain. It was hard enough work for him to run in armour, let alone having to help another. His knees buckled slightly with every few steps, and he thought every second that death would come.

The air in the tunnel was thick, and the lights reflected the clouds of dust particles they were charging through and that were clogging their lungs. Kelly could feel the acidic salt of his sweat dripping into his eyes and mouth. Mixed with the smell of death and destruction it was enough to make any man vomit, if they weren’t running for their lives.

The tunnels were lit by low ambient temperature tubes running along the roof and sides of the structure. Several of the light modules were smashed by stray enemy fire. The fleeing troops were lit up every few seconds by pulses zooming over their heads, and the occasional one struck at the ground behind them.

“Keep moving!” Kelly shouted.

He could barely get his breath. They had fallen to the back of the column, encumbered by the injured officers and the Commander’s increasing fatigue. They finally caught sight of the control module.

“That’s it!” shouted Jansen.

They rushed to the box as most of the troops continued to flee, oblivious to their work. Just three soldiers at the rear stopped to protect the officers as they activated the explosives. In the distance, they could just about make out the silhouettes of the Mechs. Every few seconds the tunnel would light up as a weapon was fired, revealing their unrelentless foe. Explosions erupted around their position, but they did not flinch.

They hauled Jansen up beside the control module, propping him against it. They opened the clear cover on top. He flicked three control switches which revealed an arming button.

“That it?” called Kelly.

He turned to the Commander.

“You sure you want me to do this, Sir?”

Kelly reached forward to the switches and smashed the large red button down, starting a countdown on a display beside it. He looked back to Jansen. The man looked relieved not to have had to make the final decision.

“That’s it, let’s go!” ordered Kelly.

He moved to help Jansen when a pulse exploded beside them. Kelly was thrown a metre and landed hard on his back. He quickly came to his senses and spat the dirt from his mouth. Kelly rolled onto his side and looked towards where he’d been standing. Jansen’s body was a twisted wreck, and Martinez was stumbling about.

“Sir? Sir? I can’t see!” he shouted.

The other three soldiers had been knocked down by the explosion but were unharmed. They rose to their feet and looked on in horror. Kelly quickly realised that their time was running out. He staggered to his feet and grabbed Martinez by his arm.

“Run!” he shouted.

The Commander took to a jogging pace, hauling Martinez behind him. Energy surges continued to rush down the tunnel and smashed into the structures either side. The tunnels had been built to survive even the greatest of stresses, so Kelly could only hope that the late Captain Jansen knew what he was doing.

The five soldiers had got just a hundred metres from the control box when a vast eruption exploded. The pulse wave sent the troops tumbling to the ground. The tunnel shook all around them as a dust cloud swept across their position. They were deafened by the tumbling metal and stone.

Kelly quickly turned and got up to his knees. Shards of rock and metal fell from his armour and clothing, and he puffed smoke out from his mouth. He stared down the tunnel, waiting for the dust to settle. Stone and metal continued to clatter for another minute until there was utter silence.

The Commander got to his feet and waited impatiently to see if their defences had been sealed. The other three soldiers watched the settling dust with a mix of fear and anticipation. The view finally opened up and they could see the tunnel had collapsed all the way up to just twenty metres from where they stood. The fact that they had been so close to being crushed to death did not even cross their minds.

Martinez and the others leapt up, shouting with excitement at the perceived victory. Kelly did nothing, simply staring into the wall they had created and thinking of the friends and colleagues he had just lost. Losing any soldiers was unacceptable, but Jansen had been a good friend. Shouts of excitement, clapping and cheering rang out from further down the tunnel as the other troops joined in the celebrations.

The Commander turned and ambled down the corridor towards the shouts of the men. He wiped his face with his hand. The glove was dry and rough, and it did little more than move the dirt across his face. The sweat was mixing with the grime and dripping into his mouth, the dust clogging his nostrils. Kelly could not help but think that they were losing the war at an alarming rate.

“Commander Kelly!”

A soldier came rushing towards him full of excitement.

“What is it, son?” He responded with a grim and disheartened tone. The man rushed up to Kelly, kicking up dust as he slid to a halt.

“Sir, re-supply is incoming.”

Kelly straightened his body just a little as he welcomed the first good news of the day. Every supply drop they received meant that the Earth forces were still fighting hard.

“Good, have we got the secure landing zone and approach ready yet?”

“Yes, Sir! Landing shortly, they’ve got a thirty minute window with us.”

Kelly nodded. They had been getting an old underground docking bay back into operation with a hidden approach tunnelled from a nearby canyon range. In the early days of the colonisation of the Moon, nobody could ever have predicted an alien invasion.  They did, however, plan for the hostility which could come from Earth powers. He turned back to Martinez.

“Glad to see you are recovering. Hold here with your team. I want a full assessment of the defences of this tunnel. Get barriers set up, and make sure you have a wired connection to HQ. I am amalgamating your team with Jansen’s. You have command, Captain.”

Martinez nodded in return. Any other time he would have been ecstatic about the promotion and responsibility he was being given, but the death of the Captain weighed heavily on his shoulders.

“I’ll get it done, Sir.”

Kelly nodded in gratitude. A single tear came to his eye at having to utter the name of his fallen comrade. He turned back to the troops stood before him and quickly wiped the tear away, mixing it with sweat and dust.

“Supplies are incoming! Jansen’s unit is now under Martinez! Anyone who was on duty, return to your posts! The rest of you, with me!”

He slung his launcher over his back and strode confidently down the tunnel towards the docking bay. It was a twenty minute walk to the district that just two days before was a sealed off and abandoned sector. The cleanup crews had worked day and night to get it back into operation. As Kelly approached, he could hear that the bay was a hive of activity, and the ship had already landed.

He took a turn from a broad corridor into the docking bay, and he was greeted by the sight of his people enthusiastically unloading mounds of supplies from a familiar ship. An officer stood at its base with a cup of coffee in his hand. He was a roguish looking character and looked too ill disciplined to be a soldier, but it was clear that he was the pilot. Kelly strode up to the laid back character.

“I’m Commander Kelly.”

“Eddie Rains, good to finally meet you.”

“So it’s you who’s been supporting us from the beginning?”

“And the three other boys.”

Kelly reached out his hand in friendship to the man. Rains had shown no desire to salute the Commander, but Kelly liked him enough to not care.

“You must have balls of steel to have volunteered for this duty, son,” said Kelly.

“Hey, the opportunity to fly the fastest ship man has ever seen, how could I pass it up?”

The Commander grinned. He appreciated the pilot’s sense of humour, and the fact that he remained so humble.

“How goes the war?”

“Paris is still ours. Most of Africa is in enemy hands, as well as Spain and the west of France. South America has seen the start of it. People seem to think we have stopped them dead, but I don’t think it’ll last.”

“That’s a pretty sceptical outlook.”

Eddie took a sip from his coffee mug and sighed before looking back at Kelly.

“Well, Commander, tell me things are going any better here?”

Kelly lowered his head with a scornful expression. He wished he had an answer, but all he could think about was Jansen’s death. He turned and watched the loading crews enthusiastically empty the vessel. Part of the Commander wished he had left on the Deveron with the Prime Minister when he had the chance. He hated himself for wishing he could have taken the coward’s way out. Every time he saw the hope and determination of the colonists, he was reminded of why he did the right thing. He turned back to Rains who was sat back enjoying his coffee. The pilot was hiding well the fatigue he was experiencing.

“Is there any hope in sight?”

“You’re asking the wrong man, Commander. I just do the flying.”

The Commander turned to the easy-going pilot, knowing he must have further information.

“This isn’t exactly a routine mission, so you must be in regular contact with General White.”

“For briefings yes, but are you not in contact now, as well?”

The Commander sighed.

“Yes, but with only limited information. I’ve just learned more from you than we’ve been told all week. Earth forces continue to deliver aid, but to what end?”

“Commander?”

“Are they helping to protect the colonists, or because we are a thorn in the invader’s side?”

“A little of both, I guess.”

“Thank you for your honesty, at least.”

“Hey, while you’re still up here, and I still have a bird to fly, we’ll keep you going.”

The Commander turned back and looked at Eddie, studying him.

“You’re not a Navy pilot are you?”

“No, Sir, Marine.”

“You’re a combat pilot?”

Eddie nodded and grunted as he threw back his coffee.

“What on earth are you doing up here?”

“Job needed doing, Commander, so we improvised.”

Kelly smiled. Despite the impending doom at their doorstep, he was encouraged by the sheer enthusiasm which still existed among men.

“The marines you typically fly for, where are they now?”

Rains winced, the first sign of hardship which the Commander had seen in his face.

“Out there, in France, giving those bastards hell.”

The Commander thought about the little news they had received of the war in France. He didn’t know whether to inquire further or not, for he knew the losses were vast.

“Don’t worry for my people, Commander. The Major leading them, he’ll go to hell and back to win this war.”

Kelly smiled as he turned and looked at Eddie’s ship. A broad shark’s mouth and teeth had been painted around the nose cone. On the fuselage, the image of a stripper had been applied next to a silver rib of the hull that gave the impression of a pole dancer. The Commander chuckled.

“A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t let you land looking like that.”

“Funny how times change, Commander. All we needed was a war to mellow you out.”

Kelly laughed.

“I’ve wanted to get close to one of these monsters, ever since I first lay eyes on them.”

“Still just two of a kind, right now. We’re working all out on developing the technology, but it’s taking some time to reverse engineer them. We still don’t fully understand how they work, just that they do.”

“It’s a fascinating freak of engineering.”

“Lampeter class boats. This girl is called Greta. Not exactly as agile as what I’m used to, but damn she’s fast.”

“Is the General working on modifying and copying other alien technologies? We outnumber the Mechs in every battle. If only we could match any of their armour and weapons.”

“Sorry, Commander. My head has been in this project from the very beginning, but if it isn’t to do with birds, then I simply can’t help you.”

Kelly so desperately wanted more information of the situation on Earth and what was being done to counter the enemy, but he knew Eddie was being honest in his limited knowledge of the subject.

“My people want to fight, Eddie, and they will fight to their very last breaths. None of us want to run, but may I ask a favour of you?”

“Shoot.”

“Start ferrying the children out of here.”

Rains recoiled at the thought, his face turning to stone.

“The General would never approve it, Sir. He’d have my ass.”

“I am not asking for an evacuation of our people, Eddie. I need every adult who can hold a rifle to be doing as such. The children only stretch our resources and give cause for concern. Get them out of here, and you will help our forces no end.”

“And when I get back to base?”