Battle Earth V (16 page)

“Thank you, Ma’am, message from the Major. We’ve hit heavy resistance, and the enemy is moving forward. He cannot support you.”

“God damn it!” But her voice could barely be heard over the furious battle raging around them. She peered up from the cover to quickly assess the situation and was met by blinding volleys of light as the Mechs fired relentlessly at their position. Few of the enemy looked for cover, and they confidently stood their ground.

We can’t stay here,
she whispered to herself.

“What was that, Ma’am?”

She leaned in closer so he could hear.

“Get to Captain Jackson, and tell him we are moving forward in two minutes. Be ready to provide support!”

The man’s face was pale and his eyes wide with shock.

“You heard me! We’re going forward!”

He got to his feet and rushed back towards the ramp. She looked up to see the messenger get to Jackson a minute after leaving. The Captain looked up to find her and met her stare within a few seconds. He quizzed the news with a confused expression, but she responded with a nod. He lifted up his arm and gave a thumbs-up in acceptance.

The Colonel took a deep breath as she looked down at her watch, counting the seconds down. Fifteen seconds from time, she got to her feet and signalled all around her to rise. They could all see what was coming. Most were on their feet but still hunched down to get what cover they could.

“Now!” she shouted.

She held her rifle up high in the air and waved it towards the enemy. It was the only signal they needed. The hundred or more soldiers already in the hangar rose up and drove forwards with their shields held firmly out in front. Jackson rushed ahead, and his troops poured out from the corridor with the cover of the charge.

Chandra leapt out from cover to take her place amongst the troops as they advanced at a steady pace. She quickly targeted one of the enemy with her rifle held beside the shield, firing on the move. Pulses rushed at them, smashing their shield wall. Their pace was increasing, but they all knew they could only take so much punishment. The intensity of the enemy fire increased, and three of the shields were burnt through under the sustained battering. The rounds pierced the shields and smashed into the soldiers behind them. Chandra saw a few go down around her, but there was nothing she could do but go on.

They advanced forward in a single line because the hangar was so vast, but Jackson’s troops were quick to cover the distance, filling the gaps as the wounded were left behind. They were just fifty metres from the enemy now, and they kept up continuous fire on the enemy who stood their ground.

“Keep moving forward! Go!” Chandra shouted.

A pulse smashed into the corner of her shield as she said it, tearing off a piece that clipped the side of her helmet. Fortunately, it didn’t break the visor. Before she knew it, they were on top of the enemy. The speed of the Reitech suits was something that still surprised them all. She kept up her pace and rushed in a full sprint at the nearest creature.

The Colonel was just half the size of the creature, even with all her equipment, but her ferocious charge sent the beast tumbling over. Before it could recover, she fired a burst from her rifle into its back. The magazine was out. She dropped the rifle to her side and drew out her Assegai. As she turned to find a new target, her shield was shattered by the impact of a Mech smashing it with its cannon.

Chandra was thrown off her feet like a ragdoll and against the body of another of the enemy creatures. She collapsed down on the floor and was unconscious before she’d landed.

 
* * *

“Christ!” Taylor yelled, as a pulse smashed into the doorway beside him, and fragments of burning hot metal singed the surface of his helmet.

“Mitch, this is getting fucking hot!” shouted Jones. He was reloading his rifle only a metre away.

Taylor turned to reply but stopped as he heard something bounce on the ground in the corridor. He turned and saw a metal ball almost the size of a football slide to a halt next to them.

“Get down!”

He had barely enough to time to turn and jump with Jones as a massive explosion erupted in the hallway. The blast burst through the entrance and projected them several metres further along. They smashed into the floor hard and slid into a worktop with debris crashing all around them. Taylor shook his head, trying to regain composure but was stunned from the landing.

“Grenades?” asked Jones. “Are you fucking serious?”

“What, you thought we were the only ones with toys?” muttered Taylor.

Their suits had saved them from the deafening blast, but they were still stunned from the shock of the landing.

“Let’s give them a taste, then,” replied Jones.

He pulled a grenade from his armour and rushed to the entrance. He popped his head out for a second to see where they had gotten to, ducking back as a pulse rushed past his head.

“Christ, they’ve covered some ground!”

He twisted the firing cap and launched it around the corner, looking for any risk of being hit by the continuous stream of fire.

“Have that, you bastards!”

He ducked down as the explosion rang out down the corridor. Taylor quickly got to his feet and peered around the corner to see a dust cloud and three dead Mechs. He smiled, but energy pulses gushing through the fog-like cloud soon washed his joy away. He jumped back and drew out a grenade, quickly throwing it as Jones had.

A second after the explosion rang out, he was around the corner and firing rapidly. Taylor could not make out a target, but he knew behind the dust lay a wall of Mechs that he couldn’t miss. Others of his unit did likewise. They could see the silhouette of two creatures in the smoke be riddled with fire until they dropped, but more continued after them.

“More grenades!” Taylor shouted.

He threw his last one down the corridor and saw several others follow seconds after the blast. Taylor hunkered back inside the room to change his magazine and let Jones take over.

“They’re almost on us, Mitch. We’ve got about thirty seconds!”

The Captain was firing on full auto because they were so close. Taylor looked around to see the platoon they had in the room had taken up defensive positions around the tables and whatever furniture they could find. They waited silently and still. He could see the fear in their pale faces. Their backs were against he wall. They had nowhere to run.

“Jones, come on!”

The two of them rushed back further into the room to take cover. Huge drums as tall as their chests lay in a line that would provide cover, but they had no idea what they contained.

“I bloody hope these things aren’t flammable,” Jones called out.

“I’ll take my chances,” replied Taylor.

They readied their weapons and waited with baited breath for the enemy to appear. The corridor had gone quiet. The rest of the Company had retreated as they had done. It was less than a minute before they saw movement. The sight of the Mechs advancing relentlessly forwards was never something any of them had gotten used to, nor wanted to.

“Fire!”

The opening volley killed the first enemy soldier instantly, and the second fell soon after. The next two got through the doorway but were hit by even more bullets. They could see many of the creatures passing their entrance and moving onto the next. Taylor didn’t want to pass them off onto his comrades, but he was glad that some of the pressure was being taken off them.

“Give ‘em all you got!”

The gunfire was almost continuous as the Mechs tried to force their way into the room. The doorway was only wide enough for two of the creatures at a time, and their dead were amassing in the bottleneck. It was a turkey shoot, and not one of them felt any sympathy for their opponents. Jafar and Tsengal were with Taylor and showing no mercy against their own kind.

After a few minutes, the bodies of twenty Mechs lay scattered and piled in the entrance, and the next waves were struggling to force through their own dead. Taylor looked down to find a magazine, but out of the corner of his eye caught sight of another enemy grenade bouncing into the room.

“Get down!”

The explosion rocked the barrels, but clearly they weighed a hell of a lot more than they looked. It sheltered them from the blast. Taylor looked across their line to see shrapnel had hit only one of their own people. He slammed in a new magazine and lifted up once more to continue firing. To his surprise there were no targets.

For a few moments, they all stood silently with their rifles at the ready. None of them could believe the attack was over.

“Have we done it?” asked Jones.

Taylor shrugged his shoulders in surprise. He jumped cautiously over the defences and immediately lifted his rifle to the ready. He walked slowly towards the mound of enemy dead, kicking the nearest to be certain it was dead. Smoke still arose from its armour where grenade fragments had burned through.

Mitch climbed up onto the enemy dead and stumbled through the doorway, having to duck under, due to the pile of bodies. He dropped out into the corridor the other side and looked in amazement to see it was empty.

“Clear!” he called.

Cheers rang out from inside the room as the platoon rushed to join him. He turned and looked to see that the corridor was awash with enemy dead and piled high at each of the doorways.

“We did it,” said Jones.

Taylor looked down to see that he was dangerously low on ammunition.

“Form up! The Colonel still needs our help!”

It was a few minutes before the Company was able to fight their way out of the rooms through the bloody mess. He knew they’d taken casualties, but he didn’t want to think about it right then.

“Let’s move out!”

He quickly got to a steady jogging pace but was sure to keep his shield at the ready, should he meet another enemy force. A few moments later, he caught sight of familiar faces up ahead, realising the rest of the Battalion had successfully fought their way across the hangar.

“Friendlies incoming!”

He rushed through the lines to see enemy and human dead scattered among each other. Several soldiers were gathered around one of the wounded, and Taylor rushed up to see that it was the Colonel. He pushed one of them aside and knelt down beside her. She was propped up against the armour of a fallen Mech. She looked stunned and weak, but still alive.

“You okay?”

“Just about.”

“Can you walk?”

She looked away, finally looking back and almost in tears.

“I’m not sure I want to find out.”

Taylor looked back to see the medics busily working with other wounded.

“You! Help the Colonel!”

“No!” she cried.

“Can you move your legs?” he asked.

“She looked down at them and tried. Very slowly, they shifted a little.”

“Jesus, you’re okay!”

To her surprise, Taylor grabbed her and hauled her up to her feet. It was against everything he had ever learnt about injuries, but he knew it was all or nothing in that moment. She wobbled a little but managed to stay upright.

“I’ve taken worse beatings.”

Taylor sighed in relief. He suddenly realised how stupid it was to have pulled her up after potential injuries, but he was glad she was okay. He looked around to see the bodies of over fifty Mechs and twenty of their own scattered along the deck. Several of their wounded had their helmets off, to his surprise.

“We can breathe down here?”

“For up to an hour or more, yes. The mixture isn’t quite what we’re used to and could cause us problems in prolonged periods,” she replied.

Taylor ripped off the fully enclosed helmet, which he’d always found claustrophobic, and took in a deep breath. The air was thick with the smell of burning metal and sweat, but it was still appreciated. Taylor was about to settle down on a nearby crate when a loud mechanical cranking sound echoed around the huge hangar. He leapt back up to his feet and held his rifle at the ready. The rest of them froze and looked around for the source.

They quickly realised a massive shutter was opening a hundred metres away from their position.