Battle earth box set 1.., p.18
Battle Earth - · Box Set 1-6, page 18
“Come on! Give it to them!”
The runners didn’t spare a moment in recovering their comrades from the buildings. Any fatigue was immediately forgotten as the news of their rescue spread. The remaining troops poured out, some helping their wounded comrades who had fought on through injury.
“That’s it, fall back!”
Jones took to his feet and started moving back with the rest of the troops. The barricade and wrecked vehicles provided cover for their retreat, at least until the enemy reached them. They’d have to leave almost all of their equipment in Brest, but it didn’t matter. Their lives were worth more than anything else. He counted the men as they rushed back towards the centre of the crossroads. He counted thirty-eight, including Dubois.
It was doubtful that anymore than a handful were at the aid station. Jones’ fear that he’d lost close to three platoons out of four was a reality he was hoping not to have to face. He reached the square and found Major Chandra and Colonel Girard ushering troops into the two tallest buildings either side of the road. Even the Colonel now had a rifle in hand and was ready to use it.
The French armour, what little was left of it, had been entirely abandoned, and they were funnelling into the buildings in a desperate hope of escaping the fate of many of their friends. Chandra looked at Jones’ bedraggled company jogging up the street, many being assisted.
“This all that survived?” she shouted.
Charlie nodded. He couldn’t bring himself to say it. She was as distraught as him but quickly snapped out of it.
“Captain, get your arse up top!”
He ran into the building. It was a high class thirty-storey office complex, and he could see troops pouring into the twelve elevators. Many more were queuing to use them.
“The wounded stay for the elevators. Anybody still on his own two feet takes the stairs!” he ordered.
Jones smashed through the doors of the stairs and didn’t even break stride, leaping onto the first steps. He was already breathing heavily. It was in this moment that he appreciated the gruelling training regime they’d endured on a regular basis. Everyone hated long runs in full armour, but it had readied them for this very moment. Not only were they running from the enemy, they all knew they had limited time.
They finally smashed through the rooftop doors, and the sight of countless aircraft with troops piling aboard greeted the exhausted men. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.
“My God, we might make it out of this hell yet.”
An explosion erupted in the sky as an enemy ship zoomed by and blasted a troop carrier out of the sky as it lifted off. Friendly fighters rocketed by with guns blazing, trying to strike down the enemy.
A craft landed not far to their side, and Jones immediately headed towards it, despite how dead his legs felt. He gestured for the rest to follow him.
“Run!” he shouted.
They clambered aboard the vessel and sat helplessly hoping they would make it out alive. From the windows in the side of the transport, they saw the alien and human fighters battling it out. They saw at least ten friendlies drop out of the sky, the pilots placing themselves between the enemy and the transports. They were having as hard a time in the air as the tanks were on the ground.
The ship lifted off and immediately went to full throttle, darting across the sky. Jones looked out through one of the windows at the carnage below. The city was crawling with Mechs and their tanks. Many of the buildings were flattened, and smoke still gushed from friendly and enemy tanks alike.
Just a few moments later, and they were away from it all. Gone were the deafening sounds of battle and the death and destruction all around. Now they sat in silence, hearing nothing but the faint drone of the engines. Not one of them could think of a word to say, they merely stared at each other in a combination of despair and relief. They had survived more through luck than anything else.
Luck can’t save us forever, Jones thought.
* * *
Once again the Major sat looking at the troops lining the copter they were travelling aboard. Gone were the cheerful jokes and larks that echoed through the vessel during their training missions. That had prepared them for a full-scale war, but none of them ever expected to face it.
Their briefing had been short and rather vague compared to most training briefs. It was clear they were on a mission full of uncertainty. The Canadian and SAU forces had already embarked via sea in the middle of the night. The marine forces were to attack via air in a combined operation.
Taylor knew this mission was a test bed for future operations. The attack was not intended to gain ground but simply to occupy it for a short time, causing as much damage as possible to the enemy and giving relief to the war in France.
Without any idea of objectives or layout of the enemy island, now known as Tartaros, the human forces were being piled in to cause as much trouble as they could. The expectation was to take and hold the western beachhead for no more than a day, killing as many of the enemy as possible and setting explosives on the way out. The Major didn’t like the lack of intelligence and knowledge about their target, but they had no choice than to act.
He stood up and walked along the fuselage of the ship and up to the cockpit. Taylor looked out between the two pilots at the monstrous alien island. All around them were hundreds of aircraft, fighters, bombers and transports. Up ahead, they could just make out the shapes of the sea-based craft approaching the enemy. Tracer and energy pulses flew across the sky as their fighters engaged the enemy.
“ETA two minutes, Sir!” shouted the pilot.
“Thank you, Lieutenant!”
The enemy’s jamming technology had already stopped all communication via radio. Taylor missed his usual flight crew. It had become a tradition to fly with Rains and Perez, but he knew they were playing just as important a role. He went back to his men.
“This is it! Remember, you were born for this. This is our chance to take the fight to them!”
They stood in readiness. The familiar approach began with the raising of the nose and reverse thrust. The doors opened, and the Major went out first, followed immediately by his companions. The boosters kicked in on his suit as he approached the aliens’ landing zone. For a moment, his heart almost stopped. He could make out a Mech at the very point he was descending. Then a wisp of smoke rose from its suit and he could see it lay dead on the floor.
As he landed next to the fallen enemy, the Major was immediately looking in every direction. Marines were landing all around the deck. They were dropping through the vast holes that had been blown into the roof of the structure. The large room was five metres high and mostly empty, but the fallen roof sections provided substantial cover.
“Major, check this out,” said Suarez.
He pushed his way through the men to where the body of the fallen enemy lay on its back. The bombing runs must have struck the alien when its armoured suit was smashed and ripped apart. For the first time, they gained a glimpse of the creature beneath the suit. Its head was visible where the top of the armour had been blown off.
It was human in size, though taller and slightly narrower. The skin was dark blue. There were features similar to a human, such as two eyes, but the nose was almost flat to the face. The structure had been disfigured by the blast and light blue blood strewn over the skin and armour.
“That’s disgusting,” said Kwori.
“I’m sure it would have said the same thing about you, Private,” replied Taylor.
“Yeah, well this is our planet, not theirs.”
“It’s a fair point. We’ve seen enough, so let’s move.”
They could hear a constant drone of boots hitting the metal floor for more than a kilometre in either direction as the battle continued to rage in the sky. Before they could make another step, a door lifted open at the far end of the room.
“Mechs!” shouted Baker.
The marines turned, rushing to open fire as energy pulses began to fly at them. The two enemies were riddled with fire and didn’t even get through the doorway. They breathed a sigh of relief for a moment. Seconds later, a larger door opened further along the same wall, revealing Mechs in a ten-wide line and as deep as they could see.
“Take cover!” shouted Taylor.
Light pulses killed six of the marines before they could even hide in the debris. The room filled with an ear splitting hail of gunfire as they began to fire back. Rockets and grenades smashed into the armoured aliens and blew many apart, but it didn’t stop their vast numbers. Taylor saw several more of his marines hit as they returned fire.
“Keep firing!”
His voice was drowned out by the gunfire, but it was the only thing he could think to say. His jaw dropped when the wall in front of them folded and opened. It revealed lines of Mechs. Behind him, the marines continued to drop in and join the fight. They had made no headway yet and were already in a meat grinder.
“My God!”
“Get the high explosive rounds in! Aardvarks, everything!”
The room erupted into a dazzle of flashes and bursts of light, and explosions broke out around the enemy attackers. Another ten marines fell, and as many of the Mechs were blown apart. As Taylor watched the onslaught, a pulse from an enemy weapon smashed past his head into the cover he was using, knocking him to the floor unconscious.
An hour later, the Major woke up in a scattered pile of bodies. His hearing was buzzing and his eyesight blurry. He stretched out his hand and pushed to lift himself up. As his vision cleared, he could make out at least forty dead marines, so he’d been left for dead. He scrambled to his feet and shook his head, trying to wake himself up.
He stood alone in the vast room. Dozens of Mechs lay dead and destroyed. He thought he had been left alone on the alien hulk. But his hearing began to recover, and he could make out the familiar sound of rifles firing. It was a relief to know his forces were still in the vicinity. He attempted to walk but swayed slightly, still disorientated and off balance.
Taylor made his way through the dead marines and aliens, heading for the gunfire. Far into the distance, he could see as many as a hundred marines fighting, but taking a bend there was action far closer. Down a vast corridor, he could see his own company frantically defending a wall of piled dead Mechs. He could just make out Captain Friday’s voice bellowing orders to the men.
Between him and the troops lay five more dead marines. It had been a bloody struggle to make just a few hundred metres into Tartaros. He lifted his rifle and saw the magazine was nearly empty. He changed it, staggered forward and began to regain his composure. As he closed in on his company’s position, he could see that it led to an opening in a huge room the size of a football stadium. Two other companies were dug in and fighting hundreds of Mechs advancing from the far end.
Captain Friday turned abruptly as he caught sight of movement behind him. He realised it was the Major, ran up to him and hauled him down into the defences.
“We thought you were a goner, Major!”
“Give me an update, Captain.”
“It’s as it looks, Sir! You must have been out for some time. We’re hitting them hard, but they just keep coming at us.”
“Any command signals yet?”
“No, Sir.”
“This is fucked, Captain!”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Have the engineers set the charges!”
“Already done, Major.”
Taylor nodded in appreciation. Friday always knew when to anticipate orders, but he never overstepped his command. Over the sound of the gunfire and explosions, they could just make out the piercing sound of a siren coming from their original location.
“That’s it, Captain, signal for full retreat.”
With their communications jammed, it meant they had reverted to using audio signals as commands. The Air Force had launched the audio beacons into the breaches just moments before to signal the retreat. Taylor knew it would be a tough battle but nothing like the onslaught he was seeing.
“That’s it. Fall back!”
The marines looked in surprise at hearing their leader’s voice. They got to their feet and rushed to escape the bloodthirsty scene. Taylor took a few paces back into the entrance of the corridor and watched the survivors of the company hurrying past him.
He looked back at the defences just as an energy pulse smashed into Parker’s flank, slamming her to the ground. He froze in shock at the brutal impact. Her armour was smouldering from the heat, and she was lifeless.
“Eli!” he screamed.
Taylor rushed back into the open ground towards her body.
“Major, come on!” called Friday.
The Captain’s words were utterly ignored. Taylor reached his fallen Sergeant, the only woman he’d truly loved. He threw his rifle around to his back and hauled her onto his shoulder. He had no idea if she was still alive, but he wouldn’t leave her even if there were no chance of her being saved.
Light pulses smashed into the wall behind the Major. Captain Friday returned fire with his rifle, doing his best to cover him. The shock of seeing Eleanor hit had sent such an adrenaline rush pulsing through Mitch’s body that he’d found a second wind. He stormed across the floor and into the corridor.
The entire company ran with all the energy they could muster. They reached the room they’d originally breached to find the Air Force pilots had smashed new holes in the hull, allowing them to land at their level. They clambered aboard gratefully. Taylor laid Parker down in the seat next to him. He was oblivious to anything as he checked to see if she was breathing.
Captain Friday was the last aboard and barked at the pilot to get in the air as soon as he had a foot in the door. The pilot lifted off and immediately spun the craft around, speeding off westerly. Captain Friday watched as many of the other ships desperately tried to escape, but several burst into flames as they tried to lift off. He could only help but feel they were getting out alive through sheer luck of the draw.
As Friday watched the devastation while they made their escape, a series of explosions erupted across the length of the vast structure. Flames and debris shattered out from Tartaros. The charges had blown soon after the last survivors had lifted off. He watched in horror to see that the ruptures in the outer walls seemed to have little effect on the structure as a whole. He could not help but wonder what good they had done.
Taylor had ignored it all. Friday looked back to see him pulling out his datapad, quickly checking a few details. He then ran up to the cockpit.
“Glad you made it, Major!” shouted the pilot.
“Lieutenant, you have new orders. I want you to take us to these co-ordinates!”
He thrust the datapad forward for the pilot to see, but the man looked confused and uneasy.
“Sir, I have orders to evac you immediately back to base.”
“I have a Sergeant in there dying, and there’s a British destroyer with full medical facilities north of here. You can reach it in half the time!”
“Sir, I have my orders.”
Taylor snatched his pistol from its holster. Without hesitating, he placed it up against the pilot’s head. The man froze in shock.
“Lieutenant, this is not optional!”
Captain Friday stepped up, also in shock.
“Sir, what are you doing?”
“Stay out of this, Friday!”
The Captain knew better than to interfere with Mitch. His superior had also become his friend over the years. No matter how crazy an idea was; he’d learned to trust Taylor under any circumstances.
The pilot looked to Friday for some help, but he would not go against Mitch.
“You heard the Major,” replied Friday.
“Lieutenant, get us there, now!”
“Alright, alright!”
It was a relatively short journey to the British destroyer HMS Battleaxe. Everyone aboard knew Taylor was directly contravening the orders of their command, but not one of them attempted to stop him. The fact he was willing to do anything in his power to save one of their own was a comfort in the wake of the devastation they had witnessed. The other craft carrying his company were quick to follow suit, having every confidence in their leader, even without knowing his intentions.
The surviving marines of D Company dropped onto the deck of the carrier. Their pilots refused to land with them, returning as ordered to base. Of the one hundred and nine of the company who had landed on the enemy island, they carried only eight wounded. They had left seventy-one marines dead in the hellish alien hulk. ‘Leave no man behind’ was an ideal they could no longer afford to adhere to.
The British Navy and Marine crew were shocked to see their American counterparts, but they were eager to assist. Some rushed to help the few wounded, but most stood in shock at the distressed state the marines were in. Taylor carried Parker immediately to the medical bay. Captain Friday reported to the ship’s Captain, who came out to greet them. The Royal Navy Captain gasped upon news that they were a company on seeing their numbers.
Taylor burst into the medical bay. The doctor reeled at the sight of the fully armoured and armed marine crashing into his impeccably clean and kept room.
“Doc, this marine needs your help, right now!”
Chapter 10
Charlie looked out through the windows at the French scenery below. He’d become well accustomed to recognising it from the air. He could see Mechs and enemy tanks rolling down the roads. Their transport was approaching the base at Rennes, but they were not slowing or dropping altitude. He watched as the base came into sight. It was nearly empty, and the last few vehicles were rolling out and heading east.
The Captain got up out of his seat and strode forward to the pilots’ cockpit, as much to talk to them as to see easterly.
