Battle Earth III

Chapter 9

Taylor sat once again upon the battlefield surrounded by the dead of both sides Have we broken them? Soldiers passed him with smiles and patted each other on the back for a job well done. He felt a new kind of hope, like he’d not felt since the beginning. It was a hope so long forgotten that it felt entirely alien to him.

A column of vehicles approached from the east and he could already make out stars on the bonnet of one of the armoured cars. General Schulz coming to claim his victory, thought Taylor. Chandra paced up to him with a smile which quickly turned to scorn when she saw the incoming vehicles.

“Ahh shit,” she exclaimed.

“Yep, no peace,” he replied.

“You’re gonna have to take this lightly. Schulz has let you off the hook, but he will be quick to anger, so no macho bullshit, okay?”

“That an order?”

“You’re damn right it is. The last thing we need is to lose valuable members of this Company over some stupid pissing contest.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got you.”

Taylor watched nonchalantly as the impeccably clean vehicles rumbled into view, and General Schulz jumped triumphantly onto the battlefield. He spun around with a huge smile as he looked at the success they had won, and reached out to shake the hands of all the soldiers he passed. He stepped up towards Chandra and quickly noticed Taylor sat down beside her. At first his face turned to scorn, and he tried to ignore the American Major, but he knew it would be in vain.

“Major Chandra, what is this new equipment I see?”

“Doctor Reiter wished to field test new equipment, and we did it for him.”

“Fascinating.”

He turned to look down at Taylor and knew he must do something to smoothen over their hatred of each other. Chandra’s Company was invaluable to him, and Taylor was an important part of that.”

“Major Taylor, I see that you and this war are inseparable.”

Taylor looked up at the General with a tired and uninterested expression.

“That seems to be my curse.”

“You must understand that I never wanted to have to punish and detain you, but neither can I have my army running amok. The chain of command must be adhered to.”

Taylor nodded, as he had nothing left to say. He’d never stop hating the General for his spineless response to the captured soldiers, and his subsequent incarceration for doing the right thing.

“Damn good work here, Major Chandra. Get some rest. The first issue of Reitech equipment is going operational this evening. Tomorrow we push on into France!”

He waited for an enthusiastic response from the Major, but it never came. The thought of returning to the lands where they had been so badly mauled did not appeal one bit.

“We’ll be ready, Sir.”

“I am sure you will,” he said with a smile.

The General turned back and shouted out words of praise to the troops as he returned to his vehicle, to be spirited away to the life of comforts he rarely left. Taylor lay with his head in his hands. His return to the Company hadn’t been all that he’d envisaged. Friday was gone, and Jones seemed to be a different man altogether. Boots squelched in the mud, and he saw Parker looking down on him. Her smile was enough to make him forget it all. They had one night to spend together before the fighting continued.

“Major, Major!” shouted Blinker, rushing along the lines of popup tents where they had spent the night. Chandra stood beside a kettle awaiting her coffee while Taylor sat down next to her cleaning his rifle. She turned casually to see what the fuss was about, but showed little enthusiasm. The rain hadn’t let up overnight, and it was a soggy and bleak start to the day. The Private rushed up to Chandra and didn’t wait for her to answer before continuing.

“Major, the order has been sent out. We’re going forward across the border!”

She didn’t even look at the Private as he spouted out the news with such enthusiasm. She’d no stomach for returning to France; the land only conjured up memories of pain and suffering. The Major slowly stood up and stretched her legs, taking a sip from her mug as the Private watched in surprise at her lack of response.

“We’re going back, Major, taking back what we lost!”

She nodded slowly in response and finally replied.

“Relay the orders to Sergeant Silva, and have him form up the Company in fifteen.”

The Private turned to Taylor to look for any spark of joy at finally being on the winning side, but he found none. He sighed and rushed off to relay the orders in some hope of a response more pleasing. Chandra turned to Taylor who was waiting for her to speak.

“They have driven us back this far, you really think they’re going to give up France this easily?” she asked.

“Not a chance. I think we have hit them hard, and more than they could ever have expected. But to underestimate this enemy now would be a grave mistake. We stopped them before, at Paris, and Ramstein. Maybe this time is different, but it sure doesn’t feel like it yet.”

Within the hour, they were geared up and moving forwards across the war-torn lands still littered with the bodies of their enemies. They paced cautiously towards the forest edge where just the day before they had seen the enemy forces amassing. It was suspiciously quiet, but an hour later they had passed well into the undergrowth and found no sign of the Krycenaeans.

“You really think they are on the run?” whispered Parker.

“We’ve certainly bloodied their noses a little, who knows?” replied Taylor.

“Well that’s reassuring,” she snapped.

It wasn’t long before they reached the far side of the forest, and once again looked on at the Ramstein base. It seemed abandoned and peaceful. Chandra lifted her hand to stop the Company, beckoning for Taylor to come forward to her side.

“You think they’d leave a strategic point like this for us to just walk back and take?” she asked.

“No fucking way. No, I wouldn’t.”

“That’s what I thought.”

The two of them lifted their binoculars out and zoomed in to look at the positions ahead of them. Taylor was drawn to a small flicker of movement and a reflection as the sunrays bounced from a metal plate, but it was soon gone again.

“You see that?” he asked.

“Yeah, nothing human could have survived there.”

“It came from one of the eastern trenches.”

“Shit, you think they’re digging in?”

Taylor carefully studied the terrain once again.

“Would make sense. I think we’ve presented a tougher challenge than they thought possible. We starting to knock the bastards down in open ground, and it would only be logical for them to dig in.”

Chandra sighed.

“As much as it is good to know they are feeling the pressure, them digging in is the last thing we need.”

“Yeah, gonna be a real bitch.”

She turned to Silva.

“Sergeant, get me a line to HQ.”

Silva relayed the commands down the line. They still had to carry wired spindles as they advanced in order to remain in communication. They were a cumbersome and difficult means of contact, but they were already starting to get used to it. Before the radio had reached Chandra, she heard tank tracks rolling to the north. She turned to see a tank regiment advancing quickly in column towards the base without any regard for what may be within.

“God damn it, get me that radio now!”

“Fools, they’re gonna get themselves killed.”

Blinker rushed forward to the Major’s position with the portable radio and wires trailing behind him. She ripped the handset from the box and yelled her warning to the operator at the other end of the line, but it was already too late. A volley of light lashed out in the distance and tore through the first two tanks, destroying them instantly. They watched helplessly as the column spread out and tried to engage the enemy to little avail.

Half a dozen vehicles were reduced to burning hulks, and the others beat a hasty retreat. Taylor could see through his binoculars that they had little to show for their losses.

“God damn, they’re dug in hard!”

“Just like we were,” replied Chandra.

A call came down the handset for the Major.

“We’ve got enemy entrenched along the eastern perimeter of Ramstein, requesting immediate artillery support, over.”

“Roger that, fire support en route. Hold position until further notice, over.”

The Company lay quietly amongst the scrub just forward of the forest they had so recently departed. The foul lung-filling smoke from the friendly vehicles was quickly reaching them. They all could smell burning flesh in the thick smoke, and it was enough to make them want to vomit.

“We’re in for the long haul,” whispered Chandra.

The light on the field phone flashed, signalling an incoming call. She ripped the handset up to here ear.

“Major Chandra here.”

“Major, your company is ordered to dig in. You will have the appropriate equipment within the hour. Until that time, stay put.”

She signed in relief. As much as she didn’t like sitting around with nothing to do, facing the entrenched enemy was a frightening proposition. She found a fallen tree and sat down on it without a care in the world. She was confident they were out of the enemy’s range, but to the rest of the troops it looked like a defiant statement.

“Dig in? I thought this was our big push?”yelled Taylor.

“We can’t run onto their guns,” she replied.

Taylor sighed and spat into the mud beside them.

“After all this, we’re being stopped by our own tactics?”

“Adapt to the enemy, isn’t that what we have been doing?”

Taylor strutted back and forth with frustration until he stopped at the sight of Jones. The Captain stood out in front of them all. He stood tall and also without a care in the world. He was fixated by the glimmer of enemy movement in the trenches far off into the distance. It was as if he longed to engage them in battle. Mitch turned back to Chandra, who had noticed the Captain but chosen to ignore it.

“He isn’t right… Jones,” stated Taylor.

Chandra ignored the comment and stared ahead.

“He isn’t the same man we used to know. I am not even sure he should be in combat.”

She finally turned and looked with scorn at Taylor.

“I’d have Jones beside us if he was just half the man he used to be. None of us are the people we used to be, and never will be again,” she whispered.

Thirty minutes later their trench diggers arrived, and as the sun faded on the horizon, they sat quietly on the firing shelves. They had quickly become accustomed to long waits and cold wet nights spent below ground. Taylor and Chandra sat either side of the base of their trench with their rifles propped up and out of the way. They both knew they were far from any combat.

“Is there no way this war can end without the total destruction of one side?” asked Chandra.

“I don’t believe so. We have seen the evil inside those creatures and their disregard for life. I…I have looked into their eyes and tried to reason.”

Taylor went silent.

“Karadag… you told me about him after Poitiers. You saw him again, didn’t you?”

Taylor looked at her with a fiery hatred and fear in his eyes.

“How did he survive the nuke?” she asked.

Taylor shook his head in disbelief.

“I just don’t know, but I pray none of us have to face him again.”

Taylor couldn’t speak anymore of the enemy leader. He had filled his thoughts since the night he was nearly beaten to death by the sadistic alien. He wanted payback, but the thought of encountering the beast again made him doubt he would survive the experience. He looked up to see Parker sitting on the ledge of the trench a few metres away.

He had given little thought to Eli over the course of the recent fighting. All his attentions had fallen on the war that faced them. Their relationship appeared to rapidly be returning to that of Officer and NCO, which it always had been, although she still looked at him with a yearning when he wasn’t aware of being watched.

The last of the light faded away, and the temperatures quickly plummeted. The exoskeleton suits regulated their temperature and kept them comfortable through the night. They could only imagine the freezing conditions the other troops had to endure. They had long been well equipped with the most advanced of cold weather equipment, but they knew it was high unlikely that any of it had reached the front line.

“I bet Schulz is sitting comfortably in the warm with his feet up,” snarled Taylor.

Chandra smiled at Mitch’s condemnation of their superior. She knew he had every right to be bitter. As they began to finally enjoy the peacefulness of the night, the sky erupted with a flash of light that was quickly followed by the far off thundering of artillery. Shells whistled overhead towards Ramstein.

The two officers leapt to their feet to look over the trench shelf and watch as the shells smashed into the enemy positions. They were too far to see what effect it was having, but they could make out the trenches bursting into flames. None of the troops cheered or jumped for joy, they were too numbed from the previous action. They thought of the brutal pounding they had taken from the enemy guns in the last months and wondered how much good it would do.

At midnight, the guns went silent to let the troops get what little rest they could, and deserved. Taylor sat cleaning his sidearm. Despite the little light they had, he knew it so intimately, he only looked at what he was doing out of the cathartic experience it gave. He could hear footsteps approach and snapped out of the daze he was in and quickly reached towards his rifle out of instinct.

Taylor paused as he recognised Eli and had a welcoming smile on his face. He felt his muscles relax and pulse slow as he moved his rifle aside to make space for her to sit with him. She relaxed down beside his shoulder so that he could feel her warmth, even through their clothing. It was a vivid reminder of the fun times they had shared back before the war.

For a moment, she didn’t say a word as he reassembled the weapon. In the dead of night each component put back in place was audible through the trench. Parker watched his hands move with such precision and disciplined muscle memory. She was fixated on it until he finally locked the slide shut and holstered it on his side. He turned to Eli and gazed at her smile.

Mitch lifted his arm and wrapped it around her. She rested her head down on his shoulder. He knew it couldn’t be comfortable resting on the straps of his body armour, but he appreciated the sentiment. Taylor looked up at the stars. It was a luxury that had been long forgotten, and the cloud cover the previous day had given him little opportunity to enjoy the night sky.

Chandra watched as Taylor and Parker fell asleep against each other in the trench, looking at them with a warm heart. It pleased her that in the middle of such bloodshed and near apocalyptic disaster, there was still time and room for love. She thought back to Friday, and the spark of feelings she had begun to feel for him; and the sorrow his death had brought.

For two days the Company held put in the tree line. They were well supplied, but it was a painstaking waiting game. The artillery roared throughout most of the daylight hours, and the infantry sat uneasily awaiting combat. They watched as the base, they’d recently known as home, was flattened by their own forces.

On the morning of the third day, Chandra awoke to Blinker tapping her on the shoulder with the field phone in his hand. She rubbed her eyes as she yawned and took it from him. Taylor woke and stood up, waiting to hear their orders. She listened carefully for a few moments and put the phone down, looking up with a sigh.

“It’s time. We’re going over the top.”

Taylor smiled at her reference to the First World War. The fact they were only a few kilometres away from the bloody battlegrounds was a vicious reminder of how brutal a war could be. Taylor remembered documentaries which had calculated death tolls in their tens and hundreds of thousands, but it was never something he could ever fully comprehend. Now those horrendous numbers had meaning to him. Every single digit of those vast numbers now meant something to Mitch. He realised that each one was someone like himself, Eli, Chandra and the rest.

“Form up! Form up!” she yelled.

The Company hadn’t removed their equipment since setting up in the trenches, and their bodies were sore and creaky. They began to stretch and groan as they readied themselves to begin the assault.

“When do we advance?” asked Taylor.

Before Chandra could respond, they heard German techno music pulsate from huge speakers fitted on tanks concealed within the forest. Their engines roared to life, and the vehicles instantly lurched forward towards the battered ruins of Ramstein. The raucous music made the troops’ ears vibrate, and it was a brutal way to begin the morning, but it certainly got their pulses racing and their blood boiling.

Chandra leapt up out of her trench and down on the edge, looking down on the troops. They stood silently waiting her orders; as the music made them angrier and blood hungry. She could see that other infantry companies on their flanks were readying themselves, and she could make out Reitech suits scattered throughout.

“For once, we go forward together! We lost France after a bitter fight, but this is the only ground the enemy has taken in Germany. For you marines, Ramstein is US soil, so would you let them keep it? We have turned the tide of this war, and it’s now our job to seize this opportunity and drive them back to the sea!”

She got no response from the troops, but she knew they were each readying themselves for combat in their own way, and her words were coaching them along. A loud whistle blew out to the north, shortly followed by infantry clambering out of their trenches and continuing on after the advancing armour.

The first enemy artillery rounds were already striking the open plain, and Chandra watched. She turned to the Company and lifted her rifle into the air.

“Let’s give those bastards hell!”

They cheered as they leapt from their trenches and took to a quick jogging pace. Up on their feet, and closing the ground fast, they could begin to see the devastation their guns had rained down. There was barely a wall still standing in the eastern half of the former US Air Force base.

Light pulses surged towards them from the entrenched Mechs, but in lesser number than they had expected. Motor rounds from the advancing tanks continued to pound the Mech positions and limit their fire as much as possible, until they got within eight hundred metres of the positions. Chandra quickened to catch up with the armour, and as she closed within a kilometre of the trenches, she activated her jump pack.

“Jump!” she screamed.

The Major felt her stomach queasy as she was launched into the air at an immense speed. The others leapt into the air after her. As she reached the apex point above the enemy, she rained down fire on full auto until she quickly began her descent. Fear overcame her, as she descended at high speed towards the enemy and wasn’t sure if she would slow down. She didn’t know what she feared more, crashing to the ground or landing among the enemy.

“Shit!” she screamed.

As she thundered down to earth, her boosters kicked in and rapidly slowed her descent. She targeted the nearest Mech that was lifting its cannon towards her, and fired three rounds down into its head and shoulders. She had no control left of her landing point, crashing down onto the body of the creature as it was still keeling over and disappearing into the trench.

Taylor landed a split second after Chandra and sunk into the mud a few metres from her. He gasped to get his breath back from the death-defying leap, and saw the enemy turned their guns on him. Before he could fire his first round, the rest of the Company dropped in all round and opened fire down into the trenches.

Chandra clambered out of the trench and got to her feet. She could see Taylor and the others blazing away from the tops of the trenches, in what was more of an execution than a fight. Only two-dozen Mechs had survived the artillery barrage in their sector and were completely overwhelmed by their airborne assault.

Taylor looked around to see that their Company had already gone silent. The other infantry companies were nearing the enemy positions and taking heavy fire as they rushed across the open terrain.

“Major!” he shouted.

She turned to see him pointing south where a vicious volley of fire from the Mechs was mowing down allied troops. Mitch didn’t wait for her orders. He took to his feet and rushed along the enemy lines to attack their flank; and was immediately joined by the rest of the Company. Chandra knew they were as loyal to him as they were to her, but she never let it bother her. She chased after the troops.

A number of the Mechs to the south could see the Inter-Allied Company rushing flank and turned to fight them. Taylor opened fire, charging with his shield held out before him. He reached the trenches, kept firing, and rushed past the burning body of the first creature and continued along their line. Some of the beasts he didn’t even have time to stop and fire upon, but he knew his comrades were at his back.

Fire ripped through the trenches as the Company fired into the backs of the Mechs. Taylor reached a broad dugout at the end of the trench lines where three Mechs stood in position, firing at the incoming allies. He came to a quick halt and opened fire on full auto. He watched with joy as the creatures spasmed when the rounds penetrated their armour, and they finally tumbled into the mud.

The Major turned to see the other Mech forces had been utterly overwhelmed by their superior numbers and blitz attack. It was scarcely believable for any of them that they had finally led a successful attack against the invaders. For the first time since the war began, they were taking ground. Cheers erupted across the trenches and soon expanded to the others as the several kilometre-long perimeter of the base was claimed.

“You did this!” Taylor shouted to Chandra. “You broke their line!”

“No, Major, we did, together,” she replied.

A second wave of allied troops reached them ten minutes later. They were astonished to see the work had already been done. They advanced on and took up positions in the ruins of the base, leaving the troops of Inter-Allied to rest among their vanquished enemy. Chandra walked through the troops, thanking them for their efforts.

“We should carry on to Paris!” shouted Blinker.

“Yeah, why stop here?” yelled Monty.

Chandra smiled at their enthusiasm.

“Ma’am, why not, there’s no stopping us!”

She hesitated, knowing she must address the issue even though it could douse their high spirits.

“I like your thinking, I really do. But let us not forget how we have been caught out before. We have won a valuable victory here today, but let’s not stick our heads up to get them chopped off. You just keep doing what you’re doing, both of you. Get us a line to HQ, if you would.”

When she had finally made her way around them all to praise their efforts, she strode back up to Taylor who was looking down at the lifeless bodies of the creatures. Chandra could already see some of the emptiness in Taylor’s eyes that had overcome Jones. She opened her mouth to speak some words of comfort, but was interrupted by Blinker.

“Ma’am!” he cried.

The Private rushed towards her from the field they had just come from. The cable trailed behind him with the spindle in one hand.

“General Schulz for you, Ma’am.”

She snatched the handset from his hands.

“Chandra here.”

“Major, congratulations, and well done. Please convey my thanks to your troops, and Major Taylor in particular.”

Chandra turned to Mitch with a wicked smile. Schulz is realising he must live with Taylor, no matter what, she thought.

“You must excuse me, Major. There is work to be done, and a lot is changing.”

Her ears pricked up at the General’s passing comments, but he was gone before she could pry any further. A matter of minutes later, shouts rang out across the line and cheers rang out. She could see in the distance that word was being passed along the line; causing the kind of excitement she hadn’t seen in months. Soldiers rushed back and forth as the news spread. Suddenly, Yorath appeared in such a frenzy that he could barely contain himself.

“They’re coming!” he yelled.

“Who? Who is coming?”

“Field Marshall Copley, and the whole bloody British army! They’ve crossed the channel!”

“What? Are you certain?”

“Yeah, British forces north of here are pushing forward to try and bridge the gap!”

She looked north and could see a huge dust cloud that was unmistakably the sign of an army on the move.

“Bloody hell, they’ve finally done it!”

She looked around to see the troops leaping in excitement. She spun back around to Blinker.

“Get a line to command. We need orders!” she yelled.

She looked to see some new life in Taylor’s eyes.

“About time your people did some of the work,” he jested.

An hour later, they were on the move to secure the rest of Ramstein but met little resistance. By nightfall, they once again occupied the trenches which just days before they had fled from under a brutal barrage and assault from the unrelenting enemy. They knew that the next day they would be pushing forward to the enemy stronghold of Saarbrucken, but for that night they could rest in the knowledge they had struck a vicious blow to the enemy. Chandra and Taylor sat once again in a trench as they had done the previous night.

“If they pulled out of Ramstein, they must be readying their defences for our advance. It’ll be a hard fight gaining the next ground. They have over stretched themselves, but once they organise properly, we’ll be up to our eyeballs in shit,” said Taylor.

“Can’t beat a bit of positivity,” she replied.

“We did well today, but let’s not forget what lies ahead.”

“We’ll take it as it comes, as we have done everything else. With any luck, we’ll see some reinforcements before long, and get us back to battalion strength.”

“I wouldn’t hold out your hopes.”

They slept uneasily as they each dreamt of the road ahead. When morning came, they awaited their orders to once again move forward; but thirty minutes after sunrise came, they heard booming engines high in the sky. The thick cloud cover of the dreary morning hid the source of the sound, and they all knew it was not human.

Chandra and Taylor watched the skies for several minutes until huge vessels broke through the clouds and roared northeast. They counted nine ships, and each looked as large as the Navy’s most powerful carriers. The vessels were so vast that it was barely conceivable they were able to fly.

“My god, where are they heading?” asked Chandra.

“That’s the way to Berlin, and they’re opening another front right behind our armies,” replied Taylor.

“How, I thought everything they had was right here, so where are these forces coming from?”

“I have seen them before, when we first encountered this enemy.”

“The Moon?”

Taylor nodded. Though there was little fear or concern in his eyes.

“You think they are feeling the pressure we are putting on them here? Enough that they’d send in everything they had?” she asked.

“I’d bet good money on it. They underestimated the human resolve and ability to adapt and overcome. I think they expected a much easier time of it on this planet.”

“Still, this is going to cause us more than a few problems. We can’t keep moving forward while they threaten us to the east.”

As the droning engines faded into the distance, their attention was drawn to a jeep tearing along the craggy road towards them from the east. Only the driver was aboard, and there were no weapons or supplies visible. The two officers stood and waited for the vehicle. They both knew that its driver must certainly be coming to find one of them. A few minutes later, it skidded into view as the wheels locked, and it glided across the slick mud. The driver shouted out from behind the wheel.

“General Schulz requests both of your presence, immediately!” he yelled.

“You here to give us a lift?” asked Chandra.

“Sure thing, the General was quite adamant about the urgency of the matter.”

She turned and paced back to where the Company was awaiting the advance west which was clearly on hold. The re-taking of Ramstein with minimal casualties had done a lot to boost morale, and she could tell they were eager to push forward but now knew it would not happen.

“Captain Jones!” she shouted.

The Major couldn’t identify him among the troops until she could make out the outline of his back facing her. He had the look of a man that had lost all will to continue, but she refused to repeat the call she knew he had heard. He finally turned and got to his feet slowly and wearily. His face was bitter and cold. It was not a hatred of the enemy he expressed, but a lack of care for life.

“Captain, you’re in charge until we return!”

Jones didn’t even acknowledge her words, but she knew he had heard as well as the rest of the troops nearby. Sergeant Silva leapt to her side for a quiet word as she turned to leave. It was clear he shared some of her concerns.

“Major, are you sure Captain Jones is fit for this?” he whispered.

Taylor overhead the comments and interrupted her before she could reply.

“Jones is one of the finest soldiers I have ever known. He’ll handle it.”

Chandra sighed. It was an uncomfortable position she was being put in.

“There’s no doubt that Charlie should have been given more time to recover before returning to his duties, but we cannot afford such luxuries these days. We need every capable soldier we can get. He’s still the same man, after all. Remember that.”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, I am not sure he is,” replied Silva.

She stopped and turned back to look at the Captain who she had come to know as such a good friend. Perhaps he isn’t the same man we used to know, she thought. Reluctantly, she nodded in agreement that Silva might be talking some hard truths.

“Captain Jones is the ranking officer while we are away, but keep an eye on him. If he shows any signs of being unfit for duty, then as a platoon leader, you have a responsibility to the wellbeing of these troops. You must do what is best for the Company. I pray that day never comes. Let’s not forget the horrors the Captain has been through. He has been deceived and abandoned by allies before, so let’s not allow him lose all hope.”

A few moments later, the two Majors were aboard the jeep and on their way east to Headquarters. They passed over the crater-ridden muddy battlefield that had seen days of bombardment and fighting. Mech bodies still littered the terrain. The human dead were recovered periodically, but nobody had the care nor will to treat their fallen enemies with any respect. The occasional pyre burned in the distance where troops had gathered some bodies together in an attempt to cleanse the area.

Chandra and Taylor stood awaiting the General as he poured over maps and enemy locations. He finally looked up at the two but with a pale face. They could both see the fear in his eyes. The war was not going the way he wanted it to.

“Major Chandra, please come forward,” he called.

She paced up to the General’s table with Taylor close behind. Schulz scowled at Mitch, but he ignored the look.

“Major Taylor, let us set aside any reservations we have towards each other. We need all the help we have got, and we are on a tight schedule.”

Mitch nodded in agreement. He still hated Schulz and blamed him for much of their hardships in the previous few months, but he also knew there was little to be done about it.

“I am here to fight as always, Sir,” he replied.

Schulz begrudgingly accepted the Major’s words while he knew full well that he was stubbornly refusing to accept any wrongdoing.

“You surely must have seen new enemy forces enter our atmosphere. They’ve recently put down just west of Berlin, and we predict that fighting will be underway within the next few hours. You know how thinly we are spread. What you achieved yesterday was impressive, and I thank you both for it. But this presents a great problem for us.”

“Not enough troops to fight on another front?” asked Chandra.

“Precisely. The armies of Earth are fighting all over, and few as hard and often as yourselves. Berlin is lightly defended and to provide assistance would mean weakening our presence here. Splitting our forces could lead to the utter destruction of our armies here in Germany.”

“What are you thinking?” asked Taylor.

General Dupont strode into the room and came to a sudden halt as he glared at Mitch.

“What the hell is he doing here?” demanded Dupont.

Schulz turned quickly and snapped at the Frenchman.

“We need the Major for this.”

“We can’t trust him anymore!” insisted Dupont.

“That’s enough!” yelled Schulz. “Whilst I remain in charge of the armies here, I will decide who and how we use our resources. Major Taylor has more experience in fighting this enemy than any man alive.”

Mitch smiled. He was amused by the obvious way Dupont was being disciplined by Schulz, a man who hated him almost as much as Dupont himself. Dupont was silenced, and Chandra turned back to the others.

“The truth is I am not convinced we can gain success on this continent, considering this new threat. It is true that Field Marshall Copley’s army has moved into the north of France, but their progress is slow at best. With an enemy army at the gates of Berlin, we risk being divided and destroyed.”

“So what have you got in mind?” asked Taylor.

“Your attack on the enemy weapon depot in Poitiers caused quite a stir. There is no doubt that it slowed the enemy massively and sent them into disarray, but a situation we were simply unable to exploit at that time. Our intelligence and surveillance suggest that it was not the destruction of the facility that had such an effect, but the harm done to their leader, who goes by the name of Karadag. Your mission reports state that you have already met this creature?”

Taylor’s mind shot back to the brutal beating he took at the hands of the enemy Commander. It was not an experience he was ever inclined to repeat.

“Our reports show that this leader survived the nuclear device.”

Schulz looked curiously to see that Taylor was not at all surprised by the information.

“You knew this? How?” he asked.

“I saw him in the Metz prison, during our rescue mission.”

“And you never thought to report this vital information?” spat Dupont.

Taylor turned slowly and looked with utter despair and hatred towards the Frenchman.

“It was a little difficult to assist in this war from a prison cell,” fumed Taylor.

“Gentlemen, that is enough! What has gone before us must be set aside. There may come a time when we must all answer for our actions, but now there are bigger issues at stake,” interrupted Schulz.

Taylor took a deep breath to calm him, and the room went silent. Finally, Chandra spoke up.

“You think this Karadag is essential to the enemy? That they will fold without him?” she asked.

Schulz nodded in agreement.

“He barely survived the nuclear weapon, and several reports we have from the area show medical and recovery teams locating his badly wounded body. He’d lost a lot of blood by the time he was found. His recovery directly co-insides with the enemy advance through Ramstein.”

“And you believe killing him could bring an end to it all?” asked Taylor.

“It’s a theory, and one which all evidence would point too. I believe, as do many others, that the loss of Karadag could break their armies. They could lose the will to fight. We have to make them believe that this war is not worth the price, and not worth the sacrifices they would have to make.”

“And if we kill their Commander, and it only makes them more blood hungry? They could well have someone more than capable of filling his shoes.”

“I believe it is a chance worth taking. Our experts think it may work. I cannot order you to carry out this mission. I would not will it on any soldier. But I firmly believe it could change the course of this war overnight.”

Taylor looked to Chandra to judge her response to the news. He could understand why it was being asked of them and that it had a fair chance of success. He turned back to the General.

“Sir, please just answer one thing for me, honestly. Tell me you believe in this mission, that we have some chance of survival, and that the outcome could be as game-changing as you believe? Tell me you are not sacrificing our unit to make me suffer.”

He could see the anger building in Dupont, but Schulz was a more calculating man. His strict leadership had led to much conflict between the two, but he could see Schulz was never dishonest. He was not the malicious and sadistic bastard that Dupont was.

“I promise you, Major, that I have every faith in this mission and your ability to conduct it.”

Taylor thought for just a few seconds as he rolled around the ideas in the back of his mind.

“Alright, tell me the plan.”