Battle Earth V

Chapter 11

Chandra paced along the battlements to be sure that the troops saw her face. A small pulse from an enemy scout smashed into the wall just two metres from her position. Two of the commandos near her flinched but not her. A second after the pulse landed, a gunshot rang out from their own lines.

“Got you, you bastard!” shouted out the sharpshooter.

The Colonel smiled as she passed him, but their joy was short lived. A massive explosion burst out ahead of their positions, causing the floor beneath them to shake and them all to duck down behind cover. Dust and debris blasted over their position and knocked anyone still standing onto their backs.

Chandra was the first to peer up over the battlements but was soon joined by Warren. All was silent for a moment as the dust settled, but then it came; the thunderous sound of an army of Mechs advancing through the breach. The almost continuous drone of their heavy footsteps was a fearful sound to even the most veteran among them.

Through the smoke ahead, they could see a wave of drones pushing forward ahead of the main force. She looked down across the line to see that the troops were readying their rifles along the makeshift battlements. She looked back to see that the first drone was in range and in her sights. She shouted her order as she looked down the length of her weapon.

“Fire!”

She squeezed the trigger before the sounds had even left her throat. The shot alone was enough to signal to the rest who quickly followed suit. The first volleys were carefully aimed shots that stopped a dozen drones before they could get off a single shot. The next wave passed right over them and met a similar fate after getting off just a few shots. The first pulses smashed into the defensive lines and were broken across the mix of enemy materials and the human shields.

Chandra was glad of the cover they had assembled. It allowed them to fight in relative safety. Another three-dozen drones came through the cloud of dust and despite getting off several shots, were smashed by the volley of fire. The hall went silent for a moment until they finally caught sight of the Mechs. They were packed in deep, as the breach was still small enough that they had to enter shoulder to shoulder.

“Knock the bastards down!” Chandra screamed.

She wasn’t sure if any of the troops could hear her, but it instinctively came out anyway. The Mechs were amassed in such deep columns that she barely had to aim and resorted to bursts, despite the distance they were firing at. The hallway ahead was rapidly becoming a corridor of death. Smoking armour and blue blood scattered every metre of the floor within a few minutes.

In just ten minutes, the bodies of over a hundred Mechs and many more drones lay there, but there seemed no end in sight to the enemy attack. Chandra ducked back down into the barricade and looked back to see there was now a constant stream of troops reloading at the crates behind them.

Suarez was among them and appeared to be casually going about his job in a fashion she did not consider acceptable of any soldier, let alone one in combat.

“Lieutenant!”

He looked up in surprise as if he’d been caught doing something naughty, and froze.

“Get to the CP. I want to know the current condition of all sectors!”

“Wouldn’t it be best for you to go?” he asked.

She glared at him with fiery eyes.

“Get me the fucking info, Lieutenant!”

She could see him mouth some curse as he rushed off in a huff.

“Arsehole,” she muttered to herself.

Pulses continued to light up the defences as they rushed overhead, and others smashed themselves over the line. She rose up once again to join in the action. She gasped as she realised the Mechs had gained ten metres of ground and were pouring in thick and fast. There seemed no breaking of their morale. Tsengal was alongside her and giving everything he had.

“What does it take to stop them!” she called to him.

“Death.”

She wasn’t sure if he was trying to be funny or not, but it brought a smile to her face as she turned back and continued to fire.

“The Trafalgar will be in range in three minutes, Sir.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” replied Taylor.

He stood on the bridge of the Deveron with Jones and alongside Captain Ryan. The Deveron was the smallest ship in the group that had assembled to sally out against the recovering enemy forces. They kept close to the carrier and within the defensive perimeter of the frigates assigned to protect her.

“Feels good to stick it to them, doesn’t it?” Taylor asked Ryan.

“Hell yes, Sir. About time, too.”

“Let’s not count our blessings just yet, gentlemen,” Jones added.

“You can be one cynical bastard, you know that?”

Charlie looked to Mitch in surprise but could see it was a mere jest, though not a very funny one. They both remembered the dark times of misery he’d suffered through. His present state was of utter joy by comparison. He leaned in close to Taylor so that only the three of them could hear.

“What really are your intentions? Will you really stop here like Huber has ordered?”

“The Admiral was clear that we were to proceed to the planet if it is within our power.”

“And if it is not? Will you go anyway?”

Taylor was torn between saving Chandra and the forces on Red 1, and risking the lives of just as many aboard the ships he had been given by the Admiral. He shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Sixty seconds until the Trafalgar has a firing solution.”

They all went quiet and watched the display screen of the enemy fleet ahead. They had formed up to face the human fleet but maintained their position.

“Why aren’t they going anywhere?” asked Ryan.

Jafar, who was stood quietly in the background, spoke up.

“Because they have been ordered to stay there and await reinforcement.”

“So they’ll just wait there to die?”

“No, they’ll fight to win.”

“Then we’ll end them,” replied Taylor.

An intercom channel opened on the tannoy above them.

“The is Admiral Uxbridge. All crews fire when ready. I want no survivors.”

A few seconds later, the Trafalgar lit up like a firework display as its guns opened up in a fierce opening salvo. The Deveron was still a way out of range, but they continued on course with the carrier. Fighters rushed out from the Trafalgar’s bays. It was an odd sensation to watch the enemy ships hold their ground against such a relentless attack, as if they awaited their death.

“How can they not run? What purpose does it serve to stay and die?” Ryan asked.

“It serves their masters’ orders,” replied Jafar.

“See, you think you have problems with authority?” Jones laughed.

The Washington’s guns destroyed two of the enemy’s larger ships in its opening fire. The ships were the size of the human frigates, and both displayed damage from their earlier engagement. There were just five smaller vessels and one of the frigate size left, as they descended upon them at speed.

“We have a solution, Sir,” said the gunnery officer.

“Fire,” replied Ryan in a sombre and monotone voice.

It was a bloody slaughter and far from the brave sally out they had expected. The fighters rushed in against the last enemy craft, like crows encircling the dead and dying of a battlefield. Even Taylor found no joy in the senseless slaughter. The Trafalgar’s guns continued relentlessly until the last enemy ship was blasted into a thousand pieces. Just as the guns went silent, so did the bridge of the Deveron. They all stared morbidly at the smashed hulks of the enemy ships. In the overwhelming assault, the humans had not lost a single vessel.

“This is what they fight for, this is what is a victory to them? They want to kill us all and feel nothing for it?” asked Ryan.

He turned back to Jafar for answers.

“How can your people be so cold? How can they want such devastation?”

“Former people.”

“But you were one of them, you fought for their goals?”

“That’s enough!” yelled Taylor.

“No,” replied Jafar.

Taylor looked up in surprise. It was the only time the alien had defied him, and it was in the most unusual of circumstances. Taylor thought he had to defend his newly found friends, but they didn’t need it.

“I am not proud of my time in their armies. I will not defend their actions.”

Ryan relaxed as he could see there was no fight in Jafar.

“Sir, we have an incoming transmission from the Trafalgar?”

Ryan cleared his throat before replying.

“Put it on screen.”

A video feed of Admiral Uxbridge was displayed aboard the Trafalgar.

“To the fleet, well done. The enemy is vanquished, and we are without injury. A perfect victory.”

Taylor took his opportunity, leaping forward to address Uxbridge.

“Admiral, we have succeeded in our endeavours here. We have the opportunity to continue on to Red 1, as Admiral Huber recommended should we meet with success.”

Uxbridge took in a deep breath as he thought it over. It was clear he had not intended to do as such.

“We will continue onwards, Major, until we can scan the area of the planet and assess the situation.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Recall all fighters. We continue on without delay. Uxbridge out.”

Taylor sighed in relief.

There is hope yet.

“Colonel! We can’t hold much longer!” Warren called out to her.

She looked up over the defences to see that despite the fact the Mechs were being cut down in vast numbers, they continued to advance. In places their dead were now two or three deep, but they would not stop.

“How can we fight such relentless enemies?” she whispered.

“We have to fall back, or we’ll be overrun!”

She looked around to see dozens of Warren’s troops lying dead behind the defences, and she knew the casualties would be as bad or worse further down the lines. They held the ground nearest the surface. She knew the docking bay lay just two floors down, and that it was the last place they could go where there was still a way out. They’re backs would soon be against the wall.

“Alright, sound the retreat. Fall back to the docking bay entrance!”

She jumped off the wall and rushed to the CP to pass the word herself. Jafar was closely at her side, but Suarez was nowhere to be found. His platoon lay scattered along the defensive line and had quickly fallen under the command of Major Warren. She rushed through into the CP to find the five personnel frantically dealing with communications from all sectors.

“Pack it up. Our lines are falling, and we’re falling back!”

Corporal Bradley turned in horror at her orders.

“What about our comms?”

“Grab what you can, and get a rifle in hand!”

They leapt into action, grabbing everything they could carry as she ushered them onwards.

“Come on! Go!”

They rushed out of the room to find troops flooding past them in a frenzied rush to retreat. Many fought on at their backs to cover their retreat. Chandra dreaded to think how many hundreds or thousands lay dead at their frontlines, but she feared more the realisation that they may be burying themselves into a hole they would never get out of.

Taylor had been waiting anxiously to see Red 1. Never before had he been so eager to see an enemy world. He knew they were just a couple of hours out now and prayed for good news. He and Jones had not left the bridge since the battle, and Jafar would not leave his Major either.

“Major, we’ve got a visual.”

He nodded for the Captain to go ahead.

A projection flickered, and several gasps rang out as they realised what they were looking at. Taylor felt his stomach turn, when he realised over a hundred enemy vessels surrounded the planet. Transports were pouring down to the surface. He could see no signs of battle but knew it must still be ongoing beneath the surface. They all gazed open mouthed at the frightful sight for a minute when a transmission came in from Uxbridge.

“Admiral Uxbridge to all ships. Come around, full withdrawal!”

Ryan nodded to his crew to carry out the orders, for he could not bring himself to say the words and resign thousands of comrades to their fate on the enemy world.

Fuck! Taylor thought.

They had gotten so close. The planet was in sight, and yet there was no chance of getting through to Chandra. He could not believe they had made it so far only to turn back.

“We could still…” began Jones.

“It’s over,” cut in Taylor.

“We’re just going to leave them there?”

Taylor did not reply.

“Major! This is Chandra we are talking about!”

Taylor turned quickly and grabbed Jones by the collar of his body armour and wrenched him in close.

“Don’t think I don’t want to, but it would be folly to throw our lives away. Do you think that is what she would want?”

“I know she wouldn’t want to be left behind to the mercy of those bastards!”

Taylor shook his head.

“What would you have us do?”

He spun Jones around so that he was looking at the video feed of the planet and the enemy forces in orbit.

“Look at them! What can we do against that?”

Taylor could feel Jones go limp. His anger was replaced with sadness and desperation as he slumped against a console and lowered his head. They could see several dozen of the enemy ships engines fire up and pursue them. It was enough to pose a threat in itself, let alone the remainder of their fleet.

“The Colonel will do her duty, just as I expect every one of you to do so.”

“So they’ll die down there, and for what?” whispered Jones.

“Look at the time we have gained for Earth. We’ve smashed two fleets that were amassing. Destroyed much of their weapons research and development. We’ve held them in their own lands. Every day we gain for Earth could make a difference in what comes next.”

“And you believe that? You believe we are making a difference?” asked Jones.

“You are,” replied Jafar.

They all turned in surprise at hearing the alien’s inception into the conversation. He stepped forward to continue.

“My people believed they were the most powerful beings in the universe. Every victory you gain weakens them. They are beginning to see they are not all powerful, and that they might not win this war. I saw it the day I joined you. Continue as you are, and you may well win the war yet.”

The alien’s words had a profound effect on Jones. It gave him hope and did the same for all of them there. For most of them, it was the most words they had ever heard the alien say, and yet they appeared words of wisdom. He continued on.

“The Colonel is a brave warrior, and I can say I have been honoured to fight alongside her. Even now, in the face of armies so vastly larger, she battles on. She should be an example to us all.”

The bridge fell silent once again as they reflected on his sentiment. The sights they had seen were dire, but he gave them all hope and the desire to fight on with a new sense of pride and belief in themselves. Taylor looked into the eyes of his alien friend and nodded in gratitude.

Warren’s commandos were formed up at the next line of defences that lay at the entrance to the docking bay. It was a relatively narrow corridor and would only allow the Mechs to advance fifteen wide and without cover. The ramp they had to descend before reaching flat ground meant that few could fire on the human defences at any one time.

Troops continued to flood into the docking bay, as others tossed anything they could find onto the makeshift wall. Many had left their shields behind in the frenzied retreat. They waited now for the enemy to reach them. Chandra turned to look across the hall to the other two entrances that were guarded by Klimenko and Chen’s Battalions. They looked even more decimated than Warren’s forces.

They had less than half of the troops they had when the battle begun, fifteen hundred dead or dying. It was a level of brutal devastation they had not known since the war in France. She turned to see Warren was reloading his rifle at the frontline of the defence. He looked exhausted, and his helmet had taken a glancing strike by a pulse that had burnt into his visor. Chandra strolled up to the Major, and he looked up to her as she approached.

“There’s no leaving this world, is there?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“If this is to be our fate, let us make them pay a bitter price for it.”

She smiled in return. The courage and resolve of all those around her was a marvel to behold.

“Here they come!” a voice cried out.

She took up position beside Warren, and each lifted their rifle into place.

“Come on, you bastards!” screamed one of the commandos.

The clatter of the Mechs’ heavy footsteps roared up ahead and echoed from all the walls.

“Fire at will!” she shouted.

The first dozen of the enemy were cut down instantly. The next wave stepped over them and fired their cannons as they advanced. Several smashed into the mound of the defences in front of the Colonel, and she felt the wall rock and the heat rush through. She quickly adjusted her aim and fired two bursts into the faceplate of the first target she acquired.

She kept firing until her magazine was empty, leaping back to let another take her place as she reloaded. She looked at the supply crates that had been stacked for them. Most had their lids ripped off and were now empty. She looked to Warren who was thinking the same thing. Ammunition was being spent at a rapid rate.

“How much longer can we keep this up?” he asked her.

“We’ll fight to the very last bullet, then we’ll fight in hand-to-hand. I’ll fight with my bare hands before I lay down and die.”

“I fear that time may come.”

She slammed in a fresh magazine and jumped back onto the defences to keep up the fight. There were plenty more of Warren’s commandos who could have filled the gap, but she wanted blood.

The volleys from the humans were so rapid that it was hard to differentiate one shot from another. It was a continuous roar of gunfire that would have stopped any human army dead, but the Mechs never stopped. They never seemed to grow tired, scared or demoralised. Chandra personally killed another four before retiring once more to finally let someone take her position.

She looked around for Tsengal, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then out from a side room, he strode in with a massive heavy weapon of enemy origins. It was slung over his shoulders, and she could tell he was struggling with the weight. He was stronger than any of them, even with their exo suits, which meant it must have weighed a tonne.

“You know how to use that thing?” she asked.

“We’ll see.”

He rushed forward, and two of the commandos quickly shifted out of his way to let him slam the vast weapon up onto the wall. The only time she had seen such weapons was mounted atop the enemy’s armoured vehicles.

I never thought I’d be pleased to see one again.

Tsengal lifted it up to sight in the enemy before firing. The corridor flashed so bright it almost blinded many of them, and massive pulses rushed down at the enemy positions. The first hit smashed into a Mech that disappeared in a huge flash that blasted three others out to the sidewalls.

“Jesus Christ!” yelled Warren.

He fired again and every few seconds. The cannon stopped the enemy advance in its tracks, but after twenty shots the barrel was red hot, and Tsengal threw it aside. That was clearly all they would get from it. The barrage of the weapon had brutalised the enemy advance, but still they came. From just twenty metres behind them, Chandra heard engines firing up. She turned to see one of the drop ships was preparing to take off.

“What the hell?”

She stared closer and zoomed in with the targeter on her helmet to see Suarez sat in the pilot’s seat.

“No!”

Before her cry had ended, the docking doors began to crank open. She rushed towards the small ship, waving her arms and screaming.

“Stop! You’ll kill us all!”

The Lieutenant turned and looked at her. He could not hear what she was saying, but they both knew he understood. He looked down on her with disgust and felt no shame for what he was about to do. She stopped and stared in astonishment. In that moment, she felt half of the life in her body drain. She stood beside an alien who was giving everything to fight for them, and now she was looking at one of her own that was going to throw it all away.

Chandra lifted her rifle to shoot the traitorous dog, but she could not do it, and it was too late anyway. She turned to see that the docking doors were already half open. The ship’s engines fired up, and it roared towards the doors. She lowered her rifle and watched in despair.

As the ship reached the doors, it burst into flames. A pulse from an enemy ship tore through the craft and burst out the body into the docking bay area, smashing it into the ground.

“Incoming!” she screamed desperately.

Before the wreck had even hit the floor, an enemy ship burst through the opening. She opened fire and was quickly joined by a hundred others. Fire ripped into the ship that was a whisker larger than the ship Suarez had tried to escape in. The frenzy of fire smashed into the nose of the small vessel, ripping it to pieces.

The enemy ship had got halfway between the dock doors and Chandra’s position when one of the engines burst into flames, and it spun out of control. Veering off course, it plummeted into the firewall of the docking bay, but it did not stop. The burning wreck smashed through the relatively thin wall and kept going. Chandra turned to Tsengal and Warren in surprise. None of them had any idea there were further rooms where it had vanished.

She rushed to the fallen wall at a sprinting pace and stopped to see that it was not a wall but in fact, a hidden entrance to a broad ramp fifty metres wide. The wreckage of the craft partially blocked the descent, and a survivor prized one of the doors off. She stood in astonishment.

The hatch burst off the ship, and a creature staggered out. Before it had gotten two steps clear, she riddled it with ten shots from her rifle. Warren arrived at her side with his rifle at the ready.

“Get everyone inside,” she whispered.

“We have no idea where it leads.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

She pointed to the open docking bay doors that were now forced open by the wreckage of Suarez’s ship.

“Any minute the whole God damn Krycenaean army is coming through there. If we stay here, we’re done for. Get them inside!”

He rushed back to his troops and sent runners to the other two Battalions. They’d made it halfway across the docking floor when a dozen enemy ships burst through the entrance with their guns blazing. Few stopped their dash for the ramp, and in the rush, hundreds were killed by the relentless enemy assault.

Chandra stopped inside the vast doorway and watched the retreat with her rifle at the ready to cover the remaining troops. Mechs poured over the defensive wall they had previously fought over. She took careful aim and killed one that toppled out over the wall.

The strafing runs of the enemy craft as they approached were devastating to the fleeing troops in the open. She watched wide-eyed as many more were killed instantly. Their armour was unable to stand up to the heavy weapons. Klimenko was the last man through into the ramp, having covered his troops as best he could.

“This is the end for us, isn’t it, Colonel?”

“If it is, then we’re going down fighting!”

“Is there any other way?”

They turned and rushed down the ramp after the last of the survivors. They could count their numbers in the hundreds. A bitter count after the thousands they had begun the defence with. They descended thirty metres before taking a full turn and continuing another thirty, and then the same again.

“Where the hell does this go?” she asked herself.

They eventually reached flat ground where the hall opened out into a vast room. Two hundred of the troops had taken up positions around crates, tables and wheeled vehicles. She stopped and stared out at the vast chasm. A chill ran down her spine as she recognised everything around her, thousands upon thousands of incubation chambers, just as they had seen during the first war. All were full of humans, as they had first seen them in Paris.

“My God!”

Most of the troops had been oblivious to the chambers as they had never seen them before, nor cared with the enemy hot on their heels.

“What the hell is this?” asked Warren.

“Your guess is as good as mine, but I can tell you I have seen it before. The last time we found these chambers with bodies still inside, it cost us a city. Ramstein. The enemy bombed it into oblivion to hide whatever secrets lay within.”

She turned to Tsengal.

“Have you ever seen these before?”

“No, we have been asked several times, but never.”

The alien strolled up to the chambers and peered into them with curiosity and disbelief.

“They’ll be on us soon, Colonel. What are your orders?” Warren asked.

She looked around one last time and snapped out of her daydream.

“Keep moving! Whatever this place is, they clearly have worked hard to protect it. The further we get inside, the better protected we are from their fire. Who knows? We may even find a way out!”

“You heard the lady. Keep moving!” Warren shouted.

They beat a hasty retreat along the seemingly endless line of incubation chambers. Tsengal seemed to study everyone they passed. After five minutes at jogging speed, they came to a circular chamber that appeared to be the heart and core of the facility. Substantial dividers ran around the area. They could already tell they would make perfect defensive lines along the firing line they had just run.

“Take up positions here!” Chandra ordered.

She guessed their number at little more than three hundred now, and all huddling in tight behind the only cover they could get. They were only thankful the enemy would refrain from the use of heavier weapons, due to the value of everything around them. Chandra paced around the inner desks and consoles of their new position with Tsengal just as curiously striding beside her.

“We’ve never answered any questions about these things. Never have any survived long enough for our experts to analyse them. All they have ever had are first hand accounts by soldiers, and what good is that to a scientist?”

She could see that Tsengal was carefully studying much of the text and tapped several keys on a console.

“You understand what all this is?”

“No, not yet, but I understand the language.”

She stood silently and patiently awaiting more information. Many of the troops were reloading magazines. Others watched the two of them intently. Tsengal didn’t speak. Finally, she could not take it any longer.

“Are they clones, or prisoners or what?”

“I can’t say. But they’re being programmed.”

“For what?”

“To live on Earth, but with programmed triggers and purposes.”

“What?”

Her face turned to fear when it was beginning to make sense.

“They’re infiltrating our society. Fighting us from within.”

“It would appear so. It has not been the Krycenaean way to my knowledge, but no race has presented such a threat in our history as the humans.”

“We need to get word to the fleet. They must know this information!”

Tsengal nodded. Warren had been listening in, just as almost all around had been. He stood up and paced towards them.

“How on Earth can we get a message out now?”

“We have to. The lives of all of us mean nothing compared to the value of this information.”

She looked past the Major to see the grim faces of those beyond. They all knew they were reaching their end.

“I agree, but how?”

She looked up to the roof in despair and then to all those around them. She stopped as her eyes met Tsengal. He stood out above them all.

“You could do it. You are the only one among us who has a chance of getting out of here. Leave behind all trace of your association with us and rejoin your people. Find a way to get this information to Taylor.”

“Colonel, I cannot leave you.”

“You can. I am ordering you. Your death here will mean nothing. Worse still, our deaths will mean nothing if you do not do this. Promise me you will reach Taylor with this information.”

She could see the loss in his eyes, and it warmed her heart to see such human emotion within him. He looked to the others he had fought so hard beside. Many nodded in agreement for him to do as she asked. It hurt him deeply to live on and leave them, but he could see they wanted nothing else.

“I promise you I will do so.”