Battle Earth VII

Chapter 12

“Chase him down!”

“I’m trying!” Rains shouted.

Taylor could just about see Armand’s ship in the distance. They weren’t losing them, but neither did they appear to be making any progress.

“Eddie, we don’t get him, and this was all for nothing.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Colonel, not like we have any weapon systems to slow them down any further.”

“This thing going all out?”

“Bet your ass. It’s a goddamn miracle she keeps going.”

“My shot did some damage to one of their engines. How come we aren’t gaining on them?”

“Well you did some damage sure, but she’s a high speed transport, and we’re in the equivalent of the old school bus.”

Taylor sighed and drooped his head. It felt like it was all over.

“Wait, that turbine you hit, it’s just lost all power. We’re gaining on them!”

Cheers rang out from the marines behind.

“Wait, they’re banking. Where the hell are they going?”

“They know they can’t outrun us, so they’re going for a place of safety. Local forces will already be scrambling. I’d say we got about fifteen minutes max until we’re swamped.”

“All right, so where are they heading?” asked Rains.

“Somewhere as secret as Mittenwald, somewhere with allied Mechs, somewhere with troops who would have no trouble gunning us down, not even if they knew who I was.”

“Great, where is that?”

“We’ll have to wait and see.”

“In fifteen minutes? Cutting it a little fine, aren’t we?”

“Love to say I had a better option.”

“They’re levelling off…and starting a descent.”

“Stay with them. Follow them down and get on the ground ASAP.”

Rains nodded in agreement.

“What is that place, Eddie?”

No idea, Colonel, just looks like another mountain to me.”

“That ain’t no mountain!” Riley screamed.

Lights pulsed below and anti aircraft flak burst around them.

“No missiles?” asked Taylor.

“This ain’t enough for you?” asked Eddie, as the craft shook from the impacts.

“Just makes me suspicious, is all.”

“They aren’t trying to shoot us down. They’re trying to force us to turn back.”

“Why?” he asked, but he already knew the answer.

“So they really don’t want to kill us.”

“Not that I don’t want to believe that, but why?”

“A platoon of US Marines going down on UEN soil when war is about to break out. Armand will do anything to avoid bringing the US into this war.”

“Yeah, well good luck with that.”

“Don’t knock it. That fact might just keep us alive to get this job done.”

Taylor watched intently on the view screen as the shuttle landed roughly on a ledge of the mountain. As they ground to a halt, a number of figures rushed to their aid.

“Guess that’s our target?” asked Eddie.

Taylor grunted in approval.

“They may not want to shoot us down now, but you know once we have the Councillor all bets are off, you know that right?”

“You just worry about flying this hulk, Eddie, and leave the fighting to us.”

“Not much of a relief after there’s another missile coming for my ass.”

Taylor didn’t know how to answer that as he knew it was an almost certainty. He turned to the others.

“They may not want to shoot us out of the sky, but once we’re on the ground, armed foreign operatives, they will not hesitate to start shooting again!”

“Making a lot of assumptions aren’t you?” whispered Parker.

“Only going on what we have seen so far. All I do know is we have to be fast about this.”

“No shit.”

Eddie brought them in as fast as he could and came close to overdoing it. The landing gear hit the ground hard, and they could feel it buckle a little as they slid a few metres to a halt.

“Goddamn miracle we weren’t shot out the air.”

“We’re made of miracles, Eddie. We’re the Immortals!”

He leapt out the side door of the ship without a word to the others. He knew they’d be close behind him. He wished he had a plan beyond jumping into the unknown, but there was no time. He hit the ground running despite the imminent danger, but was surprised to see not a single enemy in sight.

Taylor rushed first to the shuttle that had come to an even rougher landing than they had. He looked through the door that had been left open and found nothing. He looked out and around the site. They were on a small hidden landing zone on the side of a mountain in a seemingly tranquil hiking spot.

“Where the hell are they?” asked Riley.

“Must be somewhere more important than the Mittenwald. Armand would never risk revealing this place unless he had absolutely no choice.”

“All right, but where?” asked Silva, “Nothing here but nature and us.”

He looked down to the footsteps coming from the shuttle.

“Sergeant, time to go back to basics.”

Silva looked down at the tracks and looked sheepish for not having gone to them sooner.

“Tracking not something we’ve had to do in years, not like finding the enemy was ever much of a difficulty.”

“Say that again.”

They followed four sets of tracks between some rocks until they finally found something else manmade, a thick steel double doorway, hidden by nature of its remote location and inability to see from the air.

“Explosives now, everything we have!” Taylor hollered.

A few of the marines passed magnetic charges forward, but it was all they had.

Five? That’s it? Taylor thought.

He didn’t let his doubt spread by voicing his mind and placed the charges quickly, with just a ten second delay to start simultaneously.

“Cover!”

He ducked behind a nearby boulder and prayed. The explosion erupted and rocked the ground beneath them. Taylor had become accustomed to constant ear splitting noise during the war, but he had always hoped in those moments for the survival of him and his comrades. But now all that was gone. Their lives were of no concern to him in that moment. He knew all that mattered was getting Armand.

He got up. The doors had completely vanished from sight. It was a welcome surprise to them all.

“Guess they weren’t ever expecting the kind of guests who don’t knock,” Riley grinned.

Taylor went in first. It was a narrow corridor, the width of two humans. It looked like an emergency escape or access tunnel to a much larger facility. A red emergency light was pulsating along its length, and they knew it was in response to their arrival.

“I don’t like this, Mitch.”

“You and me both, Eli, so let’s get it done quick.”

He rushed into the breach, knowing the others would soon follow. The corridor soon split into a wide fork.

“Which way?” she asked.

Before any of them could answer, they were welcomed by gunfire from the right fork. Taylor raised his rifle, quickly fired two shots in return. And shouted.

“Left!”

He rushed on. The rest fired and did the same.

“Silva, you stay put and hold this position.”

“You think we’re gonna get back out of here?”

“Didn’t come here to fail, Riley.”

Taylor carried on through a doorway. It was pitch black for a moment as they all came to a halt. The red pulsing lights from the corridor provided a small insight as to what was before them. They saw silhouettes that were too large to be human. A moment later the lights were turned on, and several of the marines gasped at the sight in front of them. They were in some kind of training hall, and twelve full armoured Mechs stood there. They were holding shields like the Reitech ones they were accustomed to, only larger.

It was a small relief to see they carried Assegai derived weapons and no firearms, but that relief soon wore off. The creatures leapt into action and rushed towards them like a herd of wild animals.

“Oh, shit,” muttered Taylor.

He lifted his rifle and fired a few shots, but the shields absorbed them all. There seemed no way to slow the charge down.

“Jump!” he cried in a panic.

He launched several metres off the ground and came close to the rooftop with the use of his boosters. Most of the marines jumped with him, but he could see Riley and a handful of them had stood their ground and continued to fire. As Taylor reached the apex of his jump, he fired down beneath his feet. Three shots went right down into the faceplate of the Mech he had targeted, and it collapsed to the floor, sliding up to Riley’s feet.

Several others followed suit, but it wasn’t enough to stop the charge. Three marines were struck full force and launched off their feet. Jafar had stood his ground with them and tackled one of their attackers head on, driving an Assegai right through one to deal a killing blow.

Taylor was back on his feet and had the enemy in his sight once again, but friendlies were now mixed in with the Mechs. He drew out his Assegai and rushed at them. One of the nearest creatures turned and thrust its shield out to strike him. He could only jump into a roll and hope to make it under. His shoulder armour brushed the lower edge as he just made it under, and sparks followed from the contact. He was back up on one knee with lighting speed and fired several shots before driving his Assegai up into the belly of the creature’s armour.

The warm blue blood he had come to know so well flowed out over his hand. Gone was the regret and doubt he had felt in the arena. He was no longer fighting for sport or entertainment. He was fighting for everything. He turned to take on the next creature, but Parker was already jumping into action at the nearest target. She drove her weapon into the exposed joint beneath one of the Mechs’ arms and followed the creature to the floor. She had a smile on her face as she turned to look at him. She was in her element, and so was he.

Taylor looked up. Riley was sitting against the wall, clearly unable to get up. Another marine lay dead beside him.

“You still able to fire that weapon, Riley?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Then you nail anything that comes through here that ain’t one of our own, you hear?”

“Aye, aye, Sir.”

Taylor got back on his feet. The marines had made light work of the rest of the enemy.

“Enough fun and games. We have a job to do!”

He looked down at his watch, only six minutes left on the timer he had set.

Cutting it awfully close.

They continued on through the room. It was clear to all of them from the equipment around that the Mechs they had fought had been in training.

God help us when they are fully trained, thought Taylor.

“How many more obstacles are we gonna have to face to get this bastard?” asked Parker.

“He’s running scared. This welcome party wasn’t prepared for us. It was a last minute deal, so we must be getting close.”

They passed through into the next room that appeared to be empty, but a glimmer of movement in one corner caused Jafar to rush across to engage whatever danger was there. As he arrived ready to fire, a human leapt up with her hands in the air. It was a scientist in a lab coat. She was almost frozen in fear, and tears streamed from her eyes. She could not find the breath to speak.

“Jafar!” yelled Taylor.

The alien turned in surprise.

“She’s unarmed, a non-combatant.”

He looked back at her for a moment, finally accepting Taylor’s orders. He returned to the Colonel and spoke in no uncertain terms at a volume all could hear.

“Everyone in this building is a combatant.”

“Not for you to decide, buddy, nor me. While there are still human laws in the land, we’ll abide by them.”

“Like kidnapping a Councillor on his home soil?”

Taylor glared at Parker. He already realised he was being hypocritical, but he didn’t have time to rephrase his comment.

“All right, enough bullshit. Let’s get this son of a bitch before this little holiday is the end of us.”

Taylor led the way through another two rooms that were full of experimental equipment they didn’t have the time to investigate, finally reaching a control room. It was large and filled with screens monitoring the facility. At a distance, Taylor could still just about see a few of the screens and frantic movement on them, which he already suspected were other troops in the facility gearing up to fight them.

“It’s over, Colonel!” Armand shouted.

Taylor laughed. He noted the Councillor was now wearing a Reitech suit he had clearly hastily pulled on since their arrival. His suit was crumpled up beneath it, and the helmet was ill fitting and almost dropping over his eyes.

“You’re coming with us, Councillor. Alive is preferable, but we’ll take what we can get.”

There were only three guards standing beside him, and one of those was clearly the pilot who had flown them there. Taylor turned his focus to address them.

“You can walk away from this. No need to die.”

“These are soldiers loyal to me, Colonel.”

He knew that meant they were either Krys agents, or deeply loyal to those who were. It was all the evidence he needed to condemn them. He lifted his rifle and fired two shots at the first, and his comrades quickly did the same. They hadn’t even got their muzzles up before they were hit and had certainly never expected such violence.

“You forget who you are dealing with, Councillor.”

“Evidently. Then let’s do this man-to-man, the honourable way.”

Taylor smiled as Armand picked up a shield and Assegai.

“We don’t have time for this,” muttered Parker.

“We can give the man his chance. It won’t take long.”

Taylor drew out his Assegai and approached. Against any one of his own marines, he would fear opposing them without a shield when they were equipped with one. But against Armand, he didn’t give it a moment’s consideration. At first, the Councillor stepped forward uneasily, as if he were the kind of rookie who had never used the equipment before. It amused Taylor and caused him to approach without caution, but as he did so, Armand leapt into action like a different man altogether, like a trained soldier.

Taylor managed to jump aside in time to avoid a thrust that was coming to his face, but he was off balance. As a result, Armand struck him with the shield, and he stumbled across the room.

“Mitch!” cried Eli.

He regained his balance, cursed himself for being so foolish. He’d seen enough surprises in his life now to never throw caution to the wind, and yet he still did.

“Right, let’s do this.”

He rushed forward as if in a wild charge, stopping abruptly as Armand held his shield out to stop him, spun off to the side and smashed the weapon down on the inside of the man’s knee. It buckled. The Councillor dropped down onto one knee and let out a scream of pain. The strike had been like nothing more than that of a baton as Taylor knew the edge did no more, but it provided immense satisfaction to see the pain in Armand’s face.

“You’re a traitor to your people, Councillor.”

“You think you’re my people just because we look alike!” he yelled, as he got back up and raced forward once more. He attacked quickly with repeated short stabs that were difficult to counter. They forced Taylor to give ground across the room. He was backed against a worktop and had to spin out from the attack.

“Why do you fight? You know you cannot win.”

“But you always did. You and your Immortals went into many a fight you should never have been able to win, and yet here you are today. Standing before me and ruining things once more.”

“Your monologuing bores me,” replied Taylor.

Armand jumped forward once more as if to continue with his quick thrusts but used it only as a feint and drove his shield forward as a barge once again, but Taylor would not be caught off guard a second time. He caught the rim of the shield with his offhand and forced it forward, pulling Armand off his feet and launching him across the room. Taylor held a firm grip on the shield, wrenching it from the Councillor’s grasp.

“You’re coming with us, whether you like it or not.”

Armand let out a roar of a battle cry and rushed at Taylor, launching a clumsy long lunge. Taylor stepped aside and took a hold of his arm. He drove a knee below the torso armour into Armand’s abdomen. He keeled over. The weapon dropped from his grasp, and he was done for. Taylor wanted to feel some respect for the man having tried, but then he remembered all that he had done against his own people, against his own race.

“Your ass is mine now, Councillor.”

“Mitch, we got incoming!” Parker shouted.

He looked over to the screens. Mechs and human soldiers were flooding towards them from other parts of the facility. He looked down at his watch, three minutes.

“Let’s go, go, go!”

He smacked Armand in the face, knocking him unconscious, threw him over his shoulder, and took off back the way they came. As they burst out into the room where they had fought the line of Mechs, they found Riley still firmly planted against the wall with his rifle held ready to fire. Taylor didn’t have to say another word. Jafar grabbed him, and another took the body of the fallen marine.

As they rushed into the corridor, they could hear a tonne of gunfire where Silva was clearly meeting some resistance where he had taken up position. Taylor didn’t slow one bit, nor have a weapon to hand. He held onto Armand firmly with both hands and darted for the exit.

“Where the hell have you been?” Silva shouted. He slammed in a new magazine, and the rest of his squad kept up the fire.

“Getting the job done! Lay down fire till the last have gone by, and then get your ass out of here!”

“Hell, yeah!”

He turned the corner and kept firing. Taylor continued on and broke out into the daylight. It was the best sight he had seen all day and gave him a real sense that they could succeed in their mission. He didn’t have to tell Rains anything, for the engines of the Adrienne were already running.

“All squads back to the boat. We are leaving!” he called down the comms.

The scene on the mountainside was eerily quiet and peaceful like when they had arrived, but they all knew it wouldn’t last. Taylor was the first to reach the ship and jumped aboard to be sure Armand was secure. He kept a hand firmly locked on him.

“We got incoming, fast!” said Rains.

“Just a few more seconds.”

“A few more seconds, and we’ll be dead before we get off the ground!”

Taylor didn’t respond. He looked out the door. Silva was the last man out, and as he reached the craft, a bullet went through his leg, and he dropped to the floor.

“Hold him!” Mitch bellowed to Parker, throwing the Councillor at her. He jumped out, took a hold of the Sergeant, and threw him in through the door. As he did, a bullet clipped his cheek and burnt the flesh, but he barely noticed in the rush to get out alive.

“Get us in the air!” he shouted before his feet had even got off the ground.

The Adrienne lifted off, and he had to use a little of the power of his suit to launch him up into the doorway. Jafar pulled him in safe. Silva nodded in appreciation as he winced in pain.

“Look after the Councillor,” he said to Jafar, “Parker, with me!”

They rushed to the cockpit as they heard a few shots being fired from the doorway.

“Can’t believe we made it,” said Parker joyfully.

“We ain’t home yet.”

They reached Rains, who was hoping and praying, as the ship was giving all it had to give. Taylor looked down at his watch. The timer had ended. It had been a pretty good estimate, but now they were in the shit.

“We got fighters incoming, and no, we can’t outrun them.”

“What do you suggest?” asked Mitch.

“Suggest? We’re in a flying coffin. I suggest you pray for a miracle.”

He waited for a moment and came close to doing exactly that.

“They’ve got a lock on us.”

“You must be able to do something?”

“We ain’t got speed, handling, weapons, armour, nothing. What can I do? Hang on, we have an incoming transmission.”

Taylor thought there was hope for a moment while Eddie accepted it, only to be met by the face of a German fighter pilot.

“Adrienne, you are in UEN airspace and are ordered to alter course to land in Munich immediately.”

Eddie gave no response, looking to Taylor for answers.

“I repeat, Adrienne, you are in violation of UEN treaties and are illegally holding a UEN Council member. You will be escorted to Munich airport immediately, or you will be fired upon.”

“They’d blow us out the sky and kill Armand in the process?” asked Eddie.

“Instead of letting us get our hands on a known Krys agent, damn right they will. Remember Ramstein? Whole base flattened to protect this secret.”

“Then I don’t know what to say to you, Colonel, other than open the doors and jump. Your suits will get you down safe, and you can try and make it out on foot.”

Taylor shook his head.

“No way, you’ve been with us through the worst of it. We’re getting out of this together.”

“Your sentiment is appreciated, Colonel, but it won’t save any of us.”

The fighter pilot came onto the screen once again.

“Adrienne, you have thirty seconds to alter course, or you will be shot down. Don’t make us do this. There is no reason for further bloodshed.”

The line went quiet for precisely twenty seconds.

“You have ten seconds to comply, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…”

Everything went silent for a moment until a red light began to flash on the console, and a recorded voice message sounded.

“Warning, object on collision course.”

It was repeated over and over.

“Hold on!” Eddie shrieked.

He banked as hard as the ship could, but it was a mild manoeuvre at best. One missile rushed past the hull. The other impacted and rocked them in the sky. Warning lights came up all over the console.

“We’ve got a breach. We’re losing power!”

“How many more of those can we take?”

“I’m amazed we lasted after that one, Mitch. This old girl is built strong, but she won’t take another!”

"You're just full of good news, Eddie."

"I can't do the impossible."

"How far back are those fighters?"

"About half a klick on our tail."

He shook his head. He was all out of ideas. He closed his eyes and hoped, for there seemed nothing else to do.

"We got another two missiles incoming!"

They knew now they were on borrowed time with just seconds to live. It wasn't the first time Taylor had been there, but he couldn't see a way out of this one. He turned and looked to Armand who had been hauled into the cockpit and stripped of his armour. Before he could speak, the Councillor uttered words through a sleazy smile.

"You can never win, Taylor. This is the end for you."

"But you're going down with us, you son of a bitch."

"My life to take out the great Colonel Taylor. It would be worth a thousand lives to kill you."

"Ten seconds to impact. Hang on, what the hell's that?"

Taylor turned around and saw several missiles roar towards them and past the cockpit. A few seconds later, and six fighters zoomed past at full tilt. Explosions rang out at their aft where the enemy missiles exploded.

"Who the hell's that?" Taylor asked.

Rains brought up rear monitoring screens and squinted to make them out.

"Well, I'll be damned. Those are French birds."

They watched as the fighters engaged those on their tail and quickly blew them out of the sky. Taylor looked down at the map screen. They were just twenty klicks from the border now. One of the French fighters came alongside them and gave a casual salute before putting through a call on the comms.

"Adrienne, this is Lieutenant Roux. We're here to escort you back home."

Cheers rang out amongst the marines. They’d all overheard, as Rains had transmitted the signal throughout the ship. Taylor looked down at his watch.

"War can't have been declared yet," he muttered to himself. He turned to Rains.

"Can the Lieutenant hear us?" he asked. Rains nodded in response.

"Lieutenant, you just entered UEN airspace in an act of war."

"I am well aware of that, Colonel, but I am told you were worth the risk."

"I'd say so," he replied with a laugh.

"Just one more thing, Colonel."

"Yeah, go ahead."

"A message from General Dupont. He says you better have the package with you, or he'll shoot you himself."

Taylor could only laugh louder at the message.

"Then I am glad to be able to disappoint the General once more."

The pilot didn't seem to understand the meaning or context and replied sternly. "Maintain speed and follow my course."

"Do what I can," replied Eddie, "but we ain't got a lot of power left."

There was no response. The pilot took up position in front, and Eddie looked down. The rest of his wing had formed up all around them. Taylor turned back to Armand with a broad cheesy grin on his face.

"Once more we live to fight another day."

Armand looked away as it was clear he was utterly defeated. But then he looked back up defiantly with anger in his eyes.

"You'll never get away with this. I am an elected representative of the UEN. They'll come down on you like a tonne of bricks. You'll wish you never met me, Taylor. You'll wish you’d met the same fate as your friend Tsengal, and Chandra, and all the other pathetic friends you have lost throughout these wars. I hope you survive long enough to see everyone you care for enslaved or killed."

Taylor sighed, thinking about the element of truth he spoke, but then nodded to Parker who knew exactly what he meant. She swung a hard punch into his stomach. He reeled over in pain from the injury Taylor had recently inflicted. She pulled him upright again, punching him hard in the nose so that it almost flattened to his face. It clicked as it broke, and blood poured out down his face and his suit. He cried out in pain.

"We're at war now Armand, and you are not an enemy combatant, not a civilian representative, and not a prisoner of war. No, you are a spy, and in turn we owe you no pleasantries. You'll see no court room."

Parker went to strike him once again, but Armand skilfully avoided the strike and ducked under, grabbing Parker's pistol from its holster as he did. He lifted the pistol up to his jaw to blow his head off. Before he could do so, Taylor's rifle was up, and he fired a single shot. It struck Armand's wrist and blew his hand off. He cried out in pain, but he found little sympathy. Parker looked sheepish as she picked up her gun and prised Armand's severed hand from it.

"Get that patched up," Taylor said, "and be sure to detain him. I want this son of a bitch alive after all the work we put in to get him."

"We're over the border and on the home run!” Rains suddenly shouted.

Further cheers rang out. It seemed almost unreal that they had made it out alive.

"It's over," said Eddie relieved.

"No, it's only just begun. We've got a new war on our hands, and we're gonna be fighting human on human."

"Why? Can't people see how crazy that is now?"

"Hasn't stopped them in the past."

As they approached Meaux, they heard the Adrienne’s engines finally cut out, and they all knew it would come down hard. Rains was doing everything he could to slow them down and keep the nose up, but as they came down on the landing pad, they hit so hard it felt like the ship would tear itself apart.

The Adrienne bounced and then came down hard once again, slipping across the ground with sparks flying up on either side. After thirty metres of grinding along the strip, they finally struck a truck. The nose of the Adrienne pierced right through the bodywork of the vehicle and wedged itself there, bringing them to a halt. Rains looked around in shock that they were still in one piece.

"I tell you what, she may be an old girl, but she's a good ’un."

"Not that she'll ever fly again."

"Oh, come on, Colonel, have some heart. She got us through it all. I'm not ready to give up on her yet."

"You're a sentimental bastard."

"And you're just a bastard," he smiled.

Taylor grabbed Armand who was still cowering in pain. Parker had bound up his wound but had refrained from giving him any painkillers. They led him between them to the door on the side of the ship. They found Silva still sitting where Taylor had thrown him aboard.

"You all right?"

"I'll live."

Taylor hit the door release button but nothing happened, so he pulled down the override, but that was jammed also. With little finesse, he lifted his foot and kicked the door full force. It fell from its broken mounts and dropped to the ground. Fire crews and medics were already arriving on the scene, and Taylor could see the General's vehicle approaching at speed. Dupont was on his feet before the medics had even reached them. He stopped for a moment to look at the wrecked state of Armand. Blood and dirt covered much of his suit.

"When I said dead or alive, I didn't expect you'd meet me half way," he said to Taylor.

"Best of both worlds, I guess."

Dupont stretched out his hand to him. It was a moment he never thought to see. He had to think about it for a moment, as their history was turbulent at best, but he accepted the gesture.

"You saved our asses up there. I can't thank you enough."

"And if this man is who you say he is, it was well worth it. Welcome back, Colonel."

The medics took Armand off their hands with the MPs close in tow.

"War will be declared within the hour. The United States is still remaining neutral, and your government is chasing for your return, but I will not send you back. I would be a fool to give away one of the greatest assets we have. If you are willing to stay here and fight for the European Alliance, then I will be honoured to give you a commission as such at your present rank."

Taylor stopped and looked back at his marines for a moment who were battle weary and exhausted. He knew they would go to hell and back if he asked them, and he knew he must.

"You're on, General."

"Then welcome to the European Alliance."

"This war we are starting, it is just the beginning. It is the Krys’ doing, and Armand is proof of that. Jafar tells me it is a prophecy of theirs. They believe Earth is the paradise they must find and make their home. They will never stop coming for it. They failed to defeat us as a united world, now they seek to divide and conquer. A plan that so far seems to be going in their favour."

"But we have little choice at present but to fight the clear and present danger."

Taylor knew it was the last day of peace the World would know for some time. He hated the enemy invaders. He hated what they stood for and everything they strove to achieve over the human race, but he was now in his element once more, as a new Battle for Earth was beginning.

Engines roared overhead, and six ships landed just off to their flank.

"Friends of yours, I believe," said Dupont.

"The ramps dropped, and a familiar face rushed out from the nearest ship, leading a group of British paratroopers he had come to know as his closest friends and allies.

"Captain Grey reporting for duty, Sir!"

Two hundred troops formed up before them, all equipped and under his command.

"Welcome to the European Alliance and the new Inter-Allied Regiment!" yelled Colonel Mitch Taylor.