Battle Earth IX (9 page)

"Fire at will!" he shouted.

He knew they would anyway. Not one of them could stand and do nothing as the weight of a Mech army bore down on them. He took aim at the nearest creature. It bore a large shield like he had seen on the Mechs aboard the Earth Defence Grid. He squeezed the trigger and watched as his shot ricocheted off the corner of the door-sized shield. He shook his head and fired off two more shots, but both seemed to have little effect.

"That's gonna be a problem."

An automatic grenade launcher spun into action on a tower to his left flank. Explosions began rippling through the advancing enemy, tossing Mechs into the air and ripping through the rear armour of many of the shield bearers. A fixed gun on the wall to his right, which was a large Reitech fixed emplacement gun, joined the fight. Its rate of fire was as slow as a steady heartbeat, but each shot tore apart the shields it struck and punched holes in the vehicles they were sheltering beside.

"More like it."

He caught sight of a few Mechs without shields and quickly opened fire, cutting down one with a burst from his rifle. The weight of gunfire hammered the enemy like a torrential downpour. Their lines were being thinned, but they kept coming.

"We need to upgun!"

"No shit," replied Jones sarcastically.

They kept up the fire as the enemy closed half a kilometre on them. There seemed no way of stopping them besides the physical barricade itself.

"What are they thinking?"

"They must have some way in," Jones answered.

Pulses soared over their heads, and some pounded into the walls close to them, but had little effect against the hard cover they were protected by. The Mechs were just two hundred metres away now, and the hovering vehicles among them began to speed up and make a break towards the wall.

"What the hell?" Taylor asked.

Gun turrets atop each of the vehicles continued to fire at the battlements with little effect other than keeping heads down.

"Where are they going?"

"They aren't coming over the wall. They're going through it!" Jones shouted, "Take them out!"

Scores of troops opened fire on the vehicles. As one of the towers opened up, it tore one apart, and it ignited into a raging fire, but it was too late for the rest. Taylor watched in horror as three-metre wide corkscrew-like drills deployed at the front of the vehicles, ready for impact.

"Oh, shit!"

It was too late. They felt the impact as one of the skimmers smashed into the wall at the very base below them. Taylor and several others lost their footing and crashed against the barricade. As Taylor regained his faculties, he could make out the ear splitting sound of drilling beneath them for twenty seconds, and then it stopped. He looked to Jones who stared at him, waiting with suspicion.

The two of them looked over the edge in towards the city, confused. It had gone quiet along the walls. A soldier nearby began to laugh. "They can't get through!" He jumped up onto the top of the rampart and screamed, "Fuck you, you failed!" Jones shook his head.

"This was no accident...they're..."

He was cut off by a massive explosion further down the line, which shook the foundations of the wall and sent huge chunks of concrete hurtling into the air.

"It's gonna blow!" Jones shouted.

He grabbed Taylor, and they rushed to the edge of the rampart, jumping as the explosion erupted in the wall below them. The blast launched them twenty metres through the air. As they hit the ground, Taylor rolled over and saw a five-metre chunk of concrete fly past his head, missing him by only half a metre. He was stunned by the impact, but his suit had at least slowed his descent and broken his fall. He was sitting on the ground before two layers of the fortress that was Baltimore. His shield and rifle were gone, and he looked out to where the wall had been. The area was engulfed in a ball of dust and smoke.

Through the smoke came silhouettes, and they were not human.

Taylor was still flat on his ass as the Mechs bore down on the scattered survivors. They lay among the bodies of those killed in the blast, and as the dust began to settle, it became clear the outer wall was slighted. He felt helpless for a moment, coming to terms with what they faced. Then he felt something brush by him. Dozens of troops rushed past towards the enemy, with Captain King at the lead. They fired on full auto as they advanced, but much of the fire was absorbed until they reached the first wave, drawing their Assegais as they went in to hand-to-hand.

He scrambled to his feet to join the fight. As he ran forward, he knelt down and grabbed a shield that lay scattered on the ground before him and the enemy. King had driven right through the first line of Mechs and was already engaging the second with a few of his Rangers. Further waves took on the enemy’s first line. Taylor reached the first, and he jumped, using a little power of his suit to launch himself up and over the hulking shield of one of the Mechs. He drove his Assegai into its head.

As he descended, he felt the Assegai pull. It was stuck in the creature, and he was forced to spin to wrench it from the Mech, forcing him to land hard on one knee. He straightened his leg but felt an impact on his shield. It brushed off just enough to push him aside but not knock him over. He looked around and saw a wounded Mech soldier that had been thrown his way. Without hesitating, he leapt onto it and stabbed it three times before it could recover.

He looked up from the ground. There was a never-ending stream of the enemy, and a volley of pulses surged towards them from the nearest soldiers. He raised his shield, watching as much of the energy dissipated over his shield.

"We can't keep this up!" King called out to him.

King turned back to carry on the fight but was struck by a shield edge to the head which buckled his legs. His attacker pulled back its Assegai-like weapon to lunge and finish off the Captain, but Taylor leapt forward, using his body weight to knock the creature onto its back. He repeatedly stabbed it until it stopped resisting. He dropped his shield and holstered his Assegai.

"Cover me!" he ordered Jones and the others fighting with him.

Taylor picked King up. He was barely conscious and muttering something which was indecipherable. He turned back to Jones. He was waiting for Taylor's order.

"Let's get the fuck out of here!"

Without another word, he turned, slung King onto his shoulder, and rushed for the next wall of the defences. The few small gates were flooded with troops trying to retreat. He knew he had no choice but to try and clear the wall. Pulses rushed past him and smashed into the wall, and as much fire was being returned from friendly positions. He looked up for just a moment to find a gap in the friendly firing solution and jumped.

The wall was fifteen metres high and easily manageable by him, but he had no idea if he could make it with the weight of King on his shoulder. He left the ground and hoped for the best. As he reached the upper edge of the wall, he came to the limit of his power, clipping the very edge as he tumbled over it. Taylor recovered just in time to land on the far side without injury, lucky to have found an open space amongst the chaos.

He looked down at King. A deep wound span from his face and down his neck, stopping at the shoulder plate of his armour. He was conscious but faint and weak.

"King? Stay with me."

His eyes opened a little further to look at Taylor.

"You're out of this fight, Captain," he said, looking up at the chaos around him. Jones landed beside him, quickly calling out, "Medic!" when he saw King resting in Taylor's arms.

"We’re in it deep here, Mitch," Jones said, kneeling down beside them.

Gunfire raged above them, but Taylor was too caught up in the moment to notice. A medic rushed up to them. It was clear few wounded had made it to safety, as the Captain had his complete attention.

"Please lay him down," said the medic.

Taylor was oblivious to his words.

"Sir, please lay him down, so I can help."

Jones smacked the top of Taylor's helmet to get his attention, and he snapped out of the daze.

"Yes, of course," he said, as he released his grip on King.

"Make sure he is well cared for," Taylor said firmly.

"Of course," the medic replied, and he went to work.

Taylor turned and looked back at the wall. It was a near identical fortification as the one that had been destroyed moments before. He quickly leapt into action towards the nearest ramp leading to the second level battlement, where he could get some visibility over the battlefield while still having protection over his head.

"Wait!" Jones called after him.

He carried on until he stood beside the troops who were laying down constant fire from the defences. Taylor looked out through a small loophole to survey the situation. Jones reached him and waited to see what he was getting at.

"Whatever those breaching vehicles were, I can't see any more of them."

"They're sure to be bringing more up," replied Jones.

"Yes, and we’d better be prepared for them next time."

He looked out at the craft they had flown in on. Only one remained intact and was swarming with Mechs.

"Well, we certainly ain't flying out of here."

"You ever thought we would?" Jones asked cynically.

Taylor grunted. He looked back to see most of his unit had made it.

That is at least a relief.

"Put the word out about those skimmers. Next time we see them, I want them blown to high hell before they get within five hundred metres of the wall," he said to Jones.

"I should imagine that is stating the obvious."

"Yeah, well let's be certain, hey?"

Jones nodded and rushed off to do as ordered. Taylor turned back, looking at the progress of the Mechs. They were digging in at the remnants of the first wall now. Gunfire had already settled down from the chaotic frenzy it had been. Jafar stepped up beside him. One side of his face was covered in blood. He had multiple cuts and impacts from shrapnel, but he didn't seem to pay it any attention.

"Have you ever seen those things before?"

He shook his head.

"I have never seen Erdogan's armies go to war."

"Yeah, well you have now, and it ain't pretty."

They heard a vehicle’s brakes skid to a halt behind them, and Taylor turned quickly to see General Heath leaping from a vehicle with gun in hand.

"Sir, you shouldn't be here!"

"I'll be the judge of that!" he snapped.

He rushed up to the wall to look out at the devastation with his own eyes.

"Christ, Taylor," he muttered, "We can't afford to lose lines of defence like that."

"I know."

"Next time they come at us we need to be prepared."

"Yes, Sir."

Heath stepped a little closer to Taylor to talk privately.

"We're in deep shit here, Colonel. Deeper shit than I thought possible. Cities are not falling by the day, but by the hour."

"I don't see what we can do about it."

Heath shook his head. "No, other than keep doing what we're doing."

"I don't understand how they got on top of us so quickly. We had no warning of this at all. No time to prepare."

Heath took in a deep breath. "Our experts tell us Erdogan's vessel, that behemoth up there, seemingly created its own gateway. Their fleet literally jumped into the system right on top of the defence grid. We couldn't have seen it coming."

Taylor turned to Jafar and gestured for him to join them, but he hesitated and looked to Heath for permission. Heath sighed at the prospect before calling him forward.

"I don't like working with the enemy, but I am also well aware what you have done for us all. You have my trust because you've earned it, but don't expect me to be so welcoming of your friends."

"These are my friends," he quickly replied, pointing to Taylor and all those around them.

Heath smiled in response, but it was clear he still wasn't comfortable communicating with an alien.

"I know you heard what we were talking about," Taylor said, "You got any light to shed on the tech of that ship?"

"Only rumours," Jafar replied.

"Well let's hear 'em."

"Some said Erdogan had the technology aboard his flag ship to travel as if through space gateways without having to use them. Many thought it was simply a myth created to keep the other Lords in their places."

"Yeah, well I guess not," replied Taylor.

"Why didn't we hear of this sooner?" asked Heath.

"There are many myths in the universe, General, who decides which are tactically important?" replied Jafar.

Heath nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so. Hindsight's a bitch. Anyway, none of that helps us now. They're here and at our door, so let's focus on the task at hand. There are nine layers of defences to this city, if you can call it that anymore. We just lost the first. Let's not lose another."

Taylor nodded in agreement, although he wasn't confident of their abilities to do so.

"And if we can't hold?" he whispered.

"Can't? You don't strike me as the kind of man who accepts he can't do something, Colonel?"

Taylor couldn't help but agree, but it didn't make him feel any better about the situation.

"Will that be all, Sir?" he asked.

Heath nodded before jumping back down to his vehicle and leaving. Taylor knew he didn't need to be there in person, but he did at least appreciate his commitment to frontline troops. Mitch turned to see Jones. He was sitting propped up against a chunk of concrete and eating from a field ration in a relaxed fashion.

"Thought you hated those things, Charlie?"

"Yeah, almost as much as starvation. So we got any better plan than wait for the next attack and get another kicking?"

"Nope," he replied, taking a seat beside him.

Just as he was getting comfortable, a barrage of heavy pulses smashed into the walls around them.

“Cover!” Taylor bellowed.

He grabbed Jones and hauled him to his feet. They both ran to the lower level battlements of the outer wall. Pulses smashed into the ground between the layers of the defences, and the troops huddled for cover in every nook and cranny they could find.

“Those are some big guns!”

“No wonder they halted the air attack,” replied Jones.

They all watched the bombardment in amazement. It went on for a full ten minutes. It caused few casualties but destroyed many of the supplies and vehicles that could yet have proved very useful. More than anything, it was demoralising to an almost crippling degree.

“You know we’re losing, right?” Jones asked Taylor.

Taylor looked around in surprise to see if anyone else had heard, but he knew Jones would not be ill disciplined enough to have said as much if they were able to. The artillery bombardment ensured nobody could hear any words spoken beyond half a metre from their ears.

“How often have things ever looked good for us? We’ve come back from worse.”

“Have we, Mitch?”

Taylor turned to look at his face full on and see if he was being his usual cynical self, or actually being brutally honest. His eyes told the entire story, and it was the first time Taylor worried they could not win the war. His heart sank as it all came home to him.

This truly is the worst it’s been,
he thought.

“We’ve barely fought against this new invasion, and yet you must see where it’s going.”

"So what, Charlie, we just give up? Was it all for nothing?"

"I didn't say that, but maybe staying to die here isn't the answer either."

The bombardment suddenly stopped. Taylor climbed up to a loophole to get a look out across the plain between them and the enemy lines. He could already see glimmers of movement amongst the rubble.