“Where the fuck’s he going?”
They looked at him in silence.
“Where?”
“He’s gone for those alien bastards we caught.”
“Why? What’s he gonna do?”
The soldier shrugged his shoulders, but it was clear Perera was going to do what they wanted to.
“For fuck sake, with me, now!”
Taylor barged through the MDF soldiers and continued on in an angry stride that no one dared confront. He passed through a line of Kelly’s guards and rushed on through to the holding chamber. He burst through the door to find eight MDF soldiers inside. Perera had a handgun pointed at Demiran’s head and was yelling at him.
“Tell your fucking soldiers to fall back! Tell them now!”
The alien sat confidently on the bench where Taylor had last seen him. He had a defiant look upon his face, in spite of the weapon pointed between his eyes.
“Lieutenant!” Taylor shouted.
The man flinched and turned his head quickly at the voice of the man he had come to fear, but he kept the weapon raised.
“Put the gun down!”
The Lieutenant mumbled as he tried to respond, but Taylor just shouted again which made shudder.
“Stand down, Lieutenant! Demiran’s survival could be why we’re still standing!”
Perera looked conflicted, and in that moment, one of Demiran’s guards leapt forward and struck the Lieutenant, causing the gun to fly across the room. He took another step to continue the onslaught, but Taylor leapt in amongst them. He drove a heavy kick into the creature’s flank. It crumpled just enough for him to throw it off balance with a heavier barge.
The two other creatures were already on their feet, but with so many rifles trained on them, they didn’t dare move. Perera got to his feet and spat out blood. His nose was broken but not so much as his pride. He stumbled over and snatched up his pistol from the floor. He quickly trained it on the fallen creature as Demiran and the other guard watched.
Taylor turned, saw what was happening, and roared out.
“Perera!”
The man turned as Taylor’s fist connected with his face. With his other hand, Mitch took hold of the weapon and drove a knee into the Lieutenant’s stomach before shoving him down onto his back.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The MDF soldiers quickly raised their rifles against Taylor, and the Major’s own men were quick to respond in the same fashion. Perera coughed and spluttered before shouting out in rage.
“You’d take their side over ours! Whose side are you on? You left us to die once, and now you defend these things?”
Taylor looked down in disgust. For a moment, he couldn’t even find any words to respond to the man. He couldn’t tell which of them hated the other more. The whole scenario struck him as bizarre, when the real enemy stood beside them both and were besieging them as they fought each other.
“I will not have any soldier butchered like some wild animal,” Taylor said calmly.
Perera struggled to his feet and glared at Mitch.
“Have you lost your mind? Look at them! Look! What do you think they are?”
Taylor dipped his head and sighed in disbelief. He didn’t even think to reach for his rifle which still dangled at his side. He could not bring himself to aim a weapon at his own.
“You can kill as many of the enemy as you like when you face them in battle. If you want blood, then get out and join the fight. There are enough of the bastards out there. But I will not have you executing anyone. I will not have you destroying assets, and I will certainly not have you questioning my authority!”
“You know this war can’t be over until every one of them is dead?” he spat back.
“Look back into our history, Lieutenant. Genocide is not the answer. It’s not even possible on such a large scale, and God knows plenty have tried. We can win this war, but there may well come a day when we must talk to these creatures or see the annihilation of both our races.”
“You’ve lost your mind, Major. You are not fit to serve, and I am hereby relieving you of your position in this taskforce until you can face an appropriate tribunal.”
Taylor laughed in response.
“I’ll never spend another day behind bars because of assholes like you.”
Mitch stood tall and looked at the man with disgust. He couldn’t believe that in such a dire time of need, he was being so selfish and foolish. But before any of them could speak another word, an explosion erupted at their feet, and the floor around them collapsed. They smashed down to the next level and were stunned by the impact. Taylor’s vision and hearing were blurred, but from his back, he could just make out the two enemy bodyguards holding Demiran back from charging at him like a raging bull.
Mitch tried to lift himself up, but he was dizzy and disorientated. His hearing was still shot even with the defence his helmet had given. He tripped, falling back to the ground, and looked up again to see that the three enemies were gone. He faded out into unconsciousness but awoke violently a minute later as Parker slapped him in the face.
“Jesus, Mitch, what the hell happened?”
He shook his head as he tried to regain composure, and she slapped him again a little harder.
“Demiran, where is he?”
“Gone! Jesus, Mitch, we really are in the shit.”
“Christ,” he replied.
She held out her arm and hoisted him to his feet. He looked around to see Hall was just about on his feet, but one of the MDF soldiers lay dead where part of the floor had crushed his mask and fractured his skull.
“Perera?”
“Was pursuing the prisoners, last I saw.”
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“We were en route to assist at 82A when we heard the blast.”
“I have to get back to the CP. This place is going to shit. We need to work out what the hell is going on and rein it all in.”
“Alright, I’ll go with you.”
“No, you were en route to somewhere that needed your help. We’re fine, get back to the fight.”
It was the last thing he wanted to say to her, but he knew he was right to have faith and put her where she could help most. She leaned in and kissed him before turning and quickly leading her platoon off down a nearby corridor. He watched her leave and prayed it would not be the last time he would see her alive.
* * *
“Fall back! Fall back!” Jones ordered.
Silva was by his side and firing frantically.
“Sir, we haven’t got much room left to run,” replied Silva.
“I know. Maybe if we can rendezvous with Chen, we might stand a chance, but we can’t hold here!”
He looked down the corridor to see five of their unit running back towards him for cover. Light pulses were rushing between them. One of the soldiers was hit in the back. The first round hit his back plate and sent him tumbling to his knees; the second took his head clean off. Jones could see an endless swarm of Mechs advancing through the broad corridor, and it was a fearsome sight.
Silva grabbed the Captain and hauled him from his position as a pulse landed. They felt the hot sparks burn into the armour at their backs, but they didn’t stop to check the damage. The two platoons were in full flight. Jones could not help but feel the misery of having to run from an enemy once again; an enemy that only recently they thought they had beaten.
Jones stopped around a corner and let the rest of the troops pass. He and Silva brought up the rear, firing a last few bursts before taking to almost a sprinted speed to reach friendly lines. Up ahead, they could see some of Chen’s troops, and they were engaged in a battle in an adjacent corridor.
“We’re running out of God damn space to run!” called Silva.
They continued on the Chinese soldiers’ positions where Jones finally drew them to a halt.
“Take up positions! Give ‘em hell!”
* * *
Taylor rushed into the CP to find it was packed with more than fifty wounded and had become the only safe med centre on the station. Kelly was busy helping a medic seal a wound and seemed all but to have given up on managing the defence.
“Commander Kelly!”
He didn’t respond, and Taylor had no time to waste. He grabbed the Commander by his shoulder and violently tore him from his patient.
“Sir, Demiran has escaped!”
“What? How?”
“Your boy, Perera, God damn amateur. If we don’t locate Demiran and stop him from leaving this station, we may as well just lay down and die.”
“What are you waiting for? Find him!”
“Sir, we need intel. The station’s a complete mess. Nobody knows where enemy and friendly lines are. We need to know where Demiran is, and how we can reach him in the shortest time possible.”
Kelly snapped back into action and rushed across to where Lewis stood watching the remaining video feeds in horror. Half of the corridors and rooms were filled with the dead and dying of both races.
“The prisoners have escaped. Find them, now!”
Lewis leapt into action. He flipped through screens at a rapid rate, and within ten seconds he had got a sighting.
“There!”
“Have they found any of their kind yet?”
“Doesn’t look like it, Sir. They’re somewhere on Level 3, around corridor 12C.”
Taylor turned back to find Parker standing beside him.
“I want both platoons ready to move with me. We’re going hunting.”
He turned back to Lewis.
“We’ve got no wireless comms, but we’ll need information as it changes when we near the escaped prisoners. We’ll work from intercom to intercom, track our movements in relation to theirs at all times, and so update us at every opportunity.”
“Sir, it’s insane. There are Mechs everywhere,” he replied.
“If I wanted to do this, yes, it would be insane. But we have no choice.”
Taylor lifted his rifle and rushed out of the room. He passed Parker and the others awaiting him without a word, but he knew they’d follow wherever he asked. He had a location to aim for and drove towards it with all determination. Down two of the corridors in the crossroads before the CP he could see the battle still raging. Parker rushed up to his side.
“You really think you can catch them?” she asked quietly.
“We don’t have a choice. It’s all that matters, right now.”
“Then if I was them, I’d be heading for one of the docking bays and getting off this station in the shortest time possible. I’m sure they’d have no problem blowing it to hell once their Demiran is gone. They seem to have no care for their own soldiers.”
Taylor stopped near a comms unit and quickly hit the open channel switch.
“Lewis, can you find out where the nearest docking bays are, and if they have enemy craft aboard?”
“Yes, Sir, just give me a moment.”
“We’re continuing on as planned, so have that info ready for us when we reach our destination.”
They continued on down the corridor, but Taylor came to an abrupt halt as two Mechs rushed into the far end of the corridor.
“Shit!”
He leapt aside and called out to the others, giving them just enough time to duck for cover. He peered around the edge of his cover to see that more of the enemy troops were flooding into the corridor.
“Mitch, you need to go on. We’ll hold them here!” called Parker.
It was the last thing he wanted to do, and it made him feel sick to have to do it, but he knew she was right. He looked back to Hall who was returning fire down the hallway.
“Corporal, there was a turn twenty metres back. You and your platoon are on mine now!”
Taylor leapt out from the cover and made a break for it. He heard Eli and her troops open up with covering fire, and it was just enough to pave the way for his retreat. He took the bend quickly and without hesitating to check what was down there. Mitch stopped Hall and the others as soon as they were safe. He took a deep breath and looked down the corridor to see a comms access point.