“This is it! Remember, you were born for this! This is our chance to take the fight to them!”
The troops stood in readiness. Moments later the familiar approach began with the raising of the nose and reverse thrust. The doors opened and the Major leapt out first, followed immediately by his companions. The boosters kicked in on his suit as he approached the alien landing zone. For a moment his heart almost stopped as he could make out a Mech at the very point he was descending. Then he saw the wisp of smoke rising from its suit and realised it lay dead on the floor.
As he landed next to the fallen enemy the Major was immediately looking in all directions. Marines were landing on the deck all around him. They were dropping through the vast holes that had been blown into the roof of the structure. The large room was five metres high and mostly empty, though the roof sections that had fallen in provided substantial cover.
“Major, check this out,” said Suarez.
He pushed his way through the men to where the body of the fallen enemy lay on its back. The bombing runs must have struck the alien as its armoured suit was smashed and ripped apart. For the first time they gained a glimpse of the creature beneath the suit. The creature’s head was visible where the top of the armour had been blown off.
The head was of human size, though taller and slightly narrower. The skin was dark blue. There were features similar to a human, such as two eyes, but the nose was almost flat to the face. The structure had been disfigured by the blast and light blue blood was strewn over the skin and armour.
“That’s disgusting,” said Kwori.
“I’m sure it would have said the same thing about you, Private,” replied Taylor.
“Yeah, well this is our planet not theirs.”
“It’s a fair point. We’ve seen enough, let’s move.”
They could hear a constant drone as boots hit the metal floor for more than a kilometre in either direction as the battle continued to rage in the sky. Before they could make another step, a door lifted open at the far end of the room.
“Mechs!” shouted Baker.
The marines turned, rushing to open fire as energy pulses began to fly at them. The two enemies didn’t even get through the doorway as they were riddled with fire from much of the company. They breathed a sigh of relief for a moment. Seconds later a larger door opened further along the same wall, revealing Mechs in a ten -wide line and as deep as they could see.
“Take cover!” shouted Taylor.
Light pulses killed six of the marines before they could even reach the debris in which to hide. The room erupted into an ear splitting hail of gunfire as the troops began to fire back. Rockets and grenades smashed into the armoured aliens and blew many apart, but more followed. Taylor saw several more of his marines get hit as they returned fire.
“Keep firing!”
His voice was drowned out by the gunfire all around him, but it was the only thing he could think to say. His jaw dropped as he saw the wall in front of them fold and open, revealing lines of Mechs. Behind him the marines continued to drop in and join the fight. They had made no headway yet and were already in a meat grinder.
“My God!”
“Get the high explosive rounds in! Aardvarks, everything!”
Seconds later the room erupted into a dazzle of flashes and bursts of light as explosions broke out around the enemy attackers. Another ten marines fell and as many of the Mechs were blown apart. As Taylor watched the onslaught a pulse from an enemy weapon smashed past his head into the cover he was using, knocking him to the floor unconscious.
An hour later the Major woke up in a scattered pile of bodies. His hearing was buzzing and his eyesight blurry. He stretched out his hand and pushed to lift himself up. As his vision cleared he could make out at least forty dead marines, he’d been left for dead. Scrambling to his feet, he shook his head, trying to wake himself up.
He stood alone in the vast room. Dozens of Mechs lay dead and destroyed before his position. For a moment he thought he had been left alone on the alien hulk. His hearing began to recover and he could make out the familiar sound of rifles firing. It was a relief to know that his forces were still in the vicinity. He attempted to walk but swayed slightly, still disorientated and off balance.
Making his way through the dead marines and aliens, he headed for the gunfire. Far into the distance he could see as many as a hundred marines fighting, but taking a bend there was action far closer. Down a vast corridor he could see his own company frantically defending a wall of piled dead Mechs. He could just make out Captain Friday’s voice bellowing orders to the men.
Between him and the troops lay five more dead marines. It had been a bloody struggle to make just a few hundred metres into Tartaros. He lifted his rifle and saw that the magazine was nearly empty. He changed it as he staggered forward and began to regain his composure. As he closed in on his company’s position he could see that it led to an opening in a huge room the size of a football stadium. Two other companies were dug in and fighting hundreds of Mechs advancing from the far end.
Captain Friday turned abruptly as he caught sight of movement behind him. Realising that it was the Major he ran up to Taylor hauling him down into the defences.
“We thought you were a goner, Major!”
“Give me an update, Captain!”
“It’s as it looks, Sir! You must have been out for some time. We’re hitting them hard but they just keep coming at us!”
“Any command signals yet?”
“No, Sir!”
“This is fucked, Captain!”
“Yes, Sir!
“Have the engineers set the charges!”
“Already done, Major!”
Taylor nodded in appreciation. Friday always knew when to anticipate orders, but never overstepped his command. Over the sound of the gunfire and explosions they could just make out the piercing sound of a siren coming from their original location.
“That’s it, Captain, signal for full retreat!”
Having their communications jammed meant that they had reverted to using audio signals as commands. The Air Force had launched audio beacons into the breaches just moments before to signal the retreat. Taylor knew it would be a tough battle, but nothing like the onslaught he was seeing.
“That’s it! Fall back!”
The marines looked in surprise at hearing their leader’s voice once more. Seconds later they got to their feet and rushed with every energy to escape the bloodthirsty scene. Taylor took a few paces back into the entrance of the corridor and watched as the survivors of the company rushed past him.
He turned to look back at the defences just the second as an energy pulse smashed into Parker’s flank slamming her to the ground. Her armour was smouldering from the heat and she was lifeless.
“Eli!” he shouted.
Taylor rushed back into the open ground to her body.
“Major! Come on!” shouted Friday.
The Captain’s words were utterly ignored as Taylor reached his fallen Sergeant and the only woman he’d truly loved. He threw his rifle around to his back and hauled her onto his shoulder. He had no idea if she was even alive but he would not risk leaving her even if there was no chance of her being saved.
Light pulses smashed into the wall behind the Major as Captain Friday returned fire with his rifle, doing his best to cover him. The shock of seeing Eleanor hit had sent such adrenaline pulsing through Mitch’s body that he had found a second wind. He stormed across the floor and into the corridor.
The entire company ran with all the energy they could muster. They reached the room where they had originally breached and found the Air Force pilots had smashed new holes in the hull allowing them to land at their level. They clambered aboard gratefully. Taylor laid Parker down in the seat next to him. He was oblivious to anything as he checked to see if she was breathing.
Captain Friday was the last aboard and barked at the pilot to get in the air the second he had a foot in the door. The pilot lifted off and immediately spun the craft around speeding off westerly. Captain Friday watched as many of the other ships desperately tried to escape, many were destroyed in the process.
Pulling out his datapad, Taylor quickly checked a few details before running up to the cockpit.
“Glad you made it, Major!” shouted the pilot.
“Lieutenant, you have new orders, I want you to take us to these co-ordinates!”
He thrust the datapad forward for the pilot to see, but the man looked confused and uneasy.
“Sir, I have orders to evac you immediately back to base.”
“I have a Sergeant in there who is dying, there’s a British destroyer north of here that you can reach in half the time!”
“Sir, I have my orders.”
Taylor snatched his pistol from its holster and placed it up against the pilot’s head. He froze in shock.
“Lieutenant, this is not optional!”
Captain Friday stepped up also in shock.
“Sir, what are you doing?”
“Stay out of this, Friday!”
The Captain knew better than to interfere with Mitch. His superior had also become his friend over the years. No matter how crazy an idea was, he’d learnt to trust Taylor under any circumstances.
“Lieutenant, get us there, now!”
“Alright, alright!”
It was a relatively short journey to the British destroyer HMS Battleaxe. Everyone aboard knew that Taylor was directly contravening the orders of their command, but not one of them had the heart to stop him. The other craft carrying his company were quick to follow suit, having every confidence in their leader even without knowing his intentions.
The surviving marines of D Company dropped onto the deck of the carrier. Their pilots refused to land with them, returning as ordered to base. Of the one hundred and nine of the company who had got off the enemy island, they carried only eight wounded. They had left seventy-one marines dead in the hellish alien hulk. ‘Leave no man behind’ was an ideal they could no longer afford to adhere to.
The British Navy and Marine crew were shocked to see their American counterparts, but eager to assist. Some rushed to help the few wounded, though most stood in shock at the distressed state in which the soldiers were. Taylor carried Parker immediately to the medical bay as Captain Friday reported to the ship’s Captain who came out to greet them.
The Royal Naval Captain gasped upon news that they were a company upon seeing their numbers.
Taylor burst into the doctor’s medical bay. The Doctor reeled at the sight of the fully armoured and armed marine crashing unto his impeccably clean and kept room.
“Doc, this marine needs your help right now!”
Charlie looked out through the windows at the French scenery below. He’d become well accustomed to recognising it from the air. He could see enemy Mechs and tanks rolling down the roads. They were approaching the base at Rennes, though they were not slowing or dropping altitude. He watched as the base came into sight. It was nearly empty, with the last few vehicles rolling out and heading east.
Getting up out of his seat the Captain strode forward to the pilot’s cockpit, as much to talk to them as to see easterly.
“Thought we were heading for Rennes?”
“No, Sir! The enemy are closing in fast. They are closing in on Le Mans from the south as well. All forces are being directed to Paris!”
“My, God, it’s come to this already?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Jones staggered back to his seat, he could not believe what he was hearing. Now he was beginning to understand why they had been left to defend Brest. The situation had been far worse than they had realised. Their defence likely delayed the enemy by many hours, perhaps even a day.
The transports that had made it out of Brest finally put down in a public park not far from the centre of Paris. They were not greeted by a crowd or even ground crews. As Jones jumped out he saw that Brigadier Dupont and Commander Phillips were waiting for them with no more than a dozen soldiers. Buses were waiting to take the wounded to a nearby hospital. The survivors of Brest left the craft but had little idea what to do with themselves until finally the Brigadier climbed onto the back of a small truck and got onto a loudhailer.