The King lifted his arm in a salute that was returned by all who were watching the screens, before they cut off and went to black.
“Guess there wasn’t much else to say,” said Taylor.
“What else do you say when faced with global destruction?” asked Jones.
Chandra stopped and listened as a signal came in through her commlink.
“Enemy’s on the move, all troops take up positions and...”
The signal cut off in the same way that they had become familiar with. Chandra turned to notify the others in her command but was beaten to it by the opening barrage from the gun batteries positioned behind the lines.
“I guess they’re on the way then!” shouted Taylor.
“Affirmative, Major. Enemy forces are incoming! Captain, get on the hard line and find out what commands were being given before we were jammed!”
She glanced at the other troops on the rooftop who were looking around as if not sure what to do.
“Everybody get downstairs and into position!”
As the Colonel turned to make her way off the roof the first of the enemy artillery fire smashed into their building. The second energy burst landed close to her tossing her off her feet and across the floor. She crashed into the opposite wall.
Taylor regained composure a few seconds later and found himself resting face first on the hard floor. He clambered to his feet and could see Jones already attending to the Colonel. One of his men lay dead, his body almost torn in two. Taylor staggered over to the officers. Chandra was breathing but roughly, her leg was mangled and bleeding.
“We have to get off this rooftop!” he shouted.
Jones looked to the Major and quickly back to his superior. She was badly wounded, but he knew that she would likely not survive if they stayed up there any longer. She winced in pain as he took hold of her, her body was badly battered. Throwing her left arm over his shoulder he lifted her with both arms.
Another energy pulse crashed at the opposite end of their position and sent fragments of the structure bursting into the air. The only relief was in seeing that the bunker itself remained structurally solid against the onslaught of the enemy’s barrage. Jones carried her quickly down the stairs, leaving Taylor to slam the thick old doors shut behind them.
Taylor rushed to where Chandra had been put down, the lights flickering all around them as each blast that landed nearby rumbled through the structure. Jones had already run down to the next floor to find their field medic.
“Great timing, hey, Major?”
“You’re still breathing, Colonel, there’s a lot to be said for that these days.”
She grinned, gritting her teeth as the pain wracked through her body. “I’ll make it this time, but I am in no state to command.”
“Colonel!”
“Once the blood flow is stopped I’ll be at a window with a rifle, but the battalion is now yours, Major.”
He nodded in acceptance. He had become accustomed to the responsibility of important missions, but none quite as vital as what they were now experiencing.
“This isn’t the kind of promotion I ever planned for, Colonel.”
“Nor here. All I ever wanted was promotion, now all I want is to see us survive this shit.”
“Damn right!”
Jones rushed back into the room with the medic.
“The doc can handle it from here, you two need to get to your positions. Taylor now has command, give them hell!”
The two men stood up, saluting her with grim expressions on their faces. The battle had barely begun and they were off to a bad start. They went to to the nearest window. The narrow firing slots ran along every wall of the structure and were protected by a wall that was over a metre thick. They couldn’t yet see the enemy forces that were approaching, but the artillery and air combat raged all around.
There were no more orders to be given. They knew they had to hold their position at all costs. Taylor and Jones stood side by side, fixated on the view of the broad road up ahead that led to the bridge they were defending.
“Guess this isn’t the way you imagined going out?” asked Taylor.
“No, but our ancestors have a long history of dying for their country in this land, we can at least keep with tradition,” replied Jones.
Moments later they saw a rocket trail soar down the street as the infantry forces to their flank opened fire on the enemy that were still out of their line of sight. Taylor could feel the grimy sweat between his palm and the grip of the launcher in his hands. He looked back to see the crates of ammunition stacked up behind them. At least they could stay in the fight if they could just survive.
“Target!” shouted Jones.
Before they could even take aim the men on the floors below them had opened fire. The two enemy tanks which first came into sight were hit with a hail of crossfire from troops occupying both the river edge and the buildings behind. The tanks erupted into flames, but only came to a halt for a few seconds as the next vehicles shunted them aside and continued onwards. Mechs appeared at their flanks and were already laying down fire.
High explosive shells landed among the tightly compacted formations of the enemy and they were blown apart, many plunging into the river either side of the bridge. They could see a number of the armoured infantry scattering into the buildings opposite them.
“Keep an eye on those windows!” Taylor ordered.
He caught sight of the first Mech in a window just inside a tall old building. Firing instantly with his high explosive grenades the old windows shattered and the wall blasted through. Further Mechs poured into the hole in the cover of the building.
The gunfire was so voluminous that not a trooper among them could distinguish the sound of individual weapons firing. Light pulses smashed into the re-enforced building taking chunks out of its armour. A lucky shot burst through the firing slot down the line from Jones and took the head of one of his men clean off. He stopped for just a second staring at the scene before turning back and fighting on.
The windows through the building the other side of the river lit up as the enemy took up more positions and began laying down fire on their bunker. Taylor ducked down to reload his launcher as Jones kept up the fight. Gunfire poured from all floors of their structure. They could hear mass footsteps on the stairways leading up to their floor and those below. Taylor locked his launcher shut and held it in readiness.
Taylor was suddenly elated by the sight of EUA forces bursting into the room.
“Colonel Chandra!”
An officer barked in a course Scottish accent.
She gestured over to Taylor as the Major stood up and went to greet the troops. The battle raged in the background as Mitch shook hands with the man.
“Major Douglas at your service, we’re here to help.”
“Major Taylor, I have taken command of the 2
nd
Inter-allied. The enemy have taken up positions in the buildings along the river and their tanks continue to try and get through on the bridges.”
“Let’s see if we can give you a hand, Major.”
Douglas lifted his rifle and walked straight to the firing positions with Taylor and a number of his men. They opened up with a volley of fire from every weapon in their arsenal. Explosions erupted all along the building but they quickly recoiled at the deafening sound of a tank exploding on the bridge.
Quickly recovering they concentrated their fire on the lower building sections and the troops in the floors below quickly followed suit. Glass and brickwork smashed across the road in front of the building as it was hammered by rockets, grenades and machinegun fire. They could just hear the aged creak of the building as its foundations began to crumble. They watched in awe as the lower floor gave way and the five storeys above it came tumbling down, crushing the Mechs defending it.
Cheers rang out among the combined troops of the bunker and the infantry lines outside in the trenches. Taylor rushed along the line to look out at the gun ports looking down their side of the bridge. Medics were dragging away dozens of wounded from the trenches and many more lay dead. Looking up the river he could see that similar battles raged on every bridge as far as he could see.
The gun batteries of the enemy opened up once more, pounding the buildings behind them and the friendly artillery positions behind those. The bunker rocked on its foundations as several huge impacts struck the floor below them. Screams of the wounded echoed up the stairwells.
“Keep firing!” shouted Taylor.
He rushed to the frontal positions to see that fresh enemy troops were already marching over the dusty rubble that covered their comrades. As the dust settled over the ruins he could make out the countless tanks and Mechs approaching in the distance. He gasped at the sight of it before quickly lifting the launcher to his shoulder and firing a full load into the advancing troops. Kwori dashed up the stairs to reach the Major who turned to reload his weapon.
“Sir! We’ve got twenty dead on the next floor down, another fifteen below that, we’re getting fucking killed here!”
“That’s our job soldier!”
“We have to retreat, Sir!”
Taylor released his grip on the weapon and slapped the man across the face.
“Get yourself together, Private, and man the fuck up!”
The marine looked sheepish. They were all exhausted and astonished at the chaos and bloodshed all around them, but there was no choice but to fight on.
“Is Captain Friday still alive?” shouted Taylor.
“Yes, Sir!”
“Get back to him, you take up your weapon and you fight marine! No retreat!”
The Major loaded the last of a full load into his launcher and turned back to the fight to see artillery shells smashing the enemy positions, but as many flying overhead in their direction. Buildings either side of the river were being reduced to rubble. The bunker they defended was only still standing due to its excessively robust construction.
Enemy tanks drew into view that appeared much like Jones had seen previously on the beaches south of Brest, though they had vastly larger turrets and guns. They continued firing as they saw the gun of the nearest tank elevate to their height and fire. The wall just ten metres from Jones’ position smashed inwards, punching a hole as tall as a man. The three soldiers there were thrown across the floor in a mangled mess. Taylor looked at the fearsome vehicles approaching.
“Take out those tanks!” he shouted.
The Aardvark launchers began to fire but it wasn’t soon enough. A second shell smashed into the floor below, rocking the bunker and almost taking Mitch off his feet.
“Everything you’ve got on those tanks right now!” he barked.
He ran to the edge and opened fire with his launcher, firing repeatedly at the nearest tank. Over twenty-five grenades struck it and eleven Aardvark rockets before the turret was pierced and knocked out of its mountings, rendering it useless. Before they could target the next tank another two massive energy pulses smashed into their building. One of the shots smashed out a large section of their defensive wall and went through the roof, causing rubble to collapse and kill one soldier.
The troops immediately ran to the firing lines and continued to rain down fire on the remaining two tanks. Mech fire piled through the gaping holes in their structure but all fire was concentrated on the vehicles below. Seconds later the second tank erupted into flames. They turned their attentions to the third but it fired at their top floor. The blast expanded a previous hole and sent Taylor and Douglas sprawling across the floor.
“Take it out!” shouted Jones.
Taylor heard the immense explosion from the floor where he had been thrown. He got back up to see that Major Douglas’ armour was smouldering from a broad chest wound. He shook his head in despair at the death all around him. He got up on one knee and looked around to see that there were more than twenty dead on his floor alone. Looking up to the defences he could see that Jones still fought on alongside a mixture of troops from all three units.
He staggered to his feet and up to the ammunition crates. Flicking open the launcher he loaded it once more and packed his webbing with as many spare rounds as he could get. Despite still carrying the rifle on his back, he knew what little it could do against this enemy. A light caught his attention from the corner of his eye as the battle raged on, it was the hard line comms. Stumbling over to it as he sealed the ammunition pockets on his vest, he picked up the handset.