“Yes, a chameleon camouflage technology, something we never managed to develop to an operational standard. You don’t use such devices when you come in peace,” replied Taylor.
“Easy, Major, let’s not jump the gun.”
“Sir, our comms are being jammed, we’ve gone dark,” said Visser.
“Prime Minister, this is an attack, do not let them invade unopposed!” shouted Taylor.
“Major Taylor, must I remind you who is in charge!”
“Gentleman!” Kelly shouted.
They turned to see the craft descending on their colony. It was impossible to make out the total number as their camouflaging technology meant that they were difficult to spot and count, but it was already at least fifty.
“We must find some way to make contact,” said Olsen.
“Can we access any of the video feeds, Commander?” asked Taylor.
“Only from cameras in and on this building which are connected directly, all others are jammed along with comms.”
They heard a loud striking noise as one of the unidentified vessels landed against the side of the civic building. There was silence for several seconds as every person in the room anxiously awaited their next action.
“I need to investigate that personally, keep the blast doors shut and only open them when I return!” Taylor ordered.
“Major, this could be a first contact situation, I must be there!”
“Sit down, Prime Minister! Everything we know and have seen so far suggests the actions of a hostile force, you will go nowhere near them until I am satisfied!”
Olsen dipped his head. He was angry for being put in his place, but he knew how foolish he was being. It was potentially a very exciting time and he was letting it get the better of him.
“Alright, Major, investigate, but do not in any way show aggression.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The Major hit the large button that opened the broad blast doors and stepped out. The foot-thick doors sealed behind him. In front of him stood Lieutenant Wilson and the whole of Alpha platoon, as well as half of his command section.
“Alpha with me, the rest of you, do not let anyone pass but me, I don’t care who they are!”
Taylor took his rifle firmly in both hands and led the platoon directly for the area where they’d heard the ship land. A moment later they could hear heavy cutting equipment being used and a few screams of panic as staff members ran in fear of the harrowing sounds. Their civic building was being breached. Taylor had no idea who the enemy might be, but he knew firmly that they were not the actions of a peaceful people.
A thud rang out as a section of the thick outer wall fell in and collapsed onto the floor. Taylor got up to a jogging pace, making his way as quickly as possible to the breach. Before they could arrive, the strangest sounds began pulsating around the rooms. The marines could hear screams from the vicinity of the breach. At a corner up ahead they saw a person hit with some kind of red energy which appeared to burn into their flesh causing them to drop to the ground in agony, clearly fatally hit. Taylor turned to look at his men who had a mix of shock and fear about their faces. He could hear several heavy footsteps coming down the corridor towards them.
“Wilson, take half your men back the way we came and flank their position, we’ll hold up here.”
“Rules of engagement, Sir?”
“Shoot the bastards, all of them!”
Wilson nodded and quickly peeled off half the men from their group. Taylor signalled for the men to take up defensive positions. He had just over twenty men and no cover at all in the long corridor. All he could do was bring all their weapons to bare and hope that they could destroy whatever came around the corner.
Just a few doors were open along the corridor, but they were of little use as the rooms were all enclosed. If they couldn’t take them in the open then they’d have no choice but to run. The marines took up position like a musket block from an 18
th
century war, bunched up and with no shelter.
The tension was like nothing they had ever experienced as they awaited an enemy they had never seen and knew nothing about. The footsteps were a walking pace but loud. Taylor held his carbine at the ready, a high power, sixty-round capacity assault rifle. They had two machine gunners with them with the BRUN light support guns. The back mounted ammunition with direct feeds to the weapons not only made them a formidable sustain fire weapon, but also balanced them rearward so they could be fired from the hip and on the move using the helmet-mounted sighting system.
The time for wondering was over. A huge metal clad monster came into view. It was almost as tall as the ceiling. They could see little but metalwork. The lower body tapered strongly into a form of sprung legs that made it walk more like the pre-historic dinosaurs. Two arms extended from its upper body and held a huge cannon dwarfing anything the marines could carry. No head sprouted from the top of the armoured suit, only a mirrored dome in the centre of the shoulder line. They could only imagine that whatever was inside was peering through the mirrored section at them.
Taylor looked once more at the imposing metal beast standing over the body of its latest victim. He gave no orders and just pulled the trigger. A split second after firing the first round he was joined by the other marines. The iron beast was slowly knocked back by the mass of fire. It tried to turn its weapon to fire but the cannon was struck by multiple hits. One shot fired off, burning through a sidewall.
Finally the heavily armoured monster slumped against the far side wall and collapsed into a heap. Taylor got to his feet and moved cautiously towards the daunting thing. He guessed they must have fired a couple of hundred rounds into the target. Despite not knowing how many were necessary to destroy the beast, it was becoming quickly apparent that they were facing a vastly superior enemy.
Reaching the end of the corridor, Mitch peered around the corner, finding nothing but the bodies of two more civilians. He looked down at the lifeless armoured suit, most of their rounds had bounced right off the thick armour. The suit was in many ways crude and industrial, riveted and bolted together. He could see a handful of entry points where their bullets had penetrated, all in the thinner joint areas and the mirrored section. A blue liquid seeped from the holes in the suit, he had no idea whether it was blood or some fluid from the suit. Gunfire rang out from the other end of the floor from Wilson and his marines. The Major spun around to look at his men who were anxiously waiting for orders.
“Whatever these things are our rifles can only penetrate their armour at the joints and at that mirrored section. When you face another, choose your targets carefully. Our grenade launchers will hopefully do more damage, but we can’t risk their use here, a breach in the structure of the building could be detrimental. Sergeant Silva, send runners out through the building, we are getting the hell off of this rock.”
“Sir, what about the Prime Minister?”
“I’ll take the men of Alpha here, less any runners you need. Set your watches for a fifteen minute countdown, anybody not at the boat by then gets left behind.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Taylor stormed back the way he’d come. Silva peeled off three of the marines as they went, the rest following after the Major. He’d not been without communication links since his blackout training years before. He continued onwards at the head of the marine unit. Based on the size of the vessel that breached the building and the size of the thing that attacked them, he speculated that there would likely be no more than ten intruders in the building.
Minutes later the Major stormed into the hallway before the blast doors of the Prime Minister’s bunker. His command staff stood with their rifles ready to fire, they were highly-strung and ready to shoot. He walked straight past them and up to the camera beside the doors.
“This is Major Taylor, get these doors open!”
Seconds later the huge blast doors slid open and he went into the bunker. The occupants were in shock, having watched civilians being gunned down on camera.
“Prime Minister Olsen. The colony has been compromised, we cannot defend it any longer with the few troops we have, I have orders to evacuate you immediately!”
Olsen did not answer for a few seconds, still traumatised by the incident.
“The Prime Minister will not leave his colony, this is our home!” Kelly shouted.
“It’s not up for discussion, those are my orders. There’s space for anyone here who wants to join us. Sir, please come with us now.”
Colonel Visser reached for his handgun, but Taylor lifted his rifle and took the officer in sight. His marines moved into the bunker beside him, outnumbering the guards in the room.
“You cannot remove the Prime Minister without his permission!”
“You do what you have to do, Colonel, but I’m working on orders from General White. The colony will be overrun in the next few minutes, if we do not go now we may never make it out!”
“And what about the people of this colony?”
“What we can do for them is get you out and to safety, Prime Minister. Your death will not help them in any way. Sir, come with us.”
The Prime Minister staggered forwards, the walk of a man who had lost everything. Visser released his grip on the pistol on his belt and relaxed.
“Colonel, Commander, you coming or not?”
“Sorry, Major, but I have a sworn duty to protect this colony,” said Kelly.
The Colonel nodded in agreement with him. “You get the Prime Minister to safety and make sure you give them hell, we’ll do what we can here.”
The Major turned and led Olsen out of the bunker.
“Form up, we’re moving out!”
The marine unit rushed to the elevators that would take them right up to the docking area of the Deveron. Gunshots echoed around the building. They could not tell whether it was their own marines or the other soldiers stationed there, but they could no longer concern themselves with it. They crammed into the elevators. Taylor kept the Prime Minister close at all times.
It was a thirty-second journey to the upper floor, but it felt much longer. As they approached the top floor they could hear the sound of gunfire getting louder. It quickly became apparent that their fellow soldiers were already engaged in combat outside the docking bay.
The doors slid open and Alpha platoon burst out into a warzone. Eight marines lay dead or dying on the floor, the rest were battling ferociously against five of the armoured attackers. The beasts made no attempt to use any cover. The room had tall ceilings and was a broad open docking area. A few crates on the bay floor were all that provided cover against the onslaught of the beasts.
Taylor left the elevator firing repeatedly. Within seconds of them arriving, his half of Alpha platoon brought down a creature. Seconds later they were joined by Charlie who came up from the stairs. Almost a hundred marines fired repeatedly. Five more of them were hit as the metal beasts toppled to the ground.
Looking around at the docking bay area, Taylor was astonished at the hardship they’d faced. Even when outnumbering the invaders substantially they had taken severe fatalities, including many others wounded. He could smell burning and was drawn to the smouldering on his shoulder. One of the enemy shots had skimmed his shoulder and upper arm protection. It had burnt it down to the layer of his compression suit.
“All aboard! Immediate evac!” he shouted.
Taylor took Prime Minister Olsen’s arm personally and pulled him across the docking bay. The marines hauled their fallen and wounded comrades onto their shoulders dragging them through the docking doors of the Deveron. They were met by Captain Reyes who was armoured up and limping from a shot that had skimmed his leg.
“Get us the hell out of here, Captain, and make sure you man the guns, we’ll need everything we’ve got to make it off this rock!”
“All aboard, Major?”
“We can’t wait any longer Captain!”
Reyes hit his intercom as the marines rushed in through the narrow docking corridor.
“Ensign, prepare for lift-off in twenty seconds!”
“Come on, marines! Move your ass!” shouted Taylor.
The last men leapt aboard as the engines fired up and the Captain shut the docking door and released the corridors. Taylor followed the hobbling Captain to the elevators that led them directly to the bridge. He looked out at the colony, a surprisingly peaceful sight considering the slaughter going on within the structures.