Authors: Nick S. Thomas
"They must have committed most of their forces to drive south, so there can't be a lot. Time is not a luxury we have right now."
The copters came in low and skimmed the treetops before roaring out over the area of collapsed trees. Within it lay an enemy frigate in seemingly perfect condition. Jafar leaned out over the side for a good look.
"They landed her deliberately!"
Taylor knew there was no more time to waste analysing the situation.
"All companies move in!"
He reached the door and leapt out between the gap Jafar had left. His alien comrade was quick to jump after him. Their boosters activated and brought them to a quick and safe landing on the ground just fifty metres from the enemy vessel. Only two Mechs stood guard at the entrance ramp to the ship, and they were overwhelmed by gunfire before they could get more than a couple of shots off.
Taylor was moving towards the ramp the second he hit the ground. Six more of the soldiers rushed out from the doorway and were hit by automatic fire by thirty of Jones' troops. They didn't stand a chance against the overwhelming odds. He reached the ramp and could see no sign of further movement. He looked up at the vast space ship that was four times the size of the Deveron. He doubted there were many enemy left inside.
"All units, deploy charges by sector at ten metres intervals, two minute timers. Rendezvous at the clearing one click south for immediate recovery."
The platoon he was with moved up and placed the magnetic charges onto the hull. Individually, they could only do minimal damage, but with two-dozen or more, he calculated it would be enough to cripple the vessel and likely kill anyone onboard.
"Taylor to Yorath, we have confirmed enemy presence at Muro Lucano. Call in a strike on our coordinates in fifteen minutes."
"Affirmative, Sir."
"You think that'll be necessary?" asked Jones.
"This will disable them for now, but I don't want anyone surviving or them having equipment they can recover. It's the only way to be sure."
Jones wasn't going to argue with that. He would happily see all evidence of the enemy obliterated beyond recognition.
"Let's move it, haul ass!"
They rushed from the clearing at a quick pace into the nearby trees and beyond until they reached the edge, bursting out into open ground where the copters were awaiting them. As Taylor reached Rains’ position, the explosion erupted at their backs. A loud boom echoed for kilometres all around. Jones nodded in satisfaction.
"Another one bites the dust," he whispered to himself.
"We need to move fast. That can't have gone unnoticed by whatever forces headed south!" Taylor called out.
"It's always nice to make an entrance," replied Jones.
They leapt aboard and were in the air within a few minutes. Their feet had barely touched the ground. They were just ten kilometres north of the Fighting Fifth now; Taylor only prayed they were in time to help. He watched with bated breath as they passed over one hill to the next. They kept low to hide their position, but it also meant they had little visibility on what was ahead. As they passed a crest, it opened up into a broad valley, and they were hit with what resembled a fireworks display. Pulses and tracer fire were going in all directions.
"My, God," said Rains.
Mech forces were on both sides of the valley, with troops of the 5th Marine Regiment in the basin fighting for their lives. They could already make out lines of dead from both sides scattered throughout the valley where each side had fought desperately to gain ground.
"Put us down, now!" Taylor shouted.
"Right here?"
"Now!"
He turned to Jones.
"We have to take on this northern assault now, or they aren't gonna make it!"
The copters came to an abrupt halt.
"Why the hell didn't we know about this?"
"Either they were too proud to call it in, or couldn't!" yelled Taylor.
I know Harney wants his glory, but I doubt the Colonel would compromise so many lives for it. That begs the question, has the enemy found new ways to jam communications?
It was a disheartening thought whatever the answer, but there was no more time to think about it."
"Go!" he ordered the troops closest to the door. He rushed after them and leapt out. He quickly found himself descending onto a burst of gunfire from a Mech weapon and pushed his shield down enough to take the impact and land safely on his feet. He already knew the tactics sucked, but they had no time to plan and conduct a better strategy.
He and Jones' platoon landed amongst ten Mechs who had been advancing over the crest of the valley edge and were caught completely by surprise. He fired quickly with his rifle, killing one just a second after hitting the ground. Another pulse smashed into his shield, twisting it on his arm and almost breaking the joint. The support of his exosuit was all that saved him. He spun around and threw the shield at his attacker with all his strength.
"Son of a bitch!"
The weighty metal shield smashed into the Mech and launched it off its feet. Seizing the opportunity,he rushed at the beast and jumped onto it. He held the barrel of his gun to its faceplate and fired a burst before it could recover. He turned to see the troops of Inter-Allied dropping all around. Many fired as they made their descent. The first Mechs they landed amongst were completely overwhelmed. He reached for his shield which had blue blood splattered over it from the burst he had just fired.
"God damn disgusting," he said as he spat out on the grass.
His mouth was full of sweat and dirt, mixed with the foul iron taste of their blood.
"Ota move west, Grey to the east, Jones' Company with me. We're going forward!"
He looked down into the valley to see hundreds of Mechs. The rearmost ranks had realised what was bearing down on them, but it would do them little good. They turned to fire on Taylor's troops but were already being hit by the crossfire of the Fighting Fifth in the base of the valley.
"Let's take these bastards down quick!"
They paced forward steadily with their shields held out front and their weapons firing at every target they could find. Taylor threw two grenades as he approached the nearest Mech position and kept up his fire. Another two pulses struck his shield, and he was starting to feel the heat. It was beginning to fail under the continued blasts. He got to a sprint and rushed at the nearest creature, firing on full auto as he did. It took six shots to the chest before he crashed into it with his full weight. His weakened shield buckled under the pressure of the impact and cracked at its core.
As the alien tumbled to the ground, he saw another two behind it ready to fire on him, but Jones' Company cut them down where they stood. He used the opportunity to rush past them. The next line of creatures was fighting from a tall stonewall and firing down on the marines. Many still had their backs to the top of the valley, unaware of the new human force.
Taylor rushed at the wall and sprayed a burst across the back of one, drew his Assegai and thrust it up through the base of the spine armour of another. He spun and raised his rifle, killing another beside them. The wall of enemy succumbed to a barrage of fire from the incoming company who completely overwhelmed them.
Jones reached him, and they looked out to their flanks to see Ota and Grey were pushing forward almost as quickly. Two hundred Mechs lay dead on the hillside in just five minutes of fighting. He peered out over the wall to see the last few Mechs were being taken down by the marinesadvancing up the hill towards them. He lifted his hand to call a ceasefire and let them finish the job.
He watched as two-dozen marines made their way up the hill, and it wasn't long before he recognised Harney among them. He jumped over the wall to greet them, signalling the company to follow him. Harney's marines looked like they had been through hell. They had badly burnt and damaged armour, and many had been struck by debris and tree bursts. Harney appeared in absolute shock, but Taylor didn't know if that was from the fight or the sight of reinforcements.
"Taylor!" We have been calling for assistance for the last two hours but can't seem to get a signal through. What the hell happened here?"
"My best guess is they jammed your signal somehow. Evidently, our counter-jamming equipment isn't perfect."
"How did you know about this northern assault?"
"We discovered the possibility looking at the surveillance images."
"I saw those same images and saw nothing."
"It wasn't easy to spot."
Harney smiled in appreciation. He knew he had made a huge mistake, but Taylor was not rubbing his nose in it.
"There's still a lot of opposition on the southern ridge. We sure could do with your assistance.”
Taylor noted from that moment on, Harney was seeing him in a whole new light.
"Couldn't you get evac from here?"
"We tried, but our birds are waiting a few clicks to the west. I'm not sure if they're still okay. I sent a runner to them an hour ago but have heard nothing. Was this a targeted ambush?"
"Of a sort. The vessel south of here is a crash site. We believe their support ships landed further north to prevent any of us overrunning them while they make their retreat."
"Retreat?"
"They're amassing in North Africa. I don't believe they ever intended to put down here."
"Then they can't be that strong."
Engines roared as their copters approached from the north and put down over in the field near them among the enemy dead. Taylor knew they'd just leapt into a dangerous situation and was thankful it had paid off. He turned back to Harney.
"No, they aren't. It's prime time to bring them down. Let's move up and cut these bastards down!"
It took the combined forces of 2
nd
Inter-Allied and 5
th
Marine Regiment the rest of the day to sweep the enemy off the hilltops and back to their ship. When they finally caught sight of the stricken heavy cruiser, the sun was going down, and Taylor knew it was time to stop. Harney was by his side as they looked on at the hulking vessel which hull was part sunken below the surface.
“What now?” he asked.
“Nothing left to do until morning. We set up defences here and get what rest we can. We should arrange an aerial strike for first light.”
“Why not now?”
“Well, for a start, I don’t reckon it’ll even be achievable, but I also want to see the result of our work and mop up any survivors before they can disperse into these hills and woods.”
Taylor could see Harney didn’t fully agree with his assessment and plan, but he wasn’t going to argue with him after the day they had experienced. Taylor turned to Jones who had been standing close behind.
“Make it happen.”
Harney nodded for his support staff to do likewise. He was happy for some responsibly to be taken off him after the near disastrous day.
“Our communications, they were down for just a few hours and then back again, what do you think is happening?”
“I guess they have a more narrow focussed and powerful machine. I doubt they’d be able to jam any larger areas, or they would have done so already.”
“Seems a pretty big assumption,” replied Harney.
“Only going on the intel I have and previous experience. It’s been a long day. I suggest you bed down and be ready for the morning.”
“Long day? Hell of a day, more like!”
Hell? You haven’t seen even a bit of it yet,
Taylor thought.
They spread out across a kilometre wide defence north of the ship that night, with patrols running far and wide to be safe. Taylor sat up against a tree for most of the night, watching the enemy ship. There was not a single light working on it, but the moonlight glinted off the metallic hull. Every half an hour he would look at the site with his night vision equipment just to study it and observe for movement, but there was none.
He heard a branch crack at his side and reacted by reaching for his rifle and twisting around ready to defend himself.
“You should be getting some rest,” a calm voice spoke.