Standing up, he walked along the fuselage of the ship and up to the cockpit. He looked out between the two pilots at the monstrous alien island before them. All around them were hundreds of aircraft. Fighters, bombers and transports. Up ahead they could just make out the shapes of the sea-based craft approaching the enemy. Tracer and energy pulses flew across the sky up head as their fighters engaged the enemy.
“ETA two minutes, Sir!” shouted the pilot.
“Thank you, Lieutenant!”
The enemy’s jamming technology had already stopped all communication via radio. Taylor missed his usual flight crew. It had become tradition to fly with Rains and Perez, but he knew that they were playing just as important a role. He went back to his men.
“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.