“Give me an update, Captain!”
“We’ve got incoming!”
“In what strength?”
“At least a half dozen tanks and plenty more on the way!”
“Everyone into position! Fire in your own time!”
The Captain nodded and jumped into the trench after his troops. Lieutenant Yorath was in the other trench on the opposite side of the street, with Friday’s marines between them. Lieutenant Suarez was positioned in the brick building opposite the Major’s bank. The armoured crews scrambled to get inside and batten down the hatches. She turned back to her platoon.
“Fire when ready!”
Chapter 5
Taylor glanced out of the side window as they passed over Ramstein. Line after line of abandoned buildings and roads were left to decay.
“A sad thing to see, isn’t it? Over fifty thousand air force personnel used to serve here, now little over two thousand,” said Reyes.
The Major turned back to the Captain with a grim look on his face.
“Perhaps if our governments hadn’t cut the military budgets so greatly, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“I hardly think they could have predicted an invasion by a highly advanced alien race.”
“If you want peace, prepare for war, Captain. The basic principles never change.”
Taylor sat back in his seat feeling utterly lost. Reyes knew that it was a lot to ask to have him pulled away from his comrades at such a time of need, but there was nothing more he could do to relieve that concern. The tail of the craft dipped as they came into land at a brisk rate. The two men walked down the ramp to find there was no one there to greet them.
The runways and landing strips were vast but had little more than a dozen craft in total insight. If it were not for them, and the two guards they could see at the facility ahead, it would look abandoned.
“Not the warmest welcome ever,” exclaimed Taylor.
“We’re here to work, Major, not be tourists.”
Reyes led the way towards the guards. He held his identification card. The two guards barely turned to look, instantly recognising the Captain. Ramstein had been a US Air Force base for hundreds of years, and he suspected that Reyes was more than a little familiar with it and those who served there. They strolled on down several empty corridors.
“What exactly are we going to see here, Captain?”
“The facility here is under the control of a scientist and developed called Reiter. He’s been working for us for years, but never given any major money to develop his ideas.”
“Why?”
“Because most of his ideas are related to combat roles, of which there has been little interest in for a long time.”
They reached an opening with vast security doors. Reyes scanned his card through the reader and then stood for retina recognition. Green lights flashed around the doorway as access was granted, and the huge blast doors separated.
“Welcome, Major!”
A man in his sixties in a white lab coat approached with open arms and a broad grin. He paced right up to the Major and hugged him as a greeting. Taylor turned to Reyes with a puzzled expression.
“You’re not in America anymore, Major.”
The man let him go and took a step back.
“I am Marcus Reiter, as I am sure the Captain here has already told you.”
“What is it you are working on here?” asked Taylor.
“Anything and everything that can give our troops an edge in combat.”
“Well it’s sorely needed, I can tell you.”
Reiter looked down at the Major’s battered and worn armour, and he nodded as he realised that the Major had come from the front lines.
“Here, come this way.”
He led them around a corner where the room opened up to a vast laboratory the size of a football pitch and with over a hundred personnel at work.
“As you can see, our budget has increased rather in this past week.”
“Has it done any good?” the Major asked sceptically.
Reiter stopped and turned back to him. He was at first offended by Taylor’s doubt and cynicism, but he could not blame the battle weary officer.
“We have been working all out to try and understand much of the alien technology, which is fascinating, I must add. What I can firmly say, is that the power of their weapons make developing useable personal body armour a major issue.”
“So what can you do for us?”
The scientist smiled.
“The fact is that man for man, or whatever they are, they are outgunning our troops.”
“I am well aware of that.”
“The rifles you are using are largely ineffective. The grenade launchers have a fairly short range, and you can’t carry a lot of ammunition. Therefore, what you need is more strength, more power.”
“Go on.”
Reiter nodded. He was glad that he had captured the Major’s curiosity. He led the two men to the centre of the room where they had a peculiar looking device resembling a human body in shape and proportions.
“The powered exoskeleton is not a new concept, Major. More than two hundred years ago they were being tested and put into limited usage, but cost and power were always a problem. Since then we have gained cheaper productions methods and better power packs, but there has been little interest in developing such devices.”
Taylor stepped in closer, studying the device carefully.
“This device allows a soldier to carry twice his bodyweight without even noticing it. It will allow for larger weapons, more ammunition and some better armour options. It’ll make you stronger, faster…”
The Major spun around with a gleam in his eye.
“And you have tried this? It is operational?”
“Yes, many times.”
He walked around the device, behind a small divider and beckoned for them to follow him. They stepped around to see the same suit made up onto a manikin with armour and weapons.
“I thought you said armour would be a problem?” asked Taylor.
“Largely, yes. The weight of armour that will protect you against the enemy weapons is quite honestly, substantial, to say the least. Front and back torso plates weigh upwards of fifty kilos alone, so that’ll be all you’ll get.”
Taylor stepped up to the manikin and tapped the armour. It was thick plate, more like vehicle armour than anything he’d seen on personal equipment.
“Your boosters you use for low altitude descents. We have attached far more powerful devices to this suit which will allow you to make vertical leaps of approximately five metres and horizontal up to ten or fifteen. They’ll also allow safe descents from a thousand metres.”
Taylor ignored his words. His attention was wholly placed on a large weapon hung up beside the manikin. It had a large box magazine slung underneath. The barrel was larger than any rifle although half the size of their launchers.
“Ah yes, I thought that might get your attention, Major. We have the enemy weapons and have begun to understand the propulsion of their energy pulses, but not how the round or energy itself is created. Using their propulsion method, we have been able to create a grenade launcher that uses caseless ammunition. This increases weapon capacity as well as vastly the amount of ammunition a soldier can carry.”
“And the range?”
“Greatly improved. The rounds can maintain a flat trajectory for two hundred metres.”
Taylor nodded, it sounded good.
“And if this all works, how quickly can you put it into production?”
“This equipment only got to its operational state as of the early hours of this morning. Further testing is required, and we need experienced combat veterans such as yourself to put it through its paces. After that…”