Chapter 8
“Let’s move! Go, go, go!” shouted Chandra.
With little over five hundred troops, the Major led them at a jogging pace to the western edge of the base while Becker’s tanks rolled on up ahead. Still not even a complete battalion and that’s all that could be mustered, she thought. Taylor rushed up to her in one of the exoskeleton suits. She could see that the Major had distributed all of the twenty-five suits.
“Guess you’ll get to put that stuff through its paces after all!” she shouted.
“It’ll make the General happy, I am sure.”
She looked at the hulking weapon Taylor carried as if it weighed little more than a sidearm. The new equipment looked impressive, but she could only hope it performed as well. Chandra was suddenly startled as Friday rushed up at an inhuman speed. She turned back to the Major.
“Are your boys familiar enough with that equipment to use it effectively in combat?”
Taylor nodded. “Nothing to it.”
They reached an embankment and roadway which led up to the western entrance to the base. Becker’s tanks had already begun to dig into positions overlooking the valley. Chandra rushed between the vehicles to the edge to look beyond. She could already make out the silhouettes of Mechs approaching.
“Damn they didn’t hang around!”
“Must have been hot on our tails from Amiens,” growled Friday.
She looked around. They were mostly flanked by thick forestry that was almost impassable, leaving only a hundred metre strip of land for them to defend.
“This’ll do us well. We should be able to hold them here.”
“Should, Major?”
She snapped her head around to investigate why Taylor was questioning her to find he had a big grin on his face. She smiled briefly then looked out at the line of troops gathering behind them. Most were battle weary stragglers or inexperienced base personnel. They were waiting her command.
“I want trenches along the whole ridge here alongside Captain Becker’s armour! We’ve got half an hour, if we’re lucky!”
They looked exhausted and defeated already.
“An army is coming up that road which will destroy everything in its path! Help is on the way, but right now, we are all that stands in its way! You should know that the invasion of the United States has begun!”
Several gasped. For most of them it was their homeland, and the thought of enemy on their soil was something they could never have imagined.
“The United Kingdom will surely face the same within days! We are here because it is our job, and our duty, to do everything in our power to stop this enemy! It doesn’t matter where we fight. It doesn’t matter on what soil or country we fight and die on. We are as one now. Not Americans, not British, not German, but human! Now let’s give them what for!”
The troops roared with the first real excitement and enthusiasm she had heard in days as they rushed to unload the trench diggers from Becker’s vehicles. She knew their morale would not last long under a prolonged assault of the enemy. Many had never seen the devastation the invaders brought, and those that had knew to fear it.
Chandra looked down on the advancing enemy. She could make out only a few vehicles, but dozens of soldiers were approaching. She pulled out her binoculars to take a closer look as Taylor strode up beside her.
“Where’s their air power?” he asked.
“I guess they’re busy fighting the main armies.”
Just as she had said it, they heard the thundering engines of the enemy aircraft low across the treetops. Three fighters burst into view and were approaching them at a tremendous speed.
“Incoming! Take cover! God damn it, Major, you tempted fate!” she shouted.
The troops scattered. She rushed to the rear of Becker’s vehicle and ducked down as the craft soared overhead. Pulses smashed the ground. One struck twenty metres to the Major’s side where she saw it catapult several soldiers into the air. She knew that few of them would have survived.
“Where’s our damn air support?” shouted Yorath.
She looked up to see the young officer had taken refuge behind the vehicle alongside her.
“Taking as much as a beating as the rest of us!” Taylor replied.
She turned around to see the Major the other side of her. The ground shook as dozens of energy pulses crashed into the ground and tore up the road. Dirt and tarmac was thrown in every direction. The last few blasts rang out as the enemy craft zoomed overhead and banked sharply for another pass.
“God damn it, those bastards are pissing me off!” Taylor shouted.
The Major lifted himself up and casually took a few paces out into the open as the fighters turned sharply to make their second run. He stood defiantly before them.
“Taylor! What the hell are you doing!” shouted Chandra.
He ignored her and lifted up his new weapon as the three craft levelled off for their attack. As they soared towards the cowering troops, their weapons opened up and light pulses smashed into the ground. One of the blasts struck a tank and its armour was ripped open. The Major stood calmly as he targeted the centre craft.
He took a deep breath as they came into range and fired five shots from the launcher in quick succession. The rounds flew with a flat trajectory, just as Reiter had said. The troops watched in amazement as the alien craft burst into flames and veered out of control. The guns of the other two stopped firing as they pulled up and increased speed to escape from the scene.
Chandra got up from the cover to stand by the Major and watched the flaming craft smash through the canopy of the nearby forest, bursting into flames. A roar rang out from the men as they celebrated the Major’s victory. She turned to look at him. He’d acted with blatant disregard for his own life, and in doing so had won them a sizeable victory.
“Hell of a gun,” she said.
That was just the boost the troops needed, maybe we can win this fight, she thought. She saw that their casualties were minimal, but the tank that had been struck was immobile. A hatch on the stricken vehicle opened and the crew staggered out. She looked back to the troops who were still celebrating Taylor’s victory.
“Medics, see to the wounded! Everyone else get to work!”
Her troops hauled the trench devices from the vehicles with a new sense of enthusiasm and confidence. Within minutes the defences were being carved out into the landscape, and the vehicles were being dug down into a hull down position. The defensive line ran around the western road and the embankment that ran up it. The enemy would be bottle necked by the road and have no choice but to attack uphill to their positions. She stepped up to Taylor where only he could hear.
“That was a damn risky thing to do, and yet you may have just made the difference in this fight, Major.”
He smiled in response. He hadn’t wanted to be a hero or risk his own life. He had acted out of instinct and the hatred of the enemy. Chandra looked once again through her binoculars. She could see dozens of Mechs pouring out of from the wooded road into the open valley. She walked over to the smouldering tank where Becker was supervising the crew checking it over.
“She won’t move again, but we can keep the gun working while we stay here.”
“Right now our only concern is surviving where we stand, Captain, so that’ll do.”
The Captain nodded, it was yet another loss which he could not easily replace.
“How long until they come into range, Captain?”
“We can hit them from here, but I’d not be confident about armour penetration at this range. We don’t have enough spare to risk it. How long until those re-enforcements get here, Major? We aren’t going to last long.”
She shook her head as she could not answer that question. He nodded in acceptance, turning back to help his crew. She could see Taylor looking out at the incoming enemy with a smile.