“What’s making you so happy, Major?”
“This hardware. It’ll make every soldier who wears it twice the man he was.”
She sighed. “Then I hope we all live to see the day we are issued it.”
Fifteen minutes later the trenches were in place and the tanks were dug in. There was nothing left to do but wait. Captain Becker sat on the turret of his tank with a mug of coffee awaiting the opportunity to engage the first targets. He kept a keen eye on their advances. Chandra knew that, just as before, his calm and confident nature was very much a well practiced technique. Becker was as scared as the rest of them, but his demeanour did wonders for his crews.
“I never thought we’d end up fighting in my homeland. At least not this quickly.”
“The thought of a major war on European soil has long been considered to be a thing of the past,” said Chandra.
“Clearly our experts didn’t tell those bastards that,” snapped Taylor, pointing to the approaching force.
They knew that they were just minutes away from battle, but they were savouring their moment of peace for as long as they could.
“Major,” asked Becker.
“What is it, Captain?”
“Would you do the courtesy of telling us your first name?”
The Major looked at him inquisitively. Her fellow British officers were well accustomed with it in their life together. She noticed that Taylor turned and also awaited her answer.
“We aren’t going to die here, you know,” she replied.
“Major, you have me all wrong. I don’t want to know who I am going to die beside, but who I am going to fight beside.”
Taylor nodded in agreement. Chandra was touched by the statement, never having felt closer to those around her, but one. It was another sore reminder of the loss of Captain Jones, the only one among them who did know her name.
“Anna,” she whispered.
“What was that?” asked Taylor.
She knew he had heard her and only smiled in response.
“Nice to make your acquaintance, I am Lukas Becker,” stated the Captain formerly.
The three officers fell silent as they stared at each other, each praying that they would live to see the next day. The Captain peered around towards their advancing foe.
“Well, Anna, it’s about time we got to work.”
“Good luck to you, Lukas. Fire when ready.”
Becker gave a casual and friendly salute as he climbed into the turret and bolted the hatch down. The Major stood up on the embankment above the trenches where the troops had started to get comfortable in.
“Fire in your own time. I repeat, fire in your own time!”
The words echoed along the line as officers and NCOs relayed the order. They had trained without communication equipment before, but never expected to have to use it. In the frenzy of battle, it was clear to Chandra they needed better means of passing commands. She watched as the troops readied themselves at the trench shelves before jumping back into hers.
She looked along the line of troops. To her left was her own platoon, and to her right Taylor and his. The Major had taken half of Friday’s marines and they were all outfitted with Reiter’s new equipment. She peered over the embankment to see that the enemy were closing to five hundred metres. There were more than a hundred Mechs approaching up the hill with many more taking the road behind their tanks.
An energy pulse smashed down just in front of them as Becker’s tanks opened fire. The combined blasts rocked the ground. Chandra felt a little dizzy as she was almost thrown from her feet. She rested against the edge of the trench with her rifle at the ready. She looked down at the weapon and back at Taylor’s.
“Feeling a little inadequate, Major?” he jested.
She smiled in return and looked back at the incoming troops. Many of them with weapons effective at longer ranges had already opened fire. She could see Ortiz and Campbell firing as quickly as they could with their anti-materiel rifles, but she could not hear the shots. Taylor turned to Parker standing with him. He thought, I love you, but he didn’t say it. He gave a small nod and his eyes spoke pages. She smiled back, appreciating his sincerity.
“Let’s give these bastards a taste of the new age!” he shouted.
The exosuit marines slung their weapons over the edge of the trench and readied to fire. Chandra watched with baited breath. Their survival that day was important, but she knew the new technology could make all the difference in the war.
“Fire!”
A volley of loud cracks rang out as small flickers of light gushed from the barrels and small embers puffed out. She was so fascinated by the weapons that she was still fixated on them after the first shots. They stopped firing to investigate their results. Chandra turned just in time to see several of the Mechs drop to the ground with several others badly damaged.
“Alright, open it up, boys, give them everything you’ve got!” Taylor ordered.
“Oorah!” shouted Friday.
Light pulsed from the line of marines. The blinding light pulses from the enemy weapons had become something to fear. Chandra smiled as she realised that they were getting a taste of their own technology. She opened fire with her rifle. It was pretty ineffective compared to the others, but they had to maintain the pressure.
“It’s a god damn turkey shoot!” shouted Silva.
Enemy fire dropped all around them but caused little damage to the troops who were well concealed within their deep trenches. Chandra looked down the line and could see that the new equipment had given rise to a new enthusiasm amongst the troops. My God it’s working, she thought. The trench position just a couple of metres from Taylor erupted and two of his marines were thrown back against the rear wall.
He rushed to their aid. Silva had been hit by debris and was coughing as he stood up. A private had been hit in the chest by one of the pulses and the skin of his chin was burnt, but he was still breathing.
“You okay, Private?”
The man looked to him with glazed eyes and stared into the eyes of the Major. He shook his head to try and wake himself up before looking down at the impact. Smoke arose from the deep gash in the chest plate.
“It works,” said the elated Private.
Taylor saw the damage and hit it with his fist. The plate was burning hot but was still solid. He smiled as he reached out his hand and hauled the Private to his feet.
“I could have just died.”
“Damn straight, but you didn’t. Now get back up there and keep shooting!”
He looked over to Silva who nodded to him. They both knew how close they’d come to losing yet more marines.
“We owe Reiter a few beers.”
“More than a few!” shouted Taylor.
The Major jumped back onto the firing ledge of the trench and quickly got a target in sight. Sparks flew from the barrel of his launcher as two shells blasted towards one of the creatures. The rounds punched right through its thick chest armour, causing it to stagger and drop down onto one leg. It tried to regain its composure, but Mitch put a third round through its mirrored head plate.
Energy pulses continued to smash their positions, but most did little damage to their defences or personnel. Becker’s tanks were getting it the worst. Several were smouldering, and one had flames roaring from its hull. He lowered his weapon and looked down the hill to see that the Mech bodies were piling up in their dozens. Their advance had slowed, and a number were starting to take cover behind verges and the crumpled heaps of metal that used to be their comrades.
“They’re starting to feel the heat!” Chandra called out.
“Damn right!” shouted Taylor. “It’s only going to get worse for them!”
They both knew that it was a small victory in a truly epic scale war, but it was a victory nonetheless. Chandra looked up and down the lines of troops. All she could see in either direction were dozens of guns blazing. The Mechs’ advance had halted completely, but another force was advancing to support the assault in greater numbers. She turned to Taylor with a look of horror.