Taylor landed a split second after Chandra and sunk into the mud a few metres from her. He gasped to get his breath back from the death-defying leap, and saw the enemy turned their guns on him. Before he could fire his first round, the rest of the Company dropped in all round and opened fire down into the trenches.
Chandra clambered out of the trench and got to her feet. She could see Taylor and the others blazing away from the tops of the trenches, in what was more of an execution than a fight. Only two-dozen Mechs had survived the artillery barrage in their sector and were completely overwhelmed by their airborne assault.
Taylor looked around to see that their Company had already gone silent. The other infantry companies were nearing the enemy positions and taking heavy fire as they rushed across the open terrain.
“Major!” he shouted.
She turned to see him pointing south where a vicious volley of fire from the Mechs was mowing down allied troops. Mitch didn’t wait for her orders. He took to his feet and rushed along the enemy lines to attack their flank; and was immediately joined by the rest of the Company. Chandra knew they were as loyal to him as they were to her, but she never let it bother her. She chased after the troops.
A number of the Mechs to the south could see the Inter-Allied Company rushing flank and turned to fight them. Taylor opened fire, charging with his shield held out before him. He reached the trenches, kept firing, and rushed past the burning body of the first creature and continued along their line. Some of the beasts he didn’t even have time to stop and fire upon, but he knew his comrades were at his back.
Fire ripped through the trenches as the Company fired into the backs of the Mechs. Taylor reached a broad dugout at the end of the trench lines where three Mechs stood in position, firing at the incoming allies. He came to a quick halt and opened fire on full auto. He watched with joy as the creatures spasmed when the rounds penetrated their armour, and they finally tumbled into the mud.
The Major turned to see the other Mech forces had been utterly overwhelmed by their superior numbers and blitz attack. It was scarcely believable for any of them that they had finally led a successful attack against the invaders. For the first time since the war began, they were taking ground. Cheers erupted across the trenches and soon expanded to the others as the several kilometre-long perimeter of the base was claimed.
“You did this!” Taylor shouted to Chandra. “You broke their line!”
“No, Major, we did, together,” she replied.
A second wave of allied troops reached them ten minutes later. They were astonished to see the work had already been done. They advanced on and took up positions in the ruins of the base, leaving the troops of Inter-Allied to rest among their vanquished enemy. Chandra walked through the troops, thanking them for their efforts.
“We should carry on to Paris!” shouted Blinker.
“Yeah, why stop here?” yelled Monty.
Chandra smiled at their enthusiasm.
“Ma’am, why not, there’s no stopping us!”
She hesitated, knowing she must address the issue even though it could douse their high spirits.
“I like your thinking, I really do. But let us not forget how we have been caught out before. We have won a valuable victory here today, but let’s not stick our heads up to get them chopped off. You just keep doing what you’re doing, both of you. Get us a line to HQ, if you would.”
When she had finally made her way around them all to praise their efforts, she strode back up to Taylor who was looking down at the lifeless bodies of the creatures. Chandra could already see some of the emptiness in Taylor’s eyes that had overcome Jones. She opened her mouth to speak some words of comfort, but was interrupted by Blinker.
“Ma’am!” he cried.
The Private rushed towards her from the field they had just come from. The cable trailed behind him with the spindle in one hand.
“General Schulz for you, Ma’am.”
She snatched the handset from his hands.
“Chandra here.”
“Major, congratulations, and well done. Please convey my thanks to your troops, and Major Taylor in particular.”
Chandra turned to Mitch with a wicked smile. Schulz is realising he must live with Taylor, no matter what, she thought.
“You must excuse me, Major. There is work to be done, and a lot is changing.”
Her ears pricked up at the General’s passing comments, but he was gone before she could pry any further. A matter of minutes later, shouts rang out across the line and cheers rang out. She could see in the distance that word was being passed along the line; causing the kind of excitement she hadn’t seen in months. Soldiers rushed back and forth as the news spread. Suddenly, Yorath appeared in such a frenzy that he could barely contain himself.
“They’re coming!” he yelled.
“Who? Who is coming?”
“Field Marshall Copley, and the whole bloody British army! They’ve crossed the channel!”
“What? Are you certain?”
“Yeah, British forces north of here are pushing forward to try and bridge the gap!”
She looked north and could see a huge dust cloud that was unmistakably the sign of an army on the move.
“Bloody hell, they’ve finally done it!”
She looked around to see the troops leaping in excitement. She spun back around to Blinker.
“Get a line to command. We need orders!” she yelled.
She looked to see some new life in Taylor’s eyes.
“About time your people did some of the work,” he jested.
An hour later, they were on the move to secure the rest of Ramstein but met little resistance. By nightfall, they once again occupied the trenches which just days before they had fled from under a brutal barrage and assault from the unrelenting enemy. They knew that the next day they would be pushing forward to the enemy stronghold of Saarbrucken, but for that night they could rest in the knowledge they had struck a vicious blow to the enemy. Chandra and Taylor sat once again in a trench as they had done the previous night.
“If they pulled out of Ramstein, they must be readying their defences for our advance. It’ll be a hard fight gaining the next ground. They have over stretched themselves, but once they organise properly, we’ll be up to our eyeballs in shit,” said Taylor.
“Can’t beat a bit of positivity,” she replied.
“We did well today, but let’s not forget what lies ahead.”
“We’ll take it as it comes, as we have done everything else. With any luck, we’ll see some reinforcements before long, and get us back to battalion strength.”
“I wouldn’t hold out your hopes.”
They slept uneasily as they each dreamt of the road ahead. When morning came, they awaited their orders to once again move forward; but thirty minutes after sunrise came, they heard booming engines high in the sky. The thick cloud cover of the dreary morning hid the source of the sound, and they all knew it was not human.
Chandra and Taylor watched the skies for several minutes until huge vessels broke through the clouds and roared northeast. They counted nine ships, and each looked as large as the Navy’s most powerful carriers. The vessels were so vast that it was barely conceivable they were able to fly.
“My god, where are they heading?” asked Chandra.
“That’s the way to Berlin, and they’re opening another front right behind our armies,” replied Taylor.
“How, I thought everything they had was right here, so where are these forces coming from?”
“I have seen them before, when we first encountered this enemy.”
“The Moon?”
Taylor nodded. Though there was little fear or concern in his eyes.
“You think they are feeling the pressure we are putting on them here? Enough that they’d send in everything they had?” she asked.