“What are you doing?” Taylor demanded.
“We have superior numbers and firepower but limited time. We can take this position with a frontal assault.”
“Frontal assault?” he responded in shock.
“We have no choice. Let’s get in there and do our jobs!”
Taylor edged around to the corner and could see there was no cover down the long spartan corridor.
“God damn, we could have used the shields for this!”
“Well, when Reiter finishes his changes, and gets them back to us, you’ll be the first to have one,” replied Chandra.
She got up and beckoned for the troops near her to come in close.
“This plan relies on speed. We must overcome that position with all haste. We have enough numbers that a quick rush could overwhelm them with minimal casualties. Are you with me?”
She could see that none were keen, but they all nodded in agreement.
“Alright, ready yourselves, on three. We do not stop until this is over. Three, two, one!”
Chandra leapt out into the corridor, and another dozen of their troops were in the corridor when she’d fired off her first round. Just as she pulled the trigger, the first two pulses rushed down the corridor, narrowly missing them all. They knew they would not be so lucky a second time. They flooded into the tunnel as ordered, and those at the front fired rapidly to try and give some cover.
Chandra gasped as the Mechs ahead lifted a heavy weapon up onto the barricade and were about to fire when their position was lit up by gunfire, and shots echoed out from the other side of their position. The heavy weapon team quickly abandoned their weapon and turned to take on a new threat.
“This is our chance!” she shouted.
They were already running, but she and Taylor increased to a sprint, and their suits allowed a rapid pace to cover the distance. They leapt up onto the defensive line to find only two Mechs still alive and fighting. They blasted them from their high position and looked up to see their saviours. Captain Jackson stood at the head of his Company with the barrel of his gun smoking violently.
“Hell of a good timing there, Captain,” Chandra said.
He didn’t respond but only marvelled at his work.
Taylor was relieved as he looked around to see only one of theirs had been clipped on the way in but was still breathing. He look to Chandra and shook his head in disbelief.
“Alright, let’s move on.”
They readied their weapons and continued on as intended. As they closed the distance to the Parliament buildings, they could hear the sound of gunfire. Its intensity rapidly increasing as they grew nearer.
“Kelly must have got there ahead of us, Mitch!” shouted Chandra.
“Then he can’t have met much opposition.”
Taylor recognised their location and knew they were coming up on the broad atrium that marked the entrance to the Parliament. Kelly had told him of the battle they had fought there when they tried to break out onto the surface months before, and he expected to find it littered with bodies and debris. The hall ahead was opening out to the atrium. They could already make out the shape of a strong defensive position, and dozens of Mechs firing from the top.
“Of all the places they could defend, they chose here?” asked Taylor.
Jafar stepped forward to answer.
“They knew it was strategically important to you. That’s makes it important to them.”
“Well it looks like Kelly has got stuck in already. If we can bring enough fire to bear on this flank, we should be able to end this.”
“There’s a balcony overlooking that position just above us.” Taylor pointed up.
“Good, take a platoon and get up there, and start laying down some fire ASAP!” Chandra shouted.
Taylor turned back, and the two aliens immediately followed him without hesitation.
“I need a platoon, Lieutenant,” he asked of Ota.
She signalled to one of her 2 ^nd Lieutenants.
“This is Sergeant Rios, formerly of the Rangers.”
A sergeant leading the platoon and a 2 ^nd Lieutenant in charge of a company, they have taken a beating.
“Follow me,” said Taylor.
Mitch led them back to a corridor and then east to a stairway. The two aliens were at the front of the column and still glued to his side. The hulking armoured creatures gave him some comfort, to know that they were on his side. The way up the stairs was quiet.
“We’re in luck,” he whispered.
They continued quickly on at a quiet jogging pace and up to the next level. Taylor stopped them at the top of the stairs. He was still astonished they had made it without opposition.
“They must be running pretty thin on troops.”
“Yes, I’d have expected a much harder fight,” Tsengal answered.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
They stepped out onto the empty balcony and crept to the far wall as the battle raged below. They could hear fire now from directly below their feet where Chandra had joined the fight. He pulled himself up just enough to peer over the edge of the small wall he was knelt beside. Mitch smiled as he saw an almost completely clear view of the creatures below. He turned and gestured for the rest of the platoon to join them.
The second the rest of the troop was in position, he shot up to a standing position and threw the barrel of his rifle over the wall.
“Fire!”
The opening volley was almost perfectly in sequence and killed six of the Mechs instantly. A few tried to lift their weapons to respond, but there was little they could do. The automatic fire tore apart the enemy’s position. He could hear a few of the Rangers shouting insults as they blazed away, but there was too much noise from the intense fire to understand what they said.
Muzzle flashes lit up below them as the troops on the level below rushed up to the enemy positions and jumped up onto the enemy wall to join in the slaughter. Even after all the Mechs were dead, they continued to fire into them, enjoying the utter destruction of their foes.
“Hold fire!” Taylor ordered.
A few moments later the Commander leapt into the middle of the bloodshed and looked up to where Taylor was still surveying the scene. He looked back down at the results of their work and then back up to Taylor with a smile.
“That’s some damn fine work, Major!”
Taylor leapt over the wall and used minimal boost to land down on the floor a few metres away from the Commander.
“Sir, I’d have expected a lot more opposition. How are the rest of our forces doing?”
“Last contact we had was from Chen, and it seems it’s like this all over.”
Taylor shook his head. “I don’t like it.”
“We are getting our homes back, Major. I’m not going to complain about it being too easy, and I’d like there to be something left by the time this war is over.”
Chandra arrived as Kelly finished his last words, and she was about to join the conversation when a call rang out.
“Colonel! Colonel!”
She snapped around at the distraught call. It was Captain Jackson, and he looked panicked.
“Ma’am, we’ve got incoming. I counted at least a hundred infantry en route.”
“Shit, they obviously know where we are and are diverting reinforcements to the breaches,” replied Kelly.
“Sir, we’ll hold this position. You have to continue on to re-claim this seat of government,” Chandra said quietly.
“You sure?”
“We’ve taken on much worse.”
“Alright, Captain Morris, I want all stairs covered. We clear this building one floor at a time!”
Kelly moved away to see to his people, and Chandra turned back to the Inter-Allied troops she had. She looked up to where the Rangers Taylor had led were still watching from the balcony above.
“I want another platoon on that balcony. Ota you can handle that? Captain Jackson, have your troops take up position here. Expand these defences as quickly as you can.”