He looked down into the valley to see hundreds of Mechs. The rearmost ranks had realised what was bearing down on them, but it would do them little good. They turned to fire on Taylor's troops but were already being hit by the crossfire of the Fighting Fifth in the base of the valley.
"Let's take these bastards down quick!"
They paced forward steadily with their shields held out front and their weapons firing at every target they could find. Taylor threw two grenades as he approached the nearest Mech position and kept up his fire. Another two pulses struck his shield, and he was starting to feel the heat. It was beginning to fail under the continued blasts. He got to a sprint and rushed at the nearest creature, firing on full auto as he did. It took six shots to the chest before he crashed into it with his full weight. His weakened shield buckled under the pressure of the impact and cracked at its core.
As the alien tumbled to the ground, he saw another two behind it ready to fire on him, but Jones' Company cut them down where they stood. He used the opportunity to rush past them. The next line of creatures was fighting from a tall stonewall and firing down on the marines. Many still had their backs to the top of the valley, unaware of the new human force.
Taylor rushed at the wall and sprayed a burst across the back of one, drew his Assegai and thrust it up through the base of the spine armour of another. He spun and raised his rifle, killing another beside them. The wall of enemy succumbed to a barrage of fire from the incoming company who completely overwhelmed them.
Jones reached him, and they looked out to their flanks to see Ota and Grey were pushing forward almost as quickly. Two hundred Mechs lay dead on the hillside in just five minutes of fighting. He peered out over the wall to see the last few Mechs were being taken down by the marinesadvancing up the hill towards them. He lifted his hand to call a ceasefire and let them finish the job.
He watched as two-dozen marines made their way up the hill, and it wasn't long before he recognised Harney among them. He jumped over the wall to greet them, signalling the company to follow him. Harney's marines looked like they had been through hell. They had badly burnt and damaged armour, and many had been struck by debris and tree bursts. Harney appeared in absolute shock, but Taylor didn't know if that was from the fight or the sight of reinforcements.
"Taylor!" We have been calling for assistance for the last two hours but can't seem to get a signal through. What the hell happened here?"
"My best guess is they jammed your signal somehow. Evidently, our counter-jamming equipment isn't perfect."
"How did you know about this northern assault?"
"We discovered the possibility looking at the surveillance images."
"I saw those same images and saw nothing."
"It wasn't easy to spot."
Harney smiled in appreciation. He knew he had made a huge mistake, but Taylor was not rubbing his nose in it.
"There's still a lot of opposition on the southern ridge. We sure could do with your assistance.”
Taylor noted from that moment on, Harney was seeing him in a whole new light.
"Couldn't you get evac from here?"
"We tried, but our birds are waiting a few clicks to the west. I'm not sure if they're still okay. I sent a runner to them an hour ago but have heard nothing. Was this a targeted ambush?"
"Of a sort. The vessel south of here is a crash site. We believe their support ships landed further north to prevent any of us overrunning them while they make their retreat."
"Retreat?"
"They're amassing in North Africa. I don't believe they ever intended to put down here."
"Then they can't be that strong."
Engines roared as their copters approached from the north and put down over in the field near them among the enemy dead. Taylor knew they'd just leapt into a dangerous situation and was thankful it had paid off. He turned back to Harney.
"No, they aren't. It's prime time to bring them down. Let's move up and cut these bastards down!"
Chapter 8
It took the combined forces of 2nd Inter-Allied and 5th Marine Regiment the rest of the day to sweep the enemy off the hilltops and back to their ship. When they finally caught sight of the stricken heavy cruiser, the sun was going down, and Taylor knew it was time to stop. Harney was by his side as they looked on at the hulking vessel which hull was part sunken below the surface.
“What now?” he asked.
“Nothing left to do until morning. We set up defences here and get what rest we can. We should arrange an aerial strike for first light.”
“Why not now?”
“Well, for a start, I don’t reckon it’ll even be achievable, but I also want to see the result of our work and mop up any survivors before they can disperse into these hills and woods.”
Taylor could see Harney didn’t fully agree with his assessment and plan, but he wasn’t going to argue with him after the day they had experienced. Taylor turned to Jones who had been standing close behind.
“Make it happen.”
Harney nodded for his support staff to do likewise. He was happy for some responsibly to be taken off him after the near disastrous day.
“Our communications, they were down for just a few hours and then back again, what do you think is happening?”
“I guess they have a more narrow focussed and powerful machine. I doubt they’d be able to jam any larger areas, or they would have done so already.”
“Seems a pretty big assumption,” replied Harney.
“Only going on the intel I have and previous experience. It’s been a long day. I suggest you bed down and be ready for the morning.”
“Long day? Hell of a day, more like!”
Hell? You haven’t seen even a bit of it yet, Taylor thought.
They spread out across a kilometre wide defence north of the ship that night, with patrols running far and wide to be safe. Taylor sat up against a tree for most of the night, watching the enemy ship. There was not a single light working on it, but the moonlight glinted off the metallic hull. Every half an hour he would look at the site with his night vision equipment just to study it and observe for movement, but there was none.
He heard a branch crack at his side and reacted by reaching for his rifle and twisting around ready to defend himself.
“You should be getting some rest,” a calm voice spoke.
He immediately recognised it as Eli, and his shoulders relaxed as he laid the rifle back down over his thighs. She moved up and sat down beside him. He put his arm over her shoulders but could feel little of her through the armour she wore. It didn’t matter.
“How much sleep have you had?” she asked.
“Enough.”
“I doubt that.”
“Did I hear that straight? You’re concerned for my health?”
He laughed at the idea even though he felt just the same way about her.
“How much longer do you think this can go on?”
“What?”
“The war, the aliens, when’s it all gonna end?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure it ever will.”
“What, how can you think that?”
He took in a deep breath, preparing to explain to her the realisation he’d come to in the time of peace they had enjoyed before recent events.
“Look at our own history. Every time one culture has met another, they have fought wars until one is totally defeated or assimilated. There will be no peace between such powers. We aren’t strong enough to end them, so they will simply keep coming.”
“And they can’t seem to take Earth, so what, we just keep fighting?”
Taylor shrugged his shoulders.
“No, I can’t believe that. This has to end someday. We keep fighting the way we have, and our luck can’t hold forever.”
“No,” he replied solemnly.
She could see the acceptance in his face for the situation he had just outlined.