“Goddamn miracle we weren’t shot out the air.”
“We’re made of miracles, Eddie. We’re the Immortals!”
He leapt out the side door of the ship without a word to the others. He knew they’d be close behind him. He wished he had a plan beyond jumping into the unknown, but there was no time. He hit the ground running despite the imminent danger, but was surprised to see not a single enemy in sight.
Taylor rushed first to the shuttle that had come to an even rougher landing than they had. He looked through the door that had been left open and found nothing. He looked out and around the site. They were on a small hidden landing zone on the side of a mountain in a seemingly tranquil hiking spot.
“Where the hell are they?” asked Riley.
“Must be somewhere more important than the Mittenwald. Armand would never risk revealing this place unless he had absolutely no choice.”
“All right, but where?” asked Silva, “Nothing here but nature and us.”
He looked down to the footsteps coming from the shuttle.
“Sergeant, time to go back to basics.”
Silva looked down at the tracks and looked sheepish for not having gone to them sooner.
“Tracking not something we’ve had to do in years, not like finding the enemy was ever much of a difficulty.”
“Say that again.”
They followed four sets of tracks between some rocks until they finally found something else manmade, a thick steel double doorway, hidden by nature of its remote location and inability to see from the air.
“Explosives now, everything we have!” Taylor hollered.
A few of the marines passed magnetic charges forward, but it was all they had.
Five? That’s it? Taylor thought.
He didn’t let his doubt spread by voicing his mind and placed the charges quickly, with just a ten second delay to start simultaneously.
“Cover!”
He ducked behind a nearby boulder and prayed. The explosion erupted and rocked the ground beneath them. Taylor had become accustomed to constant ear splitting noise during the war, but he had always hoped in those moments for the survival of him and his comrades. But now all that was gone. Their lives were of no concern to him in that moment. He knew all that mattered was getting Armand.
He got up. The doors had completely vanished from sight. It was a welcome surprise to them all.
“Guess they weren’t ever expecting the kind of guests who don’t knock,” Riley grinned.
Taylor went in first. It was a narrow corridor, the width of two humans. It looked like an emergency escape or access tunnel to a much larger facility. A red emergency light was pulsating along its length, and they knew it was in response to their arrival.
“I don’t like this, Mitch.”
“You and me both, Eli, so let’s get it done quick.”
He rushed into the breach, knowing the others would soon follow. The corridor soon split into a wide fork.
“Which way?” she asked.
Before any of them could answer, they were welcomed by gunfire from the right fork. Taylor raised his rifle, quickly fired two shots in return. And shouted.
“Left!”
He rushed on. The rest fired and did the same.
“Silva, you stay put and hold this position.”
“You think we’re gonna get back out of here?”
“Didn’t come here to fail, Riley.”
Taylor carried on through a doorway. It was pitch black for a moment as they all came to a halt. The red pulsing lights from the corridor provided a small insight as to what was before them. They saw silhouettes that were too large to be human. A moment later the lights were turned on, and several of the marines gasped at the sight in front of them. They were in some kind of training hall, and twelve full armoured Mechs stood there. They were holding shields like the Reitech ones they were accustomed to, only larger.
It was a small relief to see they carried Assegai derived weapons and no firearms, but that relief soon wore off. The creatures leapt into action and rushed towards them like a herd of wild animals.
“Oh, shit,” muttered Taylor.
He lifted his rifle and fired a few shots, but the shields absorbed them all. There seemed no way to slow the charge down.
“Jump!” he cried in a panic.
He launched several metres off the ground and came close to the rooftop with the use of his boosters. Most of the marines jumped with him, but he could see Riley and a handful of them had stood their ground and continued to fire. As Taylor reached the apex of his jump, he fired down beneath his feet. Three shots went right down into the faceplate of the Mech he had targeted, and it collapsed to the floor, sliding up to Riley’s feet.
Several others followed suit, but it wasn’t enough to stop the charge. Three marines were struck full force and launched off their feet. Jafar had stood his ground with them and tackled one of their attackers head on, driving an Assegai right through one to deal a killing blow.
Taylor was back on his feet and had the enemy in his sight once again, but friendlies were now mixed in with the Mechs. He drew out his Assegai and rushed at them. One of the nearest creatures turned and thrust its shield out to strike him. He could only jump into a roll and hope to make it under. His shoulder armour brushed the lower edge as he just made it under, and sparks followed from the contact. He was back up on one knee with lighting speed and fired several shots before driving his Assegai up into the belly of the creature’s armour.
The warm blue blood he had come to know so well flowed out over his hand. Gone was the regret and doubt he had felt in the arena. He was no longer fighting for sport or entertainment. He was fighting for everything. He turned to take on the next creature, but Parker was already jumping into action at the nearest target. She drove her weapon into the exposed joint beneath one of the Mechs’ arms and followed the creature to the floor. She had a smile on her face as she turned to look at him. She was in her element, and so was he.
Taylor looked up. Riley was sitting against the wall, clearly unable to get up. Another marine lay dead beside him.
“You still able to fire that weapon, Riley?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Then you nail anything that comes through here that ain’t one of our own, you hear?”
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
Taylor got back on his feet. The marines had made light work of the rest of the enemy.
“Enough fun and games. We have a job to do!”
He looked down at his watch, only six minutes left on the timer he had set.
Cutting it awfully close.
They continued on through the room. It was clear to all of them from the equipment around that the Mechs they had fought had been in training.
God help us when they are fully trained, thought Taylor.
“How many more obstacles are we gonna have to face to get this bastard?” asked Parker.
“He’s running scared. This welcome party wasn’t prepared for us. It was a last minute deal, so we must be getting close.”
They passed through into the next room that appeared to be empty, but a glimmer of movement in one corner caused Jafar to rush across to engage whatever danger was there. As he arrived ready to fire, a human leapt up with her hands in the air. It was a scientist in a lab coat. She was almost frozen in fear, and tears streamed from her eyes. She could not find the breath to speak.
“Jafar!” yelled Taylor.
The alien turned in surprise.
“She’s unarmed, a non-combatant.”
He looked back at her for a moment, finally accepting Taylor’s orders. He returned to the Colonel and spoke in no uncertain terms at a volume all could hear.