"You stand beside them? Then you are our enemy, and you must suffer the same fate for stepping foot on this world!"
The robots’ weapon systems began to power up, and visors arose out of the aliens’ armours that encapsulated their faces so that they were now fully contained. Lights flashed on their forearms, and semi-translucent shields projected from a device on each of their left arms. Gun systems much like the robots used unfolded from their armour, and they took aim.
Oh, shit, thought Taylor.
He dropped the web round magazine from his rifle and slammed in a fresh regular one. He reached down for his shield and took up a stance ready to fight them, but he knew they were in deep trouble. As they were about to fire, they heard an almost deafening roar overhead as a gateway opened within the atmosphere, and a Krys vessel appeared before them.
The three aliens looked up in amazement just as they did. The ship was coming down almost right on top of them. As it did, hundreds of Mechs leapt out as its descent slowed and came down to land as Taylor's people did using assisted boosters. They landed around their position and had them completely surrounded. The aliens before them looked to Taylor as if he were the cause of it.
"You see those things? Those are my enemy!"
The creatures looked confused.
“Those are the reason we are here! We have been fighting them for years now, and we just lost our world to them!”
“But you fight alongside one?”
“He’s a one in a million. They’ve come here to make us extinct. They are not our allies!”
He holstered his Assegai and picked up his rifle. The rest of his unit opened fire at the incoming troops.
“Kill them all!” he screamed.
Chapter 13
Kelly’s truck rolled into the hangar as it had a dozen times now. A crowd had gathered to greet them and cheer them on just as before. Their return was always a time for celebration. But as his truck came to a halt, the crowd could see the sombre tone on their faces. The cheering stopped when Kelly got out and climbed onto the hood to address them all.
“Today we lost friends, brothers in arms. We failed because our enemy outsmarted us. Mourn our friends who fell, but celebrate those who made it back. This is a war, and no war can be won without losses. The party goes on tonight all the same. We celebrate their lives, and we celebrate another day we are still alive!”
A few at the back started breaking out the drinks, but many stood stunned at the news. Kelly couldn’t bring himself to say anymore. He knew they led a limited existence that would end bloody, but that didn’t mean he had accepted the fact deep down. He climbed down and felt his back and legs tremble and feel weak. He was getting old, and there was no getting over that fact.
“You can’t win them all,” Becker said, passing Kelly a beer.
“That was my mission. My plan. It failed, and yet you offer me a drink?”
“We’re all dead. We just don’t know it yet. I’m alive right now, and that’s a fact I consider worth celebrating, don’t you think?”
Kelly laughed. It broke his sullen mood, and he was thankful to Becker for that. He was beginning to relax when a voice over the intercom rang out.
“We have incoming at the rear entrance. Armour and infantry.”
Kelly’s face turned to stone. He reached into the back of his truck, grabbed his rifle, and rushed out to the exit of the hangar.
“Everyone to your positions!” he ordered as he ran.
He got to the guardroom and found Engel supervising two of the guards observing the security screens.
“What is it? How many?”
“Sir…they appear to be…”
“What? Appear to be what?” he asked insistently.
“Human.”
Becker arrived at Kelly’s side in time to see an eight-wheeled armoured vehicle roll into view with three soldiers sitting atop it.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“They yours?”
“That vehicle right there is 1st Armoured Division out of Hannover. Last I heard they were fighting a hundred klicks north of here. I didn’t think any of them would have made it.”
“Armoured Division? That’s light hardware for an armoured division?”
“Recon elements, it’s probably all that made it out.”
He smiled and rushed out to greet them.
“Captain!” Kelly shouted.
He stopped in surprise.
“Caution, always. We don’t know yet they’re who you think they are, or their intentions.”
Becker’s face turned more serious.
“We let you in without opposition, did we not?”
“And you were lucky we were who we said we were. It was a terrible breach of security, if you think about it.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that.”
He carried on to the main doorway and hit the open switch. The metre-thick blast doors slid open before Kelly could reach him and say another word.
“You know the 1st?”
“One or two, not many.”
“So how do we know who they really are?”
“Relax, Commander. You’ll live longer.”
Kelly knew Becker’s carefree attitude would get them in trouble some day. He had no choice now but to wait and watch, as the vehicle column rolled into their base along the same path he had taken. It was some relief to him that they clearly knew the same route he did, but he still felt uneasy about strangers entering their compound at such a dangerous time.
Eight vehicles rode in. Many had troops atop them. They all looked exhausted and demoralised. Several of the vehicles had substantial damage caused by pulse weapons; and a couple of them were missing one or two of their wheels and yet still moving. They drew to a halt, and the troops clambered off, and others disembarked from inside the armoured transports. Not one of them said a word, but a man who was clearly their leader stepped up to Kelly and Becker. Becker showed no signs of recognising him, and he bore no rank on his uniform at all. Of if he did, it was concealed beneath the thick winter coat he wore. He did not salute nor say a word as he studied Kelly for a moment, and the Commander did likewise.
Finally, he paced up and wrapped his arms around Kelly to embrace him as a friend, despite the fact he had no idea who he was.
“Major Klein, honoured to meet you,” he said, “1st Armoured.”
“Commander Kelly, formerly of the MDF, and presently of the newly founded Dragons.”
Klein looked at him with a strange expression on his face.
“Dragons?”
“That is what we call ourselves. We have come together from so many places that we have decided to throw off old names and start anew. We are united as one now.”
“Then will you have us? We have nothing more than what you see here. Will you let us in, and fight what’s left of this war together?”
Becker couldn’t believe their luck, but Kelly was still suspicious of any strangers coming into the camp. However, he looked around at the faces of Klein’s people. He recognised the grim despair on their faces and knew exactly how it felt.
“Will your people stand beside mine and give it their all? Will they fight to the very end, to make the enemy suffer, until their last dying breath?” Kelly asked.
“You can be assured of that.”
“Then welcome to the Drachenburg!”
There was no excitement at the prospect, only relief as Klein embraced him once again.
* * *
Taylor roared and rushed forward, leaping into the air towards one of the Mechs descending from the ship above. He fired a burst of rifle fire and struck it with his shield, causing it to tumble head first into the ground. He landed on one knee and saw another of the Mechs coming down right on top of him. He slanted his shield across his body and down the ground, held his rifle out beside it, and emptied the clip into the creature. Its lifeless body smashed into his shield and slid down the ground. He shoved it aside and got back to his feet.