"Put the word out about those skimmers. Next time we see them, I want them blown to high hell before they get within five hundred metres of the wall," he said to Jones.
"I should imagine that is stating the obvious."
"Yeah, well let's be certain, hey?"
Jones nodded and rushed off to do as ordered. Taylor turned back, looking at the progress of the Mechs. They were digging in at the remnants of the first wall now. Gunfire had already settled down from the chaotic frenzy it had been. Jafar stepped up beside him. One side of his face was covered in blood. He had multiple cuts and impacts from shrapnel, but he didn't seem to pay it any attention.
"Have you ever seen those things before?"
He shook his head.
"I have never seen Erdogan's armies go to war."
"Yeah, well you have now, and it ain't pretty."
They heard a vehicle’s brakes skid to a halt behind them, and Taylor turned quickly to see General Heath leaping from a vehicle with gun in hand.
"Sir, you shouldn't be here!"
"I'll be the judge of that!" he snapped.
He rushed up to the wall to look out at the devastation with his own eyes.
"Christ, Taylor," he muttered, "We can't afford to lose lines of defence like that."
"I know."
"Next time they come at us we need to be prepared."
"Yes, Sir."
Heath stepped a little closer to Taylor to talk privately.
"We're in deep shit here, Colonel. Deeper shit than I thought possible. Cities are not falling by the day, but by the hour."
"I don't see what we can do about it."
Heath shook his head. "No, other than keep doing what we're doing."
"I don't understand how they got on top of us so quickly. We had no warning of this at all. No time to prepare."
Heath took in a deep breath. "Our experts tell us Erdogan's vessel, that behemoth up there, seemingly created its own gateway. Their fleet literally jumped into the system right on top of the defence grid. We couldn't have seen it coming."
Taylor turned to Jafar and gestured for him to join them, but he hesitated and looked to Heath for permission. Heath sighed at the prospect before calling him forward.
"I don't like working with the enemy, but I am also well aware what you have done for us all. You have my trust because you've earned it, but don't expect me to be so welcoming of your friends."
"These are my friends," he quickly replied, pointing to Taylor and all those around them.
Heath smiled in response, but it was clear he still wasn't comfortable communicating with an alien.
"I know you heard what we were talking about," Taylor said, "You got any light to shed on the tech of that ship?"
"Only rumours," Jafar replied.
"Well let's hear 'em."
"Some said Erdogan had the technology aboard his flag ship to travel as if through space gateways without having to use them. Many thought it was simply a myth created to keep the other Lords in their places."
"Yeah, well I guess not," replied Taylor.
"Why didn't we hear of this sooner?" asked Heath.
"There are many myths in the universe, General, who decides which are tactically important?" replied Jafar.
Heath nodded.
"Yeah, I guess so. Hindsight's a bitch. Anyway, none of that helps us now. They're here and at our door, so let's focus on the task at hand. There are nine layers of defences to this city, if you can call it that anymore. We just lost the first. Let's not lose another."
Taylor nodded in agreement, although he wasn't confident of their abilities to do so.
"And if we can't hold?" he whispered.
"Can't? You don't strike me as the kind of man who accepts he can't do something, Colonel?"
Taylor couldn't help but agree, but it didn't make him feel any better about the situation.
"Will that be all, Sir?" he asked.
Heath nodded before jumping back down to his vehicle and leaving. Taylor knew he didn't need to be there in person, but he did at least appreciate his commitment to frontline troops. Mitch turned to see Jones. He was sitting propped up against a chunk of concrete and eating from a field ration in a relaxed fashion.
"Thought you hated those things, Charlie?"
"Yeah, almost as much as starvation. So we got any better plan than wait for the next attack and get another kicking?"
"Nope," he replied, taking a seat beside him.
Just as he was getting comfortable, a barrage of heavy pulses smashed into the walls around them.
“Cover!” Taylor bellowed.
He grabbed Jones and hauled him to his feet. They both ran to the lower level battlements of the outer wall. Pulses smashed into the ground between the layers of the defences, and the troops huddled for cover in every nook and cranny they could find.
“Those are some big guns!”
“No wonder they halted the air attack,” replied Jones.
They all watched the bombardment in amazement. It went on for a full ten minutes. It caused few casualties but destroyed many of the supplies and vehicles that could yet have proved very useful. More than anything, it was demoralising to an almost crippling degree.
“You know we’re losing, right?” Jones asked Taylor.
Taylor looked around in surprise to see if anyone else had heard, but he knew Jones would not be ill disciplined enough to have said as much if they were able to. The artillery bombardment ensured nobody could hear any words spoken beyond half a metre from their ears.
“How often have things ever looked good for us? We’ve come back from worse.”
“Have we, Mitch?”
Taylor turned to look at his face full on and see if he was being his usual cynical self, or actually being brutally honest. His eyes told the entire story, and it was the first time Taylor worried they could not win the war. His heart sank as it all came home to him.
This truly is the worst it’s been, he thought.
“We’ve barely fought against this new invasion, and yet you must see where it’s going.”
"So what, Charlie, we just give up? Was it all for nothing?"
"I didn't say that, but maybe staying to die here isn't the answer either."
The bombardment suddenly stopped. Taylor climbed up to a loophole to get a look out across the plain between them and the enemy lines. He could already see glimmers of movement amongst the rubble.
"Here we go again," he muttered.
"Incoming!" a voice hollered from high above them.
Taylor rushed up to the next level and could dust clouds in the distance. Enemy vehicles were rushing from the coast over the flattened ruins of housing neighbourhoods and parks where nothing had lived for many years. He already knew it would be a repeat of what they had seen earlier, and that he could do nothing now but hope the defenders at the wall were able to take them down, knowing what they now knew.
Jones appeared at his side and pointed up to the sky that was filled with the silhouettes of enemy vessels. They turned and looked back west; friendly aircraft were en route to intercept.
"At least we got air cover," he muttered.
They watched with bated breath as the Mech vehicles soared towards their defences. They had all seen or experienced the horrific destruction of the first line of defences, and it took immense willpower to stand their ground on the second. Taylor readied his rifle. He had no idea if he could penetrate the frontal armour of the vehicles, but he was gonna put everything into them he could.
He looked along the line. Every anti tank weapon and heavy weapon they could muster was positioned ready for the next wave.
But will it be enough?
It wasn't long before the vehicles passed into range, and he could start to make out their shapes through the dust cloud. He held his fire for them to close the distance and watched as the gun towers above him opened fire. The crews took the small armoured skimmers seriously this time and targeted them immediately.