"Sergeant Dubois, the Captains wife. She's being held on board apparently."
"What?" asked Robinson.
"It's true," Jones finally replied, "All evidence we have suggests she is on board. If we survive this, we're leaving the Solar system for good, and I am not leaving her here. I'm gonna do everything in my power to get her back, you got a problem with that?"
Robinson shook his head. "We're with you, Sir. Colonel Taylor saw to our families. Let's now see to yours."
He nodded in appreciation before turning and quickly moving on. "We've got to drop down a few floors. Let's go."
He headed for a ramp, but as they started to descend, Jones began to worry about how little resistance they had faced.
"Where are they?" he asked.
"Who, Sir?"
"The enemy. This is their capitol ship. You know how many thousands crew our flagships? Where the hell are all the crew and marines?"
"Guess we got lucky."
"No chance," he replied.
He hated to be cynical in front of his own people, but he didn't want them getting a false sense of security. They reached the level he was looking for, and as they took a bend, they found what he had been expecting, a wall of Mechs. They carried shields locked together and were advancing shoulder to shoulder the width of the corridor. Jones leapt back as a few pulses rushed towards him.
"Fuck!"
He pulled out a grenade and armed it before tossing it down the corridor. A flash rang out, and he peered around to see the Mech shields locked against the floor, and a blast before them that had done no damage besides burning the surface of the shields.
"We don't have time for this," he muttered.
He looked back at the almost one hundred men and women who lined the corridor and hung on to his every word.
"We're going at em. Keep up the fire, give them everything you got, and do not stop!"
He was confident they knew what to do. He threw another grenade around the corner and immediately stepped out and advanced towards the Mech position, once more locking their shields down to the ground. Robinson launched a second grenade with a good throwing arm. It soared over the shield line just as the first blew.
A second grenade followed it, and two explosions erupted from behind the enemy. One of the shields, and the creature carrying it, fell lifelessly forward and smashed into the burn marks on the deck. Jones opened fire immediately into the gap and kept going forward. The two lines were advancing relentlessly towards each other now, and gunfire did little as another creature filled the gap. They charged at one another like classical hoplites.
The Mechs stood almost a metre taller than Jones and his paras. As they closed, he leapt upwards, using the power of his suit and all his bodyweight to smash into the top of one of the shields, driving it into the creature’s face and causing him to roll over the shield and land amongst the creatures.
There was an immense clash as the ten-metre wide lines hammered into one another and ground to a halt. Jones landed on his feet between the Mechs but felt like a child amongst giants. One swung for him, but he ducked, and the creature's spear delved deep into a Mech behind. He noticed it passed through armour with little resistance, just as their Assegais did.
Down on one knee, he drove his Assegai into his attacker's upper leg, and then withdrew as it as the monster began to collapse towards him. He brushed it off with his shield and a quick turn and went onto the next. As he did, Robinson and two of his own smashed their way in to join him. The Mech shield line was broken, and many behind them were not equipped for close combat.
Jones drove forward and smashed one of the Mechs back until it compressed into those behind it and stopped them bringing their pulse cannons to bear. With his shield pressed high against the creature, he thrust his Assegai beneath it. He stabbed three times through its armour and kept pushing so that the dead body collapsed back against those behind it.
* * *
"Get going," said Taylor.
Jafar and Aysen were wearing the engineers’ suits they’d so recently acquired. The bodies of their former owners lay thrown aside behind them. They turned to leave, but Taylor grabbed Jafar again.
"You really know what to do, right?" he asked.
Jafar nodded.
"And our destination?"
"I have been entrusted with making that decision, which I will make alone, and no other shall know until we reach it."
"And you know somewhere worth going?
"Somewhere better than here."
It was good enough for Taylor. He let go of his friend.
"Then good luck."
"And to you," he replied.
They wandered off into the distance. He had no idea where they were going, or how they were going to achieve it, and that left him feeling helpless. He had gotten so used to being responsible for the success of a mission, and now he was little more than a decoy and protection squad. He looked around to his people, and just as Jones had been, was surprised at the lack of enemy presence.
"We’re here to cause some trouble, so let's get to it!" he roared.
He rushed onwards in the opposite direction to Jafar and Aysen. Within twenty metres, he could hear gunfire, and it was a welcome sound. The silence and emptiness they had first found made him suspicious, but now he could hear the fully automatic fire of Reitech rifles. He had no idea who was up ahead, only that they were allies. He had hoped it to be Jones, but as he turned a corner he found British troops. He didn't recognise a single one of them, but they welcomed his arrival. They ushered him onwards to an officer.
"Colonel Taylor," he said to introduce himself.
"Lieutenant Riley, Sir."
"Know how many others made it?"
"At least one of our Mastiffs was destroyed en route, not sure any more of our lot made it."
The British officer spoke so matter-of-factly, as if it were no problem at all.
"You hold here. We're continuing further inwards."
"We haven't got long," he insisted.
"No, but we need to appear to making some determined effort as to not arise suspicions. I am going for Erdogan, and if I stand a single chance of finishing him, I will."
"Nail the bastard," he replied.
Taylor went onwards past the firefight into an open hallway beyond. He had to rush through enemy fire, with his shield held beside him, and hope for the best. They carried on. Parker stayed close beside him all the way. He was running now with a newfound determination. Far from being scared of Erdogan, he sought him out relentlessly.
"Taylor slow down!" Parker shouted.
But he would not listen.
Let's end this now, you fucker, he thought.
After several hundred metres, he stopped on seeing a gleaming light ahead, and the silhouette of Erdogan. He was in a room at the end of the corridor they were in, fifty metres ahead. He stopped and stared at the enemy leader for just a moment, wondering if it really was him.
Or is it another hologram?
He raised his rifle and fired a quick shot. The round struck his armour and ricocheted off. He had not made any attempt to avoid the impact and stood defiantly before them.
"What are you waiting for, Taylor?" Erdogan boomed.
The voice carried down the length of the corridor, all the way to the British Company, and it sent shivers down many spines. It was a powerful voice, and no one was left in any doubts that Erdogan was every bit as terrifying as they had feared.
Taylor felt nothing but a burning desire to stick his Assegai in Erdogan’s head. He leapt forward and rushed down the corridor at a sprinting pace.