Lang looked around to his comrades for their approval but could already see they were of one mind. He turned back to Taylor and simply replied rather succinctly, "Yes."
"Then welcome to the war. You will all retain your rank, and for now, Sergeant, you will command your comrades as a platoon under my Company."
"Thank you," he replied, following it with a salute.
"Grab you weapons, and get your asses in this fight!"
They rushed for the horde of weapons and gear as Jones stepped up beside Taylor.
"Sure this is a good idea?"
"We can't take prisoners, and we need all the help we can get. We won the last wars because humanity stood together. If we can't do it this time, what hope is there?"
Jones wanted to disagree, but as he did so, an explosion erupted above. Taylor looked up; a Mech ship was hurtling out of control towards them.
"Cover!"
He leapt down against the wall of the nearest building. The craft plunged into the upper floors, sending bricks and masonry falling down all around them. Mitch felt several bricks smash into his helmet and jolt his neck. He got up; the dust was settling, and the rest of them were getting to their feet. He looked around for the remnants of the craft, and there was a hole in a two-storey complex opposite where it had penetrated right through. He raised his rifle with suspicion.
A moment later his suspicions were confirmed. Three Mechs leapt through the breach and landed amongst them. Taylor's finger squeezed the trigger of his rifle as the first creature landed, and a line of automatic fire strafed mid section. The weapon the Mech carried was cut in two, but the shots didn't seem to penetrate its armour.
The weight of fire cut down one of the other creatures, but the unarmed one now rushed at him like a raging bull. He kept firing but only got a few shots off. It barged him with all its weight and sent him hurtling back through the wall he had been using for cover just a few moments before. Taylor's shield was ripped from his arm as he burst through the wall and landed firmly on his back.
He was staggering to get to his feet when the wall gave way further, and the creature stormed through to continue its assault against him. His hands were empty, so he reached quickly for his Assegai. As it bore down on him, it was riddled in the back from gunfire and fell hard before it was able to reach his position. He took a deep breath and sighed in relief, and then looked down at the creature that had proven so difficult to kill. Its armour appeared a little thicker and a different construction to what he had seen so many times before.
Jafar stepped through into the room and reclaimed his weapons. He tossed the dead creature over so he could look at it from the front. Taylor could hear the gunfire nearby had come to an end, but he was more than a little curious and concerned about the fallen enemy.
"I opened up on this one, and it did fuck all, what's the deal?" he demanded of Jafar.
His alien friend looked as surprised as he did and bent down to take a closer look.
"What's the deal?" Taylor asked impatiently.
"I have not seen this before."
"Not seen it? Well that's a big fucking help. A burst in the torso from a Reitech rifle did nothing; we need to know something, as this is gonna be a big ass problem."
Jafar raised his rifle and fired a point blank shot into the creature's sternum, and then knelt down to look at the impact. His fingers passed over the surface.
"The bullet has impacted and stopped."
"These are high AP rounds, how can that be? Must be some new tech."
"Is it such a surprise that the enemy would improve over time its weapons and equipment, just as we have?"
Taylor shrugged his shoulders. It made sense, but he still didn't like hearing it.
"How about the other Mechs out there? Same?"
"It took many shots to take them down."
"Casualties?"
"A few."
Taylor stepped back out through the hole he had been thrown to hear the sound of war was now all around. Explosions and volleys of gunfire were especially frequent towards the south wall, and pulses continued to smash their positions from the enemy ships above, providing brutal ground support. One of the German sailors lay dead, and a marine was wounded, as well as one of their own being patched up. They looked to him for something.
"They've up armoured, up gunned, and upped their game. If we want to win this war, we're gonna have to do the same, just as we always have. But right now, we have to survive."
As he said it, a pulse struck the ground only a metre from him, and he looked up at more Mechs descending from the sky.
"Incoming!" he yelled.
They all scattered for cover, and Taylor leapt partially into the hole he had been thrown in before. He took aim and fired several shots into one of the Mechs, killing it instantly. But as he took aim at his next target, he noticed the new armour pattern once again. He fired several shots, but none seemed to penetrate.
"Goddamn it!" he muttered to himself.
As the creature landed, he took aim at its head, firing a three-shot burst, but two were deflected from the sloped and pointed faceplate while the third seemed to embed but not go through. He let his rifle drop to his side, drew out his Assegai, and rushed at the alien; his shield held forward and tilted back to try and deflect energy. He felt a pulse strike it and saw the light particles burst past either side of his shield. A second later he barrelled into the Mech soldier, and it felt good to be the one dealing out some punishment.
The impact was enough to knock the Mech back a few paces, but it quickly got its footing and ground to a halt. Taylor could feel the mass of the creature because he would have been able to throw a normal Mech over with such a ferocious charge. He hooked a thrust around the edge of his Assegai and felt it meet the creature’s armour, though he could not see where.
Without warning, a thunderous strike smashed into his shield. Taylor felt it break in the centre, and he heard a crunch and felt his left arm go numb; the numbness and tingling sensation was immediately followed by pain surging up through his arm, and he felt it droop. His arm was broken, for sure, but he could not pause to check it. He looked back, and the Mech was swinging its weapon like a huge club at his head. He ducked under the strike and drove his Assegai up into its torso, stabbing again and again until the Mech began to slump.
The creature was collapsing down towards him, and he spun around just in time to avoid being crushed beneath its corpse. He immediately cupped his injured arm with the other and retreated back against a wall. He saw Jafar snap one of the Mech's arms, the armour plating tearing apart, and he drove an Assegai through the open plate.
The air was thick with the smell of sweat, blood, and scorched flesh. It was what Taylor hated worst about war, the acrid smell and taste of it. Parker rushed to his side, and he could see the concern in her face.
"You all right?"
He nodded.
"No really, Mitch, don't bullshit me!"
"I'm fine. Left arm is fucked, but I'm fine."
She looked down at the joint of his Reitech suit. It was snapped at the elbow and barely held together. It was clear to both of them it had been all that had stopped his arm being snapped in two. She ran her hand over his arm to feel for the injury and stopped as he winced.
Gunfire raged all around, and Mitch was glad to see his people were fighting as hard as ever. His attention was drawn to Sergeant Lang who was in the thick of the action and proving himself a worthy member of the unit.
"We gotta get you out of here, Mitch," said Parker.