“Grenades?” asked Jones. “Are you fucking serious?”
“What, you thought we were the only ones with toys?” muttered Taylor.
Their suits had saved them from the deafening blast, but they were still stunned from the shock of the landing.
“Let’s give them a taste, then,” replied Jones.
He pulled a grenade from his armour and rushed to the entrance. He popped his head out for a second to see where they had gotten to, ducking back as a pulse rushed past his head.
“Christ, they’ve covered some ground!”
He twisted the firing cap and launched it around the corner, looking for any risk of being hit by the continuous stream of fire.
“Have that, you bastards!”
He ducked down as the explosion rang out down the corridor. Taylor quickly got to his feet and peered around the corner to see a dust cloud and three dead Mechs. He smiled, but energy pulses gushing through the fog-like cloud soon washed his joy away. He jumped back and drew out a grenade, quickly throwing it as Jones had.
A second after the explosion rang out, he was around the corner and firing rapidly. Taylor could not make out a target, but he knew behind the dust lay a wall of Mechs that he couldn’t miss. Others of his unit did likewise. They could see the silhouette of two creatures in the smoke be riddled with fire until they dropped, but more continued after them.
“More grenades!” Taylor shouted.
He threw his last one down the corridor and saw several others follow seconds after the blast. Taylor hunkered back inside the room to change his magazine and let Jones take over.
“They’re almost on us, Mitch. We’ve got about thirty seconds!”
The Captain was firing on full auto because they were so close. Taylor looked around to see the platoon they had in the room had taken up defensive positions around the tables and whatever furniture they could find. They waited silently and still. He could see the fear in their pale faces. Their backs were against he wall. They had nowhere to run.
“Jones, come on!”
The two of them rushed back further into the room to take cover. Huge drums as tall as their chests lay in a line that would provide cover, but they had no idea what they contained.
“I bloody hope these things aren’t flammable,” Jones called out.
“I’ll take my chances,” replied Taylor.
They readied their weapons and waited with baited breath for the enemy to appear. The corridor had gone quiet. The rest of the Company had retreated as they had done. It was less than a minute before they saw movement. The sight of the Mechs advancing relentlessly forwards was never something any of them had gotten used to, nor wanted to.
“Fire!”
The opening volley killed the first enemy soldier instantly, and the second fell soon after. The next two got through the doorway but were hit by even more bullets. They could see many of the creatures passing their entrance and moving onto the next. Taylor didn’t want to pass them off onto his comrades, but he was glad that some of the pressure was being taken off them.
“Give ‘em all you got!”
The gunfire was almost continuous as the Mechs tried to force their way into the room. The doorway was only wide enough for two of the creatures at a time, and their dead were amassing in the bottleneck. It was a turkey shoot, and not one of them felt any sympathy for their opponents. Jafar and Tsengal were with Taylor and showing no mercy against their own kind.
After a few minutes, the bodies of twenty Mechs lay scattered and piled in the entrance, and the next waves were struggling to force through their own dead. Taylor looked down to find a magazine, but out of the corner of his eye caught sight of another enemy grenade bouncing into the room.
“Get down!”
The explosion rocked the barrels, but clearly they weighed a hell of a lot more than they looked. It sheltered them from the blast. Taylor looked across their line to see shrapnel had hit only one of their own people. He slammed in a new magazine and lifted up once more to continue firing. To his surprise there were no targets.
For a few moments, they all stood silently with their rifles at the ready. None of them could believe the attack was over.
“Have we done it?” asked Jones.
Taylor shrugged his shoulders in surprise. He jumped cautiously over the defences and immediately lifted his rifle to the ready. He walked slowly towards the mound of enemy dead, kicking the nearest to be certain it was dead. Smoke still arose from its armour where grenade fragments had burned through.
Mitch climbed up onto the enemy dead and stumbled through the doorway, having to duck under, due to the pile of bodies. He dropped out into the corridor the other side and looked in amazement to see it was empty.
“Clear!” he called.
Cheers rang out from inside the room as the platoon rushed to join him. He turned and looked to see that the corridor was awash with enemy dead and piled high at each of the doorways.
“We did it,” said Jones.
Taylor looked down to see that he was dangerously low on ammunition.
“Form up! The Colonel still needs our help!”
It was a few minutes before the Company was able to fight their way out of the rooms through the bloody mess. He knew they’d taken casualties, but he didn’t want to think about it right then.
“Let’s move out!”
He quickly got to a steady jogging pace but was sure to keep his shield at the ready, should he meet another enemy force. A few moments later, he caught sight of familiar faces up ahead, realising the rest of the Battalion had successfully fought their way across the hangar.
“Friendlies incoming!”
He rushed through the lines to see enemy and human dead scattered among each other. Several soldiers were gathered around one of the wounded, and Taylor rushed up to see that it was the Colonel. He pushed one of them aside and knelt down beside her. She was propped up against the armour of a fallen Mech. She looked stunned and weak, but still alive.
“You okay?”
“Just about.”
“Can you walk?”
She looked away, finally looking back and almost in tears.
“I’m not sure I want to find out.”
Taylor looked back to see the medics busily working with other wounded.
“You! Help the Colonel!”
“No!” she cried.
“Can you move your legs?” he asked.
“She looked down at them and tried. Very slowly, they shifted a little.”
“Jesus, you’re okay!”
To her surprise, Taylor grabbed her and hauled her up to her feet. It was against everything he had ever learnt about injuries, but he knew it was all or nothing in that moment. She wobbled a little but managed to stay upright.
“I’ve taken worse beatings.”
Taylor sighed in relief. He suddenly realised how stupid it was to have pulled her up after potential injuries, but he was glad she was okay. He looked around to see the bodies of over fifty Mechs and twenty of their own scattered along the deck. Several of their wounded had their helmets off, to his surprise.
“We can breathe down here?”
“For up to an hour or more, yes. The mixture isn’t quite what we’re used to and could cause us problems in prolonged periods,” she replied.
Taylor ripped off the fully enclosed helmet, which he’d always found claustrophobic, and took in a deep breath. The air was thick with the smell of burning metal and sweat, but it was still appreciated. Taylor was about to settle down on a nearby crate when a loud mechanical cranking sound echoed around the huge hangar. He leapt back up to his feet and held his rifle at the ready. The rest of them froze and looked around for the source.
They quickly realised a massive shutter was opening a hundred metres away from their position.
“What the hell is this?” asked Taylor.
“Take up positions!” Chandra ordered.
They settled into what cover they could find as the shutter came to a halt. The opening it left was fifteen metres high and a similar width. They half expected to see a horde of Mechs stomp out, but they had no such luck. To their horror, a huge robotic leg stepped out into the light, and the rest of a ten metre-tall Mech followed it.