“Major! This is Chandra we are talking about!”
Taylor turned quickly and grabbed Jones by the collar of his body armour and wrenched him in close.
“Don’t think I don’t want to, but it would be folly to throw our lives away. Do you think that is what she would want?”
“I know she wouldn’t want to be left behind to the mercy of those bastards!”
Taylor shook his head.
“What would you have us do?”
He spun Jones around so that he was looking at the video feed of the planet and the enemy forces in orbit.
“Look at them! What can we do against that?”
Taylor could feel Jones go limp. His anger was replaced with sadness and desperation as he slumped against a console and lowered his head. They could see several dozen of the enemy ships engines fire up and pursue them. It was enough to pose a threat in itself, let alone the remainder of their fleet.
“The Colonel will do her duty, just as I expect every one of you to do so.”
“So they’ll die down there, and for what?” whispered Jones.
“Look at the time we have gained for Earth. We’ve smashed two fleets that were amassing. Destroyed much of their weapons research and development. We’ve held them in their own lands. Every day we gain for Earth could make a difference in what comes next.”
“And you believe that? You believe we are making a difference?” asked Jones.
“You are,” replied Jafar.
They all turned in surprise at hearing the alien’s inception into the conversation. He stepped forward to continue.
“My people believed they were the most powerful beings in the universe. Every victory you gain weakens them. They are beginning to see they are not all powerful, and that they might not win this war. I saw it the day I joined you. Continue as you are, and you may well win the war yet.”
The alien’s words had a profound effect on Jones. It gave him hope and did the same for all of them there. For most of them, it was the most words they had ever heard the alien say, and yet they appeared words of wisdom. He continued on.
“The Colonel is a brave warrior, and I can say I have been honoured to fight alongside her. Even now, in the face of armies so vastly larger, she battles on. She should be an example to us all.”
The bridge fell silent once again as they reflected on his sentiment. The sights they had seen were dire, but he gave them all hope and the desire to fight on with a new sense of pride and belief in themselves. Taylor looked into the eyes of his alien friend and nodded in gratitude.
Warren’s commandos were formed up at the next line of defences that lay at the entrance to the docking bay. It was a relatively narrow corridor and would only allow the Mechs to advance fifteen wide and without cover. The ramp they had to descend before reaching flat ground meant that few could fire on the human defences at any one time.
Troops continued to flood into the docking bay, as others tossed anything they could find onto the makeshift wall. Many had left their shields behind in the frenzied retreat. They waited now for the enemy to reach them. Chandra turned to look across the hall to the other two entrances that were guarded by Klimenko and Chen’s Battalions. They looked even more decimated than Warren’s forces.
They had less than half of the troops they had when the battle begun, fifteen hundred dead or dying. It was a level of brutal devastation they had not known since the war in France. She turned to see Warren was reloading his rifle at the frontline of the defence. He looked exhausted, and his helmet had taken a glancing strike by a pulse that had burnt into his visor. Chandra strolled up to the Major, and he looked up to her as she approached.
“There’s no leaving this world, is there?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“If this is to be our fate, let us make them pay a bitter price for it.”
She smiled in return. The courage and resolve of all those around her was a marvel to behold.
“Here they come!” a voice cried out.
She took up position beside Warren, and each lifted their rifle into place.
“Come on, you bastards!” screamed one of the commandos.
The clatter of the Mechs’ heavy footsteps roared up ahead and echoed from all the walls.
“Fire at will!” she shouted.
The first dozen of the enemy were cut down instantly. The next wave stepped over them and fired their cannons as they advanced. Several smashed into the mound of the defences in front of the Colonel, and she felt the wall rock and the heat rush through. She quickly adjusted her aim and fired two bursts into the faceplate of the first target she acquired.
She kept firing until her magazine was empty, leaping back to let another take her place as she reloaded. She looked at the supply crates that had been stacked for them. Most had their lids ripped off and were now empty. She looked to Warren who was thinking the same thing. Ammunition was being spent at a rapid rate.
“How much longer can we keep this up?” he asked her.
“We’ll fight to the very last bullet, then we’ll fight in hand-to-hand. I’ll fight with my bare hands before I lay down and die.”
“I fear that time may come.”
She slammed in a fresh magazine and jumped back onto the defences to keep up the fight. There were plenty more of Warren’s commandos who could have filled the gap, but she wanted blood.
The volleys from the humans were so rapid that it was hard to differentiate one shot from another. It was a continuous roar of gunfire that would have stopped any human army dead, but the Mechs never stopped. They never seemed to grow tired, scared or demoralised. Chandra personally killed another four before retiring once more to finally let someone take her position.
She looked around for Tsengal, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then out from a side room, he strode in with a massive heavy weapon of enemy origins. It was slung over his shoulders, and she could tell he was struggling with the weight. He was stronger than any of them, even with their exo suits, which meant it must have weighed a tonne.
“You know how to use that thing?” she asked.
“We’ll see.”
He rushed forward, and two of the commandos quickly shifted out of his way to let him slam the vast weapon up onto the wall. The only time she had seen such weapons was mounted atop the enemy’s armoured vehicles.
I never thought I’d be pleased to see one again.
Tsengal lifted it up to sight in the enemy before firing. The corridor flashed so bright it almost blinded many of them, and massive pulses rushed down at the enemy positions. The first hit smashed into a Mech that disappeared in a huge flash that blasted three others out to the sidewalls.
“Jesus Christ!” yelled Warren.
He fired again and every few seconds. The cannon stopped the enemy advance in its tracks, but after twenty shots the barrel was red hot, and Tsengal threw it aside. That was clearly all they would get from it. The barrage of the weapon had brutalised the enemy advance, but still they came. From just twenty metres behind them, Chandra heard engines firing up. She turned to see one of the drop ships was preparing to take off.
“What the hell?”
She stared closer and zoomed in with the targeter on her helmet to see Suarez sat in the pilot’s seat.
“No!”
Before her cry had ended, the docking doors began to crank open. She rushed towards the small ship, waving her arms and screaming.
“Stop! You’ll kill us all!”
The Lieutenant turned and looked at her. He could not hear what she was saying, but they both knew he understood. He looked down on her with disgust and felt no shame for what he was about to do. She stopped and stared in astonishment. In that moment, she felt half of the life in her body drain. She stood beside an alien who was giving everything to fight for them, and now she was looking at one of her own that was going to throw it all away.
Chandra lifted her rifle to shoot the traitorous dog, but she could not do it, and it was too late anyway. She turned to see that the docking doors were already half open. The ship’s engines fired up, and it roared towards the doors. She lowered her rifle and watched in despair.