"Take us out of here! Help us!" one of them yelled.
"Listen to me! Now! This craft is not going anywhere unless I say it does. It remains here because it needs to, and every second you hold me and my people up, the more of you will die out there."
"Take the children at least!" another screamed.
Taylor shook his head.
"The children?" he asked, "You think a child's life is worth more than any one of yours or my people? A child cannot fight for years to come. We're fighting for our survival today, tomorrow, for weeks, and months. Right now, the most valuable human being is the one who can carry a weapon and use it effectively. You have my word that I will do everything I can to protect you and the rest of the civilians on this ship. In return, I ask you stay here and not interfere with my people, my ship, my pilot, or me! Have you got that?"
A few groaned but nobody argued with him. He didn't like talking to them that way, but he knew the only thing that mattered now was time.
"Let's move!"
He jumped down from the ship and raced for the nearest exit. He quickly passed Parker who looked at the deep hole in his armour with disbelief.
"Lucky," she whispered.
"Damn right," he replied.
He carried on without breaking stride. Up ahead they could already hear almost constant gunfire from both enemy and friendly weapons. He had no idea what kind of numbers they were facing, and he had only a single platoon at his back, but he knew he had to head for the heart of the fighting and get stuck in.
"King, come in, what is your location?" he asked over the comms.
Nothing came back.
"They're jamming us again," replied Parker.
"Fuck sake. Every time we find a way to get around it, they screw us again."
Ahead they could see a line of bodies. Many were civilians, but amongst them were Chinese marines who must have come from the Lo Yang. Taylor shook his head as he noted their equipment. No body armour, old rifles. They were equipped no better than he had been the day of the first invasion. He remembered that time and how invincible the Mechs felt. There were just two fallen Mechs among the dozens of dead humans.
"They never stood a chance."
"And yet they came anyway, Eli? Stupidity or devotion to helping these people?" he asked. He could hear a heavy sound like a giant hammer striking an equally large anvil. They approached cautiously and turned a bend to find a Mech smashing itself against a large doorway, trying to breach it. Taylor instantly jumped into the corridor and fired a burst at the creature. His shots bounced off, and it turned towards him. It was one of the Juggernauts, but he knew it was too late to turn back.
He rushed at the giant Mech, and it appeared unarmed. But as he closed, it raised its arms. Lights flashed from pulse weapons running the length of his forearms.
"Shit!"
He held out his shield before him, absorbed the shots, and kept going. He charged full force into the creature, but it was like running into a brick wall. He stopped dead against it. He felt the Mech grasp the shield and knew he could not hold on. He let go and pulled out his Assegai. The Mech raised the shield to strike him with it like a club.
"Get down!" Parker screamed.
He ducked down, and half a dozen rifles opened up on full auto. The Mech was bombarded with fire. A couple of the shots appeared to penetrate and hurt the alien a little, but it did not stop it. Taylor could see the shield was about to come down on his head. He leapt forward between the legs of the Juggernaut, and the shield crashed down on the floor where he had been kneeling.
The alien spun around to continue its assault against him when a second wave of fire struck its back. Enough of the shots penetrated its thinner rear armour for it to spasm as the impacts were felt on its body. The creature tried to strike down to Taylor, but it was taking a continuous barrage of fire. Taylor could do nothing but hide in front of it or risk being hit by friendly fire. He watched as more than a hundred shots struck the beast, and finally it collapsed onto its back.
He was now able see his own people, and Parker shaking her head in disbelief at how much it had taken to bring the monster down.
"Hate those things," she stated.
"Everyone does," he replied.
Taylor banged on the door that the creature had been trying to breach.
"This is Colonel Taylor of the Inter-Allied Regiment."
"Who?" a scared female voice cried.
"We're from the Washington, and we're here to help you."
"We could just leave them be. Looks like they're as safe as they could be," said Parker.
The door unlocked and slid open. Inside were two women and a man. A pulse in the flank had clipped one of the women, and she sat squirming from the pain.
"Can you help us?" the uninjured woman asked.
"That's what we're doing," replied Taylor.
They tried to lift the wounded up towards the door.
"What are you doing?"
"You said you would help us?"
"And we are, by removing the threat. We cannot get you off this ship yet, and neither can we get you to the medical bay while the enemy still roams the ship. That wound looks pretty well cauterised to me. Safest thing you can do for now is seal this door back up and wait this out."
"But we..."
"But nothing," Taylor responded sternly, "All I need from you is information. You're the closest survivors to the enemy we have seen yet. What can you tell me about them?"
They looked dumbfounded.
"Come on, you know what they are. You must have seen them on the news. What are we dealing with? What kind of numbers have you seen? Do they have human agents among them?"
The eyes of the woman nearest to him suddenly lit up at his last comment.
"You saw humans working with them?"
She nodded in response.
"And their numbers? Any idea how many are aboard?"
The man finally spoke up.
"Last report I heard was more than a hundred had been sighted."
Taylor continued to present a calm image, but he was already getting a picture of how bad things were.
"You knew there were human-looking things out there, and yet you opened the door for us?" he asked.
They looked shocked and shaken.
"We just wanted to get help. This is my sister, and she's dying."
"She isn't dying. Lock this door, and don't open it again."
"Until when?"
"Just don't. I'll send one of my people for you when this is done."
Taylor turned to try and leave, but the woman asked, "How will we know it's one of you?"
"Rainfall," he replied, "You hear that word, and you know it's us. Now shut that door, and make sure it's locked."
She did as ordered, and Taylor carried on up the corridor.
"Rainfall?" Parker asked, "Why?"
"Because it's something no one else aboard would say, and it's something I'm sure we'd all like to feel. It just came into my head. Is that a problem?"
She shook her head. "What are you thinking?"
"That the Goeben wasn't taken over. It was theirs from the start. The human crew could have been Krys agents. God knows there were enough of them in Germany. They came through with us to cause as much trouble as possible. They just made their move too soon."
"Too soon, Mitch? There are twenty thousand people on this ship."
"Yeah, and they haven't managed to take her out yet."
He stopped, realising what he was saying.
"What is it?"
"They must know by now they are done for, so they are going for maximum destruction."