Captain Jones crept from the street corner to an alcove. They continued to their position ahead of the armoured column, having just past through the French lines. Charlie could see his men’s nerves hung on a knife’s edge. The guns continued to roar in the background as they carried on, their movements covered by the fire.
It was a long trip to the weapons depot, not in distance, but in time. Every step had to be carefully negotiated. With the equipment they had they could only hold off a light assault by the Mechs. Having armour was a relief to the infantry forces, but it was far too little against the odds they faced.
“Sir, the position is just fifty metres ahead,” whispered Green.
The Lieutenant was pointing to a low building that appeared to be a substation, but was likely far more. Jones looked back to his men waiting for his command, but they were not at all keen in advancing any further.
“Get the armour surrounding the building, the APCs remain on the south side for loading, I want eyes on the roof ASAP.”
The men immediately moved forward. Far from the lines of the EUA forces it was eerily quiet. The guns raged in the background but all around them was quiet, like sunrise before commuters had risen to go to work. The building was protected by nothing more than a wire fence and a locked door that presented little resistance to the troops.
Captain Jones went into the building where he immediately found more doors. They were huge steel doors as tall as the building. A keypad entry system was at eye level. Fortunately the Colonel had already supplied Jones with the codes. He quickly tapped them in, sceptical as to whether they would even work. He wondered if anyone had accessed the building in a few decades, they were a reminder of the days of fragile peace amongst the major powers on Earth.
The keypad flashed as the doors prized opened twenty metres wide. They could see crates of weapons and ammunition. The rifles were obsolete compared to what they now used, but the ammunition was still the same.
“We’re in business! Get the APCs up here and get to work!”
The first vehicle backed up against the structure as the heavy tanks rolled on around the perimeter. The Captain had not yet seen the effectiveness of their armour against the invaders. However, by the fact that they still held Brest, he speculated that they had played a major part.
“Make sure we have eyes on all quarters! I want to know the second we hit any trouble!”
Jones pulled his rifle sling around until the weapon hung on his back and his hands were free. He reached out for the first crate, hauling it off the stack and towards the vehicle. Doctrine had taught him to never dig in with the labour of the rank and file, but experience had showed him that they didn’t want to be in enemy territory a second longer than they had to.
“Taylor, give us an update!” shouted White.
“The boats are on the way as we speak, General, we expect them to hit the ground in thirty minutes.”
“You think they’ll deliver the goods and get out okay?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Then let’s deal with the next shit storm at our door!”
“Sir?”
“A new front has opened in North Africa. Reports suggest that the African nations’ forces have been pushed back at an alarming rate, along with the UEN forces stationed there. Spain is also falling at an alarming rate.”
The General tapped his screen and brought up the latest map before them. It was received with a gasp as each of the top brass saw quite how fast the world was falling.
“Towns and cities are falling so quickly right now that we can barely keep track of the current lines, let alone get much intel!”
“What’s our next step here, General?” asked Taylor.
“I want a full report from Moon colonists on the effectiveness of the weapons we are sending them. Meanwhile, relying on the reports you made for us, we are equipping as many of the units as possible.”
“So we do nothing?”
“I will not risk ground troops until we have re-equipped as best as possible as per your recommendations, Major.”
“And what about Europe? Africa? We are just going to let them all die?”
“At this stage we’d just be adding more bodies to the pile, Major. Let’s make sure that when we move we have enough muscle to make a dent.”
Taylor lowered his head. Yet more inaction and delaying on the General’s part was a depressing and ever more common experience. He knew that every action would be on the General’s shoulders, but he also knew that the time had come to act.
“I want reports the second those weapons have seen action, Major.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Lt. Rains looked amazed at the readings on their equipment. He had been space trained as per regulations, but he never envisaged the speed at which they were blasting towards the Moon. Beside him sat Lieutenant Perez, who’d been his co-pilot for several years.
“Never thought to be in this seat, Eddie.”
“We got the best seats in the house, my friend. Delivering help to the needy and riding in probably the fastest ship that has ever existed. We’re having a blast!”
“Let’s just hope its fast enough,” Perez replied wearily.
The Moon colony was now in sight, a vast ugly city to their Earth dwelling eyes. Like Taylor, they could never understand why anyone would want to live there. They still had no idea on the sort of scanning and surveillance equipment the invaders used. They had never travelled into a combat situation without a thorough understanding of their enemy, let alone such a fear of them.
Speed and surprise were the only tools to hand for the few brave pilots rocketing towards the Moon at speed. Taylor had already predicted they would have an absolute maximum of five minutes on the ground before encountering trouble. Previous experience showed that they would have the guns to take on a small group of fighters, but not any great numbers.
The landing zone was a barren and desolate area a kilometre from the edge of the colony. To even the well-trained eye it was every bit as untouched by humanity as it appeared. To anyone who knew better, beneath the surface was a military bunker and tunnel system leading to various parts of the colony.
“What if we get hit by ground troops, Eddie? We haven’t planned for that possibility.”
“Then we’re fucked. Planning has been as good as can be, now it’s down to luck.”
“Hardly reassuring!”
“If you wanted certainty, Perez, you should have worked at a desk.”
Perez nodded with a grin. They both loved their work, the thrill of the high-speed combat aircraft and exhilaration they experienced through much of their work. Now for the first time ever their stomachs churned as their own mortality become uncomfortably apparent.
“This is it!” shouted Eddie.
The two craft tore across the lunar landscape at blinding speeds just a hundred metres above the surface.
“Be ready on the guns!”
“They better be ready for us!” screamed Perez.
Eddie closely watched the heads up display in the cockpit, carefully timing their rapid drop onto the landing zone. Just a hundred metres short of the target area, and still with no sign of life, he put the thrusters on full reverse bringing the ship to a sudden and violent landing exactly where he’d been told to land. All four of the men were still doubtful of the intel and the ability of the surviving colonists to be there waiting for them.
He immediately powered down the engines to silence the scene and draw as little attention to them as possible. They could only hope that their presence had gone unnoticed but they knew that was too much to hope for. Rains reached forward and tapped the display, bringing up the under slung cameras on the craft. For a moment they saw nothing but the same boring rocks that spread as far as the eye could see beyond the colony.
“Think we hit the right spot?” asked Perez.
“We hit the right co-ordinates, that’s for sure.”
“Great, suits fucked it up again…”
Before he could say another word the ground opened between the two vessels, just metres away from the landing sleds.
“Holy shit!”
The opening was thirty metres wide and disguised the man-made structure below. On the cameras they could see a platform rising to the surface with dozens of people suited up and ready to get to work.
“We are in business, Eddie!”
He hit the cargo doors as the massive platform rose to the level of their side doors. The pilots had been ordered to stay in their seats at all times. They wanted nothing more than to greet their comrades, but they had to be ready to leave or operate weapons at a moment’s notice.
Eddie watched the screens intently, rocking back and forth with the stress and excitement of it all. Perez scanned the skies with his monitors and camera displays, sneaking a peak at the colonists every few seconds. They set on the supplies like a swarm. They were highly organised and efficient, just as the pilots had hoped, but never expected.
Rains typed into the display monitors in the docking bay, the only way they had to communicate with the colonists. His message read ‘three minutes remaining’. A man on the decking bay looked up at their cameras and gave a nod in recognition.
“They’re brave sons of bitches,” said Perez.
“What else could they be?” replied Eddie.
“What ya mean?”
“With this enemy, you either run or you fight. They had no place to run.”
“They could have just given up, accepting a quick death.”
He nodded in acknowledgement. There was no doubt that it took balls to combat a vastly superior enemy when isolated from Earth. In just two minutes the colonists had shifted half of the payloads of the two ships, an impressive feat. Desperation was pushing them to work faster than any crew back at the base.
“Any sign of trouble?” asked Eddie.
“Nothing yet, but you know those bastards, damn bitch to see them. Plus we’re exposed from every angle here.”
“Just a little longer.”
Perez’s eyes shot across the cockpit glass in front of them.
“What the hell was that?”
“What? What did you see?” shouted Eddie.
“I don’t know, maybe something.”
He hit the keyboard violently, signalling for the ground crew to shift their butts. Perez’s instincts were rarely wrong, a fact Eddie wished was not the case now.
“Be ready on the guns, this is gonna be a hot exit!”
“I never expected anything else. Riding with you is never boring, Eddie!”
Rains looked down at the screen, the colonists were unloading the last few of the crates. One of them walked up to the camera he was watching them on. He looked directly into the lens and held his thumb up with a grateful nod, followed by a salute. Eddie was as chilled out as any man could be, but the sentiment brought tears to his eyes.
He knew it would likely to be a fight to get home, but for them it was just in and out, back to a safe home. For the Lunar colonists it was going to be a war with no end in sight. He typed one last message into the display box, ‘good luck friend’.
“We’ve got incoming!” Perez shouted.
Rains took one last look down at the screen to see the man step off their docking ramp. He hammered the retract switch, knowing he could not spend a second longer considering their allies on the ground. From now on the only mission was to survive.
“Weapons hot! Let’s get off this rock!” shouted Eddie.
He fired up and put power down to all engines. The craft hopped off the surface with immense speed, lurching forward so quickly that it caught Eddie off guard.
“Whoa! Easy now!”
“They’re closing on us!” shouted Perez.
“Give them everything we’ve got!”
Perez squinted to distinguish the enemy ships from the terrain. He was forced to use the manual targeting pads, something he’d only ever done in simulation and training exercises. As he looked across the sky in his wall of monitors he gasped at the sheer number of anomalies in the sky.
“Jesus Christ! Get us the hell out of here!”
Rains could see through the cockpit window that the vessels were closing in. Perez opened fire immediately as they began to build speed. The enemy fired their energy weapons, narrowly missing them.
“Damn this is one fast son of a bitch!”
“Whoa, Eddie, yeah!”
The enemy fired once more, but it was too late. Their smaller craft, with far higher power output, were vastly superior in speed to the enemy ships.
“Didn’t think I’d see the day! We gotta get some more of these babies!” Eddie laughed.
Rain’s broad grin swiftly turned to a grimace as he thought about the colonists. They were free and clear, able to outrun their enemy, but it was a whole different story for Kelly and his troops. They could only pray that the supply drop would go some way to giving them a chance of survival.
“Let’s move!” shouted Kelly.
His helmet dome was folded back, being safe in the oxygen supplied tunnels. He could only hope that the enemy had not identified their access point to the surface, but he doubted they would have such luck. His people were exhausted and mentally hammered, but the supply drop was driving them on to give everything they had.
The Commander had already outlaid a plan for the food and ammunition to be divided between three key safe zones underground. They were all at least a mile from the drop zone. The few underground vehicles built to haul military and scientific resources throughout the tunnels were proving to be invaluable.
Since the invasion had begun, Kelly had done little but lose ground and friends. The supply drop had given him more than just hope. It had been intended to boost morale as much as provide genuine help, but it was much appreciated. He’d already been briefed on the necessity of immediate feedback on their new hardware. He knew they were being used as a test bed for the American military, but it was nothing he would complain about.
The crews sat atop the haulage trailers, many on the boxes of supplies. They smiled and slapped each other’s backs. They were celebrating a victory. In any other situation Kelly would have talked them down, made them put it all into perspective. Today however, it was the only glimmer of hope that existed for them all.
“We’ve got incoming!” shouted Lieutenant Green.
The officer peered down over the rooftop at the APCs being loaded below.
“Shit! Get rolling, now!” Jones ordered.
The second vehicle was loaded as best it could be, but the third was still empty. He looked over to a sergeant who was next to him.
“Tell these two to get rolling and back within the perimeter, we’ll follow ASAP!”
The Sergeant stared back with a gaunt expression. Jones had just volunteered for them to take the brunt of an attack for the good of the defending forces. He knew it was the right decision, but that didn’t make it suck any less.
“Yes, Sir!”
The cannons of the heavy tanks bellowed around their position as the two vehicles began to roll, their heavy tracks ripping apart the civilian streets. Jones waved back the third and last APC. Gunfire erupted on the rooftop as his men began to engage the attackers, he knew it was a dire situation, but he had a task to do. Every fibre of his body told him to join his men in the fight, but the sooner they were loaded, the sooner they’d be out of there.
The driver was nervous and rushed, missing the Captain’s command to stop. The huge steel beast smashed into the building. Bricks and motors tumbled down onto the soldiers below, crashing on their helmets. Fortunately, re-enforced armoury walls supported the structure.
“What the fuck!”
“Forget it, Sergeant, just get this shit loaded!”
Jones rushed to the crates of cannon rounds for the big guns and hauled them up with all his strength. His body was aching in every place, sweat dripped down his armour, adrenaline was the only thing keeping him going.
“Load! Load faster!”
The fire above was chaotic and desperate. The Captain knew that they’d been hit by a substantial wave of the enemy, but he would not return to the other survivors with anything less than what he had intended.
“That’s it, Captain!”
Jones swung his rifle around to his front taking it in both hands. He ran out of the building and to a corner of the structure to peer round at the unfolding battle. As he did so a huge energy pulse hit the heavy tank just twenty metres down the street. The blinding light soared through the thick armour and struck the ammunition store, sending it into a ball of flames. Black smoke bellowed from the wreck creating a smoke screen between them and the enemy.
Looking up to the ledge of the rooftop, he couldn’t see any of his men but could hear their weapons still firing. He cupped his hands about his mouth and shouted at the top of his voice.
“Evac! Now! Go, go, go!”
He had no way to communicate with the other two tanks and he wouldn’t risk any of his men to do so. He had to rely on the fact that they were observing the situation through their rear-mounted cameras. He signalled with his hands for them to pull back, hoping somebody was watching. Without wasting anymore time he turned back to the loaded APC, his men were already climbing aboard.
Green and the others from the roof slid down the ladders on the side of the building, desperately trying to escape the ferocious onslaught. There were less soldiers returning than had been sent up, but Jones knew that it was a waste of time to ask after them.
“Get onto the vehicle!”
The soldiers on top of the tracked APC hauled their comrades aboard. There were now just seventy men left in his company. As many as possible were piling aboard the final APC, though only thirty were able to fit at a squeeze.
“Get this junk moving!” he shouted.
The APC lurched forward, leaving the Captain and more than half of his men behind. He turned to look back, praying that the others had gotten his message. They could hear tracks rolling, but they were muffled through the continuous gunfire and explosions around them. Out of the smoke the first vehicle appeared.
Several scorch marks were burnt into the armour plating. The tank stopped briefly to allow many of the men to climb aboard. Seconds later the second heavy tank burst through the thick black smoke. It barely resembled the first anymore. The turret was completely missing, blown off from a huge energy pulse weapon. Smoke bellowed from the engine block and the turret ring was still smouldering.
The driver’s hatch was half destroyed and they could make out the bloody face of the distraught woman who sat at the helm. However wounded she was, she was still fighting. The men looked at the sight in disbelief. The destruction to the heaviest tanks in deployment made them all feel more mortal than ever before.
“Get on!” Jones ordered.
The last of the para company climbed aboard the scarred vehicle. There was nothing left of the two turret crew other than a trace of blood where they’d been ripped out along with the main gun turret. Through the gaping hole they could see that the hull gunner had been killed instantly by an energy pulse blasting right through his body armour and to the seat behind him. He lay slumped on the controls.
The driver was all who remained in the vehicle. Her helmet was off and blood poured from a head wound, she looked back for just a moment to see the soldiers clamber aboard.
Jones gave her the thumbs up and a nod, not just to confirm they were ready to move, but in appreciation and respect. The vehicle lurched forward with a creek. Pushing the vehicle to the limit of what it could still manage it would survive no more than a kilometre or two. Jones looked around at his comrades who had the grimmest of expressions about their faces.
The friends that they had lost were a tragic and earth shattering strike to the morale of the troops. But more so than that, they were coming to the realisation that they stood almost no chance of leaving Brest alive. The only relief was that they were giving hundreds of thousands of civilians the opportunity to escape.
Jones looked down at his hands. The gloves he wore were cut and blood seeped through from where debris had struck him. His armour was covered in a thick layer of dust from the destruction of the buildings all around him. His mouth was dry from the lack of water and smoke filled air.
As the vehicle stormed up the ruined street, Charlie looked back at the site they had left. He could see the bodies of two soldiers they had been forced to leave behind. The scene was peaceful again, the same horrible quiet that follows every bloody battle. Smoke still bellowed from the tank they’d lost. Turning a bend in the road he lost sight of the weapons depot and the carnage surrounding it.
Wanting nothing more than to forget everything he’d just seen, Charlie already knew that he never would, not for however many hours or days he had left to live. They had done everything that was asked of them, but it was at such a fearful cost.
It was not long before they reached friendly lines. The buildings around the perimeter were lined with troops from the French Armoured Corps. They watched, horrified at the sight of the smashed vehicle that they rode atop. Dozens of British troops were intermingled with the French soldiers, the few who from Jones’ division which had managed to reach the city. They had fled there for safety.
The smoking wreck of the tank came to a halt in the crossroads where Girard and his command centre were setup. The APCs were already being raided for everything they had. The British troops leapt off the vehicle as Girard and Chandra closed in. Jones climbed to the front of the vehicle and knelt down beside the wrecked driver’s hatch. The woman at the controls looked up at him with a haunted expression on her blood-strewn face.
“Captain Jones. Thanks for saving our arses, Sergeant.”
He offered his hand to the injured driver. She first looked stunned, but then grasped his bloodied hand. Jones hauled her out of her seat quicker than expected. She was far lighter than he thought, shorter than any among them and close to half his weight.
“Captain! Good to see you made it back!” Chandra shouted.
“Major, we’re a tank down, we lost plenty of soldiers out there, and whatever hit us will be coming down that road shortly!”
He helped the driver down from the vehicle, jumping down beside her. Girard noticed at the stricken driver with horror. He couldn’t find any words to say to her. Chandra looked down at her body armour, just able to make out her name under the dirt and blood.
“Sergeant Dubois, get yourself to the aid station.”
The bedraggled tank driver nodded. She could not bring herself to speak or to salute her superiors. She staggered off as commanded, still badly shaken over the loss of her crew. Jones turned back to his Major. He could feel that she was rapidly heading into same disillusioned state as the driver. Chandra was lost for words as she looked over his bloody and filthy armour.
“Captain, well done! You’ve kept us in to the fight. I must get these supplies moving, they are desperately needed!”
Jones nodded to the French Colonel as he rushed off to organise the distribution of the ammunition they’d brought back at such a high cost.
“Jones, you are to get back on the southern perimeter. We need every soldier in the fight,” Chandra ordered quietly.
Charlie wondered if this new hell would ever be over. He supposed that death would be the only end in sight. He nodded before turning to his men and barking his orders. They glared at him in despair, not half recovered from the beating they’d just received.
Commander Kelly sat in what had become their operational headquarters. Computers had been hurriedly set up in a haphazard fashion with as much equipment as they could scavenge as time went by. Lewis sat at his makeshift comms desk. He barely knew what to do, having so little of the equipment and resources he’d been trained for and become so accustomed.
“Have you patched into the library feed yet?”
“Yes, Sir, we can now send messages directly from my station. It’s a hardwired connection though, meaning this is the only terminal which can be used,” replied Lewis.
“Understood, good work.”
Kelly turned to look at the people at his command. Many of his surviving NCOs and officers lay about the room. Few conversations took place. The excitement of receiving help from Earth had already died down. Back was the grim realisation of the harrowing lives they now lived.
“Listen up! Everyone!” he shouted.
They all turned to him, wanting nothing more than to be told that everything was going to be okay. They hung onto the Commander’s every word, praying he would bring them to victory or safety.
“The time for skulking around and scavenging what we can is going to stop. We can no longer scurry around, avoiding the trouble above our heads. We were sent new weapons for two reasons. One, to give us a fighting chance, and two, as front line testing for the U.S. military! We have an important task on our hands. We serve not just to fight for our own lives, but to help those who have done so for us!”
Kelly knew that many of his people still loathed the Earth based forces for leaving them in their time of need. Slowly they were beginning to understand that there had been no other option, but many still needed convincing.
“We have been given a second chance, and I fully intend to take it! It’s time to take the fight to the enemy! I want twenty volunteers. I am leading the first party out to hunt those bastards down and see what these new babies can do!”
He held up one of automatic grenade launchers that Major Taylor had so recently tested back on Earth.
There was no instant cheer or hive of excitement. But people began to stand as the information was digested. The very idea of seeking out the fearsome enemy was still a horror to them all, but they were keen to get some payback.
“I’ll go!” shouted Martinez.
Kelly didn’t want to put both himself and his second in command in harm’s way, but it was vital to lift the morale of his people. Within seconds others around the room began to stand and volunteer. They could all feel the fear of the enemy seep away as the excitement exploded among the soldiers. They began to cheer Kelly’s name. He lifted his hand signalling them to pipe down.
“Martinez! Select a team and get them armed, I want a fifty-fifty split between rifles and these launchers! The rest of you, get the rations and ammunition distributed, you know what to do!”
Kelly slipped the sling of the launcher he was carrying over his shoulder and packed ammunition into the pouches in his armour. He only took the armoured suit off to sleep now. The burden of its extra weight was never welcome for prolonged periods, but it had become an essential part of his life.
The room burst into activity as everyone went about their tasks. The Commander had already carefully outlined plans for distribution and rationing, it was vital to both their survival and defence. Lewis looked up at him from his desk. He was the only person in the room with nothing to do.
“What do you want me to do, Commander?”
“Sit right here. We can still reach you through the hard lines, right?”
“Yes, Sir, but there are very few of them about anymore. I have people installing more throughout our underground facilities, but above ground, you’ll barely find more than one or two per square kilometre.”
“Okay, good work. I’ll need you here for an immediate report to General White on our return.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The comms officer looked concerned. He was uneasy about two of the command staff heading off for combat.
“Lewis, you’re in charge till we get back, stay sharp!”
“Sir!”
Kelly now had twenty grenades stuffed into his body armour. He pulled his weapon around his body and looked at it intently, making sense of it all. Within a second he’d found the chamber release switch. The front half of the weapon levered forward, allowing access to the revolving magazine. He loaded in a full eight shells from the box on the desk before slamming the weapon shut.
Turning back to Martinez, he could see that the team had already been selected and were busy loading up for the mission. The group was a mix of MDF and UEN soldiers. Previously they had treated each other with animosity and dissent. The MDF hated the UEN for being deployed on their colony and their eternal arrogance. The United Earth Nations troops had disdain for the MDF as being only a militia force. These feelings had melted away as they had quickly accepted each other as brothers in this new war.
“Let’s not forget that we still face an enemy that we do not fully understand. We have likely not seen everything they have at their disposal yet, nor have we tried these new weapons. I want an even spread of rifles and launchers at all times. The launchers are all loaded with armour piercing rounds.”
“Sir? Aren’t we going to breach the compound with hardware like this?” asked Doyle.
“It’s a concern, yes. However, at this point we have no choice but to upgun to whatever level we have to. Earth forces will also be using a high explosive shell, but for obvious reasons have not supplied those to us.”
The soldiers pawed over the new launchers, not having handled such powerful personal weapons before.
“We honestly don’t know how these will do against the Mechs. Choose your targets carefully and use your ammunition wisely. Everyone happy?”
The troops nodded. They were excited and scared in equal measure.
“Make sure you all have your air tanks and masks, a breach isn’t ideal but we have to be prepared for it. We are heading half a kilometre north where we will enter the colony below the Metro gym.”
Kelly watched as they loaded the last of their kit. It felt more like they were preparing for a hunt than a battle. Perhaps that notion was what kept their morale up, it was not something Kelly wished to compromise.
“Let’s move!”
He led the way down a broad tunnel. They weaved in and out of countless people who were going about their business. The previous day had seen their new underground homes as a miserable place where the survivors of the colony lay about with little to do but grieve. Now every one had a job to do and it was forcing them to move on.
Kelly knew that the food supplies delivered to them would only last a week for the masses of survivors living underground, but it was a vital first step.
“Why the gym?” asked Martinez.
“We need to keep varying our entry points onto the surface to not present a pattern to the enemy. I picked it randomly as we have not previously used the access point there. The truth is that all we need to do is find some of those bastards and that won’t be hard once we reach the surface.”
Martinez knew all too well how widespread the enemy Mechs were. Fifteen minutes later they reached the two ladders that led up to the surface building. Climbing in full gear was no fun for any of them, not least for Kelly. He wished he’d kept in better shape, but it was to late to worry about that now.
They lifted the hatches above which opened up into a dark storage basement for the highly successful and up market gym. Kelly panted as he hauled himself into the room and rested on one knee for a moment, trying to hide his fatigue. After a few seconds he lifted the Mappad hung around his neck. Nothing showed on his scanner. He turned and looked to see the last of the troops climbing in.
He moved forward to the head of the column. Their military training had taught them to work in smaller teams and with greater spacing, but this new enemy had changed their strategy massively. When meeting them they needed maximum firepower at all times. The group of twenty-one kept close and alert as he led them up to the atrium of the fitness centre.
Just after arriving at the ground floor of the building Kelly got a reading on the Mappad device. He lifted his arm and signalled that a target was showing at ten o’clock. They all tensed and lifted their weapons ready. The huge glass walls dividing the gym to the walkway had been blown out in a previous fight.
Kelly signalled for them to hold their fire. They needed to know the effectiveness of the new weapons before unleashing a volley of fire. The men at the front knelt down, so that they could all have a clear line of sight at the opening just twenty metres ahead. They waiting silently as they could hear the heavy footsteps of the lumbering armoured Mech stomping towards them.
As he held the new launcher firmly at his shoulder, Kelly could feel his pulse racing and his heart pounding in his chest. A week before his wife had been warning him of the risk of a heart attack with all the stress he faced at his age. Now she was anxiously waiting in the make shift dormitory blocks as he fought on the front line.
Then it appeared, the ugly metal monster. It turned quickly as it caught sight of the soldiers. Before it could raise its huge energy weapon the Commander fired a single round. The large projectile hit the Mech just off centre of what would be the chest armour of a human. Landing like the punch of a heavyweight boxer, the enemy soldier stumbled back a step before catching its balance.
Kelly could see that the impact had hurt the alien, but it was far from dead. It quickly regained its composure and tried to lift its weapon again to target them. He didn’t wait a second longer, quickly firing off two more shells. Each hit the creature square centre in its mass. The metal suit went limp as whatever was inside collapsed onto the broken glass with a crash. The soldiers stared at their fallen enemy.
“Holy shit,” said Martinez.
Kelly turned to his number two with a smile. Finally they had a chance.