Battle Beyond Earth: Invasion

by Nick S. Thomas

  Nothing would stop him now. He beat down on the creature’s face with one punch after another. The second caused his face to cave in, but Taylor kept striking him with another three. He staggered back up to his feet and looked around. The horde was closing in the distance. They still fired wildly, but their accuracy was so poor the shots barely came close.

  Taylor looked around for his pistol and finally spotted it. He picked it up and got up to a jogging pace as he changed the magazine. Fatigue was setting in from his wound and other aches and pains. He could see the platoons ahead of him stop and engage the enemy. They were firing so rapidly he knew there must be a strong enemy presence beyond. They scattered either side of the street into the cover of the buildings, and that cleared Taylor’s view down the street.

  Two armoured vehicles were approaching slowly towards them. They were not of Morohtan construction, but more like the primitive works of the Gurvs. They looked ramshackle, and yet covered in weapons and rolled on solid wheels. Heavy automatic gunfire struck all around them, and two shots went right though a man’s shield, striking him in the chest. The impact threw him onto his back, and he looked to be in immense pain.

  Taylor reached them and hauled the man into the cover of a doorway. The enemy was closing in on both sides now. They couldn’t veer too far from the main road, but neither could they travel in either direction.

  “We can’t stay here, Colonel!” Deny yelled.

  Taylor looked at the door behind him. The building itself was sturdy, but he shot through the locking mechanism and prised the doors open.

  “Everyone inside! Hurry!”

  They started pouring in as shots landed all around them. He looked over; Wallis was doing the same in the building opposite. Fire landed all around, and he finally turned and leapt inside, rolling until he crashed into a counter top. He stood back up to find they were in a grocery store. He looked over the counter to see two young women cowering behind it.

  "It's okay. We're here to help," he stated.

  He didn't sound all that confident.

  Or I hope we are.

  Lorenzo had placed Alita up against another counter further into the shop and gone to help the other wounded among them. One lay lifeless in the doorway. Lorenzo checked him very briefly before moving on. It was a calculated and cold move, but he knew he couldn't be saved. Many were grabbing whatever they could and barricading up the doorway. Like the other buildings, it was well built with only the smallest of porthole windows.

  Taylor grabbed an AT rifle and went over to the nearest of the windows.

  "There are only two rounds left, Colonel," said the man he took it from.

  "Taylor lifted the weapon and lunged the muzzle forward so that it crashed through the window, laying as a rest. He got behind the stock and took aim at one of the approaching vehicles. A machine gun opened fire on his position, and the impacts landed all around the small porthole, but they didn't get through the outer skin of the building.

  "Right, you son of a bitch," he said.

  He took aim behind the machine gun where he knew the gunner would be sitting and pulled the trigger. The echo in the room was deafening, but a huge hole had been punched through the vehicle. The gun had fallen silent, but the vehicle still rolled forward. He noticed the driver’s screen now. He took aim and fired. The shot burst through, and the vehicle instantly veered off to one side, slamming into the other and coming to a dead stop. They hoped it had stopped the second vehicle, but the impact had been so slow that they had no such luck. It pushed on and smashed the stricken vehicle aside and kept coming. It was larger and more thickly armoured than the first.

  Taylor sighed with fatigue. He dropped the magazine and reached in for the last one he had left for the gun and slammed it in. Seven shots, that was all he had. The vehicle turned in front of them, and two heavy machine guns opened up on the shop. Many ricocheted off the walls, but some ripped through the entrance. He saw one shot strike the counter just fifty centimetres from Alita's head. He quickly turned back, primed the weapon, and took aim. The first shot struck the thick mantlet around the gun barrel and bounced right off. The gun didn't even stop for a second as it still rattled off shots. He took aim again, but a shot came right through the porthole and skimmed his helmet. It was enough to knock him back. He dropped the weapon, and it fell back inside the shop.

  The rest of his people were hunkered down into cover. Even Babacan didn't get up to face the onslaught.

  Now you're really pissing me off!

  He quickly picked the rifle up and rushed back to the porthole, angrily stuffing the barrel through once more.

  "Fuck you!" he screamed, as he fired one shot after the other in quick succession. On the last shot in the magazine there was a massive explosion outside as the tank blew apart. They felt a shock wave through the building, and Taylor was knocked off his feet and onto his back. They heard the roar of engines overhead.

  "You're welcome," said the pilot that had addressed them before over the comms.

  Taylor let out a long sigh. He stood, but none of the others had moved. They were still in shock.

  "Well, what are you all waiting for? Let's get back in this fight. Move it, people!"

  Babacan was back on his feet in seconds and thrust the barrel of his machine gun through one of the broken portholes. He smashed the remaining glass out and opened fire on full auto. The rest of them jumped to his aid and began throwing a hail of fire into the street where hundreds of Gurvs were rushing to the front of the store. Taylor heard a scream and then a gunshot. A Gurv collapsed as he came through a hole in the roof beside Alita.

  He rushed to her side. There was now a man-sized hole in the roof not far from where she was sitting. It looked like a piece of debris had ripped through the structure, and he could hear more clambering onto the roof. He lifted the rifle he had taken from Alita just in time as the first appeared at the hole. He fired a burst as the creature leapt in, and it was dead before it hit the ground. Without hesitation, he jumped and used his booster to leap up through the hole, landing on the flat roof beside three unsuspecting Gurvs. A burst of gunfire killed the first two until his magazine ran empty.

  Taylor didn't give the third a chance. He jumped forward and kicked the filthy creature square in the chest so hard that it was launched off and into the horde below. He didn't need to look over the edge. He knew the enemy were all around. He drew out two grenades and primed them, launching them over the side where the creature had fallen.

  He ducked down and waited for them to ignite. As they blew, he heard the groans of agony from below. He jumped up and drawing his pistol went to the edge. Bodies were piled high to the extent that he could barely see the road. He took aim at the nearest one still standing, and put a single shot into his head. Gunfire still raged from the ground floor, and in all the noise and confusion, nobody seemed to notice him on the edge. He moved from one to the other. One shot, one kill, it was surreal, as though he was in some kind of video game. He remembered the games made from his exploits, and that made him snap out of it.

  It was just in time, as a dozen of the Gurvs had finally spotted him and opened fire. He ran as the bullets landed all around him, and he felt one strike the back plate of his armour. It jolted him forward. He went into a roll and fell through the breach in the ceiling to come crashing down in the shop once more. He landed on his back and felt the wind be taken out of him.

  Alita began to giggle in her drugged up state. It was a bizarre thing to hear as the battle still raged all around them. She seemed oblivious to it all.

  Maybe it’s better this way, he thought.

  She had been close to breaking point. At least now her mind was in a better place. He hoped he had done enough to keep them off the roof for a bit, but that hope was soon thwarted as he heard several jump up and run along the roof top.

  “Persistent bastards,” he muttered to himself.

  He slammed a new magazine into Alita’s rifle just in time to open fire as
the first dropped down from the breach. A second followed it, and he shot that one, too. When a third leapt right in after the first two, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was as if they had no care for their own lives at all. But as the third dropped dead on impact, no more came. He looked up cautiously with his rifle held ready to fire. There was still nothing. Then finally two gun muzzles were pushed through the opening and fired sporadically all around the shop.

  Everyone was ducking for cover and trying to avoid the spray of bullets, but Taylor couldn’t get a shot. He fired twice into the opening, but they didn’t penetrate. He looked over to Babacan for help, but he had already got the message. He rushed to the breach and stood under it with his heavy machine gun held vertically and held down the trigger. The shots ripped through the roof in a wide radius until there were more than twenty holes above them.

  Finally, he eased off the trigger, and they waited for some retort, but they didn’t get it. Instead, blood began to drip down from three of the holes. Whatever was up there was now dead.

  “Taylor, come in,” Jones called over the radio.

  That’s the best thing I have heard all day.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said to himself before responding.

  “Taylor, you there?” Jones asked in a concerned and desperate tone.

  “Yeah, we’re here, just about.”

  “Just stay put. We’re coming to you.”

  Taylor could hear the sound of gunfire over the radio and the same outside the building. He knew they must be close now. They climbed to their feet and looked for signs of the rest of the Regiment, but as they did, a series of explosions rang out. Far louder and more violent than anything they had encountered from their own support aircraft.

  “Aerial bombardment from the fleet?” Lorenzo asked in astonishment.

  Taylor shook his head. He knew the Admiral wouldn’t risk it. Something crashed into the barricaded doorway and made them all jump.

  “It’s Jones!” a voice yelled.

  Taylor ripped back the barricade and opened it up. Their troops were pouring past.

  “Damn, it’s good to see you,” said Taylor.

  “Likewise, but we have bigger problems,” Jones said, pointing up to the sky, “Those aren’t our ships hitting the town.”

  Taylor stepped out as huge gunships soared past them. Alliance fighters were in pursuit of several, but they seemed to be having trouble scratching them.

  “They’re hitting us with more? Why? What’s so important about this place?”

  Jones didn’t have any answers.

  “Resolution, come in, this is Colonel Taylor, over.”

  “This is Resolution. Colonel we are getting ourselves in deep here.”

  “I get that, Sir, but something isn’t right.”

  “I would say there is quite a lot not right about this situation, Colonel.”

  “No, Sir, they are throwing just enough at us to make our life difficult, but not enough to crush us. That isn’t Bolormaa’s way.”

  “Well, maybe we should count ourselves lucky.”

  “I wish we could. What word have you had from other colonies?”

  “Which ones?”

  “Any of them.”

  “Can’t say we have received word from anywhere.”

  “Admiral, this whole situation stinks. I thought they were coming here to destroy another colony, but they could certainly have done it easier than this.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Find out what the hell is going on.”

  “Will do, but in the meantime you need to get the hell out of there.”

  “And the civilians?”

  “We are picking up as many as we can, but there’s only so much we can do with their aircraft in the skies.”

  “Where are they launching from?”

  “A carrier. It keeps jumping in and out, on different locations every time. Never long enough for us to strike, and we can’t bombard the city from orbit, not without risking the lives of you and the countless civilians still on the ground.”

  Taylor sighed as he thought it over.

  “What do you think they are up to?” Jones asked.

  Taylor shook his head. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it. How is the evacuation going?”

  “We’re getting plenty out, but there is a lot left. Frankly, we are swamped. After we got through that canyon, it was gridlock. Since the dome went down, the transports have been in and out, but they’ve only been able to land behind our positions. Your guys got through in the end and are fighting the other side, but they haven’t managed to secure any landing zones this side of the canyon.”

  Taylor didn’t like what they were going to have to do, but he knew they would have to call a halt to their rescue operation soon.

  “We can’t keep this up too much longer.”

  “Why not? We’re doing okay.”

  “They are testing our fleet, dividing our forces. Give them a little longer, and they’ll hit the Independence. I guarantee it.”

  “How can you know that?”

  “Because it’s what I would do. They will know where our forces are by now. They’ll know the Independence is the most powerful, and at present most weakly defended vessel. I’d have hit it already.”

  “Well, maybe they aren’t as smart as you.”

  Taylor sniggered. “If only you were right.”

  Vega came over the comms once again.

  “Colonel, we’ve got a second fleet on intercept course.”

  His voice was as calm as it could be, but Taylor understood how serious it was.

  “How much longer do we need to get these people off the ground?”

  “We’ve not even evacuated half yet, but we don’t know how many casualties there are down there.”

  “Wrap this up, Admiral. Get us back to the fleet.”

  “And the remaining civilians?”

  Taylor looked around. He could see his people fighting hordes coming from every direction now. They were cutting them down efficiently in great numbers. But few had much ammunition left. He could see two-dozen enemy transports coming in to bring fresh troops, and the fighters still waged battle in the skies.

  “We can’t stay in this fight much longer, Sir. Get us out.”

  Taylor knew it was an unenviable call for the Admiral to make, but they both knew it had to be done.

  “Affirmative, Colonel. Prepare for full evac. Resolution out.”

  “We’ll be leaving a lot of people behind.”

  Taylor nodded.

  “And we’re going to leave a lot more dead if we don’t get out of here soon.”

  “You still don’t think this is it, do you?”

  “What?”

  “The real target?”

  Taylor shook his head.

  “No, I do not. Bolormaa is too smart for it, and too powerful. If she wanted this colony, or us dead, she would send a whole lot more than this. I don’t know what her game is. None of us do.”

  “You think she just does all this for fun?”

  Taylor grimaced but still nodded. It was the only sensible conclusion he could come to. Two shots zipped past his head, and he ducked back and forth, firing two back to kill the Gurv firing on him. Now that he was out from the cover of the building, he could see the full extent of what they were dealing with. Gurvs for as far as the eye could see. They advanced with the support the four-legged creatures as he had seen before, and many at the front carried huge pavise like protections.

  “It’s time we got the hell out of here.”

  He was beginning to doubt why they ever went there in the first place, but then he looked into the shop and saw the two young women who had been hiding there. They were talking to Alita and keeping her company. It was an act of kindness, and that spoke volumes to him. It reminded him of his humanity.

  “Are we really going to leave so many to this fate?” Jones asked.

  Taylor sighed, hating what he had t
o do.

  “There are no more lives to save here than we have already, just more souls to lose.”

  Jones knew it was true, but that didn’t make it any easier to stomach. Taylor opened a channel to the whole Regiment.

  “All units withdraw to the boats, retreat to the boats. We’re getting the hell out of here!”

  Nobody questioned it. They wanted out as much as the next person.

  Taylor rushed back inside. He grabbed Alita and hauled her to her feet.

  “Come on, girl, it’s time to get you out of here.”

  “Girl?” she asked as if insulted.

  The two young women beside her didn’t look like they wanted to move a millimetre.

  “Come with us, or you’ll die here,” said Taylor.

  It was the hard truth that they needed.

  “But…but…” one of them protested.

  “But nothing. We have saved everyone we can. Stay here any longer, and none of us will make it out.”

  “But this is our home,” said the other, “I’ve never been off world.”

  Taylor sighed. He knew the feeling all too well, but he didn’t have time to explain it to them.

  “Do you want to live to tomorrow?” he asked them bluntly.

  They nodded quickly.

  “Then come with us.”

  They agreed as he turned back to Alita and helped her out the door. Gunfire was still raging.

  “Running low on ammo!” was the resounding call from those around him.

  Taylor looked up in the hope that he would be able to call in air support, but he could see they were busy dealing with the enemy fighters and keeping them off the transports.

  “All right, lay down smoke, deploy mines for fifty metres. Let’s go!”

  He was close to the rear of the column as they made their way to where Jones had come from. He saw two Gurvs rush out from a side road and struggled to get his rifle up while he helped Alita. Finally, he dropped her, lifted it, and fired two bursts. They dropped dead. He looked down to Alita. She was getting to her feet and able to stand, but only just.