“Then pray Tsengal makes it through.”
A droning sound rang out of the continuous clatter of footsteps. She stood up to look out over their lines and could see columns of Mechs advancing towards them for as far as she could see. They would be in range within a minute. She looked down to see all the troops looking to her for a last few words before the end.
“Less than three thousand of us held this planet against a number many times that. They may finish us here, but not without paying a heavier price than us. We have single-handedly halted the advance of their troops. They’re going for Earth again. I have no doubt about that. What have we done here? We’ve given them a reason to fear us. The human race will not lie down and die. We’ll fight to the bitter end, and kill ten for every one of us that falls!”
She paced along the lines and could see little hope among the troops.
“When this war began, the enemy were a frightful sight to us all, but now we stand as Gods against them. Superior soldiers — superior people in every way. If this is our end, then I am proud to say I stand beside the best that ever was. Our deaths will not be in vain. We’ve bought valuable time for our people back home, and made these bastards pay dearly. Now let’s make them bleed a little more!”
A cheer rang out as she rushed up to the line and lifted her rifle, firing a well-aimed burst at the first Mech her sights found. It dropped dead and was trampled underfoot by the next rank.
“Come on, you bastards!” she shouted.
The rest of the troops opened up with a devastating volley that decimated two full ranks of the enemy soldiers. Blue blood spewed out of the metal floor and the incubation chambers beside them. Glass shattered as shrapnel ripped into the rows, and human blood seeped out from the chambers. The Mechs opened fire, and pulses smashed into their small defences and past them. Several of the humans were struck with their opening volley.
Chandra could not tell the three Battalions apart any longer, for the survivors fought side by side as one. She took careful aim with every shot and used just two or three shots per target. It was the minimum needed to bring down the heavily armoured enemy.
“Ammunition isn’t going well!” Warren called.
It doesn’t matter anymore, whispered Chandra.
She didn’t mean for anyone else to hear her muttering, but Warren did and had to smile. He had accepted death was now the only path and could only laugh so as not to cry. The volleys from the troops ripped the incoming Mechs apart so that there was an almost continuous stream of bodies from where they had first come into range.
Chandra ducked down behind cover to change her magazine and could see more than fifty of their own were dead or dying. Several more who were wounded continued to fight on. She looked down to see she had just two magazines left. Chandra slammed in one of them and jumped up to continue firing.
Despite the number of Mechs that continued to fall, they were still gaining ground. Within just a minute, her magazine was empty. She looked around to see that many others were running dry. She fired off her last magazine quickly and threw her rifle down. She drew out her Assegai, and several others could already see what was coming and followed suit. She leapt onto the small wall they had defended and thrust it into the air.
“Come on!” she screamed.
She turned and jumped to the ground beyond and was immediately at a running pace. Their shields were long gone, but the rest of the troops were hot on her heels. Several fired the last of the ammunition as they charged before drawing the last weapons they had. Pulses cut thirty of the humans down as they closed the distance, but Chandra made it at the front by nothing more than luck.
The Colonel leapt a metre into the air as she reached the enemy frontline and on top of the first Mech. She thrust the Assegai like a lance into the faceplate of the creature, killing it instantly. It smashed down to the ground with her still on top of it. Warren and the others were into action well before the creatures could respond to the Colonel.
In less than a minute, the area turned into a mass melee where every man fought for himself. Humans and aliens were scattered, and all fought savagely. Chandra ducked under the clumsy swing of one Mech, thrusting up into the next she encountered. Even with nothing more than hand weapons, they were still giving more than they got. But their numbers were too few.
As Chandra spun out of the way from one of the enemy’s attack, she saw Warren shot point blank range with one of the pulse cannons. At the short range, the shot burst through his breastplate and killed him instantly. She was sad to see him fall. He had become a great friend. It only boiled her blood further, and she turned and screamed out as she jumped onto one of the Mechs, stabbing through its armour with three relentless thrusts.
Pulses continued to rip through their positions. Many of the oncoming Mechs fired into the melee, killing as many of their own as they did the humans. The bodies of both sides were amassing to the extent that Chandra now stood on a layer of bodies. She could no longer see or touch the floor. Soldiers from both sides dropped all around her. She thrust frantically at the nearest creature. As it dropped, all seemed to go silent.
She turned to the direction where the enemy had come from. The Mechs had come to a complete halt and were dividing to let someone through. She looked around in surprise as she stood in the line of fire of a hundred guns, and yet none fired. Only twenty-two of the humans still stood with her. Klimenko was close at her side. His helmet was smashed open, and his face covered in a mix of both his own and enemy blood.
Chandra pulled off her helmet. She could no longer bare the closeness of it. She stood upright and awaited what was pushing through the Mech lines.
“What is this?” asked Klimenko.
The all stayed frozen in place until the last line of Mechs divided and through the parting lines came the one alien she could recognise — Demiran. He wore a lavish version of the armour Tsengal had. It was adorned in alien text and gold. He looked just as Taylor had described Karadag.
Demiran walked with an eloquence and grace that the Mech armies never displayed. A black cloak hung from his shoulders, and a lavishly decorated pistol was held onto his thigh armour. He wore no helmet and bore a huge bladed weapon that was three metres long, resembling a glaive. The last metre of it was a broad curved blade, and the other end a solid metal ball with spikes protruding from it.
“Colonel Chandra,” he stated.
“Demiran, you bastard!”
“Lord Demiran,” he replied.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
The creature smiled wickedly as he lifted up the vast hafted weapon, inviting her forward and taunting her. Her anger overcame her, and she rushed towards the enemy leader at a sprinting pace. Klimenko and the other survivors remained still, watching in astonishment. As she approached, she used the power of her suit to launch her into the air, heading right for him, but to her surprise he was not clumsy and slow like the Mechs she had so recently despatched.
The alien Lord stepped aside and smashed the tail end of his glaive into her. It smashed her off course, and she tumbled down to the floor. She landed hard and rolled over several times until crashing into the legs of a Mech. It kicked her backwards, causing her to roll over again. Her body armour was all that had saved her from being crushed.
Despite her tumble, she nimbly got to her feet and held her weapon at the ready. She had underestimated Demiran, and she would not do so again. She circled around him with her Assegai held out in front. The alien had a grin on his face, and his teeth glinted between his wicked smirk. Demiran was enjoying it, and she wanted nothing more than to spoil his fun.
She rushed forward again, avoiding a thrust from the glaive, but was hit by a kick that pushed her back. Demiran rushed at her, swinging a mighty vertical strike that would have crushed her in one blow. Chandra leapt aside, and the blade smashed into the metal floor, cutting several centimetres into the thick surface.
As Chandra spun out to avoid the strik
e, she swung out with the Assegai, and the very tip of the weapon slashed Demiran’s cheek. The burning hot blade scorched his flesh, and he stumbled with a scream. He regained his composure and came on guard once more to see the defiant Colonel was waiting for him. The smile was gone from his face. She was satisfied now.
Demiran charged at her in a frenzy, swinging the blade in a huge horizontal arc. She avoided the strike, but he used the weight of the blade to pendulum the weapon around his head and struck as hard a second time. She quickly lifted her weapon in time to meet his blade, but the mass and speed drove through it, cutting deeply into her armour and knocking her off her feet.
Chandra stumbled to get back up. Blood seeped through a gouge in her armour. It was clear to all that she was badly hurt. She lifted up her weapon to taunt the creature one last time.
“Taylor’s going to kill you, just as he killed Karadag like the dog he was. You’ll end this war steeped in the blood of your own people!”
He ran at Chandra, smashed her weapon out from her hands, and spun the blade around, thrusting the bottom spike through her breastplate. The immense force of the strike drove the weapon right through her and out the back of her armour. She dropped down to her knees. Blood poured out from her mouth.
Demiran ripped the weapon back out from her body. Blood gushed out as the blade was torn out from her chest. She didn’t wince in pain, nor cry out. She moved back into a kneeling position and refused to lie down for her last few moments. She stared into the eyes of the alien leader with one last defiant glare, drew her last breath and died upright where she sat.
Klimenko gave out a booming battle cry and rushed forward with the last human survivors. They screamed with all the energy they had left as they ran onto the alien guns. They were cut down as they reached Chandra’s body. Demiran stood and enjoyed the slaughter before him. But when it was over, and the last body dropped, he lifted his hand to his burnt and cut cheek, wincing from the pain. Chandra’s body still sat upright where he had struck her down. His victory had been bittersweet and far from what he had imagined.
He looked out across the grounds they had fought over and the mounds of bodies. A thousand Mechs had died in that room alone. Everywhere he looked were the steeped bodies of his own kind, with the so few humans that had remained in the last fight. The humans had always found the aliens to be relentless, but Demiran had learnt that humanity was not the weak race he believed them to be.
Taylor threw his last grenade down the corridor and waited for the blast, then leapt out with his shield at his forefront. A pulse crashed over the shield, and he could feel fragments burn into the gaps of the armour on his right arm, but he kept driving forward. He was firing rapidly as he advanced with Jafar at his side. There were three Mechs left, and their hail of gunfire cut them down as they continued to advance.
The platoon didn’t stop and passed through their vanquished foes before the last one had finally collapsed lifelessly to the deck. Taylor led them on and around another corner towards where the breach had originated. He caught sight of movement up ahead and raised his rifle to fire when he recognised the outline of one of their own. He lowered his rifle and rushed ahead to find they had reached Jackson’s unit; the Captain was only a few men down the line. They were reloading their weapons and had clearly just finished off the remaining attackers.
“Good to see you, Major,” he said when he saw Taylor approaching.
“Did you get them all?”
“Except a few that made their way to where you just came from.”
“They’re dealt with.”
Taylor saw a comms module down the corridor and hurried to it to gain contact with the bridge.
“This is Major Taylor. Floor 5 breach is clear.”
“Major, we’ve had three further breaches. Several enemy units remain unaccounted for throughout the ship,” replied Huber.
“Is the bridge secure?”
“We have had no enemy contact as of yet. Hang on, Major.”
The line went silent, and Taylor waited for the bad news. He knew it could not mean anything good.
“I lost a few dozen in this last fight. We haven’t got the strength to cover all sectors, and with the enemy scattering in the ship, we’ll be in trouble before long,” Jackson said.
Taylor nodded in agreement.
“That’s for sure. We stay here much longer, and we’re all finished.”
The comms channel crackled again.
“Major, we’ve got a breach on the floor above you, sector B.”
“Affirmative, we’re on it.”
He turned to Jackson. “I need to reach the bridge.”
“Go, we’ll handle this.”
“Good luck, Captain.”
“And to you, Sir.”
Taylor gestured for Jafar to follow with Parker’s platoon in tow. They got to the elevators to find the bodies of five Navy personnel and no enemy in sight.
“This doesn’t look good,” whispered Parker.
Taylor continued on past and leapt into the elevator with the remainder of their force in the one next to them. As the doors began to close, Mitch just made out the shape of a Mech turning the bend ahead. He lifted his rifle and fired a quick burst as the doors were closing. They slammed shut, and the pulse smashed in, buckling the doors and burning through in several places.
Mitch smashed his fist down on the button for the bridge level and prayed it was still operational. To their relief the elevator screeched, the buckled doors scraped on the shaft, but the elevator continued onwards. He looked to Eli to see the relief in her eyes. They both knew that they were very lucky.
When they reached their floor, Taylor had his weapon raised at the ready. He half expected to find trouble the other side of the door, but it failed to open. The mechanism was jammed from where the enemy blast had smashed the doorway. He dropped his rifle so it rested on its sling and placed his right hand on the door. Taylor looked back to check Parker had her rifle ready for whatever lay beyond. She was already well prepared.
Taylor gave the door a hard tug, and the power of his suit ripped it aside, surprising them all. To their relief there was no sign of enemy beyond, only a surprised looking unit of Navy guards. Taylor kicked the other door aside and stepped out.
“Is the bridge clear?” he asked.
“Yes, Sir,” one replied hesitantly.
“Come on!” he shouted to his unit.
They rushed on to the bridge and passed dozens of the sailors. They manned their positions, but he could see they were scared, more so than ever. If there were anywhere to run, he suspected they would have already done so. He rushed onto the bridge to find Huber frantically trying to re-route Ota’s unit. He finished the message and turned to Taylor.
The Admiral’s face was pale. He looked as if he’d aged five years in the process of the battle. He slumped down in a chair by his briefing table and looked at the display screens of the ongoing battle. Taylor stepped up to look at the same monitors and could see wrecks and damaged ships on every screen. Fighters still slugged it out, and the capitol ships pounded each other with their heavy guns.
“Sir, we can’t hold out here any longer. If we don’t leave now, we may never get home.”
Huber didn’t reply.
“Sir, we’re losing the fleet!” yelled Taylor.
The room was silent, and everyone looked to the Major whose yell at the Admiral went unchallenged.
“We’ve given everything we have to give here, but we cannot win.”
Huber looked up and nodded in agreement.
“It is a bitter end to our endeavour.”
“It is.”
Huber turned to his crew.
“Activate the jump gate, and begin our approach.”
Nobody celebrated the news, although they were all glad to be leaving the fight behind. Taylor looked at the display screens again and could see that despite their heavy losses, they had inflicted just as much damage on the enemy fleet. Dozens of ene
my ships floated in space as hulks. The bodies of both human and alien crews were scattered throughout the battleground where they had been blown clear of the vessels.
“Give me a damage report,” whispered Huber.
He was so faint they barely heard him.
“Sir, we have damage on fifteen levels. Fifty percent of our guns are damaged or destroyed. Reports of dead on many levels and from alien forces still roaming the ship. It’s a miracle our engines are still operable, Sir.”
He nodded again. It was a morsel of good news amongst a mound of bad.
“Gateway is coming online, Sir.”
“What’s stopping the enemy fleet following us through?” asked Parker.
Taylor turned in surprise to see her there. He thought she’d remained outside with the rest of her platoon. Jafar had somehow pushed through onto the bridge also. No one had dared stop him.
“They will not follow,” he said.
Huber looked up in surprise. He was about to speak but held his tongue as Jafar continued.
“Their purpose here is done. They need to repair and recover from this as much as we do.”
“Indeed,” replied Huber with a sigh. “The glorious Liberty Battlegroup, look at us now. Tail between our legs and almost crippled. All this loss of life, and for what?”
“We could not lie about on Earth and do nothing. We had to know what was out here. We had to try.”
“Gateway is active, Sir!”
“Take us through!”
The engines fired up to full, and they could see the rest of the fleet was doing the same, but the enemy continued to bombard them with a ruthless assault. The crew of the bridge watched and prayed they’d make it through. As they reached the gateway entrance, they saw one of their frigates hit by several pulses, and its engines cut out. It was still moving forward, and they could only hope the momentum was enough to get them through the Gateway in time.
“Almost there. Come on,” Parker whispered.
The Washington passed through the gateway entrance, but the crew said nothing as they waited to see their own Solar System. Seconds later, they burst out into their own lands to a hail of cheers. Those present had survived, and it was worth celebrating.
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