"It looks so peaceful, doesn't it?" said Jones.
It was true that so far up they could see no evidence of the brutal conflict on the surface. But even as they travelled through it, a huge explosion erupted near the coast in such a vast explosion that they couldn't miss it.
"That could be New York," said Alita.
She looked at her scanner and nodded in confirmation.
"Poor bastards." Taylor remembered that it wasn't the first time in his lifetime that it had happened. "There's just no let up from these savages, is there?"
She reached forward and increased power, and they soared out into open space.
"So what's your plan?"
"I'll tell you if we can make it happen, Jones."
"Greer put her position at fifty clicks north of Washington. I am picking up readings of a large enemy presence to the west, north, and east of her positions," announced Alita.
"Much longer and she'll be encircled," replied Jones.
"What kind of strength does she have?" Taylor asked.
"Looks like about six thousand troops, at least two hundred tanks, no air cover. They are taking a beating."
Taylor looked at the screens either side of her showing the assault force that they were leading. Hundreds of assault craft and fighters, in what in any other situation would be awe-inspiring, but in this case, it was a sad sight to behold. They could only speculate how many would not make it out.
"I have orders to put you down three to four klicks to the southwest of Greer's last know position, is that correct?"
"Yeah," replied Taylor.
"You want to roll their flank up, drive them towards the sea?"
"Yep, we can't afford to get bogged down in this, Jones. We strike hard and fast with overwhelming numbers, and we do not stop until the enemy presence has been ground into dust."
"You think you can do that quickly?"
"We have to, Alita. If it can't be done fast, it's no good at all. You both heard Greer; the world is at risk of falling. There are many more people that will need our help. And better still, if we can win some victory, no matter how small, we may yet get Irala and the rest of them who stayed behind to come in and help."
"That's a whole lot of maybes," doubted Jones.
"You’re right about that. The only thing we can say with any certainty right now is that this is one big cluster fuck."
None of them said a word as they all sat back and waited to do their part. It wasn't long before they broke through the atmosphere, and Taylor had a feeling of deja vu. He thought back to the days when the Krys occupied Earth, and they had to conduct clandestine raids to make any attempt at harming the occupiers. He felt that Earth was once again going the same way.
Moments later a missile trail zoomed past their ship, and a score of Morohtan fighters came into view, trying to intercept the relief force. Gunfire and missile trails darted back and forth as friendly fighters surged ahead to engage the enemy. Taylor leaned into the cockpit for a better look of their position.
"What city is this?"
"Harrisburg."
"What? You're kidding me."
She shook her head.
"Population of eleven million."
"Well, I'll be damned!"
They swooped over a seemingly never-ending mass of suburbs, office blocks, and malls. Black smoke bellowed from almost a dozen different locations in the distance.
"I never thought I would see the day that there was an all out war on Earth," said Jones.
"Then you're a fool. While there is life on this world, there will be war."
"We managed for hundreds of years without anything coming close to a war as you know it," said Alita.
"Yeah, well, I guess then you're lucky."
"Not so much," replied Jones as he pointed forwards.
Taylor tapped his comms unit to create an open channel to all that were with him, and he didn't care who overheard it.
"We hit the ground running, and we go north. You do not stop unless absolutely necessary. I want a broad front, maintain the advance, and let's drive these bastards out!"
"This is it," said Alita.
There was nowhere for their craft to put down as it was still a densely constructed urban environment. Alita brought them in as close to the roof tops as she could and slowed down to maintain her position.
"All right, let's go, go, go!" Taylor yelled.
Bailey hit the door release, and wind and dust rushed inwards. Babacan was the first to take the leap out the door, and the rest soon followed. Taylor finally reached the door and jumped. They were twenty metres over one of the broader streets. His platoon was rapidly spreading out as they hit the ground. A few gunshots zipped past in the air above, but nothing close enough to worry about.
It never felt good to jump from a perfectly good aircraft, and he'd never been comfortable relying on the boosters to get them to the ground safely, no matter how many times he had used them. He hit the ground and turned northwards, running as quickly as he could.
"Good luck, and stay safe," Alita's voice rang out in his ear over a private channel. He looked back at the aircraft and gave a friendly salute before pushing on. Gunfire raged in the distance with such ferocity that he had not heard in a long time. He prayed that Greer was still alive. She was the sort of friend and ally he needed.
"Don't stop. Keep going forward!" he shouted to those ahead of him as they took a knee and waited for the others to keep up.
They did not hesitate to follow his orders. They all knew how dangerous it was to advance at such an aggressive pace, but also what was at stake if they didn't turn the tide quickly. Taylor upped his pace even further to catch up. There was a T-junction up ahead, but he wanted to keep going, so he simply ran at the door of the building in front. He hit it like a linebacker and crashed through with little resistance at all. He’d arrived in someone's home, the ground floor of an apartment block. A woman and two children were huddled in the kitchen. He wanted to stop knew the best thing he could do was to keep going.
"Stay there and keep your heads down!" he shouted as he past them.
He didn't know how the rest of their forces would get through and had to rely on them to do what he asked; keep pushing north as hard and fast as they could. Jones was close on his tail as he barrelled out of the back of the apartment block and into the communal gardens. The fighting hadn't reached these parts yet. They were quiet and totally abandoned, but there was no sign of the death and destruction that would soon befall them.
"Do you believe Greer is alive?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because we need her to be."
"Fair enough."
They rushed through the open doorway of another apartment block and found several civilians hiding in the lobby, crying their eyes out. Once again they couldn't slow their pace. Taylor ran out of the front door of the building and suddenly slid to a halt. Morohtan warriors were advancing across a small park ahead of them. He jumped back inside the building and took a knee.
"Hold your fire, and wait for the others to catch up," he said to Jones and the few that were with him. They had made it far ahead of the rest. He raised his rifle and had the first of the enemy in sight; tracking them from the cover the marble like low wall gave him.
"Once this starts, all hell is gonna break loose," he whispered.
The rest of the platoon had gathered and were spreading out into the other two rooms beside him. It was the perfect ambush, providing the enemy were not in large numbers.
"We’ve stopped. You said don't stop," said Jones.
"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean going against the first rule of war."
"What's that?"
"Don't get your head blown off!"
Jones smiled. He’d expected some serious remark, not light hearted philosophy.
"Hold...hold," he whispered through their comms channel, "Fire!"
Chapter 6
A vicious volley of gunfire cut down the first t
hree, and those that followed them were drones. That was a relief, for they were far easier a foe than the thickly armoured Morohtan warriors. A dozen of them were knocked down when one of the heavily armoured Juggernaut warriors appeared amongst them. It was running right for them at high speed. Dozens of shots bounced from its thick armour, and when it was ten metres out, Babacan stepped up beside Taylor in plain view of everyone and held down the trigger on his Hydra Gatling gun.
The echo inside the lobby of the building was almost deafening. Hundreds of shots poured into the oncoming creature with such force it was slowed to almost a standstill. It crept forward ever closer as more fire poured into its flanks, and finally it slumped down dead two metres from the entrance.
Taylor looked across the road. The drones were digging in to any cover they could and scattering into the nearby buildings.
“Let’s go before they can take a hold!”
He rushed out into the street. As he reached halfway across to the edge of the park, a drone rose up from behind a trashcan. He stopped to take aim, but as he pulled the trigger, the street lit up with gunfire; so intense it was as if he had walked into a firework display. The drone was knocked out by his two shots, but to his side hundreds of troops were pouring across the long road into the buildings on the far side.
The other way down the street hundreds more were pouring in. Gunfire rang out, and grenades blew as they were thrown into the buildings. It was an all out unrelenting assault, and it brought a smile to his face to see how brutally efficient his people were. He activated his shield and turned back to the park ahead.
“Forward!” he cried.
His platoon rushed into the small park, firing as they went under the cover of their shields. They knocked out over a dozen drones and reached the edge of the park. Another road ran in parallel with the one they had just crossed. Once again they pushed through another series of apartment blocks and carried on through to the far side. As they stepped back out into the light, they stopped at the sight of a huge oval structure that looked like a stadium.
“Let’s go round!” he ordered.
He turned a little to the right and leapt into action to work the way around, but a huge shadow was cast over them, and he stopped. An enemy vessel slowed to a halt almost directly on top of them. Before they even had time to respond, part of the vessel detached and descended towards them.
“Cover!”
They scattered as the huge object crashed to the ground where they had been standing moments before. At the last moment, Taylor and Jones jumped to get free of it, barely clearing the distance before crashing rather unceremoniously into the wall of the stadium. The impact caused a dust cloud to fill the street.
“What the hell was that?” Jones asked as they climbed to their feet.
They had expected some explosion of some sort, but it never came. Then the sound of cogs and wheels turning, and something coming to life pierced the dust cloud. It arose amongst the dust. They couldn’t tell what, only a shadow, but it was huge, maybe fifteen metres tall, and it was alive, or at least operational. The dust began to clear and settle, and a talon like tendril rose out through the cloud as if looking for them. It appeared to be studying everything around it with a small light and glass on what looked like an eye.
“It doesn’t look so bad,” said Jones.
The tendril seemed to stop and study them for a few seconds before retracting into the dust cloud that was now settling fast, but whatever was inside began moving towards them as it swept the dust aside. One leg rose up and burst through the dust, crashing down to the ground a few metres from them. The lower limb was taller than even a Krys warrior.
“Oh, no,” Jones said, realising his mistake.
“Into the stadium, run!” Taylor screamed.
The body of the creature came through the cloud. It looked like a giant incarnation of the Morohtan warriors, a far larger and more terrifying version of the Juggernauts. There were no arms, just a huge bulbous body with a cannon like barrel where you would expect the face to be. It was slick black like a spider, but with stripes like a snake. It appeared to be part biological, part mechanical; there were huge gas struts and mechanical parts at its joints. They had seen enough and rushed in through the nearest doorway that was nowhere near large enough for the creature to get through. They stopped after they were ten paces in. Bailey and Babacan were with them, but they had no idea where the others were. Gunfire rang out outside. The rest of their unit were pouring shot after shot into it.
“It can’t get through there, surely,” said Jones, looking at the robust construction of the walls.
Even as he spoke, a claw of the creature smashed in through the doors and ripped them from the building, taking part of the walls with it. The four of them opened fire at the leg that was visible, but it drew back, and the barrel on the body of the creature was thrust through the breach.
“Run!” Taylor yelled again.
They split each side. Bailey was with Taylor and Babacan with Jones. They watched in horror as the barrel shook, lit up a vivid blue, and then spat blue flames for fifty metres into the building. The fire burst through and out into the arena as they leaned away from it. They could feel the vicious heat even from where they took shelter.
“God damn!” Taylor shouted at the top of his voice.
He could barely hear himself as the flame scorched everything in sight. He leaned back as he noticed the wall in front of him begin to melt under the extreme temperature.
“What the hell is this?” Bailey screamed.
“Fucking terrifying!” he replied honestly.
“Yeah, well, it’s doing its job!”
Finally, the flames gave way as the last few licks spat out onto the ground in front of them. The residue of what was left still burned where it stood.
“Go!” Taylor ordered, seizing their opportunity in the brief moment of peace. They dodged what remained from the fiery weapon and ran as far through the building as they could.
“What was that, Colonel?” Bailey asked.
“Napalm.”
“What?”
“It’s like Napalm.”
“Never heard of it, Sir.”
“That’s because we stopped using it when we got civilised!” Jones shouted.
“At least we found some cover,” said Bailey.
They heard a creak at their backs as if something was under massive strain. Suddenly, the outer wall of the stadium give way around what was left of the doorway they had come in on, and the creature crashed through it like a wrecking ball.
“Ah, shit,” Taylor muttered, as they picked up their pace. Ahead they would be coming out onto the pitch soon enough, and the prospect of being out in the open with the creature did not bare consideration.
“Split up!”
“To what end?” Jones asked.
“I’ll let you know when I figure something out.” He pointed which way for them to go, as he and Bailey peeled off the other way. They were some stairs up ahead, and Taylor smiled, thinking he’d found a short-term solution.
“Come on!” They leapt up the stairs at a rapid pace and kept going, but they soon felt the concrete at their feet begin to shake as the creature hit the roof of the floor beneath them. Its torso burst out onto the floor with them. It kept coming, obliterating the level they were on.
“Keep going!” Taylor shouted.
The concrete was slowing the creature down, but there seemed no stopping it. He pulled out an HE grenade, primed it, and launched it back at the creature. It bounced off its torso and ignited in a stall nearby.
“Shit!” He drew out another.
He primed the second one and waited a few seconds of the count before rolling it carefully towards the oncoming beast. He watched it ignite right on target, but it seemed to have no effect at all. He raised his rifle and fired a burst of fire, but that didn’t do any better. They both turned and kept running as the creature smashed through the building like a bull in a china shop. I
t was ripping the structure apart, and there seemed nowhere to hide.
“Got any good ideas?” Taylor asked.
“No,” she quickly replied.
“We gotta get some bigger guns.”
“Sure, but how are we gonna deal with that…thing?”
They were both panting now. They couldn’t tell if it was from the running or the stress of the situation. They were just about able to keep ahead of the creature, but there was only so much of the stadium for it to tear up before there would be no cover left. To their right side they could see out through the seating areas into the stadium. A few of their people were scattered about the stadium. It seemed nobody had any idea what to do.
“This thing is too big for us. We need air support or something,” said Bailey.
“Yeah, I wish.”
They felt the ground beneath them crumble and tried to up the pace, but it wasn’t enough. The floor gave way beneath them, and they crashed down onto the ground floor. Taylor woke up a few minutes later to find he was buried in concrete. He pushed it off, coughing and spluttering to clear his throat. He looked around but could see no sign of Bailey, but he could hear the creature smashing its way ahead. He climbed from the rubble and rushed onwards to catch up.
“Alita, come in, this is Taylor, over! Alita!” he yelled down the comms.
“Taylor, what the hell is going on down there?”
“I need you to get a message to the Indy. I need a precision bombardment.”
“When and where?”
* * *
Jones saw the outline of the creature across the other side of the stadium, but he could only see one person running from it. He couldn’t tell whether it was Taylor or Bailey, or one of the others in their platoon that had been unlucky enough to draw its attention.
“What do we do, Captain?” asked one of the troops beside him.
Jones was shaking his head in disbelief. “I really have no idea.”
He didn’t like to admit it, but neither would he lie.
Battle Beyond Earth Box Set Page 89