An hour after first light, the sun lifted the temperature at a rapid rate, enough to wake Taylor from his deep sleep. The shining rays of sunlight blurred his vision and stunned him slightly as he got up. As he propped himself against the wall, Jones thrust an almost fresh cup of tea into his hands. He took it gladly but still wished it were coffee.
"Thanks."
It was surprisingly quiet, almost eerily so. Only a few footsteps broke the silence. His eyes began to adjust, and he peered out to the south as he took a sip. The bodies from the trenches had been cleared, and fresh troops now occupied them. The barren space from then onwards was still littered with bodies though. He cast his gaze across to the enemy side to see they too had dug in. Trench works largely hid their numbers, and he could see for kilometres each side now that the enemy positions extended as far as the eye could see.
"They're using trenches," stated Jafar.
Taylor turned in surprise to see the alien wide-awake and standing at his side.
"What of it?"
"I told you this. When they begin to dig in, it is because their tactics are failing. The Krycenaean armies never stop attacking unless they cannot succeed."
"So they are beaten?"
"For now. Until they can reinforce or find a different way to breach this line."
"Why don't they go round us?" asked Jones.
Taylor grunted in agreement.
"Yeah, they have ships, so why fight us in open combat?"
"Because it is their way, and if they cannot beat us in open combat, it is failure for them."
"So we just slug it out here until one side is done for?" asked Jones.
"Yes."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'd like to see this ended sooner rather than later. Another army could come through that Gateway anytime and reinforce these bastards."
"Not likely."
"No? And why is that, Jafar?"
"Because Demiran has committed everything he has, and none of the other Lords would want to help him succeed."
"But they all want Earth, do they not?"
"Yes, but if Demiran wins, even with the support of another Lord, he will claim the planet his own."
Taylor laughed.
"What is so funny?" asked Jafar.
"These Lords, if they'd rallied together, they could have ended us all years ago."
Jafar shrugged his shoulders.
"So, through their own vanity and individual desire for power, they'd see nobody succeed rather than share a success? That's fucking brilliant," replied Charlie.
"I have to say I'm glad to hear it. Otherwise, we'd be in deep shit," added Taylor.
"And what if one day these Lords manage some kind of joint military pact? We'd be annihilated."
"Then pray they don't, Jones."
The enemy artillery and tanks opened fire with a fresh barrage, forcing them to duck down for cover. Taylor watched through the gaps in the rampart. The enemy was again advancing towards their walls.
"It's a God damn siege," he whispered to himself.
Their guns began to return fire, and everyone knew the next attack was coming. Within two hours of the sun rising, the enemy were once more being broken at their defensive line, but the casualties were mounting on both sides. Just as it appeared they would end the attack, as they had the previous day on Earth, a shattering explosion erupted to the west. The walls shook in their foundations and rumbled beneath their feet.
Huge chunks of metal and concrete were thrown into the air, and smaller debris even managed to reach Taylor and the others. It showered down on their helmets, forcing them to look away for a moment. When they recovered, they could see the wall had been breached. Taylor turned back to see the enemy forces were funnelling from each side in towards the hole in the perimeter. Gunfire smashed into their flanks, but it was not enough to stop them reaching the weak point. The troops in the trenches before the breach were quickly overwhelmed and driven aside.
Thousands of Mechs were pushing forwards to the breach with many more crossing no man's land to seize the opportunity.
"What do we do?" asked Jones.
"We have to go."
Taylor strolled to the inner edge of the deep walls and looked down to see a mass of troops sitting around with nothing to do. He didn't recognise their uniforms, but they were well equipped and available. He pinpointed the nearest officer and shouted at him.
"You there!"
The officer clearly heard him and froze.
"Get these men up onto the wall. There has been a breach which we have to deal with!"
The man was still frozen for a second. Taylor could not work out if he was just surprised, or if he didn't understand English. He pointed down to the group of troops and gestured for them to get up onto the walls.
"Get them up here now!"
He lifted his comms device.
"We have a breach to the west. Replacements will fill our positions. Inter-Allied follow me!"
He turned to check those around him were ready, grabbed his rifle, and leapt from the wall. He used his suit’s boosters to launch him down into the nearest opening, and then immediately jumped clear of a line of instant shelters, landing not far from where troops were rushing to fill the breach. He was surprised they could barely see through to the hole in the wall for the mass of soldiers and tanks moving up to defend it.
Taylor looked up to the top of the wall to see the breach was twenty metres wide, and the walls either side had been cleared by the debris. Nobody remained on the stretch of ramparts.
"Up onto the wall!" he shouted into his comm.
They used their boosters twice more to land accurately onto the defensive positions. He knew it was about all the power they had, but if they couldn't hold the wall, it wouldn't matter anyway. He landed first on the walls and found a dozen dead soldiers scattered across the battlement, most of them killed by the explosion and shrapnel from it.
He reached the edge where the wall had fallen just as the rest of the Inter-Allied force landed around him, either side of the breach. They filled the wall from one tower to the next, replacing those who had been killed and thrown from the position. He drew both grenades he had left and threw them into the mass of enemy Mechs advancing between the gap. Fire was rained down on the attackers from both sides, and he could see the brutal onslaught lashed on those defending from inside the walls.
A few pulses raced past their heads, but they were firing from relative safety on the wall that had stayed firm, despite the massive blast. After fifteen minutes, the bodies of the Mechs were beginning to pile up, to the extent that others were struggling to make their way through. Taylor was reaching for his last magazine, and knew the others would be in a similar position, when they began to turn and flee.
He looked back at their allies, seeing they had learned from their last experience. They fought the enemy up to the breach and stopped. No one wanted to throw their lives away. He turned back to the battlefield and took a few more carefully aimed shots until the magazine was empty. He was shooting the enemy in the back as they fled, but he felt no sympathy for them. Jafar was doing the same beside him.
All along the walls, troops were shouting and whistling. He could not distinguish one voice from another and suspected it was a mix of insults and celebrations. He could see they had taken few casualties along the edge of the wall.
"We couldn't have managed much longer than that. Ammo was running thin."
"Tell me about it," he replied.
"Still, two waves repulsed. That must mean something, Jafar."
"It does. It means we have ground them to a halt."
He rested up against the wall and watched joyfully as the enemy fell back to their positions.
"Send for ammo. We're gonna need a lot more."
The excitement of their victory soon died down as the troops along the kilometres of defences lay about to await the enemy’s next move. The day passed into night without any more than a couple of exchanges betw
een the artillery. The troops who had survived the trenches had worked to strengthen their positions all day.
When morning came, Taylor looked down from the wall and was surprised to see Commander Phillips approaching with a crutch under one arm and his other arm in a sling. One of his eyes was swollen and cuts showed beneath it. He looked like he'd been through hell. Phillips looked out at the mound of enemy bodies still lying in the breach only metres from where Taylor had slept. The troops had begun to clear the bodies but barely made a dent in their number.
"’Morning, Sir!"
Phillips balanced on his crutch and held up his good arm, trying to block the sunlight silhouetting Taylor's figure against the sky. Taylor could see him struggling to see so jumped down onto the nearest ramp to approach the Commander.
"Good to see you made it, Sir."
"Likewise, Colonel. And you held here. I'm impressed."
Taylor looked surprised.
"You doubted we could do it?"
"If you'd asked me a week ago, I wouldn't have doubted your chances of anything, but after we got hit on the way in, and seeing what was on the ground, I thought we were done for. It was only because I was carried out that I am here now."
"And back on your feet."
"Just about."
"You'll be back in the fight in no time."
"Not quite, Colonel. Our job here is done."
"How so?"
"Local forces are taking over, now that they have halted the enemy advance. The Battalion is to return to Naples for some R amp;R, followed by preparation for the next operation."
Taylor smiled and was utterly relieved, which took Phillips by surprise.
"You're happy about this? I thought you'd be pissed that someone else would be stepping in after you'd done the hard work."
"Hell, no, you think I like fighting those bastards? We're good to go."
Phillips smiled back in return, wincing in pain.
"They got you some pain meds?"
"Basic stuff yeah, anything stronger, and I won't be fit to command. Get the Battalion up and moving to the coordinates that are being sent to your Mappad presently. It's a few clicks north of here, and there aren't any vehicles spare."
"We don't mind walking."
In truth, he did in the sweltering heat, but not so much when it was to return to a safe and relaxing environment where he could kick back for a while.
"Are we waiting to be relieved?"
"No, there are more than enough troops here to fill your place. Get moving now."
He passed on the order through his comms, and within seconds, the troops were clambering down the ramps. They didn't know yet where they were heading, but it seemed unfair to their allies to celebrate the end of the fight for them when the enemy wasstill very much at their door. Jones was first down from the defences and as surprised to see Phillips as Taylor was.
"On your feet already, Sir?" he asked.
"Near enough. I'll be hitching a ride to join you presently. One of the Generals has kindly offered his personal vehicle to get me there. I don't think I'll be walking any distance for some time."
He hobbled aside as the troops began to back up behind Taylor and waved for them to pass. Taylor led the way through the encampment. They hadn't travelled north beyond the wall before, and only seen it from their position. Line after line of trenches had been dug to give some shelter from the aerial and artillery bombardments. Armour had been dug into hull-up positions in multiple tiered defences spanning two kilometres north.
"You think we really did it, stopped them?" asked Jones.
"Looks that way. They aren't getting anywhere coming this way."
"They could just go east."
"No," replied Jafar. "They will want to prove they can win here."
"Then that'll be their undoing."
"So where we heading?"
"Back to Italy, Charlie, rest up and prepare for the eventual counteroffensive."
"You’re bullshitting us, right?"
Taylor shook his head.
"Thank God for that. Let some other bastards to the hard work for once."
"We were only called in as an emergency measure, after all."
"Yeah, and that usually entails us up to our necks in shit for a year."
"Well, it ain't over yet."
"Come on, Mitch, enjoy what we're getting."
"Mmm," he mumbled.
They continued walking past the lines of armour, and he knew everyone in the Battalion would be curious to know where they were going, though he suspected those who had eavesdropped on their conversation would have spread the rumours like wild fire along the column.
"What'll happen here now, do you think?"
"Meat grinder, Charlie. If Jafar is right, and they keep throwing themselves at the defenders, and those defenders are unwilling to give up the city, it could go on for some time. The casualties will be horrific. They have to be."
"Could buy us some time though."
"Yep, that's what General White was talking about. Gather our forces before we hit them and finish 'em for good."
"I bet there’s more than a few who think now we've stopped them, we should just leave them there."
"No doubt, luckily those idiots aren't in charge. Last time we thought we could just let 'em be, we paid a dear price. We should have continued under wartime conditions this time last year. At least the Navy construction did."
"Yep, saved our arses."
"But the idea this battle could have been won in space was foolish. They were always coming for Earth."
Jones turned to Jafar.
"You really believe if we can destroy Demiran and this army he has here that Earth will be safe?"
"Not safe, but safe from an invasion force."
"What else could we have to fear?"
"Demiran has always fought with only brute strength, the same as his kin, Karadag. But the other Lords should not be underestimated."
"We just maintain strong forces here, and we'll be fine," replied Taylor.
"If we crush this army, what's stopping us going back to Tau Ceti and crushing the rest of these Lords?" asked Jones.
Taylor shook his head as he thought about their first expedition to the enemy system.
"Didn't we lose enough the first time around?"
"And that is a reason not to try?"
"Demiran's armies were the most powerful, but threatening their homeworlds you could force the Lords to unite."
"Just like our armies have here," added Jones.
"Then why did we ever go there in the first place?"
"I warned you all of the dangers of Tau Ceti.”
Taylor nodded and remembered.
"Let's just enjoy what we do have. Let's crush this Demiran scumbag and his armies, and then we may just stand a chance of living in peace."
"And that is what you want?"
Taylor seemed surprised at Jafar’s question.
"What else would I want?"
"You are a fighter, one of the best. Why stop doing what you are so good at?"
"We fight because we have to, not because we like to."
Taylor could see it was a concept that was still taking time to settle in with his alien friend. Tsengal and Jafar seemed to do nothing but train in the time between the wars.
"Back when you served Demiran, what did you do when there was no war to fight?" asked Jones.
"We protected Demiran and trained to be better fighters."
"And the idea of being able to rest, relax, and do your own thing never appealed to you?"
"It was never an option I could ever have thought of."
Chapter 10
Taylor was glad to see Gallo waiting for them when they landed at the Major's base. A broad grin span across his face, and he had organised a welcoming party for the Battalion, including the Mayor of Naples. Taylor would have welcomed a rest, but appreciated the effort that had been made. He stepped out first from the copter to a round of applause from the
several hundred-strong crowd, waving Italian, American, and British flags at them.
"This is Mayor Manciolino of Napoli."
Taylor shook his hand and put on a smile, but he felt more than a little awkward. They had secured victory over the enemy, for now.
"It is an honour to have such a distinguished officer here, thank you," said the Mayor.
Taylor nodded and couldn't think of anything to say.
"You must be hungry. The Mayor has prepared a meal for you and your troops here this evening."
That's the first good thing I've heard, he thought.
He couldn't see any way of continuing on. The crowd blocked them in against the copters.
"Mayor, your welcome is much appreciated, but you must excuse us. The men and women of this Battalion have fought hard and lost friends. What they need right now is some peace and quiet to recover. My apologies."
"No, Colonel, my apologies for keeping you. We welcome you back to our city and look forward to seeing you all this evening."
He turned around and shouted with a booming voice for the crowd to clear. They parted in seconds and let the troops through. Gallo leapt to Taylor's side to walk with him.
"Good to see you made it."
"Thanks, have you had any enemy contact since we've been gone?"
"Little, a couple of encounters. Colonel Harney left a company here to deal with them."
"So did you see any action?"
"I saw the enemy, called it in, and the Colonel's marines dealt with it."
Taylor could hear the sound of disappointment in his voice.
"Trust me, you didn't miss anything. Your time will come to face those things, and you won't long for it a second time."
He could see Gallo didn't believe him, but there was only one way to convince him otherwise, and that would be the hard way.
"How many did you kill?" asked Gallo.
"I don't know, not enough."
"You are here to help train us now. We couldn't hope for better mentors."
"Really? Are those our orders?" he asked.
"I believe so. We have been told to expect this equipment you use by the end of the week, and we are to follow a training regime as organised by yourself to see we are fit for combat."
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