Nick Thomas - Battle Earth VI

Gabes,another city I’ve never heard of, despite spending weeks preparing anoperation there, Taylor thought.

He'd poured over photos and maps to the extent he felt he was intimately familiar with the land.

"Two minutes!" said Rains.

Anti-aircraft pulses burst in the sky before them and were increasing at a rapid rate. The massive aerial offensive was hopefully enough to hold back their air power. For the Battalion and all the others in the sky, they could only wait and hope. He couldn't see anything from his seat, but neither did he want to. Their time finally came.

"Thirty seconds!"

"Line up!" ordered Taylor.

They were all glad to be getting out of the copter. They'd rather face the enemy themselves than wait to be blown out of the sky. Their job was to secure the land north of Gabes, a narrow patch corridor between the salt lake Chott el Jerid and the sea. It was the opposite end of the offensive to where the ruins of the K'til lay, but he knew it was vitally important until they had secured a beachhead.

There’ll be plenty of time yet to find Demiran.

He counted down on his watch as they all stood and approached the door.

"Good luck to you all," he said through comms.

Several nodded in agreement. Jones was first at the door. Taylor was halfway down the line with Jafar at his back. The green light at the door lit up, and Jones leapt without hesitation. The rest of the platoon followed him. As Taylor reached the door, he realised how dark the area was. There was no lighting on the ground. The moon provided minimal amounts. Only the enemy pulses and explosions provided streaks and bursts around them.

He stopped at the door for only a second and jumped. The copters had been flying at just over two hundred metres from the dusty surface, so it was a quick descent. His boosters lit up the space beneath him as they dropped. It quickly become apparent they were landing right on top of a complex system of enemy trenches which had not shown up in any of their intelligence reports and satellite imagery. He could only assume they covered it by day, but there was no time to worry about that now.

Pulses raced up at them from the enemy positions below, and far more fire was sent down from the airborne as they descended. Inter-Allied, and Italian forces from 3rd and 4th Mechanized Infantry formed their 5th Brigade. It was the first time the Italians had seen combat, but Taylor was confident they would hold their own.

He was approaching a Mech at high speed, despite his boosters slowing him rapidly. The creature was firing up at several of his comrades. He opened fire with his rifle and got off three shots before landing on top of the alien. His weight smashed it off its feet. He quickly got up and could see his shots had killed it before he’d even landed.

A quick assessment of his surroundings found he stood inside thick concrete-like trenches. They were three metres wide by two deep, tall enough so that he could not see out over the top. He jumped up onto the body of the Mech to get some view all around. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of an enemy Mech advancing around a bend in the trench, but before he could respond, gunfire ripped into the soldier. He looked up. Jafar was above the trench and firing in.

Gunfire sounded all around; more of theirs than the enemy. Jafar jumped down in the trench to his side.

"Why the hell didn't we know about these positions?" Taylor asked.

Jafar seemed as baffled as him. Several of Jones' platoon joined him.

"All right, let's sweep and clear."

He lifted up his rifle and continued on down the line. The first thing they encountered were three Mechs firing over the trench line at the incoming friendlies. They fired several bursts, moving in on the aliens, killing them before they could respond.

"At least it looks like we did actually catch them by surprise. Thanks to you, no doubt," he said to Jafar. He’d been instrumental in their counter-intelligence operations leading up to the invasion.

They continued north along the line of defences and found little resistance until they reached the farthest point of the trenches looking out north. Taylor reached for a flare from his webbing and fired it up into the sky. They saw open barren land for as far as the light extended.

The gunfire in their location was already calming down, but they could hear the battle raging a few kilometres away at the coastline. Jones finally found the Colonel and had a look of utter shock about him.

"Surely it can't be this easy?"

"No, it can't, and it won't be. We could have attacked anywhere, so they would have had to spread thin to defend the borders and coastline. Now they know we're here, they'll come for us with everything they've got."

"How long do you think we have?" asked Jones.

"Not long at all. This is where they'll hit us. Get our anti-tank guns deployed along this line, and find out how the beach operations are going."

Jafar stood silently, looking out into the pitch-black wasteland to the north.

"Maybe we did hit them with overwhelming numbers. They must be weakened from the fight in the east. "

"Yes, they are, but not finished, Charlie."

"No, never underestimate a wounded animal."

They waited in the trenches for an hour before Jones received solid information.

"Most of the beaches have been taken, supply lines are being established, and the armour should be with us within a few hours."

"Then let's hope that's soon enough."

As he said it, they heard the sound they feared the most, heavy tracks from an armoured column advancing from the north.

"They better be quick!" yelled Taylor, lifting his binoculars and switching to night vision. Across the open flat plain, he could just make out the vehicles which were over ten kilometres out and merely silhouettes at present."

"How long do we have?" asked Taylor.

"Maybe twenty minutes."

"Get those guns ready!"

There was nothing more to do but wait for the enemy and await reinforcement. They carried magnetic mines for taking on the tanks if the trenches were over run, but all prayed they would not have to use them. The time seemed to pass quickly. Taylor sat beside one of the portable anti-tank weapons they had brought with them. It was as large as a man and needed two to carry it. They had just a dozen of the weapons within the Brigade.

"Concentrate fire on the two targets given. I want them to think we're punching above our weight," he said into his comm.

"Six guns on two vehicles?" asked Jones.

"I'd rather be sure to nail two than risk spreading our fire. They need to think we've got a lot more here than we have."

"You don't think we can hold against them?"

"Not without armour, no. I can see dozens of tanks heading our way, and I bet there are many more en route."

"How about the airborne armour?"

"It's nowhere to be seen, is it?"

"Bugger."

They had entered into range. Taylor looked down the trench, and the troops were almost shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Fire!" he yelled.

The six guns fired almost in perfect synchronisation. He looked through his binoculars to see one smashed by the fire with two holes having direct hits on the centre of its hull. The other vehicle seemed to brush off the fire and kept moving.

"Shit," he whispered to himself. "Reload!"

The crews were already well ahead of him.

"All fire to be directed on previous target."

The first enemy tanks opened fire and pulses smashed into the ground before and after Taylor's trench.

"Fire!"

The salvo struck the enemy tank, five out of the six shots landed, crippling the vehicle immediately. Smoke belched from its cracked hull.

"Reload and fire in your own time."