Nick Thomas - Battle Earth V

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 enemy 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.