Nick Thomas - Battle Earth III

The Major had never asked his marines whether they should even be risking themselves for two British soldiers. The two units had become so integrated that they rarely saw a distinction anymore, unless it was for the sake of a quick joke. He lifted up his Mappad and studied the surveillance images one last time.

Heat signatures showed that up to a dozen humans were being held in a prison just a few kilometres south of the city. It had been constructed a hundred years previously and was a vast sprawling complex which could house ten thousands criminals. He wondered what had become of the occupants after the area had fallen to the enemy. The guards had a duty to protect them and move them to safety. In reality, he knew that in the chaos of the invasion, many would have been left to their own devices.

Thinking about the prisoners for a few minutes, he wondered why there were not more signatures of the prison’s inhabitants. He looked up to the Sergeant who he knew to be a smart and well-informed man.

“The prisoners, where do you think they are?”

Silva sighed as he looked away and back to Mitch.

“It was chaos getting everyone out of the cities. I guess they either let them loose or…”

His voice faded away as he thought about the alternative.

Neither man wanted to consider the slaughter that they both suspected. Most of the others weren’t paying attention or didn’t cotton on to their train of thought. Taylor nodded to the Sergeant. They both knew what they must prepare themselves for. Taylor sat back against the fuselage and relaxed as much as he could for the last few minutes of peace they would have.

There was barely anymore than a little light from the moon piercing into the cabin of the craft. Their vision had adjusted to the darkness. Night vision equipment was on general issue to most of their forces before the war, but the enemy’s energy weapons made them dangerous to use. A pulse from their energy blasters would blind and temporarily incapacitate anyone wearing them. Taylor now only used the night vision in his binoculars to survey scenes.

Lacking visibility in night combat was a scary situation to be in. Taylor would avoid night combat at any cost with the alien invaders. But with so much ground to cover in enemy territory, they were left with little choice.

Eddie cut the power to the copter’s engines, leaving only the retrofitted alien technology to provide propulsion. They hoped it would cover their approach as it had done before. It was clear the invaders had not yet learnt their lesson. They were clearly still ignorant of the threat the humans could present.

Taylor looked at the Mappad at their position as they came down slowly on a small access road, half a kilometre from the prison’s eastern perimeter. In an ideal world, they would put down right over the POWs’ position, but they had little of idea what to expect. The ramps thumped down into the soft and muddy ground that squelched as the heavily laden marines hit the ground. Parker rushed down her ramp, but left her section aboard.

“Sergeant, you will wait here and be ready on our signal. The flares could attract a lot of attention, so we’ll only use them if we have to and keep them to a minimum. Can you remember the colour identification?”

“Yes, Sir.”

He turned and nodded to signal for Silva and the others to follow him towards the perimeter wall. They had landed between thick trees in a well-hidden position. The two sections continued on quietly in their columns with Taylor at the head. He had clipped his Mappad device onto his left arm, allowing him to keep his rifle at the ready. The threat and surrounding danger was beginning to set in. They were all alone in occupied lands.

You’d better be alive, Jones, he thought. Without the rescue of Jones and the others, he would be in more trouble with his superiors than he could imagine. Could it be any worse than death? He thought about it a little more as he paced on in darkness. He knew that the one thing Schulz could do was remove him from his Company. After all their struggles to fight and survive, he could not bear the thought of being parted from them. Would that be the price of saving soldiers? To then be parted from them?

Taylor reached the end of the road and a small verge that overlooked the prison. He lifted his hand and signalled for them to halt. Silva moved up beside him to survey the situation. The main facility lights were on. They could see the city lights of Metz glimmering to the north. The unmanned nuclear power plants had kept power to the areas where cables were not obliterated by the war.

The outer fences of the prison still lay in darkness. Taylor pulled out his night vision binoculars and panned across the perimeter that was less than a hundred metres ahead of them. He nodded as he quickly identified four drones waiting silently in front of the easterly gate. The entrance was small and lightly guarded.

“Must be a secondary entrance,” he whispered.

Silva lifted his night vision goggles and held them before his eyes. The body of the device knocked into the brim of his helmet, and he cursed at the clumsiness of how they had to use the equipment. Taylor smiled at his discomfort, but the Sergeant merely continued to survey the scene.

“Going to make a whole lot of noise taking ‘em out,” he replied.

“Do we have another choice?”

“We could circle the perimeter and look for a quieter way in.”

Taylor shook his head. They were walking into the unknown and in hostile territory. Had there not been friendlies within the compound, he would avoid it at all costs.

“Once we start firing, all hell’s gonna break loose anyway. I say we take out these drones now and be rid of them.”

Silva nodded. It was as good a plan as any.

“Spread out. Advance fifty metres, open fire on my signal, and fire up an F4 flare as soon as the guns start firing.”

“You want them going in before we’re even through the gate?” asked Silva.

“The second the guns start firing, we are working against the clock. We don’t have a choice.”

Silva nodded. Taylor moved forward over the verge, and the Sergeant stood in position, relaying the commands to the troops as they followed after the Major. The Reitech suits allowed the marines to move effortlessly with the weight they carried. The only sound was that of their boots squelching in the open field.

Taylor could feel his heart rate increase with each step as they quietly closed the distance. They still had little idea of the drones’ capabilities in terms of identification. A vast noise bellowed in the sky, causing all the troops to quickly drop onto one knee and duck to conceal themselves the best they could. They’ve found us, thought Taylor.

He waited for a moment to see what was approaching. The booming grew louder until the ground vibrated beneath them. They could do nothing but remain still, and wait and hope they had not been spotted. A slab fronted and bulbous ship rushed overhead and slowed as it entered the prison complex airspace.

Taylor gasped in relief that it appeared to be unrelated. He looked around at the faces of the nearest marines to see the same glimmer of satisfaction. He turned back to track the vessel. Beam lights burst into action as it came in to land in one of the courtyards. The entire underbelly was lit up as well as the ground below it.

The Major turned the bevel on his binoculars to return to normal magnified vision and lifted them to his eyes. He could see the vehicle come in to land, but it was largely obscured by one of the vast detention centres between the vessel and their position. He squinted to make out a glimmer of movement a few moments later.

Finally, through a small gap between two of the buildings, he could make out the sight of humans being led from the vessel. A Mech strode past in between them with its huge cannon slung casually across its armoured forearms. Shit, they must be bringing more prisoners in. We better have enough space to get them out.