Christopher Nuttall - Their Darkest Hour

He smiled as he saw a pair of wounded aliens staggering back inside the base, only to be shot down before they could escape. They took cover behind what remained of the gate and glanced around, taking out any remaining aliens outside before they advanced into the base proper. Maybe they’d die without ever knowing what had hit them, but the aliens faith in their own invincibility was about to suffer one hell of a knock.

“Go,” he ordered.

Ju’tro Oheghizh had been reading the report from the latest round of interrogations when the attack began. There had been rumours that something was being planned, but an attack in the centre of London hadn’t been expected. Everyone had known that the aliens and their collaborators controlled the city and attacking their base was merely a way to get encircled, trapped, and then exterminated. But it was clear that the humans hadn’t gotten the message. The hooting of the aliens was growing louder, just as the first shells started impacting on the metal shielding.

He lunged towards the command room, expecting to see his officers already reacting to the crisis and summoning assistance from the other garrisons scattered over the city. Instead, the big board had lit up with glowing icons — and then frozen. His officers were trying desperately to reactivate the command network, but it had clearly crashed. Or hacked — the humans were marvels with computer technology. They’d developed entire libraries of tactics for attacking and defending their own computer systems — why wouldn’t they be able to come up with something targeted against his computer systems?

And if they’d taken down the systems assigned to him, had they taken down everything?

The sound of the human bombardment grew louder. They didn’t have a properly-trained computer tech at the base and they couldn’t assume that someone who was only familiar with their own systems would be able to fix the damage the humans had inflicted, even if they had had a tech. And that meant that they’d been thrown back on their own resources. The higher commanders had loved the communications systems — it allowed them to supervise operations from on high — but the humans had turned it into a colossal weakness.

“Leave the computers,” he ordered. There were emergency procedures for computer failure, although he had no idea how many would have the time to implement them if the humans were attacking everywhere. “Get the radios passed out” — unless the humans had managed to set up a jamming system — “and then arm yourselves. This base is under attack.”

He picked up a weapon himself to illustrate the point. The command techs were unused to being in danger — they certainly hadn’t been on the first drop into London, or on any of the more dangerous landings after the pre-invasion bombardment — but there was no choice. They’d be able to summon help from the bases surrounding London, if they could hold out long enough for help to arrive.

Another explosion shook the base. The command techs, almost on the verge of panic, cried out in shock. “If they had anything that could break through the shield, they’d have used it by now,” Oheghizh snarled at them. A nuclear weapon could have broken through — they hadn’t been able to account for some of the human tactical weapons, let alone the devices they’d installed on their missile submarines — but the humans had been oddly reluctant to use nuclear weapons against the invaders. Apart from the Chinese… and China was now a wasteland of competing warlords, trying desperately to survive. “Get out of here and down to the inner defence lines. We don’t know how long we have until they start breaking in.”

The first warning of attack had come when the shells started landing inside the base. U’tra The’Stig, who had been preparing for the latest sweep against human insurgents, had taken immediate action, ordering the base’s own counter-battery weapons to return fire. He didn’t realise that the entire command network had been taken down until he’d deployed two Assault Units to sweep the area around the base and capture, kill or drive away the human insurgents. It was only when higher command had failed to take command that he’d discovered the truth.

“Get the radios out,” he ordered. He was supposed to direct his units from the mobile command vehicle, but half of its communications functions had been disabled. There was no way of knowing what the humans had done and they didn’t have time to try to fix it. The handful of reports they had had before the system failed had warned that the entire network of bases around London had come under attack. “And then prepare for immediate deployment.”

For a moment, he found himself lost in indecision. There was clearly a major attack underway, yet he didn’t know what was being targeted — which meant he didn’t know where he should send his troops. The base itself had only been lightly shelled, but the humans were tricky. It could have been an attempt to force them to stay in the base, a division… or merely the prelude to a more intensive bombardment. He’d have to keep shifting his troopers out and hope that the humans hadn’t anticipated his actions and taken precautions. There were horror stories from many other bases about deploying their forces in pursuit of human raiders, only to walk right into an ambush that bled them heavily before they fell back.

“I managed to get a radio link to the London Base,” one of the techs reported. They’d been working on the radios, the only system they could fall back on if the command network had gone down. “They’re under heavy attack. The humans are threatening the base itself.”

The’Stig cursed. It was bad enough having the humans gloating over how they’d pulled their people — the ones who were due to be executed — out of the detention camp, but if they managed to take out the central base in London it would give them a major propaganda victory. And if they’d learned better than to try to take prisoners, they’d wipe out the administrative staff — human and alien — who were trying to assimilate the humans into the State. The entire program would be set back weeks, if not months.

“I want us moving in five minutes,” he ordered, finally. There was no choice — they had to assume that they were the only ones available to relieve the London Base before it fell. The radio operators still hadn’t established contact with half of the nearby bases. The’Stig hoped that the bases had merely had problems establishing their own radio links, but he had to assume the worst. The humans might have taken the bases — and the troopers guarding them — out. It was a horrifying thought. “We need to head into London.”

There was a pause. “And get the helicopters up too,” he added. “We’re going to need air cover.”

Chris ran to the next piece of cover, heading towards the main entrance to the alien base. A number of aliens had taken up positions just inside, firing towards the humans as they came closer. Their shooting didn’t seem to be particularly accurate, but they were definitely forcing Chris and his men to move carefully. He fired twice and then ducked down as a burst of alien bullets nearly took his head off.

Two men ran closer, holding grenades. They pitched them into the alien building and then ducked for cover themselves as the grenades detonated. A number of aliens were caught and wounded by the blasts, but the others kept firing, determined to keep the humans from getting inside. Chris waved to the Javelin team as they reached a position where they could fire directly into the doors, ordering them to take their shot. The missile blasted into the base and exploded, smashing through their defences. A handful of grenades polished off the remaining aliens.