Battle Earth VIII (Book 8)

Battle Earth VIII

By Nick S. Thomas

Copyright © 2013 by Nick S. Thomas

Published by Swordworks Books

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Life in peacetime hadn't been what Mitch Taylor had either expected or hoped for, but it wasn't to last anyway. Four years of lying idle as a propaganda puppet had built his appetite for action, but that also came in a form he could not have anticipated.

War had been declared by one group of humans against another. The kind of war Taylor was all too familiar with in history books but had zero experience in the real world. Tsengal's revelation about the Krys agents living among them had resulted in his death before the proof of such could save them from a new world war.

It had been a month since war had been declared by the European Alliance against their former colleagues in the Union of European Nations. The rest of the world was yet to pick sides, and neither had made any determined attempt to cross one another's borders.

A great war was coming, and all the time the threat loomed over them from the alien invaders. The threat of Erdogan, a grand leader of the alien forces Taylor only knew by reputation. But for now, all Taylor could do was face what was in front of him.

Taylor sat inside the remnants of a stone building that had recently been demolished after having clearly stood for hundreds of years. He couldn't make out what it used to be, as there was little left to identify. A road sign lay across the rubble beside him; it was in German and meant little to him.

"Damn thing nearly took my fucking head off," he stated.

Grey grunted in response without even looking up at him. He'd just heated water on a stove and was busy pouring the hot liquid into a mug.

"Not one of you can go a half hour without a cup of tea, can you?" Taylor continued. "Random road sign could have killed me, but no never mind, your tea is more important."

"Huh?" he asked, as he finally finished making the tea and looked over in surprise, having clearly not listened to a word.

"No matter," responded Taylor. "I don't know why you insist on boiling the water yourself. Our flasks will do the job in ten seconds without all the fuss. And you still carry tea bags around with you? You're an anachronism, Captain."

He smiled in response.

"Dear Colonel, there is far more to enjoying a cup of tea than merely pouring it down your throat."

Grey lifted the mug to his mouth, and Taylor could not help but be amused by the look of content and concentration on his face as he did so. But as the folded edge of the mug met with the Captain's lips, a cry rang out from nearby.

"Incoming!"

Before either of them could react, an explosion ripped through an adjacent building and sent dust and debris hurtling through the air. In the moment of silence after the blast, Taylor looked back to Grey who sat precisely where he had been and still holding his mug. He was covered in a thick grey cloud of dust, looking in disgust at his freshly made beverage floating with dirt. Taylor couldn't help but laugh.

"Shit!" Grey swore, throwing down the mug in disgust; his further expletives drowned out by a barrage that engulfed their position, forcing him to jump for cover. He landed down in a crater they had expanded into a trench.

"See, you could have drunk it by now if you'd used the flask!" yelled Taylor.

"That's a big help!"

Explosions hit all around their position but to little effect with the deep dugouts they had created. Taylor looked at his watch and counted the minutes to when the firing stopped.

"Three minutes."

"Same shit, different day," replied Grey.

He stumbled out of the trench; satisfied in the knowledge the attack was over, shook as much dust off as he could and picked up his mug, looking at it in disgust.

"Have to start all over again."

Taylor ignored him and carried on with his own train of thought. "That sign must have been blown a few clicks to have got here, this side of the border."

"Yeah, or it was dragged here by a vehicle a few years back, or collected as a memento from whoever occupied this place. Maybe they stole it and put it up on display in their office?"

 
"Now you're just making shit up."

"Well there are few certainties here, aren’t there? Except for the fact they bomb us for three minutes every six hours, which seems pointless in itself as they aren’t following it up with anything."

Taylor stood up tall over the wreckage as Grey continued to curse and tried to wash out his precious mug. "You spoke too soon."

Grey looked up and was surprised to see Taylor's face was deadly serious.

"Down!" he shouted. He jumped down onto Grey, causing the mug to fly from his hands. A second after they hit the scattered debris, an explosion erupted above them on one of the remaining walls. As the dust settled, the two rolled over into their trench once again, the gunfire intensifying.

"That's no artillery," said Grey.

"No, an armoured column."

"I don't see how that's our problem."

"It is once they’re on top of us."

Taylor crept to the edge of the trench to look over cautiously at the wide expanse before them. The small town they had occupied was in the middle of a broad flat plain, with little cover except for the remains of the buildings and those defences they had dug themselves. Grey joined him. As they looked out, a couple of marines jumped in behind them.

"We got half the German army coming down the road, Colonel!"

He didn't respond but studied the scene around them. A dozen armoured vehicles had come up over the crest a klick ahead, and more were pouring over.

"Never thought I'd see it," he muttered.

"What?" Grey asked.

"A conventional army coming at us, a human army."

"I don't think that's all it is," replied Grey, studying the incoming forces.

From between the vehicles, they spotted Mechs swarming over the crest towards them and using the vehicles for cover.

A volley of their own guns thundered across the plain and hit the incoming forces. Three tanks burst into flames, and the bodies of Mech soldiers were thrown into the air.

"How can they not see this is wrong?" asked Grey.

"God knows how many humans on that side are even still actually human. There are forces at work here which are forcing us to fight each other."

"What are we gonna do about it?"

"What do you do when someone attacks you, Captain?"

"Fight back."

"Sure, then you have your answer."

"But... those are people, not aliens."

"And now they're the enemy, and they'll blow your head off if you don't do the same to them first. Remember that, Captain. They might all as well be Krys as far as we're concerned."

A burst of shots rushed over their heads, forcing the two of them to duck down.

"A broad daylight attack, they're getting pretty ambitious, aren't they?" yelled Grey.

Taylor looked back at the sweeping advance heading their way.

"Maybe they got a right to be."

He turned back to see Jafar had reached their position, but he had not heard him coming, though it was hard to hear anything over the gunfire.

"You see that, mate," said Grey to him. "A few thousand of your kind, and they're coming for you."

"They're coming for all of us," replied Taylor. "All right, get the RATs ready."

Jafar looked confused by the term.

"Reitech Anti-tank. Latest baby in the arsenal," replied Grey, turning away to radio in the orders.

Jafar looked over to the next trench as the orders were relayed and could see one of the troops lifting up a shoulder-mounted weapon. It looked like little more than a pipe with handles.

"Reiter's latest toy," added Taylor. "I'm told it'll take out all but the heaviest Krys armour from half a klick, so God knows what it'll do to our own vehicles."

"I've been waiting to see these in action all year," stated Grey.

Taylor could see the genuine excitement in his face, and it amused him that in the face of such danger he could be so. "Fire when ready," ordered Taylor. "Fire when ready," relayed Grey over the comms.

They watched intently just far enough above the trench edge to get a view without becoming targets themselves. The closest RAT fired, and a burst of blue light flashed out the rear tube that was hot enough it scorched the ground around the user.

The projectile soared across the potholed and dusty battlefield and struck the front armour of one of the incoming tanks almost centre at the hull. The light seemed to pass right through the armour and blast the turret clean into the air. It hurtled off into a number of the Mechs, wreaking further destruction as the tank ground to a halt and smoke began pouring from it when it caught fire.

"Holy shit!" yelled one of the nearby marines.

It was a relief the equipment they had been issued with actually worked, but a horrific sight to endure when they all knew fellow humans were inside the tank; humans they had so recently fought beside. They all still failed to comprehend how mankind could stand with the enemy, but there seemed little they could do but fight back now.

"Fire at will!" Taylor ordered over the comms.

Pulses of the RAT launchers continued to soar across the battlefield as quickly as they could be reloaded. They seemed to make light work of the armoured vehicles, and yet still they came. Taylor took aim at the first Mech he could spot and fired. The target vanished between vehicles and smoke as he pulled the trigger, leaving him no idea if the shot had met its target. He moved onto the next and could see the rest of the Regiment were doing the same.

A moment later they caught a few dozen Mechs in the open where their covering vehicles had been destroyed and all hell was unleashed on them. Those that were in plain sight were cut down in seconds, but the armoured advance continued. As vehicle after vehicle was disabled, he wondered how the crews could muster the courage to continue on.

"They aren't stopping!" Grey shouted.

They could hear their comrades’ rate of fire of increase rapidly as the defence became more desperate. The artillery fire at their backs continued smashing the enemy advance, but they knew that they'd be under the guns soon enough. Mitch slammed in a new magazine and kept up the fire at the Mechs that were rushing towards them. They seemed as unstoppable as ever. A vehicle ahead swerved, and as it was struck, a dozen Mechs came out from behind and stormed forward to their position. He turned his rifle on the nearest and gunned it down while his comrades tried frantically to do the same.

Four of the creatures reached the edge of the trench, and Mitch pulled the trigger as one came at him gun at the ready, to find the last round he had glanced off the alien’s shoulder. He pulled his shield from the trench side to cover himself just in time as a burst of automatic fire struck. Before he could reach for his Assegai, the beast jumped on top of him. The weight forced his shield to smash down onto him. The impact shocked his head and only his helmet saved it from being crushed.

Unable to respond, Taylor felt a hard wrench. The alien soldier tried to prise the shield from him like it was ripping a shell of a turtle. He held on firm and was lifted and thrown up into the air, but because the creature held on, he couldn't keep hold and was launched out of the trench towards the enemy assault.

Mitch hit the ground hard and rolled several times until he came to an abrupt halt and crashed into the legs of one of the Mechs. It stumbled slightly as it lost balance and rolled over just narrowly missing landing on his legs. To his side he could see the bodies of several fallen enemy soldiers and tracers zipped overhead. He knew he had just a few seconds to get to his feet, and he did exactly that.

As he jumped up, he drew his Assegai but could not help but feel naked without a rifle or shield. He quickly glanced in all directions to get his bearings and stopped when he saw a rifle being aimed at him. His instincts kicked in, and he leapt to the side and rolled as the gunfire flew past, but he’d leapt into the path of another danger, a Mech soldier. He ducked as it swung its rifle toward him with all its crushing weight, but he was done being on the defensive.

As Taylor arose from his crouched position, his Assegai too drove upwards into the stomach of the Mech armour. The creature groaned in pain and again swung at him, but he leapt back out of the way. Then it came right back, and he plunged thrust down into the faceplate of its armour. The strike caused the beast to immediately freeze where it stood and then to topple over with the weight of the Colonel against it.

For a moment Taylor felt glad to have survived once more, but then he remembered the danger they were in and the realisation he stood out in plain view on the open plain. He was almost in a daydream and still stunned, but his hearing was coming back. He could hear his people yelling from the trench.

"Get back! Colonel, get back!" they screamed.

Finally, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and it yanked him around hard. He was met by the face of Jafar which first made his pulse pound, as the sight of an alien up close and personal always did, but Jafar said nothing. His alien friend only studied him until he finally snapped out of it and stood up. He turned back to the battlefield to look at the result of their work and the terrible devastation.

"Colonel, get to cover!" Grey hollered.