Battle Earth: 11 (8 page)

"I bet that went down well."

She took his arm and hauled him forwards. They weaved their way between hordes of personnel, many being attended by medics or their own comrades. They reached a temporary command structure and could see King stepping out with his shoulders slumped and looking thoroughly demoralised. Jafar stood waiting to address him.

"Captain King!" Taylor hollered.

King looked up in amazement, his eyes suddenly lit up, and Jafar followed close beside him.

"How? Where the hell were you?"

"Made it on to the Diderot and did what I could there."

It was all they needed to hear, but before they could exchange any more pleasantries, Taylor heard his name being called. He turned and found Irala standing there. Just as before, he seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"You fought with us," stated Taylor, "Thank you. Had you not, we would surely have been defeated."

"My people had long sought to forget Erdogan and the wounds he had inflicted on us. But we could hold ourselves back no longer. The wounds cut deep, and seeing your people suffer at his hands was enough to remind us of the fact."

"So you're with us?" Taylor asked.

Irala avoided the question and instead turned to Jafar.

"Still you trust this one at your side? He is one of them? Worse still, one of the personal aides to a Krycenaean Lord."

"I know."

"And you know it was ones just like him that have laid waste to your homes, and did so to ours?"

"Ones like him yes, but not him. There are evildoers in all races, all nations, and all peoples, but I do not believe any of us are born that way. Jafar has more than proven himself to me, and I would trust him with my life, and I will not accept you treating him any differently to myself."

Irala nodded and seemed to accept the situation.

"Follow me," he stated.

He led Taylor through the crowds and vessels out into the open plain until they were long out of hearing distance of anyone.

"My people have agreed to allow you to live here. I believe we can live together peacefully."

Taylor shook his head.

"This is not agreeable to you?"

"You saw what Erdogan just did. He'll be back when he has recovered, and he'll be back in far greater number. He won't stop coming."

"What would you do?"

"Take the fight to him. We know he'll be on Earth. It's the paradise they fought so hard to reach. We take the fight to him, kill him, and retake my world, where you can then live also."

Irala thought about it for some time.

"If we do this, the price will be great. Far greater than you can believe."

"I understand loss, and I am willing to accept it."

"I do not think you have experienced this kind of loss before."

"What, can you see the future now?"

"No, but we calculate and investigate with precise knowledge and mathematics. We predict the future with science."

"Well, if you'd tried to calculate my chances of getting this far, you'd probably have me dead years ago."

"It is only fair to warn you. You will lose more than I believe you can afford."

"If that is the price of victory, I will gladly pay it."

"And what is victory to you?"

"Total victory. Erdogan dead. His armies defeated, whether they surrender or die. Our world back."

"Total victory?" Irala asked.

He seemed to go blank as if he were communicating with others through some strange means. Taylor still wondered what his role within their society was, but it didn't matter in that moment.

"Then we are agreed. We will fight together, until total victory."

Taylor smiled and held out his hand. The alien took it as if highly familiar with the human gesture.

"Welcome to the cause," Taylor added gleefully.

"Everyone ready?" Kelly asked.

He got a series of acknowledgements, and then looked to Becker and the last of his tank crews; they were assembled at a bank of remote access computers in the back of a box truck.

"Think this will work?" Becker asked.

"Those bastards are pretty simple. They target the biggest most powerful target and destroy it before moving down the line. We show them enough force, and they'll buy it.

"Five tanks?"

"It's a bigger threat than the rest of us pose, right now."

"On my mark, five, four, three, two, one, go, go, go!"

The hidden bunker door in the hangar bay slid open and creaked, pulling foliage back with it. It was the first and last time it would ever do so since they arrived. The five main battle tanks rolled forward out through the opening and split off into two detachments. They headed in opposing directions to flank around the base and towards the enemy's original landing point. As they finally disappeared from view, Kelly gave the second order.

"Move out!"

The sounds of the megaphone on the vehicle echoed around the hangar bay for all to hear; their radios were jammed just as they always were by their alien enemy. Fifty vehicles, mostly soft skinned, rushed forward for the opening.

"You know this is a crazy plan, right?"

"Of course it is, Becker. The fact we are still alive to do it is crazy, so what do you expect?" he responded.

Kelly watched from his screen as they made their way out onto a narrow track that led through the thick undergrowth and had complete cover due to the forest canopy. They had two armoured trucks out ahead of them to lead the convoy, and they were the third in line. He was content that they were on track and went over and stood over Becker's shoulder, watching the Captain control one of the tanks as if it were a video game.

"No gunner, no loader, no driver," he complained.

"Just do the best you can do," Kelly murmured.

The five of them were the only remaining tank crew at Becker's disposal, and therefore each had to control a vehicle.

"We can only go on as long as those magazines load. Once they're out or jammed, we're fucked."

"Don't worry about that. You just cause as much trouble as you possibly can. The aim is to stop them coming after us for as long as possible."

"And if they ignore out armour altogether, and just come right for us?"

"Well, we'll cross that bridge, if we come to it."

"That is reassuring."

"I thought so."

They carried on in silence, and Kelly watched Becker's screen. The tank crashed through undergrowth. Becker had a semi circular display that gave him great visibility in front and to the side of the vehicle. It almost made him feel as if in his commander's seat, but at the same time, thankful not to be. As the vehicle forced its way through one large piece of foliage, they were suddenly met with the view of an enemy aircraft on the ground. An opening had been created from the shell bursts destroying so many trees in the battle for the bunker. A number of Mechs were unloading from what appeared to be a small transport.

"Hello," said Becker in an unnerving voice.

He clicked a trigger on the joystick in his right hand. The screen lit up, and the gun barrel flashed. The shell hit the aircraft dead on. It pierced right through the flank and ignited, blowing the vehicle apart.

"Woohoo!" Becker shouted.

The Mech survivors scattered as he took aim a second time. The main gun had reloaded in just three seconds. He fired once again, and the high explosive shell struck two Mechs and blew them apart with no effort at all. Next he panned the gun over to another Mech that was firing back at them. The pulses were striking the tank, doing little if anything at all. He fired again, and the creature vanished in a ball of fire.

"Starting to like this!"

"Yeah, well don't get too used to it. All good things must come to an end."

"But it's so much fun," Becker joked, pulling the trigger once again.

Kelly turned back to their vehicle display screen that looked ahead. There was still no sign of trouble. He looked down at the scanners; they weren't picking up anything in the air either.

"Think we've made it?" Engel asked.

She was sitting at the screens nearby, keeping an eye out as he went from one to another.

"Too soon to say, but they reckoned on a siege, and probably aren't all that ready for a chase. I figure we've got a solid chance."

He watched the tankers display screens. One of them suddenly went blank, and the operator hit the controls and swore at the screen. Kelly rested his hands on the man's shoulders.

"Relax, that's what you were there to do. We always knew they'd fall. That's why you're driving them from in here."

He turned around to see two Juggernauts running towards the screen of another, which was an unsettling sight. The gun fired. It hit one head on, and it exploded. But the gun could not reload fast enough. The other Juggernaut reached the tank and leapt atop it like a wild animal. It was out of view now, and they could only see the screen shaking while it tried to take the vehicle apart. The operator did the only thing he could; ignore it entirely. The gun fired again, and they could see at least one Mech blown apart by the shell.

The legs of the Juggernaut came into view now, and it seemed to be kicking down on the barrel of the gun, trying to break it with sheer strength. Finally, the barrel buckled slightly, and the operator smiled as he pulled the trigger. They saw a massive blast ignite, just as the camera went to black. They could only imagine what had happened to the enemy beside it.

"We've got contact up ahead, Sir," said Engel.

Kelly turned and saw a group of Mechs landing in a small clearing ahead. One of their vehicles had already opened fire.

"Keep at it," he said, climbing a ladder onto the roof. He took up position in a small, enclosed machine gun turret on top of the command vehicle. It was equipped with two linked up heavy machine guns, and Kelly was itching to put them to use. He took aim at the craft first and let rip with a vicious burst of gunfire. It riddled the hull with holes. The craft tried to gain altitude and escape, but he tracked it and kept the trigger held down. It was engulfed in flames and crashed down into undergrowth. He quickly turned the weapon on the Mechs below, who weren't prepared for the storm coming their way. One of the vehicles ahead hit one with the corner of its reinforced bumper and smashed it out the way. Kelly panned the gun around and kept firing. They passed the remaining creatures and watched as the vehicles behind them finished them off, without slowing at all.

Kelly climbed back down to check on Becker's crews. Only the Captain and one other were still in the fight. The others watched the two remaining screens and egged on their friends. Becker's screen showed a few dozen Mechs lying dead or dying, but he was still driving forward and heading right for the survivors. As he did so, one of the Juggernauts appeared from a bunker wall and stood in defiance; ready to charge at him like a raging bull.

"Okay, you bastard, have a taste of this," he said, taking aim and pulling the trigger. The shell hit the creature dead on, and it disappeared as the high explosive shell ignited.

That at least brought a smile to Kelly's face.

"They're all over me!" the other operator screamed. Becker looked around to his screen. The Mechs swamping the vehicle were placing charges, and a Juggernaut tried to tear open the hatch on top of the turret. The tracks had already been knocked off it, and it was clear the vehicle was about to be destroyed. Becker turned his own turret around and took aim at the lower right where he knew the main ammo rack store was. He took careful aim and pulled the trigger.

The shell went right through into the rack. An almighty explosion obliterated all the enemy surrounding the vehicle. Becker took a deep breath and sighed.

"It was all I could do."

He pivoted his turret around to look for a new target. He could see an enemy aircraft come in low to a hover position and fire a large pulse weapon. It struck the flank of his own tank, and his screen instantly went blank. They had no idea if the vehicle was destroyed or just the remote equipment damaged, but the result was the same.

"Well that's it then," stated Becker, "That's all the armour we had, and probably all we'll ever have again."

"It did its job," replied Kelly, "All this equipment we have. All it is here for is to provide for our safety. Good work all of you. You raised hell, certainly."

"That's what we were training for. But without our tanks, we might as well be civilians," replied Becker.

"No such thing anymore. You're either a fighter or you're dead."

They were all silent, waiting for his next command.

"That aircraft that took you out, I'm guessing it'll be coming for us soon enough. Hopefully, they haven't got many more. Everything they were gearing up for was for a ground assault. We just changed the environment, and with any luck, it'll take time for them to adapt. Priority right now is making a clean break, and we can't do that while they have anything in the air nearby that is tracking us."

"What do you suggest?"

"Becker, my guess is anything they have in the air will be coming right for us, trying to do some damage rather than keep an eye on our location. We can use that. We draw them in and knock them out of the sky all at once."

"Draw them in?" asked Engel, "Haven't we had enough to deal with, without bringing in more trouble?"

Kelly took in a deep breath.

"I know exactly how you feel. But if they track us for much longer, we'll never escape. I doubt they have more than a handful of vehicles up there right now, and they'll all be looking for us. I reckon we have a couple of hours at best before they bring in some serious hardware, and then we've got no chance at all."

"How do you want to play this, then?" Becker asked.

He looked at a map displayed on one of the screens.

"The lead vehicles already know what I have in mind. They're taking us here," he said, pointing to an opening in the base of a valley.

"Looks like a killing field, for them."

"Yep, and I'm hoping that's just how they feel about it. We make it look as if we're stopping there to rest up and devise our next strategy."

"You think they'll fall for that?"

"It's a big juicy target. I can't see how they couldn't."

"And if they fall for it so bad that they come down on us like a tonne of bricks?"

"As I said, I don't believe they have a lot more to throw at us, here and now. We reel them in, and take them down in one."

Becker nodded. "Better than anything else I can think of."

"Good. I've had anti-aircraft weapons installed on five of the larger vehicles in the convoy. A number of others have turrets with heavy machine guns that are easily capable of doing damage at anything that flies low and slow enough."

"And will they, Sir?"

"What, Engel?"

"Fly low and slow enough?"

"They'll have to. It's a steep sided valley. It'll make it difficult to approach for strafing runs, and we haven't seen anything resembling any kind of bomber. They'll have to come into the valley and hover to enable them to drop troops and target us effectively."

"Sounds like you've got it all worked out," said Becker.

"You didn't think I'd come out here without a plan, did you?" he replied with a smile.

"And there's me thinking we just ran for the hills."

"We made it this far partly through luck, but more through strategy and the ability of our troops," he added, "Don't ever forget that."

Ten minutes later, they were at the opening, exactly as Kelly had said. It looked like a perfect ambush spot had the enemy known they'd be there. As they rolled into the exposed valley, they half expected to drive into such an ambush, but nothing came. They rocked up into position as planned. Kelly climbed up onto the roof of the command vehicle so he could see and control everything from the point of observation. He could see the crews of the larger trucks pulling back the canopies, revealing the multi barrelled anti-aircraft guns, like he'd used when they were attacked in their hometown.