Battle Earth X (18 page)

“How did they ever live like this?” Reynolds asked.

Kelly looked across to see the Captain was shivering. They had taken up positions on a crest. It was a good viewpoint of the valley that was a flight path to the city far to the south.

“Will this work?”

“As much as we can hope for,” Kelly replied.

“How long do we wait?”

“There have been several low flyovers of this valley in the last day. We wait as long as we have to.”

Kelly looked along the crest at the two-dozen fighters he had with him. Becker lay to his right, but he still wore his tankers gear as he had done before.

“This better work, Kelly,” he said.

“It’ll work, don’t you worry.”

They saw a flash up ahead, the signal for them to prepare for the enemy to pass into sight.

“This is it!” Kelly shouted.

They could hear the engines of the ship approach but could not yet see it. He looked across to Berlin. She was sitting in the seat of the anti-aircraft gun mount they had fitted into the back of Kelly’s truck, and then almost buried in a hull down position and covered with foliage.

“Ready! Ready!” he yelled.

The ship roared into view. At the ground clinging altitude, Kelly knew they only had a few moments of opportunity.

“Now!”

The quad gun on the truck bed lit up the valley. It rocked so much the camouflage foliage shook off, and the light glinted on the surface of the settling snow. Tracer fire raced through the sky and led the target of the craft accurately. It was struck by two-dozen shots, and as an explosion ignited, it bellowed smoke. It then banked and plunged into the forest half a klick away. The troops cried and cheered, and Becker looked to Kelly with a smile.

“Not bad, not bad at all. You may prove useful yet, old man!”

Kelly got up from his position and pointed towards the crash site.

“Go!” he ordered.

They rushed towards the position at a rapid pace. The power and speed the Reitech suits provided still surprised Kelly, but he welcomed their abilities. He closed on the burning wreck quickly and found one of the wounded crew crawling towards him as he rushed over an embankment. Without hesitation, he fired three shots that went through the creature’s chest. He carried on before it had even hit the ground.

A dozen of Kelly’s troops reached his side, and they watched as two more of the survivors climbed out of the wreck. Every one of them opened fire and butchered the creatures with joy. Finally, the gunfire stopped as they stopped moving. Kelly approached the vessel, pulled a grenade from his armour, and tossed it inside. As it blew, Becker reached them and was out of breath.

“You did it. You really did it.”

Becker looked surprised that they had taken down an enemy without armour, and that brought a smile to Kelly’s face.

“Many ways to fight a war, Captain. Now we fight the only way we can. In the barren wilderness, the dark of night, and the isolated quarters of the land. This is our war now. We pick and choose the place, and we set the pace. Welcome to the Resistance.”

* * *

A day had passed since Parker had been given her lot of potential recruits. Taylor strolled on down to see how they were doing, but when he arrived, he found just her and nine of them left. They were working on a pull up bar, and most of them were giving up as he entered. He could see Parker shaking her head in disappointment.

"Is this the kind of effort you'll put in when you’re faced by an enemy that wants to tear your head off?" she screamed.

Parker noticed Taylor's presence and strolled over to greet him.

"This all that's left?"

"Yep, and they don't even come close to being good enough. If this was basic, they'd have flunked out by now."

"We just can't be as picky as we once were."

"But there has to be better than this," she said, pointing to them.

Except for one woman, they had all given up and were panting heavily. Half of them had sat down, and several others were keeled over. Taylor stepped up before them.

"To be a marine is not to be a prisoner. You do attempt to impress us. You do your duty to the best of your ability because you know you must, not because someone is watching!"

He looked to the one woman still on the pull up bar. She was straining to do just one more and was close to exhaustion. She was slight, with died jet-black hair and tattoos running the lengths of her arms. Taylor pointed to her.

"You see the look on that recruit’s face. She isn't willing to give up. She's getting angry, and she's getting mean. By the look in her eye, I'd say she hates us right about now, and is only continuing to prove us wrong!"

The black-haired woman tried for one more pull up again and was gaining height at a snail's pace but still trying.

"It's okay. You can stop now," Taylor said.

She finally let go and dropped down to her feet.

"What's your name?"

"Mia Moore, Sir."

"Sounds like the kind of name you'd front a band with, Moore."

"Yes, Sir."

"Moore, you're staying and continuing the training, the rest of you; on your feet. You're finished here."

None of them moved. They clearly didn't think he was being serious.

"Get the fuck out of here!"

There were groans all around, as they began to get up and shamble away.

"Move!" Parker screeched.

They sped up a little, and they were just left with Moore now.

"You fancy yourself a bit of a badass, do you?" Taylor asked her.

"I do, Sir."

"And this bad girl attitude you got going. Is it real of just an act?"

"I've been fighting my whole life, Sir, just not had a cause to back me up."

"Well, you sure got one now."

He turned to Parker.

"What do you think?"

"She's got about as much discipline as a fighting dog, and just as much balls."

Taylor nodded in agreement.

"Okay, Mia Moore. You'll still have to go through a shit tonne of training to be as good as we need you to be. But what do you say, you wanna be in the Regiment?"

"I do, Sir."

"Then welcome aboard."

Taylor signalled for Parker to follow him across the room to where they could not be heard.

"That's a little premature, don't you think? We haven't tested anything but her willpower and attitude."

"That's enough. She's capable enough. She will handle the training just fine. We don't have time to go through six months of recruitment. We need a couple of hundred capable men and women preparing to join the ranks right now. That means you are gonna have to start getting ruthless with your selection. You know you can tell enough about a person in an hour. That is all you should need to give a yes or no. So what, if a few stragglers get through. They'll be weeded out at a later date."

* * *

"You think this'll work?"

"Trust me, Berlin," replied Kelly. They were storming along a country road in his truck.

"I sure would have been happier if we'd kept the AA gun on the back."

"Yeah, well that would defy the object, wouldn't it?"

She shook her head.

"Not long now," he added.

The line of trees was coming to an end up ahead, and they could see the bright opening that would put them out on an open plain for all to see.

"Don't worry. It'll work."

"I'm sure the first part will, and we’ll surely get some attention. I'm just not so sure about the second part, surviving the experience."

"Too late now."

They burst out into the morning sunshine. Under the shelter of the forest canopy, they had not seen such bright light since leaving their homes, and it was almost blinding. Kelly kept up the speed, both as to try and get noticed, and not get hit. He felt the back end of his truck begin to slide and merely put more power down and pulled it back into line.

"That's if you don't kill us first," Berlin added.

They got a hundred metres across the open plain when a pulse impacted on the ground just in front of them. The truck dropped into the crater, ramped up the other side, and continued on.

"Damn that was fast!" Kelly yelled.

They looked ahead to see it was another hundred metres to the tree line.

"This is gonna be close!" Berlin shouted.

She knew there was nothing to do now but hold on and hope. Another two pulses landed around them, and Kelly swerved the vehicle to avoid the enemy being able to lead them.

"You see, moving target, they can't hit us!"

As he said it, another pulse skimmed the roof of the truck and burnt off a corner of the cab.

"That was too close!" Berlin hissed under her breath.

A second later, they raced into the narrow clearing of the forest, and Kelly slowed the pace to a half.

"Have we got them?"

Berlin looked back for confirmation.

"Can't see anything...wait... there they are! Put your foot on it!"

He accelerated away as another two pulses raced their way. One of them struck a tree up ahead, and it began to fall across the road.

"No, no, no!" Berlin screamed.

"We can make it!" Kelly cried.

He put his foot to the floor as they raced towards the falling tree that they knew would easily crush the truck. They reached it just in time, and Berlin looked back to see it crash to the ground only a metre behind the vehicle.

"Way too close," she said.

"We're still alive, aren't we?"

"For now, Sir."

She looked up out of the windscreen and could just make out the shape of the craft flying overhead and following the route to the next opening. It was twice the size of the fighter they had shot down the day before.

"They're heading to cut us off exactly as you wanted."

"Good. Time for the welcome party."

Kelly carried on with a smile on his face, although Berlin didn't see the funny side of their situation. A few minutes later, they could see the light ahead where the forest opened up once again, and the path came to an end in a rocky canyon. They almost reached the opening when they saw the alien craft descend into the opening and land in front of them. Kelly brought his truck to a standstill, and they watched six Mechs stride out of the ship to confront them.

They raised their pulse cannons to take aim at the truck, but as they did, a rocket trail zoomed towards the ship behind them. It exploded, sending shrapnel almost as far as Kelly's vehicle. Before the Mechs could respond, each of them was struck by dozens of shots from Reitech rifles and riddled until they dropped where they stood. Kelly and Berlin simply sat back and watched the show as the aliens were executed before them. Finally, as the dust settled, Kelly got out and strolled forward to the see the results of their work.

As they approached, a number of troops stepped out from their concealed positions, including Becker. He paced up to the bodies and wreckage, looking through it for any sign of life. The Mechs on the ground were dead, without a doubt, so he carried on up to the wreckage of their ship. Part of the hull was still intact but was twisted and burnt. A huge hole had been ripped in the side from the impact. He looked inside and saw a single Mech. It looked dead, but he fired three shots into its head to be certain. Finally, he turned back to Kelly and Berlin who stood over the bodies of the Mechs.

"Not bad at all, Kelly. Seven dead and a ship knocked out. No casualties or losses of equipment on our side."

He looked past them to the state of the truck and the roof that had been opened like a can of beans by the impact.

"Looks like you came a little too close there."