Battle Earth X (2 page)

"Anyone ever told you you're a crazy son of a bitch, Sir?" he asked with a smile.

"Not recently."

The Sergeant Major helped him to his feet, and he picked up his shield that had been bent around his body, and still had the alien's spear embedded. He put his foot on the surface and pulled the shaft until the blade prised back out. He looked at the weapon for a moment. It was as he had first thought, little more than a double sized version of their Assegais. It was unwieldy compared to his, but felt like it could do wicked damage on impact from its sheer size and breadth alone.

Mitch laid his shield flat to look at the gaping hole which had nearly been his death. The steel had folded in and been penetrated like tin. Three leaves stuck up from where the metal had been forced apart and left a huge hole. He knew it wouldn't do to use it in that state. He turned the enemy spear around and smashed down at the shield where it was damaged; and hammered the damaged parts back down flat so that they almost touched one another once more.

It was a desperate measure, but he'd rather have a damaged shield than none at all. He threw the enemy weapon aside in disgust and looked up at the others who had been fixated on his bodge of a field repair.

"You find a better one along the way, you let me know," he said to them.

He remembered the Navy crew and pushed his way through to reach them. They hadn't moved from their cover. They were too terrified to do anything at all, and had nothing but a single sidearm between them.

"The ship is under attack. Either get somewhere safe or draw weapons and fight," he said to them, "Carry on like this, and you'll be dead before the day is out."

"What...what can we do against those things?" one of them stammered.

"What we have been doing since this began. Give them everything you've got. Now move!"

He grabbed one of them and hauled them out from cover, and the other two followed. "Go!" he yelled at them.

"You know they won't survive two seconds if they run into another Mech?" Morris asked.

"Yeah, and none of us will last much longer if we don't get this situation under control."

A Mech lying seemingly dead beside him began to move, but he quickly responded by kicking it back down and then driving his foot into the faceplate three times until it cracked, and he crushed the creature’s head inside.

"Next time you put one of these things down, you be sure to finish the job," he said to the Captain.

With that, he lifted his shield back up from the floor and continued onwards.

* * *

Parker stood at the entrance to the bridge, looking out to the improvised barricades her platoon had assembled a few metres out into the corridor. She knew the blast doors would seal the bridge for a while, but not forever. They had to be prepared to defend the main access corridor, should they come under attack. Her visor was up so that she could use the ship’s air supply rather than that of her suit. She could feel the sweat dripping down her face. The air conditioning systems were obviously running at minimal power, but it was stress and concern as much as the heat that made her perspire so much.

She knew Taylor would be fine. He always seemed to make it out okay. It was the rest of them she was concerned for. She turned back to look for Coco Dubois. Jones' wife sat propped up against one of the bridge consoles. She had a pistol in one hand resting in her lap. Her eyes wandered and she was in a daze. She had the look of absolute loss that Parker had seen so often in the war.

She walked over to Dubois and knelt down beside her, although she had no clue what, if any, words could consul her after all she had lost.

"How you doing?" It was all she could think to say.

Dubois shook her head, but it wasn't clear if that meant 'not well' or she simply didn't want to answer, but Parker waited for one anyway. She stared long enough that she finally got a response.

"Everything I have ever known is gone. My husband, my regiment, my country, everything."

Huber had heard, as well as several other of the crew. It was hard not to in the suspenseful silence which had overcome the bridge since Taylor had left.

"What is the point of this anymore?" she asked them, "What are we even doing here all huddled together, hoping we can live today and die another day not far from now?"

Parker was not at all surprised by her words, but she could see it was only serving to continue fuelling the fire of fear that all around them were feeling. She was finally overcome by anger as she thought of the bitter price they had paid, and her sympathy turned to disgust.

"Is that how you choose to remember Captain Jones?" she snapped.

Dubois looked at her in surprise with her mouth open and unable to respond.

"Is that how you choose to remember one of the greatest defenders of the human race? He died so that you, all of us, could live. And we are gonna bloody live! You think this is the first loss anyone has ever had? Nations have been defeated, peoples have been scattered to the winds before. This is life. This is our life! So quit feeling sorry for yourself and start acting like who you are; who we all are. We are fighters. Survivors. It doesn't matter what nation you're from, which army, navy. We're in this together, and we are the lucky few!"

Huber hadn't said a word to stop her; despite the fact, the Sergeant had ultimately addressed the entire bridge. Her words were humbling, and he could not help but listen and agree. Dubois looked sheepish and a little embarrassed, although Parker could see Dubois was just as angry with her as she was understanding. Finally, Huber stood up tall and added some words of his own.

"Listen to this Sergeant. She speaks the words we all need to hear! This is all a lot to take in. But we owe it to all those we lost and left behind to make this work. Even now, our people are fighting through this vessel to protect us. So we haven't got it so bad. I don't want to see any more tears. I don't want any more panic. This is the USS Washington, flagship of the fleet, and you are her crew. Start acting like it!"

As he finished, a voice shouted from the corridor, "Here they come!"

It was followed by gunshots as Parker's platoon began laying down fire, and she rushed to the doorway to see for herself. The crew looked to Huber, who was the only one of the bridge crew still standing defiantly and seemingly without regard for the danger. He picked up a rifle that lay on the operations table beside him.

"Don't fear them. They are nothing but an infection that must be cured. We've made it this far. Don't fall now. Pick yourselves up, and protect this ship and all aboard it with everything you've got. All that hatred and anger you feel, vent it at those things out there!"

He didn't get much of an enthusiastic response, but a few at least got up from the cover they had leapt to and stopped cowering down. Parker got to the barricade and could see Mechs advancing at them with breaching shields much like they carried. Their gunfire wasn't getting through in any sort of quantity.

Dozens of shots hit the heavy wall of shields and did little at all. Parker froze, trying to think of what to do. She knew she couldn't use grenades so close to the bridge and so many of the vital systems around them.

"Concentrate fire at their feet!" she shouted.

She was the first to do so, and the first few shots hit the deck and glanced off one of the creature’s shield, but one seemed to make it up and through. A few others followed suit, and the Mech was forced to lower its shield to cover its advance. Just as it did, and creating an opening to its head, Jafar took a well-aimed shot. It hit the Mech’s head, and two other shots followed it but neither penetrated.

"Their armour is too thick up front. We're gonna have to do this hand-to-hand!" Parker hollered.

She knew the Assegai was the most powerful weapon in their arsenal, for those who were both brave and unfortunate enough to be forced to use it. She let her rifle sling down at her side, drew out her Assegai in readiness, and continued to stay covered by their barricade. The sound of a Mech crashing down flat on the deck told her they had taken one down, but it was a small result for the amount of fire they had to lay down.

Parker stood up to look over the defences, but she realised too late that the first Mech was already on them. It struck the barriers without slowing down and smashed them aside. She ducked down just in time so that the creature barrelled over her rather than taking the force head on. As she got to one knee, the second line was already on her, and she had to deal with it, relying on those behind her to take on the first rank that had gone over the top of her.

A spear was coming right for her. As she parried it aside, stepping out of much of the power of the blow, she noticed one of her own lying lifelessly at her feet, his neck snapped from the impact of the attack. It had distracted her long enough that the creature’s shield came hurtling towards her, losing her any opportunity she had to strike.

Parker barely managed to get her shield in front of her when she was struck by the door-like equivalent carried by the Mech. The energy lifted her off her feet and launched her back against the sidewall. It stopped her violently and shook her a little. As she tilted her shield aside to get a view of her attacker, she saw something dart out from the corner of her eye. It was Jafar launching himself onto her attacker. He drove his Assegai deep into the creature's lead arm, forcing it to drop its weapon.

The Mech responded by swinging its shield edge violently towards him, but the nimble alien ducked under and drove his weapon into its upper leg, dealing a finishing blow through a weak point in the joint under its right arm.

"Get down!" a voice roared.

Parker looked back at their line, and it was three deep, as if to fire like a musket salvo. She felt something grasp her back and knew it was Jafar pushing them both to the ground. The corridor lit up as the slaughter began, and gunfire soared over her head in a seemingly unbroken and continuous stream. After a few seconds, she turned to look at the Mechs being cut down one after the other. Only the first two ranks had been equipped with the heavy boarding equipment that had proven so difficult to damage.

She watched as they fell until ten Mechs lay dead before her and several behind. The sound of gunfire finally died down, and she got to her feet. She stood over the body of one of the creatures and stabbed down through its helmet, running her blade to the hilt. She then proceeded through the lines of bodies to do likewise. As she reached the last one, she looked back to the gun line and saw it was Huber who had ordered her down to cover. The Admiral himself was among them and reloaded his rifle as she approached.

"That was just one boarding party! Maybe even just one stick. Reload, and let's get this barricade back up!" she ordered.

Jafar dragged a Mech body to the line and stacked it up along with the crates they had been using. A few of the navy personnel looked in horror at the sight, but for the men and women of the Inter-Allied Regiment, it was a necessity of survival they had long come to accept as part of day-to-day life. He used the huge enemy shields to bolster the defence, and their bodies to hold them up either side, before once again taking up position behind them.

"So this is what it has come down to?" Huber asked, "Every single one of us fighting with our bare hands for one last gasp chance of survival. Is this what the end looks like?"

"This isn't the end. I say it isn't. I choose that it isn't, so don't let it be so," she replied.

* * *

A trail of blue drips followed Taylor as the enemy blood still poured from his boot. He carried on as if not even noticing.

"We're not far from the main weapon controls grid," he whispered.

As he said it, they saw the bodies of four marines ahead and several other of the navy crew scattered about them. Two Mechs lay dead amongst them. Taylor shook his head.

"Idiots, we can't afford those kind of losses."

"Looks like they put up a fight," replied Morris.

"Not much of one," he spat back, "If those are the kind of losses we can expect, then we might as well give up now."

Taylor increased his pace; knowing time was not on their side. A moment later, they heard the ship power up, and all remaining lighting come on. It revealed the extent of the bloodshed around them, but Taylor knew that didn't matter right now. He put a direct call through to the bridge.

"This is Taylor. Someone speak to me."

The response finally came, and it was far more casual than he had expected, but it was good to hear a voice.

"Taylor, how's it going out there?" Huber asked.