“Any chance of salvaging the work you have done?” he replied.
“Salvaging? Fuck yeah, you think I’m gonna leave this marvel of technology for the locals?”
Taylor tapped his intercom.
“Major Chandra, please come in.”
There was no reply for a moment, and he quickly repeated his request as the troops flooded out of the crash site.
“This is Chandra. We thought you were goners, Major.”
“Close to it, but we’re still standing.”
“Any casualties?” she asked.
Taylor shook his head in surprise. “Amazingly, no. We’re ready to continue on mission.”
“Got it. The other bird went down hard. We’re at the crash site now. Two dead, eight wounded.”
“Fuck,” Taylor whispered to himself.
There was silence for a moment as Chandra stepped out of earshot of the troops, so she could talk more privately.
“Mitch, this mission must go on. With defences like this, there must be something damn important down there. We’ll be a little while here attending to the wounded. You’ll have to get yourselves to Dijon. We’ll be with you ASAP.”
“Got it.”
“And, Mitch, watch your arse. This is not the Troyes mission. Maybe that drew us into a false sense of security. We’ve already lost people over this, so let’s not loose anymore, hey?”
“I hear you.”
“Good luck, Major, we’ll see you shortly, over and out.”
He turned and looked up to see that Eli had been stood behind him listening.
“In the shit as usual, then?”
He nodded as he lifted his Mappad and identified their location in relation to the city.
“Alright, everyone listen up!”
Taylor looked out to see they were already awaiting his orders as they marvelled at the wreckage of the copter they had crash-landed in. The fuselage had been ripped apart when it crashed through the car production lines and machinery. He looked at the twisted wreckage for a moment and turned back to them.
“Major Chandra is assisting at the other crash site. We’ve got two dead already, and this fight hasn’t even started yet. For now, we’re on our own. We’re about forty kilometres out from our destination and without transport. This mission does not stop because we hit a complication.”
None of them showed any sign of surprise by his orders. He could see in their faces that more than anything they wanted their pound of flesh for the losses they had already suffered.
“Parker, find us suitable transport that’ll get us all to Dijon ASAP.”
“Not gonna be easy.”
“Appreciated, do what you can.”
“On it,” she replied.
She nodded to her platoon to follow her as they headed for the nearest exit in search of wheels.
“Eddie, you’re gonna have to come with us. You got gear with you?”
“Armour and a rifle, but nothing like the shit you use.”
“It’ll do, gear up and be ready to move.”
“Always wanted to join the Marine Corps,” he jested.
Taylor nodded in gratitude as the pilot’s laid back and lax attitude seeped away and was replaced by a professional soldier.
“Sir?” asked Lam.
“Go.”
“Even if Sergeant Parker can find a vehicle, how are we going to make it through on the ground? It’s taken us days to clear some roads.”
“True, but civilians are clearly getting through to Dijon. We’re north east of the city, and the roads we’ll be using must have already been made passable.”
“And the bird?” asked Williams, pointing to the crashed copter.
“We’ll leave it to recovery crews. We can’t destroy something so valuable. I doubt anyone will come looking for it yet. Remember, we aren’t in hostile territory anymore. These are free lands.”
“Could have fooled me,” snapped Lam.
Taylor nodded. “I know. But remember, there’s a big difference between fighting an insurgency and a war. If anything, this is what we did have experience of before the war started.”
Rains leapt from the wreckage with his body armour half on and a rifle in hand. His bandana was still firmly around his head, and Taylor could already tell it would be futile to ask him to remove it.
“Alright, outside now. Let’s see what Parker has got us.”
They marched out of the complex to find Parker’s platoon stood around an articulated car transporter. Thick dust and dirt coated the polymer body of the cab, and they could see rust bubbling down much of the steelwork of the frame of the trailer.
“Jesus, you couldn’t find anything smaller?” yelled Rains.
Parker spun around.
“It’s the only thing left on site that works, or at least we hope works. Looks like it hasn’t been used in a few years.”
“Few years? Shit, I haven’t seen one of these in a long time,” replied Eddie.
She stepped aside to reveal two of her unit working on a side panel of the truck. A few seconds later, the engine fired up. The bodywork shook as the old engine rattled on its mounts.
“Jesus, that thing even going to make it?”
“It’s fuel cell driven by the old b-cells, Lieutenant. The reason we can get the fuel, is it’s the only thing nobody else would want around here. The old building heaters run off it, but that’s about it.”
“I’d call it a stroke of luck, but that would be pushing it,” Taylor grinned.
“Improvise and overcome, hey, Major?” she replied with a smile.
He turned to his platoon and gestured forward.
“All aboard!”
Chapter 6
A sign on the edge of the road read ‘Bienvenue a Dijon’. Cheers rang out along the open carriage of the vehicle as they roared past. It was some of the only French they recognised. In the war torn country, it was rare to see signs still standing. As they breezed past, they could see it had been smashed down and was now propped up by several pieces of rough timber and lashed together.
“At least they got it back up,” said Taylor.
“Doesn’t that just say everything about this situation? Civilians rushing back into a warzone before it’s been made safe. Causing more trouble than they’re solving?” Hall asked.
“Can you blame them? All they want is their lives back.”
They could barely hear each other over the wind noise. They estimated Parker must be running the truck at over a hundred kilometres an hour.
“You know if she crashes this thing, we’re all gonna die.”
“All the life threatening situations we’ve been in, and now you decide to consider the risk?” Taylor replied.
They both laughed as they soared towards the city. Their faces turned sour as they spotted two thin wisps of black smoke arising up ahead. Taylor turned back to see the grim but professional faces of all those with them. Eddie was the only one among them who smiled. Taylor wondered if he’d just not experienced the horrors they had yet, but he suspected it was more a brave face put on for the others’ benefit.
