“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“We were en route to assist at 82A when we heard the blast.”
“I have to get back to the CP. This place is going to shit. We need to work out what the hell is going on and rein it all in.”
“Alright, I’ll go with you.”
“No, you were en route to somewhere that needed your help. We’re fine, get back to the fight.”
It was the last thing he wanted to say to her, but he knew he was right to have faith and put her where she could help most. She leaned in and kissed him before turning and quickly leading her platoon off down a nearby corridor. He watched her leave and prayed it would not be the last time he would see her alive.
“Fall back! Fall back!” Jones ordered.
Silva was by his side and firing frantically.
“Sir, we haven’t got much room left to run,” replied Silva.
“I know. Maybe if we can rendezvous with Chen, we might stand a chance, but we can’t hold here!”
He looked down the corridor to see five of their unit running back towards him for cover. Light pulses were rushing between them. One of the soldiers was hit in the back. The first round hit his back plate and sent him tumbling to his knees; the second took his head clean off. Jones could see an endless swarm of Mechs advancing through the broad corridor, and it was a fearsome sight.
Silva grabbed the Captain and hauled him from his position as a pulse landed. They felt the hot sparks burn into the armour at their backs, but they didn’t stop to check the damage. The two platoons were in full flight. Jones could not help but feel the misery of having to run from an enemy once again; an enemy that only recently they thought they had beaten.
Jones stopped around a corner and let the rest of the troops pass. He and Silva brought up the rear, firing a last few bursts before taking to almost a sprinted speed to reach friendly lines. Up ahead, they could see some of Chen’s troops, and they were engaged in a battle in an adjacent corridor.
“We’re running out of God damn space to run!” called Silva.
They continued on the Chinese soldiers’ positions where Jones finally drew them to a halt.
“Take up positions! Give ‘em hell!”
Taylor rushed into the CP to find it was packed with more than fifty wounded and had become the only safe med centre on the station. Kelly was busy helping a medic seal a wound and seemed all but to have given up on managing the defence.
“Commander Kelly!”
He didn’t respond, and Taylor had no time to waste. He grabbed the Commander by his shoulder and violently tore him from his patient.
“Sir, Demiran has escaped!”
“What? How?”
“Your boy, Perera, God damn amateur. If we don’t locate Demiran and stop him from leaving this station, we may as well just lay down and die.”
“What are you waiting for? Find him!”
“Sir, we need intel. The station’s a complete mess. Nobody knows where enemy and friendly lines are. We need to know where Demiran is, and how we can reach him in the shortest time possible.”
Kelly snapped back into action and rushed across to where Lewis stood watching the remaining video feeds in horror. Half of the corridors and rooms were filled with the dead and dying of both races.
“The prisoners have escaped. Find them, now!”
Lewis leapt into action. He flipped through screens at a rapid rate, and within ten seconds he had got a sighting.
“There!”
“Have they found any of their kind yet?”
“Doesn’t look like it, Sir. They’re somewhere on Level 3, around corridor 12C.”
Taylor turned back to find Parker standing beside him.
“I want both platoons ready to move with me. We’re going hunting.”
He turned back to Lewis.
“We’ve got no wireless comms, but we’ll need information as it changes when we near the escaped prisoners. We’ll work from intercom to intercom, track our movements in relation to theirs at all times, and so update us at every opportunity.”
“Sir, it’s insane. There are Mechs everywhere,” he replied.
“If I wanted to do this, yes, it would be insane. But we have no choice.”
Taylor lifted his rifle and rushed out of the room. He passed Parker and the others awaiting him without a word, but he knew they’d follow wherever he asked. He had a location to aim for and drove towards it with all determination. Down two of the corridors in the crossroads before the CP he could see the battle still raging. Parker rushed up to his side.
“You really think you can catch them?” she asked quietly.
“We don’t have a choice. It’s all that matters, right now.”
“Then if I was them, I’d be heading for one of the docking bays and getting off this station in the shortest time possible. I’m sure they’d have no problem blowing it to hell once their Demiran is gone. They seem to have no care for their own soldiers.”
Taylor stopped near a comms unit and quickly hit the open channel switch.
“Lewis, can you find out where the nearest docking bays are, and if they have enemy craft aboard?”
“Yes, Sir, just give me a moment.”
“We’re continuing on as planned, so have that info ready for us when we reach our destination.”
They continued on down the corridor, but Taylor came to an abrupt halt as two Mechs rushed into the far end of the corridor.
“Shit!”
He leapt aside and called out to the others, giving them just enough time to duck for cover. He peered around the edge of his cover to see that more of the enemy troops were flooding into the corridor.
“Mitch, you need to go on. We’ll hold them here!” called Parker.
It was the last thing he wanted to do, and it made him feel sick to have to do it, but he knew she was right. He looked back to Hall who was returning fire down the hallway.
“Corporal, there was a turn twenty metres back. You and your platoon are on mine now!”
Taylor leapt out from the cover and made a break for it. He heard Eli and her troops open up with covering fire, and it was just enough to pave the way for his retreat. He took the bend quickly and without hesitating to check what was down there. Mitch stopped Hall and the others as soon as they were safe. He took a deep breath and looked down the corridor to see a comms access point.
“Come on, we need a new route through.”
He rushed down to the unit that lay at an entrance to a dining hall that was still impeccably laid out as if it had completely passed the war by.
“Lewis, we need a new route through. We’re in a large mess hall half way towards our original co- ordinates.”
“I’ve got you, Major, and I’ve got that intel you asked for.”
“Alright, go ahead.”
“We’ve got enemy craft in two docking bays. One is on the other side of the station, and the other is not too far from your current position.”
“How do we get there?”
“Get through that hall, and when you come out the other side, take your first left. You’ll come into a main access route, larger than the other corridors. From there, you’ll have signs to Docking Bay Bravo.”
“Good work.”
“Good luck, Sir.”
Taylor turned back to the others. He had just twenty-five men at his command in a station overrun with
