'Be nice if we had some aerial support.'
'We did this morning. They took a beating,' replied Amar.
'Let's get this straight. We can’t stop them. If we don't get some serious numbers here soon, we're gonna be swept back to Jerusalem in no time.'
It was too late. The enemy was already at the edge of the city with their rapid blitz to cut a path through human lines. The tanks begun firing, but the enemy was still out of range of their rifles.
“Ready your weapons and hold fast!” he yelled.
Jones came running down the line, and he prayed it was good news.
“What is it?”
“Harney has been ordered to the defence of Jerusalem. All forces are ordered to rally there.”
He looked over to Amar.
“That goes for you too, Lieutenant. This is a joint command for all allied forces in the area.”
“What about all these people? We can’t leave them.”
“No, but neither I am willing to risk my life and the lives or my people because they’re too stubborn to save their own skins. Tell them they’ll all die if they stay, and that they need to move out immediately. If they go now, we’ll stay and defend these trenches for ten minutes to give them a head start.”
She knew it was the best offer she was going to get, and she wasn’t keen to stay and die either.
“Time is running short, Lieutenant.”
She nodded in agreement and turned away to relay the message for her soldiers to convey along the border of the city.
“Ten minutes for them to get through town?”
“It’s ten minutes longer than I want to stay here, Jones.”
“True, but what about us? We’ll have a hell of a time getting through with all them ahead of us?”
“After their ten minutes is up, they’re on their own. I want us air lifted out of here.”
“Now we’re talking!” yelled Eddie.
“Find us somewhere they can pick us up and radio it in,” Taylor said to Jones.
Amar stepped back up to his side.
“Looks like most of them are excepting it and moving on.”
“Well they better. It ain’t much of a window to get clear. We’re getting airlifted out of here as soon as those ten minutes are up. I suggest you do the same.”
“No, we’ll fight a retreat back to Jerusalem to make sure the civilians make it.”
Taylor nodded in agreement. He knew it was going to cost them lives, but he was done arguing.
“They should have gotten these people out hours ago,” Jones whispered.
“Yep, and there’s only so much we can do for them. We have a duty to our fellow marines, and I intend to honour it.”
The civilians were climbing out of the trenches as the enemy reached the effective distance of their rifles. Taylor didn’t have to give the order to fire. They all knew what to do, and the sharpshooters among them carefully took the first few shots. Thirty seconds later, the Battalion opened up with everything it had. The thousands of Mechs bearing down on their position were a frightening sight even to the combat hardened veterans.
The enemy fell one rank after the other, but a never-ending stream poured over the bodies. Taylor could see their numbers were expanding to the flanks. The civilians had gotten just five minutes lead-time when the enemy reached the onehundred metre mark. Explosions erupted all along the line, but they suffered few casualties due to their deep trenches. The enemy artillery fire intensified in the last three minutes.
Despite the continuous fire they put down, they seemed to have little effect on the enemy advance, and the increasing amount of fire was forcing them to keep their heads down.
“That’s enough!”
“It’s only been eight minutes!” replied Jones.
“Fuck it, they brought this on themselves by being such idiots.” He lifted his intercom as an explosion sent dirt and stones smashing into his helmet, forcing the two officers to duck down.
“Fall back! Fall back now!”
They clambered out of the trenches under a hail of gunfire. Jones covered Taylor’s back with his shield, saving him from one of the pulses before he’d got a metre from the trench. Mitch still hadn’t found a replacement since his was destroyed the day before, a fact he was all too aware off as the shards of the pulse burst over Jones’ shield and flew past his head.
He turned back briefly to check if his unit were following him. There was nothing left to say or do but run. The speed their suits allowed them was more welcome than ever as explosions erupted all around. At a sprinting pace, they reached the nearest buildings in less than a minute and passed on from line of sight with the enemy.
Taylor lifted his Mappad, checking the location the copters had been requested for, but he didn’t slow his pace any.
They took a bend up ahead where it opened up into a soccer field. Jones had chosen the location well. The birds were waiting for them.
“hallefuckinglujah!” yelled Rains.
Taylor turned to see the pilot was at the front, and he was wearing one of the Reitech suits. He had no idea where he had pillaged it from, but he didn’t care. Whoever he got it from no longer needed it. He came to a halt and ushered his people through, to be certain all the survivors were there. They had taken minor casualties, considering the mass of forces that had assaulted them.
The last few ran past him, and he gladly took to his feet, rushing for Jones who was waiting at the door to one of the copters for him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped up into the craft.
“All of that for what, saving some idiots who wouldn’t leave when they should have?”
“They’re people’s homes, Charlie. Would you be so eager to leave yours?”
“If I knew this was coming, hell yes!”
Taylor pulled the door shut behind him and was glad the onslaught was over.
“Let’s get these birds in the air!”
Chapter 9
From the second they put down at the defensive line at Jerusalem, Taylor knew it was like nothing he had seen before. Multiple nations of often-conflicting religions had gathered to defend the city in unprecedented numbers. Deep trenches had been dug for hundreds of kilometres. Behind them lay thick concrete walls with gun emplacements every twenty metres and tanks having to sit almost track to track in some places.
He stepped off the copter to a wholly different world to anything he had experienced in the second war for Earth. Jones stopped and took a deep breath and exhaled.
“Ahh, that’s gotta make you feel good.”
“What?” Taylor asked.
“The smell of oil, grease, fresh dirt, liquid concrete, and sweat. All the things that we need.”
“Maybe for you. A good night’s sleep and the company of a fine woman is more what I had in mind,” Taylor joked.
Jones smiled, for he knew Taylor revelled in it as much as he did.
“If we can’t hold this, we can’t hold shit.”
“Eloquently put,” Jones replied.
“About as eloquent as your love of grease and sweat, you limey bastard,” he laughed.
It was good to be back among allies and the safety of strong defences. The rapport had completely changed in the initial moments that the stress had been taken off them.
“They chose the wrong city to go for,” added Jones. “Too many people will fight to the bitter end for this one.”
