'We have a breach to the west. Replacements will fill our positions. Inter-Allied follow me!'
He turned to check those around him were ready, grabbed his rifle, and leapt from the wall. He used his suit’s boosters to launch him down into the nearest opening, and then immediately jumped clear of a line of instant shelters, landing not far from where troops were rushing to fill the breach. He was surprised they could barely see through to the hole in the wall for the mass of soldiers and tanks moving up to defend it.
Taylor looked up to the top of the wall to see the breach was twenty metres wide, and the walls either side had been cleared by the debris. Nobody remained on the stretch of ramparts.
'Up onto the wall!' he shouted into his comm.
They used their boosters twice more to land accurately onto the defensive positions. He knew it was about all the power they had, but if they couldn't hold the wall, it wouldn't matter anyway. He landed first on the walls and found a dozen dead soldiers scattered across the battlement, most of them killed by the explosion and shrapnel from it.
He reached the edge where the wall had fallen just as the rest of the Inter-Allied force landed around him, either side of the breach. They filled the wall from one tower to the next, replacing those who had been killed and thrown from the position. He drew both grenades he had left and threw them into the mass of enemy Mechs advancing between the gap. Fire was rained down on the attackers from both sides, and he could see the brutal onslaught lashed on those defending from inside the walls.
A few pulses raced past their heads, but they were firing from relative safety on the wall that had stayed firm, despite the massive blast. After fifteen minutes, the bodies of the Mechs were beginning to pile up, to the extent that others were struggling to make their way through. Taylor was reaching for his last magazine, and knew the others would be in a similar position, when they began to turn and flee.
He looked back at their allies, seeing they had learned from their last experience. They fought the enemy up to the breach and stopped. No one wanted to throw their lives away. He turned back to the battlefield and took a few more carefully aimed shots until the magazine was empty. He was shooting the enemy in the back as they fled, but he felt no sympathy for them. Jafar was doing the same beside him.
All along the walls, troops were shouting and whistling. He could not distinguish one voice from another and suspected it was a mix of insults and celebrations. He could see they had taken few casualties along the edge of the wall.
'We couldn't have managed much longer than that. Ammo was running thin.'
'Tell me about it,' he replied.
'Still, two waves repulsed. That must mean something, Jafar.'
'It does. It means we have ground them to a halt.'
He rested up against the wall and watched joyfully as the enemy fell back to their positions.
'Send for ammo. We're gonna need a lot more.'
The excitement of their victory soon died down as the troops along the kilometres of defences lay about to await the enemy’s next move. The day passed into night without any more than a couple of exchanges between the artillery. The troops who had survived the trenches had worked to strengthen their positions all day.
When morning came, Taylor looked down from the wall and was surprised to see Commander Phillips approaching with a crutch under one arm and his other arm in a sling. One of his eyes was swollen and cuts showed beneath it. He looked like he'd been through hell. Phillips looked out at the mound of enemy bodies still lying in the breach only metres from where Taylor had slept. The troops had begun to clear the bodies but barely made a dent in their number.
'’Morning, Sir!'
Phillips balanced on his crutch and held up his good arm, trying to block the sunlight silhouetting Taylor's figure against the sky. Taylor could see him struggling to see so jumped down onto the nearest ramp to approach the Commander.
'Good to see you made it, Sir.'
'Likewise, Colonel. And you held here. I'm impressed.'
Taylor looked surprised.
'You doubted we could do it?'
'If you'd asked me a week ago, I wouldn't have doubted your chances of anything, but after we got hit on the way in, and seeing what was on the ground, I thought we were done for. It was only because I was carried out that I am here now.'
'And back on your feet.'
'Just about.'
'You'll be back in the fight in no time.'
'Not quite, Colonel. Our job here is done.'
'How so?'
'Local forces are taking over, now that they have halted the enemy advance. The Battalion is to return to Naples for some R amp;R, followed by preparation for the next operation.'
Taylor smiled and was utterly relieved, which took Phillips by surprise.
'You're happy about this? I thought you'd be pissed that someone else would be stepping in after you'd done the hard work.'
'Hell, no, you think I like fighting those bastards? We're good to go.'
Phillips smiled back in return, wincing in pain.
'They got you some pain meds?'
'Basic stuff yeah, anything stronger, and I won't be fit to command. Get the Battalion up and moving to the coordinates that are being sent to your Mappad presently. It's a few clicks north of here, and there aren't any vehicles spare.'
'We don't mind walking.'
In truth, he did in the sweltering heat, but not so much when it was to return to a safe and relaxing environment where he could kick back for a while.
'Are we waiting to be relieved?'
'No, there are more than enough troops here to fill your place. Get moving now.'
He passed on the order through his comms, and within seconds, the troops were clambering down the ramps. They didn't know yet where they were heading, but it seemed unfair to their allies to celebrate the end of the fight for them when the enemy wasstill very much at their door. Jones was first down from the defences and as surprised to see Phillips as Taylor was.
'On your feet already, Sir?' he asked.
'Near enough. I'll be hitching a ride to join you presently. One of the Generals has kindly offered his personal vehicle to get me there. I don't think I'll be walking any distance for some time.'
He hobbled aside as the troops began to back up behind Taylor and waved for them to pass. Taylor led the way through the encampment. They hadn't travelled north beyond the wall before, and only seen it from their position. Line after line of trenches had been dug to give some shelter from the aerial and artillery bombardments. Armour had been dug into hull-up positions in multiple tiered defences spanning two kilometres north.
'You think we really did it, stopped them?' asked Jones.
'Looks that way. They aren't getting anywhere coming this way.'
'They could just go east.'
'No,' replied Jafar. 'They will want to prove they can win here.'
'Then that'll be their undoing.'
'So where we heading?'
'Back to Italy, Charlie, rest up and prepare for the eventual counteroffensive.'
'You’re bullshitting us, right?'
Taylor shook his head.
'Thank God for that. Let some other bastards to the hard work for once.'
'We were only called in as an emergency measure, after all.'
'Yeah, and that usually entails us up to our necks in shit for a year.'
'Well, it ain't over yet.'
'Come on, Mitch, enjoy what we're getting.'
