firing on, as he would be actively seeking Mitch out. The second magazine emptied. Just a hundred and fifty metres out, Taylor caught a glimpse of something standing out in their lines; blackened armour, that of Demiran and his personal retinue. They quickly disappeared again as Mech infantry formed around them to keep moving forward.
'This is it,' said Taylor. 'Our opportunity is finally here.'
'What are you doing, Mitch?' asked Jones hesitantly.
'2nd Inter-Allied. Lord Demiran lies ahead of us. This is our chance. This is our time to make him pay for everything he has done.'
Taylor leapt out of the trench, turning his back to the enemy.
'I'm going to kill that bastard! Who's with me?' he shouted.
'Oh, hell,' Jones muttered.
The Battalion arose almost like clockwork from the trenches, leaping out onto the open plain and rushing forward with their shields held before them to cover the advance.
Phillips couldn't miss the shocking sight from his position behind the lines with Harney. They were in an armoured command truck two kilometres back.
'What the hell is he doing?'
Harney rushed to the screen and shouted at an operator beside it.
'Zoom in there!'
'Demiran, it's him,' replied Phillips.
Harney turned, looking at the Commander utterly puzzled.
'He thinks he can finish this. Crazy fool.'
'Yes, but our crazy fool, and one who actually has some chance of doing it.”
He moved to order the rest of the Brigade forward, but it was too late, they had already followed the Colonel. Gallo was at the head of his battalion, only a few metres short of Taylor.
'Get the Fifth forward, immediate advance!' screamed Phillips.
Harney hesitated for a moment, for it seemed like suicide.
'Do it!'
'This is Colonel Harney, advance. Advance now!'
Taylor's Battalion was covering the ground at a rapid pace, and his shield had already brushed off two pulses when he got halfway. He pushed his rifle out to the side between his and Jafar’s shield to fire as they advanced. A wall of fire they were defenceless against hit the Mechs’ advance. But the first few shields were breaking under the weight of the enemy fire, and he knew they had to get past it quickly. He saw a dozen of their own fall around them and knew they'd have taken many more casualties covering the open ground.
Mitch activated his boosters and leapt ten metres off the ground, launching himself at the frontline of Mechs. He landed hard against the first one, one foot on the ground, and the other on the Mech's torso where he had smashed it to the ground. Before it could recover, he fired a burst into its head.
Jafar surged past him and barged into the next alien in his way. The nimble and strong alien ducked under one of the Mech's weapons and impeded an Assegai into the faceplate of another. Taylor looked back to their lines for just a second and could see thousands of troops rushing forwards to assist them. Many more were clambering out of the trenches to join in. He didn't know whether the order had been given of not, but it had gotten the effect he wanted.
Few could stand and do nothing when they saw the charge led by Taylor himself. Gallo was scared to death, and yet he still charged for the enemy beside the 2nd Inter-Allied.
'This is it, they're coming!' he yelled.
He turned back to the fight and saw a pulse rushing towards him. Jones jumped into the path of it, and the pulse burst over his shield, sending the debris shattering around both of them.
'This is your chance! Let's do it!' Jones shouted out.
Taylor stepped off the body of his first victim and strode forward. He could see Jafar had got ahead of them and cut down another two before they could reach him. A pulse hit Taylor's rifle as he progressed into the enemy ranks, and it was shattered in two. He unclipped it from his armour, let it drop to the ground, and drew his Assegai. Monty and Blinker were close by their side and jumped forward to help. Blinker ducked down but was hit full force by one of their cannons. It hit his face and snapped his neck.
Monty didn't hesitate and jumped forward, driving his Assegai deep into the Mech. The blade entered at its stomach and drove up into its chest, running the hilt up to its armour. He pulled out the bloodied blade and could see his brother was already dead. He had no words for it, only rushed on forward to join Taylor in the killing.
Jones' platoon smashed their way through three more ranks of Mechs, losing just a few of their own when Taylor finally came to a halt. Demiran stood ten metres away with his four bodyguards. He pulled off his helmet so he could gaze upon Taylor with his own eyes. A massive glaive was held in one of his hands, and he was clearly there for only one purpose. His bodyguards all carried the same weapon. Taylor looked to his side. Silva was with them, and Yorath led a platoon on his other side.
He looked back to the alien leader. The sun reflected off the gold decoration of his blackened armour. He could see a large scar down the alien’s face. It had not been there when he had been their prisoner. Demiran lifted his glaive and gave out a loud roar as he rushed forward.
Taylor didn't have to say a word. Twenty of the Inter-Allied soldiers with him rushed forwards. Monty was at the front and clearly after some payback. As he approached the first bodyguard, he went into a roll and smashed the alien’s legs with his shield, forcing it to tumble into a dive towards the rest of them. Jafar smashed the creature down into the dirt, bringing it to an abrupt halt and stabbed it three times in the back.
Monty was back on his feet and immediately took a blow to his shield. He thrust up against the bodyguard, but his arm was hit down, and the glaive spiralled around in the creature’s grip until it connected with his neck and took his head clean off. Taylor was on the creature next and used his boosters to leap up and strike the bodyguard in the face with the edge of the shield; then his bodyweight to drive it down to the ground. He thrust his Assegai into its eye socket while it lay stunned. The blade drove right through its skull and onto the ground.
The next creature kicked him off, but Silva and Jones smashed it back with their shields. Demiran reached them, and with all his power swung the glaive over his head and down onto Silva. He lifted his shield, but the massive blade cut it in two and removed his hand at the wrist while knocking him down onto his back. Jones tried to strike forward, but he pendulumed the blade over his head and struck with all his force horizontally. Jones' shield buckled, and he was thrown away like a ragdoll.
Demiran rushed forward to move onto Taylor who was getting back to his feet, but Jafar came from his side. He thrust quickly, but Demiran noticed in time and stepped away from him. Jafar followed with a series of quick and brutal thrusts that Demiran knocked aside. The massive glaive moved at rapid speed with the leverage and power he wielded it with. One of the bodyguards jumped in to help his Lord, but Taylor seized the opportunity and smashed his shield into the creature’s kneecap. Not even its armour was enough to save it from the fierce strike that sent it crashing down onto the body of one of the others.
Taylor thrust his weapon forward, but it was beaten aside as the alien turned, stopping his attack with its glaive held across its body. He landed on top of the creature to stop it moving the weapon any further. They were locked and unable to move. The bodyguard released one of its hands and swung a punch to his head, but he moved quickly, and it brushed his helmet. He looked back to see an Assegai imbedded in its head. Yorath was wielding the blade.
Before he could thank the young officer, a glaive pierced through his chest and spurt red blood over Taylor. Yorath released his grip on the Assegai imbedded in the creature’s head and fell. Taylor drew out the blade and jumped up at the creature with a long thrust. It evaded and knocked him away with the shaft of its weapon. But it landed against two of John's platoon. They thrust their blades into its back, killing it where it stood.
Taylor could see Jafar and Demiran locked in battle. Blood poured from Jafar's face, and a deep cut ran from his shoulder and almost to his hip. Demiran didn't have any visible injuries, but he was being pressed hard. Mitch rushed to help. Jafar ducked under one strike and jumped forward to drive his shield up against the glaive and hold it away. He thrust his Assegai quickly into Demiran's stomach, and the alien screeched out loud in pain. Demiran reached down and pulled the weapon from his belly, throwing it aside in disgust.
He kicked Jafar back, swung the glaive about his head, and brought it down hard. Jafar managed to pass the strike off with his shield, but Demiran brought the bottom ball weight around and onto his head. The strike landed
