“I hope so,” replied Taylor.
Forty minutes later the officers stood by the new sets of equipment, watching the troops strap them on and begin to familiarise themselves with it all. It was at least a relief to see that the new gear came naturally to them. Within minutes, they were running and leaping across the terrain, operating the weapons.
Taylor smiled as he watched the troops have a laugh and joke as they put the exoskeleton suits through their paces and were astonished at the psychical advantages it gave them. Monty charged towards Taylor and Chandra at immense speed as if he intended to plough through them. He came to a quick halt with a grin on his face.
“I’m impressed so far, Major. But how about these guns, are they going to do the trick?”
“A damn sight better than anything we have right now…”
Taylor’s words were cut short by the sharp crack of a siren ringing out across the base. The Company stopped and looked all around them for answers. This can’t be good, thought Taylor. Seconds later a voice rang out on the loudspeakers on the buildings all around them.
“All combat personnel report for duty! All senior officers assemble at drill square B.”
The commands were repeated as everyone looked around for answers.
“Surely they can’t be on us already?” asked Silva.
“We wouldn’t be called for anything less,” said Chandra.
She turned to see that the entire Company had stopped in mid task to await her orders.
“Platoon commanders, assemble your troops, be ready for combat in ten and await further instructions. Be ready, that’s all.”
She turned to Taylor. They both knew the war had reached them once again, but they didn’t want to believe it.
“With me, Major.”
The two officers rushed quickly to the designated site. Both still wore their rifles slung on their backs. In the new age of total war, there was never a time to be without a weapon. They arrived to find the General of the base standing in front of his personal vehicle. There were just ten senior officers gathered. Ramstein had long lost its former glory as a major US base.
“I’ll be short, Gentlemen. Enemy forces have breached the defence line on the border and are heading for us. Re-enforcements are en route, but we have been tasked with bringing their advance to a standstill at the western edge of the base until relief arrives.”
“What is the enemy strength, Sir?” asked Chandra.
“We don’t know.”
She gasped, that was not good news.
“What is our strength?” asked Taylor.
“We can assemble just over four hundred troops on top of your own people. Do you think it can be done?”
“Without any intel on the incoming forces, your guess is as good as mine, General!”
“Major Chandra, you are the most experienced combat officer in charge here, so I am placing you in command of the defence of this base. The rest of you are to report to the Major immediately. That’ll be all, good luck to you all.”
Chapter 8
“Let’s move! Go, go, go!” shouted Chandra.
With little over five hundred troops, the Major led them at a jogging pace to the western edge of the base while Becker’s tanks rolled on up ahead. Still not even a complete battalion and that’s all that could be mustered, she thought. Taylor rushed up to her in one of the exoskeleton suits. She could see that the Major had distributed all of the twenty-five suits.
“Guess you’ll get to put that stuff through its paces after all!” she shouted.
“It’ll make the General happy, I am sure.”
She looked at the hulking weapon Taylor carried as if it weighed little more than a sidearm. The new equipment looked impressive, but she could only hope it performed as well. Chandra was suddenly startled as Friday rushed up at an inhuman speed. She turned back to the Major.
“Are your boys familiar enough with that equipment to use it effectively in combat?”
Taylor nodded. “Nothing to it.”
They reached an embankment and roadway which led up to the western entrance to the base. Becker’s tanks had already begun to dig into positions overlooking the valley. Chandra rushed between the vehicles to the edge to look beyond. She could already make out the silhouettes of Mechs approaching.
“Damn they didn’t hang around!”
“Must have been hot on our tails from Amiens,” growled Friday.
She looked around. They were mostly flanked by thick forestry that was almost impassable, leaving only a hundred metre strip of land for them to defend.
“This’ll do us well. We should be able to hold them here.”
“Should, Major?”
She snapped her head around to investigate why Taylor was questioning her to find he had a big grin on his face. She smiled briefly then looked out at the line of troops gathering behind them. Most were battle weary stragglers or inexperienced base personnel. They were waiting her command.
“I want trenches along the whole ridge here alongside Captain Becker’s armour! We’ve got half an hour, if we’re lucky!”
They looked exhausted and defeated already.
“An army is coming up that road which will destroy everything in its path! Help is on the way, but right now, we are all that stands in its way! You should know that the invasion of the United States has begun!”
Several gasped. For most of them it was their homeland, and the thought of enemy on their soil was something they could never have imagined.
“The United Kingdom will surely face the same within days! We are here because it is our job, and our duty, to do everything in our power to stop this enemy! It doesn’t matter where we fight. It doesn’t matter on what soil or country we fight and die on. We are as one now. Not Americans, not British, not German, but human! Now let’s give them what for!”
The troops roared with the first real excitement and enthusiasm she had heard in days as they rushed to unload the trench diggers from Becker’s vehicles. She knew their morale would not last long under a prolonged assault of the enemy. Many had never seen the devastation the invaders brought, and those that had knew to fear it.
Chandra looked down on the advancing enemy. She could make out only a few vehicles, but dozens of soldiers were approaching. She pulled out her binoculars to take a closer look as Taylor strode up beside her.
“Where’s their air power?” he asked.
“I guess they’re busy fighting the main armies.”
Just as she had said it, they heard the thundering engines of the enemy aircraft low across the treetops. Three fighters burst into view and were approaching them at a tremendous speed.
“Incoming! Take cover! God damn it, Major, you tempted fate!” she shouted.
The troops scattered. She rushed to the rear of Becker’s vehicle and ducked down as the craft soared overhead. Pulses smashed the ground. One struck twenty metres to the Major’s side where she saw it catapult several soldiers into the air. She knew that few of them would have survived.
“Where’s our damn air support?” shouted Yorath.
She looked up to see the young officer had taken refuge behind the vehicle alongside her.
“Taking as much as a beating as the rest of us!” Taylor replied.
She turned around to see the Major the other side of her. The ground shook as dozens of energy pulses crashed into the ground and tore up the road. Dirt and tarmac was thrown in every direction. The last few blasts rang out as the enemy craft zoomed overhead and banked sharply for another pass.
