choice left. He turned back to the two officers who waited for his answer with baited breath.
“Sound the retreat and get everyone back. Last one of us to pass that box hits the button.”
Martinez nodded, and he leapt out and ran for the other cover to pass the word to the troops.
“This definitely going to work?” asked Kelly.
“Definitely, Sir, the charges are placed on a joining point for the tunnel. They’ll bring down enough ground to ensure our safety.”
“And the buildings above?”
“A school. The colony’s systems will section off the area.”
The Commander nodded. He liked the news less and less as it was laid out before him. He looked across for Martinez who was staring back at him and ready to move. Almost a hundred soldiers now defended the tunnel, many packed shoulder to shoulder. He looked around for one last moment, hoping to see some reduction in the enemy’s advance, but there was no such luck. He looked back to Martinez.
“Go!”
He knew that the officer would not hear him over the gunfire, but he could see well enough to understand the order. Martinez shouted and the message was passed along the line. The troops quickly took flight. For the soldiers whose sole purpose was to fight, fleeing the battle was welcome news. Kelly grabbed Jansen and hauled him up. Martinez rushed to his side, and they each took an arm each of the wounded officer.
The fleeing Moon defence colonists rushed across the crater and debris-strewn ground, occasionally turning to fire back. The Mechs were advancing slowly down the tunnel. Kelly winced in pain. It was hard enough work for him to run in armour, let alone having to help another. His knees buckled slightly with every few steps, and he thought every second that death would come.
The air in the tunnel was thick, and the lights reflected the clouds of dust particles they were charging through and that were clogging their lungs. Kelly could feel the acidic salt of his sweat dripping into his eyes and mouth. Mixed with the smell of death and destruction it was enough to make any man vomit, if they weren’t running for their lives.
The tunnels were lit by low ambient temperature tubes running along the roof and sides of the structure. Several of the light modules were smashed by stray enemy fire. The fleeing troops were lit up every few seconds by pulses zooming over their heads, and the occasional one struck at the ground behind them.
“Keep moving!” Kelly shouted.
He could barely get his breath. They had fallen to the back of the column, encumbered by the injured officers and the Commander’s increasing fatigue. They finally caught sight of the control module.
“That’s it!” shouted Jansen.
They rushed to the box as most of the troops continued to flee, oblivious to their work. Just three soldiers at the rear stopped to protect the officers as they activated the explosives. In the distance, they could just about make out the silhouettes of the Mechs. Every few seconds the tunnel would light up as a weapon was fired, revealing their unrelentless foe. Explosions erupted around their position, but they did not flinch.
They hauled Jansen up beside the control module, propping him against it. They opened the clear cover on top. He flicked three control switches which revealed an arming button.
“That it?” called Kelly.
He turned to the Commander.
“You sure you want me to do this, Sir?”
Kelly reached forward to the switches and smashed the large red button down, starting a countdown on a display beside it. He looked back to Jansen. The man looked relieved not to have had to make the final decision.
“That’s it, let’s go!” ordered Kelly.
He moved to help Jansen when a pulse exploded beside them. Kelly was thrown a metre and landed hard on his back. He quickly came to his senses and spat the dirt from his mouth. Kelly rolled onto his side and looked towards where he’d been standing. Jansen’s body was a twisted wreck, and Martinez was stumbling about.
“Sir? Sir? I can’t see!” he shouted.
The other three soldiers had been knocked down by the explosion but were unharmed. They rose to their feet and looked on in horror. Kelly quickly realised that their time was running out. He staggered to his feet and grabbed Martinez by his arm.
“Run!” he shouted.
The Commander took to a jogging pace, hauling Martinez behind him. Energy surges continued to rush down the tunnel and smashed into the structures either side. The tunnels had been built to survive even the greatest of stresses, so Kelly could only hope that the late Captain Jansen knew what he was doing.
The five soldiers had got just a hundred metres from the control box when a vast eruption exploded. The pulse wave sent the troops tumbling to the ground. The tunnel shook all around them as a dust cloud swept across their position. They were deafened by the tumbling metal and stone.
Kelly quickly turned and got up to his knees. Shards of rock and metal fell from his armour and clothing, and he puffed smoke out from his mouth. He stared down the tunnel, waiting for the dust to settle. Stone and metal continued to clatter for another minute until there was utter silence.
The Commander got to his feet and waited impatiently to see if their defences had been sealed. The other three soldiers watched the settling dust with a mix of fear and anticipation. The view finally opened up and they could see the tunnel had collapsed all the way up to just twenty metres from where they stood. The fact that they had been so close to being crushed to death did not even cross their minds.
Martinez and the others leapt up, shouting with excitement at the perceived victory. Kelly did nothing, simply staring into the wall they had created and thinking of the friends and colleagues he had just lost. Losing any soldiers was unacceptable, but Jansen had been a good friend. Shouts of excitement, clapping and cheering rang out from further down the tunnel as the other troops joined in the celebrations.
The Commander turned and ambled down the corridor towards the shouts of the men. He wiped his face with his hand. The glove was dry and rough, and it did little more than move the dirt across his face. The sweat was mixing with the grime and dripping into his mouth, the dust clogging his nostrils. Kelly could not help but think that they were losing the war at an alarming rate.
“Commander Kelly!”
A soldier came rushing towards him full of excitement.
“What is it, son?” He responded with a grim and disheartened tone. The man rushed up to Kelly, kicking up dust as he slid to a halt.
“Sir, re-supply is incoming.”
Kelly straightened his body just a little as he welcomed the first good news of the day. Every supply drop they received meant that the Earth forces were still fighting hard.
“Good, have we got the secure landing zone and approach ready yet?”
“Yes, Sir! Landing shortly, they’ve got a thirty minute window with us.”
Kelly nodded. They had been getting an old underground docking bay back into operation with a hidden approach tunnelled from a nearby canyon range. In the early days of the colonisation of the Moon, nobody could ever have predicted an alien invasion. They did, however, plan for the hostility which could come from Earth powers. He turned back to Martinez.
“Glad to see you are recovering. Hold here with your team. I want a full assessment of the defences of this tunnel. Get barriers set up, and make sure you have a wired connection to HQ. I am amalgamating your team with Jansen’s. You have command, Captain.”
Martinez nodded in return. Any other time he would have been ecstatic about the promotion and responsibility he was being given, but the death of the Captain weighed heavily on his shoulders.
“I’ll get it done, Sir.”
Kelly nodded in gratitude. A single tear came to his eye at having to utter the name of his fallen comrade. He turned back to the troops stood before him and quickly wiped the tear away, mixing it with sweat and dust.
“Supplies are incoming! Jansen’s unit is now under Martinez! Anyone who was on duty, return to your posts! The rest of you, with me!”
He slung his launcher over his back and strode confidently down the tunnel towards the docking bay. It was a twenty minute walk to the district that just two days before was a sealed off and abandoned sector. The cleanup
