Rains took one last look down at the screen to see the man step off their docking ramp. He hammered the retract switch, knowing he could not spend a second longer considering their allies on the ground. From now on the only mission was to survive.
“Weapons hot! Let’s get off this rock!” shouted Eddie.
He fired up and put power down to all engines. The craft hopped off the surface with immense speed, lurching forward so quickly that it caught Eddie off guard.
“Whoa! Easy now!”
“They’re closing on us!” shouted Perez.
“Give them everything we’ve got!”
Perez squinted to distinguish the enemy ships from the terrain. He was forced to use the manual targeting pads, something he’d only ever done in simulation and training exercises. As he looked across the sky in his wall of monitors he gasped at the sheer number of anomalies in the sky.
“Jesus Christ! Get us the hell out of here!”
Rains could see through the cockpit window that the vessels were closing in. Perez opened fire immediately as they began to build speed. The enemy fired their energy weapons, narrowly missing them.
“Damn this is one fast son of a bitch!”
“Whoa, Eddie, yeah!”
The enemy fired once more, but it was too late. Their smaller craft, with far higher power output, were vastly superior in speed to the enemy ships.
“Didn’t think I’d see the day! We gotta get some more of these babies!” Eddie laughed.
Rain’s broad grin swiftly turned to a grimace as he thought about the colonists. They were free and clear, able to outrun their enemy, but it was a whole different story for Kelly and his troops. They could only pray that the supply drop would go some way to giving them a chance of survival.
“Let’s move!” shouted Kelly.
His helmet dome was folded back, being safe in the oxygen supplied tunnels. He could only hope that the enemy had not identified their access point to the surface, but he doubted they would have such luck. His people were exhausted and mentally hammered, but the supply drop was driving them on to give everything they had.
The Commander had already outlaid a plan for the food and ammunition to be divided between three key safe zones underground. They were all at least a mile from the drop zone. The few underground vehicles built to haul military and scientific resources throughout the tunnels were proving to be invaluable.
Since the invasion had begun, Kelly had done little but lose ground and friends. The supply drop had given him more than just hope. It had been intended to boost morale as much as provide genuine help, but it was much appreciated. He’d already been briefed on the necessity of immediate feedback on their new hardware. He knew they were being used as a test bed for the American military, but it was nothing he would complain about.
The crews sat atop the haulage trailers, many on the boxes of supplies. They smiled and slapped each other’s backs. They were celebrating a victory. In any other situation Kelly would have talked them down, made them put it all into perspective. Today however, it was the only glimmer of hope that existed for them all.
“We’ve got incoming!” shouted Lieutenant Green.
The officer peered down over the rooftop at the APCs being loaded below.
“Shit! Get rolling, now!” Jones ordered.
The second vehicle was loaded as best it could be, but the third was still empty. He looked over to a sergeant who was next to him.
“Tell these two to get rolling and back within the perimeter, we’ll follow ASAP!”
The Sergeant stared back with a gaunt expression. Jones had just volunteered for them to take the brunt of an attack for the good of the defending forces. He knew it was the right decision, but that didn’t make it suck any less.
“Yes, Sir!”
The cannons of the heavy tanks bellowed around their position as the two vehicles began to roll, their heavy tracks ripping apart the civilian streets. Jones waved back the third and last APC. Gunfire erupted on the rooftop as his men began to engage the attackers, he knew it was a dire situation, but he had a task to do. Every fibre of his body told him to join his men in the fight, but the sooner they were loaded, the sooner they’d be out of there.
The driver was nervous and rushed, missing the Captain’s command to stop. The huge steel beast smashed into the building. Bricks and motors tumbled down onto the soldiers below, crashing on their helmets. Fortunately, re-enforced armoury walls supported the structure.
“What the fuck!”
“Forget it, Sergeant, just get this shit loaded!”
Jones rushed to the crates of cannon rounds for the big guns and hauled them up with all his strength. His body was aching in every place, sweat dripped down his armour, adrenaline was the only thing keeping him going.
“Load! Load faster!”
The fire above was chaotic and desperate. The Captain knew that they’d been hit by a substantial wave of the enemy, but he would not return to the other survivors with anything less than what he had intended.
“That’s it, Captain!”
Jones swung his rifle around to his front taking it in both hands. He ran out of the building and to a corner of the structure to peer round at the unfolding battle. As he did so a huge energy pulse hit the heavy tank just twenty metres down the street. The blinding light soared through the thick armour and struck the ammunition store, sending it into a ball of flames. Black smoke bellowed from the wreck creating a smoke screen between them and the enemy.
Looking up to the ledge of the rooftop, he couldn’t see any of his men but could hear their weapons still firing. He cupped his hands about his mouth and shouted at the top of his voice.
“Evac! Now! Go, go, go!”
He had no way to communicate with the other two tanks and he wouldn’t risk any of his men to do so. He had to rely on the fact that they were observing the situation through their rear-mounted cameras. He signalled with his hands for them to pull back, hoping somebody was watching. Without wasting anymore time he turned back to the loaded APC, his men were already climbing aboard.
Green and the others from the roof slid down the ladders on the side of the building, desperately trying to escape the ferocious onslaught. There were less soldiers returning than had been sent up, but Jones knew that it was a waste of time to ask after them.
“Get onto the vehicle!”
The soldiers on top of the tracked APC hauled their comrades aboard. There were now just seventy men left in his company. As many as possible were piling aboard the final APC, though only thirty were able to fit at a squeeze.
“Get this junk moving!” he shouted.
The APC lurched forward, leaving the Captain and more than half of his men behind. He turned to look back, praying that the others had gotten his message. They could hear tracks rolling, but they were muffled through the continuous gunfire and explosions around them. Out of the smoke the first vehicle appeared.
Several scorch marks were burnt into the armour plating. The tank stopped briefly to allow many of the men to climb aboard. Seconds later the second heavy tank burst through the thick black smoke. It barely resembled the first anymore. The turret was completely missing, blown off from a huge energy pulse weapon. Smoke bellowed from the engine block and the turret ring was still smouldering.
The driver’s hatch was half destroyed and they could make out the bloody face of the distraught woman who sat at the helm. However wounded she was, she was still fighting. The men looked at the sight in disbelief. The destruction to the heaviest tanks in deployment made them all feel more mortal than ever before.
“Get on!” Jones ordered.
The last of the para company climbed aboard the scarred vehicle. There was nothing left of the two turret crew other than a trace of blood where they’d been ripped out along with the main gun turret. Through the gaping hole they could see that the hull gunner had been killed instantly by an energy pulse blasting right through his body
