bombardment and assault, he could keep his spirits high. It was enough to make her remember her job in it all. She rolled over onto her front and pushed herself up to her feet. Standing tall in the middle of the trench, she looked at the scared soldiers lining the walls.
“This war isn’t going to fight itself! Do you want to wait here to be killed in this shithole, or give those bastards hell?” she cried.
Several of the beleaguered troops looked up at the Major. Her short stature never ceased to make her imposing.
“Come on, you bastards!”
They scrambled to the firing ledge and opened fire. The tiered trenches running down hill meant that gunfire flew over their heads from the allied units at their backs. Smoke plumes raced towards the enemy as the rockets soared towards them. Chandra knew their equipment was inadequate against the Krycenaean armour, but they could not lie down and do nothing.
Tracer fire lit up the battlefield, but it was overwhelmed by the vast energy pulses smashing into their positions. No man’s land was little more than a scrap heap and pile of rubble. Many of the craters were so large that the advancing tanks all but disappeared in the dips. A huge explosion rang out as one of them ran over an anti-tank mine. Chandra watched as the monstrous vehicle bounced a few centimetres off the ground but kept moving. Seconds later, it hit a second which finally blew the tracks off.
Further explosions sent earth blasting into the sky as the advancing infantry reached the minefield that had been laid. Soldiers across the trenches screamed out in celebration as Mech soldiers were blasted into the air. Chandra revelled in their destruction. The bloodshed of humans made her want to howl, but she cheered the slaughter of their enemies. The cheering died as massive explosions erupted around the trench works.
“They’re still coming,” cried Monty.
“They mean to roll over us,” growled Silva.
“And they bloody will, if we don’t get some damn support!”
The guns of the allied tanks roared at their backs, but it was not enough to slow the enemy progress. As they reached the effective range of grenades, the troops opened up with a hail of gunfire and explosives in a desperate attempt to halt the creatures. Chandra could make out hundreds of Mechs in their field of fire alone, and many more through the smoke to both the north and south.
“Major, we can’t hold here!” shouted Silva.
“We have to!” she replied desperately.
The Mechs increased pace as they bounced along the rough terrain on their spring legged armour, approaching a jogging speed. She leapt up onto the trench and fired on full auto at the nearest, striking it with twenty rounds to the faceplate until it smashed down into the dirt. It slid a metre uphill with its momentum. The Mechs advancing towards them were smashed down by the heavy weapon fire and sustained weapons in the line, but it was not enough.
The surviving enemy Mechs rushed into the trenches and kept firing as they moved. Chandra saw a creature leap in just a few metres from where she was standing. It crushed one of the German infantrymen as it landed, obliterating another with its pulse cannon at close range. Screams of panic rang out across the lines as gunfire opened up inside the trenches.
Bullets bounced off the thick armour of the creature. It was almost impossible to get a fix on its weak points as it thrashed around the trench, firing and crushing soldiers as if they were toys. Four of the German soldiers were dead before Chandra could even respond, but Hall was already on his feet. He climbed out the back of the trench and rushed along the top.
“Aim for the head!” cried Chandra.
Hall reached the edge of the trench above the creature as it trained its cannon on a group of soldiers whose rifle fire was ricocheting off its armour. He lifted his rifle and opened up on full auto against the top of the creature’s armoured suit. It spasmed sharply and smashed its cannon into the Corporal. Hall was launched into the air and tumbled back down to the ground hard. He rolled across the muddy surface until coming to a dead stop.
The Major turned to shout her orders but found Silva stood with an ARMAL launcher held at the hip. She leapt aside as he fired. Smoke filed the trench, and a split second later a huge explosion tore through it. Metal shrapnel burst across the area, hitting several of the troops. Chandra yelped in pain as a sliver of metal impeded into her left arm. She turned away as the heat from the explosion blasted past.
As the dust settled, the Major turned to look at the carnage in the trench. The Mech had been blown apart and scattered across the bodies of the four dead soldiers. Gunfire continued to rage in the nearby trenches, and artillery fire still roared overhead. Silva rushed to her side and quickly checked her wound.
“You okay, Major?” he yelled.
She nodded back but could not yet get any words out. Her eardrums had popped, and she was still in shock at the devastation. She turned and stumbled, slightly falling back against the wall of the trench. The Major could see the distraught faces of the troops around her. The war was taking them face-to-face with their enemy, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
“We don’t get our gear back soon, and we are fucking goners,” whispered Silva.
She climbed back up to look over the trench with Silva. The Mech forces lay in ruin, but they could see columns of the enemy in the distance and heading for them.
“That was just the beginning,” said Silva. “Within a few hours, those armies are going to roll up these hills, and there will be nothing we can do about it.”
“Alright, Sergeant, gather up any wounded and head back to re-supply.”
“Re-supply what, ammunition that can barely touch those bastards? The launchers we got early on this war finally gave us a fighting chance, but now we may as well throw stones at them!”
She grabbed the Sergeant’s webbing and hauled him in close.
“I am well aware of that, Sergeant, but what am I to do?”
“Whatever you have to! This isn’t just about us. If our armies fall here, it could be the end of the war in Europe.” He pointed to the line of tanks behind their positions, several of which were engulfed in flames. “That armour and artillery is all that is keeping them from running us into the ground, and how long do you think it can last?”
She looked back to see Captain Becker kneeling down beside one of the wounded tank crewmen as medics were doing the best they could. She wished she could have his resolve, but she also knew that deep down he was as scared as the rest of them. The tank commander looked up at her and instantly recognised her even over the distance. He gave a friendly and informal salute that she acknowledged. Silva carried on.
“Reiter’s equipment has gone into production. I hear some units in the US have already been issued it. Whatever is needed, it must be done. We need that gear, and we need it now!”
Chandra turned to look at the flood of enemy swarming towards them and prayed for it all to be over. Let it all be a bad dream, she thought. It can’t be real, none of it. She felt numb from the misery and loss she had witnessed. Then her attention was drawn by a cough and a splutter behind their trench. She turned to see Hall rolling in pain.
“He’s alive,” exclaimed Silva.
Chandra clambered out of her trench and rushed to the Corporal. He rolled over onto his back and looked up at her with a smile, even though she could see the pain in his face and blood pouring from his mouth. She knelt down beside him and looked for any wounds. His rifle lay splintered in half beside him, having taken the worst of the impact. She could see that his right shoulder was dislocated and slung low.
“I’m still here, Major, still in the fight,” he smiled.
She lifted his other arm and looked for any wounds. He winced in pain, but she was relieved to see his wounds did not extend further.
“You’re a lucky bastard, Corporal. We’ll get you patched up and back in no time,” she replied.
He sighed in pain once again and spat blood out onto the dirt where his broken rifle lay.
“Major, we gotta sort this out. We’re getting fucking killed out here. What happens when they get here in greater number?”
She heard footsteps as the mud squelched beside her and saw Sergeant Silva step up to her side.
“He’s right. We haven’t got the firepower to stop them at a distance, and at this range, we were god damn lucky no more got through. Two or three of those in the trench, and we could have all been done for.”
