might be talking some hard truths.
“Captain Jones is the ranking officer while we are away, but keep an eye on him. If he shows any signs of being unfit for duty, then as a platoon leader, you have a responsibility to the wellbeing of these troops. You must do what is best for the Company. I pray that day never comes. Let’s not forget the horrors the Captain has been through. He has been deceived and abandoned by allies before, so let’s not allow him lose all hope.”
A few moments later, the two Majors were aboard the jeep and on their way east to Headquarters. They passed over the crater-ridden muddy battlefield that had seen days of bombardment and fighting. Mech bodies still littered the terrain. The human dead were recovered periodically, but nobody had the care nor will to treat their fallen enemies with any respect. The occasional pyre burned in the distance where troops had gathered some bodies together in an attempt to cleanse the area.
Chandra and Taylor stood awaiting the General as he poured over maps and enemy locations. He finally looked up at the two but with a pale face. They could both see the fear in his eyes. The war was not going the way he wanted it to.
“Major Chandra, please come forward,” he called.
She paced up to the General’s table with Taylor close behind. Schulz scowled at Mitch, but he ignored the look.
“Major Taylor, let us set aside any reservations we have towards each other. We need all the help we have got, and we are on a tight schedule.”
Mitch nodded in agreement. He still hated Schulz and blamed him for much of their hardships in the previous few months, but he also knew there was little to be done about it.
“I am here to fight as always, Sir,” he replied.
Schulz begrudgingly accepted the Major’s words while he knew full well that he was stubbornly refusing to accept any wrongdoing.
“You surely must have seen new enemy forces enter our atmosphere. They’ve recently put down just west of Berlin, and we predict that fighting will be underway within the next few hours. You know how thinly we are spread. What you achieved yesterday was impressive, and I thank you both for it. But this presents a great problem for us.”
“Not enough troops to fight on another front?” asked Chandra.
“Precisely. The armies of Earth are fighting all over, and few as hard and often as yourselves. Berlin is lightly defended and to provide assistance would mean weakening our presence here. Splitting our forces could lead to the utter destruction of our armies here in Germany.”
“What are you thinking?” asked Taylor.
General Dupont strode into the room and came to a sudden halt as he glared at Mitch.
“What the hell is he doing here?” demanded Dupont.
Schulz turned quickly and snapped at the Frenchman.
“We need the Major for this.”
“We can’t trust him anymore!” insisted Dupont.
“That’s enough!” yelled Schulz. “Whilst I remain in charge of the armies here, I will decide who and how we use our resources. Major Taylor has more experience in fighting this enemy than any man alive.”
Mitch smiled. He was amused by the obvious way Dupont was being disciplined by Schulz, a man who hated him almost as much as Dupont himself. Dupont was silenced, and Chandra turned back to the others.
“The truth is I am not convinced we can gain success on this continent, considering this new threat. It is true that Field Marshall Copley’s army has moved into the north of France, but their progress is slow at best. With an enemy army at the gates of Berlin, we risk being divided and destroyed.”
“So what have you got in mind?” asked Taylor.
“Your attack on the enemy weapon depot in Poitiers caused quite a stir. There is no doubt that it slowed the enemy massively and sent them into disarray, but a situation we were simply unable to exploit at that time. Our intelligence and surveillance suggest that it was not the destruction of the facility that had such an effect, but the harm done to their leader, who goes by the name of Karadag. Your mission reports state that you have already met this creature?”
Taylor’s mind shot back to the brutal beating he took at the hands of the enemy Commander. It was not an experience he was ever inclined to repeat.
“Our reports show that this leader survived the nuclear device.”
Schulz looked curiously to see that Taylor was not at all surprised by the information.
“You knew this? How?” he asked.
“I saw him in the Metz prison, during our rescue mission.”
“And you never thought to report this vital information?” spat Dupont.
Taylor turned slowly and looked with utter despair and hatred towards the Frenchman.
“It was a little difficult to assist in this war from a prison cell,” fumed Taylor.
“Gentlemen, that is enough! What has gone before us must be set aside. There may come a time when we must all answer for our actions, but now there are bigger issues at stake,” interrupted Schulz.
Taylor took a deep breath to calm him, and the room went silent. Finally, Chandra spoke up.
“You think this Karadag is essential to the enemy? That they will fold without him?” she asked.
Schulz nodded in agreement.
“He barely survived the nuclear weapon, and several reports we have from the area show medical and recovery teams locating his badly wounded body. He’d lost a lot of blood by the time he was found. His recovery directly co-insides with the enemy advance through Ramstein.”
“And you believe killing him could bring an end to it all?” asked Taylor.
“It’s a theory, and one which all evidence would point too. I believe, as do many others, that the loss of Karadag could break their armies. They could lose the will to fight. We have to make them believe that this war is not worth the price, and not worth the sacrifices they would have to make.”
“And if we kill their Commander, and it only makes them more blood hungry? They could well have someone more than capable of filling his shoes.”
“I believe it is a chance worth taking. Our experts think it may work. I cannot order you to carry out this mission. I would not will it on any soldier. But I firmly believe it could change the course of this war overnight.”
Taylor looked to Chandra to judge her response to the news. He could understand why it was being asked of them and that it had a fair chance of success. He turned back to the General.
“Sir, please just answer one thing for me, honestly. Tell me you believe in this mission, that we have some chance of survival, and that the outcome could be as game-changing as you believe? Tell me you are not sacrificing our unit to make me suffer.”
He could see the anger building in Dupont, but Schulz was a more calculating man. His strict leadership had led to much conflict between the two, but he could see Schulz was never dishonest. He was not the malicious and sadistic bastard that Dupont was.
“I promise you, Major, that I have every faith in this mission and your ability to conduct it.”
Taylor thought for just a few seconds as he rolled around the ideas in the back of his mind.
“Alright, tell me the plan.”
Chapter 10
Chandra stood before every man and woman of the Inter-Allied Company in a briefing room that they could barely fill half the space. There were less than one hundred of them remaining. They had lost more friends than they wanted to remember. They were now as few as they were before their amalgamation in Paris that felt like a lifetime ago.
Mitch sat at a table off to the side of Chandra, and they all waited for her to speak. Slowly, she took a deep breath and spoke up.
“A lot has been asked of you all in this war. We have all sacrificed more than anyone should have to. We have
