part0011

Newman cracked open a ration can and pulled out the spoon fitted to the side of it. The contents looked like wet dog food, but actually tasted surprisingly good. Especially so considering all they had been through.

“You know what I wouldn’t give for a few beers right about now?” he said as they lay back in their scrapes and piles of rubble. They were still on the front lines with watches keeping a keen eye out for the enemy. Some were catching what little sleep they could, but others couldn’t settle.

“You know that never ends well,” said Mai.

“Hey, I don’t go looking for trouble.”

“No, you just always happen to drink too much in dive bars filled with angry assholes. Keep doing the same thing and you should expect the same result.”

Initially, he smiled as he ate a few spoons from the pack.

“Wait, you think I pick dive bars so as to get into fights?”

“Hell, no, I just can’t take the endless self-indulgent talk in the fancier places. People with no clue about the world who think they have all the answers and shit all over anyone who doesn’t fit their mould.”

“Isn’t that what you do all the time?”

“Yeah, in my own time and space, not at them.”

She couldn’t help but laugh.

“Say what you like about the dive bars, at least folk in them are honest and straight talking.”

“And straight punching?” Mai joked.

“I’d take a drunken punch-up over this clusterfuck any day.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

A whistle rang out from one of the guards. He quickly threw down his can, grabbed his rifle, and looked up towards their position. It was Mac, and he was pointing out towards the direction of the enemy, though high in the sky. He followed the direction to see a large dark object moving towards them, a little above the height of the ruined buildings ahead. He heard movement at his back and looked around. Sommer was moving along the line.

“Everyone ready, hold your fire until I say or are fired upon,” she whispered as she continued passing the word.

Newman went back to his rifle, the muzzle resting on a large mound of concrete slab. He took aim at the object and squinted to work out what it was. It looked like a big box floating towards them. It seemed bizarre to him, but he knew it had to be some new kind of weapon. His finger moved onto the trigger and applied the faintest of pressure as he readied himself for the first shot.

“What the hell is that thing?” Mai was lying beside him, also with her rifle trained on the unidentified object.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be anything good.”

The mysterious object suddenly stopped. They waited for a few tense moments. Yet nothing came.

“That could be a bomb,” whispered Mai.

“Yeah, and if it is, what you gonna do about it?”

Suddenly, the front of the box that was facing them lit up to reveal it was in fact a large screen. And as it lit up, they noticed dozens more in the distance, all along the lines of defences.

“What the hell is this?”

“Propaganda, that’s what it is,” said Mai.

A Kaimah appeared on the screen before them. He was one of the Kapenes, not that any of them knew what that meant, but from his uniform it was obvious he carried some kind of superiority. It was the first time they’d seen one of the enemies with their helmets off. The first time they had seen their faces.

“He’s an ugly son of a bitch,” muttered Newman.

“Shh.” Mai was eager to hear what he had to say; even if she were convinced it would be propaganda.

The alien spoke. His voiced carried across the city by the speakers in all the screens hovering over them.

“We come here in the name of Atua, the one and only true God. You will submit to the will of Atua, or you will be destroyed, just like your great hero, Major Mitch Taylor.”

They were once again shown the footage of Taylor being beaten. For many it was the first time they’d seen it. Up until then it had been little more than a rumour, but now it was there for all to see. The screen cut to scenes of the Audacious breaking up and her escape boats being blasted out of the sky. It turned to footage of the Second and Third Fleets being obliterated so easily as the alien continued.

“Your fleets and your warriors are no match for the armies of Atua. Surrender and you shall be permitted to live under the law of Atua. Resist, and you will be destroyed.”

More footage showed attacks on cities across the world. Horrific scenes of soldiers and civilians being gunned down in the streets. The video presented a stark image of their situation. It was one they expected, but with contact to the outside world having been lost, they had hoped it wasn’t as bad as their worst fears. The Kaimah went on.

“You have until sunrise to make your decision. Lay down your weapons and submit to us in the name of Atua, and you will be permitted to live.”

The screen went black, and it began to slowly move off into the distance.

“What a pile of shit,” said Newman.

“You said propaganda, but that was a demand for surrender.”

“Maybe, or maybe they know we won’t do it, and they’re just messing with us. Breaking our spirit, trying to make us feel helpless.”

“Do you feel helpless?” Sommer had stepped up behind them.

“No, Sir,” she quickly replied.

“Honestly? Don’t tell me what I want to hear. I want to know what you actually think.”

“I’m worried. Worried for my friends and my family.”

“So are we all. But you know we cannot surrender, you know that, right?”

“We will never live as slaves, not to anyone.”

“I’d rather die first,” added Newman.

“Let’s not think like that. Defeat and death are not the only options we have. The enemy believe they have already won this war, and that hubris will be their undoing. Ignore the nonsense they’re saying. We know what we’ve lost, but we also know what we’ve still got. We couldn’t fight back when they first arrived, but now we can, and look at us. Waves of them crashing over us, and here we still are. They’re dealing with marines, and don’t let them forget it.”

“Yes, Sir.” Mai smiled as she found her spirits had been lifted.

“Get some rest. We’ll keep the watch up, but if what they’re saying is true, we should be in for a quiet night. We’re all going to need our strength for what comes next.”

“Yes, Sir.” Newman lay down his weapon and went back to his rations.

“Do you think they’d really offer us our lives?” Mai asked.

“Probably. But at what cost?”

“But what if the alternative is the end of us all?”

“It’s not gonna happen. We can’t have come all this way to meet our end now.”

“Why? How can you know that?”

“Because I choose to. I’ve got to believe in it, or how can we keep moving forward. We’re fighting for the future, not to live a few more days.”

“And you think we can?”

“I know we can. Taylor taught me that. No matter how bad a situation appears, there is always hope, if you choose to believe in it.”

Newman thought long and hard about it as he finished the ration before lying down. He had nothing to sleep on but rubble, but his suit made it comfortable enough and provided a reasonable amount of heat. For a few moments the memories of their recent losses flashed into his mind, but as he shut his eyes, he realised how exhausted he was, and within moments he fell into a deep sleep. He suddenly snapped back awake, thinking he’d been out for a few moments, but it was first light. He yawned and shrugged, as he rubbed his eyes and tried to come to his senses. He’d slept better than he had in a long time and felt surprisingly fresh.

“First light? What’s happened?”

“Nothing yet,” said Mai. She was sitting on a chunk of concrete twirling her rifle in her hands, impatiently waiting for the deadline to come. Newman took a quick drink of water and got up beside her.

“When we say no, they’re gonna come at us hard, you know that right?”

“They’re gonna want to roll over us, drive us back over the Potomac and out of DC. Because to turn down that offer will be seen as a huge insult.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because they’re religious zealots. They don’t just do this for the land or the glory. They do it because they believe it is right, and that their God wants them to. Saying no to them will be as good as telling them their God is a fake. They will hit us with fire and brimstone, and all the wrath they can. They will want to make an example of us.”

As he finished, he noticed the floating screen come into view once more. It was ominous, even though they knew what to expect, and that whatever came next was going to be bad.

The screen flashed to life once more with what appeared to be the same alien as before. The marines and soldiers gathered to watch.

“In the name of Atua you were offered mercy. A life to live under the one true god, we await your response,” said the creature as the screen transitioned to a live stream of a podium of the President of the Alliance.

There was nobody in sight, but they could hear whispers and heated conversations in the background. The marines and soldiers looking on were weary, but still watched intently as a Presidential aide finally stepped up to the podium. The balding man in his forties looked shaky and uncomfortable. He coughed to clear his throat.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. I present to you the President of the Alliance,” he said curtly as the President’s title and name ‘Mendez’ appeared on a subtitle.

A woman in her mid-thirties stepped up to the podium. She was athletic and vibrant and didn’t show the same uneasiness of her aide.

“Thank you all for coming. As you know, late last night we were given an ultimatum by the followers of an alien named Atua. Total surrender and submission, in return for our lives. I have carefully considered this offer and all options. The ramifications of both accepting and declining this offer have grave consequences.

However, I have come to the decision that while it may come at a great cost, we must all fight for the freedoms and liberties our ancestors gave everything for. We will not be slaves, we will not be subjects, and we will not lose this fight. No, is my answer, and no will always be my answer. I will fight for the freedom of the Alliance and its citizens, if it means I have to pick up a rifle and do it with my own two hands. No, we will stand up to this tyranny. We will not be bullied. To all members of the Alliance, not just in the armed forces, but the civilians, too. Rise up, fight for what we have, fight for each other. Fight, and we will win!”

“Yes!” Mai yelled excitedly as the lines of troops erupted into furious celebrations.

The screen faded and moved away, and the cheers soon died down. The scene was quiet, uncomfortably so, and then it was broken by a single shot that narrowly missed Russo and slammed into the wall behind him. Everything erupted into chaos as hundreds of shots came at them from windows and the rubble ahead. A few of the marines tried to fire back, but two were hit, one killed outright and the other knocked down. The rest ducked down for cover as the wall of fire kept their heads down.

“Now they’re pissed off!” Newman shouted as the shots slammed into the building behind them. Concrete shattered over his helmet and dust coated them. He managed to peer out from a gap in a large slab for a moment to see more than a hundred Kaimahs advancing towards them. Many more were pouring out of buildings and from under mounts of debris.

“Fire!” Sommer ordered, realising how quickly they were gaining ground.

Newman opened fire, but as a shot struck above his head, he missed his target and was forced to hunker down once more.

“Come on, shoot!” Mai shouted at him rather unhelpfully.

He got back up onto the line and opened fire. This time he was sure to put his target down, but the supressing fire coming from the buildings opposite them was immense. Mac and Sulen were targeting them, and killed two in as many seconds, but they couldn’t find and shoot them fast enough as a wall of fire came at them. Akyan lifted his heavy machine gun up onto the defensive line and opened fire. He cut down five enemy soldiers in his first burst and continued to mow more of them down. He’d killed fifteen when a shot from far into the distance struck the receiver of his weapon, and it exploded before him. Another shot struck his arm and he fell back, before being pulled into cover by Turan.

Three more marines were hit. Sommer watched as they knocked the enemy down, but more filled their places, as it seemed a never-ending horde.

“What are we gonna do, Major!” Cal yelled.

“Stand your ground and keep firing!”

They gave the enemy hell, and yet still they came. Newman ducked down to slam in a new magazine after quickly emptying his first. Yet he got back up, but they were now twenty metres away and closing fast. It was as if they felt no fear at all, as he couldn’t imagine them ever managing to do the same in the face of such horrific losses. He fired from one target to another, even as a shot glanced his helmet. The enemy upped their pace as they closed distance. He moved to full auto in the hope of stopping them, but he killed only one more as he emptied his magazine, and three of the Kaimahs were about to leap over the defences. He threw down his rifle, drew his Assegai, and activated his shield. The first of them came right at him as they leapt over. He beat its muzzle aside with his shield before it could fire and thrust his Assegai into its head. But the second came over and fired into his shield. To his astonishment the round went right through and narrowly missed his face as the shield powered down.

“What the hell?” He leapt forward and smashed its weapon down with his Assegai as it fired again, now hitting the floor. He thrust his weapon towards it, but in the last moment it stepped back and blades shot out from its forearms, each a half a metre long.

“You gotta be kidding me,” he muttered.

He activated the extender of his Assegai, and it shot forward into spear length. He thrust it forward and jammed it through the face in one brutal shot, impaling the creature. He drew the blade out and turned as the third Kaimah leapt into its position. It took aim at him, but Mai’s rifle muzzle appeared at the side of its head. She squeezed the trigger, and the bullet when through and through. The soldier dropped instantly.

“Thanks,” he said as he sheathed his Assegai, reached for his rifle, and loaded a fresh magazine.

They looked out across the line. The enemy had breached in several areas, and a number of their own lay wounded. The Major herself had a deep cut across the side of her face. She looked out across the open plain that was little more than rubble and bodies. It was a hellish sight, only placated by the lack of Human and Krys dead. Medics were already going to work to patch up the wounded. Sommer shrugged one of them off as she pushed them towards another Marine. Many were checking their weapons and reloading. She went along the line to check on everyone.

“Everyone okay?”

“Sir, their weapons, they went right through my shield, first shot at this range,” said Newman.

She nodded in agreement as she clearly had already found that out.

“They’re not making life easy, are they?”

“It’s like they knew exactly what we were and what we had, and they built everything around defeating it,” said Mai.

“I think you’re not far wrong there.”

Mai looked surprised, but when she thought about it, the more horrifying it was.

“That’s what you do if you know you’re going to war. You prepare for the enemy. They knew who their enemy would be. We didn’t.”

“So, we were behind in this race before it even started?”

“A long way,” said Sommer.

She moved on to the next area and found the situation was a lot worse where a dozen of the Kaimahs had gotten over the defences. A blade had skewered one marine. It had punched right through his armour, but it looked like he might make it. Several others were not so lucky, and among them the young Lieutenant who had fought so bravely the day before. She knelt down beside him and held his hand. A tear came to her eye as she bowed her head. She’d not got to know much more than his name, and yet had experienced his bravery in the short time she’d known him.

“Major!” a voice called out.

They could hear movement up ahead, and she got up to find her worst fears realised. Another wave of the Kaimahs had formed, just as many as before, maybe even more.

“We can’t keep doing this, Sir.”

“They’re gonna walk all over us,” said another.

She looked down at her ammo to see that was low, too. They had been shattered.

“We can’t hold,” whispered Russo.

She nodded in agreement as the tear rolled down her face.

“Fall back, order them to fall back. Back over the bridge.”

“Fall back, fall back! Come on, let’s move it!” Russo roared.

They gathered up the wounded but left the dead. They had little choice as the enemy began their advance.

They streamed out of the building at a running pace. They were running for their lives, and that broke Sommer’s heart. They ran on as quickly as they could. It wasn’t long before they could see the bridge. A morning fog had gathered over it, and so they could only see the first few metres before a wall of grey.

She looked back to the troops trailing behind her, and she didn’t want to risk leaving them behind.

“Lead them on!” Sommer yelled to Newman as she stepped out to watch and give cover. He didn’t want to leave her behind, but neither would he disregard the Major’s orders.

“Come on, move it. Move it!” She ushered them onwards to the Francis Scott Bridge.

It was a heart-breaking scene to see them running, and she knew what it meant to leave the western edge. The city would likely soon fall, but to stay there meant certain death.

Newman was about to get to the edge of the bridge when he noticed figures in the fog ahead of them. Someone was coming across the bridge.

“Halt!” He came to a stop. The column backed up behind him as he lifted his rifle to oppose whoever it was. Newman’s eyes widened in disbelief at what he saw.

“It can’t be,” he whispered as he watched Colonel Taylor burst out from the fog. By his side was Anzo, and at their backs were hundreds of marines.

“Hold, hold your ground!” Taylor ordered as he brought his column to a stop in front of them all.

“I don’t understand. How can this be?” Newman asked.

Sommer looked back to see the column had stopped and that there was some commotion at the front. She rushed forward angrily.

“Why have you stopped? Keep moving!” She pushed through them until she stopped in disbelief.

“Sorry I’m late, but we’ve got a battle to win. Not one step back! Follow me,” he said as he pushed through them.

“It’s Taylor!” someone yelled.

“The Colonel is with us! The Colonel is with us,” another cried jubilantly.

Newman looked to Sommer with utter disbelief. A smile stretched across his face at the realisation that the enemy were wrong. Maybe they could be beaten. Maybe this wasn’t the end. They watched in complete shock as Taylor charged forward to the front, running towards the positions they had abandoned moments before.

“You heard the Colonel. Let’s fight!” Sommer roared.

“Fight!” Newman shouted as he ran on to catch up with Taylor.

The entire column followed with him. Even many of the wounded found strength they didn’t believe they had and ran to join the fight, as hundreds of marines and soldiers rushed towards the enemy. There was a large hole in the building they’d come from, and Taylor headed straight for that breach. The enemy appeared in it as he got there, but he opened fire, as did dozens of others, cutting down all who blocked their way. Taylor didn’t even hesitate to run through the breach, knocking one rifle out the way, and shooting the wielder in the face point-blank. He smashed another with the rifle, shooting it in the head while it lay sprawled out on the ground.

But he didn’t stop as he fired at one after the other. Marines poured through the breach, and the wall of fire that followed them cut down the stragglers of enemy soldiers who had clearly not been expecting a fight. Gunfire ripped through them as the troops enthusiastically ran forward as if possessed.

Taylor soon ran out of ammunition, but he simply dropped his rifle and drew his pistol and Assegai. He went from one to another, thrusting and shooting his way through them. One enemy came at him with its blades, but he simply pushed both out of the way with his Assegai, kicked the legs out from under it, and stabbed it through the head as it hit the ground. On Temia he’d fought like a man knowing it was his end, but now he fought like a man with a new beginning. He went through four of the enemy with his Assegai like they were nothing, until one knocked the weapon out of his hands with a blade. He took aim with his pistol, but that was empty.

He threw the pistol into its face, picked it up like it was nothing, smashing its spine into a support beam. It broke its body, and he turned it headfirst to the ground, crushing its skull. It was a display of power most had never seen from a Human. He picked up his Assegai and loaded a new magazine into his pistol.

“This is our city and our land, will you let them take it from you?”

Dozens of marines had gathered beside him in awe of his raw power and savagery.

“Kill them. Kill them all!” Newman shouted in response.

They ran on to the defences they’d so recently given up. Many fired on the way at point-blank range, cutting a path through the enemy. Finally, they reached their positions to find a column of Kaimahs advancing casually towards the position. The marines and remaining soldiers lined up and began to open fire. Within moments, their hundreds of shots rained down on them as they were butchered in the open. Taylor simply watched with glee as they were cut down, until not a single one remained on its feet. He walked out onto the field of battle where the bodies littered the ground. He thrust his Assegai through the neck of one of the wounded and tore its head off, before lifting it aloft.

“These assholes told you I was dead. They told you they had beaten me, didn’t they?”

“Yeah!” came back the cry.

“They lied. They couldn’t beat me, and they can’t beat you!”

“Yeah!” they shouted again.

“I’m here to tell you this war isn’t over. It has just begun!”

They roared with excitement once more.

“You are the best and finest warriors anyone could ever hope to serve beside. I salute you, and now I ask you, will you follow me to victory? Will you walk through hell and grab the devil by the balls?”