Chapter 9
Becker looked like a stone statue as he stood opposite Kelly. They were listening to the other officers bicker and argue over the next course of action.
"Captain, what do you think?" one of them asked Becker.
He finally turned and looked at the man.
"I want them to suffer."
That was all he said.
"Now we're talking," replied Kelly, "You, what was your name again?" he asked the man who had finally drawn a word from Becker.
"Lieutenant Oster."
"And you?" he asked as he pointed at the next one.
"Lieutenant Thalberg."
He only looked at the last, expecting him to answer.
Lieutenant Decker."
"You're all tank commanders, is that right?" Kelly asked.
They nodded in acknowledgement.
"So, without meaning any offence. You have fought the wars from the confines of armoured vehicles in squadrons of what, hundreds of other vehicles in regular formations, and taking orders from a central command? What the hell do you know about fighting a guerrilla war?"
"How dare you..." Decker began.
"No!" Becker shouted and slammed his fist down on the table.
They were silenced.
"Kelly is right. It doesn't lessen what any of us have done these past years, but he does highlight a major flaw in our knowledge and abilities to take on this kind of fight."
"Well what do we do?" Oster asked.
"Rely on the only man here who actually knows what he's talking about," he said, looking towards Kelly.
"That old man? He isn't one of us. He isn't even a soldier anymore," Oster complained.
"Neither are you," said Becker, "We still have our uniforms and some hardware, but there is no army, and no government. We're a bunch of survivors who have come together for the apocalypse. Whatever ranks we hold, and whatever you think you might be entitled to, it doesn't mean anything anymore. None of it matters. All that matters is what skills you have and what ability and resolve to use those skills. Am I right?" he asked Kelly.
"But we're a few hundred against whole armies," said Oster.
"God is not on the side of the big battalions, but of those who shoot best," replied Kelly.
"Great, another piece of philosophy. That's not going to win any battles, is it?" asked Oster, "What help is God? He hasn't done anything for us this far."
"Maybe not," said Decker, "but Kelly is right in the sentiment at least."
"Thalberg, what do you think?" Becker asked, "You haven't said a word."
"If Kelly is skilled at this sort of fighting, then we must rely on his judgement."
It was the decider.
"Okay," said Becker, "I want to hit these alien bastards ASAP. I don't want them thinking the World went out without a fight. Kelly, I am putting you in charge of organising and planning the first attack. I want to be involved in the process from start to finish, and will have ultimate say in what does and does not happen. Are we clear?"
"You got it, Captain."
"Then let's get started."
"Okay. First thing's first. This base we have here, the Drachenburg. It is a good strong base of operations. It has a wealth of resources and can sustain us for some time. But none of that will matter if the enemy gain knowledge of its presence. Nothing will stop them from busting this bunker. We cannot take them in a straight up fight. You can't think of yourselves as regular soldiers anymore. You do not present yourselves for battle, and you never give your position away. Every action we make takes place at a minimum of five klicks from this facility. Do I make myself clear?"
They all nodded in agreement.
"That must be an absolute blanket rule. We do not take shots at passing craft. We do not attack passing convoys or troops within that area. Now this is a pretty isolated place, so I wouldn't expect us to see much of them out here, but even so. Nobody fires a weapon or engages the enemy within five klicks unless their lives are in danger. If this facility is discovered, then we are likely finished."
"It's going to be pretty hard to use our armour if we have to be so secretive."
"That's right, Oster, but our advantage lies in the element of surprise. Your tanks didn't win the last war in a stand up fight; remember that. We will have use of them yet, but they will not be the principal tools of our forces. We are all going to have to live and fight very differently. When I arrived here, you had a tank and personnel guarding the road several klicks out, is that right?"
"It is," Becker confirmed.
"We need them to carry on in their duties to watch and observe. However, those I met were set up for a trap that would guarantee combat, should any enemy forces take that road."
Becker nodded in agreement.
"That won't do at all. You must open road access and conceal those forces far better, so they may monitor any enemy presence but are not obliged to engage them."
"So we let the enemy walk right by, instead of blowing them to hell?"
"Listen and learn, Oster," said Becker.
Kelly took in a deep breath, realising he had an uphill battle to break them of their ways.
"Yes. You may destroy an enemy vehicle or two that you encounter, but many more will follow. Remember, we cannot afford to be swamped by enemy forces. We engage them at the time and place of our choosing. In every encounter we must control the ratio of forces, the ground, and the timing."
"And you think you can do that?"
"We have to, Oster. It's the only way we can fight this enemy and stand a chance.”
“All right, then layout your plan.”
“First thing I need is information. What enemy have you encountered? Their strength, position, and type of forces.”
“At present, it’s just small aircraft, and that’s about it,” said Decker.
“The big stuff is probably heading for the cities to secure them,” Becker added.
“Okay, we start small. Low risk. That’s how this gets started. It doesn’t matter if we kill just one alien or take down one vehicle. The important thing is we get it done right from the start and get away clean. Above all else, it is absolutely essential that everyone in this…whatever we have here…understand the most important thing is to maintain the secrecy of this location. That means nothing compromises it.”
They all nodded as if they knew what that meant.
“That goes beyond the obvious, Gentlemen. That means NEVER compromising. If you have to not shoot because it will compromise our position, you don’t. If you have to leave someone behind rather than compromise our location, you do. In fact, you put a bullet into them so that they don’t compromise it. Do you understand?”
Their automatic agreement to everything he said stopped when they realised the cold hard truth of what he was saying.
“Don’t think for a moment I am exaggerating,” he added, “The individual now means nothing. Everyone is expendable to maintain the security of this facility. But it isn’t because we are protecting civilians. There are no civilians any longer. The existence of this facility and this army we have is vital to ensure we keep being a pain in the ass to that alien scum. That is our goal from now on. We live to make their lives difficult, and to that end, this army must last as long as it possibly can. Do you understand that? Our individual existence is not important, except for being one of the soldiers. We never want unnecessary losses, but the individual is not more important than the mission.”
* * *
Taylor stood before almost one hundred men and women who had been assembled as potential new recruits to the Regiment. They stood in what resembled a formation, as much as Parker could manage in a few moments of getting a hold of them. Taylor turned to look at Silva who had been in charge of assembling the first group of potentials.
“This the best you could find?”
“Not sure they are the best, Sir, but they are the first lot we found that were available to serve and of an age appropriate.”
“And you think they are up to the task?”
“No,” he replied bluntly.
Taylor smiled and was at least appreciative of Silva’s honesty.
He turned back and looked at them. They looked tired, agitated, and uneasy. It was the look of a group of people after a long haul flight that had another connection to make. He knew the feeling well. They ranged from spotty teenagers to those pushing fifty. Half of them were well out of shape. Few of them lacked any fire in their eyes. They looked ready to lie down and give up. He looked back to Silva.
“You better hope you can find better than this, or we’re in trouble.”
Silva couldn’t disagree.
Taylor stepped up onto an ammo box so that he could be heard. They were in the gymnasium of the Washington, one of the few high-ceiled rooms on the vessel, and where the sound echoed around the walls.
“I am Colonel Mitch Taylor. I am looking for volunteers to enter a training programme that if you pass, you could be a member of my Regiment. You will have an opportunity to serve the people of this fleet and protect its future. If you want no part of that, or think you aren’t up to the task, turn around and leave now.”
Many of them looked surprised but nobody moved.
“You heard me. This is your chance to leave. If you stay, then the only reason you get out of your responsibility is if you flunk out because you aren’t good enough for this Regiment. So, I say again. If you don’t want to be here, or you don’t think you are up to the task. Leave now!”
One of the men in the front rank stepped out and walked away. He was shortly followed by several more until dozens were breaking rank. He was finally left with just half of the group that had been assembled. Parker leaned in close and whispered to him.
“Sure that was wise?”
“They were never gonna be up to the task. We just weeded out the first bunch of slackers, losers, and lowlifes,” he replied quietly.
Parker stood back so that he could go on addressing the crowd.
“The Inter-Allied needs personnel, but it doesn’t need just anyone. We require high standards. Those who stay and go through our training process stand a chance of becoming a member of our elite family. Those who fail or are not accepted will be sent back to the ships you came from and appointed other work. It won’t be easy. Training will not be fun. The job is not safe or well paid. In fact, it isn’t really paid anything anymore. We do this because we know we must, and we have a duty to all those aboard the ships of this fleet. If you think you can be one of us, stay, and give it your all. I wish you every luck and leave you in the capable hands of Sergeant Parker.”
He then turned and left. Silva followed him.
“Think that was harsh enough?” Taylor asked him.
“Not a chance, but Parker will weed out the rest.”
“Indeed she will, but I fear that will leave no one left at all.”
“Then we will find more. There are plenty more people in the fleet. I won’t lower the standard of our unit for any reason. We have to accept green marines and that’s life, but it doesn’t mean we have to accept shit marines.”
Taylor went onwards and left Silva with them. He shook his head. He had spent years building the Inter-Allied Regiment. It had evolved over time as he had brought remnants of other units into the fold, but they had always been well-trained and experienced troops. Now he did not have that luxury. He knew he had to bring in new blood, or risk being whittled down to nothing at all.
* * *
Kelly took a deep breath of the fresh winter air. He flexed his arm in the Reitech suit and appreciated the power it gave after the weakness he had felt so many times facing the alien forces. The suit kept most of his body warm, but he could feel the icy breeze on his cheeks. A very light snow was falling now, and he could tell they were in for a hard winter.
The prospect was strange for a man of the Moon, and yet a few short years in the south of Germany had taught him a lot. Just as he always did, he had studied in every spare moment and knew his surroundings well, but he was still not accustomed to the cold. Seasons passed on the Moon without physical change in their climate controlled environments.
“How did they ever live like this?” Reynolds asked.
Kelly looked across to see the Captain was shivering. They had taken up positions on a crest. It was a good viewpoint of the valley that was a flight path to the city far to the south.
“Will this work?”
“As much as we can hope for,” Kelly replied.
“How long do we wait?”
“There have been several low flyovers of this valley in the last day. We wait as long as we have to.”
Kelly looked along the crest at the two-dozen fighters he had with him. Becker lay to his right, but he still wore his tankers gear as he had done before.
“This better work, Kelly,” he said.
“It’ll work, don’t you worry.”
They saw a flash up ahead, the signal for them to prepare for the enemy to pass into sight.
“This is it!” Kelly shouted.
They could hear the engines of the ship approach but could not yet see it. He looked across to Berlin. She was sitting in the seat of the anti-aircraft gun mount they had fitted into the back of Kelly’s truck, and then almost buried in a hull down position and covered with foliage.
“Ready! Ready!” he yelled.
The ship roared into view. At the ground clinging altitude, Kelly knew they only had a few moments of opportunity.
“Now!”
The quad gun on the truck bed lit up the valley. It rocked so much the camouflage foliage shook off, and the light glinted on the surface of the settling snow. Tracer fire raced through the sky and led the target of the craft accurately. It was struck by two-dozen shots, and as an explosion ignited, it bellowed smoke. It then banked and plunged into the forest half a klick away. The troops cried and cheered, and Becker looked to Kelly with a smile.
“Not bad, not bad at all. You may prove useful yet, old man!”
Kelly got up from his position and pointed towards the crash site.
“Go!” he ordered.
They rushed towards the position at a rapid pace. The power and speed the Reitech suits provided still surprised Kelly, but he welcomed their abilities. He closed on the burning wreck quickly and found one of the wounded crew crawling towards him as he rushed over an embankment. Without hesitation, he fired three shots that went through the creature’s chest. He carried on before it had even hit the ground.
A dozen of Kelly’s troops reached his side, and they watched as two more of the survivors climbed out of the wreck. Every one of them opened fire and butchered the creatures with joy. Finally, the gunfire stopped as they stopped moving. Kelly approached the vessel, pulled a grenade from his armour, and tossed it inside. As it blew, Becker reached them and was out of breath.
“You did it. You really did it.”
Becker looked surprised that they had taken down an enemy without armour, and that brought a smile to Kelly’s face.
“Many ways to fight a war, Captain. Now we fight the only way we can. In the barren wilderness, the dark of night, and the isolated quarters of the land. This is our war now. We pick and choose the place, and we set the pace. Welcome to the Resistance.”
* * *
A day had passed since Parker had been given her lot of potential recruits. Taylor strolled on down to see how they were doing, but when he arrived, he found just her and nine of them left. They were working on a pull up bar, and most of them were giving up as he entered. He could see Parker shaking her head in disappointment.
"Is this the kind of effort you'll put in when you’re faced by an enemy that wants to tear your head off?" she screamed.
Parker noticed Taylor's presence and strolled over to greet him.
"This all that's left?"
"Yep, and they don't even come close to being good enough. If this was basic, they'd have flunked out by now."
"We just can't be as picky as we once were."
"But there has to be better than this," she said, pointing to them.
Except for one woman, they had all given up and were panting heavily. Half of them had sat down, and several others were keeled over. Taylor stepped up before them.
"To be a marine is not to be a prisoner. You do attempt to impress us. You do your duty to the best of your ability because you know you must, not because someone is watching!"
He looked to the one woman still on the pull up bar. She was straining to do just one more and was close to exhaustion. She was slight, with died jet-black hair and tattoos running the lengths of her arms. Taylor pointed to her.
"You see the look on that recruit’s face. She isn't willing to give up. She's getting angry, and she's getting mean. By the look in her eye, I'd say she hates us right about now, and is only continuing to prove us wrong!"
The black-haired woman tried for one more pull up again and was gaining height at a snail's pace but still trying.
"It's okay. You can stop now," Taylor said.
She finally let go and dropped down to her feet.
"What's your name?"
"Mia Moore, Sir."
"Sounds like the kind of name you'd front a band with, Moore."
"Yes, Sir."
"Moore, you're staying and continuing the training, the rest of you; on your feet. You're finished here."
None of them moved. They clearly didn't think he was being serious.
"Get the f*ck out of here!"
There were groans all around, as they began to get up and shamble away.
"Move!" Parker screeched.
They sped up a little, and they were just left with Moore now.
"You fancy yourself a bit of a badass, do you?" Taylor asked her.
"I do, Sir."
"And this bad girl attitude you got going. Is it real of just an act?"
"I've been fighting my whole life, Sir, just not had a cause to back me up."
"Well, you sure got one now."
He turned to Parker.
"What do you think?"
"She's got about as much discipline as a fighting dog, and just as much balls."
Taylor nodded in agreement.
"Okay, Mia Moore. You'll still have to go through a shit tonne of training to be as good as we need you to be. But what do you say, you wanna be in the Regiment?"
"I do, Sir."
"Then welcome aboard."
Taylor signalled for Parker to follow him across the room to where they could not be heard.
"That's a little premature, don't you think? We haven't tested anything but her willpower and attitude."
"That's enough. She's capable enough. She will handle the training just fine. We don't have time to go through six months of recruitment. We need a couple of hundred capable men and women preparing to join the ranks right now. That means you are gonna have to start getting ruthless with your selection. You know you can tell enough about a person in an hour. That is all you should need to give a yes or no. So what, if a few stragglers get through. They'll be weeded out at a later date."
* * *
"You think this'll work?"
"Trust me, Berlin," replied Kelly. They were storming along a country road in his truck.
"I sure would have been happier if we'd kept the AA gun on the back."
"Yeah, well that would defy the object, wouldn't it?"
She shook her head.
"Not long now," he added.
The line of trees was coming to an end up ahead, and they could see the bright opening that would put them out on an open plain for all to see.
"Don't worry. It'll work."
"I'm sure the first part will, and we’ll surely get some attention. I'm just not so sure about the second part, surviving the experience."
"Too late now."
They burst out into the morning sunshine. Under the shelter of the forest canopy, they had not seen such bright light since leaving their homes, and it was almost blinding. Kelly kept up the speed, both as to try and get noticed, and not get hit. He felt the back end of his truck begin to slide and merely put more power down and pulled it back into line.
"That's if you don't kill us first," Berlin added.
They got a hundred metres across the open plain when a pulse impacted on the ground just in front of them. The truck dropped into the crater, ramped up the other side, and continued on.
"Damn that was fast!" Kelly yelled.
They looked ahead to see it was another hundred metres to the tree line.
"This is gonna be close!" Berlin shouted.
She knew there was nothing to do now but hold on and hope. Another two pulses landed around them, and Kelly swerved the vehicle to avoid the enemy being able to lead them.
"You see, moving target, they can't hit us!"
As he said it, another pulse skimmed the roof of the truck and burnt off a corner of the cab.
"That was too close!" Berlin hissed under her breath.
A second later, they raced into the narrow clearing of the forest, and Kelly slowed the pace to a half.
"Have we got them?"
Berlin looked back for confirmation.
"Can't see anything...wait... there they are! Put your foot on it!"
He accelerated away as another two pulses raced their way. One of them struck a tree up ahead, and it began to fall across the road.
"No, no, no!" Berlin screamed.
"We can make it!" Kelly cried.
He put his foot to the floor as they raced towards the falling tree that they knew would easily crush the truck. They reached it just in time, and Berlin looked back to see it crash to the ground only a metre behind the vehicle.
"Way too close," she said.
"We're still alive, aren't we?"
"For now, Sir."
She looked up out of the windscreen and could just make out the shape of the craft flying overhead and following the route to the next opening. It was twice the size of the fighter they had shot down the day before.
"They're heading to cut us off exactly as you wanted."
"Good. Time for the welcome party."
Kelly carried on with a smile on his face, although Berlin didn't see the funny side of their situation. A few minutes later, they could see the light ahead where the forest opened up once again, and the path came to an end in a rocky canyon. They almost reached the opening when they saw the alien craft descend into the opening and land in front of them. Kelly brought his truck to a standstill, and they watched six Mechs stride out of the ship to confront them.
They raised their pulse cannons to take aim at the truck, but as they did, a rocket trail zoomed towards the ship behind them. It exploded, sending shrapnel almost as far as Kelly's vehicle. Before the Mechs could respond, each of them was struck by dozens of shots from Reitech rifles and riddled until they dropped where they stood. Kelly and Berlin simply sat back and watched the show as the aliens were executed before them. Finally, as the dust settled, Kelly got out and strolled forward to the see the results of their work.
As they approached, a number of troops stepped out from their concealed positions, including Becker. He paced up to the bodies and wreckage, looking through it for any sign of life. The Mechs on the ground were dead, without a doubt, so he carried on up to the wreckage of their ship. Part of the hull was still intact but was twisted and burnt. A huge hole had been ripped in the side from the impact. He looked inside and saw a single Mech. It looked dead, but he fired three shots into its head to be certain. Finally, he turned back to Kelly and Berlin who stood over the bodies of the Mechs.
"Not bad at all, Kelly. Seven dead and a ship knocked out. No casualties or losses of equipment on our side."
He looked past them to the state of the truck and the roof that had been opened like a can of beans by the impact.
"Looks like you came a little too close there."
"Far too close," Berlin said, "We survived that more out of luck than skill."
"Yeah, well, I guess that's part of our lives now," replied Becker, "Luck. We do everything we can, as we always have, but we're gonna need a tonne of luck to keep this up."
Smoke arose from the craft high into the sky.
"This is going to attract attention."
"Good," said Kelly, "take up your positions. Let's get a little bonus out of this."
Kelly went back to his truck and pulled it off the road into nearby foliage, and then took up position in a well-concealed dugout beside Becker.
"Sure this is a good idea? We've taken out one of theirs. Doesn't seem like a good idea to hang about."
"As far as they know, one of their ships has gone down, and even if they radioed in what they saw, it will just be my truck, a civilian vehicle. They'll send another to investigate before deploying anything too heavy."
"You sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure, Berlin. You don't commit an army to investigate a single loss. This is our chance to expand on our work here today. Then we leave. A second ambush can work in our favour, but they won't fall for a third. Now listen up and be ready."
They sat and waited in their dugout for twenty minutes without seeing a sign of movement. Finally, Becker asked, "Why didn't you leave?"
Kelly looked surprised.
"What do you mean?"
"You're a civilian, or you were. You and your people could have gotten off the planet. Particularly if you pulled a few strings with Taylor. Why did you stay?"
"Why did you?"
"We're soldiers. We were there to defend our country."
"Yeah, so were we."
"And this country means that much to you?"
"Damn right it does. You truly learn to appreciate your own home ground once it's gone. I couldn't leave it again."
"But you know we're all gonna die down here. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon enough."
"Yeah, probably," he replied casually.
"So why?"
Kelly shook his head.
"I don't know how many more ways I can explain it. We're here. You're here. There's only one thing left for us to do, and we're doing it."
"You sound like Taylor," he replied.
Kelly laughed.
"Well, that can't be a bad thing. That crazy son of a bitch can survive anything."
They could faintly hear an engine in the sky.
"Everyone down. Get ready!"
It was almost half a minute until the ship came into view. It was the exact same model as the one they had destroyed and lay a crumbled wreck before them. The ship hovered above and circled the position, clearly investigating from the air.
"Come on, you alien bastard, land already," whispered Becker.
It slowly came in to a smooth landing, and as before, six Mechs stepped out to investigate. Kelly smiled.
"Predictable. They're like machines."
He raised his rifle to the shoulder and took careful aim at the nearest, squeezing the trigger so that a three-shot burst struck the creature and killed it instantly. Before it had even hit the dirt, another two-dozen rifles opened fire. The creatures were gunned down before they could loose off a shot. The ship's engines began to gain power to lift off and make a run for it.
"Bring it down!" Becker hollered.
The ship got a metre off the ground when a rocket streamed towards it. It hit one of the engines dead on and blew it off the side of the craft. The loss of one of the two engines caused the ship to go into a spin and crash back down into the wreckage of the first. Kelly jumped out of his trench and rushed to the wreckage. He pulled a grenade from his armour and threw it in through the breach in the hull, rushing back as it blew. Becker and the others ducked for cover when the explosion rang out, but as it settled, they got up and found Kelly was standing in front of the wrecked ship as calm as could be.
"Woohoo!" Becker shouted, "Nailed them!"