Their Darkest Hour

by Christopher Nuttall

  He glanced over at Abdul, who was monitoring the results of the mortar strikes. “Not too bad,” he commented. “Shame we couldn't get into the tunnels – we could have popped up right in the midst of them.”

  Chris shrugged. “Alpha team,” he said, picking up his rifle, “go!”

  As one, they started to run towards the alien gates, covered by the snipers. Up close, the sound of the mortars was louder. A single shell falling short might take out friendly soldiers, yet there was no time to call off the strikes. No one was entirely sure what the aliens used to build their base, but they did know that it was strong; alien bases across the world had stood off everything from RPGs to guided missiles. They had to keep the aliens pinned up while they deployed into position to assault the base itself.

  He smiled as he saw a pair of wounded aliens staggering back inside the base, only to be shot down before they could escape. They took cover behind what remained of the gate and glanced around, taking out any remaining aliens outside before they advanced into the base proper. Maybe they’d die without ever knowing what had hit them, but the aliens faith in their own invincibility was about to suffer one hell of a knock.

  “Go,” he ordered.

  ***

  Ju’tro Oheghizh had been reading the report from the latest round of interrogations when the attack began. There had been rumours that something was being planned, but an attack in the centre of London hadn't been expected. Everyone had known that the aliens and their collaborators controlled the city and attacking their base was merely a way to get encircled, trapped, and then exterminated. But it was clear that the humans hadn't gotten the message. The hooting of the aliens was growing louder, just as the first shells started impacting on the metal shielding.

  He lunged towards the command room, expecting to see his officers already reacting to the crisis and summoning assistance from the other garrisons scattered over the city. Instead, the big board had lit up with glowing icons – and then frozen. His officers were trying desperately to reactivate the command network, but it had clearly crashed. Or hacked – the humans were marvels with computer technology. They’d developed entire libraries of tactics for attacking and defending their own computer systems – why wouldn't they be able to come up with something targeted against his computer systems?

  And if they’d taken down the systems assigned to him, had they taken down everything?

  The sound of the human bombardment grew louder. They didn't have a properly-trained computer tech at the base and they couldn't assume that someone who was only familiar with their own systems would be able to fix the damage the humans had inflicted, even if they had had a tech. And that meant that they’d been thrown back on their own resources. The higher commanders had loved the communications systems – it allowed them to supervise operations from on high – but the humans had turned it into a colossal weakness.

  “Leave the computers,” he ordered. There were emergency procedures for computer failure, although he had no idea how many would have the time to implement them if the humans were attacking everywhere. “Get the radios passed out” – unless the humans had managed to set up a jamming system – “and then arm yourselves. This base is under attack.”

  He picked up a weapon himself to illustrate the point. The command techs were unused to being in danger – they certainly hadn't been on the first drop into London, or on any of the more dangerous landings after the pre-invasion bombardment – but there was no choice. They’d be able to summon help from the bases surrounding London, if they could hold out long enough for help to arrive.

  Another explosion shook the base. The command techs, almost on the verge of panic, cried out in shock. “If they had anything that could break through the shield, they’d have used it by now,” Oheghizh snarled at them. A nuclear weapon could have broken through – they hadn’t been able to account for some of the human tactical weapons, let alone the devices they’d installed on their missile submarines – but the humans had been oddly reluctant to use nuclear weapons against the invaders. Apart from the Chinese...and China was now a wasteland of competing warlords, trying desperately to survive. “Get out of here and down to the inner defence lines. We don’t know how long we have until they start breaking in.”

  ***

  The first warning of attack had come when the shells started landing inside the base. U’tra The’Stig, who had been preparing for the latest sweep against human insurgents, had taken immediate action, ordering the base’s own counter-battery weapons to return fire. He didn't realise that the entire command network had been taken down until he’d deployed two Assault Units to sweep the area around the base and capture, kill or drive away the human insurgents. It was only when higher command had failed to take command that he’d discovered the truth.

  “Get the radios out,” he ordered. He was supposed to direct his units from the mobile command vehicle, but half of its communications functions had been disabled. There was no way of knowing what the humans had done and they didn't have time to try to fix it. The handful of reports they had had before the system failed had warned that the entire network of bases around London had come under attack. “And then prepare for immediate deployment.”

  For a moment, he found himself lost in indecision. There was clearly a major attack underway, yet he didn't know what was being targeted – which meant he didn't know where he should send his troops. The base itself had only been lightly shelled, but the humans were tricky. It could have been an attempt to force them to stay in the base, a division...or merely the prelude to a more intensive bombardment. He’d have to keep shifting his troopers out and hope that the humans hadn't anticipated his actions and taken precautions. There were horror stories from many other bases about deploying their forces in pursuit of human raiders, only to walk right into an ambush that bled them heavily before they fell back.

  “I managed to get a radio link to the London Base,” one of the techs reported. They’d been working on the radios, the only system they could fall back on if the command network had gone down. “They’re under heavy attack. The humans are threatening the base itself.”

  The’Stig cursed. It was bad enough having the humans gloating over how they’d pulled their people – the ones who were due to be executed – out of the detention camp, but if they managed to take out the central base in London it would give them a major propaganda victory. And if they’d learned better than to try to take prisoners, they’d wipe out the administrative staff – human and alien – who were trying to assimilate the humans into the State. The entire program would be set back weeks, if not months.

  “I want us moving in five minutes,” he ordered, finally. There was no choice – they had to assume that they were the only ones available to relieve the London Base before it fell. The radio operators still hadn't established contact with half of the nearby bases. The’Stig hoped that the bases had merely had problems establishing their own radio links, but he had to assume the worst. The humans might have taken the bases – and the troopers guarding them – out. It was a horrifying thought. “We need to head into London.”

  There was a pause. “And get the helicopters up too,” he added. “We’re going to need air cover.”

  ***

  Chris ran to the next piece of cover, heading towards the main entrance to the alien base. A number of aliens had taken up positions just inside, firing towards the humans as they came closer. Their shooting didn't seem to be particularly accurate, but they were definitely forcing Chris and his men to move carefully. He fired twice and then ducked down as a burst of alien bullets nearly took his head off.

  Two men ran closer, holding grenades. They pitched them into the alien building and then ducked for cover themselves as the grenades detonated. A number of aliens were caught and wounded by the blasts, but the others kept firing, determined to keep the humans from getting inside. Chris waved to the Javelin team as they reached a position where they could fire directly into the doors, ordering them
to take their shot. The missile blasted into the base and exploded, smashing through their defences. A handful of grenades polished off the remaining aliens.

  “They’re trying to snipe from the windows,” his radio buzzed. “Our snipers are sniping back.”

  Chris nodded as he ran forward, into the wreckage of the alien front door. They’d been paranoid enough to set up firing positions inside, but the grenades had wrecked them. A single alien seemed to still be alive, yet he was so badly wounded that there was nothing anyone could do for them. Chris shot him and led the way forward, into the alien base. He’d crawled through Taliban hideouts before, seeing some of the horrors they unleashed upon their own people, but there was something oddly inhuman about the interior of the alien base. He laughed at himself a moment later. Of course there was something inhuman – it had been built by aliens who needed more space than their human counterparts. Their rooms and doors were far larger than anything a human would build.

  There had been no way to get an accurate picture of the base’s interior layout, but he headed towards the centre on the assumption that the alien command staff would be in the safest place on the base. The aliens seemed to have vanished, leaving the soldiers glancing nervously from side to side, looking for the next threat. It came in a burst of alien gunfire as the Leathernecks sprang an ambush, taking down two soldiers before they were forced to retreat by Chris and his men. Chris unhooked a grenade from his belt, tossed it into the side room, and headed inside as soon as the grenade had exploded. One alien was dead; the other, somehow, was completely unharmed. His shot missed Chris by bare millimetres. Abdul put three bullets into the alien head, shattering his skull.

  One by one, the remaining rooms on the lower level were swept. Some of the rooms were completely bare, with nothing to show what the aliens had done in them. Others were packed with alien equipment, sleeping cots and other gear that was vaguely recognisable. A handful of aliens tried to surrender, but there was no time to take prisoners. All they could do was gun them down. Chris knew that it would bother him later, yet there was no time to worry about it now. They had to keep moving.

  “I think this is the way up,” one of the soldiers called. He’d kicked down a plastic door, revealing what looked like a bumpy ramp leading upwards. Chris had visions of disabled aliens trying to make their way up the stairs in wheelchairs before realising that the aliens probably found human stairs uncomfortable. There had certainly been some reports of aliens either becoming trapped or simply ignoring the upper floors, although no one had been quite sure why. “There’s a blockage at the far end.”

  Chris smiled. It would have been an effective defence against the aliens, but humans were smaller and nimbler. Grenades cleared the way, allowing them to get up to the second floor and start pushing the aliens back. They didn't seem to be particularly well coordinated, reminding him of the times that headquarters staff had found themselves in contact with the enemy in Afghanistan. They’d found themselves roughly handled by the Taliban. It stood to reason that the aliens had similar people in the rear. He wondered, absently, if they had their own word for REMFs.

  He glanced down at his watch as alien bullets snarled overhead. There had been no way to calculate how long it would take before the aliens started sending in reinforcements from the bases outside London. One theory had claimed that the aliens would wait for orders before doing anything – orders which were never going to come. Chris suspected otherwise; some alien commanders were clearly more capable of acting on their own initiative than others. Assuming that they left their base as soon as the attack began...there were too many variables to calculate any likely ETA. They’d just have to assume the worst and push on as fast as they could.

  They punched through a plastic wall and came into what looked like a control room, almost comparable to the stations Chris had guarded while on active duty. The aliens fought back savagely, but it was too late. Grenades shattered the room, leaving most of the aliens dead or wounded. The remainder seemed stunned, unable to resist effectively. And one of them was clearly in charge.

  ***

  Oheghizh stared at the human, wondering what the humans would do to him. Did they even know his rank? Probably, he told himself. They’d certainly be able to read the gold buttons and know that he was important. But they’d never be permitted to take him prisoner. The Command Triad would simply repeat the threat of bombarding a human city if he wasn't returned, alive.

  Two human soldiers marched him back down the ramp and out towards the open air. There was a brief pause, then one of them produced a black bag and pushed it down over Oheghizh’s head. The command network was down, but the satellites would still be watching...and all they would see, he realised in horror, would be a black mass. They wouldn't know he was a prisoner...

  He wanted to fight, but it was far too late.

  Chapter Forty

  London

  United Kingdom, Day 55

  David Lamb watched the alien convoy making its way through London, led by its tanks. They were clearly out for blood, judging by their response to a handful of pot-shots as they’d entered the city. They’d responded with heavy machine gun fire and even HE shells from their armoured vehicles. But there were only a handful of ways to get into London and head to Buckingham Palace, at least if they wanted to get there directly. They pretty much had to come this way.

  He smiled as he reached for the detonator. The aliens had killed millions of humans, without remorse; they probably didn't know that they’d killed Carol Lamb, wife of David, or their son Thomas. But David knew. He’d been wanting to fight ever since he’d discovered that his family had been caught up in the invasion and cut down in the crossfire. The resistance had trained him and given him a vital role in the counterattack. He had no intention of fucking up and failing to kill as many aliens as he could before they finally killed him. The alien tanks slowed as they spotted the plates they’d left on the road – they looked like mines, if someone was feeling paranoid – and started to move around them. David pushed down on the detonator and braced himself.

  The entire world seemed to explode. They’d placed explosive under the road, in two parked cars and in buildings facing the alien position. The blast was terrifyingly loud and the building he was using as a lookout point rocked alarmingly. To the aliens, caught up in the blast, it had to look like a foretaste of the hell awaiting them when they died. He couldn't hear anything through the ringing in his ears as he pulled himself up and staggered towards the fire escape, knowing that the aliens were likely to be ready to murder any human they encountered – assuming that some of the aliens had survived the blast. Someone had definitely survived. He saw a flash of tracer pouring up into the air, but there was no way of telling if humans or aliens had fired the shot.

  He saw something moving out of the corner of his eye and turned to see a pair of alien helicopters, moving rapidly towards the billowing cloud of smoke. They were shooting down towards the ground, aiming at resistance fighters – or maybe civilians who had been caught up in the battle. A missile rose up from the ground and slammed into one of the helicopters, sending it spinning over and down into the ground, where it vanished in a colossal explosion. The second helicopter climbed higher, all the while firing rockets down towards where the missile had come from. David took one final look, knowing that the aliens would never feel safe again in a human city, and then hurried down the stairs to safety. He’d been warned not to linger.

  ***

  The shock of the explosion was so powerful that it nearly destroyed the command vehicle, despite the heavy armour that should have protected it from harm. The’Stig cursed as the vehicle spun around on its hover-cushion, almost crashing into one of the other vehicles in the convoy. Judging from what little he’d seen, the blast had almost certainly taken out four tanks, the vehicles he’d placed at the front to deter any humans from ambushing his force. He’d put them out there to be slaughtered.

  There was no time to curse his own mista
ke. The humans were firing down at the convoy from all directions. Bullets were pinging off the command vehicle’s armour, while the troopers in the troop transports had to dismount to seek cover before their vehicles were ripped apart by the human assault. Hundreds of mortar shells seemed to be crashing around them, trapping them in a killing zone. The air cover he’d ordered should be able to deal with the mortars, if the humans hadn't brought antiaircraft missiles along to the ambush. They’d probably anticipated that he’d bring his helicopters with him.

  “Order the tanks to return fire indiscriminately,” he ordered. He’d set out to relieve London Base before it fell, but it looked as if he was going to have to cut his way out of the ambush first. The rear of the convoy was in chaos. One of the tanks had ploughed into a troop transport and ground to a halt. The surviving troopers had managed to dismount and start providing cover for the tanker as he tried to get his vehicle back into operation. “Tell them to clear the streets.”