by DN Farrell
Kell stopped and looked back around at the men, they were definitely down a few. "McGregor check with the medics and give us a casualty report." Then looking back at the horizon, in a southerly direction, he adjusted his visor, so that it would act like a binoculars and revealed what activity was going on there and Chapman did likewise. "It all appears to be going to plan sir, I see members of the 47th and 72nd are already there." Kell nodded and then as McGovern came back, he nodded at him looking for any news.
"Four men dead sir and eight injured." He said matter of factly. Four percent dead in the first half an hour of battle, "We're off to a bad start", Kell thought to himself, but kept it to himself. He had a reputation for being tough but fair and regardless of Chapman's gut feeling, someone had to keep morale up.
Kell signalled to Lieutenant Chapman and Sergeant Major McGovern, to come over and pointing towards a small hill, a couple of kilometers over in a southerly direction, he said "We will join with Companies 21,19,47 and 72 at the assembly point over there. When we meet up we will become Battalion Aplha and then we take the mountain..." Kell forgot its' name, so he checked in with his wrist readout display and declared "Mountain XK1."
Looking back over at Chapman and McGovern, Kell said "With a bit of luck we can take mountain XK1 within twenty four hours. At the same time Battalions Bravo, Charlie and Delta will be tackling their targets and within forty eight hours we shall all be converging on the city of Kal."
Chapman and McGovern nodded and Kell finished off, "Between you organize the men into two groups and keep your eyes peeled, if this goes topsy turvy, then we meet back at this point here and wait for extraction, but for now let's be optimistic."
"According to Central, the rebels are poorly armed sir, but these guys had a blaster cannon and Induranium shielding." McGovern spoke up.
Kell looked him straight in the eye and said "McGovern, apparently there are twenty thousand poorly armed rebels on this planet, and we have a ground force of two thousand, with Twenty MECHS and an air back up of twenty space fighters, so we should clean up by morning. But I know what you mean, let's hope this is a once off and there are no other nasty surprises waiting for us, here on this planet."
Once again the other two men nodded. Kell stood up and shouted out to corporal Yuthers to check out air support, meanwhile Chapman and McGovern also rose from the ground.
"Yuthers anything?" kell asked.
Yuthers replied "No reply sir, all I can get is back talk form the Virgil."
Kell looked surprised, while Chapman looked sick and McGovern just stared.
"Whats happening on the Virgil corporal?" The corporal just looked off into the distance listening into his comms unit, which being the communications grunt, he had to listen into five or six radio channels at any one time. After a minute or so, he came back into focus and spoke to the Colonel.
"Colonel they've being attacked by a squadron of space fighters and a large battleship, is also on the scene, it's attacking the Trigerius sir!" Yuthers, explained while still staring of into the distance.
An irritated Kell, yelled out for private Scarpoogenes, an eight foot tall Roderian, who being as big as he was, they set him the role of sensory equipment grunt. The big Roderian, jogged up into the presence of Colonel Kell, his height dwarfing everyone including Kell, who stood at well over six feet in height.
"Sir", he barked and stood to attention. Kell just pointed out at the sand in front of them and said "Scarpoogenes, two clicks that way is meeting point Bravo, I want you to scan this open area for any mines, hidden ships, rebels, MECHS you name it."
Scarpoogenes, just nodded and then started to assemble his heavy equipment, so as to assess the two kilometers of open desert, between them and their comrades, in meeting point Bravo.
Meanwhile Kell got onto the Battalion Alpha comms unit, which put him in touch with each of the Companies in his battalion. "Companies 47 and 72 come in please." To which both their Lieutenants responded "Sir, sir", they said in unison.
"Lieutenants you are in meeting point Bravo, I'm presently with 23rd Company in landing zone Alpha, about two clicks away in a north westerly direction, can you update me please." Kell signed off and listened in to the two Lieutenants.
"Lieutenant Tripp here sir, 47th company, we have two dead and six wounded, other than that we're fine."
Then Lieutenant Raven called in form 72nd company , "Sir six dead and eighteen wounded, abnormally heavy resistance from the rebels, they were supposed to be lightly armed sir!" He declared
"This is supposed to be a cake walk gentlemen, but the rebels seem to be well prepared, also the Virgil and the Trigerius are all under heavy attack, from a surprise squadron of space fighters and a battleship of some kind."
Silence rang back down the comms line, so Kell re-initiated the conversation. "Gentlemen how's it looking over in meeting point Bravo?"
"Quiet for now save for some random shooting", said Lieutenant Raven.
Then Kell called out on the Battalion comms unit for "Companies 19 and 21 come in are you there?" But only silence came back. They should be here by now, they were meant to land five minutes after 23rd Company . Kell looked back at the landing point and then over across at the landing points where Companies 19 and 21 were supposed to land. Nothing, nobody there, not even rebels either, it seemed to be getting awfully quiet around here.
"Gentlemen", he said speaking to the two Lieutenants again and of course Sergeant Major McGovern and Lieutenant Chapman could also hear him. "I have a bad feeling about this, if it turns out that we've just put ourselves into a trap, then get ready to move back towards my landing point, 23rd Company landing point, there's just a chance that we might have to go for an extraction." The two officers noted their acceptance of their orders and then switching back to his Company Comms, Kell asked Scarpoogenes about his findings.
Scarpoogenes seemed to be particularly quiet, as he examined the findings of his sensory check on his readout tab, which would give him 3D data, in a three hundred and sixty degree direction, ten kilometers both up, down and sideways. His big blue neon eyes seemed to be absorbed and possibly pained by what he could see. Colonel Kell looked up at the big Chihuahua, in an eight foot tall armored suit, and waved at him to get his attention, but Scarpoogenes remained self-absorbed , so finally he resorted to shouting, which always worked well for Colonel Kell, who would have made a good drill instructor, if he ever wanted to.
"Scarpoogenes you got anything for us?"
The giant dog man bent down on one knee to show the Colonel his readout. "Colonel you're not going to like this." He said and Kell gave him an enquiring look, so he outlined his findings. "There's five MECH's, just buried there in the sand, about fifty feet down sir!' He exclaimed.
Kell looked at him and then his 3D readout, which revealed five fifty foot tall mechanised man machines, all standing bolt upright, fifty feet under the sand. "Light resistance!" Kell exclaimed, known full well that one MECH could destroy an entire Company, it looked like the rebels had been waiting for them, so much for military intelligence!"
Chapter Four – The Retreat
"Yuthers get me Central." Kell grunted down his Company comms line. About thirty seconds later Kell was patched through to Central Operations Planning (COP), based on the Trigerius.
"Colonel Kell, Alpha Battalion here, calling from landing point Alpha, what's happening up there and who am I speaking to?" Kell shouted down his comms unit.
He got an excited reply back, "Kell I'm Commander Raton speaking , it's pretty bad up here we're under heavy fire, how may I help you?"
Kell ran through his list of concerns. "Companies 19 and 21 are missing and we can't get through to them and what about the MECHS, we were promised five MECHS and air support?"
For a few seconds the line was quiet, then the operations officer came through the comms unit, his radio link sounding scratchy and there was a lot of noise in the background. "Colonel I don't know about your companies, but the MECHS have
all being taken out, due to a surprise attack by a Dreadnought, and all space fighters are busying engaging with it." Silence again and then the officer spoke once more, "You're on your own for now."
"Well we've just discovered five enemy MECHS buried in the sand and we only have three Companies, what about the other Battalions?" Kell said while looking back over at Scarpoogenes, with an inquiring look on his face.
Once again the line was silent, then suddenly the operations officer came through a crackling radio line, "Colonel it's a mess down there, enemy MECHS are running all over the place, just hold your position until we figure out back up!" Exclaimed the Operations officer.
But Kell wasn't going to sit by and wait for a slaughter to occur. Shouting down his comms unit in an authoritative way, Colonel kell, the commanding officer of the marines in the Kolatian Quadrant's expeditionary force, wasn't going to let some navy commander, sitting five million kilometers away order him about. "Raton we didn't join the space marines in order to become a statistic, I'm ordering you to carry out an extraction from landing point Alpha ASAP, over!" He exclaimed.
But all he received was a frosty one sentence answer from commander Raton. "I'll see what I can do Colonel, it's a mess up here."
"I'm holding you personally responsible Raton!" Kell shouted down his comms unit. "This is an order, extract from Alpha landing point now! I'll call through to the other Battalions and issue the same orders, the marines are getting out of here!"
For a few seconds Kell looked off into the distance and then spent the next ten minutes connecting with the three Captains and one Major, in the other marine Battalions, to see how they were doing. Two never replied and the other one was in agreement, that extraction was the best plan. The space marines would never back down from a fight and Kell believed in fighting to the last man, if necessary, but only if it achieved a strategic goal, but not sitting there in their landing positions, while the MECHS tore through them, as this made no sense at all.
Focusing then on what he could do now in this Battalion, Kell called back down the Battalion comms line and explained the situation to the Lieutenants." Tripp and Raven, look here", he said and then clearing his throat he continued "We're getting out of here, there's five MECHS buried in the sand between us and you, it looks like the rebels know all of our plans. I want you to come back to landing point Alpha for extraction, but don't come straight across, this way maybe just maybe, we won't wake up those beasts...got it!"
Then Kell shouted down the unit comms line. "Men we've being cheated, the Virgil and the Trigerius are under exceptionally heavy attack and we have no MECHS and no air support, but there are five enemy MECHS buried in the sands just over that way, in a southerly direction. So get yourselves ready to go, as Companies 47 and 72 are going to join us in landing point Alpha for extraction."
With that there was a flurry of action and 23rd Company started to move out immediately. Kell thought about the possibility of providing covering fire, for companies 47 and 72, in case the MECH's awaken, but hell if they awaken it will be a slaughter house, so he dropped that idea pretty fast!
Chapter Five – MECH Crazy!!!
Quickly 23rd Company covered the five hundred meters, from the hill back down to landing point Alpha, and once there, Kell ordered Chapman and McGregor to organize the marines into two defensive groups, behind two large sand dunes. Kell looked over in a south easterly direction and then in a south westerly direction and both Companies, the the 47th and the 72nd were making quick progress, covering the ground at double time, which in their biomechanical suits, amounted to thirty kilometers per hour or half a kilometer per minute.
It was all looking good, with both units nearing the halfway mark, but then the ground started shaking and a thunderous sound could be heard. All Kell and the men could do was watch in horror, as the sand started shifting in the desert space and within thirty seconds the head of the first MECH had appeared.
"Give them cover!" Exclaimed kell, and his men started firing their blaster rifles, which had no effect other than to confuse the MECHS, which was not a bad idea as the men and women of the 47th, were now only hundreds of yards away and 72nd Company were around a kilometer away.
Kell looked back at the Company's Laser Cannon Team, a team of three marines; an operator, a loader and a spotter. The laser cannon was an amazing piece of kit and the marines where the first branch, in the military, to get the silly idea through their heads to take a gun, which should sit in a space ship gun turret and make it into a ground offensive weapon. But the only thing was the three marines required to operate it and the inordinately long time it took to set up.
Kell looked back over the hill and saw one MECH firing its laser cannon straight into the 47th. Since a laser cannon can shred a marine in less than a second, kell was starting to have palpitations standing there, as the men and women of the 47th were been sliced into little bits!
Looking back again, the loader was struggling through nervousness to connect the power cartridges properly, so in a fit of desperation, Kell ran over and knocking him to the ground, he had the machine up and running in less than a second.
Then he shouted at the operator "Fire, fire fire, over there fire!" He exclaimed and the operator aimed his cannon at the first MECH, which was now completely out of the sand and devouring the men and women of the 47th!
"Zing, zing, zing" went the six barrel laser cannon, slicing the head unit clear off and killing the MECHS operator in the process.
"Next one over there!" kell exclaimed again, and pointed at the MECH, which was climbing out of the ground just beside the first MECH, on the left hand side from where 23rd Company was based. Before it could get its head out, the laser cannon operator rang off three seconds of laser cannon fire "Zing, zing, zing" and suddenly a large hole appeared straight through the pod, where the MECH operator sits.
But looking over at the next three MECHS, the laser cannon operator was starting to panic. The next MECH was nearly standing, the next one again, going from left to right, had its head coming out through the ground and the third was also standing and firing now on 72nd Company. In a state of panic, between the spotter and the operator, the spotter was providing conflicting directions, as they were both unsure about who the shoot at first.
Once again kell intervened, pushing the operator to one side and firing at the head of the emerging MECH, thus taking out the third MECH, but this was the end of their luck, with three MECHS down the two remaining where both standing and had become aware of the laser cannon. Both MECHS started firing simultaneously at the exposed laser cannon, which thanks to kell's quick reactions the crew avoided certain death, as he shouted "get down" and pushed the operator and the loader out of the way, while throwing himself on the ground. The spotter also had the good sense to jump in the opposite direction, towards Kells left hand side, thus avoiding the killer laser blasts, which tore through the laser cannon and its equipment in seconds!
Kell started scrambling to his right hand side, which brought him, the loader and the laser cannon operator over to the nearest sand dune, where Sergeant Major McGregor and half the Company's marines where hanging out. There was a blaze of laser fire from the two MECHS, gigantic fifty foot tall mechanical men, with a laser cannon for a left hand, a normal fully functional gigantic right hand, a grenade thrower on one shoulder and a blaster cannon on the other. They were Mark IV Ubecore MECH's, a gift from either the Analusian Alliance or the Galbraggians, two empires who had been fighting an on-going war for three hundred years, which had recently spread out to include the Kolatian Quadrant.
The two MECH's started firing on the 23rd, but then one of the MECHS realized that there were marines, marines from 72nd Company, literally under its feet, which were easier targets, and instead it started to fire on them, while the other MECH continued to fire on Lieutenant Chapman's group of marines. Kell wasn't going to go down without a fight, so he took this opportunity to run straight out into the desert after the MECHS, which were a goo
d kilometer away.
Running at fully speed, he could get about one hundred kilometers per hour out of his biomechanical suit and being the perfectionist which he was, when it came to war, he knew how to make the suit perform to its best, running at speed while making a slight zig zag through the sand, which made for a mini sand storm, which covered his tracks. He covered the one kilometer distance in a little over a minute, and without receiving any fire form either MECH, as they were still busy blasting either the 23rd, the 47th or 72nd Company.
