He had twenty rounds left. He would need to get more ammunition soon, but his main concern was to get over to the spaceport. He stepped out- and onto burned concrete. Ahead was a large broken glass window that once made a barrier between this room and the barren land outside; they had crashed into the spaceport. Another worry off of David�s mind.
His team came out of the ship, and looked even more surprised than David. William turned to him, a fresh gash on his forehead slowly dripping blood.
�Hey, sir, I knew you were a good pilot and all but� Damn!�
David wasn�t really sure what to say. He grinned slightly, and turned to head down the passage to his right. David faintly heard gunshots, low but frequent. He quickened his pace, and the white tiled floors made click noises as his boots firmly placed themselves upon their surface. He continued in the direction the shots came from, but they died out before he came to a solid titanium-concrete door. He hesitated, but then pressed the panel to open it. The door opened with a loud bang, and revealed a bunker. Several soldiers sat on the floor, smoking cigarettes with shaking hands. It was a custom among the AGF�s to have a last smoke before their �finest hour�, as their commanders called it. One man stood, with a symbol of a cougar on his shoulder, with two swords crossing it. David walked over to him.
�Soldier, report!� barked the commander.
�Officer David Jackson, sir! We�re AGF�s, 113th division.� As he spoke the words, people stopped their conversations and looked at David. The hundred and thirteenth division was the Alliance�s most elite group, and was supposedly responsible for wiping out half of the Clan�s armada. The commander, however, didn�t even flinch.
�Good, we thought you�d never come. I�ve got about twenty men left, all of the wounded left with dropships. There�s about a dozen of those left, and the enemy has more troops inbound to make another try at us. Most of their ships are gone now, and their forces shouldn�t be too difficult down here.� The commander looked to his right, a grim look on his face. �When the last dropship gets ready to leave, we�ll be going with them.� The commander, like everyone else here, simply didn�t want to leave Earth at the hands of those Clan scum.
�Sir, we are low on ammunition. Do you have any AAR ammo you can spare?�
The commander nodded towards a medium sized crate in the corner. Inside lay dozens and dozens of eighty round clips, but David only took four. He ejected the old magazine from his gun, and slammed in a fully loaded new one with a satisfying shink! The rest of his team grabbed handfuls of mags, and checked their rifles.
An alarm rang out through the bunker, and the AGF�s around the room stood at attention, crushing out their cigarettes. The commander spoke.
�Alright men, another wave is on the way. We�ve only got to hold them off for another twenty minutes, but they must not be allowed inside until that last dropship takes off. Let�s go!� The troops marched out of the room in single file, with David and his team blending in with them. They walked out onto the barren dirt outside, which was covered in concrete pillars that stood about two meters tall, and were wide enough to give cover for a person or two.
Each AGF took position at a post, facing the bunker they had just left. David placed his back against his pillar. His hand twitched slightly, and he took a few deep breaths. Beyond the bunker, he saw explosive fires erupt around one of the ships as its engines flared to life. Eleven dropships left, David thought. It rose slowly at first, but its blastoff engines finally focused and it shot off into the atmosphere.
David couldn�t even hear the advancing troops only a hundred meters behind him from the roar of the dropship. A whistle shot through the air, and David snapped into action. He rolled for the pillar to his left, as bullets lazily tried to follow his movements. He came out on one knee, rifle rested on the other, and spotted the owner of those shots. He squeezed the trigger, and the rifle sputtered as a trio of bullets left the barrel. The Clanner began spasing uncontrollably as he slammed into the hard dirt. Gunfire was all over the air now, as both sides fired and took hits.
He stood and took cover behind the pillar he had rolled next to, and waited. A soldier near the pillar to his right tried his maneuver, but before his rifle was raised another trio from David�s gun tore through the Clanner�s chest and neck. David turned from his cover to face the cluster of soldiers advancing on his position. He ran for another pillar that lay between him and the enemy, and slid on his legs as more lead chased him. He heard a round zing past his head, but none hit him. With his back to the pillar, he tossed a grenade over his head. It landed in the center of the mass of soldiers, and a low BOOM interrupted the constant background of gunfire. Parts flew past David, and he heard shrapnel ping against his pillar. He leaned out from his cover, raised his rifle, and finished off the few disoriented soldiers that remained.
Another dropship left the spaceport, and David rechecked his count. That left only two more. Most of the pillars had been destroyed or mangled by gunfire or explosions, leaving not much cover while David tried to eliminate the enemy forces. They�d faced off over half a dozen waves of enemy troops now, and there were very few AGF�s left. In fact, besides his team, there were only five allied soldiers that weren�t dead. There were no wounded. There was a pause in the battle, and they used the time to try to salvage supplies from an enemy troop carrier that had crashed in one of the last waves. All they could get, however, was some ammo and the twin miniguns that had come off of the ship at impact. They hauled the miniguns over to the entrance of the bunker, as another dropship�s engines began to come to life. The next enemy wave wasn�t very far off; a lucky shot at this range could kill one of them.
The second to last dropship began to rise up into the sky. Jean turned to David. �Shouldn�t we be getting out of here? We need to be getting on that last dropship before it leaves, sir.�
�Yes, but if we leave now the enemy could get inside, and we can�t have a firefight on the inside of that building with that many civilians.� Hisheena walked over to him.
�Sir, perhaps we should be making sure there are no enemies inside?� She gave him a stern look, as though there was something more to what she was saying. He played along.
�Yeah� I want everyone inside the building. Be back here in one minute.� They ran back into the bunker, until they reached the titanium-concrete door. David signaled everyone inside, but stood there with Hisheena. She seemed worried, and he asked her to speak.
�You guys need to get on that last dropship, before it takes off. I�ve thought about it� yes, it�s the only way. This must be.� She put her arms around him, whispered something, and withdrew. Her eyes had filled with tears, and she maneuvered around David.
David had no idea what the hell was going on. Hisheena�s boot raised, her leg extended, and she nailed a kick right in his abdomen. Not expecting it, he wheeled back through the door. Before he could turn to his �assailant�, the door shut.
Hisheena raised her rifle, and shot the panel on the door. It wouldn�t be opening now. She ran back to the entrance, and activated the salvaged miniguns. She wrapped her hands around the double triggers they had hastily installed, and looked beyond at her enemy. There were hundreds, trying to make a final stand, and they would succeed if she failed. Her fingers rested on the triggers, Hisheena blinked to clear her eyes. She had to hold them off; for all those innocent civilians. For her squad members. And for David.
