Their advance was fast. The small troop moved from shattered building to ruined hall, the wide streets still littered with abandoned wagons and debris providing cover for their assault. Scattered about were signs of new construction - metallic walls shoring a building up here, a strange glowing doorway barring an attack down an alleyway.
To the south they could hear the explosions and chatter of automatic weaponry. A break in a building afforded them a brief view of the billowing smoke and the distant silhouette of a Walker advancing towards the building. Zhaojie cursed but shook his head, "We have to trust Hackett can handle one. The others are on the ship; we can at least stop them joining the fray, perhaps."
Movement above caught their eye: a white orb flew overhead, trailing sparks and dust. It paused at the rim of the vast metal vessel that loomed ahead and above them. Then it shot up, rising up the side of the ship, before then disappearing over the edge of the strange cuboid design.
"That cannot be good," muttered Jiayi. Next to her, Corporal Essex nodded grimly. The troop picked up the pace, but drew up short as rounds sparked off of rubble.
"Clap'pon!"
Ahead a makeshift bunker of alien metal opened up. It was partly concealed in the rubble, but afforded a good angle on the street; beyond was the Railway station and what seemed to be the communication hub that sat just to the prow of the strange ship which was now directly above them.
The ground shuddered and they all looked up, even as glowing yellow bolts whizzed past their cover. Above, the vast structure that was the ship was beginning to move. Nearby buildings shuddered and there was a wave of pressure that pushed some of the men down, swearing.
One of the more unstable office buildings rumbled and collapsed in a fountain of dust and brown-brick smoke. They could still hear the surprised shouts from the enemy and that refocused the men. Zhaojie hauled his Maxim gun from his shoulder and clamped it onto the debris in front of him, then opened up in controlled bursts, suppressing the bunker. He glanced at Essex and nodded to the flank. The Corporal returned the gesture and grabbed a couple of the soldiers and they stole off to the right, keeping low, then slipped into what had once been a grocers store.
Zhaojie then looked at Jiayi and flicked his gaze up to the left. She too nodded and vanished, dragging a sharpshooter with her. He spotted a pair of the enemy trying to sneak out of cover and swung his heavy weapon. A shriek tinged with a strange metallic reverb was his reward and his grin became feral. One of the men next to him, scuttled over, unhooking a new ammunition box and yanking forth a belt of bullets. The maxim clattered to a halt, steam rising from the main barrel as the water within boiled.
A new chain was affixed as the enemy opened up again, but their assault was cut short as a fizzing stick tumbled from a nearby storefront and into the bunker aperture. There was a shout of "Tuukan Saf'ri!" and the whole structure detonated. The metal held, only bulging out in parts, but smoke poured from the gaps.
A crack from above elicited a shriek from further beyond the devastated bunker and Zhaojie waved at his men, "MOVE!"
They advanced, pepper-potting between cover, the snipers above knocking down errant troopers who tried to bar their way. They were briefly pinned as a trio of rocket-monsters swooped out from a third story hotel window opposite the ruined train station, their fire inaccurate but broad enough to make them duck into whatever shelter they could. One of their aggressors was immediately felled, however, by Essex ducking out from a doorframe and taking a shot from directly below it. Zhaojie couldn't help but wince as the round sheared up and burst out of the horrors monstrous metal skull.
The other two split, giving up their momentary advantage, which allowed the platoon to open up on them, sending one reeling into the ground with a gory explosion and sending the third back into the ruined hotel.
High above, the sky was no visible as the vast ship drifted higher. It was a good two hundred feet above them now, getting smaller and it appeared to be turning, drifting… south. Zhaojie paused to glare at it, then felt a chill of realisation steal across him.
London? Could that be its destination? Thirty armoured walkers, maybe more, and who knew how many horrors… just bypassing the Grand Army?
But he could do nothing, instead pushing his men towards the bastardised building that seemed to bristle with strange dishes and pointed metallic poles.
As they closed in, Zhaojie could make out some additional details of the constructions beyond the reclaimed communications hub - flat platforms raised out of the demolished husks of some buildings, strange, disc like huts atop them. As he watched, a pair of these huts suddenly shot up, as if launched by an invisible spring. They hung in the air, then shot off, moving to flank the hulking barge above them.
"Flying machines?! More bloody flying machines?" Essex sounded angry and incredulous, "What next? Dinosaurs?"
One of the soldiers paused and glared at him, "Don't give the bastards ideas, you twerp...I mean, uh, Corporal."
Essex stared at the man, then barked a laugh, before launching himself out of cover, long-coat billowing as he kept his rifle up and ready.
They reached the heavy metal door that was set into the frontage of the comms building - it was a wholly new structure, all black metal and some sort of hardened ceramics and hard, flexible material. The troop regrouped around the entrance, taking up defensive positions. The building had no guard towers here. Safely ensconced beyond the perimeter they clearly relied on mobile patrols.
Around the building the area appeared more clear: rubble mostly cleared to form loading ramps and cargo holding areas, which had probably led to access points on the landed vessel. Now it was a mix of temporary fencing, stacked metal crates, empty coffin-like containers and abandoned spider-walkers. It appeared a fair few of the crew had cleared out. Zhaojie hoped that the sudden departure meant they hadn't emptied all the intel out of the hub, of course.
A sudden crack drew his attention and he snapped his head round to see one of the marksmen aiming at a sole remaining disc, still sat on one of the landing-platforms. A sectoid was slumped near it. As he watched, another of the grey critters broke cover and dashed for the craft, but was likewise felled by the sniper. A thought formed in his mind.
"Jiayi, secure that vessel," She stared at him, then nodded. She beckoned to a few of the soldiers and they moved swiftly towards the craft, using cover and popping up to take shots at the odd insectoid that seemed to have been left behind. Zhaojie turned to Essex, "Get me a key, Corporal."
The Artilleryman grinned, "One skeleton key, coming up boss."
Well wasn't this fucking peachy. A bloody Tripod was strutting their way.
Hackett growled from his position of cover. He'd had the lads deploy the mortar and had them slinging nasty phosphorous and explosives all over the shop. But he was down eight men and two of those wouldn't be getting up.
Some of the civvies had chipped in and were holding their own. These hand held automatic weapons were bloody lovely. He had had some of his lads grab a few and it meant their immediate ammunition concerns were, at least for now, alleviated.
He winced as a plasma bolt singed his sideburns as it passed by his cover, then glared as a runner jogged up. The main was holding a wound in his side and winced as he squatted down, "Attack to the rear, sir. Fifty of those crawly things. Got 'em good with the maxim but Phil bought it. Had to put him down when he stood back up. And seems we've got them walking corpses inbound along the river. Sniper spotted 'em north of the river - they've broken past the outer guard this shower had."
Hackett weighed that. Maybe their ammunition would still be an issue then. But the bastards would likely be distracting these alien bastards as well, "How many?"
"Barry said, well, a fuck tonne. Reckon a good thousand when I yelled at him."
Yeah, ammo was going to be an issue.
At the far end he caught a glimpse of a muton pinwheeling away as one of the steam guns ripped it a new one, the iron bolt tearing the monstrous creatures arm right off. The room was hard to see, dust rising from the shattered balustrades and damaged platforms, as well as chunks of roof that continued to snap and fall.
High above, the disc-things had spread out and unfolded. That was why he'd lost another three blokes: they were deadly. They looked like flying scorpions made out of sharp black metal, fringed with yellow light and white highlights. Beautiful and hideous.
The maxim gun had ruined one after the first man had gone down, but another disc had tossed a green orb that had blasted a sphere of green light around the maxim gunnery team; there'd been nothing left except half a gun and a set of cauterised entrails.
That had drawn twelve rifles and five shotguns on target and sent the thing reeling. It had folded back up and floated up and back, moving to a sort of "snipe" position above and behind the majority of the alien forces. It relied on its cannons, which raked their position regularly, forcing them to take snap shots or suppressive auto fire where they could. The third had just blasted and taken out another couple of lads and seemed determined to just take the punishment.
He knew their game - they wanted him to waste the rockets. He just knew it. And it meant that the damn things had them suppressed, allowing more of the bastard hybrid arseholes into the building. They were making their way around the edges, moving through cover slowly. But they were encroaching.
At least the insectoid grey wankers were all dead. Their weapons were useless, but it meant they weren't being flanked by the sodding cleaning staff.
He took a risk and looked back at the runner, "Get the lads inside, pull back, seal that back door, blast it shut if you need. We'll hold here, hope those flaming dead bodies clog 'em up."
The man looked pale and a few of the others nearby glanced at each other. Hackett looked around and nodded, "Our stand lads! Let's show them that England's colours don't run, aye?!"
"Aye!" came the chorus. Another blast echoed across the way, carrying with it alien shrieks as another mortar round hit home.
"For King and country," growled Hackett as he rolled out of cover, rifle raised.
It was crude, but effective. The door buckled in and sagged. Of course, half the wall was gone too. It gave them more than enough room to pour into the strange building. Inside, they found two hybrids dead, clearly having been waiting near the door in ambush.
A pair of troopers with shotguns advanced ahead, sweeping. It seemed the room was clear on this floor. Strange machines dotted the room, connected by large cables that ran up walls and across the ceiling.
A man with a charge pack and a pair of pistols followed them through, then went the rest of the team.
They swept the ground floor, flushing out a pair of hiding sectoids, one of which they stunned. The shock batons were rather effective, allowing them to collar the strange grey thing. They'd been issued with strange crown-like pieces of equipment that seemed to stymie the strange grey creatures, making them dull.
Upstairs was a harder nut to crack - the main floor was a mess of overturned tables and detritus behind which hunkered five of the strange hybrids and at least one muton. They heard the bellows from the ground floor. A man who ventured up the stairs ducked back down as shots slammed into the wall above.
They held a brief discussion which Essex ended by shoving everyone against the far wall. Then he clambered up onto a table, paused for a moment, then affixed a set of dynamite to the ceiling. With the strike of a match he lit the fuse, then leapt away waving wildly at the door. The team got the message.
They all piled out and dust erupted from the building, coupled with a few alien shrieks and a pained roar. Zhaojie nodded and answered with a cry of his own, then barrelled back inside, maxim gun firing as he pushed back into the main ground floor room.
Three of the hybrids were clearly dead - hard to be alive when your torso and legs are fairly far apart. Two were dazed and the muton was pissed.
Zhaojie cut down one soldier with a sweep of his maxim; the other was cogent enough to dive for cover. Rounds spanged off muton armour and the beast roared, then charged. It swung its rifle, which seemed little more than a fused husk, at Zhaojie. The large man raised is own weapon to block the strike and he grimaced as the machine gun crunched. He felt himself slide back as the eight foot tall horror loomed at him. There was a shout to his right and a trooper entered the fray, sinking a bayonet into the beasts flank. The monster paused, looked down at the wound, then at the man.
Before it could react, Zhaojie swung his maxim in an uppercut that smashed into the muton's face mask. The beast reeled backwards and suddenly juddered as rounds sliced into it: eight soldiers emptying winchesters, shotgun rounds and Martini-Henry .45 into the creature.
It shuddered, then collapsed. The last Hybrid stood and then dropped his rifle, raising his arms. The shock trooper approached and jammed his baton into the creature's neck and the group watched as the man-thing fell.
"Well, that could be useful. Fan out, sweep and clear. See if these weapons are usable, let's try to find out target."
Their target found them on the second floor. Near the main antenna room, a golden thing came into being. It appeared behind Essex and clubbed him on the back of the head as he swept into the room. As he went down the thing brought its weapon to bear, only to shimmer and dive for cover as a buckshot blast caught it in the flank. It shimmered back to life behind a bank of consoles covered in blinking lights and fired a focused stream of plasma. The shotgunner caught it in the chest, but stood back up and fired again. His armour was smoking, but held; his shot hit the console, which exploded in a shower of sparks and the creature flickered and moved away.
Zhaojie was up on the floor moving with his team as they chased the creature through the strange quartet of rooms that surrounded the central spire that rose through the roof and became the antenna above.
The thing was fast, jittery. A man went down as it flickered in front of him and fired, point blank, into the man's face. It dodged aimed shots and Zhaojie realised it was toying with them. Anticipating them somehow. And these things could, perhaps, read minds. Was it doing that? Or just leading a merry dance.
He glanced out a window and spotted Jiayi and her group, holding firm next to the craft they'd secured. As his men exchanged shots in the next room he moved to the window and waved, then went through a complex series of hand gestures. He watched Jiayi repeat the sign language and he gave a short series of commands - street sign; how to communicate subtly. Not many complex meanings but he got his intent across.
He yelled for his men to fall back and they pulled back, past the ruined hole in the floor, to the stair well. The gold, glittering shape seemed to follow but hand back. Zhaojie beckoned to the shock-trooper and divested the man of his backpack and lance / baton. Combo. Then he charged into the room.
The creature hadn't expected that and jinked left. Zhaojie feigned a strike and the thing jinked again. Ok, so it responded to obvious moves, but seemed to be able to do that for multiple opponents. One on one - more predictable.
But that went both ways.
He manoeuvred it until it was visible through a window. Then it flickered as a rifle cracked from outside. The window exploded as glass shattered, but the thing wasn't there. It materialised against the wall next to the window, obscured from view from outside, and also flanking Zhaojie.
Which is what he had expected - it had the choice of moving into the other room where his men were, to a wall in view of the window, or behind him, against the wall.
So, as it flickered, as the window exploded, he'd spun and lunged. The thing materialised and he'd adjusted his thrust, the lance connecting as the creature raised its rifle. There was a green flash and Zhaojie blinked.
The creature was gone. On the floor in front of him was a symmetrical crystal, glowing orange. He glanced behind him and saw a scorch mark next to the door that led into the other room and he realised the skin on his left cheek was stinging.
What were the odds?