Chapter Ten: A Small Victory

They crossed the wall, but just barely. The nose of the helicopter was pointed at the ground now.

‘Pull up!’ Jason said.

‘I’m trying!’ the pilot replied. Jason held on to the rail above him and braced for impact. The pilot managed to correct the angle just enough in time. The helicopter slid across the helipad on its nose. The glass shattered and Jason was thrown out of the cockpit, where he cut himself on broken glass, and rolled across the ground. A group of medical personnel moved across to him. Jason was seeing double. He could see the helicopter was smoking, he tried to push the medics away but a soldier held his arms. The doctors assessed him there. They tested his eyesight which had already begun to sort itself out, one of the doctors even fixed up a nasty gash he had across his forehead.

‘Apart from the cuts and the gash on his forehead, there’s nothing physically wrong with him,’ one of the medics said. ‘How do you feel?’ they asked.

‘Fine’ Jason answered.

‘He could be concussed, but we don’t have time to test for that. As long he can walk straight, I’m happy to let him go’ they pulled Jason up. He was unstable and wobbled for a bit, but eventually managed to walk straight.

‘Jason, listen to me. Get your weapon and meet Sergeant Williams and the East wall. Intel says that’s where the Tallentiri are coming from, so we need people on that wall. Understand?’ Lieutenant Spire said.

Jason nodded.

‘Yes sir’ Jason replied.

‘Then go’ Spire told him. Jason left and made his back to his quarters. Everyone was there including Celeste.

‘Shouldn’t you be in the science lab?’ he asked.

‘Shouldn’t you be out there?’ Celeste replied.

‘The Barracks could be under attack. They needed everyone inside’ Jason said, grabbing the Aug he’d propped against the wall that morning.

‘Do they want us?’ Sarah asked.

‘I don’t know. Claire, have you found anything?’ Jason asked.

‘Not yet’ Claire answered.

‘Ok, well keep searching,’ Jason told her, stepping outside. ‘Lock the door’

‘Why?’ Celeste asked.

‘There’s no time to explain, just do it!’ Jason yelled as he closed the door. He heard it lock and then left for the east wall.

‘Jason, there you are. Get up here!’ Williams shouted from the top of the wall. Jason climbed the ladder and walked over to him.

‘I can’t believe you survived that crash. Anyway, we’re about to deploy the Bastion shield. But we can’t guarantee that it’ll hold under heavy fire from the Nexus, and other rescue parties are saying that the Tallentiri have weapons more deadly than their talons’ Williams said.

‘If the shield fails what happens then?’ Jason asked.

‘If that happens, we buy as much as time as we can to evacuate as many people as possible. But we shouldn’t need to. The perimeter is mined plus all automatic defences are fully operational’ Williams said. A bright, blue beam shot straight up from the centre of the Barracks. Then they saw a blinding flash of white as the beam became something like a sphere, enveloping the Barracks in an opaque blue barrier. An army of Tallentiri appeared over the dunes. Hundreds of insectiod people, the sunlight reflecting off their black exoskeleton. Williams picked up his radio.

‘Activate the Hell storm platform’ he said. A large, rectangular platform emerged out of the dune. On it there were three, clearly, heavily armoured cannons.

‘They’re not the only ones with deadly weapons. The sonic cannons will bring them into the firing line and the plasma cannon will finish the job’ Jason was confused.

‘Won’t the Bastion stop our fire as well?’ he asked.

‘No. it’s been modified to let our fire pass through’ Williams said. Out of nowhere a thick yellowy-orangey beam, passed through the shield from outside and destroyed all three cannons.

‘What the fuck was that?’ Jason asked.

‘I don’t know, but definitely not human technology’ Williams replied. The Tallentiri reached the shield and could advance no further. The Bastion stopped them from physically passing through. They stayed there. Scratching their talons against the shield but moved, nowhere. The Tallentiri had no choice. Their assault had been cut off. With no other option, they turned their backs and left. One side of the battle had been won, but the Nexus were putting up a fight. They were determined not to be beaten. At the northern gate, the Nexus were almost through.