Battle Earth: 12

by Nick S. Thomas

  “Never had a chance,” said Silva, “We acted on this as quickly as we could. This mission was a failure before we ever started.”

  “But we’re getting closer,” added Morris, “You think he’s studying our culture for any other reason than working out how we’re still standing?”

  Taylor looked confused.

  “I doubt the Krys ever met an enemy who caused them this must trouble. You’ve killed two of their most powerful and influential figures, and after all they have thrown at us, here we are still fighting.”

  Taylor turned to Jafar for confirmation.

  “I believe the Captain may be right.”

  “But what more can he learn at a museum?”

  “Whatever he hasn’t worked out.”

  An alarm went off on Taylor’s watch, and he looked to see they were out of time.

  “It’s time to move out!”

  He got moving, but just a few seconds later he could hear the roar of engines that were not from their own craft. He looked up to see two enemy transports soar into view overhead, and Mechs began to descend towards them.

  “Cover!”

  The platoon scattered to either side of the street into the cover of the buildings. A few of them began to open fire as Taylor yelled into his mic.

  “Rains, we’ve got trouble. Need an alternate pickup point, and we need it now!”

  “If I’d listened to your orders, Colonel, then we’d already have left your ass behind!”

  “Enough of the pleasantries, get us out of here!” Taylor hollered over the sound of gunfire.

  Taylor watched as two of the Guardians strode out into the middle of the street and began laying down fire on the vessels hovering overhead. The platoon engaged the Mechs. Taylor looked up; the Guardians were blowing holes in the Mech aircraft, and one of them was already falling out of the sky. But even as several in the platoon were celebrating, they could see dozens of Mechs landing in the street either side of them.

  “Rains!” yelled Taylor, “We can’t get out of the city like this!”

  “What do you want us to do, Colonel?”

  He looked around and could see the building the other side of the street was a police HQ. It was eight storeys high.

  “We’re at the police HQ, thirty metres from the city museum.”

  “Museum? What the hell are you up to down there?” Rains asked.

  “Does the Police HQ have a landing zone on the roof, and if so, can you provide evac from that point?”

  As he waited for a response, he shouldered his rifle and took a few shots at one of the Mechs that landed on the street a few metres from where he was sheltering.

  “We can do that, but you’re gonna have to lay down some cover fire! ETA two minutes!”

  Taylor looked back at the carnage around him. Dozens of Mechs lay dead in the street, and a medic was attended to one of their wounded.

  “Up to the roof of the HQ now!” he yelled.

  He got to his feet and rushed across the road. The Guardians were still standing in the centre laying down fire without any concern for the enemy gunfire at all. He stopped at the entrance to the HQ and took cover, taking aim at a Mech dropping from the sky and fired a six-shot burst at the creature.

  “Come on, move it, Marines!”

  The last of them got up to cover the ground, but Fuchs was hit in the hip as he made his way across. He dropped like a stone, but two of the others grabbed him a second after he had fallen down and dragged him onwards and through the doorway. The last of the marines were inside when Taylor shouted to the Guardians.

  “Come on!”

  They turned and rushed inside. One of them ducked under the doorframe, but the other went right through the frame and smashed it apart with little resistance. The atrium had high enough ceilings for them to stand up straight. There were two elevators ahead and stairs beside them. He rushed to the elevators and hit the buttons to call both down. He turned back to the Guardians as the doors opened.

  “Get in!”

  They hunched to get inside each of the elevators as he leaned in and pressed the buttons for them before turning back to his own people.

  “Go on, move!”

  They rushed on up the stairs, and he was quick to follow suit. Eight flights of stairs felt like nothing at all when they knew what being left behind would mean. When Taylor finally reached the rooftop, he found the Guardians blazing away at two enemy craft and driving them away from the rooftop. He took a deep breath and revelled in the air that reminded him where he was. In that moment he knew what he was fighting for. Not just revenge and survival, but the world that was home.

  Taylor turned to see Rains’ copter and two others. They were flying a few metres above the rooftops, and several Mechs were taking shots at them but not finding their targets. In the distance, they could see the silhouettes of a whole fleet of enemy craft heading their way. Taylor raised his rifle and used the scope to look a little closer, but they were still just dots on the skyline. Even so, he knew that meant they were only a minute or two out, and there were far more than they could handle.

  Matthews and Anders rushed onto the rooftop with their platoons as the three copters came in to land. The first hit the ground a little hard, and Taylor ushered the first platoon aboard and then the next. Rains then came in with a perfect landing. He heard the sound of pulse fire nearby and saw two Mechs advancing onto the rooftop from the stairway. The only Guardian still with them returned fire with him, and they were cut down, but several more followed.

  “Go!” Taylor ordered those who had stopped embarking.

  He kept up the covering fire until all were aboard, and then leapt through the door himself and continued firing as they lifted off the roof. His magazine finally ran dry. He dropped the magazine and pulled out another, but Silva reached forward and closed the door before he could put it into the receiver.

  “We’re done,” said Silva.

  Taylor still rammed the magazine home. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and turned to see Morris.

  “We came close,” he stated.

  “How’d you figure that?”

  “Well it wasn’t a trap. We got one over on Erdogan. Okay, we got there a little late. But he didn’t see it coming and was unable to hide his presence from us. That’s got to have rocked him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he knows we can find him, and because he knows we want to,” replied Silva.

  “Is this what it has come to?”

  The two of them looked confused.

  “Hit and run attacks because we don’t have the strength to take on his armies? We’re fighting a guerrilla war.”

  “Yes we are,” replied Morris.

  “And how often in history has that worked out?”

  “More than a couple of times.”

  “Good enough for me,” added Silva.

  Taylor shook his head in amazement before making his way to the cockpit.

  “Cutting it a little fine there, weren’t you, Colonel?” Rains asked as he approached.

  “Made it out, didn’t we?”

  Rains pointed at a screen showing the incoming vessels.

  “Only just. They got to us, and we’d have been done for.”

  “Yeah, but they didn’t.”

  “You know, Colonel. If you’ve got a death wish, I’d rather you fly with someone else.”

  Taylor’s smile disappeared when he looked at the Lieutenant’s face and saw that for once he wasn’t joking.

  “This is your job, Lieutenant. If you don’t like it, well that’s just tough shit.”

  Rains guided them up and out into the atmosphere and quickly docked with the Diderot, as they had done so many times before. He didn’t say a word until they had come to a standstill, and he knew they were safe. He slowly took off his helmet and turned to Taylor.

  “About time somebody said it to you straight, Colonel.”

  He looked put out by his comments but finally responded. “Well, g
o on, straighten me out.”

  “You’ve been taking liberties with the lives of everyone you know. These are people that love you and would follow you to hell and back. But it’s gone further than that now. You’re pushing them too hard and taking risks that are beyond fair. We need to kill Erdogan, we all get that, but being reckless with all of our lives isn’t the way to do it.”

  Taylor couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His initial reaction was to be defensive, but somehow coming from Rains it made a difference. Rains was a joker and a clown, so for him to question his actions in such a serious manner really drove it home. He opened his mouth to speak but could not find any words. It was starting to sink in, and he felt sick. It reminded him of the moment he saw Eli drop to her knees. He never wanted to feel that way again, and it was a stark reminder of why they were doing all this.

  He sat back down in his seat and contemplated everything for the rest of the journey, trying to make sense of it all. He went utterly blank and was oblivious to all around him when Silva gently shook him on the shoulder.

  “We’re home, or close as,” he said.

  Taylor looked up. The door was open, and they were back on Ony. He realised he must have been out of it for some time, and it was a sobering experience. He looked up to Rains who had gotten out of his seat and was standing behind Silva.

  “You okay, Colonel?” Rains asked quietly.

  He gently nodded his head, and Silva helped him to his feet.

  “We came close,” said Morris.

  “Not close enough,” he replied.

  They stepped out of the copter to find that the sun was going down at their base. He could hear music coming from one of the bars that had been set up nearby.

  “Come on, Colonel, time we got you a drink,” said Rains.

  “Best idea I have heard all day, Eddie.”

  As they walked away from the copter, he stopped and looked over to Jafar who had remained behind. The alien rarely joined them for their evening entertainment, as he was not usually welcome by many of the troops who gathered for such occasions.

  “Come with us,” said Taylor.

  Jafar did not hesitate to follow them. It was a short walk to the bar, but as they entered, it took just a few seconds to hear a comment about him.

  “Fucking alien spy,” one muttered.

  Taylor turned and squared off against the Army corporal who had said it.

  “I didn’t see you out there fighting for our freedom today. Apologise.”

  “I’m sorry, Colonel. I didn’t see you there,” the man replied before sniggering slightly as his friends joined in.

  “No,” added Taylor, “Don’t apologise to me, to him,” he said, pointing to Jafar.

  The man looked absolutely stunned for a moment and then burst out laughing.

  “Oh, yeah, I’m gonna apologise to one of them,” he replied and laughed once again.

  The three of his friends found the whole situation hilarious before Taylor reached forward and grabbed him by his uniform. He held him in place and punched him in the face. He was careful this time as to go light, remembering the power of the Reitech suit and the trouble it had gotten him into before.

  The Corporal recoiled before the blow, and would have dropped to the ground, were Taylor not holding him up. He clenched his nose as it gushed with blood. His friends leapt up as if to defend him but stopped when Taylor drew his pistol with his free arm and held it up at them.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Silva shouted.

  “Stay out of this!” Taylor ordered.

  He looked back to the soldiers who had their hands up and showed no signs of a fight.

  “His name is Jafar, and you can bet your ass he’s done a whole lot more in this war than all of you put together. You don’t have the right to question his loyalty. None of us would even have made it this far without his help, so what’ll it be?”

  The soldier was locked in his grip and still cupping his bloody nose.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, okay!” he yelled.

  Taylor finally let go and holstered his pistol.

  “Jesus, Colonel, no need to make such a big deal of it.”

  “No need to make such a trivial deal of what Jafar has done, so don’t, and I won’t have to.”

  They carried on to the bar while dozens around them stood silently and stared at the Colonel. As they reached the bar, they found drinks being handed to them before they could even say a word. Music soon started up, and everyone went back to their drinks.

  “Walk with me,” Taylor said to Jafar.

  They headed out of the group and to a quiet spot where Taylor found an ammo crate to sit on and enjoy his drink. Jafar stood waiting for him to speak. He finally grew impatient and spoke first; something he rarely did.

  “What can I do for you?” he asked.

  Taylor took a deep breath; thinking over what he was going to say, and at last came out with it.

  “Our plan is to kill Erdogan, right?”

  Jafar nodded.

  “What about after he’s dead? His armies will be leaderless, but what happens to the Krys?”

  “Erdogan took over from Demiran, Karadag, and several other Lords from what I understand. That’s more than half of my people. They will support whoever kills Erdogan and shows himself strong enough to take his place.”

  “I will kill Erdogan, but I cannot lead his people.”

  Jafar looked confused and waited for him to go on.

  “You can. You’re the only one who can. You understand both sides. A human will be as distrusted among them as you are amongst my people. You are the only hope.”

  Jafar looked amazed by the proposition.

  “So what do you think?”

  “I do not know what it is to lead. I am a soldier, not a leader.”

  “You and me both. You think I ever wanted any of this? Sure I can lead a few dozen or even a few hundred men. But do you think I ever imagined the responsibly that has fallen on me on all of this? I figure I was just the right guy in the right place to get the job done. And when this is finished, that guy will be you. Do you think they would accept you?”

  “If whoever kills Erdogan names me as the head of my people, they will accept it.”

  “You don’t look convinced?”

  “I was born and bred to fight, same as the rest of my race. What do I do when I become their leader and there are no more wars to fight?”

  “Don’t you worry about that, there will always be a war to fight. You don’t need to go looking for them. So will you do it?”

  “I would not want it, but I will do it if it is what you wish.”

  “You aren’t my slave, you know? I’d like to think you’re my friend. I ask this because not only do I believe you can do it, but we need it.”

  “Then I shall do it.”

  “Then let us destroy Erdogan together and see an end to this for good.”

  Chapter 4

  Taylor woke in his own bed, or as close as to his own as he had. He felt rough for a moment. His body ached and he could barely move, but he sat up, realising he must have slept for a long time. He was remarkably fresh in his head, and only stiff from the many hours he’d been asleep. It was an experience he had long forgotten. For a moment he looked over to see if Eli was there, and then remembered she was gone.

  He looked at his watch, and it was the early afternoon. He didn’t even remember getting into bed, but he was glad of the rest. He remembered what Rains had said to him. They were damning words, and they had hit hard. He knew he had a duty to be the best he could be, so took some moments for himself. He showered and dressed slowly. When he stepped out of his quarters, Irala was waiting for him.

  “So you finally learnt about privacy?”

  “I chose to honour your wishes, yes.”

  “So what can I do for you?”

  “You’re getting reckless,” Irala replied quickly.

  “I don’t see it that way. I might have pushed it a bit hard the
last few days, but now I’m rested and ready to go back out there.”

  “You want to kill Erdogan. Nobody can understand that better than I.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “You are valuable to us all, and so is your unit.”

  “And?”

  Suddenly, frenzy came over many in the camp, and Taylor could hear someone calling his name as they made their way towards him through the crowds. It was Silva and he stopped before Taylor.

  “What is it?”

  “Major Moye, Sir.”

  “How is he?”

  Silva looked stunned and shocked and finally replied.

  “He’s bad, real bad. Come on, I’ll take you to him!”

  Taylor rushed on after Silva and was soon at a hospital bed where Moye lay. He was breathing slowly and barely conscious. General White sat beside him in his wheelchair.

  Taylor looked to the General who only shook his head. Mitch strode up beside the Major and looked down with a smile. Moye looked into his eyes and smiled in acknowledgment.

  “How are you?”

  “Not so good,” replied Moye, and as he coughed, blood spewed out.

  Taylor looked up to see Irala had joined them.

  “Can you help him? You have to help him!”

  “They already have,” White said, “He’d be dead if they hadn’t intervened.”

  “So he’s gonna make it, yeah?” Taylor insisted.

  He felt a hand on his and looked down to see it was Moye’s.

  “It’s my time, Taylor. But it should have been yours.”

  Taylor couldn’t work out what he meant.

  “Ain’t none of our time to die,” he replied.

  Moye shook his head.

  “The Mechs that we fought, they were like him,” he said, pointing to Jafar. He was standing at the end of the bed. “They were tasked with finding and killing you,” he added.

  “How do you know this?”

  “Because they told me, Taylor. They captured me. My people got me back, but at a great cost.”

  “They were coming after me? Just me?”

  Moye went blank and took a few more breaths before finally passing away.

  “Shit… rest easy, my friend,” whispered Taylor.