“Fire!” Song ordered without hesitation.
A volley of fire burst out from their bow, and it was followed almost with exact synchronicity from every other vessel in the fleet, except for the Nakbe as she was still recharging. Two more enemy vessels were destroyed with the opening volley, but it soon came their turn to retaliate.
“Launch fighters!”
They were rapidly descending towards the enemy fleet, and it still felt intimidating, no matter how many they had on their own side. A hit from a heavy weapon from an enemy cruiser smashed into their hull. They felt the impact through their feet as the ship was rocked.
A flash almost blinded them as one of the Cholan vessels off their port side blew up. There was no doubt they had a numerical advantage, but Taylor was all too aware of what this battle could cost them. But he was single-mindedly focused on the construction on the surface.
It still bugs me that I don’t know for sure what it does. But I know I must trust in Irala.
The Guam was rocked once again, and the intensity increased. Warning lights flashed across several consoles next to Nichols.
“We’ve got a hull breach and fires across two floors! We can’t go on like this!”
Volleys of fire continued to pour into them, but still the old girl held firm. They were coming alongside the first of the enemy vessels now and firing on both sides. Slogging it out with broadsides like the old time sail ships. Then they were rocked by a blast larger than any other, and Taylor was thrown off his feet. He felt his helmet crash into the Captain’s chair in an impact that would have split his head open. He was a little stunned by it and got up to help Song back to her feet.
“We’ve lot starboard batteries!”
Taylor knew they were in trouble. Enemy ships were being ripped apart either side of them, but they couldn’t take much more themselves. He felt helpless, but as he tried to think of something to do, the gunfire on their starboard side was blocked out by a vast shadow passing along the length of their hull, and the impacts reduced. As it drew further forwards, they could see the bow of the Navarin and her name. Her guns were twice the size and in far greater number, and they rained down hell. It was just the breather they needed.
“Have our fighters cover our starboard side. Get crews down there now. I want those guns working!” Song ordered.
One of the smaller enemy craft ahead of them was banking to cross their T. Taylor could see the planet’s atmosphere was almost within reach now.
“Full speed ahead!” he cried.
Nichols relayed the order without question this time.
“Brace for impact!”
The enemy ship fired an opening volley that was brushed off by their armoured prow before they hit the craft at full tilt. They were rocked by the impact even more than the blast that had taken out their gun batteries, but the prow sliced through the enemy craft, splitting it in two as they passed through.
Jones couldn’t believe their luck.
“She did it!” he shouted in ecstasy.
“Don’t underestimate the old girl,” replied Taylor.
But he could see Song was more relieved that anything else. Red warning lights flashed across multiple screens. They had taken damage across most of the ship, and many modules were damaged.
“We have to slow down now or we risk never stopping. We’ll plough right into the surface!” Song said.
Taylor didn’t want to stop, but they now had a clear view of the surface.
“Target that sight, everything you got!”
“What about the rest of the fleet?”
“They can manage just fine, Captain. Take it down, now!”
They were still rocked by several impacts, but it was reducing now.
“We’ve only got port and bow guns.”
“Then fire them, just shoot something!”
He was getting irate and starting to fear what the device on the ground could do. It was a vast complex construction that would have taken Humans many months to build, and yet they seemed to have done it in days.
“Don’t you think we should get down there on the ground first and actually find out what it is?” Jones asked.
Taylor was already shaking his head.
“No fucking way. Nothing good can come of whatever that is. At the rate they are building it, who knows how long until it becomes operational? And while I cannot say what it is, I can guarantee we aren’t gonna like it.”
“Weapon systems ready to fire,” said Nichols.
“Do it!”
A full volley of the bank of guns opened fire, and everyone watched and waited for them to reach their target.
“Come on…” muttered Taylor.
But as the shots reached their target, they impacted on the surface of some sort of faint energy shield and were cast aside so that they struck the surface.
“What the hell was that?” Jones asked, “How the hell can they have that sort of technology?”
“Whatever they might be, they do the bidding of the Morohta. Get me Emperor Tuin!”
It took just a few seconds for the Cholan to be projected before him.
“Tuin, fire that monster of yours up. We have work to do. Target that facility on the surface and get rid of it!”
“My pleasure.”
They watched the vast vessel come about. A number of enemy craft closed in, trying to ram or board it, but were blown away by scores of fighters and support fire from the vessels all around her.
“All right, you sons of bitches, let’s see you shrug this off.”
The Nakbe lit up and pulsated as it always did before the vast beam weapon lit up and soared down towards the surface. It struck the shield of the ground target. To their horror it was reversed and sent right back towards the Nakbe. Nobody had time to respond, and the ship took the full brunt of the impact. As it landed, the projection of Tuin stopped, and the lights of the ship went dead along with the engines. Fires raged along the hull. It remained intact, but it was floating freely without power of any kind.
“Shit!”
Things weren’t going the way Taylor wanted, and it was really starting to concern him.
“That is some serious hardware,” said Jones.
“Song, get…” began Taylor.
But a blue light flashed across their bow and struck the vessel. It rocked them violently, and their power died instantly. It went pitch black on the bridge, not even the emergency lighting kicked in.
“What the hell is going on?”
He reached for the light on his helmet and activated the other on the shoulder pad of his armour. Jones and two of the Marines on guard did the same. The beams of light fluttered around the bridge as they looked to check if everyone was okay.
“We’ve lost all systems,” stated Nichols.
“No shit,” replied Taylor.
“You’ve got nothing? Not even comms?” Jones asked.
“Anything running from the ship’s power has gone. I can dig out emergency radio equipment that can be used short range.”
Taylor looked down at his console. His suit still had power.
“Life support is down as well?”
Song nodded.
“How do we get it back online?”
“Without knowing what has caused it, I have no idea, but we won’t know anything until we can make contact with the engine bay.”
“All right, Jones and I will head for engineering. You dig those radios out. You know our frequency, and Captain, arm yourselves.”
She looked to the Marines at the door, but she knew Taylor was right.
“Right then, torches, weapons, radios, reserve air, get moving people, you know what to do,” she ordered.
Taylor rushed out of the door with Jones close at his side.
“You know running out of air might be a problem, but without life support, it’s going to freeze in here before long.”
“Yeah, I know,” replied Taylor with a sigh.
They made their way down two levels and along a fe
w lengths of corridor when they felt an impact against the ship.
“What’s going on? Why are they still shooting at us? We’re dead in the water,” said Jones.
They heard another impact, and it sounded close. They froze, listening out for some sign of the origin, but a moment later there was a flash of light and sparks as a cutting torch began tearing through the airlock up ahead. It was working fast.
“Ah, hell.”
“Nothing can ever be easy, can it?” replied Taylor.
He activated his shield and lifted his rifle in readiness. It took just ten seconds for them to cut through the heavy door. It collapsed in with a crash. Light burst through the hole, and shadows became visible as a horde of the savage Amitad warriors rushed for the breach.
“Here we go!” Taylor shouted.
They leapt out into the open corridor, and both men opened fire and cut down the first two instantly, but another few jumped on over their bodies. They scattered in both directions, towards them and away, and more piled in.
“They’re going for engineering, Mitch!”
“Ah, fuck!”
Taylor rushed forward towards them laying down fire. He cut down two, and Jones had matched his pace. Taylor crashed into the nearest and barged the second. He let his rifle drop down by his side, and armed and threw a grenade through the breach as he rushed past. He didn’t even think about stopping. He heard a few shots ring out at his back as Jones dealt with the two he had brushed off. Jones was right in front of the breach when the charge blew and shrapnel smashed into his shield. It knocked him back against the far wall, but he stayed on his feet.
Taylor fired into the back of the last of the creatures that had gone the other way. He put his rifle barrel around the corner of the breach and fired a burst to suppress whoever might be left, and tossed down another grenade. He grabbed Jones and rushed on. They heard the charge blow and the screams of the enemy who could not outrun it. They found four of the enemy setting explosive charges on the doors to engineering and opened fire to cut them down where they stood.
Their bodies were just slumping to the ground when they reached the doors. Taylor punched in his security access code and ripped the door open. He leapt in, and Jones slammed it shut behind him.
Taylor found the barrel of a gun at his head being carried by a shaky hand.
“Whoa, easy now,” he said. Looking past the barrel, he saw a young female engineer holding it. She looked absolutely terrified, but as he pushed it aside, she slowly lowered the weapon.
“It’s okay. I am here to help. Do you know who I am?”
She acknowledged him, but didn’t say a word. She was dripping with sweat.
“Where’s the Chief?”
She was still shaking and didn’t seem to want to answer.
“Look, we are flying blind in the middle of combat. We have to get this bird back in the air and back in the fight. So please, where is the Chief?”
She shook her head and began to cry. “He’s dead,” she finally mumbled.
Taylor grabbed her and let her cry into his shoulder for just a few seconds before pulling her back. He felt as though he had to hold her up, for she seemed weak and faint, and yet he needed her. He looked down at her nametag. It read ‘Walters’.
“Walters, is that your name?”
She shook her head. “Yes, no…people call me Walz.”
“Okay, Walz, I need your help. We all need your help, can you do that?”
She nodded as she tried to wipe the tears away, but they continued to stream.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Come with me.”
She led them on through a cloud of steam, and now it dawned on them. There were fifteen bodies around the engines where a blast internally had erupted and killed almost everyone in the engine bay. Two were still breathing, but unable to stand. Jones didn’t even have any words for it, and Walz seemed to go onwards as if ignoring them. Taylor wasn’t going to say anything. Right now, they needed just one thing. They went past the main engines to a backup.
“I’ve got a coupling out,” she said, pointing to a burnt out piece of equipment and a collapsed bulkhead, “But I can’t get in there. The hoist is out even if I could get the space, and there’s nobody else left to help. It’s a four-man lift.”
Taylor jumped up to the top of the damage she spoke of, and to her amazement, he prised away the fallen bulkhead. It let him do it with ease, and she was starting to realise she could make it happen.
“All right, we can do this. We can fix the ship,” she said.
It seemed to give her hope. She released four clamps on the coupling. It was the size of a small car and looked like it weighed a tonne.
“Help me get it off,” she said and gestured towards a replacement on the racks across the way. Taylor prised it off and threw it off with ease. It crashed down to the deck with a loud echo.
“You’re going to have to be a lot more careful with the new one…please. It’s our last one. Mess this up and there’s nothing I can do for you.”
He and Jones went to the coupling and went to begin a lift when one of the wounded Amitad warriors came rushing through the steam, brandishing his sword above his head. Taylor snapped his pistol from its holster and fired two shots. He quickly holstered it once more.
Walz couldn’t believe what she had just seen, but her open mouth was soon shut as she remembered they had a job to do. They lifted up the coupling and carefully lowered it down onto its mountings so that she could seal it.
“Okay, that’s it.”
She rushed back to a control panel and pressed a few dozen keys. After several tense seconds, there were a few sparks from the new coupling and the sound of a power surge. The lights snapped back on as the engines fired up. Taylor put his hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair.
“Great job, kid,” he said.
He knew she was far from all right, but at least they were back in action. Song’s voice soon came over his comms.
“Taylor? We are up and running on auxiliary. We are unable to jump, but we have power. Communications should be back in a few minutes.”
“That’s good. We have at least one breach in the hull and enemy combatants. Have your Marines continue to carry out sweeps.”
“Where are you going?”
Jones could already see where this was going, and he didn’t look impressed.
“Down to the surface to get this thing done.”
There was a silence as Song thought about it, but it was clear nobody had any better ideas.
“Good luck, Colonel,” she finally added, and Taylor turned back to Walz.
“When we have gone, you seal this door shut, and you don’t open it until a Marine detachment arrives, you hear?”
She didn’t look happy to be left, but she nodded in agreement as they rushed off and slammed it shut behind them.
“Strong kid,” Jones said when he knew she couldn’t hear them anymore.
As they reached the docking bays, they heard a few gunshots from one of their own and rushed forward to find the source. They stepped into the dock. Alita was standing in front of her Stormer with her rifle in hand. Two of the enemy lay dead in front of her.
“What the hell have you got us into, Mitch?”
“Just get us in the air,” he replied.
“Yes, Sir.”
They clambered aboard. The docking bay doors opened, and they could see the battle was winding down now. The enemy had been brutalised, but not without a severe cost to the fleet. Two friendly vessels were floating as wrecks, and the Nakbe still didn’t have power, despite the fact that Cholan vessels had latched on and brought her to a standstill.
“Get us on the ground,” ordered Taylor.
She fired up the engines, and they soared out into space.
“Why can’t we just blow this thing from orbit?”
“Some kind of shielding technology. Something we haven’t seen before. It bounced the Nakbe’s shots righ
t back at her. Maybe not with the same strength, but enough that it took them out of the fight.
“So I am guessing whatever this is it is valuable? They’ve gone through a whole lot of effort to protect it.”
“That’s what I figure. Get us down there, but stay away from that field, and find us an opening.”
A few lights flashed past as the remnants of the enemy were mopped up, and the fighters kept them safe as they made their approach.
“Know if they have any anti-air capability?”
Taylor shrugged.
“That’s reassuring.”
They passed through the atmosphere and found a world as bleak and boring as any other. The only thing of note was the technological marvel that the enemy had been assembling. Alita brought them down to surface level. As they made their approach, she banked and brought them around the perimeter. There were no fighters to defend the site, nor weapons trying to bring them down.
“Glad they haven’t finished this thing. If it is as valuable as you think, then I bet they would have had a tonne of assets in place to keep us out within no time at all,” said Alita.
But Taylor was too fixated on the scene before them. He was looking for any opening, any sign of a way in. She activated the guns in the nose and fired a burst. The shots impacted on the near invisible surface of the shield and highlighted its outline for a moment. She banked hard and fired a few more bursts as they scouted the perimeter for any sign of an entrance.
“There!” Taylor shouted.
She looked carefully and could see a tunnel in some rock. It seemed to pass beneath the shielding they were using. It wasn’t large enough for their craft to pass by. Alita guided them in carefully and brought them down beside the opening. Their three other craft landed nearby. Taylor turned to move, but she grabbed hold of his wrist and stopped him.
“I don’t like this. No protection, nothing stopping us going in. It stinks.”
“Yeah, maybe it does, but what else are we supposed to do? We can’t just leave it here. Trust me, we won’t be long.”
She let go and he carried on.
“Masks down!” he cried and hit the door release. He looked back to the nuclear weapon that had been loaded for them and watched two of his team pick it up in its harness.
Battle Beyond Earth - Box Set (Books 1-5) Page 59
