He struggled to hold back another yawn. He could really feel the strain and so begrudgingly agreed.
“All right, we’ll take it, but if you need us, you don’t hesitate to call?”
“Sure.”
“You know where to find us, so no excuses, we are ready to respond to anything.”
“I hear you, Colonel,” she snapped in a frustrating manner.
“We’ve held them, haven’t we?”
She smiled. “Yes, we have that.”
“Then there is hope yet. Nothing will ever take this world from us, you can be assured of that.”
“I know.”
With that, he left and led the platoon towards the hotel.
“A night off? I didn’t think that would be coming inside of a week,” whispered Jones.
“You and I both know that if we had kept going for a week, we’d drop where we stood.”
“You had every intention of taking this respite?”
Taylor smiled cheekily. “Got to keep up appearances.”
They reached the hotel. It was teeming with troops, and Taylor didn’t blame them. The fighting they had endured entitled them to some rest, but none more than his platoon. They stepped inside to find themselves guided by an enthusiastic Corporal.
“I am sorry, Sir, but you are going to have to share two to a room. We just don’t have enough space,” he apologised.
Taylor laughed.
“Two to a hotel room is some step up from a whole platoon in the ruins of God knows where.”
They were shown to their rooms. Jones and Taylor stepped inside theirs; they had been given the honeymoon suite. The most lavish room in the hotel, but with only one large bed. They couldn’t help but laugh. The lights were low, and shutters blocked the view out to what looked like a balcony.
“All shutters are to be closed when lights are on, as we are in blackout conditions. It is not recommended you open them for any reason, except in the case of…well you know.”
He shut the door behind them, and they stepped out of their armour. Taylor paced up to the balcony.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to see it for myself, that’s all.”
“Did you not hear what the Corporal just said?”
“Yeah, I heard him. Get the lights, will you?”
Jones sighed but he entertained Taylor’s request. Taylor pressed the switch for the shutters to draw back. It revealed an extravagant balcony that looked out across much of the city to the north and the east. Explosions rang out across many streets beyond, and lights flashed all over as automatic weapons laid down fire. The combat was a few blocks away from them, maybe a kilometre and a half at the most.
“You’ve seen this enough times before, haven’t you?”
“More than any man should have to, yes.”
“Then why come out here and have to endure it once again?”
“Because I am not one to bury my head in the sand. Just because I don’t want to see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”
Jones then studied the scene for himself. The front was a few kilometres wide. They could hear a line of vehicles on the street below and looked over to see a mix of trucks, packed with civilians.
“How many people do you think are still trapped in the city?” Jones asked.
“A hell of a lot. Poor bastards.”
“You know it just doesn’t seem fair that our cities are such primary targets in these wars.”
“It certainly isn’t fair, but they’ll keep doing it. They have nothing to lose, whereas we have everything. We have to divert resources to non-combatants. It spreads fear and uncertainty, and it whittles down the next generation of potential fighters.”
“I don’t see what we could ever have done to stop it from happening.”
“Sure, there are plenty of things; national service for all adults, and a requirement to own and carry equipment in which to fight at home. Air defence systems on all sky rise buildings and in suburban areas.”
“That is asking people to live in fear and under wartime conditions for life.”
“It’s not really our decision to make. War comes to us. We don’t choose it.”
“We managed long enough without having to kill. Centuries of peace.”
“Won and earned through war. That peace was fought for, and the following generations in their ignorance chose to forget how they even acquired the perfect world they enjoyed.”
“I don’t think any nation will ever be willing to live in wartime conditions when at peace.”
He knew Jones was right.
“Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it.”
Jones looked impressed.
“Yep, that one is burnt into my mind after enough experience to know how painfully true it is.”
Lights lit up the sky as artillery from both sides crossed paths. A building a few blocks to the south was struck by one huge energy blast. It collapsed under the impact. They both knew how dangerous it was to stay where they were, but neither was willing to leave. Taylor covered his mouth, trying to hold back the yawn as the exhaustion once again set in.
“Come on, we came here to get some rest. Let’s make the best use of the time we have,” said Jones.
They shut the blinds and placed their weapons on the side tables, so as to have easy access. They both stayed in their uniforms. They didn’t even think about taking their boots off. The danger was so ever present they had to be ready to deal with anything at a moment’s notice. As Taylor lay down on one side of the bed, he let out a sigh at how comfortable it was. Jones took the other.
“You don’t know how much I needed this.”
“Yes, I really do,” replied Jones.
There was silence for a moment as they tried to get to sleep when Jones finally spoke up, “Do you think we can win this one?”
His tone was serious and there was sadness in it, too.
“Of course we can, and we’re going to.”
“How can you be so certain?”
Taylor had to think about it for a moment. He didn’t want to bullshit one of his closest friends. He wasn’t trying to rally support now, but give an honest response.
“I have seen the dedication of you and the rest of the Regiment. There is nothing we cannot achieve so long as we stick together.”
Jones knew that didn’t really give any answers, but it still brought him some comfort.
“You know all I ever wanted was to serve and fight beside you.”
Taylor only grunted, not knowing how to respond.
“I always dreamed it would be a great adventure, like some exciting movie. I didn’t think it would be this hard. How do you keep going?”
“You just have to know there is something worth fighting for, and someone to go back to when it’s all over.”
“I think…” He looked at Taylor and realised he had fallen asleep.
Taylor was exhausted, and Jones was feeling it, too. He rolled back over and shut his eyes, taking Taylor’s words to heart and thought of what he had to go back to when it was all over.
* * *
Alita powered the engines down. Lisa Caron and her Secret Service agents hadn’t even left their seats.
“What are you all waiting for?”
“This is your territory, Lieutenant. You lead the way,” said Caron.
She went to the door as the ramp lowered and stepped out. Fortier and a few other officers were waiting to greet them, but their attention was entirely on Alita.
“How’s it going down there?” Fortier asked.
“It could be worse.”
“Who is this?”
Alita was surprised that he didn’t know, and it struck her then that he had no idea of the intention to establish her as their leader.
“This is the new President of the Alliance, Lisa Caron. Or she will be as soon as she is sworn in.”
“When did this happen?”
“As far as we can tell, she i
s next line.”
“Then welcome, Madam President,” said Fortier. He stepped forward to shake her hand.
She still look stunned and in a bit of a daze.
“I am sorry, Captain, but this has all happened so quickly. Is there somewhere I can get cleaned up before we go on?”
“Of course, I will see that quarters are found for you as quickly as we can.”
“She can have Taylor’s for now.”
Fortier nodded in appreciation to Alita.
“Thank you, Lieutenant. You already seem to have built a rapport with the future President. I am attaching you to her as a liaison officer.”
“But, Captain…” she protested.
“Lieutenant, that is an order. You are not fit to fly, but this will help a lot.”
She scowled. Taylor must have passed on her medical state to him, but she knew she didn’t have a choice.
“Please, follow me,” she said to Caron, “This is the Independence, bought and paid for by privately raised funds for the express use of Colonel Taylor and his newly formed Regiment, of which I am a pilot.”
“And more, I think,” she said.
Alita turned to see the smile on her face.
“Yes, that, too.”
“He’s right to protect you, you know?”
“Maybe,” she grumbled.
“I wish I had someone I could depend on like that, someone that wasn’t paid for out of public funding, I mean.”
“You have no family?”
“None at all. My career hasn’t left much room for starting a family or dating.”
Alita looked surprised, as she’d clearly had several decades to do so.
“You know how difficult it is to run for President as a woman?”
Alita shrugged.
“You know how many female Presidents there have been in the history of the United States?”
Once again Alita shook her head.
‘Two.”
Alita’s eyes widened in surprise at that.
“That’s right. It’s true there aren’t many that want the job, but there have been enough. It’s just hard to be taken seriously.”
“I don’t, Ma’am,” she replied, thinking of her treatment since Taylor had arrived, but then she thought back to the days before his arrival, “Well, maybe. Since working with Colonel Taylor things have been different. He doesn’t seem to care about gender, size, race, nothing.”
“A renaissance man all those years ago, makes you wonder where we went wrong, don’t you think?”
“No, Taylor is just special.”
“The Colonel certainly is that.”
“Are you familiar with his history?”
“I can’t say I am. I know he was a war hero revived from the Krys wars. I voted against that decision, little good that it did.”
“I’ll be sure to pass that on.”
“Why on Earth would you think to do that?” she asked with worry in her voice.
“Because he’d laugh,” she replied with a smile.
“Laugh?”
“Sure. He may be a hard fighter and taskmaster, but he’s actually sweet and soft when he doesn’t need to be the Colonel.”
Caron looked surprised.
“Here it is,” announced Alita as they reached Taylor’s quarters, and she opened the door.
“If you will join me, please.”
Caron ushered Alita inside, but the two agents didn’t look impressed and stepped in the way to stop her.
“Ma’am, we haven’t even vetted the Lieutenant yet, nor cleared the room,” Johnson said.
She scowled at the man, and Alita could tell she was fuming.
“You are here to do my bidding, not the other way round. And don’t you ever forget that it was this plucky Lieutenant who saved all our asses. So don’t you dare call her loyalty into question! Now step aside.”
He looked a little sheepish. Alita was surprised and impressed to see the strength and authority that she mustered just seconds after a casual conversation. Perhaps she was much more than she seemed at first. The two of them stepped into the quarters. Caron peeled off her jacket and went to the sink to wash her face.
“They mean well,” she said.
“Of course they do. They risked their lives to protect you, just as I did, and Taylor did.
She looked back to see Alita stood rather formally.
“Make yourself comfortable.”
Alita pulled back a chair from the desk and took a seat. Even though she had spent so long sitting lately, it had been in a cockpit, and it was a relief to not have any worries or pressures on her as she went limp and relaxed.
“You seem pretty confident that I am going to be President?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Yeah, well until I am, you can call me Lisa. And you Lieutenant Hariz?” she asked as she looked at her nametag.
“Alita.”
Caron seemed appreciative of having her there. It was only just dawning on Alita that she had lost almost everything, certainly her way of life, and now was possibly the new leader of the Alliance. Alita was becoming accustomed to a life of war as Taylor had, and that frightened her. She didn’t want it to become the norm. She desperately wanted to find a way to feel normal again.
“Did you know President Isaacs, Ma’am, er, Lisa?”
“A little. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but I think he was mostly a good man and a good President.”
“Is that what you would tell the press or your honest opinion?”
Caron smiled. “I guess in my line of work it’s hard sometimes to tell the difference between the lies you tell the world and the lies you tell yourself.”
“So he wasn’t such a saint?”
“I wouldn’t like to talk ill of the dead, and he did achieve plenty, but there were many men and women better suited to his job.”
“You?”
She took a deep breath and sighed. “Lord I hope so, I really do. I wanted to be President of the United States, not of the whole Alliance. In these times, the President of the Alliance is a military leader, what do I know about waging war?”
“We all have to start somewhere. You were in line to the Presidency for a reason, I am sure.”
“Yeah, bad luck.”
Alita laughed, and she did so back, a relief to be able to laugh about something.
“Surely there are people better suited to running the Alliance at a time like this? Someone with military experience?”
“You will have plenty of military advisors and counsellors, and don’t forget Taylor. He is the pain in the ass that authority figures just cannot get rid of, but we have division of civil and military stations for a reason.”
“Yes, that’s true. You seem to know more than a pilot might be expected to.”
“Years of college, my parents never wanted me to join the military. They wanted me to be a lawyer, or a politician like you.”
“But it wasn’t for you?”
“No, not at all.”
“Did they come around in the end?”
Alita’s face suddenly turned stern and sad.
“My parents were killed in a traffic accident before I qualified from the Academy.”
“I am sure they would have been proud of you, Alita.”
“Maybe, but they’d never have said it. I don’t know, perhaps it’s better they died together before all this began. They never had to live through what we have to now.”
“And yet it brought you and the Colonel together?”
“Yes,” she said, as a tear trickled down her face. She tried to wipe it quickly to hide the fact.
“Then it is not all bad. Life has a funny way of bringing us the most surprising things at the most unexpected times. Yesterday, I was a long shot underdog to the US Presidency, destined to live out a failed political career, and tomorrow I will be the President of the Alliance.
“I just wish it didn’t have to be so hard, you know?”
“I do know,
I know all too well.”
Lisa took a seat on the bed and kicked off her shoes.
“You know you could be more valuable to me than some of the best military analysts that I’ll have to deal with when I take on this new responsibility.”
“I don’t see how.”
“Because of all the things you have already told me. You don’t hide from the truth. You don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, and you don’t treat me like a fool. You are out there on the front line, and you’re also close to Taylor. You can provide some real vital insight that could help me a lot.”
“But I am no expert. I fly and I fight. I can’t advise you on anything large scale, can I?”
“You leave that to me. Will you advise me?”
She didn’t really feel that she could say no.
“I’ll do anything you ask. You will be our President soon.”
“I am not asking you as your President. I am asking as a friend.”
“Then, yes, I will do it.”
“Thank you, you don’t know what that means to me, Alita. I don’t have a lot of people on my side right now, but I have you. I know I can trust you.”
“Thanks.”
“So tell me more about Taylor. Is he all his reputation would suggest?”
“That and more. I have never met another like him. I don’t know how he does it. I don’t know how he keeps going, and is still alive after all the things he has done. The Krys and the Aranui believe he is some mythical saviour. They call him the Dusmus Kahraman.”
“Really?”
“He thinks it’s all bullshit, but I’m not so sure. It makes a lot of sense. There is no doubt that he has done more than any human could ever hope to. I want to believe that he is just special, but nobody is quite that special or that lucky.”
“Lucky? One might think to have to live through all the horrors that he has, he is maybe the unluckiest man to have ever walked on our Earth. That might be called a curse. I can’t think of anything worse than to have seen and lived through what he has.”
“I never really thought about it like that.”
She began to understand how tormented his mind must be, and how much of that he had to hide.
Caron stretched out her feet, slipped back into her shoes, and pulled on her jacket. She composed herself.
Battle Beyond Earth - Box Set (Books 1-5) Page 93
