Battle Beyond Earth - Box Set (Books 1-5)

by Nick S. Thomas

  “Some people do. We can’t control our fate. We never know when we will die, but we can certainly increase the chances by coming into stupid places like this.”

  His voice was still shaky. Taylor had never seen him so scared of anything in his life, not even the most terrifying enemy.

  “Honestly, what is it with you and being underground?”

  Jones didn’t answer.

  “Come on, you can tell me.”

  “Why? So you can ridicule me over it for the remaining time we have left in this life?”

  Taylor didn’t even laugh at that. He was dead serious.

  “You have my word. I just want to know what makes my closest friend so terrified.”

  “All right, then. When I was about eleven years old, I got trapped in a storm drain, and I was there overnight in rising water. I thought I would die down there, and then in training for the Regiment, an old escape tunnel that we were to use during an exercise came down on me. Nobody could find me for two days. I was running out of air. It was the most horrible experience of my life,” he said quietly.

  “Then I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “Come on, let’s just get the hell out of this thing as quickly as we can. It gives me the creeps.”

  Taylor began to navigate their way over the rubble and back into the open tunnel. He was relieved to see it was still clear and looked down at his Mappad.

  “Five clicks out, it could be a lot worse.”

  “Except we’ll have to get back out on foot,” replied Bailey.

  “That’s not so bad,” Jones said quietly. It took them almost an hour of walking through the lonely tunnel before they were drawing near to their target, “Let’s just hope it’s as Greer said it would be.”

  The tunnel opened out into another station, and they soon found a flight of stairs. They rushed up and found a set of doors. They were well sealed with chains and locks from the inside. Taylor drew out his Assegai and cut them off cleanly and quietly. He drew the chains back and lifted his rifle.

  “You all ready?”

  He knew they would be and prised the door forward, putting some weight into it. The hinges creaked, but it swung open and crashed back into the wall of the building. The loud echo made them all cringe at the prospect it could be heard from a distance away. Jones looked very relieved to see the light of day. He pushed past Taylor into the open and looked instantly more comfortable and his old self, looking around to survey the area. It was eerily quiet, and that only made them more suspicious.

  “Where is everyone, Colonel?”

  “They probably evacuated north if they could, to get as far away from New York as possible, Bailey.”

  They found themselves in a narrow and filthy old pathway between two buildings, a wire fence at one end, a dead end at the other. The wire fence had been cut with a hole large enough for a person to get through, but it looked like nobody had been there in years, perhaps even decades.

  “What is this place?”

  “Some of the fire escape routes built amongst these old buildings are long out of use. They just get blocked off and forgotten about,” said Nile.

  “How do people get out in case of fire now?” Taylor asked.

  “What, are you kidding, Sir?”

  He looked deadly serious.

  “They have all kinds of methods now,” added Jones.

  Taylor didn’t care enough to ask any more and was just glad they had found an entry point to the street. His Mappad showed they were almost in eyeshot of their target. He went to move forward when Jones’ hand stopped him.

  “What is it?”

  “This stinks. You know it does, don’t you? It’s been too easy.”

  “Not that easy,” he replied as he thought of their crash.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yep, but we still have to give it a shot. Finding Phillips alive would be a major boon to the war effort.”

  “Yeah, and that’s what worries me,” replied Jones.

  “Come on, we are wasting time.” Taylor led the way forward.

  He drew his Assegai once again and cut the hole in the fence to be three times the size it was. The narrow path soon turned to the left and led to the open street. The entrance from the street had been bricked up at some time, but had been smashed half open fairly recently. Taylor didn’t like that fact at all, but there was nothing they could do but press on. He peered out from the opening onto the street. They had come out right opposite the Newman Building. The streets were abandoned. There was no cover between them and their target.

  “There she is,” Taylor muttered to himself.

  “How are we gonna play this?” Jones took up position beside Taylor.

  “There’re not a lot of options.”

  Taylor surveyed the scene once more. The Newman Building stood alone with perfectly kept gardens all around it. Almost a hundred metres of ground without cover lay between them and the entrance.

  “There’s no one in sight, so I say we make a break for it.”

  “We’ve got no idea who or what is watching this area.”

  “Nope, and we aren’t going to until they start shooting at us.”

  “Well, hell, that’s reassuring.”

  “No time like the now,” said Taylor.

  He leapt out into the open and ran across the open space.

  “Oh, hell,” said Jones and dashed on after him.

  Taylor could hear Jones cursing him as he ran, and that made him smile. He was pleased his friend was out of the insular and terrified state he had been in when they were in the tunnels. Taylor kept low, looking back and forth and all around for any sign of danger, but it was still clear. They reached slightly over halfway when engines roared in in the skies.

  They dropped down onto one knee and looked around for any sign of what was to come. Eight ships soared into view, but they were not fighters. They were transports.

  “You’ve gone and done it!”

  “Come on, Jones, get inside!” Taylor yelled.

  He stood up and made a dash for the Newman Building. Gunfire strafed their position, but it was inaccurate and couldn’t track them fast enough. Taylor fired several shots at the main glass door as he approached. They punched right through the reinforced glass but it stayed in one piece. Cracks split around the holes, and he took a run into the weakened area.

  The glass caved in, and Taylor rolled into the building, the glass shattering all around him. As he came to a halt, he felt someone hauling him back up. It was Babacan. He hoisted him onto his feet in one quick tug, and they were once again running to the cover of the lobby. They leapt over a large wall as the rest of the platoon spread out to find cover. Jones jumped in beside him. Everyone fell silent as they tried to get their bearings.

  “I’m sensing this wasn’t the best of missions to take,” said Taylor.

  “You don’t say,” replied Jones, as he stood up and fired a few shots as the first Morohtan warrior appeared in the entrance. Taylor joined him, and they opened up on the creature, killing him before he could even get through the broken doorway. Another two followed it and were struck down as easily, but no more came.

  There was a hive of activity outside, but nobody or nothing came close to the building. There was silence inside the Newman Building as they waited for some sign of the enemy, but when nothing came, Jones looked to Taylor with suspicion.

  “What the hell are they doing?”

  Taylor shrugged. “I wish I knew.”

  He looked around the room. It looked unaffected by the fighting.

  “You think Phillips is still here?”

  “He better be, or this is all for nothing. Stay put and hold this position.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get what we came for! Babacan, Bailey, on me!”

  They rushed to his side as Taylor looked back to Jones one last time.

  “If it all goes to shit, you withdraw to the roof and get evaced out, you hear?”


  Jones didn’t look willing to accept that order.

  “We’ll get out of here when you do.”

  There would be no arguing with him, so he hurried through the lobby and on to the next room with the two comrades at his back. As they entered the hallway behind the lobby, they found a trail of blood, human blood.

  “This doesn’t look good,” said Bailey.

  Taylor said nothing. He had to hold on to the hope that they may yet succeed. They followed the trail of blood around a corner where they found the lifeless body of a man in a suit leaning against the wall. There was a gaping hole in his chest and a handgun still locked in his right hand. Bailey knelt down beside him.

  “He’s wearing armour. Little good it did him, though.”

  She pulled back his cuff and found a tattoo on his forearm.

  “He’s a Ranger.”

  “This stinks.”

  “What do we do, Colonel?”

  “Find Phillips, while we still can. Come on, keep going.”

  He followed the map on his Mappad and finally reached the hidden door where he expected to input in a code to get in, but the secret doorway was open, and two more men lay dead in the entrance. The opening led to a flight of stairs deep below the structure. The next doorway was ajar, and lights flickered inside.

  “Oh, God,” said Bailey at the sight of the bodies.

  They had no choice but to keep going forward, although it was the last place Taylor wanted to be. He was starting to understand Jones’ aversion to being underground. It made him sick to have to take a step forward, but he had to go. His heart pounded in his chest as the pressure began to mount. He felt his feet stick to the floor, and his legs go stiff as if his entire body wanted to stay put.

  “You okay, Colonel?”

  “I’m fine.”

  He knew he wasn’t, and so did she. He knew now that they shouldn’t have come.

  “I’m a fool, why didn’t I see this coming?”

  “You couldn’t have known, and you still don’t. The General might still be alive down there.”

  “Really?”

  “Really, come on. We’ve come this far.”

  “Let’s get this done,” Babacan said gruffly.

  Chapter 10

  Jones slammed in a magazine hurriedly but fumbled, and it dropped. He looked up from the cover of the wall. A bipedal Morohtan warrior was rushing towards him. Several shots hit the wall and forced him to duck back down. He pulled out his pistol and rose up once again, firing repeatedly at the enemy advancing on him. He hit it six times in the centre body mass, but it leapt over the defences and landed on him. As he crashed to the ground, he kept firing at point blank range. He quickly held the gun to the side of the creature’s head and put three shots into the side of its skull. He threw the body off in disgust.

  He climbed back to his feet and reloaded his rifle. At the rear of the building Lorenzo was patching one of them up as the rest kept up the fight.

  "If they want to kill us so bad, why don't they just flatten the building?" Nile asked.

  "They must want whoever is in here alive!" he responded.

  "I sure hope Taylor gets a shift on."

  Jones agreed with that sentiment, but his mind then turned to how they might get out of there. They couldn't do it on foot, and the roof would be a dangerous place to be.

  "How is anyone gonna be able to land and evac us from here now?"

  Nile had read Jones' mind.

  "You leave that to me. First things first, let's make sure we survive long enough to worry about it."

  He got up and joined back in the fight. The enemy was coming at them in sizeable numbers, but not as many as he would have expected. There were none of the primitive savages that so often did Bolormaa's dirty work. There were just Morohtan warriors and drones. It struck him as odd, and he tried to work it out in his head, simultaneously taking aim and laying down as much fire as he could.

  Clearly, this is important to them. They must want Phillips as much as we do, but why alive?

  * * *

  Taylor crept down each step. His legs were a little shaky, and he didn't want to go any further. His gut told him to stop, and he was really starting to feel the sort of anxiety that Jones had exhibited, but he didn't know why, and then it struck him. Nobody knew they were even there, except for Greer. No one was coming to their aid, and it was no secret to keep from the enemy anymore. He stopped, as if he had found an excuse or reason not to have to go on, but he lifted his Mappad and put in a direct call to the Indy. It was answered in seconds.

  "Colonel, where the hell are you?" Fortier asked.

  "We're at the Newman Building, north of New York, and we're under heavy fire."

  "Newman Building?" he asked for confirmation.

  "Yes, Captain."

  There was silence as he looked over a map for a moment, and then his eyes widened.

  "That is a long way from your last coordinates. Has the Regiment advanced that quickly?"

  "No. Just a single platoon is with me, and we're up to our necks in it."

  "What are you even doing there?"

  "That doesn't matter right now, but we need a little help. We need artillery barrages all around the building. You can land them anywhere but on the Newman Building itself."

  "We’re on it, but how do you intend to get out of the area?"

  "I can do it!" Alita shouted in the background.

  "Negative," replied Taylor, "The area is crawling with hostiles. Any attempt to land in this vicinity would be suicidal. Lay down the cover that we need and await further instructions."

  Fortier opening his mouth to speak, but Taylor had no time for it.

  "Taylor out."

  He looked to the other two as if to ask if they were ready. They looked more confident and relaxed than he did.

  "All right, let's get this done."

  He lifted his rifle and carried on to the door. Lights flickered inside. There was glass scattered across the floor and another body.

  "I definitely don't like the look of this."

  "It looks like someone got here ahead of us," said Bailey.

  They felt a vibration through the ground as the first bombardment landed around the building. It was a relief to finally feel and hear their own guns.

  "That should buy us a little time," added Taylor.

  There was a huge elevator in front of them with the door open. It appeared to be the only way to go, as the corridor was a dead end. There was a pool of blood close to one of the walls and a trail leading out of it.

  "What do we do?"

  "If there is any chance that the General is still alive, we have to go on," said Taylor, and he stepped inside the elevator.

  The other two followed him. He’d found a key still in place for operating it. He watched the thick steel doors slam shut, and they began to descend into the depths of the bunker. They quickly picked up pace and must have gone fifty metres below the surface before slowing to a cushioned stop, and the doors opened. They all had their weapons held high as if expecting a fight, but there was no sign of life.

  Lights still lit up the foyer, but there was no evidence of a struggle.

  "So far so good," whispered Taylor.

  They felt a light tremor through the ground as the Indy continued the bombardment above, but it was far fainter than they had felt before. Taylor led the way. It was a large complex intended to provide shelter for thousands, but it seemed to be empty. They soon took a bend to find a large armoured pair of doors that were drawn open. He stopped instantly, shocked at what a bloodbath it was. There were at least fifteen bodies in sight. Many of them had weapons in hand or close to where they had fallen.

  "It's a massacre," said Bailey in horror.

  Taylor had to force himself to go forward. He still kept his rifle at the ready and paced in between the bodies to the far end of the room. He reached a table that took up much of the room. Lying next to it in a pool of blood was the body of a man in a general's uniform.
He knelt down to take a closer look.

  "Is it him, is it General Phillips?" Bailey asked.

  Taylor tilted the man's head around. A large calibre bullet had gone through his forehead, but he could still identify him from the pictures he had seen.

  "Yes, it is," Taylor said in a sombre tone.

  "It is no accident that we are here and he is dead," said Babacan.

  Jones!

  Taylor shot up and rushed for the door.

  "We thought we were so smart coming here to get Phillips, but it wasn't our idea. It was theirs," he said, heading towards the elevator.

  He twisted the key to take them back to the surface.

  "This was a trap?"

  Taylor nodded in response, and Bailey saw the fear in his eyes. The doors opened, and they ran out to the sound of gunfire raging nearby. They soon found two of their own wounded, and Lorenzo dragging a third up beside them.

  "We can't keep this up," said Lorenzo as Taylor stormed past.

  He peered around into the lobby. Jones was throwing grenades at close range; desperately trying to hold back the enemy advances. He reached the Captain and slid along the floor, crashing into the wall.

  "Did you find Phillips?" Jones shouted.

  "Yeah, we did."

  "That's good, right?"

  "No it isn’t. He was dead, and everyone who was with him. They have been dead for some time."

  A look of dread overcame Jones as it dawned on him, the same realisation that Taylor had come to.

  "They got us right where they wanted us, didn't they?"

  Taylor nodded.

  "It's not Phillips they wanted alive, it's us, isn’t it?"

  "I just don't know what to say. I should have seen this coming."

  "How could you? We were given solid intel, and we acted upon it."

  "How could I be so stupid?"

  "You couldn't have known."

  Taylor tried to play it out in his head, desperate to find some solution, but for now the only option was to join the fight. He rose up and chose his first target, a drone. A burst from his rifle knocked it out, and he turned to the next. Muscle memory and his training kicked in, and he fought like a demon.

  * * *