“This Lisa Caron,” began Taylor, “Give me your honest opinion. No bullshit, no holes barred. Would she be up to the job?”
“Yes, I am certain of it. She can be a brash and obnoxious force at times, but she is a go-getter. I would have voted for her.”
“Then that’s enough for me. If she was at the hospital when all this began, where would she be now?”
“Normally a VIP like that would be escorted immediately to the nearest fallout shelter, but we can only hope she didn’t make it.”
“Why?’
“Because it’s not there anymore. It was one of the first targets hit.”
“And if she couldn’t make it there?”
“Hunker down in the safest place possible and wait for help.”
“There’s a good chance she’s hold up at that hospital or nearby,” added Jones
“That’s all very well, but we have enough on our hands here. She can wait until things settle down,” snapped Greer.
Taylor pointed out towards the sound of gunfire a few blocks away.
“You think they are gonna settle down anytime soon?”
Greer gritted her teeth, realising they weren’t going anywhere.
“I’ll get to Caron.”
“What? We need you here. Without your people, we may not even survive the night.” She pointed towards the sky to show that the sun was falling fast now.
“I hear you. I’m taking this platoon and that’s it. The rest of my Regiment and those elements supporting us will stay here and keep fighting.”
“You go out there alone, and they could target you, too. They are going after all the high profile targets they can, Colonel.”
“No, Bolormaa doesn’t want me dead, not yet, anyway. She’d rather let me witness every bit of death and devastation she can rain down before I get my turn.”
“She is that sadistic and hateful?”
“Wouldn’t you be if a human made you bleed when you believed you were a god?”
“Maybe, but that assumes she’s calling all the shots. A leader like her can’t micromanage anything. You go out there with just a few troops, and we could lose you, too.”
“And if we risk nothing, we gain nothing. You can’t stop me.”
She was clearly accepting that fact, as she picked up a rifle in readiness to join the fight and defend the ground she stood on.
“You can hold this, you have to, but we also have to think beyond this fight, General. We need strong leaders, and I intend to make sure that we do have them.”
“Then good luck, Colonel, and I pray that you do find her.”
“If she’s alive, we’ll find her.”
He turned to his people and signalled for them to follow him to the quieter south as he called in for transport.
“Alita, get your ass down here,” he said casually.
Her voice came over the comms almost instantly as if she had been waiting for his call.
“What can I do for you?” she asked gleefully.
“We need a ride. Put down south of our position, as close as you can.”
“Aye, aye.”
They were only twenty metres down the road when they heard an engine roar overhead from the west and bank to head south as it came in to land.
“We really have no idea if she’s alive or where to find her, do we?” Jones asked.
“We know where she was last, and that’s a start.”
“It’s gonna be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
“It’ll be a walk in the park compared to the shit we have gone through the last few days.”
“You sure about that?”
“No, but I can hope.”
It brought a smile to Taylor’s face as they stopped and watched Alita’s craft descend smoothly into the middle of a crossroads junction. It was bizarre how empty and abandoned the streets were. At their backs a battle raged, but a short way to the south there was no sign of the war. It was a ghost town.
They rushed up the ramp and inside. Taylor felt his heart warm as he saw Alita and took a seat beside her in the cockpit.
“How’s it looking down there?”
“Pretty rough, but it could be worse.”
“Really?” Jones commented sarcastically.
“In the grand scheme of things, it could be a whole lot worse, yes.”
“It is in other parts,” added Alita.
They both looked to her to expand on that.
“Hong Kong, Hanoi, and Taipei have already fallen. The east has taken it worse than most. Moscow is an absolute blood path. Sarajevo I hear is similar. It seems like each report we get in is bleaker than the last.”
“The UK?”
“It’s hard to tell, Captain. They were hit that’s for sure, but it’s not easy to get info right about now.”
There was silence for a moment as they all reflected on how horrific the turn of events had been.
“So what are we doing?” Alita finally asked.
“The Alliance needs leadership, and more important Earth needs leadership. We’ve been hit hard, especially those in charge. General Greer has information that a Presidential candidate who may be next in line to the Alliance Presidency is a children’s hospital not far from here.”
“And we’re gonna pick her up?”
“Yes, but first we need to find her.”
“How sure are you that she’s still at this hospital?” Alita asked, at the same time she began punching information into her console to try and locate the building.
“We aren’t sure of anything. This is vague information at best.”
“Anyway of contacting this VIP?”
“Nope.”
Alita laughed.
“Wow, you really thought this one through, Mitch.”
“We’ll make do, just like we always do.”
“There,” said Alita, “The Children’s Hospital, north of DC. There is only one that it could be. The other one was closed and relocated six months ago.”
That was the sort of stroke of luck they needed right now.
“All right, punch it,” replied Taylor.
The engines roared to life as they lifted off, and Taylor sat back in his seat. Jones could see he was deep in thought and with a worried expression on his face.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Well, when all this began, I thought that this time around we could keep the war away from Earth. We paid a dear price to defend it the last time. We deserved to keep it peaceful after that.”
“No doubt.”
“Seems like there is no end to assholes who want to take what is ours. Why can’t they just live and let live? There must be hundreds of inhabitable worlds out there, why not just leave us alone?”
“There may be many worlds, but have you ever seen one as beautiful as this?”
“Nope, you’re damn right there, Jones.”
“Then I guess you have your answer.”
“But why would Bolormaa awaken now? She could have come any time. God knows if she’d turned up instead of the Krys a few hundred years ago, it would have been the end of the human race.”
“You’re assuming she knew where Earth was or that it even existed,” Alita joined in the conversation.
“She right,” replied Jones. He was beginning to piece together a theory in his head, “We didn’t have contact with other races until long after Bolormaa’s reign of terror had come to an end. Maybe this is what she was waiting for, for humans to lead her to Earth? Or maybe she was just waiting for a challenge. Some great alliance at which to test herself against?”
Taylor was nodding along as he tried to process the information, and it was starting to make a lot of sense.
“It’s about Earth. It always was,” he said, “If you see yourself as the God of the universe, the superior being, how could you live anywhere else but the most perfect world in that universe?”
“That’s a big assumption to make. How do you know there isn’t some other magical
paradise out there?”
“Well, until I see evidence of it, this is it, and Bolormaa knows it, too, Alita.”
“Then she won’t stop coming until we are dead or gone?”
He nodded. “Maybe, maybe, Jones.”
“Then why don’t we pick up and leave? We can settle on any number of other worlds?”
“No way in hell, Alita. I couldn’t live knowing we were forced from our homes, and Bolo knows that, too. We could leave, but just as we did in the Krys wars, we would be back. That’s why she has been softening up the other colonies before coming here. Encouraging us to stay put where she can end us for good.”
“And the other theory? That she just wanted a challenge, so she waited until we were advanced enough to present a threat?” asked Jones.
“It makes a lot of sense, too. I have to wonder if it isn’t a little bit of both. If you lived forever, what would be the rush to take everything you wanted? Why not take a back seat and savour the experience?”
“Only she hasn’t been able to savour it, as she was sent packing. It must be a bitter realisation to know that you aren’t unstoppable.”
“Yeah, I bet it sure is eating at her. Good,” replied Taylor.
“I am getting readings of gunfire ahead.”
“Where?”
“In the hospital.”
“Ah, shit!” Taylor leaned into the cockpit for a better view of the screens.
“It appears we have enemy craft on the ground, small transports by the looks.”
Fire gushed out of a window on the third floor as an explosion ripped through the tall building.
“Jones, you take two squads through the ground floor. I’ll take the roof.”
Alita brought them in to a hover ten metres above the enemy ships that had put down right in front of the main doors, as if with no caution at all. Jones rushed to the door and looked back at Taylor for just a brief moment.
“We have to get to her, and we need her alive and unharmed. We cannot afford a repeat of what happened to Isaacs.”
“I hear you,” he responded and leapt out of the door.
They piled on out, and Alita was soon banking to bring them over the rooftop.
“You watch yourself out there, you hear?” said Alita.
“I always do.”
“Bullshit, I’ve never met a more reckless man in my life.”
“Yeah, well, I ain’t changing, so learn to live with it.”
He ran and leapt out. Alita smiled. They all needed a little humour in their lives to try and counter the grim reality of what they had to face. Taylor hit the ground running and went right for the door to the stairs. He didn’t stop and crashed through the door so that it flew off its hinges. He ran on inside. They rushed down the stairs and onto the top floor.
“Soldiers!” A child’s voice yelled, as they came across four children under ten years old, and a nurse came to greet them. She looked terrified, but the children went on as if it were any other day. To their surprise they found it was still fully in operation as if nothing had changed.
“What are you all still doing here?” Taylor asked.
“Where else would we go?” replied the nurse.
The he realised just how quickly events had unfolded.
“This is a hospital. It is a safe place.”
“I am not so sure the enemy live by your rules.” He pushed past the children to head for the main stairway.
“Then are you here to take us someplace safe?” she pleaded.
He stopped. She had tears in her eyes.
“No, but I am here to help, to help us all. Lisa Caron, she was visiting this place when the shit hit the fan.”
“Please mind your language around the children.”
Taylor looked a slightly ashamed of himself and more than a little sheepish. “Lisa Caron, she was here?”
“Yes, but what has that got to do with anything?”
“There are enemy elements within the building, are there not?”
“We heard shots. Yes.”
“Well, they are here for her.”
“Why?”
“Because she might just have become the most important person in the Alliance. It is my job to see that she survives, and you have a duty to make sure that happens, too.”
“My duty is to the children.”
“If we don’t win this war, neither will they survive. Please, just help us.”
“She was on this floor when it began. Some men arrived with guns to take her away.”
“When was that?”
“About thirty minutes ago, but we have heard gunfire from the floors below ever since.”
“That explosion on the third, that could be them?” said Bailey.
Taylor nodded in agreement.
“All right, let’s keep moving.”
They burst through the doors to the stairs and kept running.
“Why wouldn’t they just get her out via the rooftop?”
“If you needed to get a VIP out, and you had limited resources, what would you do? Fly in plain sight, or go under the radar with a few civi vehicles on the road?”
They made it two floors down when another explosion rang out, and that only encouraged Taylor to pick up the pace. He wouldn’t lose another like he did the President. He was still furious that he had not been able to save Isaacs, and even more furious that the attempt to do so cost so many lives.
“We have contact on the first floor,” said Jones through the comms.
“Keep advancing. We’re on the fifth and closing in,” replied Taylor.
Even as he spoke, another explosion rang out, but it was much closer this time. They felt the floor beneath their feet shake, and Taylor looked over the edge. The stairs beneath them were collapsing.
“Run!” he yelled, pointing to the doors leading out onto the fifth floor. He watched as the squad ushered them through before leaping himself. As he did so, the floor beneath him gave way. Babacan reached to catch him, but it was too late. The floor collapsed, and he fell. He slid down one block of stairs and was thrown in through the doors on the level below. He tumbled in with no grace at all, finally coming to a stop flat on his back.
“Taylor? Are you okay?”
The voice was echoing through the open stairway.
“I…I’m okay!” he shouted and reached down to check himself over.
He stood up and found children huddled in corners on the ward around him. Many were still in their beds and unable to move, the staff with them just as terrified.
“It’s okay. I’m here to help,” he said.
They looked unconvinced. He turned back and looked down the stairway. It was now an open shaft where the stairways had fallen.
“Taylor,” a voice called.
He looked up. Bailey was looking down at him.
“I’m fine. I’m carrying on. Find another stairs and reach me as soon as you can.”
“Wait for us, Colonel. You can’t go alone,” she insisted.
“Negative, there is no time. You’ll just have to catch up.”
He turned and left at a jogging pace.
“Taylor!” But he didn’t stop.
“Damn it,” he heard her say as she turned back to the others. The wards were full with children and staff, and he really felt sorry as he passed by, but there was nothing more he could do for them than he already was doing. As he reached halfway down the corridor, he noticed a hole in the floor ahead and scorch marks in the ceiling where an explosion had blown through from below.
He slowed a little to look through, but jumped without showing as much caution as he should have. As he landed, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. A Juggernaut was barrelling towards him. He leapt to one side and crashed through a frosted glass wall as it thundered on past. He heard it rush on by, and as he turned over, two Morohtan drones were approaching. He lifted his rifle while still on his back and quickly fired. One got a shot off which narrowly missed his head before they were struck d
own.
He hurried back into the corridor. The Juggernaut was thrashing against a reinforced door that led into next ward. It was throwing all its weight in, and on the third strike the locks were smashed, and the doors flung open. Taylor fired a few shots at its back, but it carried on as if on a mission that it would not be distracted from.
Taylor lowered his rifle and ran on after it. Gunfire rang out, and he could see flashes up ahead. He fired up his shield so as to not be hit by oncoming fire. The Juggernaut crashed into a makeshift line of defences. It crushed two of the men defending it and knocked another two unconscious, as it barrelled over and landed back on its feet. Gunfire rang out as it engaged others in the room it had broken in to. Taylor arrived in time to see the creature closing in slowly against a middle-aged woman in a well-cut suit.
He lifted his rifle and took aim, already knowing it would do no good as the creature paced slowly towards the woman. She look disgusted by it, but stood her ground and tried not to show any fear. Taylor drew out his Assegai and leapt into action. He landed on the back of the Juggernaut and thrust the Assegai deep into the back of its neck.
A deafening shriek rang out as the creature reeled in pain. It tossed and turned to try and get him off. He held on with everything he could, but a blade thrust out from one of its arms, and as it reached for him, he was forced to let go. He was flung across the room and crashed into a table and sofa. He jumped back up to his feet, but the Juggernaut had both of its guns trained on him. He was empty handed, and blade was still embedded in its neck. He wasn’t just going to stand there and be shot, so he jumped to the side and ran with all his strength to get around the creature.
He had caught it by surprise with his sudden turn of speed. Its guns roared and ripped into the walls as he ran a circle around it. He reached the cover of a large line of cabinets and stopped dead, dropping to the floor. Shots punched through and went over his head. The fire continued to track past. The Juggernaut had assumed he was still moving. He stood up, turned back to the way he had come, and charged out, taking a run at the creature while it had its flank to him.
As he reached halfway, he was spotted, and the Juggernaut turned to face him but couldn’t do it quick enough. Once again he was on its back as it flailed around and fired in every direction. He drew out the Assegai and thrust it in again and again. Finally, as he tried to make his fifth thrust, it backed against a solid wall and crushed him with its weight.
Battle Beyond Earth: Revenge Page 11
