Battle Earth: 11

by Nick S. Thomas

  "So if they take it, we're finished?"

  Taylor nodded.

  "Then let's not let that happen."

  "Indeed."

  "And that Juggernaut? What if it reaches the bridge?"

  "I've got a couple of ideas on that."

  "Want to share?"

  A pulse struck the wall on their left, and they ducked down, returning fire from behind their shields at the single Mech advancing on them. Taylor felt one of the pulses impact on his shield. As it splashed white-hot matter across the surface, the debris hit the barrel of his rifle. One of the Reitech shots soared down the barrel and jammed in the bottleneck created by the pulse damage, blowing the barrel apart. Shrapnel from the barrel embedded in the front and rim of the shield. It was all that saved it from coming right for his face.

  "Fuck!" he yelled.

  "Come on, Colonel!"

  Taylor unclipped the wrecked weapon and dropped it to the deck, drew out his Assegai, and ran after the Major. He knew they were likely running to their deaths, but it was far better than dying out in space with nobody to fight at all.

  "The bridge is just up ahead," said Moye.

  They rushed up a short flight of steps and found three Mechs and the Juggernaut standing at the entrance to the bridge. One of the creatures had a device connected to the door locking mechanism and was overriding it. As Taylor and Moye came into sight, the huge blast door lock mechanisms opened and the door rose, revealing the bridge.

  The four aliens blocked off much of the view to the bridge, but they could just about see the faces of a few of the crew and the Captain. They were like rabbits in a spotlight, and Taylor could fully understand why. The Captain shouted something to one of the crew. He reached for the emergency release of the blast door, but as he went for it, the Juggernaut stepped inside and grabbed his neck and snapped it single-handed.

  "Go!" Moye screamed.

  They rushed at the Mechs. They had turned to face them to allow the Juggernaut to go about its work of devastation. Moye was firing on full auto, and the first creature was riddled with more than twenty shots by the time they reached them and dropped where it stood. Moye ducked under the pulse cannon of the second and drove his shield up, forcing the weapon to go vertical before placing his gun barrel into the creature's gut, riddling it with eight shots.

  Taylor smashed the other's weapon aside with his shield with such force, it caused the creature to turn and stumble towards him. His Assegai drove deep into its collar until it ran up to the hilt. He turned aside and allowed the body to fall past him and stepped onto the bridge.

  The Juggernaut had just stamped on one of the crew and crushed her to death. Several others fired at it with pistols, but they had no effect at all. The creature didn't seem at all bothered. Moye took aim and emptied the last of his magazine into its back. The final few shots made it spasm slightly, as if some of them had at least hurt the beast.

  It spun around to face this new threat. Moye drew out his Assegai, and he and Taylor put some distance between themselves, preparing to fight it hand-to-hand.

  "Ever taken one of these down?"

  "Not without help, Major."

  "You've got me."

  "I meant rather more help."

  The beast finally rushed at Moye, being the one who had hurt it. It swung for him, and he parried the strike off and spun off to its flank, trying to stab at the beast, but the impact of the parry had pushed him too far off to the side. Taylor stood at the doorway to the bridge, and it was coming right for him. He stood his ground confidently as if with no fear at all.

  Wait, wait, wait! Taylor cautioned himself.

  The Juggernaut was almost on him when he quickly ducked down and smashed his shield full force into its lower legs with all the strength he could muster. The beast's legs went out from under it. It went forward into a dive, hitting the deck, and scraping along it for two metres before finally coming to a halt in the doorway.

  But Taylor was already on his feet and wasn't going to give the beast a second to recover. He leapt to the emergency door shut button and smashed it with his hand. The beast was just rising at the waist when the half-metre thick door plunged down into the creature's torso, almost cleaving it in two, and pinning it to the deck. It writhed for just a few seconds, finally falling silent.

  Taylor hit the door button again, and it opened up to reveal the gaping wound in the creature's chest where the door had crushed its armour into its own flesh. But that wasn't enough of a reassurance for Taylor. He knelt down beside it and drove his Assegai deep into one of the openings in the wrecked armour. As he drew it out, blue blood seeped from the weapon. He turned back to see Moye watching in amazement.

  "Was that really your idea? Jam it in the blast door?"

  "Yes, sort of."

  "You know how crazy that was? How little chance there was of you pulling that off?"

  "Yeah, a lot better than we had fighting it."

  Moye couldn't disagree and looked at the corpse of the Juggernaut. They both turned to the ship's Captain. He stood like a statue in total shock.

  "Captain?" Taylor asked, "Captain!"

  He slowly looked at Taylor.

  "Get this ship back in the fight!"

  He seemed to snap out of his daydream state and turned to his crew, bellowing a stream of orders. Taylor was suddenly aware of the projection there showing what was happening. With his attention entirely focused on the Juggernaut, he had not even noticed the space battle going on around them. He took his time to study what was going on now and could see the battle was far from decided.

  "We're still in this fight," he said in amazement.

  "Yes. I don't know what you said to those creatures down there on that planet, but they came to this fight. And we would not still be alive had they not."

  "Yeah, I went down there. I spoke to them. I pleaded with them to join us. They said no. They said they would not join this war, and that we could not stay here any longer."

  Moye simply held out his hand, as if for Taylor to observe their presence.

  "Sometimes we say one thing and do another," he added.

  Taylor noted several of their allies' ships had been utterly destroyed, but he turned his attention to the Fatihi. Beam weapons and railguns were tearing the hull apart, and yet it still stood in defiance and kept firing.

  One of the crew turned to the Captain and said something that was clearly important. Taylor turned to Moye for translation.

  "We're getting a transmission from the Fatihi on an open channel."

  The guns stopped firing on both sides while they waited for the impending negotiation.

  "This should be good," he replied.

  The Captain ordered the channel to be opened, and Erdogan stood on the bridge of the Fatihi. Taylor was expecting to be addressed personally at any moment, but he knew the creature couldn't know where he was, or even if he was alive.

  "I am Lord Erdogan of the Krycenaean people. We came here to avenge the deaths of my family, and to end the scourge of the human race, who stand only to return and offend us if we leave them out here to revel in their failure and burning hatred of us."

  Taylor couldn't believe his ears. He had never heard the enemy Lord speak like this, and he did not believe any of it.

  "This is bullshit. It's all an act," he stated.

  "Yes, and a convincing one. If he can convince our allies to leave us, we are finished."

  Erdogan continued.

  "Leave the humans to us, and we shall leave this system never to return. We only want what we came here for."

  Taylor could see they were on very dangerous ground now, and there was nothing he could do. There was nobody he could negotiate with, nobody he could influence any further. Nor could he see the faces of their allies and get an inkling of their thoughts. All he could do was look out at the display screens for any sign of movement from their allies' vessels.

  There was utter silence on the bridge, and Erdogan stood silently on the scr
een, awaiting a response.

  Come on, stay with us, Taylor thought, over and over.

  Finally, they saw one of the sleep alien vessels begin to light up, and a beam burst from its bow. It struck the Fatihi. Erdogan staggered on screen before the transmission feed was lost. The bridge crew of the Diderot gave out a riotous cheer, as the rest of the fleet joined in the battle once again.

  The firing went on for less than a minute when they saw the Fatihi open up a jump Gateway to escape. The human fleet and their allies continued relentlessly to hit the enemy's capitol ship and all who stood with her, but it wasn't enough. The Krys vessels were still firing as they fled. Just a few minutes later, the fleet was through the Gateway. It shut behind them, leaving the system in an eerie peace, where floating hulks served as coffins to the tens of thousands of dead on both sides. The crew of the Diderot looked at each other speechless and amazed to even be alive.

  "Whatever you did, Colonel, you just saved us all," said Moye.

  "I'm not sure I had a lot to do with it at all, Major, but I'll take the victory, pyrrhic or otherwise."

  "Look at those ships. With those on side, we could win this war."

  "Nobody said they are on our side yet," added Taylor, "They fought an invasion of their home system, is all."

  "We've got an open transmission coming through from our alien friends," said Moye, relaying the message to Taylor.

  The transmission opened, and the alien before them looked just like Irala, but Taylor had no idea of who it actually was.

  "You may land on our world, and we will do all we can to help with repairs. We have all lost greatly here today. Let us mourn our fallen."

  The transmission ended there.

  "Well that was...abrupt," added Moye.

  "They aren't the most talkative of people, from what I can see. Took me forever just to get a name out of the one I met with."

  "And the last time you spoke to them, they said leave this place, and that they would not fight. They just saved us and are inviting us down there. I think this war just took a turn the likes none of us could ever have imagined."

  "I hope so," Taylor said with a sigh.

  He was finding it hard to believe they might actually have a chance against Erdogan. He had long accepted they were fighting a losing battle, and he didn't want to get his hopes up, without the facts to support them. Admiral Huang appeared on a display. He had blood trickling down his face, and he held a bandage against the wound.

  "Last reports were that Admiral Huber went down with his ship. Until we know otherwise, I am assuming command of the fleet. I am ordering all damaged vessels of the fleet to put down on the alien world to carry out repairs."

  He looked down and appeared to be reaching for some controls to end the transmission. It seemed he was having to do the job of several of his crew himself. The Captain of the Diderot turned to Taylor as if to ask for his approval, but Taylor said nothing.

  "Are we to follow Huang now?" he asked.

  "He was placed in second command of the fleet, so it seems appropriate to me, and he's speaking sense so far."

  The Captain nodded and got up to approach Taylor. He held out his hand in friendship, and Taylor took it.

  "I am Captain Lasure, and I am forever in your debt, Colonel."

  "Do you have any news on survivors of the Washington?" he asked in return.

  "The order to abandon ship was given in good time, and plenty managed to escape, though I have no idea on actual numbers."

  "You think you can get us down onto that planet?"

  "The ship is badly damaged, but she'll make it. She's kept us safe through the worst of it this so far."

  Taylor nodded in agreement. He could see warning lights and diagrams all about on the screens of the bridge. He could tell there wasn't a lot still holding them together, and he would give anything to get his feet on firm ground once more. Moye stepped up to him.

  "How did you know the door would kill that Juggernaut?"

  "I didn't," he replied quickly, "but it was the only chance we had."

  Moye laughed.

  "So you gambled it all on that hope of achieving something you had never tried before, and had no idea if it would work?"

  "I wouldn't say it was much of a gamble, Major. It was either my plan working, or all of us dying."

  Moye slapped his hand down on Taylor's shoulder in a friendly fashion.

  "You really are crazy, Colonel, but perhaps just the right sought of crazy for this war."

  He'd made a friend there, and he knew how valuable that was.

  "I always thought you were an arrogant son of a bitch, but now I get it," added Moye, "Your way isn't my way, but I understand it. Were there a bar nearby, I'd happily buy you a drink."

  "We'll sure find something."

  But Taylor was distracted, thinking of his own unit and those he had fought beside for so many years. And Eli.

  "How long until we reach the surface?" he asked Lasure.

  "We are still conducting running repairs and limping her all the way. We are going to have to save much of our power for the descent into the atmosphere. Maybe we'll be there in an hour."

  It felt like an age to wait, but that was all he could do now, when he suddenly thought about why he came aboard in the first place.

  "Got to be Mechs still aboard, Moye, and we need to flush them out."

  "Relax, Colonel, we already have our marines doing that very task."

  Lasure turned back as he heard the comment.

  "Yes, and you've shown yourself more than capable of defending the bridge. If it would be agreeable to you, Colonel, we'd all feel a lot safer if you watched over us until we reached the surface."

  He agreed to do so, understanding the Captain was in fact suggesting he rested. He took a seat on the floor, propping himself against the wall near the blast door and waited. It felt like a long haul to reach the planet, and as they finally made their descent, he stood next to the Captain, looking at the display screens of the grounded fleet they were approaching. Most had made it before them, and it was a shattered fleet.

  "It'll take us months to get these ships up and running again, if at all," said Lasure.

  "Erdogan suffered at least as much as we did. I think we've bought ourselves more than enough time to prepare for the next move."

  "Next move?" Moye asked, "Isn't this the sign that we're staying and making a life for ourselves here?"

  "I don't know about any of you, but I won't settle down anywhere, knowing that bastard sits atop a throne over our world. I will not stop. I will not stop fighting and trying to get back home. Nothing will stop me but death."

  "And if that's what you find?"

  "Well, then better I died trying, Major, than lived in exile out here."

  "Do you regret leaving Earth?"

  He had to think about it for a few moments. It was something he'd thought about often and could still not make up his mind.

  "Yes and no. I regret leaving so many of our own kind down there, and I can only pray they have somehow made it, although I don't see how. But how could we have ever won down there? Now with allies, we might stand some hope, but alone, we were defeated."

  They could hear the ship's structure creaking under the strain of the entrance into the atmosphere, and it shook so violently Taylor wondered if they'd even make it to the surface alive.

  "Never did much like flying."

  "Then perhaps you should not have joined the marines."

  "Well, we can't always get what we want."

  The ship reached the surface and put down on an empty plain of desert with twenty-five other ships of the human fleet. Their alien allies were nowhere to be seen. As the landing ramp went down, Taylor was the first one striding down it and finally felt the earth beneath his feet. It was a relief.

  "Taylor!" a voice cried.

  He turned to see Parker running towards him. It was the most amazing feeling he had felt in weeks. The possibility of loss, and the real
isation she was still alive, was overwhelming. She leapt into his arms, and he felt a surge of excitement overcome him.

  "I've looked all over for you, every ship down here. I just kept looking and looking. I knew you couldn't be dead."

  "I saw the Washington go down and my heart sank," he replied.

  "They just came out of nowhere and kept hitting us. Didn't even have much chance to fight back. Before we knew it, the Admiral was ordering an evacuation."

  "And what of the Admiral?"

  "He went down with the ship. He stayed there until the end to man the targeting systems and keep the guns firing. He wouldn't let anyone else stay with him."

  "His loss will be felt, but none of us could have asked any more of him. And our people?"

  "Scattered throughout a number of ships. Jafar is with King, looking for you as well. Morris is wounded, but he should be okay. At least half of our unit has made it. Still waiting on contact from any others. It's a complete mess down here, right now. Come on, I'll take you to King. He has been in charge until now. Last time I saw him, he was hounding Admiral Huang to send out search parties for you."

  "I bet that went down well."

  She took his arm and hauled him forwards. They weaved their way between hordes of personnel, many being attended by medics or their own comrades. They reached a temporary command structure and could see King stepping out with his shoulders slumped and looking thoroughly demoralised. Jafar stood waiting to address him.

  "Captain King!" Taylor hollered.

  King looked up in amazement, his eyes suddenly lit up, and Jafar followed close beside him.

  "How? Where the hell were you?"

  "Made it on to the Diderot and did what I could there."

  It was all they needed to hear, but before they could exchange any more pleasantries, Taylor heard his name being called. He turned and found Irala standing there. Just as before, he seemed to appear out of nowhere.

  "You fought with us," stated Taylor, "Thank you. Had you not, we would surely have been defeated."

  "My people had long sought to forget Erdogan and the wounds he had inflicted on us. But we could hold ourselves back no longer. The wounds cut deep, and seeing your people suffer at his hands was enough to remind us of the fact."