Battle Beyond Earth: Survival

by Thomas, Nick S.

  "No time like the now, I guess," he said.

  Without another word, he leapt out from cover and ran towards the enemy as fast as he could. The others were close beside him, and they only had to get twenty metres. Taylor made it halfway before they spotted him and were able to bring their guns around to engage this new assault. The Balcans stood their ground just as the Krys always seemed to. Not even in the face of an aggressive assault did they flinch. Six shots bounced or were absorbed by his shield before he was at the first of them. He smashed its pulse cannon aside with his shield and leapt up, thrusting his Assegai into its collar. The Balcan collapsed back under his weight and was dead even before it landed. Taylor rolled forward off his victim and thrust up into the stomach of the second as he rose up onto his feet.

  The Krys soldier dropped before him as he stabbed it again, but as it cleared the way to the rest, he felt a volley of heavy gunfire strike his shield. He tried to move forward, but the weight of fire was too much. Finally, the shield was broken by the last few shots, and it powered down. He was a sitting duck against their heavy weapons, but as they opened fire once more, Turan and Babacan strode past. They locked their shields ahead of him and continued to advance against the enemy. Taylor sheathed his Assegai and drew the hammer from his back. He was back in full swing now. The bloodlust had returned, and it felt just like old times.

  He ran towards the enemy under the cover of his friends as dozens of pulses bounced from their shields and armour. They finally reached the next wave. His two friends split apart just as they reached the next line of Balcans. Taylor leapt up and covered a tremendous amount of the ground with the hammer held in both hands over his head. The Krys soldier before him lifted its cannon in both hands to parry him, but the power of the hammer smashed apart and embedded in the creature’s head. The force was so great it cracked the creature’s skull and helmet in two and burrowed down to its neck. It was a blood and sickening mess, but not to Taylor. It was the most perfect sight he had seen all day.

  The hammer drew back, and blood spewed out as he kicked the body to the floor. It was coming back to him now, the bitter hatred he had felt for the Krys. Long before they knew that any other life existed beyond human and Krys, they defined what aliens were to him - the enemy. Not an enemy that wanted to merely conquer land and resources, but to destroy an entire race. Taylor had lost so many he loved to the Krys, and Charlie Jones was just one in a long list.

  Taylor let out a roaring war cry and rushed forward like a maniac. He burst out from between Turan and Babacan and ran at the enemy like a fanatic. He swung into the first of the enemy at its hip. The impact hit like a freight train. The Balcan's leg went out, and it fell face first into the deck. But that wasn't enough for Taylor. He rotated the hammer up over his head and crashed it down onto the back of the creature’s head, crushing the entire helmet and skull.

  He lifted the hammer back up and went on to find his next victim, but a powerful pulse struck his chest and knocked him off his feet. He hit the ground and slid several metres. The hammer flew from his hands, and he felt the wind knocked out of him from both the blast and the landing that followed it. He was aware of someone grabbing his arm and tugging him off to one side into the cover of a Krys vessel. It was Babacan. The rest had taken cover. Kaytun and the others were still engaged in a firefight with the incoming enemy, and one of their own Krys soldiers lay dead amongst the enemy. Two others were wounded but had made it into cover.

  "We cannot carry on like this. There are too many of them," declared Babacan.

  Taylor ignored him as he looked around for his hammer. Finally, he saw that Turan held it and passed it to him. He rose up as if to charge out into the enemy, but Turan grabbed hold of him and pushed him back into a seated position against the hull of the enemy ship.

  "Get off me!"

  Turan ignored his order and held him firm.

  "Dying here will not help your cause."

  Taylor didn't look impressed, but he was unable to move.

  "Maybe you aren't happy killing your own kind, but I don't care."

  "I will kill whoever I need to if it means accomplishing my mission, but I will not let you die. Above all else, those are my orders from Lord Jafar, and I will follow them until I am no longer needed, or I am dead."

  That was a chilling thought and a reality kick for Taylor. He watched Babacan and saw that he agreed with him. He knew he was in the wrong, but there was no time to say it. He nodded in agreement, and that was enough. Turan took his hand away, and they both looked out to survey the situation. A hail of fire struck around them, forcing them to quickly duck back. Turan ducked down low and rushed to the body of one of his own and took his rifle. He scampered back through the fire and threw it into Taylor's lap.

  "Thanks."

  It was beginning to dawn on him just how unfair he had been to call Turan's loyalty into question, but there was nothing he could do about it for now.

  "How the hell did they even find us in this shithole?"

  He was starting to despair as he looked around at the few numbers they had. They were running low on ammunition, and the enemy were still coming. He peered around once again. Well over a hundred were advancing toward them, and their position was only weaker.

  "What do you want us to do?" Turan asked.

  Taylor wished he had some answers, but he knew they weren't going to get out of there without many losses.

  "Can you fly this thing?" he asked, tapping on the ship they were cowering behind.

  "Yes, but we won't make it past them."

  "Then I guess we are going to have to thin their number."

  He leaned around and took aim at one of the first to catch his attention. He knocked it dead, but a pulse struck the side of his helmet and sent burning debris cutting into the side of his ear. He let out a cry of pain as he rolled back out of sight. He put his hand up to the side of his head. He felt blood and could smell his own flesh burning.

  "This isn't good, is it?"

  Babacan shook his head. Taylor tried desperately to formulate another plan in his head, but he just couldn't think of a way to go forward with so few resources to hand. Even as he kept thinking, a vast explosion rang out. It rocked the foundations beneath their feet and sent a thick dust cloud into the whole hangar. His head was ringing from the blast.

  "What the hell was that?"

  He got up to look around the ship and found a large hole in the side wall of the hangar. His shoulders stooped in despair as he waited for the inevitable horde of Krys warriors to pour through the breach and seal their fate, but it was not to be.

  "I don't fucking believe it..."

  Chapter 6

  Aranui Guardians poured through the breach with their guns blazing. Taylor was shaking his head as they assaulted the enemy flank and pulses bounced off their thick armour. The dust cloud still obscured much of the ground between them and the enemy.

  "This is it. This is our chance!" Taylor yelled.

  He ran out and sprinted across the open distance under the cover of the thick dust bowl that was already starting to settle in his lungs and make him feel sick, but he cut through the fog like a howling banshee. He was on the enemy in no time at all. They weren't even facing him, having turned to face the powerful weapons of the Guardians.

  Taylor swung his hammer hard with a horizontal blow so powerful the enemy soldier he hit was launched off its feet. It crashed into one standing two metres behind it, and both tumbled to the ground. Babacan drove his blade down into one and pinned it to the other beneath it as Taylor kept going. The fire from the Guardians was cutting down the Krys warriors quickly, and they seemed able to do little to counter their thick armour.

  Amongst the ranks of the enemy a large weapon was being lifted onto a tripod that had already been deployed. He had not seen one like it before, but it was certainly going to be powerful. He strode forward and knocked the leg out from one and smashed another in the head as he tried to break through to take it out
. In the heat of battle, his comrades had lost sight of him, and he had gone forward alone.

  The enemy locked the weapon in place and opened fire. The sound of the heavy weapon thundered through the room. Its barrel was almost two metres long and ten centimetres wide. It had the appearance more like an anti-tank weapon than something to fight infantry with, but it was fully automatic and punched out the rounds at a slow but steady rate. The first two rounds punched right through a Guardian, destroying it outright. It was just as Taylor had feared.

  An enemy spun around to strike him with the barrel of its gun. He ducked under and rolled, to be back on his feet in a flash. He didn't have time to stop, but as he closed the distance, he felt the searing pain of a shot hitting him in the back. He tumbled to the ground and slid to a stop.

  Taylor let out a groan in pain and disappointment. The weapon system still blazed away as it cut its way through the Guardians. He felt something strike his back once again, and it pressured his spine so that it creaked even within the support of his armour. He drew out his Assegai and turned sharply, driving it into the shin of the creature that had stamped on him. That caused it to drop onto one knee and stoop towards him.

  He drew out the blade and thrust it into the faceplate of the creature’s armour. It collapsed beside him, the blade still embedded and beyond reach, and its weight slumped on his one leg. He turned over to see the weapon still firing when he noticed the hammer almost within reach. He strained to reach it, letting out a mighty cry as he launched it like a discus towards them.

  The hammer struck the weapon at the ammo feed, and it lit up with fiery sparks. The box below it exploded. Taylor tipped his head down and buried his face in the ground as pulses exploded all around like white-hot shrapnel. One struck his helmet and burnt into the side of his shoulder armour as it slid past. As the chaos died down, he pushed the body of the enemy off his legs and drew out the blood-soaked blade from its head. He looked for his next target with a wicked look of frenzy in his eyes.

  He scrambled forward on all fours like a wild beast, leaping onto one of the wounded weapon crew, and stabbed it three times until it was dead. He looked up at the Krys and Guardians squaring off against one another as if they had not a care in the world. He understood why the machines would do it, but not anything living. Gunfire rushed over his head as Kaytun and her platoon advanced, catching the enemy in the crossfire.

  They were being cut down with ease now, and Taylor smiled as he watched the show. Turan and Babacan rushed to his side, having finally caught up with him. They knelt down beside him to cover him with their shields, but he barely seemed to notice. Babacan reached for the Bilgunn's hammer and pushed in into Taylor's hands. As his grip tightened around the formidable weapon, he finally awoke from his dream like haze.

  "Colonel Taylor, come in, over..."

  The voice came from his comms link. He tapped it to respond, but his throat was so dry he could barely speak. He croaked and then coughed to clear his throat, finally getting some words out.

  "This is Taylor."

  "Colonel, this is Sommer. You have trouble heading your way. It’s time to get the hell off this world."

  Taylor laughed to himself.

  "Trust me, we’ve got trouble enough down here, already."

  They heard engines roar as a craft lowered into view through the hangar opening at the cliff face. Thankfully, it was one of theirs. The gun systems opened fire and riddled the Krys soldiers with heavy fire. Taylor just watched with glee.

  "Nice for you to finally show up!" Taylor shouted down the comms link.

  "You're lucky we found you. This place has to be the most inhospitable planet I have ever seen. Have you got a ride out of here?"

  He looked over to the Krys vessels and then to the Krys friends beside him. Turan nodded and looked confident.

  "We'll manage."

  "You'll want to move fast. We have incoming. There are about a dozen ships on our tail. We lost them in the fog, but they'll catch us soon enough."

  "Is the Tusk able to jump?"

  "I hope so, Sir."

  Taylor smiled, realising just how many variables could lead to their deaths.

  "Well, this operation sure went ass up."

  He got to his feet.

  "Onto the ship!"

  A few shots still rang out as Turan's team struck down the last of the enemy. There were close to two hundred dead bodies before them now. Kaytun carried Dart on her back even though his torso was twice her size. He was conscious now and groaning in agony. Taylor reached up to his shoulder as Kaytun stepped up to him.

  "We are gonna get you out of here like I said we would. We won't be doing it in style, but there are worse ways to fly."

  "Hardly," he grumbled as he looked at the Krys vessel that they were loading into. The Guardians rushed aboard one of the others. He wondered if they even knew how to fly such a thing, but then he realised it was a stupid question to ask.

  Of course they know how.

  Taylor took Dart from Kaytun and rushed on up the ramp into the enemy ship. He heard a few shots ring out as their comrades dealt with the remaining crew. He reached the cockpit to find Turan at the helm. It was a stark and ugly looking ship, like most of what the Krys built.

  "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

  "It looks like something from the stone age," said Dart as Taylor put him down in a seat at the back of the cockpit.

  "It's got wings, so no more complaints."

  Dart tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace as he winced in pain.

  "You just hold on. You're gonna be back in the saddle in no time."

  "Damn right I will be," he replied defiantly.

  The ship rumbled as the engines came to life. Taylor was surprised to see Turan flicking switches in what looked like a random order.

  "I thought you knew how to fly this thing?"

  "I can fly, and I'll work it out. Don’t worry."

  "That's reassuring."

  Even before his words came out, they surged forward, and he flew back. He was flung into the wall beside Dart's seat and was pinned there for a moment when the craft crashed into one that had landed nearby, and he was once again thrown by the impact. He landed hard between Babacan and Turan's seats, smashing his nose on an armrest.

  “Jesus, where did you learn to fly?”

  He complained as he got back up onto one knee and braced himself against Babacan’s seat.

  “I am a fighter, not a pilot.”

  “No shit!”

  They crashed into another enemy craft and scraped along its fuselage, causing sparks to fly up all around them.

  “Hit that button,” said Dart.

  Taylor could see him pointing to a large green button towards the front of the cockpit and almost out of reach for Turan.

  “What?”

  “Push it,” he insisted.

  “How can you know what it does?”

  The screeching became unbearable as they crashed into the side of the hangar.

  “Just do it, Colonel!”

  Taylor reached forward and punched it. The aircraft pulled off from contact and soared out into the open air as Turan fought the controller, and yet he seemed to be disconnected from control of the ship.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  “Return to mothership. Hit it again, if you think you can handle it now,” he replied with a smile.

  “How the hell did you know to do that?”

  “It’s not my first rodeo, Colonel,” he answered quietly. He was faint and weak now, and once again fell into unconsciousness.

  Taylor pulled off the pilot’s mask and felt for a pulse.

  “There’s hope for him yet. He just saved all our lives.”

  “We’re not clear yet,” said Babacan.

  They soared through the thick clouds, heading up for the atmosphere. There seemed no end to it when suddenly they broke through one final layer. The space before them opened up, but it was not the Tusk that th
ey found. A dozen Krys vessels were waiting in orbit besides the wreckage of the Morohtan vessel they had left in ruins.

  “Well, that’s not good,” said Taylor.

  He hit the green button, and control was relinquished to Turan once more.

  “Colonel, follow us,” said Sommer over the comms, now that they were free of the atmospheric interference.

  “Get us the hell out of here!”

  He didn’t need to be told a second time. They banked sharply and came up behind her ship.

  “Why are the Krys attacking us?” Kaytun asked.

  “It’s not the Krys. It’s rogue elements among their ranks.”

  “They’d have to have more than a few elements to come after you? No Krys soldier would be stupid enough to take you down without an army at their backs, not unless they know nothing of their history.”

  Taylor nodded in agreement.

  “Sadly, Lieutenant, I think this is a case of knowing too much of their history, and dwelling on it too long.”

  “What do you mean?”

  "I mean they are pissed at me, and it's a grudge they aren't ever gonna forget."

  “They did,” she responded as she pointed to the two Krys sat before them.

  “They are not our kind,” insisted Turan.

  “They look like you.”

  “Do you like every Cholan?”

  She shook her head. “No, but that doesn’t mean we are at each other’s throats.”

  “No? Give it time,” replied Taylor.

  She didn’t seem to understand where he was coming from, but he didn’t care to elaborate and was shaking his head in annoyance.

  “You know I thought we’d got past these rebellions and civil wars. I have had to fight enough of them already. I thought Jafar had finally wrestled control of his people.”

  “The Krys will always fight. It is our way,” replied Turan.

  Taylor looked across to Babacan for his opinion, but it was clear that he agreed.

  “Our people may be strong, but they are not the smartest.”