Battle Earth X (13 page)

"She's with, she's one of them!" Dokgo spat.

"Yeah, I figured."

The woman was in her early twenties and strikingly beautiful, to the level he didn't want to believe she could be on the side of the enemy.

"Colonel Taylor," she finally said confidently, "You have already failed."

He smiled in response.

"Says the girl standing alone. You haven't blown this ship. You blew your cover early. You screwed up."

"You still don't get it, do you, Colonel? Every one of us you kill, we replace. A hundred lives for the price of one of yours, is worth paying."

"I don't see Karadag coming back from the dead, or Demiran," he replied.

She had no answer.

"So what's it gonna be? How do you want to die?"

"Take me to your leader, and I will not kill this man."

Taylor shook his head. "I knew you'd say that."

He released the grip on his Assegai and reached for his pistol. It was drawn and on target before the Assegai even hit the deck. It crashed down as he pulled the trigger, and a shot went right through the woman's forehead. Her blood splashed out over Dokgo. The Captain pushed her off him and looked back in gratitude to Taylor.

"Whoever you are, thank you."

"They came here to overload the engines, you know that?"

The old Korean looked fearful, and Taylor could see in his face that he knew, just as Morris knew what their intentions were.

"Then you got here just in time."

"Hell, yes. Did they get access to any of your systems?"

"I don't know. I didn't see what that woman...thing touched."

He turned around to look at the consoles, and Taylor simply waited for information; he had no idea what he was looking at.

"I...I think...no."

Taylor already knew what he was going to say.

"Is there anything more you can do from this end?"

Dokgo shook his head. "You have to get to the engine bays and shut them down in person."

"Do you have any means of contacting them from here?"

"Yes...normally, but we lost internal communications when all this began...we need..."

"I got it, I got it," Taylor murmured.

He jumped forward and led the others back the way they came until he stopped, realising he didn't properly know the way. He let Jafar pass him.

"Lead the way."

Jafar moved at an alarming pace that the others could barely keep up with him.

"Think we can make it in time?" Parker called out, breathlessly.

"If we don't, then it was all for nothing. So there is no if, we have to make it!" Taylor said firmly.

Captain Reynolds looked nervous as they rode on, with Corporal Berlin looming over them on the back of Kelly's truck.

"Relax," Kelly said, "she's the least of our worries."

"Maybe. How do we know these people are even friendlies? How do we know they won't just strip us all our weapons and supplies?"

"Gotta have a little faith left in humanity, Captain."

Reynolds said nothing, but Kelly was confident they were at least being led to a sight he was familiar with. They were on a straight road, and with no signs of a way off, when Kelly suddenly turned calmly in towards the thick foliage of a line of trees. Reynolds got anxious and sat back upright in his seat, expecting to feel an impact at any moment.

"What are you doing?" he pleaded.

But it was too late. They brushed the branches aside, and it seemed there was no resistance at all. Reynolds was speechless as they passed through a column of trees that looked like they had been grown as the boundaries of some kind of road. It was broad enough even for a tank to pass down. They carried on for a few moments when he finally got up the courage to ask.

"So this is the place?"

"One of them. There was always a chance Earth forces wouldn't be able to win in open battle. Just as we knew it when we fought on our home soil. Those with a little foresight planned ahead as much as they could."

"How many people know of these locations?"

"Not many."

Ahead there appeared to be another impenetrable wall of trees and foliage. Reynolds smiled, expecting them to go through it as they had the last one. However, twenty metres before they reached it, Kelly veered left through an opening. They began descending down an almost hidden route that took them under the surface and between a rock formation, in what had to be a man-made tunnel.

Another fifty metres, and they were in a clearing between rocks and thick forest once more. Two soldiers were standing guard ahead but stepped aside on seeing Berlin wave them back. Overhead a semi-transparent canopy stretched out across the trees that seemed to camouflage the position from the sky. Armoured vehicles were parked up and partially concealed around the opening, and they could see a bunker entrance of concrete built onto the side of a huge boulder.

Several of the vehicles had taken hits and were in various states of repair, with crews working in a relatively casual manner at the jobs. Half a dozen of the crew were at the entrance to the bunker; they were sitting about in chairs, smoking and relaxing. Kelly ran his truck all the way up to their position, but none of them moved a single centimetre. He got out and looked around. He found they were a force that appeared to be completely lacking in morale.

Nobody came to greet them or even acknowledge their arrival. Kelly got out of his truck and paced up to those sitting outside the bunker entrance.

"Who's in charge here?"

No one responded.

"I am Kelly, former Commander of the MDF forces."

"The what?" asked one of the women in a thick German accent.

Kelly could see Reynolds take offence at the statement, but he held up his hand to stop him from speaking any further.

"Years of fighting, our colony is old news," Kelly whispered to him.

He looked back to the group and tried to identify a rank, although most were wearing overcoats and tankers jackets with nothing on them at all. Others wore civilian garments. It was no surprise; the cold was certainly setting in.

"We didn't come here for your charity," stated Kelly, "We were fighting these aliens before any of you ever saw one or had a name for them. We know what it’s like to be abandoned, and we know what it's like to lose your home. So don't give me that sullen, miserable silent treatment because I've seen it all before. Been there myself, and I didn't like it the first time. We came here to fight, and we will. So who the hell is in charge here?"

One of the men finally looked at them and spoke up.

"Right now, I am. The Colonel is wounded and undergoing treatment. Maybe he will make it. I do not know."

"And you are?"

"Lukas Becker."

Kelly squinted. He recognised the name and then looked a little closer at the man. He had never met him, but he remembered the description well.

"Captain Becker?"

The man nodded in surprise.

"Colonel Taylor sure told me a few things about you and how you fought together."

Becker suddenly jumped to his feet and extended his hand out in friendship.

"You knew Taylor? How?"

"Know him, still."

"Then he is with you?"

Becker looked around in excitement, as if he expected to see Mitch in one of the vehicles.

"No, but last I saw him he was leading the exodus off world. I have every faith in the fact he still lives. We know the fleet made it."

Becker shook his head.

"I hope he made it. I really do. But I'd still rather he was down here with us. No matter what we went through, when Taylor was with us, we always made it okay."

He took a seat back down beside his comrades.

"So you want to fight?"

"We do. It's all we have left to do in this world," replied Kelly.

"As acting commander of this...whatever we have here...outfit, I will accept any soldier who is willing to join the fight. But just remember, this is not a refugee camp. Everyone contributes to the fight, somehow or other."

"There are no civilians anymore, Captain. You're a fighter or you're a dead man."

Becker nodded in agreement.

"Then let me show you inside."

* * *

Taylor ran as if his life depended on it. He knew he could probably survive through what the Mechs were attempting, but he was not willing to condemn thousands to die.

"Slow down!" Parker shouted, "You'll get us killed!"

He did not respond. He knew if he kept going they would all follow suit, whether they liked it or not. Moye got ahead of Parker and was gaining on Taylor who looked back in surprise.

"Don't let this be for nothing!" he yelled.

Clearly Taylor's words had gotten through to him.

Taylor said nothing but rushed on. Jafar had pointed the direction, and he’d simply gone until he heard otherwise. As he took a bend, he crashed into several others and was brought to a standstill. He raised his Assegai in shock but was delighted to see he had run into King.

“Colonel? You’re alive?”

Taylor looked surprised by the fact, but he had no time to enquire.

“Follow me!” He carried on, and King rushed along at his side.

“Where are we going so quickly?” the Ranger asked, “These corridors are death to those who do not show caution!” he added, still carrying on at Taylor’s pace.

“We have bigger problems, right now.”

They ran like the wind. As they got close to the engine bays, they heard just a few shots, less than they would have expected. The corridor opened out to the engine bays where they found one of their own dead and five Mechs around him. They then passed a number of consoles and terminals and several more bodies of the enemy until finally Taylor stopped in his tracks. Morris was standing over the last Mech there and drove his Assegai down through its faceplate, deep into its body, to the cheers of his men around him.

Taylor had wanted to trust in the former MDF man but worried he would never be up to the standard.

Marines, paras, and rangers, and here a militiaman has done us all proud
, he thought, and it brought a smile to his face.

“You did it, Captain!” Taylor said.

Morris turned, surprised to see them looking upon him.

“Is the room secure, are the engines safe?”

“They are, Sir.”

Taylor sighed in relief. It was a strange feeling to not be the one coming to the rescue, and yet he welcomed it. It was nice to have someone else he could depend on. Morris seemed to revel in the bloodshed, but not in a bloodthirsty manner. He celebrated their triumph and success. He was a very different man to Jones, and yet, had already proven more than he first seemed.

“What are your orders, Sir?” King asked.

Taylor looked around at his own people. Fifty of them stood there. He prayed more had survived than that, but he was starting to understand King’s fearsome expression and terror when they had met.

How many have we lost?
He could not bear to ask and risk breaking the morale they had.

“Morris, you and your platoon are to stay put and protect this area until I say otherwise. Moye you head back to the bridge and secure it. The rest of us, it’s time to sweep and clear. There are still Mech sons of bitches aboard this ship. Not one of you shall rest until they lay bleeding out before you. The battle is over. Now we are the hunters. Split into ten-man squads, and NCOs take charge. Hunt those bastards down!”

The room quickly emptied, and as he paced out the way he came in, he realised he was left with only the five he had before.

“You ready for some payback?” he asked the three Privates.

“Yes, Sir!” one of them replied with conviction.

Taylor leapt forward and led the way. He had no idea where he was going, but it didn’t matter. He was going wherever he could find an enemy alive, and that was all that mattered. He reached one of the main living quarters. Bodies were strewn about the place, and blood splattered across the walls and frameworks of the beds.

The accommodation reminded him of their new quarters aboard the Washington, but the lines and columns expanded as far as the eye could see. It seemed that thousands of people had lived in this one vast billet room alone, and about three-dozen bodies lay on the floor ahead.

"Poor bastards," said Parker.

"Yeah, but that ain't many. Not nearly as many as I might have expected."

"They must have run when the Mechs came."

"No, they'd have bottlenecked at the exits and been cut down. They must have been elsewhere or scattered throughout the ship."

"We can hope."

Taylor went forward and stepped between the bodies. He could see Mech footprints left in the blood, so at least knew he was going the right way.

"How many more of them do you think are on the ship?"

"Can't be more than a few dozen now, I shouldn't think, Parker."

"It's a big ship to cover with what, a couple of hundred marines at most."

"Yeah. We've done the hard work. It’s time we got some help to mop up."

He reached an exit and took a turn back towards the landing bay they had first arrived at. Just at that moment, he saw a Juggernaut racing at him like a raging bull. Before he could react, he was tugged out of the way, and it stormed past unable to stop itself. Taylor looked behind. Jafar had been the one who saved him from being flattened.

"Thanks."

Jafar nodded and stepped out into the corridor in plain view of the Juggernaut that had now turned back. It was stomping its feet as it closed the distance. Taylor leaned around the corner and emptied his magazine into the centre body mass, but it did nothing. The Mech continued towards them at a slow and relentless pace, in the arrogant knowledge that it was invulnerable.

"Go on," Jafar said, "Go and signal for reinforcements."

Parker went to move, but Taylor said, "No."

She looked at him, confused.

"We fight together, always. No one left behind."

He drew his Assegai and stood in the side corridor, waiting for Jafar to engage the beast. The Juggernaut began to gain pace, but nothing like the sprint it had been at before. They could hear the pounding impacts of metal as its feet landed, and it made its final charge at Jafar. But their alien friend did not take it head on. He stepped aside and smashed his hand into one of its legs so that it was thrown off balance. It fell face first into a tumble and crashed down the corridor.