Battle Beyond Earth: Resurrection (21 page)

"I didn't know any of this."

"Yeah, well the grim details can often get lost in a sexed up history. Charlie left the life and settled down to become nothing more than a humble farmer, and he loved it."

"What changed?"

"I needed him, and eventually, he came back to us."

"So you blame yourself for his loss as well?"

"No, to suggest he shouldn't have been in that war would do a disservice to all that he achieved."

"You know I read so much about Charlie Jones and the Immortals, but I am starting to get the sense that there is so much more to know."

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's long gone."

"It does matter. It's why you are here today. Your last action in that life was to fight Lord Erdogan himself. You defeated him in personal combat. You won, how did you do it?"

Taylor shook his head. "I could never win that battle. He was too strong, too fast. Even with a dozen of the best fighters I have ever known at my side, we were being cut to pieces."

He was picturing it now. As for him, it was just a few days before. He remembered every detail in vivid and graphic detail.

"So tell me about it."

"I gave in. Let him strike when he thought I would move, to reel him in. I had to accept my own death to defeat him. It was the only way."

"And yet here you are, healthier than ever."

"By some freakish development of science. You know sometimes it is best to not meddle. Clones were a case in point."

"Yes, they have never been legal in the Alliance. Lord Jafar had all cloning facilities destroyed soon after your war ended."

"This Bolormaa that Councillor Irala tells us of. Do you really believe she is so single-mindedly sadistic as he suggests?"

"I've got no idea, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

"Come on, join us for a drink. We will drink to our fallen friends," said Jones.

They carried on to the bar they had been the night before and stopped as they looked on at how heaving it was with serving personnel.

"I think you've started something here, Colonel." Jones said.

They went inside and took a seat amongst the rest of their unit. Once again Alita came to his side, and he attempted to brush her off.

"I never thought I would see the day when I could say I served with Colonel Mitch Taylor of the Immortals," she said, smiling as she rested her arm on top of his.

He moved his hand away, but Jones noticed.

"What did you tell us only today?" Jones asked, "To take every moment of joy we can get in this life. Don't fall back on your advice just yet."

Taylor thought about it for a moment and slowly turned to look at her. She was undressing him with her starry eyes.

"What are you waiting for, Colonel?" Antos asked, with a big grin on his face, "When a smoking hot pilot offers to take you for a ride, there's only one answer."

Taylor knocked back a drink in one and laughed. He put his arm around her as they stood up together.

"You get hold of me if there is any news whatsoever, you hear?" he said to Jones.

"You got it, boss."

He looked at Alita, who was staring back at him, and leaned in to kiss her. It was met with a round of applause started by Jones.

Taylor smiled and dropped his arm to her lower back to lead her out.

* * *

Taylor awoke in a sweat as he imagined Erdogan's blade driving through his chest. His eyelids snapped open, and he was breathing heavily. It startled the woman lying next to him, and for a moment he thought to call her Eli, but when he looked over to her, he remember it wasn't.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

She lay naked beside him on top of his left arm. She was beautiful and appeared entirely besotted with him. Her eyes seemed to pierce to his brain, and her face turned quickly to concern as if she was seeing right into his thoughts.

"What can I do?"

But he shook his head. He slipped his arm out from under her and got off the tiny bed that they had just squeezed into.

"What's wrong? What did I do?"

He grabbed his uniform and began to pull it on as she sat up and waited for his response.

"Nothing at all. I am sorry. I just need some space."

"Do you regret doing this?"

"No, not as long as you don't. But there are some wounds that never heal."

"Parker?" she asked.

Taylor shook his head. "Jones has a damn big mouth."

"I've wanted this from the moment I saw you. I wasn't scared when we were on the way to that battleship because I knew you were with me."

"And this society has no issue with this at all. You know how much shit I got in for fooling around with one of my marines?"

She shook her head.

"I go away for a few hundred years, and you've turned into a load of hippies."

She looked confused.

"Don't worry, it's before even my time."

She only smiled back anyway.

"You know what is so painful when you start to get attached to those you go to war with?"

"No," she whispered.

"That you have to accept that you will lose any and all of those you care for."

"And you care for me?"

"I care for all of you. We are a family now. I will do everything in my power to protect you, but that isn't enough."

"You told us to enjoy the time we have, and I intend to do just that."

Taylor pulled on his boots and nodded in agreement before leaving his room with her still inside. He knew she was completely blinded by the lust she felt for him. It was a relief to once again be close to someone, but it wasn't what he really needed. That was gone for good.

A day without action made him feel restless. His mind was wandering to a depth of misery and depression that could break him apart if he dwelled on it for any length of time. He increased his pace and just kept walking until he reached the gymnasium and realised exactly what he needed. He stepped inside and found it completely abandoned, as he was hoping it would be.

As he walked towards a heavy bag, he pulled off his shirt and let it drop at his feet. He wanted nothing more than to get some aggression out now. As he closed the distance, he swung a heavy hook as hard as he could and it smashed into the bag. He followed it with another and another, until he was hitting one after the other with barely a moment to breathe. After a few minutes when he was warm and sweating, he stopped for a moment and paced around. He came to a standstill; noticing Jafar was standing at the door.

“I never believed I would once again be able to go into battle with you.”

“Yeah, well I never expected to live to see a day like this,” replied Taylor.

“I’m glad you are. We need champions like you at times like these,” he replied and slowly paced towards the Colonel while he landed a few more punches on the bag at a more relaxed pace.

“I have it all, old friend. Everything. All I wanted to do was die and know that everything was going to be okay. But it isn’t okay. Everything is not okay. It’s fucked beyond belief. And now I am stuck out of my own time. Do you know how cruel it was to bring me back now, how selfish it was? Should have switched the machine off and let me go with dignity.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“No?” Taylor snapped.

“You fought like a legend to survive, and now you have.”

“Yeah, well this isn’t what I signed up for,” he replied and continued hammering into the bag.

“And when you were born, did you choose that time and place also?”

Taylor stopped. It was bizarre to hear Jafar speak more like Irala might, but his alien friend went on before he could say anything.

“You did not choose your first life. But you did what you always told us to do. Improvise and overcome. Now you have been resurrected into different life that is not of your choosing either. Only this time you have another lifetime of experience and knowledge. Whatever created you in this universe, you were made to be a fighter and a survivor.”

Taylor hit the bag a few more times, knowing he was being thrown the sort of logic he would have always used back at him. His punches began to slow in speed and power until finally he stopped altogether. Jafar was smiling at him, and that lifted his spirits.

“So I’m back and you can’t resist getting in on the action?”

“There hasn’t been this much excitement in my life since the day Erdogan died. I feel alive once more. So it's time for you to be the warrior I know you used to be."

Taylor stepped over to Jafar and tapped him on the shoulder in a friendly gesture.

"Okay, okay. You got me."

Seven hours until departure.

Taylor sat in the co-pilot’s seat of Alita's Sky King as they soared through the fleet towards the Guam. The fleet had been gaining in size every hour and now stood at over one hundred warships and their support craft.

"They could assemble all this, why didn't they last time around?" Taylor asked.

He meant it rhetorically, but Alita jumped in with a response anyway.

"They were scared of throwing everything in. Aren't you?"

He shook his head.

"When you know it's the only way, all fear goes out the window."

"So we make this work or it's the end of us all? It can't be that bad."

"From what Irala tells us, it is that bad. This enemy is far beyond what we are capable of dealing with right now, maybe ever. We've encountered just minor elements of their true strength and every time came off worse."

"How do you manage it?" she asked.

"What?"

"To shoulder the burden of everything? Of all the worlds and races. You have lived in this time for so few days, and yet you have risen to lead it."

"I'm not leading this," he replied modestly.

"But you are the driving force behind it all."

"I never wanted to be."

But he could see she was too enthralled by his power and authority to stop smiling.

"When we get into this fight, you only do your job, nothing more. No stupid heroics," he added, starting to feel responsible for her.

That made her blush, but it wasn't his intention.

"Is that what you do? Never put yourself out for others? You have never done anything stupid for the people you care for?"

"His career was built on such experiences," said Jones, leaning in between the two of them.

Taylor could not disagree.

"But I don't ask anyone to do more than their job. Fight for each other, protect each other, but don't ever throw your lives away."

They passed through into the landing bays of the Guam and came to a perfectly smooth and soft landing this time.

"You know you could have ridden this out on any ship in the fleet. Why stay on this one?"

"Told you before, she's carried us through enough shit already. She has kept us safe and kept us moving. There is a lot to be said for that."

"Not getting sentimental, are you?"

Taylor laughed. "Nothing wrong with sentiment, Jones. Just too much that you can't afford to lose can drag you down to a state of misery I would wish on nobody. But while the Guam still flies and her Commander will still have us, this is our home."

They stepped off the craft to see a Krys vessel being unloaded beside them. Two Mech warriors were carrying what Taylor knew to be the weapon Jafar had promised him. It looked like a steel dome almost as tall as a Human being. It was carried in a strong cradle with a Mech at each end.

"So that's it, a planet killing weapon?" Jones asked.

"Sadly this ain't the first time I have seen one, but it will be the first time I have used one."

Irala's hologram appeared next to the weapon and took a few paces closer to Taylor.

"So this gonna do it, Irala?"

"Yes. By our estimations, this weapon will do far more than just destroy the navigation portal. It will make the world uninhabitable for a long time to come. The technology of jump navigation is highly advanced and difficult to achieve.
 
If you succeed, it will ensure the Morohta will be unable to reach us for some time."

"You're sure about that?"

Irala nodded.

"I sure hope you're right because we could just be jumping into the lion’s mouth."

"I wish you every luck with it, and will do everything in my power to make sure you succeed."

"You will be there?"

"I must. There is nothing more important in our lives than this."

That meant a lot to Taylor; he knew how weary the Aranui were of risking the few people they had left. Before he could say another word, Irala vanished.

"You nervous yet?" Taylor asked Jones as they watched the Krys warriors place the weapon down.

"Flying into unknown space with the most powerful weapon I have ever seen, against a terrifying enemy, and know that if we fail we all die? Nervous doesn't even begin to describe it."

"We'll have plenty of help. We're dropping onto the surface in our thousands. We're just the ones delivering this bad boy."

He turned around to find the rest of their team there and waiting for his orders.

"Get this weapon loaded on the boat."

"No," replied Alita.

Taylor was stunned at her response but then saw her pointing across the hangar bay. He followed the line of her arm until he was looking at a craft twice its size. It had an almost fist-like prow that looked very thickly armoured. A single massive engine almost as wide as the fuselage protruded from the rear. Four small wings housed smaller V-tol thrusters. Every part of the craft looked designed to take a beating. Even the wings were heavily reinforced to the hull. On the chin of the vessel was a weapon that was an even larger version of the Hydra cannon.

It was an angry-looking craft that looked like it wanted to smash all that was before it, and that made Taylor smile. It reminded him of the Mastiffs that they had used successfully on so many missions before.

"What the hell is that?"

"The finest and toughest transport you've ever seen," replied Alita, "She is a Bullnose Stomer, but I like to call her Brunhild. She will see us through anything."

"Okay then, get her loaded and ready to go. When all this finally gets started, it's gonna happen quicker than any of you can imagine."

He turned and headed for the bridge with Jones.

"Welcome aboard, Colonel," Cohen said as he entered.

The Commander’s tone was the polar opposite of the cold shoulder he had been given when he first arrived.

"Are you ready for this?" Taylor asked.

"Everything is set to go. All we are waiting on is the last remaining ships."

Taylor was anxious now as he looked down at the time on his console.

"What is it?"

"Just don't like sitting around waiting when there is a job to be done."

"Our time will come soon enough, can we not enjoy this moment of peace?"

Taylor shook his head. "When we're back and have completed out mission, then is the time."

An alarm sounded out, and both of them turned to Nichols for answers.

"I'm getting energy signature readings all over the place."

"No," replied Cohen, shaking.

There were glimmers of movement on the view screen, and suddenly eight Morohta battleships appeared before them with dozens of escort frigates twenty klicks from their position.

"How can this be?" Cohen asked, feeling her pulse race, "Shields up! All crew to their stations. Prepare to repel borders!"

Nichols began to implement the commands, but Taylor interrupted.

"Get me Jafar, now!" he said sternly.

Nichols looked to Cohen for confirmation, and she quickly nodded.

The alien Lord was immediately projected before him.

"We cannot afford this, Jafar."

"Then what?"

Taylor tried desperately to think of an answer.

"The Cholan fleet is retreating!"

"What the hell are they doing?" Cohen asked, her voice now desperate.

"Get me Admiral Eme!" Taylor said firmly.

Eme was quickly displayed, and Jafar remained standing and watching everything unfold.

"What are you doing, Admiral? This is no time to cut and run!" Taylor demanded.

"I am sorry, Colonel, but you cannot win this. You are living in a dream world where you would see us all destroyed."

"You what? No...you gave the Morohta our location?"

"If my people are to survive, we must side with the strongest race here, and that is not Human, Aranui, or
Krycenaean
. We must survive. Good luck, Colonel, and I hope you do the best thing for your people, as I have been compelled to do."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Taylor, we cannot win this fight," said Jafar.

He already knew it, and they watched the Nakbe moved out of formation with the few support vessels she had left.

"Fools," said Taylor.

"We are being hailed by one of the Morohta vessels," said Jafar.

"Don't answer, not yet," replied Taylor.

"So what do you want to do?"

"Are we ready to jump?"

Jafar looked at him, confused.

"Yes, but with little over half the fleet we expected, and how can we leave this enemy fleet here?"

"We're not going to. Prepare to jump, and wait for my command. The world where this navigation portal is, what is its name?"

Jafar was surprised, but he did not hesitate to take the order from Taylor and promptly answered, "The world is called Khar Els."

"And that is what they will know and recognise it as?"

"They will know, yes."

"Then put me through with these assholes."

They did as he said, and a screen projected before them. It was just as Jones had seen before, a deep dark blackness with just two faint eyes staring at them. Taylor stepped forward confidently to the display to attract attention to himself.

"Hey, you ugly son of a bitch. Bolormaa is it, or one of her minions? I've got some news for you."

The eyes suddenly drew slightly closer to the screen and focused onto Taylor.

"That's right. You fucked with the wrong people. You haven't come here to destroy us; we are going to destroy you. I hear the world of Khar Els is more than a little important to you. Well I'm gonna give it a visit, and I'm going to be sure to leave a path of destruction in my wake. I'll see you there."

The alien eyes expanded in surprise, and Taylor smiled, knowing he had got their attention. He turned back to Jafar.

"Jump!"

A gateway flashed open ahead of them, and they soared forward into it while the enemy vessels were trying to get their first shots off. One of the battleships fired on a frigate that was between them and the Guam. The impact ripped a hole in the hull, and two shots from two other vessels caused it to explode in a flash of light. The Guam reached the gateway, and they knew they were safe, but not for long.

"You sure know how to make friends," joked Jones.

"You want us to be both the bait and the mission, you know how unlikely that is to work?"

"Got a better idea, Commander, let me know. I'm doing what I can with what we’ve got."

"Think they'll take the bait?"

"Damn right they will, Jones. I just bruised their ego. They will not stand to let us strike at their heart."

"So the best thing you could think of was to bring everything down on our heads?"

"It was the only thing."

They passed through the gateway and came out in full view of Khar Els. It was a vibrant blue planet with what looked like at least eighty percent water coverage. Even the land glowed a beautiful blue azure. It was breathtaking to behold.

"My word," said Cohen, "And we have to destroy it?"

"Them or us," replied Taylor, "Get us to the surface, and give us as much time as you can."

"It's gonna be a rough ride."

They were closing on the planet quickly now. They could see a small defence grid of two rings running around it. As they neared, the Aranui vessels opened fire with their beam weapons, smashing the structure with a volley of devastating fire until it began to break apart and collapse into orbit.