Battle Earth X (3 page)

"We're not far from the weapons grid control point now. Looks like power is back up, and you?"

"Negative, nothing's changed our end."

"That's not good."

"What do you mean?"

"The Krys took out our power for a reason. If they've just returned it, then it must be because they've got what they wanted."

Over the comms channel Taylor could hear an alarm sound, and frantic voices followed.

"What's going on, Admiral?"

He had to wait for a response.

"Weapon systems are powering up. Oh, God! They could wipe out half the fleet. Colonel, you must get to them. Stop our weapon systems before they are ready to fire!"

"How long have I got?"

"The core reboot and calibration of weapons can take up to two minutes. That's all you have."

"Got it, Taylor out."

Shit!

"Two minutes until those bastards fire on our own. No time to play this cautious. Let's move!"

He leapt forward into a running pace and had to rush right over the top of fallen soldiers from both sides. He went forward now without a care for his own life. He well understood the thousands of lives that would be lost if he did not complete his mission. He took the bend up ahead and instantly spotted four Mechs standing guard at their final destination, but he did not stop or hesitate.

Pulses raced towards him from the creatures concentrating their fire. He fired his rifle as he closed the distance and killed one with a lucky shot, but two carried shields and firearms in the same way his own marines did. As he got halfway, he felt his shield buckle, and the heat transfer was becoming unbearable. He fought through it and kept going until the shield shattered into three parts and dropped from his arm.

As it did, Taylor leapt into a roll. Pulses flew overhead, and he came up to one knee in front of the first creature. With his left hand, he took hold of the barrel of its pulse cannon and held it up so that the shots dispersed into the roof above. He then raised his rifle and placed the barrel against the creatures' stomach, holding the trigger until the magazine was empty. He let go his firm grasp, and the Mech dropped dead before him. His glove was smoking from the burn on the heat shield of the weapon, and he could feel his skin cooking beneath the reinforced fabric.

A Mech spear came at him as he got to his feet. He could only step aside to avoid it and drew out his Assegai. The creature lunged at him again, but in doing so exposed its flank. Taylor's comrades took their opportunity and opened up with a devastating barrage of fire. The alien stumbled back against the frame of the doorway they were protecting and collapsed in front of the Colonel.

The final Mech turned to face the vicious salvo and absorb the impact with its shield, but now it was Taylor's chance. He jumped towards the alien, without it even noticing under the weight of fire and unable to move. He drove his Assegai deep into its flank. It reacted quickly by swinging its shield around to strike him. Taylor was quick to respond but didn't clear the distance quick enough.

The impact smashed his shoulder back and nearly tore it out of its socket. But as he winced in pain, he saw the creature spasm with the impact of a dozen shots riddling its body. He felt he's knees go a little weak until Silva's steady hold kept him up.

"Let's finish this."

Taylor nodded in response and turned to see two of his people placing charges on the door.

"Ready to breach, Sir."

"Do it."

He reached down and picked up a massive alien shield that was as tall as he was. The charges blew; their shaped charges being comparatively short and quiet, and blowing the door open in one. Taylor leapt ahead and was the first through the breach. He was propping the weighty shield up with his other hand that still carried his Assegai and sprinted forward.

The shield had transparency to a large upper section, allowing him to stay covered while advancing. He could see a pulse rushing to his head, but he continued at a rapid pace, under the assumption the shield would be defence enough against the alien weapons.

Taylor didn't break stride but hit the Mech full force at a sprinting pace. It lifted off its feet, smashing down on the deck, as he clumsily rolled over and landed the other side of the creature. From the floor, he reached back and drove his Assegai into its head before it could get back up, killing it with a single blow. As he drew it out, the blood sprayed across his armour, and he saw Silva and the rest rush past, guns blazing.

But then his heart almost stopped when he heard what he had prayed he would not. The Washington’s weapons batteries began firing, and they could be felt and heard throughout the entire ship. He didn't have to say a word. They all knew what was at stake. He jumped to his feet and followed on behind the cover of his platoon. They advanced on the main control panels where three Mechs now defended.

"Take them down! Take the fuckers down!" he yelled.

One of the marines beside him was struck in the face by a pulse and dropped dead, but he didn't even get to see who it was. There was no time. As they approached, the sheer weight of fire was knocking the last few creatures back out of their cover. He saw his moment and pushed his way to the front, leaping on the nearest creature to end it quickly. He stabbed it five times into the abdomen until it collapsed towards him. He brushed it aside.

Taylor instantly turned to the consoles that Silva and Morris had managed to reach.

"I can't turn this off," said Morris.

"What do you mean, you can't?"

"They've programmed it with something. We're locked out."

"Who can unlock it?"

"Ship’s engineers, I guess, but it could take them hours."

"Not good enough!" Taylor shouted.

He thought for just a second before grabbing Morris and hauling him aside. As he did, he ripped the officer's rifle from his hands and took aim at the console with it. He didn't hesitate for a second before firing full auto into the computer console, and then turning to the other and fired until there was nothing left but twisted metal and burnt out components.

As his rifle went silent, they waited, listened, hoped, and then heard it. The weapons stopped. Morris gave out a sigh of relief.

"How did you know that would work?"

"I didn't."

Taylor strode towards the bridge, but when he took the final turn, a shot from one of their weapons struck the wall beside him. He stopped, looking to see it had come from one of the crewmembers beside Parker at the barricade ahead. He saw her backhand the perpetrator.

Bodies lay atop one another, and he had to tread in an ungainly fashion from one to another. He reached Parker. Her cheek was bleeding where a few pieces of shrapnel had cut into her flesh, but she was still standing, and that was all he needed to know.

The defenders split apart and allowed him to pass where he found Huber sitting beside his operations table, with his rifle next to him. He did not have the look of a man who had successfully held onto his ship.

"We have secured all system control points. We're just carrying out final sweeps of any stragglers. This is over," Taylor stated.

Huber nodded and sighed as if there was no relief in the news at all.

"You didn't get to them in time," he muttered.

Taylor took offence to the comment.

"Yes we did, Sir!"

The Admiral turned in surprise but could not get a word out as Taylor carried on.

"We stopped the weapon systems as fast as was humanly possible. We saved all the lives that could be saved, so don't you start calling this a failure. Whatever, and whoever, we lost to our own weapon systems was tragic, but let's not forget who the enemy is. Let's not forget who fired those weapons. We cannot afford to turn on one another and blame one another when this is all we have left!"

The Admiral nodded in agreement as Taylor approached.

"I don't like losing a single soul anymore than you do, but let's get real here. This is a war. We may have escaped it for a while, but we are going to keep losing people until we have won."

"Won? You think we can win this?" Huber whispered.

"Fuck yeah. And if you don't believe it too, we have no chance."

Taylor was speaking quietly, but it was still carrying throughout the room. Everyone stood and listened. Taylor took a step closer and whispered to Huber.

"They need you. So what do you say? Will you fight for this?"

Huber nodded in agreement, and Taylor stepped back for him to address the crew.

"We've got people that need our help. I want emergency crews out there now, doing what they can. All crews are to be escorted by marines until further notice. Let's get to work!"

He looked to his XO, Captain Vega. "See to it."

"Aye, aye, Sir," he replied, calmly moving to take control of the situation.

"What are our losses? What sort of damage was done?" Taylor asked of the Admiral.

"One frigate, the Valiant destroyed, severe damage to a Destroyer, the Tuscon, and one of the barges destroyed."

"Completely?"

Huber nodded and brought up a small display screen so that only the two of them could see. Taylor saw thousands of little bits of debris floating in space. It was only as Huber zoomed in a little that he could see many of those pieces of debris were actually bodies.

"There were up to twenty thousand souls aboard that ship. Gone, just like that, and at the hands of our own weapon systems. This happened on my watch, and I will never forgive myself."

"You take that anger, and you vent it somewhere else. You are the leader of this fleet, and perhaps the de facto leader of the human race. You do not have the luxury of feeling that guilt."

Taylor rested against the table and took off his helmet, placing it beside him. He tried to think about the next step. It was hard to even imagine what life now had in store for them. He looked up. His own people looked to him for direction now, just as did many of the ship's crew.

"First things first," said Taylor, "Where the fuck are we?"

He looked to the Admiral, who in turn looked to his navigation officer who was as speechless as the rest of them. Eventually, Taylor looked to Jafar, who had not spoken up yet.

"You said you would choose our final destination. That is what you told me, wasn't it? That you would know and no other until we made it through?"

Jafar slowly nodded in agreement.

"Then start talking."

All eyes turned to the alien. They did not stare in contempt or distrust now, but in curiosity. They wanted to hear what he had to say, and they were willing to believe it, no matter what. They simply wanted answers.

"Well, are you gonna share, or what?" Taylor asked.

"Maybe this is better done in private," added Huber.

"No," he replied and pointed to the crew, "They have all sacrificed enough and given enough to be deserving of answers. I won't keep them from it now."

The Admiral nodded in agreement.

"All right, let's hear it..."

He stopped abruptly, not sure how to address the alien.

"Jafar is a Sergeant in my unit," Taylor prompted him.

"Sergeant Jafar..."

"I plotted a course for us to the only place I knew they would not be, and the last place they would want to go to pursue us. No Krycenaean would ever choose to come to this place. "

"Why?" Taylor asked.

"This system is called...what can only be translated as the 'Death Space'. To the Krys it is a kind of hell mixed with the myth of your Bermuda Triangle. Those who come here never return."

"And you brought us here?" Huber asked sternly.

Taylor lifted his hand to stop the Admiral as he stormed towards Jafar. The Admiral first took offence, but then calmed himself.

"So where the hell is this place?" he spat.

"With the correct maps, I should be able to show you, but it is not where we are that need concern you, but what the place is."

"And what is that?"

"In truth, I do not know."

"You what?"

"You’d better start talking some sense," added Taylor, "as this is starting to sound like crazy talk."

"Yes, it is, and always was," Jafar replied.

Taylor strode across the room and leaned in close to whisper to Jafar.

"Look at these people. They are ready to give up. You need to give them something. Make them know we are safe."

"But I do not know that we are."

"I don't give a shit. You brought us here, and you must have had some pretty good reasons for doing so. Make them understand, and better still, help me understand."

He looked into Jafar’s eyes as the alien thought it over and finally nodded once in agreement. Taylor took a few paces back and let him continue.

"This place is feared by all of my race. Rumours and myths surround it. I do not know how many if any are true. All I know is that no Krys has ever gone there in my lifetime and returned."

"And why would that be?" Huber asked, "Don't you think whatever makes it so dangerous to your people might be equally so for us?"

"Maybe, but it cannot be worse than the alternative. There is no other place I know where Erdogan would not find us and bring an end to us all."

Huber shook his head. "I'm hearing a whole lot about what you don't know about this place, what do you know?"

"Nothing that is fact."

Taylor could see there was something Jafar was wary of telling them, almost fearful. He wanted to press him on it but knew it was neither the time nor the place.

"Is that all you have for us?" asked the Admiral, "So let me get this straight. You have taken us to a ghost system, which could well contain dangers that could bring about our end, and you cannot tell us anymore?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's just great. We trusted you. We entrusted the human race to you, and you have failed us."

"And what else would you have had him do?" Taylor interrupted, "He is not a miracle worker. If you could have picked a location, where would you have gone?"

"Anywhere that I knew wasn't enemy controlled, or somewhere called the... Death Space or whatever it is."

"Erdogan's influence stretches across vast swathes of the galaxy as you or I know it. Anywhere you would have chosen would only likely have contained Krys forces or long distance scanners and drones that would have had the same effect," added Jafar.

Huber turned to the alien and opened his mouth to speak but stopped, realising Jafar may have made the best of a list of bad options.

"We're here now," Taylor said firmly, "and most significantly, we are alive. Let's not forget how valuable that is and keep going forward."

The XO stepped back aboard, and Huber took it as an opportunity to speak.

"Where are we up to?" asked Huber, "I want an update on all systems."

Vega rushed to his console. He clearly already had an overview because he began talking before he reached it.

"Power has returned to most systems. Engines and weapon systems are active. Life support is holding, but we still have fires on two levels, and several sectors have had to be isolated due to hull breaches. We have crews working as fast as they can, but it's taking time while the marines ensure they can work in safety. Sweeps of the ship are ongoing."

"All right, good work. I want a full report of casualties across the fleet.”

Huber turned towards Taylor but stopped, looked back to Vega, and hesitated before asking. “And a full headcount of the fleet. Let’s see how many remain of the human race.”

It was a gruelling thought and a tough question to ask, but they needed to know.

“Sir, I’m getting readings of something…”

They all turned to the comms officer carefully studying a display before him.

“What the hell is it?” Vega asked.

“A manmade, or… something not naturally made structure, Sir. It's the nearest object in space to our position.”

Vega rushed to the officer’s side and studied everything before him. Huber and Taylor waited anxiously. They half expected it to be an enemy vessel, but prayed for it not to be.

“It looks like…” Vega started slowly.

“What, speak clearly damn it!” Huber yelled.

“Like a space gateway, and yet… not.”

“Shit!” the Admiral shouted and turned to Jafar.

“This is on you. All this bullshit about taking us to safety, and you’ve landed us right on top of one of their gateways! What the hell are we supposed to do now? We’re finished!”

Taylor paced up close to him and leaned in quickly.

“Get a hold of yourself, Admiral. We need your leadership, right now.”

“Need? What about what I need? You were in on this, too. What the hell have you done?”

Without any warning, Taylor backhanded Huber. It wasn’t especially hard, but the shock was enough to take him off balance, and he stumbled down onto the deck. The XO drew his sidearm and several followed, but Parker and her platoon were as quick to respond with rifles trained on them.

“Put your weapons down!” she screamed.

“You have struck your commanding officer!” Vega yelled at Taylor. He turned to one of his own marines.

“Sergeant, arrest this man. Colonel Taylor, you are under arrest and will cool off in the brig.”

The Sergeant didn’t move through fear of Taylor and his own people.

“I gave you an order, Sergeant!” Vega repeated.

“No,” replied Taylor calmly in defiance.

He wasn’t even holding a weapon, despite the Captain’s pistol being training on him. He took a seat on the edge of the operations table but made no attempt to reach for the rifle on top of it.

“I’ve gone through too much to put up with this crap. You don’t like me. I get that. Live with it. I don’t want command of this fleet. The Admiral here is quite capable and entitled to the position. But neither will I stand by and see us fall to destruction because of some slackness and weak mindedness.”