Weber was shocked at his outburst; that a lowly rookie had the balls to come with such truths in front of the Colonel when he could not. Taylor walked up and down before finally smashing one of the bulkheads with his fist. Even in the powered suit it couldn't dent the thick armour of the vessel.
"You’d better hope we can achieve something with Tuin, or we are in deep shit. The Emperor was a friend a long time ago, but I knew him even less than Sarik. If that is anything to go by, then we're really in the shit."
He continued on to the docking bay. The rest of the two squads were sitting about, but Sommer called them to attention as he approached. He shrugged it off.
"Load up, now!"
She could tell he wasn't happy, but she didn't press him as they climbed aboard the transport. Munro was smiling and happy as he jumped into the pilot’s seat. It was as if nothing else mattered to him in that moment. Taylor hadn't even noticed his jovial tone as he clambered past and said hello.
"Taylor?"
He didn't respond to Sommer as his mind was elsewhere.
"Taylor?" she asked again.
She was quiet and subtle as she tried to gain his attention, but also deeply concerned for both him and their mission.
"Mitch?" She placed a hand on his and leaned forward.
He snapped out of his haze, striking forward with a punch that drove her back into her seat. He looked shocked and reached forward to check on her, but she shrugged it off as if it were nothing. That was to protect him in the face of their team, and he knew it. He felt horribly guilty, but it was hard for him to say much. He looked into her eyes and could see they were okay. He was still suffering with years of nightmares, and she knew it. She had been covering for him for a long time.
"We're going to get this done, because we have to. Tuin owes us," she said, in an attempt to move things along and get back to some normality.
Taylor sighed. "Owes us? When it was all coming to an end, it was he and his people that protected us at a great cost."
"Why? Because they wanted to live, too. They didn't protect us for any care or love. They knew we were the chance the Alliance had at taking Bolormaa down."
Taylor slumped back. They'd had this conversation so many times before, except he had been drunk for most of them.
"Tuin has to see sense, doesn't he?"
Taylor shrugged. He had no confidence in that prospect at all. He only had faith in two things, himself, and those serving beside him.
Neyman could see the suffering of the Colonel. It was like nothing he had ever seen. He had been around veterans of the war throughout his time, but never anyone who had seen, done, and lived through the things Taylor had. He felt pity for him, and desperately tried not to show it, because Taylor would hate him for it. He respected him for all the things he had achieved in his lifetime, but also prayed to never be anything like him. It was like looking at a broken man. One only able to function when there was a job at hand, and then fell apart. He'd read about it. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, something that didn't get discussed anymore. The Alliance couldn't afford to even attempt to deal with it during the war, and now resources were stretched so far, nothing was getting any better.
"Don't worry about the Colonel," said Lorenzo.
Newman hadn't even realised he had been staring. He turned to the medic as if to protest his innocence, but he could see there was no chance of that.
"You see a broken man, don't you?"
Newman's face turned white thinking he had been caught out.
"You're half right. What is left of the Colonel today is...fragmented. But all you need to know is that when the time comes, he is there for us. He has never let us down."
Newman was relieved, but he also saw it as a massive chance to get some understanding of how these battle-hardened veterans thought and operated. The medic among them was the ideal candidate.
"That never worries you?"
"No, I worry about keeping this team alive, that's all. Taylor is better at doing that than anyone. I simply pick up the pieces and support where I can."
"But his condition? It has to be a concern for you?"
"If this was any normal life we were living, I would say yes. If he ever showed that he wasn't capable of doing his job, yes. If I for one second believed he was a danger to any of us, then I would be concerned. But what I see is one crazy son of a bitch who has taken us through hell and out the other side. You know how few others made it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I do."
"Really? Because we were there to see it, thousands killed around us every day."
"I was on Sirus 5 when Morohtan forces attacked."
That caused Lorenzo to pause. He knew the name well.
"Sirus was a massacre?"
"Yes, yes it was. Four hundred and twenty-seven survivors, of more than thirty thousand of us."
Lorenzo didn't know what to say.
"I lost everyone that day, and I was taken to Earth to be safe. My foster parents died when Earth fell, and so did pretty much everyone else I knew. Olsen there, she is the only one I knew back then that made it."
"Then I am truly sorry," he said with genuine conviction.
"We were not old enough to fight in that war, but we still lived it. We lost. We struggled. I saw the violence that Bolormaa brought with my own eyes. Things I will never forget. So many veterans talk like they alone experienced any of that. Don't get me wrong; I have heap loads of respect for them. But it wasn't a war where the rest of us sat comfortably at home watching it on the news. We had to live the same hardships. The bombings, the attacks, and we couldn't fight back."
Lorenzo was shocked. He'd never really heard the war told from the story of a child. It made sense, because he saw the war raging around the civilian population, but in the midst of battle, he'd never paused to wonder what effect it was having on them.
"You want to know why people resent conscription so much? Because we saw those horrors, and we don't want to repeat them."
"What are you saying?"
"That the bigger the armed forces we build, and the more we expand, the more we go looking for a fight. Or that is the way a lot of people see it."
"And you?"
"I don't know what I believe. The President says the work we are doing is of vital importance, although he won't tell us how or be very clear about any endgame. What are we to believe?"
It was in this moment he realised how many others around him had been listening in, and that he hadn't been half as quiet as he thought towards the end.
"You think too much," declared Menard, "all a Marine has to do is his job."
"That's an easy philosophy to follow when there is a war to fight and survival is at stake, but what are we doing now, Sarge?"
"Whatever is asked of us."
"And you think that is good enough? You think we should blindly follow without asking some serious questions about why?"
"Yes I do. We are not politicians. We don't make the decisions. We just enforce them."
"And who holds our leaders to account?"
"You are in dangerous water, Corporal!"
Despite Taylor being further away, he had been listening to the conversation.
"Sorry, Sir, I just can't help but think that maybe we aren't being led in the right direction."
"The President is our elected leader."
"Is he, Sarge? Sure he won the elections several times, but people don't seem too happy about it."
"What are you saying?"
"That maybe our elections aren't as fair as they make out."
"You're talking about corruption?" Giles asked.
"Hell, yes he is," replied Olsen.
"You know what kind of an accusation that is?"
"I think the Corporal was stating a concern, Sergeant, not throwing an accusation!"
That silenced them all for a few moments. Newman looked appreciative of the Colonel's intervention. But what surprised him most was that Taylor clearly had some sympathies for his arg
ument. In one regard it was welcome, but also a terrifying prospect. Taylor knew what was going on behind the scenes, and so it pointed to some truth to his theory. Not another word was spoken, but it gave everyone cause for concern. Taylor looked out through the cockpit over Munro's shoulder as they made their approach.
The moon was little different to the one he knew from his own Solar System, barren, featureless, and uninspiring in every way. A string of prefabricated buildings and connecting corridors extended over several kilometres in an attempt to make some form of a town. But he remembered how grandiose the Cholan homeworld was. It was as lavish as one would expect with the title of Emperor, everything dripping in gold and jewels. But not this, this looked like a giant hamster cage.
"Not exactly pretty, is it? How the mighty have fallen."
"Haven't we all? Go back to Earth and tell me we've got it any better."
Munro couldn't disagree.
"So you are hoping to make a deal with these people, and you think they'll go for it?"
"Don't you start as well!"
"Just seems a little bit of a stretch to me. I mean, what do they have to give?"
"They have resources left, same as us. Look at those ships. We just have to get them onside."
"Yeah, good luck with that," joked Munro.
Taylor smiled as they came in to land. The docking bay looked as stark and featureless as the colony did from the outside. It wasn't inviting at all, and neither was there anyone there to greet them. A number of crews were loading and working on ships throughout the bay, but it was hard to tell who was in charge.
"Put us down there." Taylor had spotted an empty landing bay, one of the few.
"They're certainly working on something," said Sommer.
"Probably food and resources for the colony, and other stations they have in nearby systems."
"I don't know, Colonel, this looks a little more than that," replied Munro.
He put them down smoothly, and Taylor was first out the door as the ramp went down.
"No welcome party?" Olsen asked.
"Why would there be? They didn't know we were coming."
"You didn't notify them of our plans?" Newman was surprised.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because if they knew why we were coming they'd have told us not to bother," replied Sommer.
"That's a pretty cynical assessment."
"Not wrong, though." Munro stepped out from the craft as the last of them.
A number of the crews gave them suspicious looks, as if they were not welcome there. Newman had never seen a Cholan before. Humanoid in form, but the adults were the height of Human children, barely of teenage years. He'd seen photos, but never met one in person. Sykes had a massive grin as his face. As the tallest Human among them, he found the size of the Cholans hilarious.
A group of armed soldiers stepped out from a doorway on the far side of the hangar and were approaching. Their weapons were lowered, but it still put Newman and his squad on edge. He felt himself reaching for his rifle.
"Don't even think about it. These are our allies," snapped Menard.
"Show no aggression here. They may be our allies, but they're touchy at the best of times. We didn't come here for a fight, far from it," added Sommer.
Taylor was rather more hopeful. He didn't see what the others were worried about and strode out to meet the Cholan soldiers.
"Colonel Taylor, we were not expecting you," said the officer at the head of them. He stopped two metres in front of Taylor. The Colonel didn't know quite how to take it.
"I am here to talk with Emperor Tuin."
The Cholan officer looked put out, but Taylor didn't understand why.
"We should have messaged ahead, shouldn't we?" Newman whispered to Menard.
"Have a little faith. The Colonel knows what he is doing."
"You sure about that. I hear he just makes it all up as he goes along?" Benik replied.
"Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but he gets the job done, doesn't he? Now be quiet."
"Please, if you will inform him that I am here. The Emperor may not have been expecting me, but I have no doubt he will grant me an audience."
"His Highness is a very busy man..."
"That's fine. We can wait," interrupted Taylor.
"That might be some time."
"At his Highness' leisure. This is important, but not urgent. We can wait."
"Wait here," the officer groaned.
He rushed away, but left his security detail there, as if to watch over them. Taylor went back to explain what was going on, but it was clear that they had overhead it all.
"Not exactly a warm welcome, Colonel," said Sommer.
"That's an understatement."
"Jesus, what is their problem? Sarik I could understand. He'd just gone through hell and was facing more still, but this ain't so bad. They've got a good operation going here from the looks of it."
"They don't want you to reach Tuin, do they?" Newman asked.
Taylor shook his head.
"Why?"
"I have no idea, but something is off here. Keep your eyes open, and watch everything. I am not saying we are going to have trouble, but let's be ready if we do, you hear?"
They were all in agreement, though Newman's squad were on edge. They'd not met the Cholans before, but knew they were allies, and looked close enough to Humans that the thought of having to fight them was repulsive.
"How did things get this bad? We were the closest of allies in the war, were we not?"
Menard laughed.
"Sarge? I don't get it," Gallo said.
"Allies of convenience," replied Sommer.
"Sir, I thought they promised to fight with you?" Newman asked Taylor.
"While Bolormaa was still around, yes. They suffered terribly at her hands long before Earth was left the way it is. Before I was resurrected we had never met. They were new to me as well."
"How did you get them onside?"
"With a show of force. They had turned to Bolormaa's side. Their previous Emperor had turned on us to save his own skin."
"Where is he now?"
"Dead, at the Colonel's hand," replied Sommer.
"What? How is this the first we are hearing about this?" asked Giles.
"It's not exactly something to proudly spread through the Alliance. It's no secret, but neither is it something we want to bring up," replied Taylor.
"If that's what had to be done, I don't see the problem," said Olsen.
"You don't see a problem with killing the leader of a nation. No, not a nation, an entire race?"
"Water under the bridge, Benik. It's done now."
"But did it have to be, Sir?"
"You didn't see how desperate things were back then," Sommer snapped in his defence.
"But that's not what I asked, Sir. You brought us down here, and now you're telling us you killed these people's previous leader. They surely have every reason to hate you."
Taylor nodded in agreement.
"Maybe those who loved their last Emperor, but it was necessary."
An hour passed, and they were sitting about near their ship when finally the snooty officer returned. He'd not even given his name, and Newman was of the opinion that he was rude. He knew very little about the Cholans, but he was starting to dislike them already. Taylor was on his feet as the alien approached, but most of them couldn't be bothered to move.
"The Emperor will see you. You may bring two others, and leave your weapons here."
"Come on, we are allies here," protested Sommer.
"I do not presume to know what you are, or what you are not. This is a kind offer from His Royal Highness. You may take it or leave," said the officer arrogantly.
"What the hell? Are you going to let him talk to us like that?"
Taylor turned back and stopped her as she approached angrily. He knew just how she felt.
"If this is the way it has to be, so be it. We can't afford to be
picky."
"Then I am coming with you."
"No, I need you here. Babacan..." He looked around for a second marine to take with him. "And you, Corporal, you're with me."
Newman was as surprised as any of them, but he quickly removed his weapons and followed on. They had guards back and front as they were led to Tuin, but far enough from them that they could talk privately.
"Sir, why me? Why would you choose me when you have experienced marines?"
"There are good fighters among them, but you are something else, Corporal. You see things a little differently from the rest. I could use that right now. And anyway, how are you ever going to get experience if you are held back for being a rookie?"
Newman was glad to hear it, but still surprised.
"Sir, if I may ask, why was the Lieutenant so angry?"
"When it was all coming to an end, when we went to take Bolormaa's head, things were pretty close. So close that we could have all been killed, and she could have won this war. We fought a hard fight, and as we made that final descent onto Bolormaa's homeworld, Tuin came to our aid. His people bought us the time to get down there and finish the job, but at a great price."
"Didn't all the races pay a dear price? Didn't they all contribute to that fight?"
Taylor smiled. "Without a doubt."
"And yet they don't seem that too happy to see you."
"Yeah? Well, get used to it. That's the story of my life. Nobody wants to know until the monsters are at their door, and then they beg for me to help."
"Are they really that short-sighted?"
"Yes," said Babacan.
"Look what has happened since the war ended. Races that should have stuck together have separated. Separatist movements have more of a voice than ever. Unity was an illusion while we had a shared enemy."
"It's crazy."
"Yes, it is, but that is the way of the world. Give people peace, and they soon want to tear it all up."
"Wait here," declared the Cholan officer.
They stopped in the middle of a large dome-shaped room. Artificial trees in concentric circles made a very fake looking park, especially as the floor was the same sheet steel as elsewhere.
"What are the chances this goes well?"
"Pretty slim, Corporal," replied Taylor cynically.
Beyond Earth- Civil War Page 9