Taylor could see how grave the situation was. As he stood up, he could feel the compression on his chest armour. The impact had caused it to buckle inwards. He reached for the hammer, and with two hands launched it at Bolormaa, as he had thrown his Assegai before. She was too focused on the Tamir to see it coming, and the hammer struck her in the head. Lightning like flashes erupted from the weapon, and she was catapulted away from it and thrown against the far wall.
Bolormaa slumped to the ground as though the wind had been taken out of her. Taylor went forward and helped Zaya to his feet before handing him his blade. Antos was back on his feet as well now, but they were all tired and hurt. They were slowing down, but so was the Queen.
“Any decent person would offer you terms right about now, but we cannot let you live. There is no living in peace with a monster like you,” said Taylor.
She got back up defiantly. She was slower on her legs now from the wound, but far less fatigued than they were. Taylor looked over to Zaya. He was weakening quickly now with the blood loss and injuries.
We have to end this quickly.
“Let’s do this,” said Taylor.
He ran in first with his hammer. He knew it was unwieldy, and he was getting sick of how quickly she was able to pass off his attacks, so this time he advanced with a broad grip and the hammerhead drawn back. She thrust towards him, and he ducked under, pushing the blade off with the haft of the hammer. She tried to recover the blade, but Zaya pulled it away with his sword, and Antos jumped in with his Assegai once more.
She struck Antos with her elbow and drove him back, thrusting her spear in Zaya’s chest. But as the point landed, Taylor’s hammer came down with a crushing two-handed blow on her head. It stunned her slightly, but Zaya was dropping to his knees. He was now very weak. Taylor reached out as he dropped the Tamir and caught it. He turned back to thrust it into her, but was met by her foot booting him in the chest. He was launched onto his back and slid across the floor, but held onto the weapon for his dear life.
He looked up just in time to see her grab Antos’ helmet and snap his neck. He crumpled down dead to the ground, and Zaya slumped down in a pool of blood, too. Taylor hopes were fading fast, and he knew it.
“There will be no glorious victory for you here today, Colonel. You could have just stayed away and died a hero, but now no one will ever know your fate. You will fade into obscurity as I take my revenge on your world.”
Taylor struggled back to his feet as she strode towards him with murderous intent. All he had left was the small spear, and he now stood alone. She had left her spear embedded in her son and came forward empty-handed, as though she wanted to finish this with her bare hands. But she was noticeably slower than before, and Taylor had more motivation than ever.
She charged at him, and he sidestepped, ducking under and slashing to her upper leg with the edge of the spear. It went through her armour as though it was nothing, and she let out a cry of pain as she went passed. She turned to look at him in disgust. Taylor was smiling at her dismay.
“Hurts, doesn’t it? Good. I like it.”
She came at him again. He thrust forward, but her one hand locked onto his wrist, and the other grabbed hold of his throat. He was powerless to act as she lifted him up off his feet, as though he weighed nothing at all. He gasped for air. She was choking him slowly. It was clear she could break his neck with just a little more pressure, but she wanted him to suffer.
Taylor was fading fast now when he noticed a glimmer out of the corner of his eye, and Zaya’s blade descended onto the arm that held his throat. The almighty blow from Zaya cleaved through Bolormaa’s arm at the elbow. Taylor dropped to the floor and quickly took in two breaths of air before running toward Bolormaa. He thrust the spear forward, but she held out her other hand to stop it. The blade pierced her hand and drove it against her chest, penetrating her body.
There was an unholy wail from the Queen. She tilted her head back and let out a scream. Taylor drew out the blade to strike her again, but she punched him in the face with all her strength. He was thrown back, lost his balance, and fell over. As he got to one knee and looked up, she had picked up her spear, but she wasn’t coming at him. She knelt down and held it vertically beside her as if she were praying. Light flashed at the tip of the spear so bright that it was blinding before it erupted. Taylor blacked out from the blast.
“Taylor? Taylor?”
The voice was faint, and he could feel someone was shaking him. He didn’t know how long he had been out, but the spear was still in his hand. His vision was blurred, but he looked up to see that Jones was standing over him.
“Bolormaa? Where is she?”
Jones shook his head. “We haven’t seen her.”
He helped Taylor to his feet. Zaya was there and conscious but unable to get up.
“Did we do it? Is it over?” Taylor asked.
Zaya shook his head and looked distraught. Taylor looked around for any sign of where Bolormaa had gone. Finally, he saw a trail of blood leading out of the room through a door that had not been visible before. Zaya was pointing to something, a lit up display that was in a language none of them could understand.
“What is it?”
“It’s over.”
‘What is?”
“It’s a self-destruct mechanism,” added Babacan.
“How long have we got?”
“Five minutes, Colonel.”
“That isn’t long enough to get off the ship.”
“That’s bullshit, Jones! If the bitch Queen is blowing the ship, then she must have a way off, and so will we,” replied Taylor.
He knelt down beside Zaya. He was looking weaker and weaker as the seconds passed.
“Can you stop it?”
He shook his head. “No, but I can slow it down.”
“Then do it!”
He nodded towards the console and started to crawl.
“Help me,” Taylor said to Babacan. They picked up the alien Prince and hauled him to the console. He reached in underneath and ripped out some piece of cabling. He then inserted it into the side of his arm.
“What the?”
“Just let him work, Jones.”
“You don’t know what he’s doing. He could be killing us all.”
“If we do nothing, we are dead anyway, aren’t we?”
A few minutes later the Prince pulled the cable out from his arm. More blood spewed out, and they watched as the console display changed.
“How long have we got?”
“Fifteen minutes,” he said weakly.
“Fifteen, is that all? What use is that?” Jones asked.
“It’ll have to do,” replied Taylor. He stuffed the spear into his webbing and went to help Zaya up.
“Just leave me. I am finished.”
“He’s right. We won’t make it with him,” said Jones.
“Fuck that! This is the only Prince that isn’t trying to kill us and is trying to kill Bolormaa. He’s coming with us,” added Taylor and looked to Babacan for help.
“Everyone back to the boats. The ship is blowing sky high in less than fifteen minutes!” Taylor yelled over the comms.
He picked up the hammer as Jones took up Zaya’s sword and they got moving. They passed through several decks of the ship as fast as they could, and soon found the bodies of the platoon they had left behind earlier. It was a sad sight, but they could do nothing for them. Twelve minutes had passed when they finally reached the docking bay and rushed to get aboard the transport.
“Where is my ship?” Zaya asked as he looked out across the deck that was strewn with bodies. A fallen Guardian lay where it had landed, but it was gone.
“Bolormaa,” said Taylor in disgust.
All the other transports had already left and were making their way through the shielded opening as they clambered aboard. Taylor slumped into his seat as they dropped Zaya down in the gangway between him and Jones. He looked at his watch.
Forty-five seconds
to go.
“Come on, let’s move!” he cried.
The engines roared louder, and they lifted off. The pilot knew full well the situation, and the moment they had banked to put the nose in the right direction, she put down all the power the vessel had to offer. They lurched forward and a second time as afterburners were applied.
They all knew it was going to be close, but nobody said it. They burst out from the shielded entrance and were storming back towards the Independence when the space around them lit up. The craft shuddered violently for a few moments until finally they were clear. They all took a sigh of relief before cheers and clapping burst out amongst them all.
“Why are they cheering? We failed,” said Zaya.
Taylor shook his head and smiled.
“We didn’t fail. We hurt that bitch bad today, and we have this,” he said as he held up the spear with her blood still on the blade.
“Yesterday is seemed like our worlds were ending, but today she was dealt a bitter blow. Now all is to play for. She underestimated us all, and she paid the price.”
They fell silent for a moment before Taylor finally remembered something he had heard during their confrontation.
“That fleet Bolormaa mentioned, how did you get them to stay away?”
“I did what I had to do,” replied Zaya coldly without any further explanation.
They soon came in to land aboard the Independence, but as the ramp went down, they were surprised to see there was no triumphant welcome back. Captain Wilcox and Irala looked deadly serious.
“What is it?
“There, there…” stuttered Wilcox.
Taylor looked to Irala for a sensible response. Even he didn't want to give an answer. Taylor's heart was sinking.
What now? Something real bad is coming.
He began to fear the worst, and the silence was unbearable. He looked around for someone to clear it up, but there was still only silence. He finally stared at Irala in the hope that he might speak up.
"Come on, out with it. Irala! Spit it out!" he insisted.
“Earth, your world has been attacked by the largest Morohtan fleet we have seen yet. The grand fleet has been destroyed.”
Taylor could barely believe what he was hearing.
“There are reports that that ground forces have reached the surface. I am so sorry, Colonel.”
Taylor turned back to look Zaya in the eye, and he knew there and then the answer to the last question he had asked the Prince. Taylor’s face turned to bitter resentment, and he felt his hand grip tightly around the Tamir. He wanted blood, and he was going to have it. He could barely restrain himself. He just wanted to scream at the top of his voice, and that’s what he did. Everyone in sight was silenced as he let out a horrifying cry. All eyes were on him, but nobody was going to hold him back. Nobody would stand in his way, and then it struck him. He had become as infallible and all-powerful amongst his people as Bolormaa had with hers. He wanted blood, but would it cost him his humanity?
Battle Beyond Earth: Invasion Page 21