Battle Beyond Earth Box Set

by Nick S. Thomas

  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.

  "I'm getting energy readings. We've got incoming!" Nichols called out.

  "Good, then we've pulled them away from our Solar System," replied Taylor.

  They watched the display screens as the fleet they had encountered just moments before materialised in an attempt to block their path to the surface, but the Allied fleet of the three races continued to surge forward at full speed. Almost one hundred vessels approached as one.

  "Weapons free, launch fighters, open fire!" Cohen ordered.

  The fleet opened fire almost in perfect sequence, but the enemy ships were gaining power to fire their vast ordnance.

  "What if we get hit by that?" Jones asked Taylor.

  "Better hope that we don't. They have no idea of our plan, or of the weapon we are carrying."

  "So we just hope to survive this?"

  Taylor nodded.

  Bursts of energy soared from the vast Morohta battleships, and two ships in the fleet were blown apart instantly. The Guam took a hit from one of the enemy frigates but managed to brush it off. They were closing on the enemy fleet at a rapid pace now, as they'd been forced to jump into such a narrow space. The battleships could not regain charge in time, and they watched the screens as the Allied fleet zoomed through the Morohta vessels. Cohen brought up a rear display screen, and they could see the battleships banking to come around, and many of their own fleet was turning to face them.

  "How long until we can drop?"

  "We must ensure you are safe from ground fire before setting you loose, Colonel," replied Cohen.

  As they closed on the planet, they could see a single massive complex on one of the few landmasses on the surface. It was a round structure several kilometres wide and looked like a fortress. There appeared to be twenty towers around the perimeter and dome roof, with a central column rising into the sky that was a hundred metres wide.

  "That must be a landing zone," said Jones, pointing to the central structure.

  "Sure you want to be putting down? Looks exposed."

  "We don't have a lot of choice, but I'd sure appreciate you softening them up first."

  "Will do, Colonel. Get to your transport. I'll give you the go when we're ready."

  Taylor gestured for Jones to follow him. They got to a quick jogging pace and headed to the landing bays. They felt the Guam rock as she was struck by enemy fire, but nothing so heavy as to slow her down.

  "You ever done something as crazy as this before?" Jones asked.

  "Yeah," he replied quickly.

  "So you're confident about this, right? I mean you've done it all before?"

  "Confident? Not really. But I'll do everything in my power to make it work."

  "I don't want to die here today."

  "None of us do, Jones."

  They reached the landing bay. The side door of Brunhild was open and their team loaded and ready to go. Another two of the same craft sat nearby to fly in support of them. They ran inside and jumped into their seats. Alita was at the single pilot’s seat that was placed between the lines of passenger seats. There was no physical screen or view out of the ship; only video feeds in every direction.

  "She really as tough as you say?" Taylor asked.

  "Damn right she is. Designed to operate in the worst of environments, she'll take almost anything."

  "Yeah, well let’s not put that to the test too much."

  "You got it, boss."

  He sat back now and watched the seconds pass by on his console.

  "How did you know they'd take the bait?"

  Taylor laughed at Jones. "You never know many things that are for certain in this life. I took a calculated guess. Piss someone off enough, and they tend to want to take a swing at you."

  "You know you've probably just painted a target on your own back?"

  "Probably, but that would be nothing new."

  Cohen's voice came in over the comms, "You are good to go, Colonel! Good luck!"

  Taylor simply nodded to Alita and she knew what to do. She hit the door close switch, and the ramp slammed shut as they lifted off the deck and soared out into space. They were met by the warming sight of dozens more craft like their own, as well as almost fifty Sky Kings, and with many more at their backs. Hundreds of Human and Krys warriors were on their way to the surface, and all around them the gun batteries of the fleet above were laying down a carpet of fire on the enemy structure below.

  As Brunhild began breaking through the world atmosphere, they could see that two of the towers of the structure had been badly damaged, but the canopies of the rest slid open, and bursts of light rushed towards them.

  "Incoming!" Alita shouted.

  One of the pulses burst over the nose of their craft and shook them violently, but it seemed to do no damage at all. Alita targeted the nearest tower and reached for the trigger on the joystick before her. She squeezed it, and the screen in front of her lit up as tracer fire surged towards the target.

  "Woohoo!" she yelled excitedly as she blew the gun system apart.

  She moved onto the next target as Taylor watched the bombardment continue. Several Sky Kings blew up around them, but their frontal armour appeared all but impervious to the enemy’s weapons.

  "This ain't so bad!"

  Even as the words rolled off her tongue, she noticed a larger weapon system open up on the side of the main tower. It was a huge single barrelled cannon that appeared to be tracking and targeting them personally.

  "Hang on!" she shouted and banked quickly. The gun fired and narrowly missed them, but they had to turn sharply on approach as the shots followed their path.

  "We're okay. We're okay!"

  Then they felt a massive hit strike their flank and rip a hole in the fuselage. One of the team was sucked out, along with the bomb. It flew out before anyone could react.

  "No!" Taylor screamed.

  He rushed to the breach and almost instinctively leapt out, but then he remembered their new suits did not have any drop or jump capability.

  "Fuck! Fuck!"

  He looked around through the breach for some sign of the device, but it was gone, despite the fact they were only a few hundred metres above the ground now.

  "Take us down!"

&n
bsp; But before Alita could respond, they were hit by three more shots that rocked them, and Taylor fell towards the hole in the hull. Just as he was about to fall, he felt someone grasp his leg and haul him back inside. It was Babacan. The alien was holding on to him tight as they thundered towards the enemy structure. Taylor could just make out on Alita's screen that she was heading right for the roof of the central tower, yet they had no way to slow down. Babacan pushed Taylor into the seat beside him and hit the restraints on. Secure metal bands locked around all of the occupants just in time.

  "This is gonna hurt!" she yelled.

  They smashed into the roof and crashed through the surface before grinding to a quick halt.

  "Everyone out!" Taylor ordered.

  He released the bands and jumped out of the breach. They had pierced just the first level of the structure, and the engines of Brunhild still protruded from the roof.

  "Come on, let's go, go, go!"

  As they clambered out, they heard gunfire erupt from sentry guns further into the room. Taylor hit his shield on barely in time as two of the shots hit it, and Babacan’s Hydra quickly replied to the sound. The dim room lit up as he destroyed both weapons in a single burst.

  "That was a pretty pathetic attempt at security," said Jones.

  "I guess when you're the ultimate badass in the universe, you probably don't feel you have to worry much about people coming and fucking with you. We're probably the only aliens to ever step foot here," replied Taylor.

  He looked back to Brunhild. Alita was waiting in the doorway with her carbine in hand. "You're coming with us. We'll just have to find another way out."

  "Do you think that's likely to happen?"

  "Damn right, Jones. I don't intend on dying on this world."

  He lifted up his comms unit, "Jafar, this is Taylor, come in."

  "What is it, Taylor?"

  "The device, can it survive a fall of a few hundred metres?"

  "What?" Jafar responded loudly.

  "Well, can it?"

  "Yes, the cradle allows it to be dropped from orbit as is, but it is single use. One descent, it will be fine. But have you lost..."

  "We're okay. Don't worry about it," Taylor interrupted him and ended the transmission.

  "Track it, now!" he shouted to Jones.

  "On it!"

  * * *

  "Has Taylor just lost the device?"

  "I've no idea, Sarik, but we must trust in him."

  A claxon resonated throughout the ship, and Jafar turned to see two hull breaches on the screen.

  "We've been boarded!" Sarik shouted.

  Before Jafar could respond, they heard gunfire not far from their position. He stepped over to his chair and lifted out the huge glaive standing beside it. He turned back to the entrance to the bridge just in time to see one of the Stalkers run at him. He swung the glaive around so that the solid steel counterweight smashed into the Stalker’s head. The impact was so strong it was thrown sideways across the room, and its legs collapsed under it. Jafar kept swinging the weapon and finally brought the blade end down onto the torso of the creature. The edge lit up like an Assegai tip and pierced the body right through, the blade hitting the deck below.

  "Sweep the ship now, Sarik!"

  * * *

  "I've got it," said Jones.

  He showed Taylor the console on his arm. It looked like it had dropped inside the complex between the outer walls and central tower.

  "Not too far away, let's go," replied Taylor.

  They rushed out of the room and found a ramp that circled around the inner tower. It had no floors and was hollow inside.

  "Whoa!" Jones shouted as he came to a standstill. The spiralled ramp looked organic and had no barrier of any kind. It was just two metres wide and seemingly led all the way to the base, "What the hell is this?"

  Taylor looked to the very base and could see what appeared to be a vast barrel looking up at them.

  "If I had to guess, I'd say it's a weapon."

  "What? A weapon for what?"

  Taylor shrugged, went forward, and led the way down. He was still surprised to see so little resistance, but glad of it, too. As they got half way down, he stopped on seeing an opening that led outside. He cautiously stepped out and looked around. A maze of metallic causeways ran out to each of the towers. Each causeway was five metres wide, but he stopped when he saw what was up ahead. He spotted the weapon they had lost. It was balanced precariously on the edge of one of the causeways.

  "All right, got it," replied Taylor as they went forward. They rushed out along the causeway in what was a completely exposed environment, but they knew they had no choice. Enemy fighters flew past overhead with friendlies hot on their tails. As they drew nearer, the causeway began to creep, and the device appeared to tilt and slip a little. Taylor came to an abrupt standstill and raised his hand for others to do the same. They watched in horror as it swayed from one side to another. Taylor looked down. It was several hundred metres to the next level, and the cradle of the device looked badly damaged from the impact it had taken.

  "We can't risk it falling. We don't know if it will survive."

  He took off his rifle and laid it down before beginning a slow creep towards the device. He could hear the side railings creek as they began to buckle further. Gunfire and aircraft soared past either side of him, but he slowed his breathing and crept closer and closer. He could feel the causeway beneath him was flexing and moving with the wind, and that only served to panic his nerves further. As he took the last step he needed to, the pressure caused the bomb to slip away from him, and it began to go over the edge. He jumped forward and took hold of one of the grab handles on the cradle, wedging his body against a part of the railing still intact.

  As the device tipped, he could feel the strain pulling on him, and he held on with everything he could. It began to drag him over when finally he managed to wedge one foot in a gap between the railing and causeway floor, and the device lurched to a halt. He winced with pain as it began to stretch beyond the limitations of his suit. Jones and Babacan sprinted towards him and pulled the device back onto the causeway. He felt the stress relieved from his body and sighed, lying flat in disbelief.

  Jones offered him his hand. He was about to accept when he saw a look of terror on Jones’ face. He was looking up and further along the causeway.

  "Taylor, we got a problem."

  * * *

  Jafar picked up a three-barrelled pulse cannon from the stand beside his chair and strode out into the corridor beyond to join the fight. As he entered, he came up against two Morohta soldiers. He aimed at the first and pulled the trigger just once. All three barrels fired like a shotgun and blew the warrior apart. He quickly turned the weapon on the other but found Sarik on the floor nursing a leg wound. Several bodies were around him.

  "Ship is over run," he stated.

  Jafar didn't want to accept it, but he knew it was the case. He pulled Sarik up, handed him the weapon, and rushed back to his console. He picked up his glaive once again and punched in a code into the side of his chair. A silver control panel rose out from the armrest. He placed his hand on it and looked back at the screens behind him one last time. The battle was still to be waged. They were buying time for Taylor, but at a wicked price.

  "All crew, abandon ship!" he ordered.

  He then pressed down on the button, and a counter for a self-destruct sequence began.

  "Let's go!"

  There were just three crew left on the bridge with him, and they rushed out to help Sarik and waited for him to lead the way. It was a short run to the pods, but they could hear gunfire echo through every corridor. He took a bend and found himself in front of a Stalker. It thrust forward and embedded one of its talons into his chest. He let out a cry of pain and cut down at the leg that had impaled him, cutting it clean from the creature before thrusting deep into its body.

  The talon had entered between the chest and shoulder armour and had met little resistance. Bl
ue blood poured down his armour, but he wasn't going to let it stop him. They rushed on to the first escape pod and clambered inside. Gunfire hit the walls as Jafar waited for them all to get in, stepping inside last as two shots hit the frame where he had just been standing. He punched the go button, and they felt the g-force as they blasted off from the stricken vessel.

  Jafar turned his attention back to Sarik now, and he appeared to be in as much pain as he was.

  "We aren't as fast as we used to be, are we?" Sarik joked.

  "Speed isn't everything," Jafar said sternly and began putting out a distress signal on the console on the wall.

  "Will they come for us?"

  "Yes, Sarik, this war isn't over for us yet," Jafar replied confidently and sat down beside his old friend.

  "And you still believe Taylor has got it in him?"

  "Taylor is the same man he was the day I met him. He will come through for us."

  "How do you know?"

  "Because he always has. And if I will choose to have faith in anything in this life, it is in Mitch Taylor."

  * * *

  Taylor took Jones’ hand and was hauled to his feet. He immediately spun around to confront the new threat that seemed to shock Jones so much. He froze, trying to comprehend what he was looking at. A creature blocked their path just ten metres ahead. None of them knew how it managed to get so close, but they had been so busy focusing on the device to notice.

  To some degree it resembled a Morohta warrior, but it was almost twice as large. Four legged, but with a humanoid shaped upper torso. Its legs were more like some kind of giant insect, and yet every part of its body was covered in a hard shell that mimicked the colours of its surroundings in a chameleon fashion.

  Neither side made an attempt to move as they studied each other. The creature’s hands seemed empty and three fingered, but the armoured suit it wore appeared to have the potential to hide a wealth of weapons. Over its head was an oval shell of a helmet that pointed forward at the centre and was pierced elaborately. Taylor knew this was someone important to the Morohta, and the fact it was alone made him doubt if they would be able to defeat it.