Battle Beyond Earth Box Set

by Nick S. Thomas

  The crew hesitated for just a second, as they could not see what she was getting at.

  "Do it now!" she screamed.

  Nichols quickly relayed the orders, but he still could not understand the Commander's concern.

  "What is it?" he whispered to her.

  "We are not alone here. The Morohta have come looking for their weapon."

  "How can you know?"

  But Song avoided the question.

  "Osborne, bring us up a screen tracking that energy signature!"

  "There is nothing there, Commander. I have already checked visuals."

  "Just do it!"

  The screen seemed to track through empty space. Suddenly, they noticed a glimmer as sunlight reflected off something and flared before them. For just a split second they glimpsed a ship that was less than half their size. It soared through space with utter grace as it made its way to the planet's atmosphere.

  "Target that reading, lead by twenty metres, fire when ready!"

  The gun batteries of the Guam opened up with a salvo. The first few shots found no target, but as they continued to trace the signature, a dozen impacts ignited on a ship. Its invisible shielding failed and so revealed itself. Another salvo caused several explosions on the surface of the hull before finally the ship came about. Several smaller craft dropped from it as it made its way right for them.

  "Send word to Taylor. We are under attack by Morohta forces!" Song ordered.

  But before the order could be acted upon, a hail of gunfire smashed into the Guam and battered here already weak structure.

  "We have lost all communication, Commander," replied Osborne.

  Another wave of gunfire smashed into them and rocked them where they stood.

  "What do we do?"

  "Only thing we can do, Captain Nichols, stand and fight. Give them everything we've got!"

  * * *

  Taylor still waited silently. He half expected to come under attack in any moment, and was already kicking himself for bringing Babacan along. It had never occurred to him that it would be a problem until now. At last the warrior responded with stern and succinct questions.

  "Who sent you?"

  "Irala."

  "And who sent him?"

  "His grandfather, Tane Mahuta," replied Taylor confidently.

  The alien seemed a little alarmed and briefly hesitated, but then responded in a deep voice that carried through the chasm.

  "I am Tane Mahuta."

  The warrior’s helmet retracted to reveal an old and scarred Aranui elder. The Guardian quickly approached and held out its hand where Irala was projected. They looked at one another for a few minutes, as if communicating without speech.

  "You trust this Colonel Mitch Taylor?" the warrior finally asked.

  "Yes."

  "You trust him with your life? And with the great responsibility that the bearer of the Pauri Tao must endure?"

  "I do."

  "Then enter, and claim it. May it serve you well."

  The hologram vanished, but no one said a word. The huge door parted at its centre and began to retract back into the walls.

  "Could this really be it? Have we really done this?" Jones asked.

  "Incoming!" a voice cried.

  It was followed by automatic gunfire. Behind them several of their team engaged a dozen Stalkers who were skittering across the chasm floor, walls, and ceiling at high speed. Two were immediately knocked out, but more quickly filled the chasm, in what seemed a never-ending wave of the enemy.

  "Can this door be shut again?" Taylor asked the Guardian.

  "Yes," it responded and pointed to the control panel on the other side.

  "Come on, in through here!" Taylor shouted.

  They quickly retreated through the doorway while continually laying down covering fire. Taylor waited at the doorway with the Guardian until the last had made it through.

  "This door will not hold them for long. I will buy you time," said the Guardian.

  It held out its hand and released the sphere into Taylor's care. It then stepped out from the shelter of the doorway and opened fire with its arm-mounted cannons. Several impacts brushed off its armour, and Taylor took a few more shots at one of the nearby Stalkers before turning to the control panel. He hit the switch as the Guardian had shown him. As the door began to close, he looked back for just a moment. A glimmer of movement in the distance sent a tingle down his spine.

  It was the unmistakeable shape of a Morohta Prince. He wanted to believe it wasn't true, and in the shadows he wasn't sure, but he had no time to stick around to find out. He rushed on after his team. They found themselves at yet another junction with three passageways splitting off in different directions.

  "Can never just be easy, can it?" he sighed, "Same as before, go!"

  He looked back. As the door slowly continued to close, Stalkers were pouring through the gap. He could still hear the Guardian raining down fire on their attackers, but certainly it could not do enough to stop them. He took a few shots and rushed onwards into the middle passageway.

  "All teams, Stalkers are hot on our tail. Keep moving and watch your asses!" he yelled through the comms.

  But he soon realised no signal was getting through, and once again they were in a communication blackout, as he had known all too often.

  "This spear better exist now, Colonel, or we're done for!"

  "That's far truer that you want to know, Jones!"

  "What do you mean?"

  "You remember Ganbaatar? I think he's right behind us."

  "You’re joking?"

  "Think I would joke about that?"

  "We're finished," he said hopelessly.

  "Not yet," replied Taylor, as he continued to run.

  Chapter 12

  "Commander! The Massri has fallen!" Nichols screamed. He sounded terrified.

  Song looked to the viewscreen at her left side. The ship had almost been cut in half. Fire raged in more breaches of the hull than they could count, and lifeboats were jettisoning in every direction. She looked to her other flank, and the Curlew was being pounded as heavily as they were. She could see they simply weren't doing enough damage quickly enough.

  "Have the Aranui vessel and our fighters jump out twenty klicks, and instruct them to return three minutes later."

  "What? What are you doing?"

  "Just do it, Captain!"

  Nichols knew well enough from experience not to doubt Song any longer. He sent out the order and watched as they fled. A volley of fire smashed into their hull. They couldn't withstand much more. The Morohta vessel was a fraction of their size and stood alone, and yet its armour was thick and weapons powerful.

  "Prepare to launch an EMP."

  "To what target?" Nichols asked. He was confused.

  "Right between us and that ship."

  "We'll be completely defenceless," pleaded Capek.

  "We should have jumped out with the others. We can't win this," added Osborne.

  "Enough!" Nichols hollered, "Have faith in your Commander, and follow through with her orders!"

  They were shocked to hear it, but Nichols’ confidence in her made them doubt no longer.

  "EMP launching in five, four, three..."

  They were rocked once again by heavy gunfire from the Morohta ship.

  "Two, one, launch."

  They watched the device soar out before them.

  "Open blast shielding."

  The shields across the windows of the bridge slid open, and they could see the EMP soaring towards the Morohta vessel before it ignited. All systems died, and they were left in the dark. Only the natural light of the sun stopped them from being in complete darkness. They watched with joy as the Morohta ship floated as lifelessly through space as they did.

  "Their systems will almost certainly recover quicker than ours."

  Song smiled at Nichols as she counted down the time in her head. A light flashed beside them, and the Aranui ship and their fighters appeared. Their weap
on systems instantly started laying into the stricken Morohta vessel, to the cheers of the bridge crew around the Commander.

  "Good call," whispered Nichols, leaning in beside her. She slumped down in her chair in relief. She was shaking.

  "Thank you for keeping your faith in me," she replied.

  "What about Taylor?"

  "There is nothing more we can do for the Colonel right now. Whatever is down there, he is just going to have to handle it himself."

  * * *

  "You got a plan beyond that of running?" Jones asked. He was almost breathless.

  "Keep going until we find the Pauri Tao."

  "That's your plan?"

  "Unless you have got a better one. I don't know any other way out of this, and unless you want to turn and fight a Prince of the Morohta with what you have, I suggest you keep running!"

  Gunfire rang out behind them. The Stalkers were closing in quicker than they could cover the ground. As Jones and Alita continued to lead the way, Taylor stopped and allowed the others to pass until he reached the tail end of their squad. Babacan, Antos, and Bailey took up positions beside him and waited for the Stalkers to come. Each of them held out their shields with their rifles just peeking around the defensive energy.

  The first Stalker rushed out, and all of them opened up on full auto. It was tossed into a sidewall under the weight of fire and pinned by it. They killed the Stalker outright, and it slumped to the rocky ground. The next came at them and received the same treatment. Taylor drew out a grenade and primed it.

  "Sir, charges down here could wall us in!" Bailey shouted.

  "Let's worry about staying alive first. We’ll worry about getting out if we accomplish that," replied Taylor with a smile. He tossed the grenade down the corridor and ducked back as it blew.

  "All right, let's go!"

  They rushed onwards. Jones and the rest were waiting for them a little further ahead.

  "Why did you stop?"

  "You think we know where we are going?" Jones asked and pointed to a series of further forks ahead.

  Taylor raised the sphere, and Irala appeared once more.

  "Shed some light on this please," said Taylor.

  Irala's likeness studied all that was around him and looked up to the symbols over each of the caverns.

  "That one," he said confidently and pointed to the far right.

  "You are sure, Colonel?"

  "It’s good enough, Jones," replied Taylor, and he ran on down it.

  He came out at a vast opening as large as they had discovered when they first came underground. All was quiet for a moment, but then it was broken by the echo of automatic gunfire from Reitech rifles off to their right side. In the distance one of Hartley's squad rushed out from an opening and firing wildly. One threw a grenade back from where they had come. Even as the explosion rang out, several of the Stalkers came into view. One had two legs blown off but was still clawing its way towards them. Another two rushed out from the smoke of the blast.

  Taylor and his team took aim from their slightly elevated position and lay down fire in support until the last of the creatures were put down. He hurried to their side but found two of their number was missing. One had lost his left arm, severed close to the shoulder, and two others were bleeding from leg wounds. He knew there was nothing they could do but keep moving. The squad’s sergeant was badly beaten up, too. His left ear was missing, and his jaw burnt where a shot had come close to taking his head off.

  "Stay put and protect this position, you hear, Sergeant?" Taylor ordered.

  "Aye, aye, Sir," the Sergeant replied confidently and pushed a new magazine into his rifle.

  Taylor ran across the opening in the vast chasm.

  "Think it's wise to leave them there?" Jones asked.

  "It's the best we can do with them. They can't keep up with us, and we could do with the support."

  "You’re just leaving them to die?"

  "No, Alita, I’m leaving them there to fight. This mission may yet be the end of us, but I am not going to give up yet. We need every opportunity we can to find this damn thing."

  "You are still holding out hope of finding the Pauri Tao?" Alita shook her head.

  "Damn right, we need a miracle, and that's it."

  None of them could think of anything better, and Taylor wasn't giving them much time to dwell on it. They carried on and passed down a long chasm that was narrower than the rest. The walls were deep and exquisitely carved, but they did not have time to stop and inspect them.

  "How big is this place?" Alita asked.

  "What was it even used for?" asked Jones.

  "Questions that don't need to be answered at this stage," replied Taylor.

  They heard gunfire at their backs where the squad they had left were engaging the enemy. Taylor and the others stopped for just a moment, wondering if they should go and help, but they knew they could not.

  "It can't be far now. Let's keep moving!"

  But soon they could hear the skittering sounds of a Stalker at their backs. Taylor thrust the sphere into Alita's hands.

  "Keep moving!"

  The squad rushed on past him, and he waited patiently. The creature stormed into view on the ceiling where he least expected it. He raised his rifle and fired a burst. He hit it several times, but it wasn't enough. It leapt from the roof. Two more shots penetrated its body, but it landed on top of him, and he was smashed down onto his back. He could just about bring his rifle to bear and fired another burst, finally managing to throw the creature off him. He got to his feet. Its stinking blood now dripped from his armour, and it made him gag.

  "Disgusting," he muttered and quickly left to join the others. He reached the group. They had stopped completely. He pushed his way to the front of them. They were standing in front of a narrow stone bridge. It stretched a hundred metres across a canyon that was so deep they could not see the bottom, only the darkness that filled it. The bridge had no barriers at all, and any who slipped from it would surely fall to their deaths.

  "Let me guess, that's where we need to go?"

  "Yes," replied Irala whose projection now stood beside him.

  "Colonel! We've got a problem!" Watkins called.

  Taylor rushed to his position. He was looking through an opening to their flank where dozens of Stalkers could be seen weaving their way through cover and heading their way.

  "Never can catch a break, can we?"

  Jones pushed in beside him to take a look at the problem.

  "Take a few with you and keep going. The rest of us will hold them here."

  "Sure? Or you just don't want to cross that bridge?"

  Jones smiled.

  "Maybe, but you also need some time to work this out and not be running like crazy fools. Go, do what we came all this way for."

  Taylor didn't wait another second.

  "Babacan, Hariz, Antos, with me. Rest of you dig in, you're with Jones!"

  He rushed to the bridge that was more of a frightening causeway. It appeared to have no supports or suspension at all. He wondered if it could even sustain their weight, and yet he had no choice but to try.

  "You know I don't like heights?"

  "You're a pilot, Alita," joked Taylor.

  "Yeah, but where I sit is in a comfy seat with wings and a few thousand horsepower to keep me going forward."

  Taylor laughed, but he also completely understood what she meant. It was a daunting obstacle, but they waited for him to lead the way. He took a deep breath and stepped onto the first stage and was amazed to feel it held firm.

  "See? Not to bad," he grinned.

  Although it was clear to them all that he didn't believe it. Gunfire rang out from Jones and several of the others starting to engage the enemy. He turned and continued on at a steady pace in order to maintain his balance, and to get across as quickly as possible.

  Keep going! Keep going, just a little longer, he told himself.

  He reached the other side and breathed a sigh of re
lief, offering out his hand to Alita who was following behind. She saw no shame in taking his hand at the last stage and was hauled onto the platform on the far side. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash and hauled her forward. She was thrown onto her front, and a pulse of energy flashed past him where she had just been standing. They both landed hard, and Taylor looked up from the ground. He saw Irala's sphere rolling along the floor towards the edge of the chasm. He reached forward for it, but could not stretch far enough. It toppled over the edge and vanished into the chasm.

  Fuck, but I’m not going to sew doubt amongst my friends. I’ll just have to manage without it.

  Taylor was quickly on his feet. Babacan and Antos were already returning fire, and off to their side they could just make out another larger causeway running almost in parallel. A single Stalker fired at them, but well aimed shots pierced its armour, and it fell into the darkness of the chasm.

  "There must be another way in," said Antos.

  "No shit," replied Taylor, thinking what that could mean, "We'll sort that problem out when we get to it. Come on, we have to keep going!"

  They passed through a large archway, and it opened out into the first and only structure they had seen since the security door that resembled Aranui technology. It was a vast hall with steel columns supporting the centre. It appeared completely empty, but there was an opening on the far side, and one to their left. The left entrance must have been where the Stalker was trying to make its way to. Taylor pointed to the far side entrance.

  "That's got to be it!"

  They continued at a quick pace and kept a keen eye on the side exit and everything around them.

  * * *

  "We've got power back online!" Nichols said excitedly.

  The viewscreens fired up around them, and Song glared at the Morohta vessel burning beside them. It was still intact but disabled and severely damaged.

  "Shall we board her? Who know what we might find."

  Song shook her head at Nichols.

  "No chance. The Morohta are not a people to be toyed with, Captain. We have won this battle. Let us not risk another soul. Target all weapon systems on that ship, and tear her apart."

  Nichols relayed the orders, and they watched as every gun on the starboard side opened up and smashed into the stricken vessel. The third salvo finally punched right through the hull, and the crewmembers were sucked out into space. Some looked humanoid in shape, unlike others they had seen before. Song looked around at the crew, and many looked away in shame and despair.