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 5: REVENGE
By Nick S. Thomas
Copyright © 2016 by Nick S. Thomas
Published by Swordworks Books
Prologue
Bolormaa's ultimatum seemed as much a guarantee of defeat than a welcome reprieve, but Colonel Mitch Taylor and the Alliance would take anything they could get. Times had never seemed so desperate as these, not since the Krys first threatened Earth, but a far greater and more ruthless enemy now existed in the universe, and more than just Earth was at stake. Bolormaa, an ancient enemy that had almost passed into myth, now threatened the lives and freedoms of the Alliance of races that had fought so hard to achieve peace.
Going head on against whatever Bolormaa threw into the fight seemed the only way, and that's precisely what Taylor did. Spearheading a rapid response force, he took the fight to the mining colony of Kapteyn. Tay
lor had expected the enemy to attack with an overwhelming force and strike them head on. Everyone did. But at Kapteyn it was different. The enemy fleet fled and left behind ground forces on the Colony's surface, leaving the population at their mercy. Under the protection of a powerful energy dome, Taylor had no choice but to lead the newly formed 1st Recon Regiment onto the surface. The most well equipped and trained volunteers in the Alliance; formed with Taylor's Immortals at their core, and humans and Krys alike. It was the most formidable fighting force Taylor had ever had the pleasure of commanding since his awaking in this new life, hundreds of years from his glory days.
The ground combat on Kapteyn was brutal and took its toll before the shielded dome could be broken, and even as the tide turned, it became clear that the enemy engagement there was nothing more than a ruse. One that Taylor kicked himself for not seeing. He had allowed his judgement to be clouded by his hatred of Bolormaa, and that brought a new danger he should have seen coming.
She was after the same thing she always had been, the weapon that was known to be the only thing in the universe that could bring about her destruction. The spear that had almost cost Taylor his life to find and secure - The Pauri Tau, or Tamir as the despicable warmonger Bolormaa would call it. They had to go after it, no matter what it would cost them.
However, what came next was something nobody could have foreseen. Arriving on the supposedly safe location of the mythical spear where the Aranui had hidden it, an epic battle was ensuing between two rival creatures. They both wanted the weapon but for very different reasons, and both were Morohtan Princes. Locked in deadly battle, they fought with everything they had for the spear, and finally the truth was out. Bolormaa was not all powerful, all commanding. She had an enemy, and it was one of her own.
The traitorous son of Bolormaa seemed to want nothing but revenge for the wrongdoing he had suffered at her hands, and he was determined to take the battle to Bolormaa. An ally that Taylor could use, but the former Prince Zaya seemingly wanted no contact with Taylor and his Alliance. He took the spear for himself and used it to make a direct attack against Bolormaa.
Taylor knew they had no choice but to follow the former Prince. The Alliance could not afford to lose the spear, and the attack against the Queen was the best opportunity they had to do some damage to her and her vast armies. But could Zaya be trusted? An epic battle ensued as Zaya fought his way to his mother, the Queen of the Morohta, and finally fought the battle he had waited hundreds, if not thousands of years for.
It was the battle that could have ended it all, but Bolormaa would be no push over. The brutal confrontation with her almost cost Zaya and Taylor their lives, and still they did not defeat her. But there was hope. In an act of desperation, the alien Queen set her flagship to self-destruct as she fled, trailing blood from the limb Zaya had removed.
Victory, or so it seemed, the first against Bolormaa herself; and she was running scared and wounded. She had failed to recover the spear, failed to kill Taylor, and failed to spread the fear she had so successfully managed before. Zaya was barely alive and Taylor's own forces and fleet had taken a beating to get this far. It seemed there was finally hope, but it was not over. They had not won the respite they had been expecting. News soon reached the fleet that the unthinkable had happened. What Taylor had feared he would once again see in his lifetime - the invasion of Earth.
Chapter 1
Prepare to jump in five, four, three, two..."
Taylor's heart was pounding as he felt the anger and despair overcome him in equal measure. He had fought his entire life to protect Earth. It is where it had all begun, the invasion of the Krys. Terrifying creatures that towered over humanity in stature and science, creatures he now counted among his friends. But this was different. For whatever humanity he had found in the Krys people, there seemed not a shred of evidence for in the Morohta.
"One..Jump!"
His stomach turned as it always did, but in a flash they appeared on the other side. Their ship rocked as an explosion burst before their eyes. Taylor was thrown across the bridge. He crashed into the navigation console with an officer still sitting at it. He hit his head hard and regretted in that moment that he ever took his helmet off. His head began to pound. He reached around with his right hand to feel for the wound. He withdrew the hand; it was covered in blood from a gaping wound on the back of his head. His vision was blurred and he tried to get up, but couldn't quite get his balance. He staggered forward and fell over once again.
Where he fell he found Captain Wilcox lying lifelessly. His head was bleeding from an impact on his forehead and his left leg twisted and broken. Taylor looked around for some help but couldn't get his words out when a medic rushed in to aid the Captain. He felt something wrench him around, and he lost his balance and fell back onto his ass. Looking up, Jones was asking him questions. The Captain had sensibly kept his helmet on and was fully composed as he asked after Taylor. His hearing was coming back, but it came with the flood of pain flowing through his body as he had felt so many times before.
"Come on, Colonel, we need you!"
Jones pulled him forward so he could check on his wound.
"You'll be okay. It's just a scratch."
It sure doesn't feel like a scratch.
Jones withdrew a med seal and sprayed it onto the wound. It stung, but he knew at least that would stop the bleeding. Jones hauled him to his feet and dropped him down into the Captain's chair. He slumped comfortably into it.
The crew were fighting a fire off to his left side, and he watched as medics hurried off with the ship's Captain on a stretcher. It was a grim sight, and as he began to regain his composure, he looked out at the screen ahead. Vega's ship was engaging the enemy in a brutal battle ahead of their position. Two wrecks of friendly vessels lay between the Admiral's position and theirs. He looked around. Two bodies of the bridge crew were still waiting to be removed, and several more wounded were being seen to. A few positions remained vacant, including the primary tactical console. Many of the crew looked to him for command, and the XO was nowhere to be seen.
Shit!
He could see the battle raging ahead of their position. The crew of the Independence were looking to him now. All he wanted to do was find his rifle and get into the fight, but this wasn't that kind of fight. Jones took up position behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, hard enough that it hurt as he felt the pain in his neck from where he had landed and been injured.
"Whatever you're gonna do you better do it fast," whispered Jones.
Taylor looked to him as if for advice, but he didn't offer any. Taylor appeared to be in utter shock, as if his whole world had been turned upside down.
I’ve been through this too many times before. I don't know if I can take it again. I’m starting to wonder if anything I do can ever save my beloved Earth. Will all roads lead me back to this dark day?
"Why does this keep happening? What did I ever do to deserve this? I had enough in my own lifetime. This was supposed to be your time, not mine."
Jones could see he was beginning to lose it. The hit to his head had shaken loose some thoughts he had long repressed. It was as if his two lives, separated by hundreds of years, were now clashing in his mind.
"I don't want this anymore. We can't win. We never could," he said quietly.
He looked lost as he stood up. He was still a little shaky and turned as if to leave the bridge.
"We need you, Taylor," said Jones.
He only shook his head. "No, it's your turn. I have done enough, probably too much. Maybe I'm not what this universe needs anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you see anything getting better?"
He shoulders slumped, and he staggered off the bridge. He was totally demoralised. Physically and mentally beaten down, and that had rubbed off on the crew who were already weak from everything they had endured. Jones was left in despair and amazement. He didn’t know what to say or do. He looked at the distraught faces a
ll around him and then to the scene of destruction ahead.
Vega’s battleship, the Resolution, was taking a beating but was hitting back hard. Three enemy ships of the line duked it out with Vega’s fleet and many more smaller vessels. A combined Krys and human fleet were fighting alongside Vega. In the distance, two other battles were raging closer to the atmosphere. The Earth defence grid was less than half operational, and being pounded at a pace it could not withstand for long. Even as he watched and thought of what to do, several ships on both sides were blown apart and completely destroyed.
“Take us in!” Jones gave the order.
The crew looked at him in terrified shock, as if they wanted to run and play no part in what lay ahead.
“You heard me. I am assuming command of the vessel. Take us in, lock onto the nearest enemy target, and throw everything we have at them!”
“But, Sir, we are badly damaged. More than a fifth of the crew are dead or wounded. We are not ready for this,” protested an ensign.
Jones scowled at the man and pointed to the battle.
“You think they are fairing any better? Those are our friends and colleagues out there, and they need our help. Get us in this fight!”
The man looked sheepish, but he still followed the orders. They soared forward slowly, even as crews still worked to put out another fire on the bridge and repair the damage as best they could.
“This is suicide,” muttered one of the crew.
Jones turned around to see who had said it, but he couldn’t identity them as nobody wanted to admit to it. He didn’t know what to say, knowing they might well be right. Taylor had always been there to handle such situations, and he felt lost without him.
What the hell am I doing?
He had never been so doubtful of anything in his life. He had been responsible for hundreds of men in his time, never thousands, not in such a frightful and horrifying situation. It was a responsibility he had never wanted, at least not since he’d had his first taste of war. He watched them close the distance.
Battle Beyond Earth Box Set Page 81