“Sixty seconds,” replied Jones.
The Captain had taken up position on the tactical console and muscled in on the man who was supposedly operating it. The fleet defending orbit was badly beaten and losing even as they approached.
“Come on, you bastards, time for a little payback,” Taylor muttered to himself.
Jones and several others overheard him. The Captain smiled at the sentiment, but Taylor turned back to the screens. He didn’t feel the need to smile about anything at that moment in time.
“How long!” he yelled.
“Twenty seconds.”
“Target that vessel, and give them everything we’ve got!”
“Will do, but we’re running dangerously close to bingo ammo.”
Taylor was amazed to see that Jones wasn’t exaggerating, and then he remembered the rush they had gone through before. The ship wasn’t ready when they left port, and still they were suffering the consequences of it. He went over to Jones to see the figures for himself without alarming the crew any more than he had to.
“What do we do if we run out?” Jones asked.
“What we always do. Take this fight to the ground and beat them into submission with our own two hands.”
“I’m not sure it’s really the time and place for that.”
“Yeah, well, then hope we don’t run empty.”
“We’re in range.”
“Fire, everything we have, and take those bastards down!”
The weapon systems of the Indy opened up in an impressive salvo. As the first wave of fire hit, another three ships of the fleet joined in. The Resolution was still targeting the most powerful ship in sight, which was now returning fire with just as much ferocity. Taylor rushed forward to the screens to watch as their gunfire and missiles slammed into the Morohtan carrier. They hit a docking bay hard and blew out one of the four engines.
“Again!”
Volley after volley soared out from their ship. Taylor understood from Jones’ expression exactly what was the problem. They had little left to throw. Wave after wave of fire ripped into the carrier until finally several flashes ignited, and the lower hull blew out. It lost power as it began to be pulled into the Earth’s atmosphere. The crew cheered excitedly as they watched several other enemy vessels suffer a similar fate under the combined fire of the fleet, but they were silenced by a call from the navigational officer.
“Sir, I’m getting jump signatures.”
Everyone looked to the officer and prayed it was friendlies, but they could see in the woman’s face that it wasn’t.
“What is it?” Taylor insisted.
She could hardly speak for a few moments before finally she found her tongue.
“Sixteen Morohtan vessels, Sir.”
Gasps rang out across the bridge.
“Bring us about. Ready all weapons. Let’s take this fight to them!” Taylor yelled.
Chapter 2
"Incoming missile!"
They all knew it must be significant to warrant such an announcement. Everyone grabbed on to whatever they could to brace themselves for impact. Taylor looked over at Alita holding on with her only good arm and took hold of her with one of his. She closed her eyes as the impact struck them and rocked the ship harder than anything it had taken so far. Several of the crew were thrown from their seats, but were better prepared than when they were savaged upon their arrival in the system.
Taylor looked to the crew as if waiting for some news of detrimental damage, but somehow they managed to get through it without anything serious.
"Bring us about and engage the enemy!"
There was still a sizeable enemy presence visible before them.
"We're getting penned in!" Jones shouted.
Between a rock and a hard place!
Taylor watched as the ship slowly came about to face the new threat, but within seconds, he noticed something separate from the vast but battered defence grid. He looked closer. It was a frigate that had remained docked and hidden from view until now. Jones saw him looking intently and followed his gaze until he too looked upon it. Before either of them could say a word, the comms officer yelled out, "We're being hailed by the Forbin!"
Neither of them had heard of it before, but they knew it had to be the ship they were watching with their very own eyes in that very moment.
"Put them through!"
A weary and pale-faced French Captain appeared before them with a terrified look upon his face. Neither recognised the man, and he looked just as surprised to see Taylor as they were.
"This is Colonel Taylor of the Independence. What can we do for you, Captain?" Taylor asked hurriedly.
"Colonel...we..." he stuttered as another man stepped in front of him. It was unmistakeably, Isaacs, the President of the Alliance.
Taylor's eyes widened in surprise, for it was the last man in the universe he would have expected to see.
"Sir, what the hell are you doing here?" Taylor snapped even as they continued to be rocked by enemy fire. Before he could respond, Taylor turned away and yelled at Jones, "Keep firing!"
Although he could tell they were throwing everything they had at the enemy. He looked back to the President who had been waiting for him.
"Colonel Taylor...we..." he began.
Taylor interrupted him, "Why are you out here? You're in the middle of a damn war zone. Don't you know you have to stay safe if this Alliance is to stay together and remain organised? What were you doing on the grid?"
"I was unveiling a memorial to those killed in the last attack on the..."
"Well a fat lot of good that did. You should never have been put in the middle of this. Whoever is in charge of your security should be shot."
"She is already dead...killed in the early stages of the attack. I barely survived myself...I..."
He could see how shaken the President was, and clearly any more criticism right now would be useless and a waste of time.
"Colonel, I thought we could hold. With all the forces we amassed here, and it isn't enough. What are we to do?"
"Right now, you have a warship that we need. We are still in this fight. Have your Captain take up position on our starboard side. Stay close and let's give them hell."
"But, Colonel..." protested the Captain, "My job is to protect the President of the Alliance. We must..."
"We must win this fight. That's what we must do. If you want to protect Isaacs, then you will help us win this. What's your name?"
"Captain Fortier, but I..."
"But nothing. Admiral Vega has given me command of this fleet, and you will follow your orders. Get in this fight now, Captain!"
He stepped over to the Captain's chair and hit the button to end the transmission, even as Captain Fortier opened his mouth to protest once more.
"They're hailing us again."
"Ignore it!" Taylor roared.
He turned around to see the surprise on their faces.
"There is nothing more we can do for them right now. They have to help themselves. With any luck, Captain Fortier and the President can see that, and if they can't. Well...they're no use to us."
Jones looked concerned, but he didn't disagree as Taylor turned back to see how the battle was unfolding. He looked angry to have had so much time wasted, and he still couldn't believe the stupidity of how the President ended up in this situation.
"Why, oh why, do we have so many cretins in this world?" he muttered, although he soon focused on the fight. They still outnumbered the Morohtan vessels, but what the enemy did have were powerful. Explosions lit up on ships on both sides, and fighters zipped past as they engaged in deadly dogfights.
"We should have seen this coming," snarled Jones to himself.
Taylor overheard him and nodded in agreement.
"Yes, you should have," he replied, turning to Jones who had a look of despair in his eyes, "I should have seen it. The President should have seen it. The whole fucking Alliance should have seen it. But we didn't, and there ai
n't a damn thing we can do about that now but respond to the shitstorm that has been thrown our way."
He watched the battle once more and wondered what else he could do. This was not the sort of fight he was made or trained for. That was until he noticed the largest of the Morohtan warships slip past the Resolution and start to bank in order to cross her T.
"Take us forward and alongside that ship!"
The pilot responded quickly, and the engines roared to life. He wouldn't doubt the claim that the ship he had been given was the fastest of her size. He had never felt such a surge of speed and power from a fully-fledged warship.
"Come on," he said quietly.
He knew they could go no faster, but he watched the enemy vessel coming into line, and they were moving up on the far side. The Resolution began to bank herself as Vega had clearly seen what Taylor was manoeuvring them into. The enemy vessel managed just a few shots off before the Indy was up alongside her.
"Fire!" Taylor gave the order.
Every missile silo and gun deck on their port side opened up. Just as the first salvo smashed into the enemy vessel, the Resolution came into a parallel position to them so that the Morohtan warship was sandwiched between them. Both of the human vessels unloaded into the enemy ship with all guns blazing. Taylor could barely see the vessel as it became engulfed in a wall of flame and explosions. Some fire came back their way, but nothing compared to the brutal hammering the alien ship was facing.
"They're preparing to jump!" Jones called out.
Taylor snapped his head around to look at the Captain. They had a matter of seconds to finish the enemy vessel before it could escape. They couldn't afford to pass up the opportunity to relieve the enemy of such a powerful asset, but they just weren't doing enough damage as quickly as they needed to. He turned back to the fight and watched their engines flash to life. There wasn't much time left now, but he didn't know what else they could do.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a volley of fire poured into the aft of the Morohtan ship and smashed their engines with a crippling blow. He turned in time to see the source of the fire, as a second salvo was unleashed from the bow of the Forbin. The impacts crashed into the enemy ship and crippled her outright. The lights of the engines spluttered and died. Many of the weapon systems were rendered useless, too.
"Finish her!" Taylor gave the order.
They were still throwing as much at the enemy as they could. He watched in delight, as the ship was ripped apart by the combined fire of all three of their ships. It was a sight he wished he could see more often. Finally, the return fire stopped completely, and all lights faded from the vessel.
"Hold fire! We can't afford to use any more ammo than we have to."
The Resolution kept up the fire a little longer afterwards until finally she stopped, too. A number of other vessels were still battling it out, but they saw the flash of jump engines as those still able to fled the scene.
"We've got them on the run!" Jones declared, excitedly.
The crew of the bridge were enthusiastically clapping and cheering their victory. Taylor smiled, nodding in agreement, but he still wasn't as certain of their success.
"We're being hailed by the Resolution, Sir."
"Put them through."
Vega appeared on the screen, and he looked exhausted. He was too old to still be doing the job he was. Everyone knew that, but he was still the best they had.
"Nice moves, Colonel," he said.
He appeared somewhat surprised by Taylor's tactics.
"We all get lucky sometimes, Sir."
Vega shook his head.
"Luck had nothing to do with it, Colonel."
"Admiral, there is something you need to know."
"On a private channel?"
"There’s point. It's already out there for anyone who was listening. The President of the Alliance, he's here in the fleet. Aboard the Forbin."
"What? How?" he frowned.
"You got me there. It's a special kind of stupidity that saw him here today."
Vega just didn't have any words for it.
"Get to work on repairs, Colonel, and be ready for anything."
"You got it, Taylor out."
He looked around to the crew. It had begun to dawn on them that it was only just the beginning.
"Get everyone to work. I want this ship in full working order within two hours. And somebody get us some damn ammunition!"
"I'll do what I can, but what about the surface?" Jones asked.
Taylor froze in horror as he remembered how it had begun. The fleet they had engaged was merely the initial barrier. He thought back to the scenes in Paris of the enemy descending on the city he loved and so many others. He didn't even know what to say.
"Surely they can handle it themselves? There has to be hundreds of thousands of troops on Earth?"
"Yes, but most are reservists and poorly equipped. The emphasis had long been placed on the fleet. Maybe they can get it under control, but I don't know."
Taylor couldn't believe it at first, but somehow he wasn't totally surprised anymore to hear that they could be so ill prepared.
"We have to have information. Anything you can get. We need enemy positions and strength, whatever you can find. Can you manage it?" he added.
Jones shrugged, and there was doubt in his eyes. Neither of them were trained or prepared for the jobs they were now undertaking.
"I can," said a faint voice at the back of the bridge.
Taylor turned around. A woman of short and slight stature stood up and repeated herself more loudly. She was very young and looked to be of Chinese origin, or as close to that region as Taylor could make out.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Captain Minn, Sir."
"And what is your job here?"
"I...I don't have one. I was here to assess the Independence on her maiden voyage."
"Shit, you sure got the short end of the stick. You come aboard a ship with me, you should know you are gonna go through hell. I need fighters, can you be one?"
"Yes, Sir. I have the means to get the information you need."
"All right, then get to it."
What the hell do we do now?
He turned back and marvelled at the devastation that had been caused. He thought to call the President but knew he would find no answers there. He began to wonder who he could turn to. Irala seemed forever held back by his people, and he had not heard from Jafar from some time. His old friend was getting old, and he wondered how much more he would be able to help. The last time Taylor looked to help from him it almost cost Jafar his life.
A few shots still flashed in the distance as the last remaining enemy ships were hunted down. He could only imagine they were the final stragglers unable to jump out because they either didn't have the ability or were too badly damaged to do so. Some glimmer of light far closer caught his attention, and he turned his head to see an object dart out from the vast Morohtan vessel they had so recently destroyed.
"What is that?" he asked.
Jones looked up just in time to see it zip past their screen with immense speed. They could see the lights of an engine of power source of some kind.
"Whatever it is, shoot it down!" Taylor yelled.
The screens panned to follow it but could barely keep track at the speed it was travelling at. They watched in horror as the object struck the flank of the Forbin's hull and punched right through and vanished inside.
Oh, shit, no!
He looked at Jones. They both knew what this meant.
"The Forbin is hit!" yelled one of the crew.
"That's no weapon. It's a boarding party," replied Taylor confidently, "Hail the ship, and get me a direct line, now!"
Captain Fortier appeared before them and looked calmer than he should be.
"Colonel, we have a hull breach. Crews are on their way to repair damages as we speak."
"Listen to me very carefully, Captain. You have a lot more than just a breach. That is a bo
arding action. You have been boarded. You have to deploy marines now. Lock down your bridge and sweep the vessel."
"What do you mean?"
"You heard me, Captain. You have enemy agents aboard your ship and are in very real danger. Lock down the ship, and send out parties to find and destroy them."
"I am getting readings of..."
"Captain, this is no joke. The enemy is at your door!"
"Oh, God," said the Captain.
They heard gunfire in the background, and the Captain turned to look in horror as he fumbled to draw his pistol.
"Seal the blast..."
The transmission cut out.
"Get them back on the line!" Taylor snapped.
"They aren't responding," replied Jones.
Taylor sighed.
"What do we do? We can't leave the President to die," added Jones.
Taylor nodded in agreement and shook his head in annoyance all at the same time. He turned back to face Jones and the rest of the crew. From the way they were looking at him, they wanted something to be done, and they wanted him to do it. He couldn't help but feel that the President was becoming increasingly incompetent and useless as the days went by, but he also knew what his death could mean for the fragile Alliance.
"All right, I need a boarding party of fifty men assembled to depart in five minutes."
"Who will be leading it?" Jones asked.
He took in a deep breath before responding exactly how they expected him to, "I will."
Jones didn't look happy.
"This ship needs someone to command her. She's already lost her Captain, and it can't afford to lose you, too."
"What about you?"
"Negative," said Jones, shaking his head furiously, "I am going on this mission. You know I have to."
"Fair enough," he replied. "Captain Minn!"
The young woman was so busy at her console she hadn't even noticed his call.
"Captain Minn!" he repeated more loudly.
She quickly turned in surprise and had the looked of a rabbit in the spotlight about her. She was surprised to be singled out and didn't even know why.
"Yes...Colonel?" she asked hesitantly.
"Captain Jones and I will be leading a rescue operation to the Forbin. I am leaving you in charge."
Battle Beyond Earth Box Set Page 83