Battle Earth: 12

by Nick S. Thomas

  "Do you think your people will be up to this?"

  "We've had a couple of days of good food in our bellies and freedom. We're ready for anything."

  Taylor stopped, and they formed a circle around him, waiting to hear their orders.

  "You all know what you have to do. With any luck, we shouldn't even be needed for this operation, but experience shows us things don't always go to plan. If we are needed on the surface to complete this mission, it should be nothing more than a lightning strike. But let's be sure we're ready for anything. Full combat load outs, extra ammunition and grenades. Breaching charges for every three men, 50BMGs for every ten. Let's make sure we can handle whatever job lands in our laps, okay? I want the Regiment assembled at 1200 hours, ready for departure to the Baron."

  He looked at his watch and realised they had just thirty minutes, just enough to grab his equipment and be ready for the operation.

  Good, he thought.

  He didn't need any more time to dwindle on the past and other troubles. He was focused now and single minded in his actions. He got to his quarters and pulled on his personal gear. A rack beside his bed was loaded up with magazines for his weapons and spare grenades. He stored twice a full marine's load out in his quarters, for he wanted to be ready at a moment’s notice around the clock.

  Taylor pulled open the door to his quarters and stepped out in full combat attire, dressed head to toe in Reitech armour, but he froze as he saw a distraction he had been glad to be rid of - Coco.

  "You're going back to Earth?" she asked.

  He shook his head. "You know I can't discuss operational details with you."

  "But you're going to fight, aren't you?"

  "Rarely a day where I don't."

  "Just remember this," she said. She reached and took his hand and placed it against her heavily pregnant stomach.

  "You have this to come back to. You remember when Jones was mad with bloodlust and suicidal. You know who turned him around?"

  Taylor nodded.

  "That's right, you. You did. You saved him from that madness. Remember that, remember the man he would want you to be. Don't throw your life away."

  "I don't ever go out there trying to die."

  "And neither did Jones after you brought him back from the darkness inside him. He gave up his life because it was the only option to save us. Don't throw yours away because you think you should."

  "You think I suffer from survivor’s guilt?"

  He sounded offended by the prospect, but she was shocked by the question.

  "No," she said with a smile, "that has never been your problem. You just don't know how to let go and let someone else take the reins. You don't have to fight this war singlehandedly."

  “Maybe it’s not that I can’t let go, I just don’t want to?”

  “One day it’ll all be over, you know. Life will go on without all this bloodshed and heartache. Can you live in that world? Would you want to?”

  Taylor shook his head. “I don’t even know anymore. I feel like I was put in this life to do one thing, and I am doing it. If I make it out the other side, we’ll see about that.”

  “Good luck,” she responded.

  Her voice was calm and considered, and it reminded him so much of Parker. He nodded in response before stepping past her and continuing directly to the Regiment that was formed up as he had requested. Kelly was fully equipped just as he was now, and it was a reminder of better days. It was the first time he had seen Kelly and not scowled as he thought of the clones’ attack.

  “Looking shiny,” he said to Kelly.

  “Thank you, Colonel.”

  Taylor saw a large ammo container not far behind them and leapt up onto it so that he could look out across the breadth of his Regiment that now totalled almost six hundred, more than it had in a very long time.

  “The mission we are about to embark on is in many ways the most important task we have undertaken since our evacuation from Earth!” he declared, “If we fail in this mission, then our ability to retake Earth is over. Our safe haven here will likely be compromised also! If we fail today, the time we will have left can be calculated not in years or months, but in weeks. The simple fact is, we cannot fail. No matter what, we must destroy the enemy’s ability to create a gateway, or we are finished! Remember that. No matter what it costs us. Each and every one of our lives is worth paying to accomplish this, for if we do not succeed, they are forfeit regardless. Are you ready for this!”

  An inaudible roar rang out, and he knew it was time.

  “Load up!”

  Kelly was quick to approach.

  “You think things are that bad?” he asked as they watched the troops emplane.

  “They could be. Erdogan has been one step ahead of us throughout most of the war. We finally get a little ahead, and low and behold he’s got something else working in the background. He’s not like any of the Krys Lords who came before him. We underestimated him over and over, and it costs us dearly.”

  “But you think they need to know that?” Kelly gestured towards the hundreds of troops under their command.

  “I’ve never been anything but honest with them. How can I expect them to follow me and have my back, if I am not one hundred percent honest with them?”

  Kelly shrugged. “It’s worked so far for you, so who am I to judge?”

  “Tell me something.”

  “Anything.”

  “When you were captured by the enemy, what did they do to you?”

  “Honestly? A few days are just blank. I have no idea. After that, we were moved to the factories from where we were rescued. By all accounts, we weren’t treated half as bad as I would have expected.”

  “You were a resource, of labour that is. Erdogan doesn’t waste resources. If he could convince whole armies from Earth to join him, he would.”

  “I heard he tried that in China. They turned him down. It was a slaughter. Since then, people have just put their guns down and surrendered. It’s what I heard while locked up there, anyway.”

  “I always thought we faced complete and utter extermination. If I’d known slavery and servitude were an option, I might never have left. A slave always has the chance to rise up. A dead man does not.”

  “You regretting coming out here?”

  Taylor thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

  “No. So maybe we could have fought back in a few generations time, but if we’d been defeated, it would have been over for us. But then we didn’t know we’d find the Aranui, and they have been our saving grace. Without them, we might as well have laid down our arms and given up.”

  “I don’t believe you ever could have. It’s not in your nature. If you were the last man alive in this universe, you’d still be fighting tooth and nail to the very end.”

  “Probably.”

  Taylor climbed aboard and watched Kelly load up with his people. He sat down and blanked out the rest of the trip. He was focused now on what they had to do. Thoughts of what would happen if they failed filled his head, and that hardened his resolve. He woke as he heard the countdown to the jump.

  “You know I told you I could only survive so many of these crazy operations?” Rains asked. He sat behind as usual.

  “Yeah, you told me.”

  “Well if I’m gonna go out, better it be on a big one like this.”

  Taylor looked up to see Rains was smiling as ever. Taylor shook his head, and it brought a smile to his face, too. “Nothing ever gets you down, does it?”

  But they were interrupted by the countdown.

  “Five, four, three, two, one…”

  They passed through the gateway, and Taylor watched the screens, desperately waiting to see what was before them. A few moments later he could see hundreds of dots on their scanners where they had picked up the enemy fleet.

  “What the hell?”

  “What is it?”

  Rains pointed to the screens.

  “We’ve got about fifty
ships on this operation, but look at the scanners.”

  Taylor looked down to see hundreds of ships displayed on the scanners. Rains tapped a few keys and got into the exterior view feeds of the Baron. To their amazement their fleet had expanded massively in number. They could see several ships that were exact copies of the Baron, and many other vessels they knew well. Finally, they spotted two versions of the Diderot alongside each other.

  “Holy shit,” said Rains, “They’ve done it. They’ve projected holograms of whole ships, of the whole fleet.”

  “If only we had such numbers and didn’t have to cheat it,” replied Taylor.

  “Don’t need ‘em. We got you.”

  Taylor ignored his comment and continued to watch the screens and wait.

  “Come on, they’re not biting,” he muttered.

  “Easy now, they’ll come,” Eddie said confidently.

  “We’re too far out. They can see it’s a diversion. We should have jumped in closer.”

  “Any closer and it wouldn’t give enough of an opening. Don’t worry; they’ll go for it. Few hundred ships turn up on your doorstep, you don’t do nothing?”

  “Sure hope so.”

  They both watched carefully, and finally they could see a few enemy vessels begin to move forwards.

  “Here we go,” said Rains.

  “How many?” Taylor asked.

  They could see only six ships from the enemy fleet heading their way.

  “Come on, we need a hell of a lot more commitment than that.”

  Only the six vessels continued on towards them, and they knew it would be some time until they were in firing range.

  “Gonna be a waiting game.”

  Taylor took a step back and slumped into his seat.

  “Not going to plan?” Morris asked.

  “We’ll see.”

  Twenty minutes passed, and they were all growing concerned.

  “The Baron will have a firing solution in less than two minutes,” said Rains.

  Taylor didn’t move.

  “What are they gonna do?” asked Morris.

  “Give them the shock of their lives,” replied Rains.

  Another minute passed, and Taylor got to his feet and leaned over Rains’ shoulder once again.

  “Think those holograms will hold up to inspection?”

  “You gotta look pretty darn close to see otherwise, and I think we’ll have something rather more important for them to worry about soon enough.”

  “What’s the range on their guns?”

  “About the same as ours. Boy, are they gonna have a surprise coming their way.”

  They watched the screens from the Baron and could hear the sound of the guns powering up.

  “Oh, here we go,” said Rains, clamping his hands together as if he was about to watch a great show.

  A beam of light burst past the corner of the screen from one of the Aranui vessels and struck one of the approaching ships. The beam cut deep through the vessel and was repeated a second time until the ship was torn in two.

  “Damn they got there ahead of us.”

  The guns of the Baron flashed to life, and they were joined by dozens of other ships. A single burst of three pulses rushed out from one of the enemy ships, but they were silenced shortly afterwards as the unrelenting gunfire from the allied fleet tore them apart remorselessly.

  “Hell, yeah!” Rains yelled.

  They watched the enemy craft be hit by repeated barrages and beams until they were nothing more than floating hulks.

  “Any movement on the rest, Eddie?” Taylor asked as the others were still celebrating the minor victory.

  “Nothing yet. Wait, wait, they’re moving.”

  “How many?”

  “Oh, a good many. Three quarters of their number at least. Even more now, and they’re coming for us all right. All we have to do is wait,” he said and began to laugh.

  “You realise it’ll be a damn blood bath if they get at us?” Morris asked.

  Fifteen minutes passed as they waited anxiously.

  “Almost there now,” said Rains.

  “You really think it’s worth all this?” Morris asked Taylor.

  Taylor nodded. “All this time we’ve been here? All this plan, this trap?”

  “Yeah?”

  “If they had the kind of jump technology we gained from Irala, they would have been on top of us with everything they had by now. It’s the only thing that is keeping the enemy from concentrating force against us.”

  “They jumped in against us before, from Earth, why didn’t they hit us with those numbers then?”

  “They underestimated our strength, and Irala believes the Fatihi was too badly damaged to jump again after their retreat.”

  “So we were saved simply because of that one stroke of luck?”

  “Hardly luck, was it?” asked Taylor.

  “Almost there!” Rains hollered.

  Taylor opened a comms channel to the bridge of the Baron.

  “Send the signal, Captain.”

  “Sending now, Colonel,” he replied.

  “How long until the fleet is in range?”

  “Three minutes.”

  “Then I hope they are quick.”

  They watched the screen from one of the surveillance drones that had first documented Bursa. They could see almost twenty ships remaining in orbit over the planet, including one capitol ship. A light flashed nearby, and a gateway opened. From out of the opening came thirty allied vessels including five of the Aranui. They came out firing and had blown two of the enemy destroyer size vessels apart before they could turn to face this new threat.

  “Good luck, boys,” said Rains.

  They watched the battle ensue like they were watching a movie, and they were powerless to act. In just thirty seconds, the Aranui vessels had broken through the enemy lines and had begun bombarding the surface while the human vessels duked it out with the Krys craft. The ships on both sides were pounded by repeated shots, and Taylor couldn’t believe their vessels fought on.

  “We’ve got incoming!” Rains called out.

  Taylor looked to the huge fleet descending on their position and back at their fleet to see the holograms were gone now. They were severely outnumbered, and they all knew they could not afford the losses.

  “We gonna go or what?” Rains asked.

  “We can’t, not yet. Takes too much power for the jump engines. We can afford one jump in all this, and one to get us back home.”

  The Baron’s guns opened fire, and it was only seconds later that they felt the impact of pulses on the ship herself.

  “Oh, I don’t like this.”

  Taylor felt the same. They could feel the vibrations through the craft as the undercarriage of their copter was rocked.

  “This ain’t how it’s supposed to be, Colonel. I’m supposed to fly, and you’re supposed to shoot, and right now we ain’t doing either.”

  “Just hold on, and stick to the plan,” replied Taylor.

  He looked to the screens to see the full strength of the enemy guns was being brought to bear now. The Aranui vessels had opened up with their devastating beam weapons but were being swamped by Mech vessels, and in amongst the enemy craft Taylor could see heavy assault craft heading their way. Barclay came over the comms.

  ‘We can’t take much of this, Colonel.”

  “Just stick with it for another sixty seconds. Tell Lasure to be ready to jump to Waypoint B on my command.”

  “Aye, aye, Sir,” he replied.

  Taylor knew it was bizarre for him to be giving the fleet commanders orders, but it was the way it had worked out, and he was okay with that. He turned back to the action taking place over the surface of the planet and could see their own ships were just beginning to get the upper hand, but at a heavy price. He raised a comms channel to Barclay again.

  “Prepare to jump, Captain.”

  “You said sixty seconds, Colonel.”

  “To hell with that, jump, now!�
��

  A few seconds later a ten second count down began, and he and Eddie watched the screens with bated breath. Pulses were smashing into every ship in the fleet, and they could see that boarding craft were less than a minute out from reaching them.

  “Oh, this is gonna be tight.”

  “Five, four, three, two, one.” The jump gate opened, and their fleet quickly passed through and came out just two klicks from the battle over the surface of Bursa.”

  Taylor didn’t have to say a word as every single one of the ships in the fleet trained their weapons on the planet’s defence force and opened fire. He could see a handful of enemy craft had managed to pass through the gateway with them, but the Diderot and her support vessels had already turned to face them.

  “Get me a view of the surface,” said Taylor.

  Rains pressed a few keys and had it on screen almost instantly.

  The display showed a scene of absolute carnage. The ship that had become a landmark on the surface looked like it had been opened up like a tin can. Fires ranged across multiple decks and beams from the Aranui vessels continuing to cut in deep to its core.

  “They’ve done it. They’ve ripped that bitch apart,” said Rains.

  “You think so?”

  “Look at it.”

  Barclay appeared before them on a display screen.

  “Colonel, target is destroyed. We’ll be ready to withdraw in nine minutes.”

  “Cutting it a little fine, don’t you think?”

  “We should make it just fine.”

  Taylor looked back to the displays to see the enemy fleet they had left in the lurch had already come about and were heading their way.

  “It can’t be this easy.”

  “Looks like mission accomplished to me,” said Barclay.

  “Humour me, Captain. Run surface scans on Bursa.”

  “If it fits into the window we have, you can have anything you want, Colonel. What do you want us to look for?”

  Taylor shrugged.

  “No idea, just look for something. Energy signatures from the jump engines we use. Any other objects that match the size and description of the Fatihi, anything.”

  Barclay looked surprised, but he turned to his crew and passed on the order.