Battle Beyond Earth: Revenge

by Thomas, Nick S.

  "Captain, I am detecting jump signatures," a voice called out.

  Jafar came to a standstill and turned to see for himself. Taylor didn't know whether to be grateful of the timing or not, fearing what was going to come through those gateways.

  "Bring it up screen!" Fortier ordered.

  "It already is."

  They were horrified, as whatever was arriving was coming in right on top of them.

  "Raise shields, activate weapon systems, and launch all fighters!"

  Before Fortier had even finished, the gateways opened, and a single object came though. It was tiny, no larger than the craft Alita flew them in.

  "What the hell is that?"

  A light began to flash on the object. It was little more than an oval shaped metal tube with four small engines.

  "What is that?" Jones asked again.

  "Just shoot it, now, Captain!" Taylor ordered.

  "Lock on to target and fire at will!"

  "Target locked, firing."

  Two missiles launched from the ship. There was a brief tense moment as they watched them sore towards the object. It finally hit their target, and it was blown into a thousand pieces.

  Fortier appeared to be relaxing, but Taylor wasn't convinced.

  "The gateway? It's still open," said Jones.

  "They must have known we'd have destroyed whatever that was. But something that small, they could have put it on the far side of Earth, and we'd never have picked it up. Why put it in plain sight?"

  "I doubt it was any accident," said Jones.

  The lights on the bridge began to flicker, and the screens soon followed. Primary lighting and power cut off without warning.

  "What the hell is going on?" Fortier turned to the engineering officer who was frantically pressing buttons on his console.

  "Sir, we are experienced power fluctuations across all systems."

  "We are being hailed by the Resolution!" called the comms officer.

  "Put them through."

  "We can only get audio," she added.

  "This is the Admiral speaking. We have lost power to..." The transmission began to cut in and out, "all...we are unable to..."

  The signal ended abruptly as it became too weak.

  "We've lost them, Sir," replied the comms officer.

  Taylor stepped up closer to the viewscreens that were still flickering on and off. Lights on the outer hull of the Resolution flashed erratically, but slowed until they cut out completely.

  "What is going on, Colonel?"

  "They're here, Madam President."

  A second later a Morohtan vessel soared through the jump gate, and another two followed it. All were substantial size warships, equivalent to a frigate in the human fleet, but far more powerful.

  "She has come," Zaya stated.

  He looked gleeful at the prospect of a fight. Taylor could tell he had no care for his own life, only that he lived long enough to end his mother’s.

  "What do we do?" Fortier asked.

  Taylor looked around to the engineering officer.

  "What systems are operational?"

  "I...err," he hesitated.

  "Come on, just tell me what we are facing!" Taylor snapped.

  "The ship is infected...with a virus," another said.

  "A virus?" he asked the woman who had said it.

  "Yes, Sir, I have never seen anything like it. It has infected our systems at every level."

  "Well, can you fix it?"

  She shrugged. "I...I don't know."

  "Well, find out!"

  "We are being hailed...by one of the enemy vessels."

  "Put them on!" Taylor roared.

  A screen projected before them, but this did not flicker. It was crisp and clear, as the lights still flashed manically around them, and the crew was trying to make some sense of it all. What was displayed was complete blackness, but soon two small lights lit up like eyes that were watching them.

  "Bolormaa," whispered Taylor.

  Her eyes grew nearer and brighter, but she didn't reveal any more of her face. Those eyes turned to Zaya when she saw him in the background.

  "You would stand beside these pathetic creatures?"

  "For a chance at killing you, I would do anything," he replied sharply.

  It was a painful reminder of just how single-mindedly the former Prince thought, and yet it made Taylor wonder how different he really was.

  "Taylor, you made me bleed, and you made me suffer. Now I shall take from you until you have nothing left, but your own wits and memories to torment you."

  The transmission ended, and the ship’s systems powered down. Emergency lighting kicked in a moment later, but nothing else. They were flying blind.

  "What do we do?"

  "If she wanted to blow us out of the sky, Captain, she could have done so. She may do yet. But if she doesn't, then she means to take us by force."

  "So?"

  "So, you already have your answer. Gear up, and be ready to fight, because once this starts, it won't end till either she decides to, or we're all dead."

  “Colonel, surely there is something else we can do?” Caron asked.

  “We could flee in the lifeboats, maybe. If they still have power."

  “Okay?”

  “And we’d be shot out of the sky like the fools and cowards we would be.”

  “It is not an act of cowardice to save lives,” she retorted.

  “No, that’s true, but in this situation, the best chance we have is to stay here and fight it out.”

  She stepped up closer towards him so they might speak more privately.

  “Be sure you are doing this for the right reasons, Colonel.”

  “What other motive do you think I could have?” He sounded surprised.

  “You have history with this Bolormaa, and I know enough about you to know you’d always stay in a fight rather than run if you think you could win.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “Maybe it is.”

  “Madam President, this is a ship of war, and this is our job,” he replied and turned back to Fortier.

  “This ship has isolated wired communications in the event of jamming. This isn’t what we had in mind, but they should do the trick. Send the word of what is happening.”

  “And what is that?”

  “That we are to prepare to repel boarders. All crew are to draw weapons unless involved in necessary repairs and maintenance.”

  “And then?”

  “Everyone must be ready. We have no idea where they will strike or in what number, so we have to be ready for anything.”

  Fortier stepped away to set those plans in motion.

  “Three ships to take on the fleet?”

  “You think they’re getting desperate, spreading themselves a little thin, Jones?”

  “We can only hope. It is not even half the number I would have expected.”

  “Maybe it’s because it’s all they need,” replied Caron.

  Taylor didn’t agree. “Bolormaa is arrogant, but she is no fool, Ma’am.”

  “Then what?” Jones asked.

  Taylor looked to the blank display screens. He wished he could see what was going on, but they were in the dark.

  “She didn’t come for the fleet. She came for us,” he finally announced as he thought it through in his head.

  “Look at us, all in one place, just waiting for her to come in and deal a crippling blow. You should never have come, any of you,” he said, looking at Jafar.

  “If it’s a fight she wants, then that is what she will get. It was what I signed on to the day I met you,” he replied confidently.

  Taylor wasn’t so confident.

  She must have known who was aboard. Any other day that would make taking this vessel impossible, so what trick has she got up her sleeve?

  “Well, will she hit us?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, Jones.”

  “We’re spread pretty thin, a few plat
oons to cover the whole ship?”

  “There are five hundred marines attached to this ship on permanent detail, Captain,” said Fortier.

  “That’s good to know, but they aren’t equipped and trained to deal with the nightmare that is going to be unleashed on us.”

  “They’ll have to do,” added Taylor.

  He turned back to Jafar.

  “How many men do you have with you, my friend?”

  “Four.”

  Shit, is that all?

  “We should have seen this coming. All right, send word for the ship’s marines to separate at platoon level and cover as much ground as possible. Make sure every single one of the crew knows to use the hard lines. When this begins, it is going to hit us hard and fast, and we need to be able to adapt and roll with it as necessary.”

  He hurried over to the woman who had first told him about the virus infecting their systems.

  “What is your name?”

  “Second Lieutenant Biondi, Sir.”

  “Okay, Lieutenant Biondi, you figured what this was, do you think you can work out how to fix it?”

  “I…I,” she began to stutter.

  “This is not he time to hesitate. Nothing is certain in this life, so just tell me what you think can be done.”

  “Sir, I might be able to fix this if I had about five or six hours.”

  “We probably don’t even have one.”

  She froze as she ran through ideas in her head.

  “There might be another way, but I would have to go to one of the consoles in the lower hull. I might just be able to reset everything from there and clear the systems, but it would mean completely wiping all our drives. We would lose everything, and we’d...it doesn’t bear thinking about, Sir.”

  “Tell me, Lieutenant, between what we might lose by doing that, and all of us dying here today, which do you think is preferable?”

  She nodded in agreement.

  “How long would you need?”

  “Once I am there, maybe ten minutes.”

  “Could you do it any faster?”

  “Uhhh…I suppose so, but don’t rush me. I make mistakes when I rush.”

  “I wish we had the opportunity of letting you take your time, but we’ll just have to make do. We need you to do this now. I will escort you personally.”

  “Colonel, would you not be better off running things from here?”

  “No, Madam President, there is nothing to run. The Captain can manage just fine. Jafar, you and your people stay put to defend the bridge and the President, you hear?”

  His friend obeyed his orders without fail. It felt just like old times.

  “Then come on. Let’s get down there and sort this mess out.”

  Jones left with them, and they found Bailey and Babacan waiting for them outside the door.

  “Come on, we have work to do.”

  ‘We still have no ammo. You get that right? Sir?” Bailey asked.

  “We can find some along the way.” He then remembered there was one person missing.

  “Alita, where is Alita?” he asked her.

  “The last I saw she was working on the bird that she picked us up in.”

  Taylor was very concerned at how much danger she might be in and wanted to turn around and head right for her, but he couldn’t. He looked back to Biondi. She didn’t even carry a sidearm and clearly was no fighter.

  “You stay in between the four of us, you hear?”

  She nodded.

  “If we make contact with the enemy, you stay in between us, or go to cover if need be, but you do not leave our sight, you understand? You might be our only hope of getting back control of this ship, so right now you are the most important person aboard.”

  She took a deep breath, feeling how much pressure was on her and tried to stay calm.

  “What do they want from us, Sir?”

  “To make us suffer and ultimately die, Lieutenant.”

  Jones glared at him. “You could have at least softened the blow, or lied.”

  Taylor refused to do either. He looked down to his Mappad and tried to access a map of the ship, but found just noise as the enemy virus blocked access.

  “Does anyone know where the nearest weapons locker is?”

  “The floor above where we are heading, Sir.”

  “You know this ship pretty well, do you, Lieutenant?”

  “Better than most, Sir.”

  Well, that at least is something.

  He tried to open a comms channel only to find that wouldn’t work either.

  “All wireless devices will be affected by this virus, Colonel. Your Mappad draws data from the ship and connects to our systems wherever possible. Even if it weren’t infected directly, it would be the moment it interacted with our systems."

  “Great, so we’re in the dark again.”

  An explosion rang out in the distance. It could mean only one thing. He ripped his Assegai from its sheath and activated his shield.

  “You have no ammunition at all?” Biondi asked. She looked terrified.

  "No, we don’t." He was angry with himself more than anyone else. He had been so relieved that they made it out alive, he hadn’t thought to replenish what he had, but he wasn’t about to show that side to the Lieutenant.

  “Don’t worry. These are better in close quarters, anyway. We’ll move quieter and faster like this.”

  He knew it was bullshit, and so did Jones and the others. Even Lieutenant Biondi looked doubtful. Gunfire rang out ahead as Taylor looked back for the next direction, and she quickly pointed forward.

  “That’s right where the action is. Is there another way down?”

  “It’s a long way round.”

  Taylor grimaced as he went onwards. They couldn’t spare the time.

  “If we get to this thing, you’d better be able to make this work.”

  “If it can be done, I will do it, Sir.”

  They increased to a jogging pace again, but as they reached the last stretch to the elevator, they noticed two Morohtan warriors firing in one direction as they advanced. They went past into another room to the side, but muzzle flashes lit up on the other side where a third was following.

  Taylor didn’t hesitate or slow down. In fact, he upped his pace and charged towards the opening. Under the cover of the gunfire his footsteps couldn’t be heard at all. He reached the intersection just as the warrior did. It turned in surprise, but was too late. His Assegai drove into its neck and out the back.

  Taylor grabbed hold of its head and pulled the Assegai sideways so that the head was almost severed, and as the weight of its body sagged, it parted with the flesh still connected to the head. It was a gruesome sight, but it had silenced the creature without drawing attention.

  He looked back to see them staring at him in shock, but he gestured towards the elevator as if nothing had happened. They leapt inside, and Lieutenant Biondi hit the switch. As the doors began to shut, a shot zipped through the doors and struck the Lieutenant on the shoulder. Two more shots rang out, but Jones jumped onto her and threw her to the ground. They hit the wall behind them, and the doors sealed shut.

  “Are you okay?” Jones pulled her up into a seated position and propped her against the wall as the elevator gained speed.

  Her left shoulder was smouldering where the hot energy had burnt through her uniform and into her flesh. She had lost a few millimetres of skin on the joint and looked in pain.

  “That was a lucky escape,” said Taylor.

  “Lucky?” she asked in amazement.

  “It could have been your head.”

  She stopped and thought about it for a moment. His words were enough of a distraction that she smiled for a moment before the pain set in once again.

  “I don’t know why any of you do this, fight with your own body and hands.”

  “Some poor bastard has to.”

  “Don’t listen to the Colonel. He enjoys it,” added Jones.

  “It has its moments,” h
e agreed.

  “Really? Because all I see is death and destruction.”

  “Not all days are so bad.”

  “Really? Is that how you are gonna sell it, Sir?”

  The elevator finally slowed, and they turned with shields up to be ready for anything. The doors opened into an empty hallway.

  “Come on, everyone. There’s no time to waste,” said Taylor.

  Jones helped Biondi to her feet, and they rushed out onto the floor.

  “There, there it is, the weapons locker,” she said.

  It was ten metres ahead of them on the left, but they were stopped dead as the last thing they had wanted to meet appeared at a similar distance the other side of the doorway. A Juggernaut.

  “Ah, shit, shit, shit!” Taylor muttered under his breath.

  Chapter 13

  Irala strode through the corridors with urgency but as calm as could be. Crewmembers were rushing back and forth in a panic. He only had one thing on his mind. He hadn’t even considered going back to the bridge. He knew what had happened without even seeing it with his own eyes. It was obvious. He soon reached the docking bay where his shuttle was docked and a single Guardian stood guard. He headed for the ramp in the confident knowledge that his ship was still operational.

  “Hey, Councillor, what the hell is going on?”

  He stopped in his tracks. Alita was addressing him from beside her craft where she had been doing some repairs.

  “I believe Bolormaa has returned, Lieutenant.”

  “Returned? No, what the hell?”

  Irala started to leave when she ran across and blocked his path.

  “Whoa, where are you going?”

  “I am leaving this ship. We are finished here.”

  “Finished? What about the Alliance?”

  “It is…broken.”

  He tried to go around, but once again she stepped into his path.

  “Step aside. I will not say it again.”

  Before either of them could respond, they heard the roar of engines as something entered the docking bay, and the doors sealed behind them.

  It was a Morohtan vessel.

  “This is over,” said Irala.

  “You are going to leave? After all we have done for you, after all Taylor has done for you? You should be ashamed of yourself!”