He grabbed the haft of the weapon to lock it. Orda lifted his wounded offhand up to protect himself, but Taylor stabbed into it again and levered the blade to cause more damage until he felt there was no resistance left. He drew out the blade and held it tip first against the creature’s throat. He was powerless to stop him now. His wounds had weakened him, and no matter how much he tried to fight against his grasp, he could do nothing.
Taylor didn’t even consider showing mercy. He was still reeling from the losses he had just suffered at the hands of Bolormaa. He wanted blood in return, and he was going to get it.
“You are not a Morohtan Prince, and you never could be. Just another slave.”
Orda opened his mouth to speak, but Taylor thrust the blade deep before he could get a word out. As he pulled the blade out, blood spewed out over him. He let go of the hold he had, and let the body drop to the deck. It felt good, but when he looked around, Jafar was gazing at the scores of enemy that lay before them. More than they could ever hope to defeat on their own.
A shot rang out, and narrowly glanced Taylor. That was enough of a cue to run towards Jafar. A hail of gunfire landed around him, but he took one final leap and crashed into cover beside his old friend. He scrambled to stand up and discovered his Assegai had fallen from his grasp as he landed. He drew out the hammer. It was all he had left.
“Where is that backup?”
“They are coming.”
“Who? Who did you call?”
Jafar didn’t seem to want to answer, and that struck him as strange.
“Who, goddamn it?”
“You’re not gonna like it.”
Before he could ask again, a Morohtan warrior leapt onto the cover above them. Jafar slipped the spear like weapon he had between the creature’s legs and hurled it down to the ground. With one huge swing, Taylor crushed the creature’s head with Bilgunn’s hammer. The blow was so mighty that the hammer managed to penetrate almost to the ground. They heard something to their side. A Juggernaut was running straight for them.
“Ah, shit!” Taylor yelled. They knew they couldn’t stay put, “Split up!”
They were forced out into the open, and gunfire was directed at them once again. The Juggernaut had turned to follow Jafar, but another of the same powerful beasts smashed into him as though to tackle him to the ground. The hammer fell from his grasp as he hit the ground hard. The wind was knocked out of him, and the Juggernaut kept him pinned to the ground.
This one carried a huge glaive like weapon with guns built into the blade. It was cumbersome enough that he held onto the shaft, and the creature couldn’t get the space to strike him with it. He drew out his combat knife, the only weapon he had left, and tried to thrust it into the hands of the creature, but its thick armour was too much for the small steel blade. It started to drive forward and push him across the ground.
Ah, shit! This is it!
He was being driven towards a wall where he would be crushed headfirst. He kicked and pushed with all his strength, but the Juggernaut was just too much. Finally, as he reached the wall, the creature lifted him up and pinned him to the wall so that his legs were hanging freely, and he was unable to move. He kept fighting and struggling, but he could do nothing, and Jafar was nowhere to be seen.
Taylor was starting to feel his strength fail now as he fought against the creature’s hold, but it was to no avail. He couldn’t believe that after all he had been through he might die at the hands of Bolormaa’s foot soldiers. The Juggernaut reached in with one arm and forced its elbow into his throat to crush his windpipe. His air supply was cut, and he was weakening faster now. He gasped for air and was starting to feel faint. He tried to push against his attacker, but it did no good. His vision began to blur. He was losing consciousness.
Something loud echoed in the distance with a dull resounding bellow like heavy machine gun fire. He felt himself crash down to the floor, but he was stunned, and his sight and hearing were slowly returning. The body of the Juggernaut lay in front of him with a huge hole in its back that was still smouldering from whatever large calibre round had punched into in it.
Taylor flailed about as he tried to get back to his feet, but his balance was off. He fell over twice, but he managed to grab hold of a metal box container and use it to help him to his feet. He coughed as he tried to clear his throat and get some air in. He was empty handed. He heard gunfire ringing out, but his vision was still a little blurred. He could just make out the shapes of both human and Krys fighters rushing back and forth as they cleared the enemy. He staggered forward before falling to his knees and keeling over once again.
He coughed once more and finally his windpipe opened properly. He saw a human soldier in some form of armour derivative similar to what he wore, but with insignia that resembled something the Krys would use. He rubbed his eyes and took another look before he gasped and tried to make sense of what he was seeing.
“Jones,” he whispered.
But it was not the Jones he had just so recently lost to Bolormaa. It was not William. It was the Jones he used to know, Charlie.
“I…How?”
He tried to make sense of it in his head, but there seemed no answer for it. His friend was dead, and moreover, it had happened hundreds of years ago.
“It can’t be. You’re dead.”
The man was shaking his head as if in disgust. Taylor kept telling himself that it could not be Jones, but it looked just like him.
“CJ, we’re clear!” a man said from behind him.
CJ? Charlie Jones…no, it can’t be!”
Finally, he managed to get back onto his feet and stood in front of the man who looked like the best friend he had ever known.
“You can’t be him. You can’t be Charlie Jones.”
“He is, and he isn’t,” said Jafar as he appeared before the two of them.
The man took a bow before Jafar as if a servant of his.
“What the hell is going on here?” Taylor demanded.
“Stand,” Jafar ordered so that the man arose before them.
“That is not Jones,” added Taylor.
“I am as I was made, and I owe you nothing,” declared CJ.
He turned and strode back towards his ship, circling his hands in a gesture to recall his troops. They were a mixture of human and Krys; all well armed and equipped.
“Who are you?” Taylor shouted after him.
He didn’t answer.
“Why did you save me?”
As CJ reached the ramp, he stopped and looked at him. There was bitter hatred in his eyes, but Taylor didn’t understand why.
“I am the abomination you would have killed, and I would have seen you killed here were it not for the command of Lord Jafar. Be sure that we never meet again, as I will not be so kind.”
He then left as mysteriously as he had arrived. It was starting to click in Taylor’s head as he put the pieces together. He remembered what CJ had said about him being an abomination, and he remembered just how he had called that.
“A clone?”
“Yes, the clone,” replied Jafar.
Taylor’s mind was cast back to those dark days of the Krys cloning programme and the infiltrator who had been cloned from Jones.
“That is him? He was supposed to be destroyed.”
“But he was not. Your leaders at that time put him into suspended animation, like they did you.”
Taylor shook his head in disbelief, as he could already tell where this was going.
“After your re-animation proved so successful to the Alliance, they thought he might be, too, but his programming could only be modified so far.”
“Who the fuck thought that would be a good idea? And why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were not ready. But had it not been for him, neither of us would be alive to have this conversation. He is a vicious and blunt tool, a villain who works for us. He is a necessity,” said Jafar as they watched the ship leave.
Taylo
r dropped to his knees as he felt the weight of the situation drag him down.
“Why is all this happening? Why does the universe want to make me suffer like this?”
“It was not the universe who did this. It was Bolormaa. Bolormaa…and she has taken her revenge.”
Taylor’s eyes widened with anger as he let bitter hatred overcome his distress. His mind flashed back to all of his previous life. He thought of the old Jones he used to know, and of the homicidal maniac that had been created in his image. It made him furious, and yet he didn’t know how to deal with the fact that the same monster had just saved his life.
He wanted to chase the clone down and end him now as he remembered all of the damage he had caused. Yet above it all, one thing was more important. Bolormaa’s face, etched forever into his mind.
He stood back up and turned to Jafar.
“You have been beside me as my friend through the worst of things. Will you stay with me now?”
“Always.”
“Bolormaa may have won this day, but she just made the biggest mistake of her life. She let me live, and I will not stop until I have her head. If she wants a war, then she is about to get one. She will learn to know what suffering is. Will you stick with me and make sure that happens?”
Jafar nodded as he outstretched his hand in the most human of gestures. Taylor took it and shook. “The die is cast. There is no turning back on this point.”
“Colonel, are you okay?”
He turned to see Caron rush onto the scene. Babacan and Bailey were with her, as well as several others. They looked all around at the devastation.
“I’m still standing,” he snarled.
“Colonel, I was asked to give you this,” she added.
Taylor didn’t know what to expect. She stepped forward with a closed hand, and he outstretched his to take whatever it was.
What could be so important that is so small?
She placed something into the palm of his hand and drew back. It was Morohtan.
“Who gave you this?”
“Zaya,” she said in surprise, as if he should already know.
Taylor squinted as he tried to figure out why and then gripped it tight. He looked out to space through the observation window above. He began to smile and then laughed out loudly.
“Bolormaa, I’m coming for you!”
Battle Beyond Earth: Revenge Page 22