Battle Beyond Earth: Deception

by Thomas, Nick S.

  “Not through choice. We left to make sure the human race survived.”

  “Yeah, well, I guess they thought like that, too. Humanity would never be the same again after that war.”

  Taylor groaned, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

  “You know humanity, Colonel, you have seen more of it than most of us, and you must understand what we are and what we want. When will humanity ever stop reaching for the next best thing?”

  “Maybe if it had, we’d never have awoken Bolormaa and brought all this upon us.”

  “Don’t be so naïve. A clash with Bolormaa was inevitable, and it was only a question of when. And anyway, if it hadn’t been for all of this, you would likely never have been awoken,” said Rogers.

  “You think I ever wanted to be?” he replied sharply. His response was quick and snappy as if he had been thinking it a long time, and he soon went on.

  “I’d lived a full life and done everything I could have wanted when I died on that battlefield fighting Erdogan. I never asked to be brought back, and I never wanted to be.”

  “And yet here you are, and you have as much to live for today as you did back then. I have seen how much you care for your friends and your fellow officers, and for Alita.”

  Taylor didn’t want to admit it openly, but it was clear for all to see.

  “Is it is no secret that I care for humanity and all those I know.”

  “There she is, Usata!” Dart pointed to the display before him.

  Taylor was as keen to see it as relieved he was to be let off the hook of the interrogation. The planet was almost completely white and gleaming as it bounced the light of the near star.

  “It sure looks cold.”

  “The entire surface is capped with snow and ice. The temperatures rarely rise above minus five and average minus twenty. It is not a nice place,” replied Dart.

  Rogers shook his head as he studied the surface on his Mappad.

  “The visibility is near perfect, so approaching unseen is going to be difficult.”

  “Yeah, but the core temperatures make any kind of scanner readings a nightmare. Those kind of conditions will make it easy to go in quiet,” Dart explained.

  “You are sure about that?”

  “Sure as I can be, Colonel, and I’ve not seen anything yet that would make me think otherwise, not from any race.”

  “Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” added Rogers.

  “Sure, but I can only go on what I know, and I am telling you, I can get you down their unseen and unheard. What you do after that is on you.”

  “It’s your call,” Rogers said to Taylor.

  “We didn’t come all this way to turn back. Are there any readings of life on the surface?”

  “It’s hard to say. There is something down there. Building structures and engine signatures that a number of craft have come and gone recently, but beyond that it’s tough to say. For the very same reason I can get you down there without any trouble.”

  “Then take us in.”

  “What about CJ?”

  “We’ll call him when we need him. There’s no need to make any fuss until we know what we are dealing with. Now take us in.”

  Rogers looked anxious, but he didn’t argue with the Colonel, as Dart took them forward. They were approaching the planet as though it was friendly, and it wasn’t long before they spotted two Morohtan vessels in orbit.

  “That’s nothing to worry about. They won’t see a thing,” Dart said to reassure them, but it was clear he was just as worried as the rest of them were.

  “We need to get CJ here. We can’t handle this kind of heat on our own. With the suits sure, but we’ll use those up before we can even get to the surface,” Rogers said. He was beginning to worry.

  “Hell, no. CJ can be relied upon for one thing, and that is to raise hell. The moment he gets here, the game is up. He is a blunt instrument that we can only use when we have to.”

  “A blunt instrument, coming from you, Colonel?” Rogers joked.

  “You can laugh now, but I am nothing but delicate compared to him.”

  “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”

  “Yeah, well, you better believe it. I learnt a long time ago the value of subtlety. Maybe you don’t see it, but it has gotten me through more than my fair share of shit. We don’t make our presence known here until we absolutely have to.”

  Rogers shrugged as if he didn’t want to hear or believe it, but he had no choice but to accept it.

  “That, what is that?” Taylor had noticed huge energy spikes on their scanners.

  “Heat signatures. It looks like some kind of colony, not a small one either,” said Dart.

  “Could it be a prison?”

  “Yeah, sure, of course, but I couldn’t say for sure, Colonel.”

  “Then get us down there. Put down somewhere nice and quiet, as far away as you need to, and we’ll go in on foot.”

  “Are you sure about this?” Rogers asked.

  “Sure about trying to rescue a tonne of POWs? Yeah, I am sure,” he replied sternly.

  “And if that is not what is down there?”

  “Are you telling me you don’t believe in your own intel?”

  “I am saying it can be wrong, and we shouldn’t risk so much without knowing more.”

  “You told me it was people being held down there!”

  “The Admiral told you.”

  “And you don’t agree?”

  “All I am saying is that I am not convinced.”

  “Well, something is down there, so have you got any better ideas?”

  Rogers grumbled as if he did, but he didn’t want to say.

  “Speak your mind. We don’t have time for any other bullshit!”

  “I just don’t think you are going to find what you hope to,” he replied in an ominous fashion. But Taylor was too distracted to think any more of it.

  “Take us in, like the plan!” he roared.

  “You’re the boss.” Dart did as ordered.

  “Damn right, I am.”

  “CJ, he will come when we need him, right, Colonel?”

  “He’ll come all right, Maloney,” replied Taylor confidently.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because as much as that asshole is what he is, he is a man of his word.”

  The ship fell silent, and they all watched the screens as Dart took them in. They entered the atmosphere thousands of kilometres from whatever colony was down there. They found themselves looking at nothing but snow-capped hills, and the few rocky canyons that stretched out from them.

  “Looks like a lovely place to live,” Dart joked.

  “It’s just the kind of place I’d expect Bolormaa to keep prisoners. An easy way to torture humans, you have but to frog march them in these conditions,” said Taylor.

  “She’d do that?” Maloney asked.

  “Haven’t you been reading the memos? That would be child’s play to her,” replied Pitt.

  “Listen,” said Taylor, “We are going down there because I want to think that somebody would do the same for all of us if we were in such a shit situation. But don’t be under any illusions, what we find might be more than ugly.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “That who we find might not be the people they once were, Maloney,” replied Rogers.

  Taylor nodded in agreement as they watched Dart bring them in for a smooth landing. It was just as described. White snow and clear skies for as far as they could see.

  “Oxygen levels are good, but the cold is gonna suck,” said Dart as he opened the door.

  They instantly felt the bitter chill hit their nostrils, and it became hard to breathe. It was an uninviting introduction to the world they were about to face. They sealed their helmets quickly and stepped outside, shutting the door so as to save Dart from it all while he waited for them. He shivered as the door shut, and he thought what it might be like to stay any
length of time.

  “Good luck,” he whispered to himself. He was so glad to not be going out there.

  Taylor checked his map just once, but he already knew where he had to go. He peered around with suspicion, as he couldn’t help but feel vulnerable. They could see for many klicks all around, and it felt like they were being watched.

  “For the record, Colonel, I don’t like this.”

  “You’d be crazy if you did, Maloney.”

  “Let’s just get this done and be on our way,” added Rogers.

  They walked on through the heavy snow, each praying that they’d find some form of transport to get them the rest of the way. Their suits kept them from feeling the cold, but they were all painfully aware of how bad it would be if they were left there. They had been hiking for almost an hour when they came over a ridge. Taylor dropped to a prone position on the ridge, and he spotted their target below. They all crept up to join him to see for themselves.

  “Well, look at that,” said Rogers.

  “It has to be it,” said Taylor.

  Various human looking figures were moving around the edge of the colony in suits not too dissimilar to their own.

  “It’s huge. There has to be thousands of people in there,” said Pitt.

  “Maybe,” replied Taylor.

  “So what now?”

  Taylor smiled as he realised just how little field experience the Sergeant had.

  “What?”

  “A little too much time in the classroom and not enough on the battlefield, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, well, Colonel, not all of us lived the life you have.”

  “Be thankful of that,” Taylor answered sincerely.

  “Look at that,” said Rogers.

  Taylor lifted his rifle and used the scope for a better view.

  “Might as well be one of us with that equipment,” Taylor was surprised as he looked at one of the guards.

  “Exactly.”

  “You want to roll on up there as if we are one of them, don’t you?”

  “Why not, Colonel? They’ve got no reason to think anyone else is out here. We’ll walk right on in through the front door as if we should be there.”

  “Got to be worth a shot,” replied Taylor as he thought it through, but he looked at Babacan in the hulking BA1 suit.

  “Not you, you stay put and stay out of trouble.”

  Babacan sighed as he realised he was being benched once more.

  “Don’t worry, there’ll be time enough for you to fight yet. Keep your head down, and don’t look for any trouble. I mean it.”

  “And remember, those are people out there. No matter what has been done to them, they are still our own, and we won’t bring any harm to them unless absolutely necessary,” added Rogers.

  “What counts as necessary?”

  “Only if your life is in danger, Colonel.”

  Taylor nodded in agreement.

  “All right, then, let’s do this.”

  He got up and began to walk casually towards the perimeter. As they drew nearer, they could tell there were only a few guards on duty, but they were equipped in identical fashion to Taylor and his people. Even with their Alliance insignia still on their uniforms.

  “This is weird,” said Maloney.

  “Really weird,” added Pitt.

  “You are sure the Alliance has nothing going on here?” Taylor asked.

  “Positive, if there was, I’d know about it, and the Admiral wouldn’t have sent us after one of our own establishments.”

  “Well, I don’t get it,” replied Pitt, “Why keep wearing our uniforms?”

  “Maybe they want those inside to feel they are right at home,” said Rogers.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What better way to indoctrinate people than have them believe they aren’t even among the enemy.”

  It was a scary notion, but they had to fall silent now as they were nearing the first guard. As they got close, they saw the man had deep scars on his face, and burnt flesh that was scarred and would never heal. He had a blank expression as though he was dead inside. He looked at their faces and did nothing to acknowledge them until finally the man looked to Taylor. Instantly upon seeing him he reached for his weapon. Taylor leapt into action and pounced on the man. He fired his Assegai up into his neck and killed him instantly. He held the body up, as he noticed another guard twenty metres away was watching them. Taylor held him so that he didn’t drop and so looked alive. He took him out of view and through a shielded doorway, dropping the body down inside as carefully as he could.

  “Maloney, you stay put in his place, and if you get into any trouble, you don’t hesitate to call for Babacan. He’ll get you out of any trouble,” said Taylor.

  “And raise a tonne more, what happened to not killing these people?” Rogers asked.

  “We do what we can, but we won’t be saving anyone if we don’t make it in there quick and quiet.”

  Maloney stepped outside to take the place of the fallen guard and waved to the other along the way to signal that everything was okay. Fortunately, he seemed to buy it as the others went on, but there was a flicker of movement behind Rogers. He spun around just in time to see another guard had come in from the inner door to the rest of the structure. He grabbed him and hauled him in, covering his mouth to stop him speaking. He then ripped his helmet off to get his audio equipment away from him and slammed him up against the wall beside the body. The man tried to resist, but Rogers wasn’t having any of it.

  “What the hell is going on in this place?” he demanded.

  The man didn’t respond for a moment. There was a fire in his eyes, though, as if he was a rabid animal.

  They stepped out onto a large walkway that ran for half a kilometre along the line of a three-storey structure. It overlooked a series of gymnasium halls that were packed with people, but they did not act as prisoners. They were practicing and training to fight in hand-to-hand with various training tools. Morohtan warriors paced through them on patrol as if it were a normal day, seemingly unnoticed by the humans. There were only two stairways up onto the walkway that they were on, almost twenty metres up from the courtyards below. The roof was a translucent domed that sealed them to the elements while letting the brilliant light in that reflecting off the snow-capped mountains around them.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “It’s worse than I thought, Colonel,” said Rogers.

  “Worse? What the hell were you expecting?”

  “To find prisoners, not turncoats, Pitt,” replied Taylor.

  “They may not have a choice in the matter,” added Rogers.

  “We should get CJ in now. This is way more than we can handle,” whispered Pitt.

  “Not until we know what we are dealing with,” replied Rogers.

  They knelt down beside the shelter of the barrier for the walkway and gazed upon the thousands of people down below.

  “We are too late, aren’t we?”

  But even as Taylor said it, they noticed a large doorway open in the ground several hundred metres ahead, and an elevator like structure arose from the ground. The doors opened, and several dozen humans were ushered out. They didn’t look eager to comply, and those leading them out struck some of them.

  “This isn’t the whole facility. We have barely scratched the surface, literally, Colonel,” said Rogers.

  “There could be a lot more POWs down there that haven’t been turned yet.”

  “Now can we get CJ in?” Pitt asked.

  Taylor shook his head.

  “No, not until we know the full extent of what we are dealing with.”

  “What else is there to know?”

  He understood how she could be anxious, and Rogers looked almost as concerned, but Taylor wouldn’t have it any other way. He got up and wandered along the walkway casually as if he were right where he was meant to be.

  “What are we going to do?” Pitt asked, as she stayed hunkered down by the wall
.

  “Just roll with it. The Colonel knows what he is doing.”

  “Are you sure about that? I don’t think he’s in his right mind.”

  “Who would be, have you seen this place?”

  “We have to shut this down. However the enemy is doing this, we have to put an end to it. Do you have any idea what it will do to our own people? It’s one thing to have to fight and kill a monster, but to have to do the same to your own race. Most of our troops don’t have the stomach for it. It’s not what any of us ever trained for.”

  They noticed a quick movement up ahead and suddenly Taylor attacked a guard, breaking its neck. He lowered the body slowly and dragged it out of the way through another spur along the way.

  “Ah, hell,” said Rogers, rushing on after Taylor as quickly as he could without drawing any attention.

  “Damn it, I don’t want to die down here. Worse, I don’t want to become one of them,” said Pitt.

  “Then stay close and do your job,” snapped Rogers as she tried to keep up with him. Taylor was nearing one of the stairways down, but he stopped and peered out over the edge to study the enemy guards.

  “We can’t go down there without making a scene. You can bet your arse that any one of them will recognise you,” said Rogers.

  Taylor grimaced as he tried to find a way around it. He wanted to go down there.

  “I’ll go,” said Rogers.

  Taylor looked surprised.

  “What? We came here to do a job, and we are gonna do it. You can’t do everything, Colonel.”

  Taylor let out a sigh. He wasn’t happy about it at all, but he knew it was the only way. They couldn’t risk him being recognised.

  “Screw this, I don’t see why we can’t just get CJ in and hit this place,” Pitt complained.

  “Good luck,” Taylor said quietly as Rogers carried on.

  The two of them watched from the walkway. He reached the stairs and slowly paced down it as calm as anyone could be, but inside he was terrified. He was heading right for a Morohtan warrior, and without the power of the AR2 suit that he had become so accustomed to.

  “Please work,” he muttered to himself.

  The enemy warrior turned around as he reached the last few steps, blocking his path for a moment. The creature seemed to be studying him.