Battle Earth: 11

by Nick S. Thomas

To all of their amazement, the bullet passed right through Taylor with no resistance or effect at all.

  "Nice to know we're still friends," replied Taylor with a smirk.

  "What the hell are you?" Becker asked.

  The group of survivors spread out in a circle around Taylor. They were curious but wary. All knew his face, but none believed it could really be him. Many looked around as if expecting to come under attack any moment.

  "You aren't Taylor. You can't be," stated Kelly, "Taylor left Earth. If he is even alive, he sure wouldn't come back here."

  Taylor was surprised by the hostility.

  "I was a fool to think you wouldn't have found some way to survive, Kelly, but you'd be just as much a fool to think I'd never come back."

  Kelly stepped up closer to him but still kept his weapon in hand. He reached out and touched Taylor. He found his hand went right through the projection, and that led to gasps by many who were watching.

  "What is this? What cruel trick of Erdogan's is this?"

  Taylor shook his head. "A trick certainly, but not by the enemy."

  "You better start explaining yourself or..."

  "Or what, you'll have Becker try and shoot me again?"

  Kelly shrugged. He realised there was nothing he could do to silence the projection of Taylor.

  "Why should we believe you are...well...Mitch Taylor?"

  "You'll just have to trust me. If I told you what had happened to us after we left Earth, and how I am back here with you now, you'd never believe me."

  "After all we've seen we'd be willing to give it a shot."

  "Trust me, you wouldn't. All you need to know is we're still very much in this fight."

  "Yeah? Well where are you?"

  "I am told you and your people ambushed a group of Krys investigating a crash site not far from your current location, is that right?"

  "Damn right. We watched that thing fall from the sky. By the time we got there, it wasn't much to look at."

  "Well who do you think brought that down? That was a Krys defence grid platform. That was our work."

  "You were right, Commander!" Engel screamed excitedly.

  Kelly wanted to believe it himself, but it all seemed too good to be true.

  "Why should we believe any of this? Why should we even believe you are who you say you are?"

  "Because when I came for you in Ramstein, and you told me you were staying here, I said I'd back. I told you I didn't know how, and I didn't know when, but that I'd find a way."

  Kelly suddenly thought of a way to test Taylor.

  "When you left you took one of ours with you. Who was it?"

  Taylor smiled in response. "Captain Morris. He was wounded during our last fight, but is in good health and a serving officer in the Inter-Allied until such time as he returns to you."

  "Could it be true?" Kelly muttered quietly.

  He wanted it to be true with all his heart, but it seemed impossible.

  "I want to help you, I really do, and I intend to find a way to do so," added Taylor.

  "Why come to us now?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Why at this precise moment? We're taking a beating so bad we're almost finished. Had you shown up with a Marine division and ploughed into this fight, I'd be ecstatic to see you. But no, you come here to talk. If you really are you, you were always a man of action, not words, so where are you now?"

  Taylor could hear the desperation in Kelly's voice.

  "I'd thought if you were still alive, then things would be faring better."

  "We are fighters, not miracle workers. There are less than a couple of hundred of us left. What can you expect us to do?"

  "We are organising to retake Earth," stated Taylor.

  "Fine words, but when?"

  "As soon as we possibly can, Becker. I know we can do it."

  "We won't last that long," added the Captain.

  Taylor turned to Kelly, but the Commander only nodded in agreement with Becker.

  "Then I will go to my superiors and our allies, and plead with them to help get you out sooner."

  "I'll only leave Earth if we have your word that we'll be back here before my days are over."

  "Hell, yes, we will be."

  "Allies?" Becker asked.

  "It's a long story; just know that the tide is turning, and we are very much back in this fight. You must hold on. I will come for you. I am Colonel Mitch Taylor, of Earth, and you have my word that I will come for you, and I will take back our world from the enemy."

  With his final words, the hologram flickered and then vanished into the night. The group stood staring at Kelly. They were stunned and in disbelief, but he could see hope on their faces.

  "What does it mean? Is that all true?" Becker whispered to him.

  "Look at them all. They want it to be. They need it to be. If it had been any other person who turned up and wove a story like that before us, I'd call it bullshit. But Taylor, he's the one son of a bitch in this universe that could make it happen."

  Becker smiled; the first time Kelly had seen him do so in some time.

  "I've heard so much about Colonel Taylor and his Immortals, but I'd never seen him in the flesh."

  "You still haven't, Engel," replied Kelly, "but you might just yet."

  * * *

  Taylor stepped down from the podium from where he had been projected. It was a bizarre experience. He stood atop a circular plate that shifted like a treadmill in all directions as he moved, while the place he was projected was displayed all around him. It was the feeling of being in a video game, and it was also the closest he had gotten to being on Earth since they evacuated.

  "Did you find what you were looking for?"

  "Kind of, Irala. I found friends that are still alive, but they won't be for much longer without our help."

  "You knew Commander Kelly was down there when you saw him on the screen."

  "Yes, and now I have seen him with my own eyes, or kind of, whatever! I spoke to him, and he told me how things are down there."

  "And could you have expected them to be any better?"

  "I guess not."

  He rushed out, heading to the exit of the room but stopped at the doorway.

  "You know we call our world Earth. What do you call this place?"

  "Onesaka."

  He nodded and carried on out to the surface of the planet once again.

  Onesaka? What in the hell does that mean?

  The question soon left his mind. He was going to the headquarters that had been established on the ground, not far from where many of their ships were still undergoing work. It was clear that many of them would never leave the surface again, and were now nothing more than accommodation for their crews. As he headed for the HQ, he found Silva walking towards him. He continued on by his side.

  "Been looking all over for you, Colonel."

  "I've been a little busy."

  "Admiral Huang has been asking all sorts of questions."

  "What did you tell him?"

  "The truth. I don't have a clue what's going on."

  "What's going on is we have people still alive and fighting on Earth, and I intend to find a way to keep some of them alive."

  "What? But how?"

  "I don't know. I guess it isn't so easy chasing down guerrilla forces as it is taking armies on."

  "What are you gonna do?"

  "I'm gonna press Huang for some help."

  "Well, good luck, Sir. He is never in the best of moods in the times I have seen him, and he's gunning for you."

  He passed through into the headquarters and went right up to Huang's office where he was shown through immediately.

  "Colonel Taylor. I am told you have been meeting with the Aranui alone. Is this correct?"

  "Yes, and..."

  "And nothing!" screamed Huang, "You are a Colonel in my fleet, and you will show respect to your superiors!"

  Taylor shook his head and wished that Huber could still be with them.
Huang was fuming, and yet he knew there was nothing he could do to Taylor; he needed him too much.

  "From now on, any contact you have with the Aranui will be made with two of my representatives present, and must be organised and authorised by me, personally."

  "Admiral, we're living on the planet beside them. This isn't some nation the other side of the world. They walk among us and talk to us. I cannot choose when and where they come to me."

  "But you will contact my liaison officer before discussing any matters involving the war effort, and must be escorted when travelling off base."

  Taylor shook his head.

  "You don't agree?"

  "It's not for me to agree. Irala and his people still don't trust us. It has taken this long for him to allow me into their lives."

  "So you are refusing my order?"

  "I'm saying it's not my choice to make. This is Irala's world, and it's awfully good of him to let us stay here and to fight beside us. We can't start telling him what he can and can't do in his own home. Would you be happy if he came here or aboard your vessel and began telling you how things are gonna happen?"

  Huang was silenced.

  "We live in strange days, Admiral. Things can't always run by the book because our methods of conduct were written before we even knew another race existed, let alone a second one. There is no protocol for this. I will do all I can to include your people with any contact I have, but ultimately, it isn't my choice to make."

  Huang seemed to accept the situation now it had been explained to him. It was clear none of his own people were willing to do so.

  "Now, I am here to speak with you, Admiral. I came to share information I learnt from our allies, information that is important to us all."

  Huang was fixated on Taylor and hanging on his every word.

  "Irala's people put surveillance devices into the orbit of Earth last time we were there. The information they can collect is only limited, for risk of being detected, but the important thing is, there are people still alive down there. Not only that, some of them are still fighting."

  "That was inevitable. We knew the Earth would fall. It would not happen overnight. It would take weeks, months, or maybe even a year. I should imagine they aren't far from finished now."

  There was no empathy in Huang's voice at all, and Taylor could see he had accepted the deaths of all who had stayed behind.

  "I know some of the survivors, Sir, and I went down there and spoke to them."

  "What? How?"

  "That doesn't matter, right now. What matters, is there are groups of resistance that are still fighting, but they haven't got long now. Some of them are my friends."

  "And what would you have us do about it? We left Earth to save as many as we could."

  "Yes, and now we have allies and the technology and ability to fight back."

  "We are not ready to start the fight back for Earth, Colonel, far from it."

  "That's why I want to go in, Sir, and rescue those we can. They could be valuable fighters that we could make good use of. Leave them down there, and it guarantees their deaths.

  "I am sorry, Colonel, but we cannot risk an operation this early. We cannot take the losses that would likely result in any kind of rescue attempt."

  "I can't leave them down there to die. I won't."

  "That is precisely what you will do, Colonel. You knew their fates were sealed when they stayed behind."

  Taylor shook his head in disgust and stormed out towards the door.

  "You won't go after them, Colonel. That's an order!" Huang shouted.

  But Taylor didn't slow down or respond. He left the building, fuming with anger.

  "Guess that went well," said Silva.

  "Kelly is alive. He's one of them. Captain Becker, too."

  "You know this for certain?"

  "Yes, I've seen them, talked to them. Not sure they believed it was really me, but never mind."

  "What are you gonna do?"

  "Not leave them there, that's for sure, but the Admiral doesn't see eye to eye on that. Irala doesn't seem to keen to help either."

  "Then what?"

  "I don't know. I need time to think."

  "Get some chow in you. That'll help."

  He agreed, and they carried on to the chow hall, to find many of his people there. He acknowledged Parker with a smile, and then noticed Morris striding towards him with purpose. The Captain rushed right up to him and punched him hard in the jaw. It was hard enough to snap Taylor's head to one side. He shook his head in disbelief.

  "As if there aren't enough people who want a piece of me in this life, now you?"

  "My people are alive and still fighting, and you've known this for God knows how long?"

  "Since this morning."

  Morris didn't seem to believe him.

  "You have my word. I only kept it from you until I could know for absolute certainty, and also have a plan for helping them out."

  "Well, do you?"

  Taylor sighed. "I'm working on it, but I'm not finding a lot of interest in the idea."

  "You have to find a way, Colonel. Promise me."

  Morris stretched out his hand and placed it on Taylor's shoulder.

  "You know we owe it to him. He'd do the same for us were our positions reversed."

  "Huang is concerned that we risk too much too soon."

  "I don't give a shit what he says. He isn't one of us, and he has no more reason to care for our people than Irala and his lot."

  "If we are gonna do this, we need help. I don't mean a few hundred marines and one ship. I mean real help. We need the fleet on board, and we need those ships the Aranui use."

  "Then find a way, Colonel, I beg you."

  Parker handed him some food, and he sat down in a world of his own, thinking it through. Suddenly, halfway through his food, he stopped and got up.

  "What is it?"

  "I've got it, Eli. I have a way."

  "Way to what?"

  "To get people to act. If the fleet knew what I know, they'd want to help."

  "You're talking about going directly against the Admiral's orders. You're talking about a coup...mutiny."

  "Or it'll shame Huang and force his hand to go along with it."

  "It's a pretty big gamble, don't you think?"

  He didn't respond. He simply rushed off out of the room and headed to the Diderot. Jafar and Parker followed close by.

  "You sure about this?" she asked him.

  "You know I am."

  He reached the ship and found Captain Lasure at the loading ramp, overseeing the appointment of new crewmembers.

  "Colonel Taylor," he said with surprise and familiarity, "What can I do for you?"

  "I need your help."

  Ten minutes later, they stood aboard the bridge of the vessel, and Lasure sat uneasily in his chair.

  "You know this is a bad idea?" he asked Taylor.

  "No, it's a risky idea, but not a bad one. Can you get this signal out across the fleet?"

  "I can, but Admiral Huang could have my command for this."

  Taylor drew his pistol and held it casually by his side.

  "Then tell Huang I forced you by gunpoint."

  Lasure laughed, but he could tell by Taylor's sincerity that he'd be willing to so.

  “We can transmit an open message to the fleet, but Admiral Huang can shut us down if you start saying things he doesn’t want anyone to hear.”

  “Trust me, when people hear what I have to say, Huang won’t be a problem at all.”

  “I do hope you’re right, Colonel. I don’t want to imagine the consequences if this does not go your way.”

  “What’s Huang gonna do, lock us up?”

  “That would be customary, followed with a court martial.”

  “Customs went out the window when we left Earth with a handful of survivors. He can’t afford to replace us, anymore than we can afford to replace him.”

  Lasure looked over to his communications officer and
nodded for her to do as Taylor had requested. She signalled to Lasure to say it was ready.

  “This is Captain Lasure of the Diderot, hosting a message from Colonel Mitch Taylor of the Inter-Allied Regiment.”

  Lasure opened his hands towards Taylor as a prompt for him to speak. He took a deep breath, suddenly realising he had not prepared any of what he wanted to say, and so he just opened up with all that he felt.

  “I have been back to Earth twice since we have been out here. The second time was just this morning. What I discovered there was that humans still fight on. Most are enslaved, but some still fight, fewer and fewer everyday. I want to get them out. They are our people, fighters. If they have made it this far, then they deserve our help, and we would be stronger for their numbers. Logic would suggest we cannot afford to risk the resources to help them at this stage, but as a human being, I say we cannot afford not to. Our humanity is of more value than anything else. All I ask is that you support our own people. Those who do, please be sure to voice your opinion to Admiral Huang. He may lead this fleet, but the future of humanity is in all our hands. Just ask yourselves, would you want to know there was someone out there coming to help you, if you were left all alone to fight against an enemy as terrifying as the Krys? That’ll be all. Taylor out.”

  He looked to Lasure and then the rest of the crew. They were all staring right at him in astonishment.

  “Colonel. If we ever get into a deep dark hole, I want it to be you who comes looking for us,” said Lasure.

  Chapter 10

  “Colonel Taylor! You are ordered to stand down. You are under arrest!”

  Taylor shook his head. He suspected it was coming, but he had hoped Huang would see sense. He was still on the bridge of the Diderot, with a crew now utterly devoted to serving him and his plan.

  “Distribute firearms and prepare to defend this ship!” Lasure ordered.

  Silva, Parker, and Jafar were all of his own unit Taylor had with him, but he did not fear a thing.

  “He has to do this, you know,” said Parker, “or he looks like a weak idiot. Can’t have a Marine officer telling him what to do.”

  “If he doesn’t have the balls for the job, then I’m sure we can find someone better suited,” snapped Taylor.

  “Mutinous once again, Mitch. We’re too used to getting our way, but it can’t always be the case.”