Battle Earth: 11

by Nick S. Thomas

  “I don’t want my own way. I want the people around us to do the right thing.”

  “Colonel Taylor!” a voice echoed from a loud hailer and piped in through the cameras on the hull of the ship. He instantly recognised it as Huang’s voice. A moment later, Lasure had a screen displayed before them, showing the Admiral and twenty of his staff and marines standing at the entrance ramp to the ship. “Colonel Taylor, I am ordering you to report to me immediately and explain your actions!”

  “Such a schoolboy,” remarked Taylor.

  “Colonel Taylor, get down here now!”

  Taylor shook his head. “I have to go down there.”

  “He’ll arrest you. I can’t see you go behind bars again,” pleaded Parker.

  “He can’t lock me up. He can’t afford to. He’s just trying to save face and stop me doing what I’m about to do.”

  “And when has anyone ever succeeded in stopping you?” Silva asked, rhetorically.

  Taylor looked around to everyone on the bridge to see if they would stand beside him. There was not a hint of hesitation. He got up and went to leave the bridge, and half of those on the bridge followed him. He stopped and turned to them.

  “You don’t have to fight this fight with me.”

  “Go on, we’re right behind you,” said Parker.

  He nodded in gratitude and carried on leaving the bridge. As he exited through the main door, he found the crew of the vessel lining the way for him. They were still and silent, but as he stepped off the bridge, they began chanting his name.

  “Taylor, Taylor, Taylor!”

  He knew he had the support of the people, and he strode confidently down to meet the Admiral. Finally, he stepped out onto the ramp that led down to the ground where Huang stood. The Admiral tried to appear confident, but it was clear to Taylor he grew ever more uncomfortable by the power Taylor held over all around them.

  “I cannot allow you to go on like this,” stated Huang.

  “I don’t believe you have a choice,” replied Taylor smugly, “All I want is the best thing for humanity. If you are willing to stand in the way of that, then you are not my ally, and you are not one of us.”

  “I am the Commander of this fleet, and as a result, the leader of the human race, and…” Huang continued, but Taylor interrupted.

  “But this isn’t the entire human race, is it?” Taylor hollered, “This is what we left with, but it isn’t all. You know it isn’t all. I want to bring back our own, and you want to shoot me down. You don’t have that right!”

  “I am the commander of this fleet,” replied Huang.

  He went silent and seemed to hope that statement would end the argument, but it only made Taylor shake his head in amazement.

  “You weren’t chosen to lead this fleet. You are the Admiral of the Chinese fleet. You have no authority over the dozens of other nations among us. You can earn our respect and lead us the right way, or you can leave the job to someone who is capable and able to do it.”

  Huang didn’t reply for a moment, and everyone within twenty metres was silenced. They waited and watched for a response from either of the men. Finally, Huang turned to his own marines.

  “Arrest the Colonel!” he shouted for all to hear.

  The Chinese troops began to move forward, and Taylor didn’t move an inch.

  “Don’t move!” Lasure ordered, and he paced down the ramp, with pistol in hand, and several of his marine detachment at his flanks.

  “Captain, you are ordered to step down!” Huang shouted.

  “As the senior French Naval officer in the fleet, I am assuming command of my nation's Navy and do not owe you anything. If any one of you steps aboard this vessel without invitation, it will be judged as an act of war!”

  Huang couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but his marines had already stopped and looked back to him for confirmation. They looked uneasy, and Taylor only made them feel more uncomfortable, as did Jafar towering over him.

  “Admiral, do you want a fight here, or do you want to do the right thing and go to bring our people back?” Taylor asked.

  “That is not your decision to make!”

  He ordered something in Chinese, and the marines seemed to hesitate before finally moving forward against Taylor. They approached with shields and Assegais drawn, but using them as batons without them being powered up. The first came at him with remarkable speed and accuracy, and he narrowly avoiding the weapon with a side step and threw the man towards Jafar. The man struck Jafar like he had hit a brick wall and fell flat before him.

  “Is this what you want?” Taylor shouted to Huang.

  A rifle fired in the air, and several shots followed it. It brought everyone to a standstill. They all look for the source and found Captain Morris, with several of the Inter-Allied at his side.

  “Admiral, we are going to Earth, whether you like it or not!”

  As he said it, a dozen Chinese marines approached to join their countrymen. They held rifles at the ready. Taylor could see it was escalating way out of control. He stepped forward alone and placed himself between the two sides.

  “Enough of this!”

  But even as he said it, the sound of rifle fire rang out amongst them. Nobody could tell who had fired first, but both sides were quick to pull the trigger. Several dozens shots were fired as Taylor ducked down beneath the fire, yelling for them to stop, but it had little response.

  Reitech rounds zipped overhead until finally a bright white light flashed among them. It was blinding and brought the gunfire to an immediate halt. Taylor was sheltering his eyes through the flare. As it finally died down, he stood up and looked for the source. Irala and two of the Aranui stood beside the Admiral. As the humans on both sides of the affray stood up to look at him, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps hitting the hard ground around them. Three of the Aranui robots strode into view and took up positions around Huang.

  Nobody said a word for several moments as everybody waited and watched for some response. Everyone feared the enemy robots, and it was terrifying to be looking down the barrels of their guns. Nobody moved and nobody fired, and everybody looked to the aliens for them to say a word. Taylor could recognise Irala out of all of them now. He couldn’t even say how. It was in the body language and expressions that made him identifiable. He stepped forward and raised his hands in a human gesture to call for peace.

  “Lower your weapons!” he commanded.

  Everybody did so, as they were too afraid of the consequences of getting on the wrong side of the highly advanced alien race. All looked to them for answers now.

  Irala spoke, “Huang, you will assist Colonel Taylor in his mission to help those humans, your people, still fighting on Earth.”

  Huang nodded in agreement and mumbled some words.

  “Colonel Taylor is our representative of everything humans do while on our world, and you will submit to his authority.”

  “But he is just a Marine officer, you do not understand…” appealed Huang, but it did no good.

  Irala glared at the Chinese Admiral until he was silenced. The alien strode up the ramp towards Taylor; everyone else stayed frozen still. Taylor smiled in response. “So you’ve come over to my fight.”

  “I understand your reasoning, and I have seen fit my people understand.”

  “So your trust in me is as important as my trust in you?”

  “Yes, but if my faith in you is false, I will pay a price beyond all you can imagine.”

  “Then help me prove you were right.”

  Taylor stood up to address all the humans who were waiting for him to speak.

  “We are going to Earth. We are going to help our own people, and we’re gonna bring some of them back with us!”

  Cheers rang out from the crowd, but Taylor could see he Admiral still looked unimpressed.

  “Admiral Huang. We are going to get our people back. Will you lead us on this great mission?”

  Huang quickly realised he could no longer o
ppose the decision, but could still benefit to stand with it.

  “Colonel Taylor, we need a competent ground commander to lead this operation. Will you take the job?” he asked.

  Taylor smiled as he accepted, knowing Huang had no choice, though he was glad he understood that fact.

  “Then I leave this in your capable hands,” stated Huang.

  Irala approached the Colonel, and that made Jafar anxious as it always did.

  “Easy now,” whispered Taylor.

  “We will help you,” said Irala.

  “I think I got that.”

  “You want to get your people back. Tell me how you intend to do so, and I will do all I can to help.”

  “What I need from you first is information. If we’re gonna get Kelly and the other resistance fighters out, we’re gonna need a diversion. We need to know Erdogan’s location, his intentions, and the strength of his forces. We need every piece of information you can get.”

  “But what are your intentions, what would you have us do?”

  “I need to lure Erdogan into a trap and bring their forces into chaos. I want to rescue our own people. If any one of those things works, then we will have succeeded. Do you see what I am getting at?”

  "Then come with us. Both of you," Irala said to Taylor and Huang.

  He led them out to the open plain and the stairway below the surface. Troops loyal to both men followed them to the entrance, stopping when waved off by the two officers.

  "You wanted in on this, Admiral, now is your chance," said Taylor.

  Huang looked uneasy, but he followed Taylor and Irala in, anyway. They were led into the same observational room where Taylor had first seen Kelly. This time the screens focused half on groups like Kelly's, and half on substantial enemy locations. Taylor squinted as he recognised something on one of the screens.

  "That is you, isn't it?" Irala asked.

  Then Taylor realised he was looking at the statue of himself that had been erected in Paris during the rebuilding of the city. He was amazed it was even still there, and he could see Mechs and their drones parading past it.

  "Why are you showing me this?"

  "This is where we believe Erdogan is. He has established a base in Paris."

  "Right there? Paris was a central point of the fighting through much of the wars. It was a city that held in defiance of their armies, and that bastard Erdogan knows it. That statue of me was put there for a reason, and he's pissing all over it."

  "He is trying to make you angry?"

  Taylor nodded and could feel his blood boiling.

  "Then his plan is working?"

  "Yes, but not in the way he wants it to. He's making a point that we can't touch him. But all that's doing is making me more determined to take back what is ours."

  "Krys forces are mostly amassed at your former capital cities. At least the ones that still remain."

  "So they've just take everything, they have taken our lives?"

  "Only temporarily, Admiral," Taylor snarled.

  "How many troops does he have there?"

  "It is hard to say for certain, but many."

  "How many is that?" Huang asked.

  "Many thousands."

  "What? Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands?" Taylor demanded.

  "Yes," Irala replied dryly.

  Well that's a big fucking help, thought Taylor.

  "Taylor, you want to go back to Earth, but even with our new allies, we cannot defeat Erdogan."

  "We can't defeat his armies, no."

  "Then what is this all for?"

  "Erdogan," he replied, "Erdogan is what is holding it all together. When I killed Demiran, his armies folded around us. Most surrendered outright. Erdogan is even more significant to them. We kill him, and we end the war outright."

  "You're sure of this?" the Admiral asked.

  "It is true," replied Irala, "We have seen this before. We once tried to kill Erdogan ourselves, but failed. It cost us dearly, but it was a price worth gambling."

  "They failed! How can you expect us to succeed where they failed?"

  "Have a little faith, Admiral."

  "Faith? In what?"

  "In ourselves. If you are aiming to lose, then you'll do just that!"

  Huang said nothing. Taylor turned to Irala to see if he had anything to say, but they both now seemed to be waiting for Taylor to take the lead. He knew the Army or Marine brass wouldn't be too happy about it, but he'd been given the reins. He didn't want them, but he saw an opportunity, and he was going to do whatever he had to now.

  "I thought you wanted to go after your friend, the Moon Commander?" asked Huang.

  "No, I said I'd go back for him, but right now, the best thing we can do is start hitting Erdogan as hard and as often as we can. The resistance movements are stirring up trouble, even if they aren't inflicting major casualties. They can survive and keep on going, providing we take the pressure off them. For now, I want to know a few targets that are weak enough for us to hit hard and fast, but important enough to that alien bastard that he can't afford to lose them. Find me those targets," he said to Irala, "And lastly, find Erdogan. Find him, and we can end this."

  "When do you wish to depart?"

  "Find us the targets, and then we go."

  "It is your planet."

  "And this is your surveillance, your technology. You know what you are looking at."

  "Colonel, last time you went to Earth, you were confronted with an enemy fleet that you could not hope to face. We are not ready for that fight," Huang pleaded.

  "Then the fleet will drop us in, and then jump out until we're ready to leave. You are looking for problems, Admiral, but what we need is solutions."

  He looked back to Irala. "I'm a marine, a fighter. Get me down there, and let me do what I'm best at."

  He strode out of the room and headed for the surface, with the Admiral close at his heels.

  "You're putting us entirely in their hands. Letting them call all the shots?"

  "I'm not putting us into anything. You will not be going on this operation. And do you honestly think I'd risk the lives of my people, if I thought they couldn't be trusted to do this right? Let's see what Irala comes up with and work from there. In the meantime, I'll get my people ready to go."

  "What do you need me to do?"

  "Assemble marines ready to fight. I'll need about a thousand of the best to work alongside my regiment."

  "Your regiment? Don't you have just a few hundred men at your command now?"

  "Yes, and they do the work of two regiments. Just get me the resources I need."

  They stepped out onto the surface. The Chinese marines stood glaring at Jafar's every move and looking nervous.

  “Come on, we have work to do,” Taylor said.

  The three of them strolled off quickly, leaving Huang still trying to negotiate with Irala. Taylor could hear him failing miserably and that brought a smile to his face.

  “The Admiral, is he up to this?”

  “No, Parker. He’s not a bad or evil man, but he’s no leader.”

  “So what can we do about that?”

  “We? You mean what can I do about that? Nothing at all, Jafar, these things have a habit of sorting themselves out. There are enough people in this fleet who have a hunger for power that they’ll soon come looking for it.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “Get as ready as we can be, Parker. How are the new recruits doing?”

  “Well considering, but they aren’t ready for the field.”

  “Then get them there.”

  “You want them to go into a crazy operation like this? They’re green.”

  “Yeah, you remember the first time we saw Mechs? You remember that time on the Lunar colony? All the training in the world didn’t prepare us for that. They’ve had the best training that can be had, anymore. Everything else will come in time.”

  “If they survive the experience.”

  “Well, if they don’t,
then that saves training them any further, doesn’t it?” he joked.

  They both knew it was a risky move, but they needed the manpower.

  “Are we gonna get some of those Aranui robots to fight beside us?” she asked.

  “I have no idea, but we sure could do with them.”

  “Then shouldn’t we at least run some training exercises with them?”

  “In an ideal world, yes. But this isn’t an ideal world, is it? Get on those recruits, and sweat them."

  "Aye, aye, Sir," she said as she peeled off.

  The sun was going down, but Taylor took that as no excuse to go slack. He carried on to the Diderot and strode up onto the roof, sitting down at the highest point he could reach. Many of the crews had stopped working for the night, and the only hive of activity was at the bar.

  "What would you do?" he asked Jafar, the only one who had followed him up there.

  "Fight. As soon and often as we can."

  "Do you want to fight to take Earth back, to kill Erdogan, or just because you like to fight?"

  "Everything."

  "Well, at least you're honest about it."

  "You look troubled."

  "I am. Erdogan, I think about him all the time. He kicked our asses last time. We didn't even come close to victory. I wonder how in the hell we are gonna do any better next time, short of dropping a bomb on his head."

  "Then do that."

  "You don't want to beat him in combat?"

  "There is no honour in defeat."

  Taylor was surprised by his words.

  "So you'd kill Erdogan anyway it is possible?"

  "Yes."

  "Even if that involved flying this ship into him?"

  "Yes."

  When the sun rose, Taylor awoke atop the ship he had fallen asleep on.

  "You want to know how to fight Erdogan? How to kill him?"

  Taylor turned to see Irala standing behind him. He knew he hadn't been there the night before, and that made him suspicious of what their allies were watching and monitoring all the time. He made a mental note to remember that in the future.

  "Erdogan is like nothing we have ever faced before. He's got speed, power, intelligence, and agility. I don't know how I can beat him if we ever come face to face again."

  "You want to know how he beat us?"