"When he was alive, yes, but a dead man can cause no offence."
"I'm not so sure about that."
They arrived at a large oval room. One side descended into a broad ramp going beneath the surface, just as Jafar had said. At the base of the ramp, some thirty metres down, was a large shutter door that was sealed with no windows. They reached a control panel, and Parker went to work on trying to jerry rig it. As she did, the Guardian strode up to the shutter and took a hold of the base and ripped it upwards. The shutter flew up and ravelled onto the spool above them. To all their amazement, they had found Kelly and the rest of his people. They were behind one large set of prison bars and then divided into smaller cells. There was no sign of aliens anywhere.
At first they all looked to the Guardian in a terrified fashion, but their attention was soon taken over by Taylor who they all recognised.
"Taylor?" Kelly stammered, "How can you be here?"
"I told you I'd come, old friend. I just didn't think it would have to be so soon."
"I'm sorry. We were doing okay, but we tried to punch over our weight."
"They say you knocked out a hundred enemy aircraft, and that's why you're here?"
"A hundred might be exaggerating a tad, but I'll run with it."
Kelly looked around to see he recognised many of the faces, and amongst them was Becker staring back at him.
"How you made it is a mystery," stated Taylor.
"Yeah, thanks. You here to rescue us or talk us to death?"
Taylor looked to Jafar and the Guardian and pointed to the two gates at the centre of the bars. They took hold of one each and wrenched them apart.
"What is that?" Kelly asked.
"It's a long story is what it is, for when we're long gone from here."
"So you aren't here to stay and help us fight?"
Taylor could see in his eyes that it was what he had been hoping for.
"We'll be back for Earth, but right now, we just need to go on living and get ready for our home coming. Are your weapons and armour here?"
"Locked in a vault behind these cells."
"Jafar, get that door open, and take...the Guardian with you."
The Aranui Guardian seemed so alive it felt as if it should have a name. Taylor drew out his Assegai and drove it through the lock on the cell Kelly shared with five others. He pulled open the door. Kelly rushed forward and wrapped his arms around the Colonel in a bear hug.
"Damn good to see you, Colonel."
"You saw me a couple of days ago."
Kelly looked at him blankly.
"When I was projected down to your camp."
"Ahhh...yes...but...that wasn't really you."
He was ecstatic and smiling like a lunatic.
It wasn't long before Kelly's people were set free, and they were running to the vault to grab their gear. Kelly reappeared before them in a Reitech suit that was barely recognisable. His uniform looked a murky grey and brown, and his suit was heavily weathered. He carried a shield with a fist-size hole in the top left corner and wore no helmet at all. Most of the others looked similar, and Becker was covered in dirt and grime.
“Are your people up to this?”
“Always, Colonel. Can you get us out?”
“Wouldn’t have come if I couldn’t.”
Chapter 13
Kelly peered out of the hole they had blown in the Palace entrance. He half expected to see an army waiting to oppose then, but to his surprise there was nothing more insight than the bodies they had left outside. He looked back to the group.
“It’s clear!” he smiled.
He turned back and the grin was soon lost when he saw Mechs drop into view. First it was just a handful, and then they began dropping in between the colonnades by their dozens.
“No it ain’t!” he added.
Silva stepped up to him to see what they faced.
“Knew it couldn’t be that easy.”
Taylor agreed, “I’d be worried if it was.”
He looked back to the group who were waiting to move. Almost fifty of his own and three times that number of Kelly’s people.
“Few hundred of them against a few hundred of us, I give us the odds. They’re all that stands in the way of the completion of this mission. There is no going around. There is no plan B.”
With that, he stepped out of the hole and into the daylight. None of the Mechs fired upon him. He moved calmly and casually to the edge of the steps leading up to the Palace. His comrades and allies poured out of the doorway to take up position at his side and back. The Mechs slightly outnumbered them. Taylor had no doubt they could win, but it would be a costly battle.
The two sides simply stared at each other, waiting for the other side to make a move. Then out of nowhere, a volley of white pulses smashed into the Mechs in front of them. The marines watched in amazement as beams followed them and tore the creatures apart as they scattered. Taylor looked up. One of the Aranui vessels in the sky was raining down fire on their foes.
“Let’s mop up!” he yelled.
He raised his rifle, took aim, and joined the fight. The enemy were dropping like flies, and he watched the joy on Kelly’s face as he joined in the slaughtering. The Aranui vessel finished up and moved out. Three quarters of the Mechs were dead or dying now. Some were firing back, but they were already being picked off by many of his side.
“Forward!”
He rushed at the head of the line and opened fire with his rifle. He struck two of the Mechs when his magazine went dry, but he had no time to stop. He drew out his Assegai and carried on at a jogging pace. He approached the first creature that came at him with its shield held out and extended. Taylor struck the shield on the right-hand side. It pivoted in its hands, revealing an opening to the neck. Taylor quickly jumped and thrust into its exposed neck. He bounced off the side of the beast and spun, regained his feet, and kept running.
The Mech dropped dead behind him, but he didn’t even turn to check. He upped his pace towards the street where they had encountered the Juggernaut. Pulses and rays of light smashed their position ahead as the Guardian weighed in on the fight.
He reached the narrow corridor quickly and found just a handful of Mechs advancing through it. With his turn of speed, he was still leading the way, but Jafar was not far behind. Taylor felt the impact of two pulses splash over his shield. He tilted it back slightly and hit the first Mech in the legs. It collapsed onto the top of it, and he pushed the beast off so that it fell face first to the ground. He left it for Jafar to thrust it in the back as he went past.
Taylor rushed at the next and ducked under a strike from a glaive, turning to strike back when he felt an impact across his back. It hit so hard, he felt himself fall to his knees from the force of the blast. Jafar rushed past him and charged at the creature who had struck him, and Silva was on the other Mech in a split second. Mitch could feel the wind had been taken out of him, and the pain in his shoulders was so immense it hurt as he tried to right his back and stand up. His knees had buckled from the impact, and it was hard to get moving again.
“Mitch, are you okay?” Parker shouted.
He nodded, but he didn’t feel okay at all. He put his arm over her shoulders and allowed her to support him as they carried on forwards. Silva took his other arm and helped Mitch along. He couldn’t feel any major damage, but his body was weak, and his legs felt even worse. He felt his feet dragging across the floor. Finally, he looked up to see the hospital ahead, and he knew they weren’t far now. He watched as Kelly’s people were ushered aboard two transports, and then they carried on for the rooftop.
“I got it. I got it,” Taylor mumbled.
He gathered his feet, took a few steps to get his bearings, and then started up the stairwell. He was getting feeling back now, but it hurt like hell, but he would be damned if he would be carried out. He fought the pain in his body to reach the top and was met by the welcome face of Rains. The Guardian stood beside him had scorch marks on its
body, and one of its arms looked limp.
“Seen a little action?” Taylor asked the Lieutenant.
“Not as much as you, by the looks.”
“You ready to get the hell out of here?”
Rains nodded.
“I never thought I’d say it, but get us the hell off this planet.”
He staggered on to the inside of the Mastiff and heard the roof creak once again as they began to board.
“Might want to get us moving, Rains, not sure this is gonna support us a whole lot longer!”
Rains watched the last of them board the ship and quickly hit the door switch and fired up the engines. As they burnt into the surface of the roof, they could feel it giving way. They dropped a couple of metres onto the next level as Rains put full power to the engines, and they began to move forward. As they did so, they felt the floor start to give way again. The bow of the ship smashed through interior walls, and finally they burst out into the open air.
“Not the smoothest take off in the world, Lieutenant.”
“Smooth is boring, overrated,” replied Rains, as he wrestled for control of the Mastiff.
“This thing's like a brick, you know.”
“Yeah, and we’d probably not have made it in anything else.”
They soared towards the Diderot and landed as hard as they had taken off. As they looked on the rear viewscreens, they could see whole fighter wings on an attack vector. Just as they thought they were stuck there, they soared forwards into a jump gateway. A moment later all they could see on the screen was the blackness of space.
‘We made it,” said Taylor in amazement.
“We never doubted you,” Parker smiled and threw her arm around him.
“Taylor, Taylor, Taylor!” the rest of them aboard the Mastiff began to yell.
“Why?” he asked Parker.
“Because this was your idea. You set out to save our own people, and you succeeded.”
“We succeeded.”
“But without you, it would never have happened.”
“And without all of you, I would never have pulled it off.”
The ramps of the Mastiff lowered, and Taylor staggered out to find Kelly and Becker already waiting for them on the landing deck. Taylor shook his head in disbelief as his marines rushed out to mingle with them and talk to old friends.
“How did you pull this off?” Becker asked.
“With the help of the most surprising and amazing people I have ever met. We found another race out here. Wherever the hell here is. They are technologically advanced, and they hate the Krys.”
“But how?” Kelly joined in.
“How what?”
“How could you find such a people?”
“Jafar led us here. Quite by accident, by all accounts.”
“And they’re going to help you re-take Earth?”
“Yeah, can you believe it? Seemingly no hope left at all, and look where we landed. In the hands of another race who despise the Krys just as much as we do.”
“What did you have to promise them to get their help?”
“Just a place on Earth. Same thing we’re all fighting for.”
“And they went for that?”
Taylor sighed. “After a little persuasion, Kelly.”
“Well, you are good at that, aren’t you?”
Taylor went over to a crate and sat down to rest his feet. He couldn’t deal with the questions and the excitement anymore. His legs didn’t want hold his body up any longer, and only Parker came to sit with him.
“That’s a real kick in the teeth to Erdogan, isn’t it?” We got our people out with only a handful of casualties. He’s got to be kicking himself.”
That got Taylor thinking.
“It was too easy, wasn’t it?”
“What do you mean? We worked for that, Mitch.”
“We did, but not hard enough. We fled Earth because we were getting our asses kicked. Okay, so we had a little help, but do you really reckon Erdogan would let us shit all over him like that?”
Parker didn’t have an answer. She knew deep down that it was a fair concern, so Taylor carried on instead and played Devil's advocate to his own argument.
“Maybe we are that good? Maybe the Aranui made all the difference? Maybe we caught Erdogan with his pants down, but none of that seems all that likely.”
“So what are the alternatives? That he wanted us to pull this off? But why?”
Taylor shook his head. He couldn’t think of a good reason why, but it still bothered him.
“I’d say we pulled it off because we had a plan, and we executed it right,” added Parker.
Kelly walked over to them.
“So what now?”
“On to our temporary home. There are a lot of people waiting to meet you,” replied Taylor. He struggled to his feet.
“Oh, and when we reach the surface, I’ll need one of you to report immediately to Major Bryan Weller.”
Kelly looked confused. “Never heard of him.”
“He can be a son of a bitch, but he’s a thorough son of a bitch. He’ll start the debriefing. We’ve been away from Earth for some time now. We need a thorough picture of everything you have done and seen. Maybe there’ll be nothing of use, but there might be something. Just have someone useful report to him immediately upon our arrival. Time is something we cannot afford to waste.”
“Where is he?”
“You’ll find him aboard the Hornet. It’s been made a medical ship, and he operates research and investigation out of it.”
“I’ll send Captain Reynolds. He’ll be more than capable.”
Taylor nodded in appreciation.
Rains finally stepped up to join them and slapped his hand down on Kelly’s shoulder.
“See, we got your ass out.”
“And much appreciated it is. That was some fine flying.”
Rains laughed. “No, that was some god awful stupid flying, but we survived, so who can complain?
Taylor backed off and sat down again to rest. He felt his back creak, and he had immense pain in his left shoulder blade. He unclipped his rifle and laid it down beside him. Parker sat beside him again.
“I never thought we’d see them again,” she said.
“No, it’s quite remarkable, but there are plenty more groups still fighting on Earth. We need to either support them or get them out in the coming weeks.”
The Diderot came in to land on the surface once again, and Taylor sighed in relief that it was all finally over. He felt as if he could rest for a week, and he bet Kelly’s people could too. The ramp at the loading bay dropped down to the surface, and the warm air flooded in. They could hear people cheering and clapping outside. Taylor looked to Kelly.
“Send Captain Reynolds to the Major. He can join the festivities later.”
Kelly spoke a few words to the Captain. He strode off down the ramp and through the crowds.
“Ready for this?” Taylor asked Kelly.
He couldn’t find the words for the occasion.
“We’ll have to get you a new uniform by tomorrow. Can’t have you in those rags, anymore.”
“I was growing rather fond of them.”
They walked towards the edge of the landing bay and looked out to the crowds that had gathered to welcome them to the surface. Irala was the only Aranui among them and stepped up beside Taylor. Kelly looked at him with suspicion.
“Taylor, I must attend to my people. Congratulations.”
That was all he said as the hologram vanished.
“He a friend of yours?” Kelly asked.
“I am not sure if I’ll ever call him that, but he’s certainly an ally, and we wouldn’t have gotten your asses home safely without his help.”
“I must thank him later.”
They carried on down the ramp and were swamped by the crowds.
“Come on, the Admiral will want to meet you!”
The crowds dispersed a little to allow them through but followed on
to the landing bay next to the HQ building. The bay was empty, and they were awaiting the arrival of Huang’s shuttle.
“Admiral Huber?”
“Huber went down with his ship, Kelly.”
“So a lot has changed?”
“And a lot has stayed the same. We still fight to get back to Earth.”
They could hear the engines in the sky, and the shuttle soared into view.
“Huang won’t want to talk for long. Then we’ll find you some food and more than a few beers.”
“Sounds good.”
He sounded distracted as he watched the descent of the shuttle before them. It finally put down, and they all waited in silence for the ramp to lower and the Admiral to step out to greet them. He came out in full dress uniform that sported more medals and braid than Taylor could imagine. It brought a smirk to Taylor’s face, but he refrained from laughing.
Six of his personal command staff and two of his marines accompanied Huang. Taylor didn’t call anyone to attention or even bother to salute. They were too caught up in the moment of celebrating their victory.
“Congratulations and welcome!” Huang shouted and strode forward with his arm outstretched towards Kelly.
* * *
Captain Reynolds finally found the Hornet. It was an older model frigate. Crosses had been painted on the side to identify it as a hospital ship, and yet many of the gun turrets and missile platforms remained. He stepped aboard to find it was quiet and calm, not like the rush he would have expected after a battle.
“I’m looking for Major Bryan Weller,” he asked a passing nurse.
“Follow this corridor as far as it will go, and you’ll find him at the very last door on the left. But, Captain, you’ll have to get cleaned up. You can’t be in here like that. And you can stow your rifle and other weapons at the armoury.
Reynolds carried on without any concern for the nurse's words. He passed many rooms where he could see personnel resting and recovering from injuries that would soon have them back on duty. He reached the end of the corridor and found a door marked up with Weller’s name. He pressed the buzzer and had to wait a few seconds for the door to slide open. The Major sat at a desk at the far end of the small office.
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