"We won't have long. The hull breach alert will already have activated," Jafar said.
"Lead the way," replied Taylor.
He stayed close to his alien friend as they were led down a long corridor that obviously led deep into the underbelly of the ship.
"Jesus, no wonder our guns can barely touch these things. The depth of this armour is like nothing we have ever seen," said Jones.
They finally reached a set of secure blast doors.
"Get these open," ordered Taylor.
Before the troops could act upon the order, several lights flashed and the doors before them prized open. Four Mechs stood in front of them with their weapons held low and unprepared. The eight members of the platoon at the front opened fire with vicious effect. The creatures were dead before they had known what hit them.
"They really underestimated us, didn't they?"
"This is the last thing they could have expected from us, Colonel," replied Jafar, as he stepped through the dead. "We're not far now."
They reached a four-way junction and stopped for a moment.
"The bridge is just up ahead."
Taylor turned back to the platoon.
"One section each way, as we planned it. Go."
He leapt forward with Jafar and Jones. This made Jones' section the strongest, but they were also heading for the main entrance. The corridor had only small strengthening girders each side, providing little cover. They were glad of the shields, or they'd be badly exposed. Taylor caught a glimmer of movement up ahead and realised it was the shape of two enemy soldiers guarding the doorway. They were raising their weapons as they too realised the threat.
"Fire!" he shouted.
Taylor didn't know if any of the others had spotted the creatures or not, but he knew the command would tell them everything they needed to know. There were thirty metres of open corridor between them and the enemy, but they did not slow their advance.
Holding their shields as barriers, they advanced with guns blazing. Taylor felt the heat of a pulse smash over his shield. The impact jolted his arm and reminded him of the pain from the shot that had blasted through when they had been boarded. It was also a pleasant reminder of how they were returning the favour.
A dozen or more shots pierced each of the Mechs’ armour as they continued to cover the ground at almost a sprinting pace. Jafar got ahead of them and reached the doors first. He smashed his fist into the entry button, and the doors slid open. They were greeted by half a dozen of the enemy, waiting with their weapons at the ready. Three wore Mech armour that they were familiar with, but the others wore no armour at all, only their skin fitting body suits.
Pulses smashed into their shields, and the platoon split across the corridor, trying to hide from the volley of rounds coming through the open doorway. Taylor saw Blinker lifting a grenade from his webbing.
"No! We need the controls intact!"
It was too late, the grenade was launched through the air, and they couldn't risk trying to stop it. The explosion sent vibrations through the deck, and Taylor could only pray their plan had not failed at the pivotal point. Never before had he been so relieved that the enemy weapons continued to fire. The grenade must have bounced to the edge of the room.
"Wait for it! Wait!"
A few seconds later, another blast rang out from inside the bridge and another soon after that.
"Now!"
Taylor took the bend first and charged through the doorway, almost falling over the dead Mech on the deck. A single pulse rushed past his head, but the other targets were already occupied by the breaches in their bridge either side from the other sections. He let go of his rifle, allowing it to drop to his side, drawing out his Assegai as he continued his rush towards them.
The Colonel hit the first creature at full speed with his shield and sent it tumbling to the floor. He jumped onto the stunned alien, thrusting the weapon into its throat before it could recover. The lack of armour made it all the easier for the Assegai to pierce the skin.
A few cries and shots rang out around him. By the time Taylor had pulled the weapon from his bloody victim, the bridge had been seized. He got to his feet and looked around in shock that it had gone so smoothly.
"You weren't wrong, Jafar."
The alien merely nodded as if surprised there was any other possibility.
"Jones, have a section set up defences here. Have the other two sweep and clear the ship."
As the Captain rushed off, the nuclear weapon was carted in and dumped at the very centre of the bridge among the enemy dead. Jafar pulled out the control module he had organised, twisted the power activator, and placed it onto a table beside one of the main consoles.
"How do you know how to do this?"
"High-ranking officers and Lords have wireless override keys which allow them to control a ship once on the bridge."
"But you are neither," replied Taylor.
"No, but information is power."
"Ain't that the truth?"
"Armed and ready to go, Sir."
"All right, good work."
He lifted his comms device up.
"This is Taylor. You have five minutes to complete your sweep."
"And us?" asked Jones.
"We stay with the nuke until everyone else is clear. It's got an anti-tamper device, just in case we missed anyone on the sweep. Once we have left it, I want to be getting as far away as possible."
He sat back against the nearest console with a sigh.
"What is it?" asked Jones.
"Even if this works. If we somehow destroy or disable the Planet Killer and this Purge fleet all in one, we still have a long way to go."
"Yep, but that's not news to any of us, is it?”
Jones lay up opposite the Colonel with his rifle resting across his knees.
"You know when I was held by those bastards back so long ago, it was the hope of days like this which kept me going. Days when we would get to stick it to them."
He slapped his hand down on the nuclear weapon.
"Ramming a nuke down the bastards throats, that's just the ticket. They took almost everything from me. Not only that, they have taken Chandra as well. Until I find who was responsible for her death, I lay blame on their entire fucking race. Gone are the days when we run in fear and fight to their schedule. Today's the day we show them who's running this war."
Taylor nodded in agreement. He thought of Chandra.
I know she'd be gleefully smiling at the outcome we’re heading for.
"Times up, everyone out now."
"You're right. I am gonna find out what happened to the Colonel before this war is over, and I will not rest until I do. Leaving her out there is the biggest regret of my life."
"And yet you know all we could have done was followed her to her death."
He nodded.
"Yes," he whispered in return.
"Then let's honour her memory by blowing these bastards back to the hell they came from."
Jones turned to see Jafar had unintentionally heard everything from where he stood.
"You know what I said about those bastards doesn't extend to you? You are not one of them any longer."
"No, and I too lost that day. Tsengal was killed along with the Colonel, and I have no doubt he was with her at the end."
"All right, we'll have plenty of time to reflect when this is over. Or we'll all be dead and it won't matter," replied Taylor. "Let's move!"
Chapter 4
"Colonel Taylor, report immediately to the bridge."
He had been aboard the Neptune just two seconds. Enough to hear the cries and cheering of success as the troops of the 2nd Inter-Allied poured onto the docking bay decks following their successful mission. He wasn't going to leave until he'd checked his own people. He stepped into the centre of the deck where he could easily be seen and the officers find him. They all approached for a quick debrief.
"Well done to all of you, I want updates on your Companies…Jones?"<
br />
"One dead, four wounded."
"Grey?"
"Three dead, two wounded, Sir."
Jackson?"
"Three dead, none wounded."
"Ota?"
"We weren't needed in the end, Sir."
"All right, that's about the best we could have hoped for."
"One of my ships was hit and disabled on the way in, and I had to deploy my last platoon in their place. They have reported no wounded and crews are out recovering them now," Grey added.
"Good, get the wounded to medical. Re-equip and be ready for whatever comes at us next. Ota, I want your Company stationed here ready for rapid response via the Stallions. The rest of you know your grid sectors. Get to your posts and be ready for any possible breach in the hull. Well done, all of you."
He turned and strode off as ordered towards the bridge. Jafar was the only one who followed him. The alien would rarely ever leave his side, and it gave him a sense of security to know he had the strongest fighter in the fleet at his side at all times. He reached the bridge to find there was little sign of celebration amongst the crew.
"Colonel Taylor!" called Bailey.
She beckoned him over to the operations table where she was looking over the current enemy positions.
"Good work out their, Colonel. Be sure to pass on my congratulations to your people once this is all over. Of the Purge fleet, we destroyed two of the cruisers outright during the battle. Another two are disabled and one triggered one of the nukes not long after you departed. That leaves seven at our disposal loaded and ready to use. They have presently been set to continue their course to Earth in order to conceal our intentions. As far as the enemy is concerned, those still moving are still fighting with them."
"Then it worked," Taylor replied with relief.
"So far, yes. We are pulling back to the main fleet who will disperse and appear as if scattered from the Purge. We need them to bring this so called Planet Killer into the hornets' nest."
Taylor smiled. Damn right, and ram it down the bastard’s throat.
"Have we had any sightings of the Planet Killer yet?"
"Ours scouts have confirmed it, yes. At their present speed, we'll have visual contact within the next ten minutes. I sure hope this thing needs to get as close as you say it does."
Taylor turned to Jafar for confirmation. He merely nodded in agreement in the calm fashion he always did.
"If it didn't, they would surely have come to a halt by now. No, they're coming for us."
"Now we just wait, and hope our guns are bigger than theirs. That our fleet is bigger than theirs, and our luck is better than theirs," whispered the Admiral.
"We can't have fought this hard for this long to have it all end now, can we?" Taylor asked.
It was a rhetorical question, and Bailey seemed to agree.
"We've got incoming!"
They turned their attention back to the operations table to see pulses approaching.
"Evidently, their big guns are still bigger than ours," stated Taylor.
"Deploy counter measures!"
At the distance they were at, it still took time for the pulses to reach them, a fortunate thing indeed, considering the size of the shots. Cannons aboard the Neptune fired counter shots at the huge pulses and smashed them into thousands of particles well before they reached them.
"Much closer and we won't have that luxury," Bailey said.
"Targets will be in range in thirty seconds!"
"Prepare all weapons. I want to give them everything we've got from the get-go," she replied.
They could see the fighter wings advance from the human fleet. The Planet Killer was visible now, but they had been well prepared for it. To most who had fought the enemy in the first invasion of Earth, it looked little different to what they called Tartaros.
"Looks like they haven't got a whole load of ships covering that monster. You were right," Taylor said to Jafar.
"I doubt they think it's in any danger, not yet anyway," replied Bailey.
"In the Krycenaean history, the Gezgen K'til has been unstoppable. It is one of the things maintaining Demiran's power, for many of the other Lords fear its wrath, should he turn on them and try to expand his influence. Even the great Erdogan is wary of crossing Demiran for the power it holds."
"They really have pulled out the big guns," Taylor added.
"Yes, and played all their cards. If we can defeat this thing they all fear so much, we may well yet prove they can never win."
That was a positivity Taylor rarely heard. He liked this Admiral more every minute he served alongside her. Her confidence and composure reminded him a little of Chandra and that brought a smile to his face.
Almost there, he thought.
A single pulse flew past their display monitor and burrowed into the hull of the Neptune, but the dreadnought of a ship almost brushed it off entirely.
"In range in five, four, three, two."
"Fire," Bailey replied quickly.
The bridge lit up as the railguns and missile bays fired as one. The escort ships around the K'til took a battering from the human fleet, and as they closed the Earth planetary defence grid joining the fight. Taylor watched in awe as the battle unfolded before his eyes. From what they could see, it was just hulking ships slugging it out, but he also knew how many hundreds or thousands of lives were ended as each ship was blasted into space debris.
"Itching to get into combat, Colonel?" Bailey asked. Taylor stood mesmerised.
"It's strange to sit back and watch a battle be fought before your eyes. Never have I felt so redundant. Never have I seen death on the battlefield in such vast numbers. Some of those ships being vaporised have more men and women than my entire Battalion."
"Not a pretty sight, is it?"
"How much longer until we send the Purge fleet in?" he asked.
"Not long now, but we need to get as many of those escort ships out of the way as possible to give us the best chance of getting the nukes in. I just hope it's enough. Just look at the size of thing."
"Can't we just hit it with nukes from here?"
"We tried that last time around. Their weapon intercept defences took out everything we threw at them. Only way to get close is with something severely armoured."
"Then pray this works."
Taylor stepped forward and opened a channel to Huber.
"This is about the best opportunity I think we're gonna get, Sir."
"Agreed. Have your man activate the signal."
Taylor turned and nodded to Jafar who knew exactly what to do. He lifted a device he had kept close since they left the enemy vessels and punched in a few buttons.
"That it?"
He nodded in acknowledgement. Bailey placed her hand on the ops table and panned over to where the Purge ships had laid in wait beyond the human fleet.
"They're powering up. This is it."
The battle continued to rage all around them, but Bailey and Taylor were fixated on the Purge ships on their viewing screens. They knew it was their best and probably only chance of stopping the Planet Killer.
"Has anyone ever tried to destroy this thing before?"
"Yes, Admiral.They failed," he replied sternly.
"I guess they didn't have inside knowledge like we do."
Jafar remained silent.
"How long until they reach their target?"
"Approximately two minutes, Ma'am."
"The game must be up by now that we have control over them. Direct all fire to supporting their approach, and notify the rest of our battle group to do the same."
"Looks like Huber has already had the main fleet doing that," said Taylor.
They looked out to see a brutal bombardment hitting everything between them and the massive Planet Killer. The seven Purge cruisers soared in between Bailey's battle group and the main fleet with their engines at full. There was no hiding it anymore. Within seconds of them passing, a volley of pulses smashed into the first vessel, ripping
it apart. Several of the bridge crew gasped at the brutal salvo that continued onto the second ship but didn't manage to slow it any.
"Come on, come," whispered Taylor.
He could see Bailey wanted to give them more, but the Neptune was already firing with everything she had. Now they could only watch and pray. The distance was closing rapidly between the Purge ships and the K'til. The second ship began to spit sparks until a final burst blew it apart.
"Shit," Taylor murmured.
He doubted for a minute that any would get through,slumping his head down as he leaned against the table.
"It's not over yet," replied Bailey.
He hadn't realised he had spoken so loudly for others to hear. He knew he had a responsibility to maintain confidence in their endeavour. As he lifted his head, a great light grew in size and brightness on the edge of the K'til hull. They all stared in surprise and amazement until they realised what it was. A weapon Taylor had witnessed during their Tau Ceti expedition. It was a devastating ship killer. The light suddenly rushed from the ship towards the Purge fleet and struck one across its prow. The ship shattered into thousands of parts in seconds, and what was left was unidentifiable as anything but space debris.
They're not gonna make it, Taylor thought.
The weapon powered up once again and obliterated another of the cruisers.
"Come on," said Bailey.
Taylor looked up at the last minute when he knew the monstrous weapon could not fire again before the distance was closed. The entire bridge crew watching silently as the last three Purge cruisers still moving plunged into the K'til. They smashed through the outer hull with little resistance at all. They punctured deep within and continued until they were no longer visible.
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