"They're evacuating but still going forward? What is Huber doing?" asked Jones.
"The only thing he can. The Washington is the only weapon we have left."
"But you just said the weapons were…"
Jones stopped as he realised what Taylor was saying.
"Huber's gonna ram the K'til, and he's getting everyone off that he can."
Taylor nodded.
"God, almighty!"
They watched as dozens of pods dropped from the Washington and were left floating in space. The pulsating light and sound of the K'til's Planet Killing weapon was uncomfortably loud now and was forcing them to shout to hear each other. Jafar stepped up to join them and could barely squeeze into the cockpit to see.
"Admiral Huber, will he be safe?"
Taylor shook his head.
"A Captain goes down with his ship. Huber will be at the helm until the end."
"A brave man."
"Yes, and he may well have just saved humanity from extinction."
They watched the last few pods leave the Washington, and its speed increased as it rushed towards the K'til. The massive carrier was still tiny compared to the huge super weapon of a ship. Taylor looked at his watch, praying they had enough time.
"One minute to go."
The rest of the platoon sat anxiously in the ship. Only the three officers and Jafar could see what was about to unfold. A few enemy ships that had regained power had cottoned on to what was happening and were moving to intercept the Washington. Pulses smashed into her hull, but it was not enough to stop her.
"Good luck to you," said Taylor.
The human flagship soared towards the opening at the core of the enemy weapon with ever increasing speed.
"Thirty seconds!" yelled Jones.
The noise was almost deafening, and they barely heard him.
The Washington pierced the light and vanished completely from sight into the K'til. The deafening pulse died almost instantly, and cracks began to appear in the hull of the Planet Killer. The light faded completely from it, and the hull began to prise apart. They watched as the monster of a vessel was torn in half and split at its core.
"He did it," Taylor said quietly.
He turned around and shouted it again for all to hear. Rains slumped back in his seat and sighed in relief. It was too soon for celebrations when he sat next to the body of a dead friend, but he at least managed a smile.
Chapter 6
Taylor was speechless for five minutes as he watched the two parts of the K'til were drawn in towards Earth and broke through the atmosphere. Several of the enemy ships that had regained power followed. There was not a single remainder of the Washington to be seen, but everyone could see the evidence of her efforts.
"That thing is gonna land hard when it hits land," Eddie said.
"No, those ships are going to assist," replied Jafar.
"What do you mean assist?"
"They'll use their own power to reduce the speed and impact of the K'til."
"Why?"
"Because Demiran is onboard," said Taylor sternly.
"So?" snapped Eddie.
"Because those who don't make an effort to assist their Lord will feel his wrath, should he still survive."
"Yes," added Jafar.
"There must be thousands of Mechs aboard that thing too," continued Jones.
"And you think they can break the fall of something that massive?" Eddie asked.
"Enough to save those aboard, yes. But the K'til will never fly again."
Power was being quickly restored to those ships around them now, but clearly many still did not have access to weapons. Most of the enemy ships made a beeline for Earth to follow their leader. They passed the monstrous Earth Defence Grid lying lifeless and unable to stop them.
"We've stopped the weapon, and they're stranded here now, but we've got a long road ahead."
"We've beaten them on Earth before. We'll do it again," replied Jones.
"This battle is over. Eddie, get us back on firm ground."
"Yes, Siree, batten down the hatches because we're going home!"
The Stallion landed hard, bouncing on the landing strip, but they quickly came to a halt and were relieved to once again be on home soil. Jones pushed open the damaged doors, with the help of Jafar, and stood aside to allow Taylor through first. He looked around to see the base was in absolute chaos. Fighters, Stallions, and others cargo ships were scattered all over. Larger ships had put down near the hangars. Fire trucks were trying to put out what they could, and medics and doctors were treating wounded at make shift aid points. A line of body bags lay across the way beside one of the buildings. They were the only things laid out tidily with respect.
"Colonel! Colonel Taylor!"
He turned to see General White and his entourage approaching. They were all armed and armoured with the same Reitech equipment he wore.
"Is the base under attack, Sir?"
"Uhh… no. This is precautionary only. We have no idea what to expect. Communications have been down with the fleet for some time, and we are only now getting reports through of what happened. Enemy ships have entered the atmosphere and seem to be putting down somewhere over Africa or Europe. What the hell happened up there?"
"It's a long story. But the short version is that the mothership was taken down when Admiral Huber rammed it with the Washington. It's broken into two sections and has come down to Earth."
White's eyes widened.
"And the lack of communication? From down here it looked like both fleets just went dead. My experts tell me some kind of EMP."
"Exactly that, Sir."
"Okay, so let me get this straight. We won up there. Their fleet is now stranded somewhere on Earth?"
Taylor nodded.
"Well, the last thing I ever wanted to see was those bastards step foot here again, but it could have gone a whole lot worse. This Planet Killer weapon, is it done with?"
Taylor turned to Jafar for confirmation.
"Absolutely. The Gezgen K'til was the weapon, and that has gone."
White took in a deep breath and relaxed. He needed to hear the information from a reliable source before he could really take it in.
"What now, Sir?" asked Taylor.
"That's not my decision to make. They have not landed on our soil. It is for higher powers to decide that. Right now, my priority is getting these wounded seen to. I'm glad to see you made it through, Colonel."
"What are our orders?"
"Stand down, rest. You've been through hell. We have plenty of marines to get to work here. There will be a briefing at 0800 hours that I expect you to attend. Until then your time is your own."
"Thank you, Sir."
White had just left when Taylor heard his name yelled once again. It was Parker rushing towards him. Her pace slowed as she saw the bodies being carried from their Stallion. She looked at him, checking he was okay.
"You did it?" she asked.
"No, Huber did it. Our nukes went off but didn't get the job done."
"I'm afraid that's not how we saw it."
Taylor looked passed Parker to see Vega, the Washington's XO. The man had never liked him, but that dislike seemed to have washed away.
"We picked up a lot of the drop pods after the blast," Eli added.
Vega paced forward to shake Taylor's hand. He was shocked but accepted as the Captain continued.
"We were doing everything to get power back when the Planet Killer began to cycle that weapon up. We could see it but were powerless to do anything. We figured we had just a couple of minutes, but it wasn't enough. Then a massive blast tore through the ship. Not enough to destroy it, but they lost power to the weapon and had to begin the cycle again several minutes later. In that time,we had got power to the engines."
"What are you saying?"
"That you delayed the weapon for maybe five minutes, enough for our engineering crews to get the ship back on her feet for one last run. Huber ordered all cre
w off and remained at the manual controls until the very end. The Washington may have destroyed that thing, but it would never have been possible if it were not for you and your people."
Taylor could see Jones' platoon had been listening in. Their efforts had not been wasted, and the deaths of three of their comrades had not been in vain, but the sombre tone remained until Eddie finally felt the need to break it.
"So the long and short of it is, we whooped 'em again?"
Taylor had to smile.
"See to the dead and wounded. After that you have the night to yourselves. The battle for the Solar System is over. Tomorrow the second Battle for Earth begins. Get some rest and be ready for it."
Parker wrapped her arm around his as the others parted and led him back towards his quarters.
"You're a crazy son of a bitch, you know that? One of these days one of your crazy missions is going to be the end of you."
He turned to her and could see she jested with him. It was hard to be tough on him after the results he had achieved.
"All the crazy stunts you pull, and yet you're still alive? How do you do it?"
"I'd like to say I'm lucky. But I don't feel lucky. I ache like hell," he retorted with a smile.
They got back to his private quarters to find them just the way he had left them, spotless. All squared away and with little sign of a living inhabitant at all. He stripped off his armour and suit, throwing it all to the floor with no care in the world.
"Damn it feels good to be out of that thing."
He felt Parker's arms wrap around his shoulders from behind, and the soothing feeling of human contact made him relax immediately and feel drowsy.
"We've got one night till the shit hits the fan again," he said.
"Then let's make the most of it."
Taylor stepped out of his quarters feeling fresh and invigorated. A jeep awaited him with Captain Ryan at the wheel.
"’Morning, Colonel!"
"Glad to see you made it," he replied.
"Likewise, Sir."
"How is the Deveron?"
"She's been through hell, but she'll be back on the line in no time. Like a lift?"
"Sure."
He climbed aboard, and as the open topped vehicle got moving, he revelledin the fresh air gushing past.
"So it looks like we have a land battle on our hands?"
"Seems so."
"Most of the Navy ships are either seaborne or space based. The Deveron is capable of operating effectively inside Earth's atmosphere with a larger payload capacity than almost anything else in the air."
"I remember."
"What I'm saying is; my crew don't want to be left out of this fight that is coming, Colonel."
"I wouldn't be so eager to get your heads blown off."
"Why, should somebody else take the risks for us? The Deveron is one of the most capable assets the Navy has, and since the death of Reyes, the crew are all to eager to stick it to the enemy."
"So this wasn't just a courtesy call?"
Ryan turned to see the comical expression on his face.
"It's good to see you alive and all that, Sir, but we want in this fight, and you're the man who can assure it."
"The enemy have come to Earth in great numbers. We're going to need any and all assets available to us. However, if you’re eager to be attached to Inter-Allied, I can see to making ways for that to happen."
"Thank you, Sir. It would be much appreciated."
"You won't be thanking me when you're up to your ears in shit and having to fight them face to face."
"Been there and got the t-shirt."
Taylor thought back to their intelligence-gathering mission and remembered he was right.
"The Deveron has been good to us, both under the command of Captain Reyes and yourself. Good luck charms are hard to come by. I'll see to it that we continue to work together."
They arrived at conference hall of the base to find it guarded by twenty fully armoured marines with armoured vehicles covering all roads.
"Thank God for that. We're actually prepared for a change," whispered Taylor to Ryan.
The guards waved them through without checking IDs. There was not a marine on base who did not recognise Colonel Taylor.
"Are you authorised to be here?" he asked Ryan.
"I'm with you, aren't I?"
Taylor laughed.
"One day I'll break a rule too many, and it'll be my balls on the line."
"Haven't you already been through that?"
Taylor nodded.
"Hell, yeah."
They stepped through to see a hundred officers had gathered. Most were US Marine and Navy and with a small handful of foreign representatives. Jones was already inside as the number two for their Battalion. White spotted Taylor, and it was clearly the signal for things to get moving.
"All right, Gentlemen, Ladies, be seated!"
A display screen behind him, several metres wide, had a map of Earth up but with no annotations of information as of yet.
"First of all, I'd like to thank and congratulate the Liberty Battlegroup on a job well done. Admiral Huber gave up his life, along with so many others in defence of Earth, and as a result, we are still here today to carry the torch!"
Cheers rang out.
"Allright, all right. It should also be noted that were it not for the daring efforts of Colonel Mitch Taylor of the 2nd Inter-Allied, none of this would have been possible."
Cheers and clapping continued, but White soon drew them to a close.
"As much as we'd all like to celebrate our successes and pin medals on the uniforms of many deserving men and women, the fight isn't over."
The General got up from his seat and stood beside the map with a stick. He refused to use the laser pointers that had become the norm. He did, however, have an assistant sitting at the table ready to overlay the information as he spoke.
"This is what we do know. The so-called Planet Killer was blown into two pieces, and its descent was assisted by other enemy vessels to put down in North Africa. We're still having trouble getting satellite images as the EMP damaged many of them, but we expect that to change within the next day or so."
He lifted his cane to the map.
"The landing sites appear to be in Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Now you all know that these areas were ravaged during the first war, as they were some of the first targets struck. Many of the refugees who got out have never returned. So much of those countries are wastelands. This may well be the reason they chose the area, but they may not have had a choice. We cannot confirm either way at this time."
He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the next stage.
"Sergeant Jafar, who by now you are all aware of, has spent the last few hours analysing all the images and information we have to make some projection at the enemy strength."
A loud cough echoed around the room that was a deliberate interruption to make a response. It came from Lieutenant General Smith.
"Are we basing our knowledge of this enemy force on an alien who used to be not so long ago one of them? From what I understand, he was the personal bodyguard to the leader of this force."
Taylor opened his mouth to speak in defence of Jafar, but he was not given the opportunity. A fist was slammed violently down on the sturdy table, causing several present to recoil. Taylor turned to see it was Commander Kelly who he had not previously noticed.
"Sergeant Jafar is one of the finest men I have ever met, and I will not have ill spoken of him. When this war began, my colony was left to fend for itself for many months, and yet when it came time to take it back, it was Sergeant Jafar at the front with heroes like Taylor who fought for us. Let's just remember that there are good people, and there are scumbags in all society and all walks of life. He may not be born one of us, but he is a better man than many I have known."
Kelly's booming voice and damning response to the General silenced the room. Despite having no authority on Earth, his presence and
opinion held weight among many. Taylor did not feel he could respond after Kelly's praise for both him and Jafar. Kelly had one hated Taylor, just as he had hated every alien. Now they were as one fighting a common cause.
"Gentlemen, please let us keep this civil. Sergeant Jafar has proven himself time and time again. Despite my initial doubts, he has my full support, and I will not have his loyalties questioned by anyone. Now let's move on."
General Smith slumped back in his chair and avoided eye contact with both Kelly and Taylor. Taylor knew Smith wasn't a bad man or a bad officer, he just had no field experience and understanding of the way the World was changing.
"As a rough estimate, Sergeant Jafar and our intelligence analysts have put together an idea of what we are facing. They believe the enemy force could include up to five hundred thousand soldiers. Armour and numbers are unknown, but Jafar believes much of their number will have been destroyed aboard the K'til."
"Hang on, five hundred thousand soldiers?" asked Richards.
"What were you expecting?"
"I thought they came here to destroy the planet, not occupy it!"
"Jafar believes they would have intended to establish colonies on Mars and the Moon, ready to inhabit Earth when it was hospitable once more, following the strike by the K'til."
"That's some long term planning," whispered Taylor.
"We believe and hope that their access to armour and aerial support will be limited as a result of that and the damage our Navy inflicted upon them. They are stranded here, but we must not underestimate them. Yes, we have proven we can beat them in the past, but let us not forget how close we came to defeat. The World has sustained hundreds of thousands of military losses in the last few years, and God knows how many civilian."
"Then what are our intentions?" asked Smith.
"It is not for us to decide a response. World leaders and their ministers have done that. It is their belief that an immediate response to the forces in North Africa is too dangerous to engage, and that time is on our side. They believe that as a stranded army on foreign soil, every day that passes makes us stronger and them weaker."
"Jesus," whispered Taylor.
White just heard him speak and turned his attention to Taylor.
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