Caron looked distraught.
“We are losing this war, Colonel. Metre by metre we lose ground everyday. We cannot afford to lose the Krys armies fighting beside our own.”
“Yeah, well, what we need and what we have don’t always add up. We’ll make it work.”
“Can I have a word in private?” Caron asked.
“Of course.”
She stepped out of the room, led him to her private quarters, and commanded her guards to wait outside. As they went inside, she slumped into the chair behind her desk and began to weep.
“I just don’t know how to do this, Mitch. We don’t have the resources we need, and if we take anything more from our forces on the surface…we cannot win.”
She continued to cry, and Taylor genuinely felt for her. He knew what it was like to have such massive responsibility thrust upon him, but at least he was still able to get into the field and fight himself. When he was knee deep in the enemy dead, he felt he was actually making a difference. He stepped behind her desk and rested against it while putting his hand on her shoulder. Initially, she recoiled from it. It was as if it was a trained response, but she looked up, seeing he was only trying to help. Taylor felt her body relax slightly as she took some comfort in the contact with him.
“I know this must be tough. You were not brought up or trained to lead men and women in a war. I get that, but you’ve been doing a mighty fine job. I’ve seen a lot worse from supposed experts.”
She shook her head as if she didn’t believe him, and he smiled in response.
“Really, I am not joking. I wish that I were, but you are doing the best that anyone could do under the circumstances.”
“But what if what I am doing isn’t enough? It certainly doesn’t seem like it is.”
“You must keep fighting. Just like you have done since the day we first met. If you stay strong, so will those around you. News of the Krys withdrawal is going to be a tough thing to swallow for everyone, so you have to be strong for us all. Everyone out there needs to see you still have faith in them.”
“But what if I don’t, Colonel?”
“Then you fake it until we can turn things around. Sometimes the truth isn’t what people need.”
“If not truth, then what do they need most?”
“Hope.”
She shook her head and gasped, “I am not sure that there is any.”
“There is hope if we say there is, and while we all keep fighting, it is always there.”
“And if that is all just a lie and we really cannot win?”
“I don’t believe in that. I never have.”
“You’re stubborn, but stubbornness doesn’t win wars.”
“You wanna bet?”
That finally brought a smile to her face, but Taylor wasn’t joking.
“Stubbornness is exactly what does wins wars. It is at the foundation of everything. It is that unrelenting will to go on, and want to keep on living, that keeps us going.”
“What will you do now?”
He sighed as he thought about it. He wanted nothing more than to run back out in search of Alita, but he could see that Caron was on the edge.
“Earth is at risk, and with Jafar leaving, we will be up against it. I will return to Earth and keep fighting the good fight.”
“And Lieutenant Hariz?”
“We will find her another day. Bolormaa won’t kill her, not yet, and if I don’t get back in this fight, there may not be a home to return to, even if I could find her.”
“It’s the right decision. We need you here more than ever. You make a difference, more than any one man ever could.”
“I do what I can.”
“Bolormaa, she is trying to divide us once again, isn’t she?”
Taylor nodded in agreement.
“It’s no accident that this Krys rebellion has started now, is it?”
She could see that once again Taylor was in agreement.
“Cakir has been lurking in the shadows for a long time from what I hear. I am not sure if he has taken his chance because of what Bolormaa has done, or because he was in league with her, but either way the result is the same.”
“And Jafar, do you think he can put an end to this rebellion?”
Taylor wanted to say yes, but he wasn’t so sure.
“In his prime, Jafar would have put an end to this before it ever began, but he is not in his prime. He is our best hope, but if I had to bet on it, I would say we are going to be on our own for some time.”
“On our own is bad, but another Krys invasion is what I fear. We cannot fight on two fronts. I don’t need to tell you how close humanity once came to extinction because of the Krys. I thought we were strong allies, and yet clearly there is a lot of resentment that we never heard about. You know, some days I wish you never came and found me that day. I never wanted any of this. I sit back and think, would it have been easier to have died down there? At least I could have remembered Earth the way I loved it, and not the warzone it is today.”
“I have seen Earth beaten down into a wasteland of misery and death in my lifetime. More times than I would like to remember, but you know what? What amazed me most when I was brought back into this life, what really struck me, is how humanity had just moved on. Those dark days were long forgotten. The cities were rebuilt, and people lived as peacefully as they ever had before the Krys wars. That is the inherent strength of humanity. After it all, we just rebuild, and move on. But Cakir, he is living in the old days, the bad days. When revenge, and war, and suffering were all that he knew; all that he respected, and all he ever wanted. I won’t be like that, and neither will you. We are better than that.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, I really do. I don’t hear a lot of positive waves around here. When I was sworn in, it seemed everyone expected some magic solution to all our problems, as if I was that perfect solution. I am just one person in a war of millions, if not billions.”
“Sometimes one person and one idea is all it can take to change the world.”
“I really wish that were true.”
“It can be, if you want it to.”
He saw the relief in her face. Somehow his words had meant something to her, but all he’d done was tell her how it was.
Maybe that’s what she needed, a straight talker!
“So what now?”
“With your permission, I will rejoin the fight. It was always my fight, anyway. I gave everything to keep the Earth safe, and I’ll be damned if I am going to fall at the final hurdle.”
“You know we can’t fight both Bolormaa and Cakir, don’t you?”
Taylor groaned. “Yeah, I do. Let’s deal with that problem when, and if, we come to it. One foot in front of the other, eh?”
“That’s what I have been trying to do since the day I arrived here. Alita, she would be so proud of you, you know that, don’t you?”
“I sure do.”
“You’ve got a lot of courage to go back into this fight after all you have been through and all you have lost. All I can say is thank you, Colonel. Without you, I myself would be lost.”
“Mitch.”
“Of course. I am going to need you in the coming days, more than ever.”
“I know.”
“Take the night here and rest up. You need it.”
“Appreciate it.”
“Captain Jones, do you think he will be okay?”
“He’ll live, but I don’t think he will ever be okay. I don’t know what they put him through, but he looks like he’s been through hell. More so than the hell the rest of us think we have been living.”
“Don’t give up on him.”
“Trust me, I won’t. Now if you will excuse me, Madam President…”
“Lisa,” she replied with a smile.
He nodded, but he didn’t say it.
“I’m going to take you up on that offer. A little shut eye can make all the difference, and something tells me I am going to need all my strength in
the coming days.”
“Thank you…Mitch.”
“And thank you, Lisa.”
He left her room and stopped outside to take a deep breath. He noticed how weary the two guards on the door looked.
“Has the President been getting much rest?”
Neither looked keen to reply, but he could see the answer on their faces. They looked just as exhausted as she did. He wished he had something encouraging to say to them, but nothing sprang to mind.
“Keep up the good work,” he finally said.
It was generic and seemed to mean little, but his mind was elsewhere. He began walking as he looked for his own quarters, but he soon walked into Jafar. His old friend and Krys Lord roamed the corridors alone. He seemed to be looking for something, and his face lit up at the sight of Taylor.
“I am glad to see you made it back.”
“Just about. Cut it a little fine, just as we always did.”
“Yes. I am sorry, Taylor. Sorry that I have to leave. I would like nothing more than to stay here and help you fight for your world. It would be an honour to be at your side again.”
“You are, the war in the Krys lands will affect us all.”
Jafar nodded in agreement, but he also sighed at the prospect of it.
“The timing could not be worse.”
“When is there ever a good time for a rebellion?”
“Anytime but now.”
‘Yep, and that’s why it’s happening. Cakir knows you are weak and spread thin. Do you think you will be able to depose his forces?”
From the look on his old friend’s face, he wasn’t confident.
“If Cakir has got as ambitious enough to strike out against you, then he must have sizeable support back home. That is not a good sign.”
“You think he can rally enough support based on their hatred of me?”
“He is a worm, and he has been spreading this fear and hatred of you for decades, and he targets that at me also. He says I am a puppet of yours.”
Taylor laughed at that remark. “That’s absurd.”
“Yes, it is, but there are many willing to listen to him.”
“How many?”
“Some of the elders who remember the war like me. They are behind him. But many younger Krys, they read about the so-called glorious days before my rule. The constant wars and combat, and to many that is appealing. They have forgotten how terrible war is.”
“Then I guess you’ll just have to show them. You are going to have to kill many of your own before this is over.”
Jafar seemed deeply saddened by that, and Taylor remembered what it was like to fight his own when Earth was in a state of civil war.
“I will do what has to be done,” he replied.
“I don’t doubt that, but remember that if you want to get your people on side, you are going to have to give them what they want, to some degree.”
“And if that is your death?”
Taylor laughed again.
“Yeah, don’t give them that. You need to vent their anger and will to fight somewhere else. Preferably to Bolormaa and her armies.”
“She has completely stopped attacking Krys lands. She is clever.”
“No doubt. What would make your people hate her more than me?”
That left them both lost for words.
“I must go now, but I will come back if I can,” said Jafar.
Taylor reached out his hand in friendship, and Jafar gladly took it.
“I would never think less of you for going back to save your home. Earth means more to me than any other place in the universe. You know what I am willing to give to defend her, and I would think nothing less of you for doing the same. You have given your service to Earth many times over. I wish you the same luck back home, my friend.”
He left without another word, and Taylor was finally able to go to his quarters. This time he was awake and compos mentis enough to at least take off most of his clothes before collapsing into his bed. They had fought hard against the elements on the Morohtan world, but more than anything he was emotionally drained. He wanted to go and see Jones again, but he knew it would only make him feel worse.
As he lay back and began to relax, he felt that things were worse than ever. The realisation that Bolormaa was not such the undefeatable God that many believed, had brought them forward in leaps and bounds, and her dwindling resources even more so. But now they faced a threat just as large again. He couldn’t believe Cakir could be so naive as to treat him as the monster in their history, but then he realised that he did just the same for their enemies. Maybe it didn’t matter who started it, or who was right, and who was wrong. Only who won, and who lost.
He thought about Alita again.
Where is she? Is she still alive? What is Bolormaa putting her through, if she is still breathing? God I miss her!
They were bad thoughts, and Taylor took solace in only one thing, that the next day he would return to Earth. Solid ground beneath his feet and clean air. It was all he could ask for right now. As he began to lose himself in the fond memories of his homeworld, he soon forgot all his woes and fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
For once Taylor awoke fresh and relaxed. His woes seemed to have faded into the background as he stepped into the tiny cubicle that was his shower. His skin and hair were thick and greasy from stale sweat. It was unpleasant, but felt increasingly better as it washed away. He soon touched the bruises and fresh wounds. He winced in pain, but he didn’t mind it. They were the best reminder he had that he was still alive and fighting the good fight.
As he pulled on his uniform, he reached for his communicator to contact some of the officers and friends of his units, but that is when it struck him just how few were left. It brought his tone down, but he tried to do his best to keep to positive waves.
“Lieutenant Sommer, have the platoon formed up and ready to depart in one hour.”
“Aye, aye, Sir,” the response came.
He pulled on his sidearm and strode out, suddenly realising how ravenously hungry he was. He soon reached the mess hall to find almost his entire platoon already there. He smiled to acknowledge them as he walked past to get some breakfast.
“’Morning, Colonel,” said the man behind the counter as he passed him a bowl of food.
“Good morning,” he responded.
He didn’t recognise the man, but it was entirely possible he had seen him many other times aboard the Independence. He positively beamed with enthusiasm before Taylor, and Mitch could not fail but be impressed. He took the bowl, and his face turned sour as he looked down to see a gloopy unappetising mess. It was hardly what he had in mind when he got out of bed, but then it would have to do. He saw Sommer and Turan sitting alone and apart from the other ranks. It both impressed and surprised him that the two of them had become so close. Even in the face of how aggressive Turan was towards her and every other human since he had arrived.
It was far from the instant respect and friendship that Taylor appeared to form with Jafar when they met all those years ago, but this seemed to be building just as strong a friendship. He approached them with a smile.
“Can I join you?” he asked.
“Of course,” replied Sommer.
He took a seat and planted his breakfast down at the table. The smile was once more removed as he looked down at the meal.
“Not the finest chow in the world is it?” Sommer asked.
“You can say that again. You know what I wouldn’t give for some bacon? Fresh bacon and eggs.”
“Now you’re talking. I can’t remember the last time I even smelt something like that.”
Turan didn’t seem to understand.
“You never had bacon?”
“This obsession with food that you humans have. I never understood it. Some of the primitive elements of my people are still like this, but it is just food. It provides the nutrients we need to function, what is there to enjoy?”
“And a fight pr
ovides the victory we need, but don’t tell me you don’t enjoy a good fight?” responded Taylor.
That silenced Turan as he tried to understand where Taylor was coming from. He certainly couldn’t disagree with the Colonel’s sentiment.
“So, Colonel, we were just discussing which one of us is going to get the Captaincy? Care to weigh in. It’s your call, after all,” said Sommer.
Taylor’s face turned to stone as he looked away and focused on his food. Sommer instantly saw she had said the wrong thing, but she didn’t understand why.
“Sorry, Sir, I didn’t mean to break the mood.”
Taylor shook his head and looked up at her.
“No, it’s not you.”
“It needs to go to someone.”
“Maybe, but I just can’t. I can’t give it to either of you or anyone else, because if I do, that accepts the fact that Jones is never coming back to us.”
“Of course if he came back, he would reclaim his position. We are not trying to take that away from him.”
Taylor seemed to agree in principle.
“I get it, I really do, but Jones needs to know there is hope, and that we haven’t just moved on without him. His family are still here and that nothing has changed. So do I.”
“And if he does not come back?” Turan asked.
That was clearly the question Sommer wanted to ask, but not what Taylor wanted to hear.
“I won’t hear any more of it. Jones is the second-in-command of this Regiment…but…until he comes back. Turan, you are acting Captain, but don’t think that means anything. It is only temporary. We will do everything in our power to see Jones is back in the line with us ASAP.”
“Thank you, Colonel.”
Sommer looked put out by his decision.
“But know this,” Taylor went on, “I am not picking you because you are the better officer. I am doing so because it is important that you and your people see them as much of this Regiment as the humans do. You aren’t outsiders. With Jones and me in charge, if I made Sommer acting Captain, it would only go to sour things with the rest of your platoon. They need to know you are family, too, and you are.”
That seemed to alleviate the animosity Sommer was showing, but Turan didn’t look impressed.
Battle Beyond Earth: Survival Page 11