Phoenix Odyssey Book 1 (Battle Beyond Earth)

by Thomas, Nick S.

  The last of the Krys fights ended as one was thrown several metres and smashed into a wall before hitting the deck hard. A few groups of Humans were still battling it out, and he noticed Mirov was in a standing clinch with the last of his group. He drove knees up into his opponent, but couldn’t get free of the clinch. He then drove one hand up inside the clinch and prised himself up and out, dropping an elbow onto the officer’s collar with a brutal blow. It caused him to lose his hold. As the man staggered back in pain, Mirov delivered a massive uppercut that launched the man off his feet. He crashed down to the floor defeated. Mirov threw his arms up in the air victoriously.

  Only one fireteam remained still fighting, Rivera and a man almost twice her size. They traded blows from a distance, and his reach was hammering her. She took jab after jab, and she was bleeding from the nose and mouth.

  “Hardly a fair fight?” Mirov asked, pacing up beside CJ.

  “Fights aren’t fair. When we end up knee deep in the shit, and have to fight our way out, I need to know I have the best people for the job. There is no space for weakness.”

  “But she’s half his size?”

  “That’s her problem, not mine.”

  She rushed in against her taller opponent to try and close the distance. She was rewarded with a good punch into his gut and another uppercut to his chin, but it wasn’t enough. The man struck her with a heavy elbow into the face and kicked her to the ground. He dealt a crippling punch to her face that smashed her head against the deck and ended the fight.

  CJ was clearly enjoying the show, but Mirov was shaking his head in disbelief.

  “What is it?” CJ asked.

  “I’ve never seen Alliance personnel fight each other to such a brutal end. What is it that you are making of us?”

  “Survivors,” he replied calmly.

  Many of them were panting from exhaustion, and others were wiping blood from their wounds. Some were still not able to get up.

  “Decision made, the winners stay behind. Everyone else, get out of here!”

  Rivera hobbled over to him, blood trickling down her face.

  “Is that it? You expected me to be able to pass that test?”

  “I never said you had to play fair. I only said you had to win. This is war. We don’t play nice, and we don’t play fair. Winning is winning. It doesn’t matter how you get there.”

  She nodded in agreement, and her eyes opened wide as if she had just had some kind of revelation. She dropped her kit and turned back to the room, spotting the man who had beaten her. He was kneeling down to pick up his kit. She ran across the room with some newly found speed and energy.

  “What the hell is she doing?” Mirov asked.

  She took a running jump onto her opponent’s back. He stood up to try and push her off, but she had wrapped her legs around his chest and held on tight. She took hold of his head, and in one swift snap, broke his neck. They both tumbled to the deck together. She gasped for air as she shoved his body aside, got back to her feet, and looked to CJ. He seemed to nod in approval, while so many others were shocked and appalled by what they had seen.

  “Winner,” he replied, “Now all of the losers, I told you to get out! Now!”

  They picked up their kit and moved out. Several needed help, and a handful had to be carried.

  “You are going to let that fly?” asked Mirov.

  He nodded in agreement.

  “She improvised and adapted. She made up for her small size in a way that allowed her to win. I said to you, doesn’t matter how you win. There is no honour in losing.”

  She staggered back over to them, still hurting and bleeding profusely.

  “Ever killed a man?”

  She shook her head.

  “You just made your first step to becoming the soldier you were born to be.”

  “A murderer, is that what you would have of me?”

  CJ nodded.

  “This Alliance is soft, and they need something different. General Lysenko knows it. We aren’t the heroes and poster boys that the media wants. We are the dirty little secrets that a government needs, but will never admit to. We aren’t the good guys. We are the monsters who do what the good guys haven’t got the balls to do. Are you prepared to go that far down the rabbit hole on the way to hell?”

  “I’m already there,” she said.

  And he could see in her eyes that it was true. In that moment, she had become a different person, and she looked ready to kill again at any time if that was what it took to stay free, and stay in the unit. A Krys soldier stepped up to them. He too held the rank of Lieutenant, and like Mirov, was the survivor of his group. He was cut deeply on his forehead, but didn’t even seem to notice the pain.

  “Lieutenant Kaner, reporting for duty, Sir.”

  Well, Kaner and Mirov, you’re now my Platoon leaders. You were deemed fit to lead, and you have defeated your peers. That’s good enough for now. Get your teams in order. You’ve got one hour.”

  “And then what, Sir?” Mirov asked.

  CJ shrugged.

  “You’ve all been trained, I am sure. The best of you have been selected. Any more trials will be done in combat."

  “So what is it we are gonna do?”

  “Our time is our own until we have a mission. One hour, we meet in the bar, and we truly get to know one another.”

  Mirov couldn’t believe that news.

  “I’ve not had a drink in nine months, since my incarceration.”

  “What are you telling me, that you’re out of practice?”

  He shook his head and grinned.

  “No, Sir.”

  “General Lysenko wants us to do her dirty work, but we decide how we go about it. Until such time as we have a mission, our time is our own, and I don’t intend to waste it teaching you rejects.”

  With that, he turned and left, but he had a smile on his face, as though he had a plan they were not a party to.

  “Pack it up, Boys. It’s time to hit the bar, Captain’s orders!” yelled Mirov as CJ left the room.

  A cheer of elation rang out the likes of which he had never heard. These weren’t a few fighters having some well-deserved drinks. They were convicts getting their first taste of freedom, and that one fact warmed him to the Humans in his own unit. They had been slaves to the Alliance just as he had. He stopped in his tracks on finding Wespe waiting for him.

  “You won’t get away with this. The General has given you a long leash, and that was a mistake. You should know that I will be the one there to rein you back in.”

  CJ said nothing as he stepped up several paces towards the Major, who backed up against the wall on seeing the murderous look in CJ’s eyes. He looked deep into the clone’s eyes and could see nothing but emptiness, and that scared him. CJ stepped right up to him so that their noses were almost touching, and he could hear the racing pulse of the Major.

  “You mean nothing to me, and you have no value to me. The General freed me, and she made me this offer, but what have you ever done? All you do is get in my way and whine like a little bitch. Get used this this, or you won’t survive it. The weak never survive.”

  He left and didn’t look back at the Major who remained there frozen and shaking in fear. He headed back to his room and stripped off to finally take a shower. He stepped into the tiny cubicle, and as the water began to hit his face, he thought back to the memories he had. He had a few that had been implanted from Charlie Jones. He recalled the day he and Taylor met like it was yesterday, and yet he was never there.

  It was a policing exercise in Turkey, one of the only hotbeds of terrorism that existed in Taylor’s day. He remembered sharing drinks and conversations with Taylor as if they were the best of friends, and yet all the time his overriding hate for the man overcame him. Both emotions had been programmed into him for different reasons. One for infiltration purposes, the other to make him Taylor’s enemy, as opposed to the best friend that Charlie had become.

  He hated Taylor, and yet he
pictured himself with a gun to Taylor’s head, and was conflicted as to whether he could pull the trigger. He tried to forget it and put things into perspective. He stepped out of the shower and looked for a screen.

  “Is there some kind of TV In this place?” he asked.

  “How may I help you, Captain?” a voice asked from a hidden speaker.

  It was a soft and friendly female voice that sounded a little artificial.

  “The last Krys war, show it to me.”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  He thought it over for a moment. There was only one thing that struck him.

  “Show me how it ended.”

  The section of wall that was the door to his wardrobe lit up as a screen and showed vast armies in the desert. Humans and Krys stood aside one another with a single opening like a makeshift arena. Erdogan, the leader of the Krys people, faced off against Taylor and a number of both Human and Krys fighters. Erdogan was far larger and more powerful a fighter than any of them. But CJ watched as he was taken apart bit by bit at the cost of many lives to those who fought against him.

  Some of those loyal to the Krys Lord turned on him in that moment, and that made CJ scowl.

  “Taylor could never have beaten him in a fair fight,” he snarled.

  The fight went on as Erdogan cut his way through them one after the other, including Jafar, until just three Humans stood against him. It was seemingly unwinnable odds for the Humans, but as Erdogan closed in on them, the most surprising of things happened. Taylor stood his ground and took a thrust to the torso. He could never have survived it, but he did so knowingly, to give the other two a chance. CJ watched in amazement as they cut down Erdogan, and Taylor himself drew out the Lord’s blade from his chest and used it to defeat him.

  CJ didn’t know how to take it. Taylor had knowingly made the ultimate sacrifice for everyone else. He had been the man his reputation made him out to be, and yet he still hated him for killing his master. He’d never felt conflicted before and started to wonder who and what he was fighting for anymore. He listened to Taylor’s final words as he declared Jafar the leader of the Krys people, and that was the end of the war.

  As CJ thought more about it, for whatever Taylor had done to sacrifice himself; he was now back, and that soured the whole situation.

  Jafar?

  He realised how deep his hatred ran. The two people he hated most in life were still alive and had taken Erdogan’s rightful place.

  “They will pay for what they did, and Erdogan’s heir will sit on the throne before I am through,” he said quietly to himself.

  “Replay!” he ordered.

  He watched the same scene over and over as he felt his bitterness overcome him. He lost track of time, and the buzzer went on his door.

  “What?” he yelled.

  “Captain, we’ve been waiting for you,” said Rivera.

  He pulled on his uniform and went to the door. She was carrying her glass and already a little drunk.

  “Sorry, Sir, but I thought you might want to join us.”

  He nodded in agreement as he stepped out of the room.

  “Lead the way,” he said as he looked at his watch. Two hours had passed, and he hadn’t even noticed it. Rivera was swaying back and forth, rambling on loudly. She had clearly hit the bottle pretty hard in the hour they had been drinking, and as he reached the bar, it was much the same story with the others. The Humans and Krys mingled, and that struck him as strange. The only people in the bar not from his unit were the staff.

  “Looks like you cleared the place out,” he said.

  “Guess so!” Rivera yelled.

  They headed to the bar, and the barman who had been there last time did not hesitate to handle him a whole bottle and a glass. He took the bottle, but not the glass, and knocked back a few shots worth in one.

  “Quite a party you got going here. I’m thinking this was the best thing I ever volunteered for!”

  CJ smiled at Rivera, but it was a wicked smile, as if knowing something she didn’t. He knocked back another few shots and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, like the savage that he was. He slammed the bottle down on the table loudly enough that everyone stopped and waited for his address. He stepped up onto a stool and then onto the bar so he could get a good view of them all.

  “Well done today, but you didn’t think this was going to be easy, did you? If you fight with me, you have to be the best, and that means being able to the job wherever, and whenever I say. Form up, full gear in twenty minutes!”

  Nobody moved as they waited for the punch line.

  “Move your fucking arses right now! Platoon leaders, get your people in order! Go, go, go!”

  Chapter 7

  Sweat dripped from Mirov’s face as they hauled ass through the corridors in a column, full kit, weapons, and all. CJ was at the head of them, leading the way as shocked crewmembers separated either side of the corridor when the two platoons ran circuits through the hallways. CJ stepped aside at one junction and signalled for them to go on with Kaner and Mirov in the lead. They were all sweating buckets and breathing heavily as though they were being run into the ground. Rivera collapsed as she reached CJ. She tried to get back up but threw up instead.

  “Your life is on the line, and everyone is depending on you, Corporal!” CJ insisted.

  She coughed and spluttered but slowly nodded in agreement. She forced herself back onto her feet and joined the back of the column. CJ ran beside her.

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she asked.

  “Damn right I am.”

  He carried on beside her and had barely even broken a sweat. He was tougher, fitter, and less drunk than any of them. They kept running for another hour until he could see that Rivera was about to pass out. He finally called them to a halt as they reached the room where they had fought for their positions earlier that day. The Humans were in a worse way than the Krys, but even they looked pretty bad.

  “Why’d you do that?” Mirov asked, gasping to get air back into his lungs and clearly had a stitch that was causing him an immense amount of pain.

  “Because life isn’t fair, and things don’t always happen when we want them to happen.”

  CJ climbed up onto a storage crate. He was a little sweaty, but looked like he had barely exerted himself compared to the rest of them.

  “What did you learn today?”

  “That life can really suck sometimes!” Rivera shouted.

  CJ nodded in agreement.

  “Yep. You’ll forgive my ignorance, but I am a little new to this world, but by understanding, this big bad called Bolormaa is trying to tear you a new arsehole. And far from running, your superiors want us to climb into the jaws of death. Is that about right?”

  Some groaned in agreement as they could see where he was taking this.

  “If Bolormaa and her armies turned up right now, and you were forced to fight, could you? Could you stand and fight for as long as you needed to, and could you win?”

  Many of them stood back up, calmed their breathing, and swallowed their pride, now fully understanding what he was getting at.

  “This is a penal unit, and I am a murderer. Some of you are, too. Soon, many more will be. Let’s not be under any illusions about what we are. We aren’t the good guys, the heroes. We aren’t Colonel Mitch Taylor and his band of merry men saving the galaxy. We aren’t that, but neither do we have to be the rejects that society thinks we are. Don’t fight for them. Don’t work for them, the eternally ungrateful. Fight for each other!”

  Mirov looked at the faces of those around him and was beginning to take in what he was doing. He was forging a bond between them that none of them had ever known.

  “When we go out there and fight, we do it for us, not for them! I don’t know what I fight for anymore. My boss is dead, my mission is redundant, and yet I have you. So whatever we do, let’s do it right!”

  Some of the Krys began to strike floor with the stocks of their rifles in sup
port of him, and the rest joined in as they were overcome by a sense of achievement and brotherhood he had given to them. CJ finally lifted his hand to call for silence.

  “I really don’t even know what this war is about, but I know that this Bolormaa is trying to destroy the Krys Empire that I fought to protect. I may not agree with how it is run today, and your society doesn’t agree with how you live either, or you wouldn’t be here, but that doesn’t mean we have to be savages. We have a common enemy, and that is enough. Where we go, we go together. Where we fight, we fight, together. I never wanted any of this, and I am sure none of you did either. But, hell, let’s be the best at whatever it is that we do!”

  They cheered as he finished.

  “Rest now, and take the day off tomorrow, for I imagine it will be the last rest you get in a long time.”

  He strode out of the room. Only Kaner followed.

  “Is that it? Is that all the training we are going to get?”

  “Yes,” replied CJ sternly.

  “But we…”

  “But nothing,” snapped CJ, “There is no training I can give you in two days that will make you something that you aren’t already. Those men and women now trust in one another and are starting to see each other as family. That is the most I can do for them.”

  “And you, what will you now do with your time?”

  “I have a lot to catch up on, a few hundred years. People tell me there is some huge war on, but I haven’t seen it. I want to know what we are dealing with, and why.”

  “You’ll be looking for a long time, not even Councillor Irala, nor Colonel Taylor have been able to answer the question of why. Bolormaa just keeps coming.”

  “Yeah, well it’s time I had a look for myself,” he replied as Mirov left him be.