Battle Earth: 11 (12 page)

"Not liking the look of those."

"Don't panic, Eddie. We'll be fine," Taylor replied calmly.

Rains shook his head in disbelief, but as he did so, beams from their allied vessels surged past them and cut both intercept craft apart with a single volley.

"Jesus!" yelled Rains, "We gotta get ourselves some of those guns!"

"I'm with you there."

Rains took them in on a rapid descent and only used reverse thrust when he absolutely had to. They came in a little too fast and smashed into one of the bulkheads of the station. The thick armour of both the wall and the Mastiff meant there was no damage to either, but they were rocked violently on impact.

"Nice flying," said Taylor sarcastically.

"Hey, I got you here and in one piece, what more can you ask for?"

Taylor rushed to the access door to find the breaching team were already ready to blow their way in. They looked to him for the go ahead, and he simply nodded to show his approval.

"Fire in the hole!"

The shaped charge blew, and Silva was the first one to jump through the breach. Taylor got through not long after and found they met no resistance at all.

"Caught 'em with their pants down," said Silva gleefully.

Jafar stepped up beside Taylor and simply said, "Follow me."

They didn't question his knowledge and followed him. Taylor looked back for just a moment to check if the two nukes had been carried aboard.

"Oh, yeah, we've got a present coming for you," he whispered to himself.

It felt great to be back in their system, and to be taking the fight to the enemy for once. He didn't care how little it achieved. The fact they were even there made it a triumph already. Jafar led them on for a few minutes down multiple corridors and rooms as though he were entirely familiar with the layout. Then they saw movement up ahead. Two Mechs were guarding a large doorway and began turning their rifles to bring them to bear, but it was too late. Six of the Inter-Allied, including Taylor, acted like a firing squad and swamped them with fire before they could get off a shot.

Jafar carried on running towards the door. He reached it, placed a breaching charge at one side, and ducked back until it blew open. They rushed in with weapons and shields at the ready, finding fifteen Krys crew working at consoles. None of them wore armour, and they froze on seeing the humans enter. The Inter-Allied froze too; they didn't know what to do when confronted with unarmed enemy.

"Kill them all!" Taylor commanded.

The Reitech rifles roared, and carefully aimed bursts struck each of the creatures before most could even get out of their seats. The room fell silent, and nobody felt any satisfaction at executing the enemy. Taylor turned to Jafar.

"This is your rodeo," he stated.

Jafar went right to the consoles and started to go through procedures.

"Get those nukes set to go!"

He looked around and couldn't believe it was all happening so smoothly. It was like the good old days of fighting Karadag and even Demiran.

"We've got incoming!" Parker shouted.

Taylor rushed to the doorway. Flashes of light were coming from one of the corridors ahead where they had posted guards. They were now retreating back towards them.

"Form up!" he ordered.

There was no cover at all, so they were relying on their shields and weight of fire alone. Ten at the front knelt down, and more than that with Taylor stood over them. The resemblance to Napoleonic or Civil War tactics was not lost on him. He only wished Jones had been there to be so amused by it. The two guards fell back and took cover either side of the opening to the corridor, and the Mechs came storming into view.

"Fire!" Taylor shouted.

They might have looked like something off a battlefield a few hundred years before, but they certainly didn't shoot like it. Automatic gunfire soared down the corridor into the creatures. Two-dozen rounds immediately cut down each one that came into view. Those that were left stopped coming and ducked back for cover after seven of their troops lay dead.

"Finished."

Taylor turned to see Jafar next to him.

"Have you overridden the controls?"

"Scrambled yes. It would take more than thirty minutes to undo what has been done."

Taylor rushed forward and launched a grenade down the corridor to where the Mechs were dug in.

"Come on, let's get the hell out of here!"

He reached the corner where the Mechs had been, and only one was still standing. It managed to fire off two pulses. One missed, and the other glanced off his shield. Jafar was already on top of the creature and smashed it against the bulkhead. He broke the joint of the creature's lead arm, forced its own weapon against its chest, and pulled the trigger.

“Quit messing around. We gotta go!” Taylor yelled.

Jafar rushed ahead to lead the way, and they were all glad to be following him off the station, as they were all aware what was coming. They reached the ship without any more interference from the enemy and climbed aboard to find Rains raring to go.

“Thought you’d never come back,” he joked.

“Get us the fuck out of here!” Taylor shouted.

They sealed the doors behind the last of the marines, and Rains was all too eager to get them on the move, but as they soared away from the platform, he and Taylor were more focused on the rear facing screens. They watched as two heavy weapons on the platform rotated around and targeted areas on the surface. They immediately fired several repeated bursts.

"That made a statement," said Rains.

"Wish we could see the results, but knowing we pulled it off is enough of a kick in the teeth for Erdogan to keep me happy for now."

"What's that?" Rains asked.

Taylor looked at a scanner screen and tried to identify what he was seeing.

"Oh, shit," Rains swore out loud.

They could now see it was two-dozen enemy ships on an intercept course with them.

"Get us home!"

"Working on it, Colonel!"

The Diderot weapon systems opened fire, and their allies did the same, but they knew it was more than they could deal with at that time. Rains brought them in on a rapid descent to the landing bay of the Diderot, and they hit the deck hard before sliding into one of the bulkheads.

"We're aboard. Go, go, go!" Rains screamed down the comms channel.

They waited anxiously because they couldn't see what was going on and could only wait for some news and hope they made it out okay. Taylor glanced back at his team who were all as stern looking as he was. They hated not being in control of their own fate. Suddenly, Lasure's voice came over the speakers.

"This is the Captain speaking. We're home safe, and the defence grid is blown to hell. Well done everyone."

Cheers rang out through the Mastiff as Eddie lowered the ramp, and they found the deck crew cheering them on. Taylor felt the weight of Rains slap his hand on his shoulder.

"We're back, aren't we? Back from the dark days, and back to doing what we do best, kicking ass."

"You're damn right," he replied.

"What on Earth is that?" Becker asked.

The sun was going down rapidly now, and they watched lights flashing across the sky in the distance.

"Are those weapons?"

Kelly stood up and strained to look closer, lifting his rifle to peer down the scope.

"I've no idea. If they are, what the hell are they shooting at?"

"No idea on that either. But you better hope if those are weapons, they don't come our way."

The lights faded away, and they were left in the dusk once again watching the last of the sunlight fade.

"Ever thought you'd end up living like this, in the wild?"

"Never thought I'd end up living on Earth," Kelly responded.

That brought a smile to Becker's face.

"Don't appreciate her till you've lost her, isn't that the case?"

"I can relate to that."

Becker wasn't sure he was referring the their homes on Earth, the Moon, or some other reference, but he knew the result was the same.

"We obviously made a clean break, what do you want to do from here?"

"Find a target and hit it. Something small scale and safe."

"You want to go back on the offensive?"

"What is the alternative? Fade away and hide for the rest of our lives?"

"I just think if we go looking for trouble, we might not survive the consequences again."

They sat back down on the fallen tree that had been the bench they were perched on and stared at the stars. Almost fifteen minutes later, they once again saw a bright light in the atmosphere, but it was closer this time.

"What on Earth? What the fuck is going on?"

Kelly raised his rifle to examine the sight again.

"Looks like a ship."

"Plummeting into Earth? Why? Not like we've got anything still up there, fighting the good fight."

Kelly was speechless while he tracked the object across the sky as it made its plunge towards the surface. It was finally just a few thousand feet off the ground and comparatively close to the lights they had seen earlier.

"No attempt to slow. Looks like whatever it was it's nothing but a wreck now."

"One of our old satellites?"

"No, far too large for that."

"Well, what then? Can't be one of ours. No chance."

"Could be. Maybe someone found a ship and tried to break for orbit, and got shot out of the sky," added Kelly.

Becker wasn't buying it.

"Nobody would be stupid enough to try it, would they? Too many ifs and maybes."

"You got a better idea?"

Becker shrugged. "Never said that I did."

They watched the final descent of the object. It passed out of view in the distance and finally impacted. Although they couldn't see it any longer, the ball of smoke that arose from the site was clear for all to see.

"Whatever it was, it isn't much anymore," said Becker.

"How far would you say that is from us?"

"Why?"

"I'm curious. How far do you think?"

"About fifty klicks, I would guess."

Becker could see in Kelly's face that he was more than just a little curious.

"Oh, no. No, no, no!"

"What?" Kelly asked.

"You want to go and investigate?"

"Don't you?"

"No, no way. Everyone in the bloody continent saw that come down. You really want that kind of attention after we finally got free?"

"So what? A ship or some satellite came down, who cares? I doubt anyone will go looking."

"Who cares? You do enough, so that probably means others do, too."

"If it's friendly, then nobody is going, anyway. If it's enemy then, well, they don't care what they leave behind. The world is littered with alien vehicles that they have no interest in retrieving."

Becker sighed as he took a few steps and turned away.

"Come on, it's the most interesting thing that has happened since we got out here. Don't you want to know what it is?"

"Not really. My life is complete without that knowledge."

"Fair enough. I'm going. I'm taking twenty with me. If we're not back in twelve hours, you move on out, and I don't want to know where."

Becker agreed even if he didn't like it. Engel walked closer to Kelly as he went to walk away. She had been listening in.

"You wanted your chance to see some action and get a rifle in hand, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Well, this is it. Gear up, we're moving out in fifteen minutes."

She looked oddly excited by the prospect, and Becker could not help but laugh at her naive enthusiasm as she scurried off to get her equipment.

"You remember when you were that keen?" Kelly asked him.

"No, I really don't. It's simply to long ago to remember. A different lifetime."

Kelly left and found Engel had already awoken Reynolds and filled him in. The Captain stood with twenty soldiers just as Kelly had told Becker he would take. He appreciated the initiative Engel had taken and didn't want to knock her enthusiasm, even if she had stepped far over her position.

"All right," he stated, "you all know the deal. I take it the Lieutenant has explained it?"

"Only that we were needed," replied Reynolds.

Maybe she has got more sense than I gave her credit for,
thought Kelly.

"Okay, for those of you that didn't see it. Something came down from orbit just moments ago. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's alien or human. I know nothing more than what I saw. Now I think that is worth investigating, and that is just what we'll do. Sun's down, so we can travel through the night. Captain Becker believes it's about fifty klicks away. We should be able to be most of the way back here before first light."

"What are we expecting to find?" Reynolds asked.

Kelly shrugged.

"Could be nothing at all, and we must consider that the crash could have attracted more attention than just ours. So we could find people there, human or alien. Be ready for anything. I'll drive the lead vehicle. We take it slow and steady, everyone happy?"

He knew they weren't, but they agreed anyway.

"All right, get to work."

It wasn't long before they were trundling on through the forest in darkness. They ran with no lights at all, only the night vision glasses each of them wore. An hour of that and Kelly had a splitting headache. He wanted nothing more than to tear them off and carry on with his natural sight, but they couldn't risk the chance of damage to the vehicles. In amongst the towering trees, there was almost no light at all now. Engel was in the passenger seat with him, and Reynolds brought up the rear. Their pace was leisurely, but it was at least low profile.

The Lieutenant had not said a single word since they set off. He wasn't sure if she had nothing to stay or was trying to remain professional while on operation.

"You know you can speak," Kelly finally stated, "You won't make any more noise than these jeeps will."

The two soldiers in the back laughed.

"I'm not sure I have anything to say," Engel finally replied.

"Sure you do. We've known each other long enough now, and I don't know really anything about you, other than you weren't trained for fieldwork."

"Does it matter?"

"Does what matter?"

"Our lives before all this. It has no bearing on anything, anymore."

"Do you dream?" he asked her.

She didn't know how to respond.

"Do you have dreams?" he asked again.

"Yes."

"And are they good dreams?"

"Yes."

"Then they cannot be about the lives we lead today. You dream of how life used to be and all the nice things you used to have to do, don't you?"

"Yes, I suppose so, Sir."

"Then who we used to be has a bearing on our lives, and it isn't wrong we still think of it and wish for all that to still be ours. If all I had to think about were life out in this forest, with nothing more in my life than the pursuit of killing our invaders, I don't think I'd want to go on living."

"But that is our lives now."

"It's what we see and live with, but not how we have to think. They have taken our homes, towns, friends, and families. But they cannot take what is up here," he said, touching his head, "No, they cannot take that from us. Not until they kill every last human being in the universe, and I can bet you that ain't ever gonna happen."

"You really believe that?"

"Lieutenant. Humanity has lasted out war and famine and the most obnoxious of things for thousands of years, what makes you think we will go down so easily?"

"Just doesn't seem any hope, anymore."

"An hour ago you were raring to go and barely containable, why the change?"

"Maybe the idea of getting involved at the frontline was exciting, but now I'm out here, not so much."

Kelly laughed.

"Hey, you’re talking to a Commander who spent a long and prosperous career sitting at a desk."

“Really, Sir?”

“You know what I wouldn’t give to have that desk back, and my climate controlled office on a peaceful colony with the lowest crime rate known to man?”

“Sounds like a Utopia.”

“Yes, it was. The only good these wars have done for me is get me in fighting shape. Well, I’d give that up in a heartbeat to go back to being an overweight paper pusher on his way to retirement.”

“But you’ve become something better, haven’t you?”

Kelly shook his head.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that. I am what I am today out of necessity, not even a fool would ever choose it.”

“So I’m a fool?”

Kelly sighed. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

He looked over to see she was smiling back, and he realised she was having him on.

“So this thing we’re going to, what do you think it is?” she asked.

“My guess is an enemy vessel of some kind. Something went wrong, and it lost power, who knows?”

“Won’t they come looking for it?”

“Nobody could have survived an impact like that, so no. What good would it be to them?”

“Then why are we going?”

“Because maybe I’m wrong, and I’m more than a little curious. And maybe because it beats sitting around doing nothing at all.”

“So you’d rather risk your life than be bored?”

“Probably, but you’re assuming our camp is any safer than where we’re going.”

It was an unpleasant thought, enough that they stopped discussing it. It took almost two hours more until they reached the marker Kelly had set. It was the nearest he had estimated to the crash site they could get to before going on foot. He wasn’t going to risk driving into a nightmarish situation, if that was indeed what was ahead. He brought the jeep to a standstill. There was no need to look for somewhere to hide the vehicles because they could barely see more than ten metres in any direction.

Kelly took his rifle in hand and waited for the others to gather around. He could feel now just how cold it was. The heaters of the jeeps had kept them comparatively warm, despite the open tops. He could never get used to the feel of ice-cold air and the moisture it brought in the nighttime. Even so, it was feeling more and more like home all the time.

“Here’s the deal,” he started, “We don’t know what’s up ahead, and we don’t know the terrain. We stick together. Two by two, so that you keep an eye on the man at your side, a metre between pairs, got it?”