Battle Earth: 12 (22 page)

“All the nature on Earth and some stupid idiot built an artificial garden, inside and away from the elements?” Taylor asked of Silva.

“Doesn’t make any sense to me either. Guess some people just don’t like getting a little wet and dirty, Colonel.”

“It’s what we’ve been fighting for, isn’t it? All that this world has to offer us? We take this world back, and I’ll be sure to have that shit levelled.”

“Why wait? Looks like we’ve got the perfect opportunity,” Silva said, smiling.

Taylor lifted up his Mappad to check the progress of their assault being reported live sector by sector. He couldn’t believe what a relief it was to have access to their communications and not be jammed like they had through so much of the war.

“Doesn’t look like much of the city has put up a fight.”

“We hit ‘em hard, so they didn’t have time to get organised.”

“These Sampions, all they want is a good death?” Taylor asked Jafar.

“Or to live to fight another day. They are not stupid.”

Taylor was surprised to hear his response.

“They are like you?”

“In some ways.”

Five Mechs appeared at an opening to their right flank, and an unarmoured Sampion led them. Jafar noticed them first and opened fire without hesitation. The Sampion ducked back down for the cover of a flatbed truck, and four of the Mechs followed suit; the fifth struck by a volley of fire. Taylor could see what Jafar meant by the Sampions now. They led like officers and NCOs.

Taylor twisted the primer on one of his grenades and tossed it along the road so that it slid underneath the truck and came out amongst the Mechs. Before it ignited, he ran and leapt up into the air. As the explosion rang out, he landed on the cab of the truck and opened fire on full auto. Two of the Mechs were killed by the blast, and a third was badly wounded. Taylor’s fire put that one out of its misery. He then turned his attention on the Sampion. The creature rolled out of his line of fire, and his magazine ran dry as he tried to follow his target.

Without hesitation, Taylor leapt towards the creature and landed on it with his shield held firmly before him. He smashed the alien to the ground, rolling over it, and landed back on his feet. He pulled out his Assegai. The creature turned to face him, but before they could fight, several shots rang out. Silva had strafed the creature in the back, and it dropped down dead.

Taylor felt robbed of the kill, but more than that, he felt shame that the creature had not gotten the honourable death he seemed to feel it deserved.

“You okay, Colonel?” Silva asked. He stood frozen and looking as the corpse of the Sampion. The creature could just as well have been his friend Jafar, and even Tsengal. Finally, he snapped out of it and turned to carry on their journey, but he could not put the thought of the Sampion out of his head.

As they closed the distance to the domed complex ahead, they could see King directing Italian troops that had come to their assistance. They were stuck at the entrance to the complex where a bitter battle was raging. Cars and trucks had been turned over and formed a barricade around the entrance that the allies were using for cover, and pulses rushed out from the entrance. It already looked like a siege that had been raging for hours or possibly days. King turned and sighed in relief on seeing Taylor arrival.

“Looks like you’ve got a bit of a battle on your hands, Captain,” said Taylor.

“They’re dug in something fierce.”

“We could call in a strike? Flatten the whole complex?”

Taylor shook his head at Silva. “And if they were protecting Erdogan in there? We’d never get the answer we need.”

“He ain’t in there, Colonel,” King added.

“And you know that for sure? You’re willing to bet all our lives on it? You know we have to kill that bastard Erdogan, and we have to be seen killing him, and in an honourable fashion, too. Then we have to present his body. No, we take this building and kill all who are inside.”

“We can’t go through every single alien until we find him, you know?”

Taylor glared at King and refused to give a verbal answer.

“You got it,” he finally replied as he gave in.

“We can’t get in through the entrances,” said Taylor, “so let’s open this monstrosity up like the tin can it is, and go in through the roof.”

He lifted his Mappad and selected the rooftops as a target by punching in his access codes. He looked back to Silva.

“We’re going up and over, so should be another turkey shoot when we get up there. Be ready.”

They waited a few minutes as the battle continued to rage on at the southern entrance. Then they saw several missile trails come out of the clouds above and head towards the building. They struck the rooftop with such an immense impact that they felt the ground beneath them rumble. Metal debris and shrapnel was thrown out over them and across the road. Taylor stood up slowly and saw that a fifty-metre wide hole had been blasted out of the cap of the dome.

“Let’s go!” he yelled.

He ran out from cover as pulses from the ground entrance forces fired on them, but he was in the air in seconds. The vast domed complex had such a shallow incline that he landed twenty metres up and immediately started running up the roof and to the breach. It took a minute to reach the damaged area. The rooftop beneath his feet was as solid as the deck of a ship. He quickly reached the crest and looked in at the most amazing tropical gardens he could ever have imagined. It was a bizarre and surreal sight, but he was soon brought back to reality when several pulses flashed past his head.

Taylor took aim at the creatures below and opened fire. There were so many of them that they were like cattle herded together. Some tried to spread out and take cover amongst the trees and bushes inside, but it did little to save them. Taylor had emptied an entire magazine and was loading in another when he looked around him. Sixty of his own people were unloading into the breach and cutting down the Sampions below with little effort at all.

Many returned fire, but their small arms came to little effect at the troops of the Inter-Allied firing on them from the cover of the rooftop. He thought back to the one Silva had shot in the back, and then further back into his past when he first met Jafar and Tsengal. He remembered the massive leap of faith that was required from both parties, and he began to weep.

“Stop firing!” he screamed, “Hold your fire!” He lifted up his comms unit and yelled once again, “Hold you fire!”

The troops quickly obliged without question, but they still looked to him surprise and confused. The area all around them was completely silenced. Not a single Reitech rifle fired, and the Sampions below recognised the respite for what it was and made no attempt to return fire.

“What are you doing, Colonel?” Morris asked in amazement, “We have a chance to end them now. The best and most elite soldiers Erdogan has, and they’re like fish in a barrel.”

“And if it was us down there? What would you want to happen here?”

“I’ve been down there. I’ve stood where they are now, and I’ve watched my friends die. Let’s end them now while we have the chance!” Morris pleaded.

He leaned in over the edge and tried to take aim with his rifle, but Taylor took hold of his shoulder and wrenched him back from the edge.

“You’ll do as you’re ordered, Captain,” Taylor stated sternly.

Everyone looked to Taylor for the next move, including the enemy who peered up from the gardens below. Taylor stepped over to Jafar to talk privately. Most of the others on the rooftop looked at each other in amazement. Others looked in on the enemy with suspicion.

“You told me these Sampions are something special, like you?”

Jafar nodded.

“You came over to our cause, so why not them?”

“I do not believe it possible.”

“Why not? What makes you so special that you fight with us and they won’t?”

Jafar shrugged. The Guardian strode up onto the rooftop to join them, stopping as Irala’s projection appeared before it.

“Taylor, you cannot reason with these animals,” Irala said firmly.

But he looked to Jafar and shook his head.

“I stand beside one of them now, and another alien. I have learnt to trust you both and call you friends. I refuse to believe you are the only ones.”

Jafar seemed to have mixed feelings and chose not to comment.

“They cannot be trusted,” added Irala.

“I guess that’s about what they think of us,” replied Taylor.

He turned his back on Irala and strode to the edge of the crater in the roof and stood in plain view of the enemy below. He could see dozens of them, maybe even a hundred. He unclipped his rifle in full view of them all and threw it aside. His shield soon followed it, and he now stood at the edge empty handed.

“This is not a sensible course of action.”

But Taylor totally ignored Irala’s comment. He leapt into the breach and descended with his boosters. The Sampions parted as he made his descent and landed in a clearing they had created. They formed a circle around him twenty-metres wide, and not one of them made an attempt to close that distance. They seemed in awe of his tenacity and strength before them. He turned and turned and studied them all. None of them were armoured, and they were equipped with just small arms and a few pulse cannons they had salvaged from the Mechs.

Deep down Taylor was terrified. He knew they could tear him apart at will if they desired, but he stood tall and proud and didn’t dare show an ounce of fear.

“I am Colonel Mitch Taylor of the Inter-Allied Regiment!” he roared.

It was clear to him that they did not recognise his face, but the name meant everything, and yet still none of them moved or said a word. So he went on, although he was making it up as he went along, as he’d never given any thought of being in such a situation.

“You don’t have to keep living under the control of Erdogan!” he shouted, “You’re the greatest of your people, and what do you get for that? Fight for me, and I’ll set you free.”

He could not tell if they were unimpressed or considering the offer; their expressions barely changed.

“Tell me Erdogan is a fair and good leader? You deserve better than that, and I am offering that to you!”

He pointed up to Jafar who stood in full view at the edge of the collapsed roof above them.

“Jafar saw his chance to get away from the shackles of your Lords, and now he stands beside us as an equal! Join me!”

Finally, one of the aliens stepped into the circle, and all of them looked to him. It was clear he held rank over them. He took several paces forward and stopped just two metres from Taylor.

 
“Well?” he asked the alien.

“I am Sarik,” stated the alien, “Second Captain to Erdogan’s private guard.”

Taylor was impressed and realised he was talking to the right alien.

“Tell me, Sarik, has Erdogan been a fair commander to you?”

“He has gotten us this place on Earth, the paradise.”

“And when I kill Erdogan, what will you do, then?”

The alien was silenced.

“I will end this war, and I will kill Erdogan, just like I have killed all who have stood before me. Join us now, and ensure there is a future for you in this paradise.”

The creature thought on it for just a few seconds and then gave his reply.

“We will only follow a strong leader. If you can defeat me in single combat, you will have our allegiance. No weapons, no armour. We fight in the old way.”

Taylor wanted to gasp at the prospect. He looked at the towering alien, but he held his breath and knew it was worth the risk.

“Agreed!” he shouted for all to hear.

Silva and Morris shook this heads in disbelief, but Jafar only looked in out of curiosity and respect for Taylor’s bravery. Sarik grinned at the prospect and put down the blade he was carrying. Taylor took off his helmet and unclipped the harnesses of his suit and stepped out. The alien unclipped its arm mounted pulse weapon.

Taylor stood before the creature in just his BDU now, with nothing more than his own hands and feet to defend him. He felt naked to the world, and being so weak when surrounded by the Krys was terrifying. He tried to put it out of his mind and focus on the creature. Sarik wore a body-fitting suit that appeared to provide no more protection than the camouflage BDU Taylor was wearing. The alien stood half a metre taller than he did.