Battle Earth: 12 (4 page)

"Yeah, thanks."

"So what'll it be?" White asked.

"If we're gonna do this, I'll have to go through Lasure first."

"He'll accept whatever decision you make," said White.

"Maybe, but that is not how we do this. Get me a line to the Admiral."

White didn't hesitate to press a few buttons on the console before him. Taylor's head spun while he considered how he could broach such a subject to the civilian population of the fleet. Twenty seconds later he was shaken by Moye; he had gone into a daze and forgotten everything that was around him.

"What can I do for you, Colonel?" Lasure was now projected before them.

"Admiral. Major Moye here believes we are not getting enough volunteers, and that conscription is necessary if we are to keep up a sustainable force for our attacks on Earth."

Lasure was even more shocked than White had been.

"What do you think, General?" Lasure asked.

"It doesn't matter what I think. This is a numbers game. They have more. We've got tens of thousands of military personnel fighting for our survival, and we've got probably hundreds of thousands of fit and able civilians who would be able to fight."

"And you need my authority to issue such an edict? You know if I do this we could have full-scale riots, mutinies, and unrest on our hands? It's not just about those civilians. How do you think our crews will feel having their families and loved ones asked to go to war?"

"I think they'd understand by now," replied Taylor quickly.

Lasure laughed. "Understand? Plenty of people haven't been all that understanding of my sudden promotion. How do you think it would go down if I tried this? I could be deposed within a day."

"Then don't."

Lasure looked confused by the General’s response.

"The Colonel here is our poster boy. Let him take it to them. He gets shot down for it, and we carry on as is. They accept it, and you pass the edict without any problems. You can't lose on this one, Admiral."

Lasure thought for a moment, then turned his attention back to Taylor.

"And you’re happy doing this? Happy forcing civilians into this fight?"

"They seem happy to let us fight and die for them, so yes. Every fit man and woman not in a protected profession should already have signed up. But if they haven't, then we'll have to give them a bit of a push."

"And you think they'll go along with being forced?"

"Maybe forcing them isn't the way, but shaming them? What if I could make those people suitable actually want to come forward and sign up?"

"I don't see how. They've lost so much. Wanting to go and fight such a vicious enemy does not sound appealing."

"You leave that to me. Get me an open line to everyone in this fleet. I mean everywhere. Every ship, shuttle, and screen that exists."

"That's not a problem; a priority broadcast can be initiated in ten seconds with my authorisation."

"Then do it, Admiral."

"Right now?"

Taylor nodded.

"Seven missions in seven days, Colonel, don't you think some rest and time to prep this might be a good idea?"

"Yes it would, General, but if time were on our side, we'd do a great many things differently."

White couldn't disagree.

“You will be live with the fleet in five seconds, Colonel,” said Lasure.

Taylor looked to the screen to see a countdown. He expected his pulse to rise as the pressure mounted, but he felt nothing. He watched it count down to three…two…one. The screen simply displayed how he looked to all that would be seeing him on screens, and a message at the top of the screen that read ‘live’ in red letters. There were no prompts at all until Moye finally nudged him in the back. He coughed to clear his throat and righted his posture before looking dead centre into the screen.

“I am Colonel Mitch Taylor of the Inter-Allied Regiment. I am here for just one reason, so please hear me out. Over the last few years I have seen those serving with and beside me achieve incredible results, but at a phenomenal price. I think probably three quarters of the friends I had before we encountered alien life have now lost their lives. For those out there not currently serving in the military, we have done this for you as much as we have for ourselves.”

He looked to White for some kind of indication of his thoughts, but he was blank, so he went back to the screen.

“A good number of you have volunteered for service, but not nearly enough. I am here to tell you that whatever life you have now; it cannot last without your intervention in this war. A good many of you work in professions that we need to support everything we do, but there are still thousands, probably hundreds of thousands who could serve. Those of us who fight are too few. Some of the officers I know want to begin conscription, but I don’t think we need it because I believe those who can, will come forward. Men and women aged between sixteen and sixty, and who are physically fit, come forward. Volunteer to fight beside us, because without you, none of us have a future. What will it be? Keep ducking your duty as a human being, or fight for your future and the future of us all? All those who are able and willing, be sure to notify the captain of whichever vessel you are stationed on, or report to the recruit training camp on Ony. That’s all.”

The transmission stopped, and Lasure appeared before him once again.

“You said you wanted conscription, but you just asked for more volunteers? You know how many times we have done that since we have been here?”

“I don’t want anyone who has been forced into it. I want every man and woman to be a volunteer, and to have a full comprehension of why they are coming forward. If they cannot understand how desperate these times are, then they are no good to us.”

“I fail to see how we’ll get any more volunteers coming forward than before,” replied Lasure.

“I think he might just have done it,” added White.

Lasure turned away for a moment as he received a message and slowly looked back to Taylor. His expression had changed entirely, and whatever he had to say was clearly important.

“What is it, Admiral?”

“We’ve just received intel on a possible location for Erdogan.”

Taylor’s face suddenly turned to immense concentration.

“Where? Give me everything you have got, right now,” he demanded.

“We need to give this some serious thought, Colonel.”

“Just give me what you’ve got!”

Lasure was stunned and a little intimidated.

“This is the number one priority of the human race, Admiral! Send me everything you have, right now. I’ll start getting some teams together, and we’ll be en route within the hour.”

“Colonel, we should…”

“Just get me that information, Admiral!”

With that, he turned and rushed out with Moye at his side, leaving White and Lasure to get on with it. Morris followed on after Taylor but knew better than to stand in his way.

“Colonel, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

“A chance to take down Erdogan? I don’t care how slim it is. That is all I need to know.”

“Colonel, you have been going out there every day, all week. You’ve not been getting enough rest, and losing personnel and resources quicker than they can be replenished. Your luck only goes so far.”

“Just far enough to end Erdogan’s life,” he replied and continued on at a rapid pace.

Moye reached out and grabbed his arm, attempting to stop him in his tracks, but the power Taylor’s Reitech suit had allowed him to brush it off and leave Moye where he stood.

“Colonel Taylor!” he yelled.

Taylor sighed and finally stopped and turned back to the Major.

“What do you want from me, Moye?”

Moye took a deep breath before answering. “I want to see the Colonel Taylor I got to know. I came to trust you because you proved worthy. But you’re getting desperate. You’re running your people thin and hard, and taking unnecessary risks.”

“Unnecessary? Not a single one of my actions has been unnecessary. And I will not stop until I have done what needs to be done.”

“Even if it costs the lives of everyone you know. Even if it costs your own life?”

“Taylor didn’t respond for a moment but then shrugged, as if to admit that it was an acceptable situation.

“You’ve lost yourself, Colonel. Too caught up in revenge to see clearly.”

“Yeah, or maybe now I’ve finally got the focus to get the job done.”

He turned and strode onwards. It wasn’t long before he stepped into a mess hall where he knew he’d find his people getting some chow.

“Colonel?” Silva asked, spotting Taylor enter.

“Assemble the Regiment. We move out in twenty minutes.”

“Silva was speechless for a moment, but he could see Taylor was being serious.”

“All right, Inter-Allied, form up!”

There was no enthusiasm from those sat enjoying a brief moment of peace. But Taylor simply turned and left, trusting in the Sergeant Major to get them up and moving. Morris was waiting outside the mess hall as he made his way outside. Jafar was with him.

“You have found Erdogan?” Jafar asked.

“Maybe. Sounds like a good enough lead to give it a shot.”

“You would follow any lead,” he stated.

Taylor turned and looked at Jafar in surprise.

“Don’t you start as well! We’re going after this son of a bitch, and if it fails or we don’t find him, we’ll pursue the next lead, and the next one after that until we do find him.”

“And when we do?”

“We kill him.”

“How?” Jafar replied plainly.

Taylor looked surprised. “What do you mean, how?”

“Last time we fought Erdogan…we barely survived.”

“Yeah, well that was then, and this is now,” he snapped back.

But Jafar appeared unaffected by his outburst.

“What has changed?” he asked Taylor bluntly.

If it had been anyone else, Taylor knew he would not have given the question a second thought or even considered answering, but this was different. He briefly thought for a moment, but he couldn’t think of a sensible answer.

“I don’t know, maybe my motivation if different. Maybe our situation is more desperate? Maybe…”

He stopped, realising he was grasping at straws.

“I don’t have an answer, all right? Okay, Erdogan scares the shit out of me. He’s two or three times stronger than Demiran. He outclasses us in every way, and worse, he knows it. He doesn’t show the arrogance of those who came before him. I don’t know how to kill him, short of sticking a nuke down his throat.”

“You know his location, yes? Then nuke it.”

“I wish it were that simple.”

“Why is it not?”

“Physical confirmation by eye witnesses that Erdogan is dead is all that will suffice. We can never return to Earth for good unless we know he is dead and buried. And this intel we have is probably bullshit, anyway.”

“And still we go?”

Taylor nodded. “Yes, because there is still some chance it’s him, such a small chance, but one worth risking it for. We drop a nuke and assume he’s dead because of it, and he could just lure us into another trap. I want to see his body with my own eyes.”

“And if this is a trap?”

“I don’t see how.”

“Like you didn’t see how Kelly and the clones were a trap?” asked Morris who had been lurking behind them.

Taylor was silenced. It almost brought him to tears as he thought about what that had cost him. Finally, he shrugged it off and turned to face Morris.

“Honestly I can’t say how I can beat Erdogan, or how any of us can. We’ve trained harder than ever since we last faced him. Maybe we’re up to the task. We’ll find a way because we always do. If you can’t have faith in that, then we have already lost. I believe we can beat Erdogan, and therefore we will.”