Battle Earth VIII (Book 8) (21 page)

“You won’t die for nothing, Ball. We came here to get the job done, and you better believe we’re gonna do it.”

Ball nodded, but he could no longer speak. He took his last breath and died still pinned to the wall.

“Damn fine soldier, Sir,” said Herbert.

“They all were, everyone we have ever lost.”

“Help, help me,” came a muted call.

They had forgotten about Little, and they could hear him pleading for assistance. They walked back through the dead towards the sound until they found another Mech. The voice was coming from underneath, and they could see Little’s left arm and shield stuck out from beneath the body.

“Help me,” said Taylor.

The two of them got down low and pushed until the creature toppled over to one side and revealed the Private trapped below. His Assegai was embedded in the lifeless creature.

“I’m alive!” he cried ecstatically.

Herbert hauled him to his feet, but the smile was quickly removed when he saw the body of Ball.

“Fuckers, mother fuckers, they killed him!”

Taylor grabbed the Private and shook him until he was silenced.

“We’ve all lost a lot of friends against these bastards, but this isn’t the time to cry over them. Pick up your weapon, and let’s do what we came to do.”

It was a sobering message that the Private reluctantly accepted. He drew out the Assegai and stared at the blue blood dripping down over his gloves.

“I’m gonna kill them all. I’m gonna kill every fucking alien!”

“Then follow me.”

“They must know by now you have made it here and are not aboard the Nassau,” said Herbert.

“Surely. All that remains is the question, can they stop us?”

“Stop us? No one can stop us!” screamed Small.

He was psyched up and ready to kill, just as he needed to be. The main control deck for the defence grid was up ahead, and they stopped on seeing what was guarding it; Elite Krys Mechs, just like Jafar and Tsengal. Their presence sent a chill down Taylor’s spine, for he knew where they go, so do Alien Lords.

Where the hell is Jafar when you need him?
Taylor thought.

“Can we take ‘em?” asked Herbert.

“We don’t have a choice.”

As he said it, a door opened at their flanks, and twenty metres inside were twenty Mechs.

“Oh, shit,” Taylor sighed.

He knew they were done for now, but in that moment Little did something both suicidal and incredible. He raised his shield up and sprinted for the Mechs.

“No!” Taylor hollered.

It was too late.

“Come on, you square headed bastards!” the Private screamed.

As he passed through the door, he punched the release switch. The doors began to shut, and they saw a few flashes as Private Little blew out the control switch and cut the creatures off. Taylor thought he had gone made with bloodlust for the loss of his friend, but he’d also given them the only chance they would get.

Taylor turned to Herbert in surprise, but the Sergeant showed nothing but pride for what his man had done.

Two against two,
Taylor thought to himself,
not bad odds.

The two Krys soldiers wore agile and close fitting armour, just as Jafar and Tsengal had. It was adorned with elaborate silver symbols and detailing. It reminded him of the last time he had seen Demiran; the day he had killed the alien Lord. But these symbols were different. He assumed they must serve a different Lord, and that was a terrifying prospect.

‘Think you can handle this?” he asked Herbert.

The Sergeant didn’t reply, but he looked confident enough it was an answer in itself. The two creatures were armed differently with what appeared to be their own unique weapons. He studied them, and they stepped out into the open room to face off against the two humans.

One carried a pole weapon two metres long, with what looked like an iron ball one end and a double headed axe the other. The other dropped a hollowed out sphere to the floor. It had spikes protruding from every angle and a chain running up to the creature's grip. In its other hand it carried a metre-long curved blade that was glowing from some energy source connected to the alien's suit.

“We get past these bastards, and we’ve got a free run at it. They are all that stands in our way; all that stands in the way of the success of this mission. One of us has to make it through.”

The two creatures simply stood their ground, blocking the path they had to take, and waiting for Taylor and Herbert to come to them. He couldn’t decide which he’d rather fight less because both looked ready to take his head clean off. He turned to Herbert and nodded. It was all that the Sergeant needed to see as confirmation to attack. He jumped towards the pole weapon-wielding alien, firing on full auto as he did.

The alien leapt aside to dodge the rounds and swung the massive weapon around towards Herbert’s legs. The Sergeant jumped at the last moment, but only one leg fully cleared the weapon. The shaft clipped his other leg and sent him into a tumble. His rifle was smashed as he crashed over it, but he landed back on one knee with his hand already on his Assegai.

It was Taylor’s turn now. He went forward but didn’t know quite what to expect from the beast. Then with lightning speed the Mech snapped the chain, and the ball of the weapon came flying directly for his head. He moved his shield over barely in time, and the ball struck the corner taking it clean off. The impact was just enough to divert the weapon over Taylor’s head. But as he continued on, the creature yanked the weapon back, and the ball smashed him in the back, almost taking him off balance.

In that moment, the alien swung the huge curved blade to his right side beyond the reach of his shield. He turned and quickly spun around in time to catch it with his shield and spin past the creature. Sparks flew from the shield, but the sword had cut halfway through his armour.

Shit!

He now stood three metres from the creature and knew he had to close the distance. He circled it, and trying to find some way past the chain weapon that wouldn’t see him cleaved in two by the sword. He heard beside him the clash of weapons as Herbert went forward. He had to rely on the Sergeant to take on the other; he was having a hard enough time against the one he was fighting.

Before he could think any longer, the ball came at him once again. He leapt aside and narrowly avoided it, but on the return it lashed around his shield, and the creature launched him through the air. He crashed into a wall and felt the wind knocked out of him.

That's it! I've had enough.

He got back up, holding the shield forward, and slipped his Assegai into his shield grip without the creature being able to see.

He circled the creature and waited for it to yank the chain back to throw at him once again. As it did, he moved his shield aside and drew his pistol like a gunslinger, firing three shots from the hip. Two of them struck the chain when it was at the moment of changing direction. It split apart and the bladed sphere was launched back across the room and embedded in the wall. Taylor smiled at his ingenuity and fine shooting, but the creature cried like a banshee, rushed at him and swung a quick and strong vertical strike. He dodged the blade that took a heavy slice into the floor, but a second later it was coming at him again.

He took the impact with his shield, and the blade carved in thirty centimetres, stopping just millimetres from his arm. This was his chance. With the blade embedded, he twisted the shield and levered it from the creature's grip. Simultaneously, he struck at the cable to the power source of the weapon with his Assegai and severed it from the creature's suit.

It worked, but the alien backhanded him a moment later. He was thrown to the ground, and the shield was tossed aside. The alien was unarmed now but came at him viciously. First it stamped down at him, but he rolled out of the way and back onto one knee, but a second kicked launched him through the air and against a wall. He was at least on his feet now.

“Come on, you ugly son of a bitch!” he shouted.

The alien did just that and rushed towards him, swinging a furious horizontal strike at him. The alien's anger was its undoing. He cool-headedly waited for the perfect moment, jumped over the attack, and took hold of the alien's neck. He rolled over and snapped the creature over onto its back. Instantly, and before it could recover, he drove his Assegai down into its chest. It let out a shriek in agony and punched him hard in the face. Taylor recoiled back and watched in amazement. The creature leapt back to its feet, pulled the weapon out, and tossed it aside.

“Die already,” he muttered.

He had nothing left now. The beast came for him with a hammer blow from above. He raised his arm to parry, but the weight of the blow shook his legs, fortunately not enough to make him fall. He punched with all his strength to the gushing open wound, and the beast fell back, cupping it in agony.

Taylor looked around for a weapon and noticed the bladed ball in the wall with much of the chain still attached. He grabbed the chain and ripped it out. It was the closest he’d had to holding a football since college and gave him a great idea. He launched it up and over the beast as it came at him, and then yanked the chain back. The weapon smashed into the back of the alien’s head and dug in deep. It was dead at last and tumbled down to the floor.

With a sigh of relief, he looked over to Herbert. He was on one knee with his attacker standing over him. Both had a grip on the huge pole weapon the creature used.

“Right, you bastard,” Taylor said.

He picked up his blood soaked Assegai, rushed at the creature, and drove it deep up into its rib cage. It swung around to get a hold of him, but he ducked under and stabbed again and again until it slumped dead. He offered out his hand to the Sergeant who was battered and bloody but still breathing.

“Time to end this,” he stated.

The Sergeant gladly took his offer and was hauled to his feet. Taylor hit the button entry to the room they had fought so hard to reach, half expecting to find an army awaiting them, but there was no one.

“We’re in luck,” he said.

It was hard for either of them to believe, but they didn’t want to question it. There were screens all around the room, showing both the interior and exterior of the ship. The very middle screen had all the ground targets programmed in, including over a dozen capitol cities.”

“My God,” Herbert said, “they were really going to do it.”

“Colonel Taylor,” said a deep and booming voice behind them. They both spun around with their weapons raised as their pulses pounded. An alien Lord stood before them who looked not unlike Demiran. His armour glistened as if lights shining on diamonds. Spikes protruded from every joint, but he not carry a weapon.

Before another word could be said, Taylor threw his Assegai for the alien’s head. To his surprise it made no attempt to move. The blade passed through with no resistance or effect, striking a monitor behind the creature.

“It’s a hologram,” said Herbert.

Thank God,
Taylor thought.

Neither of them had the strength to fight such an opponent.

“What do you want?”

“The question is what do you want?” he responded.

Great, an alien who speaks in fucking riddles. Now I get to be bored to death, too.

Taylor glanced at Herbert, knowing they must stay focused.

“You know what to do. Deactivate all weapon systems.”

The Sergeant quickly complied and went for the main console.

“You have a choice, Colonel. Save millions of people, or save your friends.”

Taylor didn’t want to hear anymore of it, but the subject matter was one he could not ignore.

“All right, you ugly bastard. Quit beating about the bush, and say your piece.”

In all honesty, he was terrified of the alien Lord's presence, as two had come close to killing him before, but he would not admit it or show fear in the face of another.

“I am Erdogan, and I have come to do what my counterparts could not.”

Taylor knew the name, and he knew what that meant. The most powerful of the Krys Lords was here.