Battle Beyond Earth: Insurrection (2 page)

"This is as far as I can take you, good luck."

"From now on, as far as the comms are concerned, you talk as if we're a maintenance crew aboard one of those crippled ships out there. Anyone who intercepts our signals won't give it a second thought. Remember that, okay?"

They all nodded in agreement. Taylor hit the switch that lowered his visor, and it locked down under his chin. It was so close fitting his nose was almost touching the Perspex. The overlapping plates were in direct contact with his neck, and he felt them dig in slightly as he moved his neck from side to side. It was a claustrophobic, but he appreciated the dexterity and slimline design. He checked around to see that everyone was ready, but Irala had already done so, and the cabin began to depressurise. He felt the weightlessness, but his boots soon detected the shift and clamped down onto the floor to hold him in place.

He took a step forward to the door and marvelled at the horror before him. The imposing enemy vessel filled their view, and he could not help but feel exposed. He expected to be hit by a hail of gunfire at any moment.

"Would be a nice sight... if they weren't, you know, the enemy," stated Jones.

Taylor sighed.

"What's up?" Alita asked.

"Why, oh why, is it always me? Always me volunteering to get my head blown off?"

"Because nobody else ever does."

He turned to see that she was not being sarcastic as he would be. She said it with a sense of pride, and that instantly made him feel more confident about the whole situation. He looked down at the console on his arm. Twenty-five minutes left. He reached around for his suppressor and locked it onto the barrel shroud of his rifle; the others followed suit.

"Remember, only short bursts or the baffles will be fried," added Jones.

"Yep, can't waste any more time. You good to go?" asked Taylor.

He nodded, gritting his teeth as he looked at the monstrous vessel they faced. That was enough for Taylor. He pushed off from the doorway, using only a short boost on his suit. It was enough to put him on course. Alita zoomed up beside him with a small amount of forward thrust to match his speed.

"You confident we can make this happen?"

"Of course. Done it enough times before."

"Really?" she asked in doubt, "This big a job?"

"Haven't you read his file? No job is too big."

"Once again, kissing ass, hey, Captain?"

Jones smiled, but could see it settled the rest of them, including Alita.

Taylor couldn't help but feel sentimental. Once again, he was going into combat with a Jones and the woman he loved. Charlie and Eli were always in the back of his mind, and he would give anything to have them back. For a moment he fell into a hazy dreamlike state and imagined it was in fact those two beside him. They might as well have been, for it felt like he had done this hundreds of times before.

"You okay?" a voice asked him.

It sounded like Eli, but he knew it couldn't be. He looked over to see Alita assessing him as they still soared towards the Nakbe. He looked at her for a few seconds in silence before finally snapping out of it, and nodded in response. As he did so, he noticed they were passing an enemy ship of frigate size and one of the support fleet for the Nakbe. They could only hope they would not be spotted passing through space as nothing more than a few small speckles of debris.

They all knew nobody would be crazy enough to attempt such a seemingly futile and dangerous assault, and yet that was exactly why it could work. No one would say it, though. Taylor pointed for Jones to break off and head to the aft of the vessel.

"Let me know when you've got things under control."

The two groups separated. Taylor looked around; it was just the seven of them now.

Seven to take down the most powerful ship in the Alliance.

It brought a smile to his face. It was a challenge allowed him to take his mind away from the greater threat of the Morohta, or the loss he still felt for the ones he had left behind. He activated his boosters and rotated so that he was approaching the hull feet first, using the power to slow pace rapidly. He landed gently on a flat section of the hull, and his boots immediately latched on to hold him in place. The others landed smoothly around him. He sighed in relief that they had made it, and then looked at the time once again. He pressed a button, and it brought up map information of their position in relation to detailed diagrams of the hull.

Taylor led the small group onwards for thirty metres and stopped. The surface was flush and appeared no different to any other armoured section of the hull, but he knew otherwise, as the diagram showed. He pointed to Antos and gave him a thumbs-up to Babacan who was carrying a huge device on his back that weighed more than any man. It was a signal jammer, and the alien responded with a nod. Alita knelt down at the point Taylor had found and pulled out a small module from her equipment. She pressed a few keys, and a previously invisible hatch popped open.

She looked up at him, surprised it had even worked, but Taylor didn't waste any time. He jumped in to find themselves in a decompression room. Alita sealed the door behind them. They were shoulder to shoulder in the confined space with no room to move at all. Babacan was hunched down, for he could not even stand up with the limited headroom. The feeling of weightlessness faded, and Taylor saw his console was reading an oxygen and breathable environment. He released his visor. It unlocked and retracted back into his helmet. It was a relief to have it off his face.

"Damn they really are little fuckers," he joked, looking at the hunched down Babacan and felt his helmet brushing the ceiling. He pointed to the door that would lead into the belly of the vessel.

"Once we go through that door, we do not stop. It doesn't matter what happens, who gets hurt, we find a dozen enemy combatants, or even two hundred. A lot of people are relying on us today. More than any of you can imagine. You thought the mission to destroy the hub was the most important one you had ever undertaken? Forget it, this is all that matters now. So follow me, and don't stop, not for anyone or anything, you got it?"

They didn't need to say a word. He opened the door and stepped out first into a three metre wide corridor. He didn't hesitate or cautiously peer around into the room they were heading. Whatever was out there, it wouldn't change his course of action. He leapt out and moved forward at a steady jog, his rifle held ready to take aim in a split second. Like everything he had ever seen of Cholan decor, it was lavish and garish in every way; an excess and decadence Taylor just didn't understand.

There was no sign of clutter in sight, or in fact equipment, personnel, nothing. They were in a corridor that could just as well have led to the entrance of a palace. They had not seen a single exit yet, either.

"What do they even do with all this space?"

"If you wanted to make a statement, wouldn't you want the biggest ship in the Alliance?"

Taylor shook his head, but he knew Alita was right.

"I bet they don't have even have half the crew or marines you would want for this size of vessel," added Alita.

"We can only hope," replied Taylor.

His voice faded out as he noticed a bend up ahead and went on in silence. He took the turn with his rifle still held up ready to fire. As he did, he found two Cholan crewmembers approaching. They appeared unarmed and carried tool boxes in both hands. But he did not hesitate; he double tapped both of them in the centre body and rushed on past. He looked down just for a split second to check they were dead. Alita felt bad for them, but she knew Taylor had no choice.

Taylor checked the map displayed on his console for just a second as they reached an intersection, and he veered off towards the bridge. They came face to face with six Cholan marines. They were armed with carbines and wore body armour over just their torsos and tall ceremonial looking Shako hats on their heads. The hats were lavishly decorated and excessively large in some attempt to make them look bigger and more imposing. But to Taylor they looked like toy soldiers. He opened fired with a three-shot burst at the first of them while still moving forward at a jogging pace.

The powerful rifle rounds hit the marine's weapon and armour, penetrating without any resistance at all. Riddled with bullets, the Cholan dropped lifelessly to the deck. Alita opened fire, and they each cut down another two of the marines, but the last of them managed to bring his carbine to bear and in a panic held the trigger down. An uncontrolled burst of fire landed all around them, and Taylor felt the impact of one of the shots on his abdomen, though his armour easily passed off the impact. Both he and Alita riddled the last marine with bullets, but they knew the cat was out of the bag.

"That's not good," said Taylor. He stopped for just a moment and waited in silence. A seemingly long and painful ten seconds went by as they waited for some kind of response. For a moment they could all hope and believe they had got away with it. That the gunfire had gone unnoticed, but it was not to be. The lights began to strobe and alarms rang out, and they knew the game was up.

"Come on, let's move it!" Taylor yelled.

He leapt into action and ran forward at twice the pace of before, with no care in the world or fear of danger at all. The others could only follow after him in amazement.

"Give it a few minutes, and the whole ship will be shut down," said Alita.

"Then we better haul ass!" Taylor hissed.

He hit a button on his console, and his shield ignited and lit up. He knew stealth was no longer of use, but he didn't have a second to waste removing the suppressor from his rifle. There was a doorway up ahead, and two crewmembers were hastily attempting to close it manually. The electronics had failed, and it had stopped halfway. There were several more Cholans behind them. He fired at the first and hit him with two shots to the head, and he was thrown through the doorway.

The other crewmember ducked back behind the doorway. A few seconds later, his sidearm was thrust through the opening and was firing wildly. Shots ricocheted around them. Amazingly, one managed to strike Taylor's shield immediately in front of his face. He rushed to the doorway and pushed his shield up against the opening and stopped to pull a grenade from his webbing, but Babacan didn't stop. The Krys marine ran into the broken door at full speed. It barely slowed his pace as he smashed through and flattened the Cholan on the other side.

Gunfire rang out as he fired at another, and then swung his rifle around and smashed the barrel onto the next Cholan, crushing his skull with the power of the impact and throwing him into the sidewall. The last two turned and ran, but Taylor fired two shots into each of their backs, and they slumped and slid to a halt. Alita shook her head in dismay. It was like gunning children down. They could do nothing against the armour and strength of their team, and yet it had to be done.

They continued on and found themselves in a broad and unnecessarily high ceiling room. It was the approach to the bridge and adorned with jewels and crystal chandeliers. It appeared more akin to a historic palace than a warship. Over thirty Cholan marines were dug in around an improvised barricade up ahead, almost a hundred metres along the lavish and utterly useless corridor. The others formed up beside Taylor in what would have been a neat line, were it not for Babacan towering over them.

Nobody moved, no weapons fired, and no one spoke a word at either end as each side studied the other. Taylor pressed a key on his console, and a small lens slid down over his one eye, providing a telescopic image. He could see the faces of the Cholan warriors. They were terrified. He pressed another key, and a small microphone lowered from the side of his helmet. As he began to speak, the microphone and tiny speaker elevated his voice so that it echoed down the length of the room for all to hear.

"Lay down your weapons and let us pass! You do not have to die here, and we do not wish to kill you. But if you do not do this, you will die."

He took a deep breath, watching them look at one another. Some seemed ready to accept, but one of the officers shook his head, and that kept the others in line. Taylor was disappointed and both sighed and shrugged at the same time. He opened the ports to the single use charges mounted in his shoulder armour, and the others followed suit.

"Let's do this!"

He fired the charges. They soared the length of the corridor and ignited inside the barricades. They were followed by many more as all of them unloaded. Cholan bodies were thrown out over the barricade as they were hit by the salvo. It went silent, and then all they heard were the faint echoes of the wounded crying out in agony.

"Last chance!" yelled Taylor, "Lay down your weapons!"