Battle Earth: 12 (27 page)

“Erdogan!”

The alien lord turned to Taylor to see that across the arena he was being helped to his feet by Silva. King stood beside them also. All three men were exhausted and bloody. They looked as if they could barely stand, and they were all who now opposed him. Taylor was pale and looked like he was almost dead already.

“Let’s finish this, Erdogan!”

The alien Lord stepped several paces to his right flank and picked up the massive two-handed blade that he had used to such gruesome effect.

He looked to the other two, and both were as weak and badly hurt. Only King still had his shield.

“We can’t win and survive,” he whispered to the other two.

It was clear that Erdogan overheard him and smiled in response. Taylor muttered a few things far quieter and then waited for him to come forward. The three of them stayed close and didn’t make a single step as the alien came storming towards them for one last time.

Taylor took a breath of the air. It was putrid from the sweat and blood all around, but he could still taste the freshness of the air that he knew as home. Time slowed now as he carefully studied everything before him. He could see Erdogan analysing his every move and anticipating where he would go. The alien came at him with a thrust that he knew would drive right through him, and he could see Erdogan preparing his second move. But Taylor did not move. He took the thrust square in the chest. The blade drove deep and touched the back plate of his armour. He dropped to his knees and Erdogan in that one moment was frozen in shock.

Silva thrust quickly into the alien’s chest and drove the blade home. Erdogan tried to draw the blade out, but Taylor took hold of it in one hand, and his left hand in the other, and pulled himself further onto the blade and so locking his opponent in combat. King thrust his Assegai into Erdogan’s flank, and the alien cried out in pain. He let go of his sword with his lead arm and slashed at Silva with his arm-mounted blade. Silva was unable to stop the power of the blow in his weakened state, and it drove down into his neck. Erdogan pulled back the blade, and thrust it into his heart, killing him instantly.

But as he did, Taylor lifted up his Assegai and plunged it down into the chest of Erdogan just below his neck and drove it deep down to the hilt. Erdogan went rigid as the blade struck the internal organs in his body, and he froze as he lost feeling in his spine. Taylor reached for King who helped him to his feet.

The crowd watched in silent amazement as Taylor placed both hands on the blade that had skewed him, and drew it out as blood poured down his armour. Finally, he pulled the blade free. Despite being shaky on his feet, he took the grip in two hands and raised it up over Erdogan’s head.

“I told you I’d kill you before this was over, and I never break a promise.”

He slashed down with the sword and cleaved the alien’s head off with one strike, though the body stayed like a statue before him. He turned and looked out to the crowd to see they were all standing in shock and horror. The humans were clapping and cheering now. Once again they chanted his name, and after a few moments, the alien crowd began to chant it, too.

Taylor’s energy was failing, and he was about to fall when King grabbed his one arm, and Kelly staggered over to support his other side.

“We’ve got to get you a medic now!” King shouted.

Taylor shook his head.

“Too late for that,” he whispered, “There is one last thing I have to do.”

He looked over to Sarik. He was helping Jafar up with his one good hand and had somehow cauterised the joint where he had lost his forearm.

“This can be seen by all?” Taylor asked him.

“This is being shown live to everyone on Earth, and transmitted out to the fleet and into our homelands through the gateway,” he replied.

He nodded before shaking free of those helping him. He slowly staggered back over to Erdogan’s body and lifted up his severed head. He stumbled a few paces as he did so, and Kelly was quick to support him. Taylor lifted up the head to the crowd.

“I have defeated your Lord, and as you as my witnesses, I claim his title, as is my right!”

He coughed out blood as he finished and took in a few deep breaths as he tried to go on.

Kelly wanted to say something, but he could see in Taylor’s eyes that he could not.

“As your leader, I am here to tell you that this war is over! There is no winner. The only losers are all those we have lost fighting all these years. This is my first command as your Lord. My second, is that I appoint Jafar, one of your own, to serve in my stead!”

He shouted and gestured towards Jafar for the wounded alien to join them.

“Jafar has served me well, and he is a credit to your people. This is my decision, and it beyond contestation! There is to be peace!”

Taylor felt his legs go out, and the energy finally leave his body as he fell unconscious.

* * *

“It’s been a week already, there must be some change by now?” Kelly demanded.

“There is. Colonel Taylor is deteriorating. He has massive internal organ damage. We have done what we can, but he is dying,” replied the Doctor.

“Not good enough. You can’t let him die!” Coco said desperately.

They looked in on Taylor who was inside an incubation chamber in intensive care. His life signs were minimal, and there was no sign of him waking up. Twenty of the Inter-Allied were crammed into the room with Coco at their head, and Irala stood beside her.

“Irala, why can’t you do something?”

“I am sorry, but we do not have the ability to save your Colonel,” he replied.

The Doctor continued, “The Colonel is dying, and there is nothing we can do to stop that.”

“Unacceptable,” King said, “You have to find a way. You know who he is, and how important he is. You cannot let him die!”

The Doctor shook his head and wiped his brow, and it was clear to King there was something he was holding back.

“Come on, Doc, spit it out,” said King.

“Nothing we can do now can save him, and he will die in a matter of days, weeks at the most.”

“Okay, so what aren’t you telling us?” Kelly asked.

“The only way that Colonel Taylor can be kept alive to put him on ice.”

“Cryostasis? Nobody has survived it.”

“Not true,” replied the Doctor, “Shortly before the first war, a Korean scientist successfully used experimental cryostasis technology. Her patient survived over a one year period, the only one ever.”

“One patient?” King muttered. He sounded horrified.

“I didn’t say it was a good idea, or one that I would recommend, or is even likely to succeed. But at least with this method, the Colonel has some small chance of life in the future, as opposed to certain death.”

“If this works, when can we wake him up?” Coco asked.

The Doctor looked confused.

“We cannot. We do not have the technology to repair the damage done to his body, but future generations may do. Advances take place in medicine and science everyday.”

“So we might never see him awake ever again?”

“That is correct, Captain King.”

Tears poured down Coco’s face, but she looked to King and Kelly, and both nodded in agreement.

“It’s his only chance,” Kelly stammered.

* * *

Five years later

Coco stood at the window of a shop in Paris watching a news channel. Her five-year old son grasped her hand and stood beside her mesmerised by the screen. It was Taylor’s last battle with Erdogan, heavily edited for the news broadcast. The two of them watched in silence as they listened to the newsreader.

“Today marks five years since the triumphant victory over the Lord Erdogan and marked the first day of the peace that we enjoy today. Above all, that peace must surely be attributed to Colonel Mitch Taylor of the Independent Inter-Allied Regiment. The Colonel’s service was colourful and controversial during is career, and today is a clear sign that his legacy lives on to this day. On this fifth anniversary, a statue to this great hero will be unveiled here in Paris, the site of the epic final battle. Colonel Taylor, whose body still remains mortally wounded and in cryostasis, will be interned today at this memorial site, to forever be protected and watched over by local authorities. That is until what some believe will be the day that advances in technology may once again see the Colonel walk among us. We go live shortly, as Colonel Taylor’s cryostasis chamber will be paraded through the streets to a crowd that seems as much in awe and honour of this hero, as others are to protest his arrival and remind us of his darker days.”

Coco turned and left the screen. She took a bend to see a police line assembled with lines of fans one side of the road and protestors the other. She paced up to the police line and showed her ID. She was quickly let through. She walked several blocks and finally a statue came into view. Twenty metres tall, the statue in the likeness of Taylor stood atop the stone column. He held the head of Erdogan high in one hand and his Assegai in another, in a pose that appeared stolen from Perseus carrying the head of Medusa.

She was shown through crowds of both humans and Krys supporters until finally she reached the front and found the only face she recognised, Kelly. The scar across his face, mouth, and chin were severe and yet worn with pride.

“Coco, come on,” he insisted.

“Thank you,” she replied, “Why aren’t you with the Regiment?”

He shook his head and smiled, “I was too old for all this when the war began. I have outstayed my welcome. And who is this young chap?”

“Charlie,” she replied with a smile.

They heard the volume of voices all around them increase with excitement, and it was clear that Taylor was approaching. They turned and could see the column coming down the long pathway laid out between the crowds. It took ten minutes for them to reach the statue, and Coco was soon reduced to tears. She watched as the troops of the Inter-Allied carried Taylor inside the thick walled base of the statue that was ten metres wide.

“Do you think he will ever live again?” she asked Kelly.

“Taylor is the most remarkable being I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He will come back to us one day. He seems destined to fight for this world. We may have this peace now, but peace never lasts forever. When he is needed, I am sure he will come back.”

They watched the Inter-allied troops lay the chamber down inside the vault of the statue and formed up in front of it. The door shut before them. They each wore the uniforms of the regiments and nations they had come from, and yet they stood together as the force Taylor had made them.

Jafar and Sarik stood off to one side with dozens of Krys representatives. Kelly wrapped an arm around Coco wept uncontrollably.

“He was never going to walk out of this war, was he?” she asked.

Kelly shook his head.

“Taylor was born, bred, and built for that war. His job is done, and we are free and alive. We owe him everything, and maybe one day we will yet be able to thank him. But for now, we can honour him, and do precisely what he fought for. He fought for this world, and our right to live on it. The Battle for Earth is over, and we won.”

As the troops retired, Kelly and Coco stepped up to the base of the statue to read the inscription. It read.

‘Here lies the living body of Colonel Taylor, Hero of Earth.’