Battle Earth V (14 page)

Fourteen hours later, he awakened and looked in shock at his watch. It was more sleep than he’d gotten in years, and it was an odd sensation to arise naturally. But within just a few minutes of sitting up, a warning alert blared out from the speaker in the corner of the room. A voice was calling him to the bridge.

“This is finally it.”

The Major hauled on his equipment and rushed to Admiral Huber’s side. He entered the bridge to find Chandra already there, and she didn’t have the recently awoken look he sported.

“Did we wake you, Major?” she asked with a smile.

He looked out to the display screen to see a zoomed in picture of the planet they approached. It was a reddish-orange and appeared dry and rocky. The surface looked jagged and bombarded with space debris, but amongst it all, he could make out the uniformed structures of buildings created by intelligent beings.

“Have your alien friends join us. They may be of help,” ordered Huber.

They all stood and marvelled at the display, trying to imagine how it would look and feel to stand on an alien world. They didn’t have the technology to scan for much in the way of useful information at such a distance, but they could still peer at it through their ship’s telescopes.

Jafar and Tsengal stepped in, and it was clear they had been standing guard outside. They stood and stared for a moment, the same as the rest present.

“What can you tell us about this planet?” asked Huber.

“It is Krycenaean, but not a world we have ever seen.”

Huber turned in surprise. The prospect of not recognising a planet inhabited by your people was truly an unknown concept to the humans, but he could see in their faces, they did not lie. He stayed silent and let them continue to investigate what they could see. Finally Tsengal spoke.

“Neither of us have ever travelled to this world, but it certainly is not an important colony.”

“Not important in terms of life or resources, or what?” asked Chandra.

“I could not say. Only that we have never encountered it.”

Taylor looked to Chandra with the same curious expression Huber displayed. They all wondered if the planet was of little importance to the alien race, or of great importance and kept a secret.

“Whatever it is, we’re heading right for it. If we are going make any progress in this star system, we need to gain some ground.”

“I’m just not sure what is worth fighting for down there,” replied Taylor, looking at the barren landscape.

Huge caverns divided rocky outcrops on a dry scarred surface. As much as they were all curious to set foot on it, the planet looked far from hospitable.

“Would a planet such as that have any kind of defences? What about troops?” asked Huber.

Jafar shrugged his shoulders.

“Never having been there, I do not know.”

“Then I guess we’re going in blind.”

They caught glimpses of movement from the planet and watched as entrances opened on the surface. Small craft poured out towards them.

“I guess we have our answer. Launch fighters! Alert Admiral Uxbridge that we have made contact with the enemy!”

He turned back to Chandra.

“Have your unit ready to go. I don’t think we’ll have too much trouble with this lot, and I don’t want any delay in reaching the surface. Be ready to embark at a moment’s notice.”

Taylor’s eyebrows raised at the dismissive nature of the forces opposing them, and he only hoped Huber’s confidence was founded in fact. Chandra grabbed his arm and led him from the bridge.

“Stay near a comms unit in case we have need of you!” Huber shouted as they left.

The two of them rushed to the armouries. Jafar and Tsengal were close behind.

“Make sure to load re-supply crates aboard all ships and copters. I’ll be damned if we’re going to an alien planet without enough ammunition,” Chandra shouted.

“Still think it’s such a good idea? I mean we won on our own soil, but fighting over the enemy’s own territory is a completely different story.”

“Yes, it is a different story. We’ll give them a taste of the pain and suffering they brought to our world. These creatures are not as all powerful as they believe themselves to be. Their technological advances are quickly being matched, and they cannot withstand the adaptability and will to survive of the human race.”

They arrived at the Deveron’s docking area to find Jones had already assembled the Battalion. It half filled the vast facility. Ryan and his crew were formed up behind them and wearing much of the same equipment.

“Thank you, Captain. At ease!”

She strolled quickly to the centre of the formed up troops.

“Up ahead is an enemy planet. We don’t know what it’s called, and we don’t know what is there. It appears to be a small colony on the fringe of the star system we know as Tau Ceti. It may or may not have strategic value. We are all going into this blind. What I can say for sure is that it’s high time we pushed them back, and it’s time they were made to suffer. Inter-Allied are to be feared by all our enemies. This is our time!”

Cheers rang out, but they quickly went silent as all were unsettled by the uncertainty they faced. The Colonel paced along the line, and she could feel her pulse increase. It was the only thing that would calm her. Just a few minutes later, they heard the ship’s guns open fire.

“Listen to it. That is the sound of payback. Remember when we first faced them two years ago. Remember how scared you were when they rolled into our lands, all guns blazing. That is how they’ll be feeling today, and when they run, we’ll chase them!”

Taylor didn’t much care for Chandra’s bloodlust, but he could understand how it was useful to settle the troops and get them in the right mindset. He looked to Chandra, and she smiled back in response. So close to combat, their own squabbles seemed to melt away, and they both wished they had not wasted such time on them. Eli would never be happy with aliens within their ranks, but she knew she had no say in it. An enemy pulse crashed into the Washington on a floor above them, causing a breach. Blast doors shut down near the entrance to the docking facility as emergency beacons flashed.

“We must be close now!” Chandra shouted out.

She hoped Huber’s confidence was founded, and that they were still on track, but the honest truth was she wasn’t convinced. Taylor leaned in over her shoulder as she paced past him.

“Think we can make it to that planet?” he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders.

“I bloody well hope so.”

They listened for fifteen minutes and stood patiently as the combat raged around them. They could all tell the engines were still roaring and driving them forward to the enemy planet. They took it to be a good sign, but none were sure.

Damn waiting game,
Taylor thought.

Finally, a light repeater flashed on a wired comms line on the wall beside where the Colonel stood. She hit the accept button.

“Colonel Chandra?” It was Huber.

“Yes, Sir.”

“We’ve all but cleared ‘em out. Load up and begin a countdown. You lift off in five minutes.”

“Affirmative, Sir.”

She turned around and quickly barked the orders.

“Go, go, go!”

The assault craft were rapidly approaching the planet the troops had so quickly named Red 1. It hadn’t required a lot of imagination, but it did catch on fast. They were descending on a new colony with little information or intelligence, a fact that worried them all.

         
Many of the troops had piled into the ‘copters, but they had too few to accommodate the Battalion. Taylor and Chandra were staying aboard the Deveron until they hit the ground. They appreciated their situation, as they knew how much safer they would be. The two officers stood in the hallway entrance leading to the main exterior doorway into the ship. Behind them their troops were packed in close. A projection display on the wall every few metres showed their descent and distance.

The enemy planet was still motionless. It appeared dead by all accounts, but they knew it was a deceptive impression.

“We must have ten thousand soldiers with us,” whispered Taylor.

“Thereabouts,” replied Chandra.

“Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd?”

“How so?”

“Striking out in new territory. Ten thousand soldiers are enough to hopefully have an impact, but few enough that a total loss would not be critical.”

She turned and looked in surprise to see Mitch really believed what he was saying. It was a scenario she had not considered.

“And maybe this was just all we could get here. It’s a bloody miracle we have a fleet at all. The Deveron is one of the few ships in the fleet built from the beginning as a Navy Vessel. It’s bloody remarkable what has been put together.”

Mitch knew she could well be right, but he could also hear the hesitation in her voice. He had made her seriously doubt their mission.

“Whatever the intention is, chances are with this mission, it no longer matters. We’re here now, so let’s do what we were born to do.”

They all knew the strategy was doubtful, but they also knew time was not on their side. They could not waste weeks gathering information before making a move. It was all or nothing for the 9
^th
Allied Army, as they had been designated.

“There is no doubt this mission is to test the water and find out if we really can end this in total victory, as we need to,” stated Chandra.

Captain Ryan’s voice came over the tannoy.

“Landing in three minutes!”

It was the signal for them to pull on their helmets in order to protect themselves from whatever conditions they were entering. It was certain they would fine little or no air to breathe where they were heading. Taylor fell into a daze as the video display of the approaching lands captivated him. The next few minutes passed before he knew it, and he snapped out of it only when he felt the tail of the ship dip as they made their final approach.

“This is it!” called Chandra. “Keep sharp, be ready for anything, and remember all the friends we lost to these bastards!”

Grunts of approval rang out down the line, but it was an odd sensation for many to hate the alien race when two stood among them. For many, they no longer saw Jafar and Tsengal as pure aliens but something in between. They had been humanised to the troops of Inter-Allied, whilst the rest of their race were still the faceless brutal killers they had come to know. Taylor looked around to see if the two of them were put out by Chandra’s sentiment, but they were as calm as ever.

The Deveron put down to a smooth and careful landing, despite the fast pace they had made during their descent. The main door prized opened and lowered to the ground as a ramp. The light bouncing off the red surface flooded into the ship, making them all feel a little sick. They could not smell the air or taste it, but the sight of the alien surface was enough to strike fear into them. None of them had ever stepped foot on a planet other than Earth. Chandra hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, and jumped forward.

She landed on a dusty rock hard surface and kept moving forward, looking all around with her rifle at the ready. Taylor was quick to follow at her side. Gravity was lighter than on Earth. The two of them were first off the boat, but their ‘copters had already put down nearby. The surface was still eerily quiet. Deep caverns were up ahead, and several metallic structures protruded just half a metre above the ground.

Taylor wondered for a moment what they were doing there. They had not surveyed the ground. They had little understanding of what might beneath it. Before he could say a word, the Colonel drove forward towards the nearest structure, and the rest of them followed.

“I want a breach here, now,” Chandra ordered through the radios.

Taylor was surprised to hear her voice, as their comms had always been jammed in combat. The demo team leapt forward and laid down magnetic devices that clamped themselves on as they landed.

They all took a knee and awaited the team to do their job. As they waited, they heard another explosion ring out and looked around to see a German infantry unit rush through a breach and vanish below the surface.