Battle Earth X (23 page)

“Remember what I told you, Captain. The individual counts for nothing. They must make their own way home now, or not at all.”

Becker shook his head. “And if those were your people out there? What about you? What if it was you we left out there?”

“Then I’d expect you to put a bullet in my head before you left, to ensure I told the enemy nothing.”

Becker nodded in agreement. He knew it was the case, but it was still painful to accept.

“They saw our every move here, Kelly,” he finally said.

“Yes they did, and all that means is we have to be smarter. We have to predict their next move.”

“And if we can’t?”

“What do you mean can’t? We can do whatever we put our minds to. Even better, we can outthink them, and do you know why?”

Becker shook his head.

“Because they aren’t that smart.”

It brought a smile to Becker’s face, and that was enough. Kelly climbed back into the driver’s seat and continued on.

Five day later.

“Colonel Taylor to the bridge. Colonel Taylor to the bridge.”

Ah, great,
he thought.

“Looks like they’re after your ass once again,” Parker said.

“Aren’t they always?” he jested.

He headed right for the bridge, and Jafar was with him as usual. It was hard to shake the alien.

“Don’t you ever have something you want to do on your own?” Taylor asked as they approached the bridge.

“What is there to do?” he asked, “I live to fight. There is no one to fight, so I serve my duty of protecting you.”

"And that doesn't ever bore you?"

He shook his head.

They reached the bridge to find Huber nowhere to be seen.

"Captain Vega, where is the Admiral?"

"He has requested your presence in his private quarters, Colonel. Just you!" Vega emphasised.

He carried on without Jafar and stepped through into Huber's quarters. He found him slumped at his desk. He looked troubled and exhausted; far from the figure of joy and celebration he had been upon news of the planet discovery.

"What can I do for you, Sir?"

"Taylor. When we found this planet, the only person in the whole damn fleet that was sceptical about it was you. I thought you a fool."

"What is the problem, Sir?"

"Nothing as imminent as an enemy with a rifle, but so many small problems that are mounting to make me...uncomfortable. Perhaps you tempted fate."

"I don't believe in fate, Admiral. That would suggest someone else is pulling my strings, and I don't accept that."

"Is that why you have such a problem with authority?"

"Perhaps, but I have never done anything that is not in the best interests of us all."

"Or what you perceive is our best interests?"

"I can only work on my gut."

Huber smiled. "If it were anyone else, you'd be in long-term stay in my brig, Taylor. And yet no bars seem to hold you back, and no man can ever fully command you. But I will not make the mistake of locking horns with you, as so many before me have. As Admiral of the fleet, I must make use of every asset at my disposal. You're not perfect, Colonel, but you are invaluable."

"Thank you, Sir."

Huber went silent and slipped back into deep thought. Taylor could not help but feel the situation was bizarre.

"Sir?"

He looked up, seemingly surprised and waited for a question.

"The planetary issues you mentioned?"

He nodded, taking a drink of water from the glass beside him and wiping his tired eyes.

"It is not one big problem, more a collection of a great many smaller ones."

"What do you mean, Sir?"

He picked up a tablet device and started scrolling through a list.

"I've got reports of engine failures, sickness among various members of both the civilians and military personnel down there. Sightings of strange things in the nights, screams from marines who say they saw ghosts or dreamed of their death; heavy storms that are destroying equipment. Whatever is going on down there, it's a mess, and a mess I want you to clear up. It's almost as if the planet itself doesn't want us to step foot there."

"Sounds crazy, Sir?"

"Yes it does. But for whatever the reasons are for all this nonsense, I will not risk any substantial deployment until I know what we're dealing with, and why. This may just be a case of fear and uncertainty playing tricks on the mind. There may be a perfectly reasonable answer to it, but I want to know for certain."

"I'll get right on it, Sir."

"Yes, good. And be sure to take your own air supply. Do not breath the air. Do not drink the water or make physical contact with any object. People are going crazy down there, and I don't want you following them."

"What kind of deployment would you have me make?"

"You take enough that you can deal with any kind of trouble that might arise, but not so much you leave this ship undefended."

Great, deliberately vague.

"I'll take a hundred of my people. That will leave you with more than enough, Admiral."

He nodded and waved as if to accept whatever Taylor had to say. Mitch turned to leave when the Admiral made one last passing comment.

"This is a problem I don't need, Taylor. Do whatever you have to do."

Taylor carried on without another word. He found Jafar waiting at the door, with two of the Admiral's guards standing uneasily in front of him.

"Looks like we finally got some real work to do."

"Who do we have to kill?" Jafar asked.

Taylor patted him on the back.

"Nobody I know of, but who knows? You might have an opportunity yet."

An hour later, he stood before the hundred of his own unit that had been assembled. Lieutenants Matthews and Anders, as well as Parker. Three platoons awaited his orders, and Morris stood beside him, knowing nothing more than any other of them.

"You all know by now that we have discovered a planet our experts believe is habitable," he began, "For now we are calling this newly discovered world Atlantis. A fitting name for such a remarkable discovery, if it is indeed what we believe it is."

Many of them seem surprised by his scepticism.

"Don't get me wrong. I want this planet to be all we hoped it to be, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Admiral has had marines and teams of experts on the surface for several days now. They have as yet not met any resistance or enemy presence, but there are many unexplained occurrences that are making people uneasy and scared. We are going there to resolve whatever we have to. I don't know yet what that will mean, but as ever, we improvise and overcome. Any questions?"

No one said a word.

"Lastly, the 50CMG, you have all now trained on it, and we have one per platoon. Tripods will be issued, as well as the modified shields for fireteams."

"Sir?" Watkins asked.

"Yes, Private, what is it?"

"Are you really expecting us to lug those lumps of pig iron about?"

"You’re damn right I am. They're big old beasts, but they also pack a hell of a punch. Next time we come up against some heavy armour, I want to see you punching holes in it, you hear?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Now, Reiter has reduced the weight and size of our 50CMG as much as is possible. We've got shortened barrels and reduced heat shielding. We'll lose a little of the range and accuracy over distance, and they won't stand up to sustained fire over prolonged periods. But they'll at least be a little easier for you to lug about and get into action. Pig iron? I like that. They are a pig to lug about, and that's what we'll call them. Any more questions?"

"What are our intentions when we reach the surface, Sir?" asked Parker, "What are we aiming to achieve?"

Taylor shrugged. "At present, I just don't know enough to say. What I can guarantee is that from what Huber tells me, it is one big cluster fuck. So we'll have to deal with the situation as it unfolds."

"But what is our purpose? Are we there to fight, as security, or what?"

Taylor shrugged once again. "No idea, Matthews, that's for us to find out. You can keep framing the same questions in new ways, but the simple fact is, I don't know any more than I have already told you."

In actual fact, he did, but he didn't want to spook them. The last thing he wanted was for his own people to be infected with the same hysteria he had heard about before they even reached the planet. He wanted them to form their own conclusions, based on their own experiences.

"Well, okay then, load up and move out!"

He watched as Watkins and Abbot headed for the 50CMG and hauled it onto their shoulders. May followed after them with the tripod. It was a clumsy piece of equipment, but he like the thought of having some big guns at his side.

"Really are a pig," muttered Abbot.

Taylor strode aboard the Mercury that awaited him and noted the name on the side, 'Gerty'. He could see from the repairs it was indeed the same ship they had been in for the mission to the space gateway that nearly ended in their deaths. As he stepped inside, he found Rains already in the pilot's seat.

"You got her going again?"

"Yes, Sir, the old girl is back."

"Don't you think the fact she almost killed us first time out is reason enough to leave her on the bench?"

"What are you talking about, Colonel? How many died on that mission?"

"None."

"And how many wounded?"

"None."

"So what you’re saying is she got us all home safe and sound, and she was the only one that got hurt? Sounds like our guardian angel to me."

Taylor shook his head.

"You’re a funny son of a bitch, you know that?"

"Hell, yes I do. You gotta keep smiling, Colonel. Enjoy life while we still have it."

It wasn't long before they were lifting off, and even sooner, they were landing aboard the Valentine. It was almost two days’ journey to Atlantis. Taylor's first glance at the planet was through the cockpit of Gerty. Oceans spanned almost half the world. That alone made it inviting to the human eye.

"Looks familiar, doesn't it?" Rains asked.

He was right. It did look a lot like Earth from afar. But as they passed through the atmosphere, they could see much of the surface was dry craggy land.

"Is that..." started Rains.

They were looking at the layout of a city, and yet only remnants of the foundations remained that told them so.

"A city? Looks like it was a hell of a long time ago."

"So something lived here?"

"Or still does," replied Taylor.

They put down half a kilometre south of the edge of the old city where they found a compound that had been built by the first teams to reach the planet. Nobody came to greet them as they landed, but they could see various personnel about the site. Taylor was first out and looked up at the sky and at the ground all around him. It was not unlike parts of North Africa where he had fought Demiran. He could feel the heat rising from the ground. The rays of light from the sun were so strong; he could feel his eyes stinging from the intensity. He immediately activated the UV filter and dimmed the mask of his helmet.

"Doesn't look half bad," said Parker.

"And yet none of them look to happy to be here," added Lieutenant Anders.

Taylor looked to Jafar for information, but it was clear he had none. He looked up to a guard tower overlooking their landing zone. Even from afar, he could see the body language of the woman on duty. She looked lost and sick. It was a look of loss he would expect to see in a soldier after days of brutal combat.

"What aren't you telling us, Mitch?"

"All I know, Eli, is some strange shit is going down here, and it's our job to find out what."

"So what now?"

"You are to stay on base, Anders, and investigate here. Talk to whoever is in charge, talk to anyone who will do so. Find out whatever you can."

"I am no detective."

"No, you're a problem solver with a gun. Get to it. The rest of us are heading into the remnants of that city. I figure whatever is going on here, it's probably got something to do with that place."

"But what is going on here?"

He ignored Parker’s question.

"Anders, you have your orders. Everyone else, on me."

He carried on walking right out of the base without a word to anyone in it.

"I don't like this at all," said Parker, "We're just wandering around with absolutely no idea what we're doing. What was really our purpose of coming here?"