Nick Thomas - Battle Earth VI

She stepped in close so she could address him privately.

"You really think this can work?" she asked him.

"In all the crazy suicidal plans I have heard and participated in, this has to be the most ridiculous, but we haven't failed or died yet."

"I guess that's hopeless optimism."

"Not hopeless. This has to work, and I'll give it everything to make it happen."

"I wish there was more we could do. It's crazy that with all these ships and all this man power, it's going to come down to what, thirty marines?"

Jones could just hear what she was saying from his position behind Taylor and coughed deliberately at hearing his troops being called marines.

"Captain Jones, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am."

She looked down at his uniform to see he still wore the Parachute Regiment patches and British Union Flag adorning his sleeves. It was clear the insignia was much older and more fatigued than the rest of his attire, and she could tell it had been carried over to every uniform he had worn since the fighting began."

"No, not marines. Does it matter anymore, Navy, Marines, Army, Paras? We're all in the same shit and fighting the same battle. On behalf of the Navy, I extend my gratitude for the sacrifices that you are about to make. Make it home or not, it will never be forgotten."

"Unless we fail, and there will be no one left to remember it," Jones jested.

Bailey could not refrain from smiling. It pleased her to see their spirits were high. Taylor looked around to see Rains and Perez were kitted up and ready to move. They were waiting at the door to their Stallion and overseeing the loading of the nukes.

"Ma'am, we have precious little time."

"Good luck," she said, as she reached out to shake Taylor's hand.

He looked around to the crew who were with her and mechanics to their sides. A sombre tone filled the room. Gone was the eager enthusiasm and momentum to fix the Stallion. The celebrations had already died down as they realised the real trial was about to begin.

"We're doing everything we can do get operational again. If we can assist before this is over, we will," Bailey added.

"Load up! Let's move!"

The platoon rushed to the door, but Taylor stopped as he heard his name screamed from down the corridor Bailey had so recently travelled. Personnel scattered as someone pushed their way through to reach him. His name was screamed once again, and he recognised it instantly. It was Parker. Before she was visible, he turned to Silva with a scornful look.

"I told you to make sure she didn't find out."

"And I did, but you know what she's like."

He shook his head, but he knew the Sergeant Major was right.

Eli broke through the ground and leapt onto him in front of the Admiral without a care for her presence. First she hugged him and then recoiled to confront him.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked.

"Our jobs, and don't go thinking you're going to join us."

"It's suicide, Mitch!"

"Colonel!" Eddie called.

He turned around to see the last of the platoon were getting through the door, and they were ready to go. He looked back to Eli whose eyes could not hide how distraught she felt.

"No, suicide is doing nothing. We have to act and do it now. I'm sorry, but I can't waste another moment."

"No! Mitch!"

He turned and left. She tried to follow, but the Admiral's guards grabbed hold of her and held her back. She began to weep, but she quickly wiped the tears from her face and shrugged off the guards. She turned to make one last appeal to the Admiral.

"Why him? Haven't we given enough? Haven't we sacrificed enough?"

"Taylor is Earth's best hope. Would you rather leave it to a lesser officer?"

She shook her head and knew it was the right, or at least the best course of action, but it didn't make it any easier to accept. The Admiral continued.

"The best thing we can do for him is get this ship operational and stay safe. We still don't know what's out there, and without our comms, we are in serious danger if we are breached. You have a position to guard. I suggest you get back to it, and make sure Taylor has something to come home to."

Her shoulders relaxed as she accepted the situation and stood calmly to watch them leave.

"What chance do you think he has?" she asked Bailey.

The Admiral was accepting the Sergeant's over familiarity, as she knew it was a tough situation to digest.

"Of destroying the K'til or getting back alive?" she replied.

"I do not doubt he will succeed. Taylor is not one to fail. He wasn't born with the ability to fail. The only question is what is the cost of success?"

Bailey had no answer. She knew just as Parker did that Taylor would not hesitate to give up everything to get the job done.

"If anyone can make it back, Mitch can."

Taylor stepped aboard the Stallion and stopped in the doorway to look at her one last time. He then turned to step inside but stopped as he noticed a hastily applied lettering sprayed across the fuselage. It read 'Welcome to Earth you bastards'. It brought a smile to his face, and he knew that only Eddie could have done it. Mitch hit the door close switch and it did nothing. He smiled before cursing.

"Fuck this is gonna be a real barrel of laughs."

He turned around and grabbed the door of the ramp, hauling it shut by hand before clamping the mechanism shut.

"Back to basics, ey Colonel?" asked Blinker.

"Be thankful we have our personal gear. Think back to before the days of Reitech, and you'll appreciate what we do have."

"Yeah, I will when we're blasting back off that big mother fucking ship," he replied with a smirk.

Taylor couldn't doubt he felt any different. He knew the mission had to be done, and he knew he needed to be the one to do it, but now it was finally going ahead he could feel the sickness in his stomach return. The sickness that always came before such a vital mission. The engines roared, and they lifted off from the deck, soaring out towards the exit.

"This isn't the first time Earth has faced an apocalyptic weapon, or the first time I have led the operation to destroy it. We've done it before, and we'll do it again. Let's remind these bastards what happens when you mess with our planet!"

Cheers rang out. It was the first time he had gone into an operation with an almost entirely British force, but there seemed little difference between any of the personnel of Inter-Allied any longer. Silva had a broad grin on his face, the only one of them who did.

"What are you so pleased about?" asked Taylor.

"Honestly, it's hard to say. We're going all in here, no time to regret it any longer."

Taylor still didn't get it, but it was better than the sombre tone that they had left at the dock.

Rains’ Stallion soared out of the Neptune's docking doors just a few metres from the crew who had to open the doors manually. The whole operation felt like a hash job, but it was the best they could muster. Taylor made his way to the cockpit through the cramped cabin. He wished he could have taken the whole Battalion, but with the nukes loaded as well, there was no space left.

"Look at it," said Eddie. "They may have launched that EMP in desperation, but we weren't doing a whole lot better."

Mitch reached the pilot and could now see what he meant. The wreckage of many ships from both sides floated through space, and Eddie had to navigate his way carefully through the debris. Fortunately, it covered their approach to the K'til. It was hard to tell if some ships were still crewed by survivors or not, as both fleets were without power.

"You better hope they still have no power, or this is gonna be one short mission."

"If they knew we were coming, you'd not even have got those words off, Eddie."