Nick Thomas - Battle Earth V

“What? How could they have such information?” asked Chandra.

Huber shook his head in astonishment.

“The plans of the Washington were carefully guarded from the moment the conversion began,” said Huber.

“We have no idea how their technology work,” replied Chandra. “Maybe they have some kind of surveying equipment which mapped out the ship as we arrived.”

“Maybe, or maybe someone is providing the enemy with information,” replied Taylor.

“What?” Huber asked. “Why? Who would do such a thing?”

“It’s a serious allegation,” mused Chandra.

“I don’t know why and wouldn’t like to imagine we had people working with the enemy, but it’s happened in all other wars.”

“Right now, we have no proof or even leads to go on. This isn’t over, but let’s look to the task at hand. Good luck to you.”

Taylor and Chandra sat opposite each other aboard Rains’ Eagle HV as they cautiously approached the space gateway with another eight such craft.

“You really think this thing can fold space?” Eddie asked.

Neither of them answered him for a moment. They stared at each other, trying to make sense of the other’s perspective. Both were curious about the gateway, but they had vastly differing perspectives on what they believed should be done with it. It was the first time they had ever come to a disagreement about the way forward, but there was no ill feeling.

“Guys? What’s the deal?” continued Rains.

“You know as much as us, Eddie!” Taylor answered.

“I doubt that,” he muttered in response.

Chandra looked sympathetically towards Taylor. She could completely understand his desire to end it all there and then, but she also knew they had a responsibility to the future of humanity.

“I don’t want to go on fighting, you know,” she said quietly.

Taylor barely heard what she said, but the few words he caught and the look on her face tallied up.

“I know. Who knows what the right answer is here? When we look back on this in years to come with hindsight, then we’ll know,” he replied.

“Those bastards came close to bringing humanity to extinction. If we let off now and let them come back stronger, do you really believe we could survive? Maybe we’d never see another war in our lifetime, but in another fifty, hundred or two hundred years, that would be the end. Could you go home and back to your old life, knowing we have forsaken the next generations?”

Taylor shook his head. He no longer knew what was the right course of action, but at least he was among friends. He simply smiled in response, and he thought deeper about their conundrum.

We’re still speculating without all the facts, he thought.

“How come they ain’t shooting at us?” asked Rains.

Taylor and Chandra leaned forward to look out of his cockpit. In the depths of their conversation, they had forgotten they were approaching the enemy gateway. Lights still faded in and out around the device, but there was no sign of any opposition to their landing.

“Landing in two!”

They watched as he took them in to what was clearly some sort of a landing bay. It was easily large enough for all of their craft to dock, but only five of Eagles swooped in on the initial wave. None of them could believe they had not yet been fired upon. They passed through the vast cavernous entrance and were beginning to get an understanding of just how vast the structure was.

From a distance, the landing bay looked tiny, but now they could see it was the scale of the gateway that had made it appear so small. The gateway was the size of a substantial moon. As they put down, they noticed the landing bay was completely empty.

“Looks like there’s nobody home,” said Taylor.

“I don’t like it,” replied Chandra.

She turned to Jafar who was sat just a few seats away.

“Where is everyone? Could this vast structure be unmanned?”

“Could be. I have never seen inside one of the gateways, but certainly it is a possibility.”

The craft touched down, and Chandra was quickly out of the door before anyone else. She peered around at the aliens’ docking bay. It appeared uncannily similar to one of their own bays. Most of the structure was made of slab sided metal, and it could only be described as spartan in design and layout.

“I don’t like this at all,” whispered Taylor.

“It’s more than a little creepy. Do you think it’s possible this thing runs itself?” she asked.

“Why not? We have more and more unmanned machines and facilities on Earth. This is probably just a bay for maintenance crews.”

“I’d like to know for certain that we are alone.”

Taylor looked around, remembering quite how much the structure dwarfed them. He peered around for any ways out of the docking facility.

“It could take weeks or even months to search this thing.”

She sighed as she realised he was right.

“Alright, we’ll have to maintain a presence here, though.”

“Agreed.”

Taylor shook his head as he panned around the area.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Just that I was expecting a fight.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

She turned to Captain Jackson.

“I want you to continue to investigate what you can, and keep a constant watch here. Make sure to keep an eye on your oxygen tanks, and refill them from the ‘copters at regular intervals. You’ll be relieved in six hours.”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

Taylor and the Colonel climbed back aboard with Rains and slumped back into their seats. It should have been a relief to them not having to fire a shot, but none of their questions had been answered.

“Back to the Washington, Lieutenant!” Chandra ordered.

“Damn quick visit!” he replied.

“Fleeting certainly.”

“We could have stayed and investigated further,” mused Taylor.

“That’s not our job. We came here to secure the landing area and deal with any hostile forces. We will maintain guard for now, but it’s time for the appropriate experts to take over. What the hell do we know about such things?”

“A damn sight more than most,” he retorted.

Chandra thought about it for a moment and then looked around the docking area again. She shook her head.

“No, experts like Reiter and his people were brought on this mission for a reason. We need to leave it in their hands to make some sense of this… thing.”

There was a brief silence as Taylor tried to understand whether she was marvelling at the technology or disdainful of it.

“To use it or destroy it?” he asked.

“That’s not a decision we can make anymore. We can send in our recommendations, but ultimately, we are here to follow orders.”

“And that’s okay with you?”

“Okay? When have we ever had to like our orders? We will do whatever is decided for us. Now, this appears to be in hand. We can leave it to Jackson. World leaders will want our reports on this without any further delay.”

It was not long before they both sat in Huber’s quarters. The first transmission would still not reach earth for several days, leaving them in an anxious position.

“Acceptable losses and the enemy gateway in our hands. This was as successful as the mission could have hoped to be,” Huber said, but he sounded tired.

Acceptable losses? Taylor thought. He hated the term, but he could see that so did the Admiral.

“What now, Sir?” asked Chandra.

In a few days, Earth will learn of our success here, but we cannot wait for the endless back and forth messages which we must endure this far out. I am sending representatives back to report in person, and that will be you two.”

The two of them were stunned. They were both combat officers. The immediate understanding of the pressure that would be placed on them set in.