“I couldn’t agree more, Sir. May we speak privately?”
The Admiral turned and led Taylor away into his quarters. They both knew there was a lot to discuss, and that none of it should be done privately. The door shut behind the two of them, and Taylor jumped in before the Admiral had even managed to sit down.
“Sir, what are we doing here? We’ve left our commanding officer out on her ass when we both know trouble is on its way.”
“Colonel Chandra is free to leave Red 1 and return to the fleet whenever she pleases. However, General White ordered her to hold there as long as she can. I cannot order her to do otherwise.”
“But you can help her. If the colony is attacked, she’ll need more troops, supplies and air support.”
“I am sorry, Major, but I will not divide our forces. I cannot commit the whole fleet. I cannot risk leaving Earth exposed through this gate.”
“So what are we to do, sit here until trouble comes our way?”
Huber sat down with a sigh and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, letting Taylor calm down.
“My orders were to hold this position and take a single enemy position if possible. The honest truth is nobody knew what we would find. We have what, ten thousand troops among us? It’s not enough to hold a colony, nor expand any further. General White has returned with news of our victory. He should return with armies in number great enough to continue into the system.”
“And if we can’t hold out that long?”
“Then we will return to Earth, knowing that this was an unrealistic enterprise and that we overstretched ourselves.”
“Meanwhile we’ve still got a few thousand troops on that planet.”
“They’ve got their own transport.”
Taylor was kicking himself inside. He knew how stubborn Chandra could be. He wanted nothing more than to get back on the Deveron and return to Red 1, but it was no longer in his hands.
“Earth’s armies were preparing for this eventuality, Major. We should see reinforcement within a few weeks. Your presence here is reassuring to my crew. You really saved our asses. I suggest you get some rest.”
It wasn’t what Taylor wanted to hear, but he knew there was no arguing with it. There was nothing more to do with himself. It was already evening and watches had been set. He resigned himself to a few drinks in the NAAFI. Jones had beaten him to it. He could see the Captain was even more frustrated by the situation than he was. Mitch took a seat next to him without a word.
“The Colonel, she had those prisoners killed, didn’t she?” he asked.
Taylor glanced in shock. He’d assumed she had kept it secret, particularly after Jones’ time as a prisoner of the creatures.
“It’s okay. I knew. She told me. I just didn’t want you to think we had any secrets.”
Taylor shook his head as he knocked back a drink.
“It was the right thing to do, you know,” Jones carried on.
Taylor was taken aback.
“It was the kindest thing to do. Kept alive, they’d be lab rats for scientists. They’d be poked, prodded, injected with poisons and experimented on, like they did to us.”
“And you don’t think we could have taken prisoners?”
“Maybe someday, but not now. This is a war of uncertainty. Chandra, she showed pity on them and ended their misery.”
Taylor thought Jones had finally overcome his ordeal, but it was clear it still weighed heavily on him.
Perhaps he is right. Taylor thought.
He remembered the squalid and disgusting conditions he had found Jones in so long ago, and imagined what it could have been like.
Would it have been kinder to have been killed there and then, when he was captured? Maybe, but then Jones wouldn’t be here today.
“You think General White will return with the armies we need?” asked Jones.
“How’d you know that’s what he is doing?”
“Oh, come on. This is total war, not a few skirmishes. We all know this opening operation was just a test. The real fighting is yet to come.”
“We should have just destroyed the gateway and be done with it,” muttered Taylor.
“They said it couldn’t be done?”
“Bullshit. I know Reiter, and he could have found a way. They don’t want that gateway destroyed because they see opportunity; politicians and desk jockeys who don’t ever have to carry a rifle and bleed and die to pursue their goals.”
“You really believe that to be the case? You think Earth leaders would risk it all?”
“Of course. Curiosity has got the better of them, and we have to pay the price for that. This war is long from over, years from being over. They say we won the first war, but the truth is it never ended. While that gateway remains, and both our civilisations exist, there can be no peace.”
“I thought I was the cynical one. You’ve made two friends from their race. Why not more?” replied Jones.
“Don’t get me wrong. I am glad to have them, but I think we are a world away from convincing any others to join us. And even if you could, they would never be trusted. Jafar and Tsengal have enough trouble as it is, and they proved themselves to me personally. No, I think that is a unique situation which we will not see repeated anytime soon.”
“Is there no way you could convince the powers that be to close the gateway for good?”
Taylor shook his head and rolled it around. His neck was stiff; he was aching from inactivity.
“Maybe there is a chance if we ever get back home, but what am I? Just a combat officer, not an adviser to Command, or to the President, or to world leaders.”
“No, but you hold more power than you believe. That statue in Paris, it’s of you, you defeating Karadag. It is you people think of when they remember the soldiers who won this war.”
“Soldier? I’ll be a marine for as long as I live.”
“You know what I’m saying. People know your face, and they will listen to what you have to say.”
If indeed Jones was right, Taylor knew it was an immense amount of responsibility being placed on his shoulders to act in ways he had no experience of.
“I will do everything I can when we return home.”
“And you think that will be anytime soon?”
“We either lose here and run for home, or we win and the problem is no longer apparent.”
Jones breathed out a weary sigh.
“You’re just a paragon of positivity this evening.”
The next day they sat around the operations table as they listened to a live report being given by Chandra from Red 1. The distance between them caused a delay in the signal of almost ten seconds, but it was small enough to still communicate live. She stood next to a block of cylinders standing twenty metres high.
“Reiter says this is where the air is coming from. They somehow generate a mix not so different to what we have on earth. They are drawing it from ice lakes far beneath the surface. In fact, they pump enough into the atmosphere to make it tolerable in short doses. He now believes that within the confines of the colony, we should be able to breathe for prolonged periods without concern.”
“What do you define by prolonged periods?”
“Years of breathing this in to cause a problem,” she replied.
Huber rubbed his chin as they all thought about what they were seeing and hearing.
“At every turn the creatures seem more and more like us,” Taylor said.
“Yes. We have also found an interesting few pieces of technology that we have not seen before, on top of the Goliath we encountered. I want to send Doctor Reiter back to the fleet with his findings, so he can continue his work in a safer environment.”
“Affirmative, Colonel. He is more than welcome back aboard the Washington.”
“I’ll have him on his way within a day.”
“Have you any recent sightings of the enemy?” asked Huber.
