Mitch smashed his fist down on the button for the bridge level and prayed it was still operational. To their relief the elevator screeched, the buckled doors scraped on the shaft, but the elevator continued onwards. He looked to Eli to see the relief in her eyes. They both knew that they were very lucky.
When they reached their floor, Taylor had his weapon raised at the ready. He half expected to find trouble the other side of the door, but it failed to open. The mechanism was jammed from where the enemy blast had smashed the doorway. He dropped his rifle so it rested on its sling and placed his right hand on the door. Taylor looked back to check Parker had her rifle ready for whatever lay beyond. She was already well prepared.
Taylor gave the door a hard tug, and the power of his suit ripped it aside, surprising them all. To their relief there was no sign of enemy beyond, only a surprised looking unit of Navy guards. Taylor kicked the other door aside and stepped out.
“Is the bridge clear?” he asked.
“Yes, Sir,” one replied hesitantly.
“Come on!” he shouted to his unit.
They rushed on to the bridge and passed dozens of the sailors. They manned their positions, but he could see they were scared, more so than ever. If there were anywhere to run, he suspected they would have already done so. He rushed onto the bridge to find Huber frantically trying to re-route Ota’s unit. He finished the message and turned to Taylor.
The Admiral’s face was pale. He looked as if he’d aged five years in the process of the battle. He slumped down in a chair by his briefing table and looked at the display screens of the ongoing battle. Taylor stepped up to look at the same monitors and could see wrecks and damaged ships on every screen. Fighters still slugged it out, and the capitol ships pounded each other with their heavy guns.
“Sir, we can’t hold out here any longer. If we don’t leave now, we may never get home.”
Huber didn’t reply.
“Sir, we’re losing the fleet!” yelled Taylor.
The room was silent, and everyone looked to the Major whose yell at the Admiral went unchallenged.
“We’ve given everything we have to give here, but we cannot win.”
Huber looked up and nodded in agreement.
“It is a bitter end to our endeavour.”
“It is.”
Huber turned to his crew.
“Activate the jump gate, and begin our approach.”
Nobody celebrated the news, although they were all glad to be leaving the fight behind. Taylor looked at the display screens again and could see that despite their heavy losses, they had inflicted just as much damage on the enemy fleet. Dozens of enemy ships floated in space as hulks. The bodies of both human and alien crews were scattered throughout the battleground where they had been blown clear of the vessels.
“Give me a damage report,” whispered Huber.
He was so faint they barely heard him.
“Sir, we have damage on fifteen levels. Fifty percent of our guns are damaged or destroyed. Reports of dead on many levels and from alien forces still roaming the ship. It’s a miracle our engines are still operable, Sir.”
He nodded again. It was a morsel of good news amongst a mound of bad.
“Gateway is coming online, Sir.”
“What’s stopping the enemy fleet following us through?” asked Parker.
Taylor turned in surprise to see her there. He thought she’d remained outside with the rest of her platoon. Jafar had somehow pushed through onto the bridge also. No one had dared stop him.
“They will not follow,” he said.
Huber looked up in surprise. He was about to speak but held his tongue as Jafar continued.
“Their purpose here is done. They need to repair and recover from this as much as we do.”
“Indeed,” replied Huber with a sigh. “The glorious Liberty Battlegroup, look at us now. Tail between our legs and almost crippled. All this loss of life, and for what?”
“We could not lie about on Earth and do nothing. We had to know what was out here. We had to try.”
“Gateway is active, Sir!”
“Take us through!”
The engines fired up to full, and they could see the rest of the fleet was doing the same, but the enemy continued to bombard them with a ruthless assault. The crew of the bridge watched and prayed they’d make it through. As they reached the gateway entrance, they saw one of their frigates hit by several pulses, and its engines cut out. It was still moving forward, and they could only hope the momentum was enough to get them through the Gateway in time.
“Almost there. Come on,” Parker whispered.
The Washington passed through the gateway entrance, but the crew said nothing as they waited to see their own Solar System. Seconds later, they burst out into their own lands to a hail of cheers. Those present had survived, and it was worth celebrating.
“Monitor the gateway. As soon the whole fleet is through, then shut it down,” Huber ordered.
“And if they don’t all make it through?”
“They’ve got sixty seconds longer, and then you shut it down, Lieutenant.”
Taylor turned to Parker.
“There must still be Mechs aboard. Spread the word. I want a clear sweep of the entire ship.”
She nodded in return and went to the nearest communication console, only to realise that they now had normal comms back. She lifted the device and passed on Taylor’s orders. The rest of the crew all watched the fleet passing through, but there was no sign of the crippled frigate. Vega turned to the Admiral for confirmation, but he only nodded for the Captain to shut down the gateway. The swirling gateway shut down, and all that was left was the circular hollow structure.
Huber slumped down with his head in his hands. As glad as they all were to have survived, it was a bitter defeat.
“We gave as good as we got,” Taylor said.
“Yes, but that isn’t enough,” replied Huber in a muffled manner. His hands partly covered his mouth. He suddenly looked up to the Major and directly into his eyes.
“Did we have an impact, or have we just condemned Earth to another great war?”
“The war never ended. Those bastards were always coming for us, no matter what. Maybe now those idiots at home will back us with what we need.”
“Sir, we have an incoming transmission from General White. His ship is twenty kilometres out.”
“Put him through.”
A projection came up. The General looked aghast, and they could already tell he had seen the state of the fleet, which was halved in number and badly mauled.
“Admiral Huber, I am sorry to say that my petition had no effect. No one would supply troops for our endeavour.”
“I am sure you did everything you could. But now they’ll have no choice. The enemy is coming for us, whether they like it or not. We lost many valuable lives these past weeks, but not in vain. You’re cleared to board, General.”
White nodded, cutting out the transmission without another word. There was little else to say.
“We’ve got a hell of a fight coming.”
“And finally we have taken them on in space and held our own,” replied Taylor.
“Just about, but we’ll need many more ships and crews if we’re to make a difference the next time they come through that gateway.”
The three sixty-degree viewing display came back online, showing the true extent of the damage to their fleet. Taylor stood in absolute astonishment at what he saw. He was amazed the Trafalgar had even made it through. Large parts of its hull had been torn off, and one of its engines was missing.
He thought back to Chandra. Although he had not been there to see it, he knew she was dead. No one could have survived the onslaught of the vast forces he had seen attacking the planet she held. It was deeply saddening to have lost such a good friend, but all he could now think was at least she could rest in peace.
