Battle Earth VIII (Book 8) (24 page)

He looked around and could see the crew wanted answers from him, but he had none.

“What do we do, Colonel?” asked the XO.

Taylor didn’t even respond; he knew it was over. Another two impacts ripped through the ship, and they were being pulled into the Earth’s atmosphere. They were losing power. They were already dangerously close from when the EMP had first struck.

“We’re going down, mayday, mayday, mayday!”

Taylor didn’t say a word, for he knew there was nothing more he could do. He turned to Parker and wished they could survive it, if only he could have another day with her. The panic of the crew around them came to a silence as the battleship began to burn up in the atmosphere. The fact they now only had the atmosphere to contend with and not Erdogan’s fleet at least brought some relief.

“Escape pods?” Taylor cried out, almost begging.

“We’ve lost half of them, and most of the others haven’t got enough power to launch,” replied the XO.

“Then what do we do?”

“Hope for the best, Colonel. Hope for the best.”

It was the answer he was expecting but not the one he wanted to hear. As they passed through the atmosphere, the camera views all around them showed nothing but flames and chunks of the hull that were torn from the ship. They could see the odd crewmember sucked out from breaches and were at least safe in the knowledge they were at the core of the vessel.

Taylor was sitting on the floor and felt Parker crawl up to him. Tears were streaming from her eyes. It was a horrible sight, worse than anything he had seen that day.

“We’re gonna make it, Mitch. We have to. We can’t die here,” she insisted.

She was the only reason he wanted to live, and that alone was enough for him to get himself to his feet.

“What power do we have left?” he asked.

“Not a lot!” yelled the XO. “Everything we have is going to the landing thrusters to slow our speed.”

“Negative, put all power to the engines, and get our nose up!”

“Sir, we haven’t got enough power to get us back in the air!”

“Just do it!”

“I will not!”

“We cannot slow our speed enough to safely hit the ground, so we need to skim the water,” Taylor said calmly, but with stern authority.

“Skim the water? We’ll hit it like a brick.”

“Raise the bow. All power to engines!”

“This isn’t a copter, Colonel. It’s a battleship. Sir!” he pleaded.

Taylor drew out his pistol, rushed across the bridge, and grabbed the XO by the head. He had no idea if his crazy plan had any chance of working. All he knew is their current trajectory would result in certain death.

“Do it now!” he demanded.

“You’ll kill us all!” cried the XO.

Taylor fired without any hesitation. The bullet passed through the XO’s head and blood sprayed out across the bridge. He went limp and collapsed to the floor. He turned his pistol on the next crewmember he could see.

“Lift the bow, and put all other power to the engines!”

The crew quickly obliged, and they felt the ship soar forward.

There’s life in the old girl yet,
he told himself.

Further warning lights flashed on the flight console, and a voice rang out. “Warning, collision imminent! Warning, collision imminent.”

“No shit,” Taylor muttered to himself.

The bow was beginning to rise, and they had got over the Atlantic, but they were still plummeting like a brick. Taylor told himself they were going to make it. They were going to make it because he wanted another day with Parker, and because he didn’t risk it all not to save her and Jones and all the others.

He turned to look back at her. Parker was sitting against the Captain’s chair and holding on tight. A smile came to her face when she saw him looking back at her. Taylor had felt helpless many times throughout the wars, but never so much as now when he could literally do nothing more to affect their survival.

“I love you, Eli!” he called out, barely loud enough for her to hear.

A moment later they crashed into the ocean and were thrown off their feet. Taylor smashed into the ceiling of the bridge and was just conscious enough to feel the impact as he once again hit the floor. As he felt blood trickle down from his skull, he could only think of the mountain that lay before them. He couldn’t tell if he was dead, dying, or just stunned, but as he passed out, he had one thought.

 
Now we’re in the shit.