Time War: Invasion (8 page)

“I had no choice.”

“Of course you did, Corwin. We all did.”

“So what, we try and go through this time zone without affecting a single thing, while trying to reach Villiers?”

“As much as is humanly possible, yes.”

Corwin shook his head.

“Hasn’t it occurred to you that with all these changes, he’s probably more powerful than ever?”

“Maybe, but that is not a reason to not try.”

“So that is our plan?” asked Nylund.

“Seems reasonable. Same as it was before, just as Chas said. We’re here to kill Villiers. The circumstances may have changed drastically, but our mission is more important than ever."

They were all quiet, as they began to digest all that they were experiencing. Hunter broke the silence.

"So whose side we on here, Sarge?"

Corwin laughed. "Well we sure ain't no Nazis, but I am not certain we'll get an awfully warm welcome anywhere, right now."

"Villiers must have some sizeable influence and power to have made this much of an effect on the world, so he won't be easy to reach."

"No, but he also has no idea we are here," added Corwin, "He doesn't know we made it through or that we are coming for him. We must use that."

"But we need to find a way to blend in," replied Beyett.

"Bossan said the Allies are launching an offensive here tonight. We should be able to fit in with them just fine."

"Dressed like this and carrying enemy weapons?"

"I didn't say it was a perfect plan, Nylund, but I'm working on it."

The rest of them began to relax and sat down wherever they could, not as they they'd be staying put for some time. Corwin pulled out a ration bar from his webbing and noted there were only three more left; two days' supply in total. He tore open the packaging and bit off half of the ration in one, chewing down on it with a wince. They never tasted good, but it was sustenance at least.

"Any chance of getting our gear working?" asked Vi.

Beyett shook his head. "Everything's fried. But hang onto it, we may have use for it all yet."

"What, throw it at the enemy?"

Corwin smiled at Porter. They rested for half an hour and contemplated their situation. Beyett stepped over and sat down beside Corwin so they could talk more privately.

"You know that our chances of even surviving a few days in this war are slim?"

Corwin nodded.

"We've been through plenty and come out on top."

"I don't think you appreciate the seriousness of our situation. In fact, I am still struggling to understand it myself. You know this is the kind of theoretical situation I discussed as a student, but never believed could truly happen."

"Yeah, well, life's a bitch sometimes."

Beyett nodded.

"We're never going back, are we?"

Beyett shook his head. "If Villiers made a machine once, then maybe he could do it again, but who knows? Even if we could go back, it would already be a world we would not recognise. Everything has changed too much already."

Corwin said nothing.

"That doesn't bother you?"

Corwin shook his head and smiled as he looked around at the team.

"We've been at this so long this is all the family any of us really have. What does it matter what country or time we are in? This is home to us," he said, pointing at them.

Beyett seemed impressed.

"But tell me this. Seeing as we are now in a time long before any of us were born, can we somehow change events so that we ourselves were simply different, or never born at all?"

Beyett shook his head. "There have been many theories, but I have never been sure what to believe. Honestly, I never gave it a whole lot of thought. Of all the scenarios we could have found ourselves in, this is about the most unlikely I could have imagined."

"But what do you believe would happen?"

Beyett took a deep breath before answering. "I believe we have already been made as we are. If we could travel to some time in between now and our time, yes I'm sure we would find a very different us. But I think we are separated from that timeline now. We exist in this one as if we were born in it. Or at least I hope that to be the case."

"And the alternative?"

"That Villiers could ensure none of us ever existed? Let's not consider that possibility, hey?"

"Nylund got up, strode up to Corwin and stopped before him, expecting some kind of acknowledgement, but Corwin didn't give it.

"Shouldn't we be doing something? We can't waste a whole day."

Corwin looked up at him but sighed. He didn't want to have to explain it but knew he had to.

"There’s plenty of hard work ahead for us, but we must be aware of the dangers that surround us. We must bide our time."

"While Villiers gets away?"

"He will not be within a hundred klicks of here," added Beyett.

"And that is a reason stop, lay down, and do nothing?"

"Nobody is doing nothing," snapped Corwin, "A whole army is right around the corner, and would be all too happy to blow holes in us. Let's not give them that opportunity."

"Army of normals. We are better than that."

"Individually, yes," replied Beyett.

"But you'd be a fool to think we can take on armies by ourselves," said Corwin.

Nylund sighed and turned around to address the rest of them.

"Is this what you want to do? Sit around and wait?"

No one replied.

"Well, I am not one for waiting."

"Sit down!" ordered Corwin.

But Nylund continued.

"The Sergeant may have got us into this mess, but if he's not willing or able to get us out, then maybe it's time someone else did."

"He's still the boss."

"No...he isn't, Vi. That life is gone. Our army, our support, our everything. It’s just us now, twelve idiots with no home, no side, no nothing. Our ranks, our history; none of it counts for shit. I say we get out there and start getting some intel and bust some heads."

Corwin reached forward and kicked Nylund’s legs out from under him. He landed hard on the relatively dry dirt ground. Corwin moved to put a boot onto his chest, but Nylund rolled out the way and jumped nimbly back onto his feet and into a fighting stance.

"I'm still in charge here, so don't you forget it," growled Corwin.

"I say you aren't."

"Come on, enough of this." Beyett stepped up to intervene, but nobody else did.

Porter smiled, as he lay with his back against a tree, just waiting for the blows to start. Hunter was frozen in disbelief and could not find the words to say or make his body move to interfere. Corwin pushed Beyett back.

"No, this has been brewing, so let's get it out here and now. Nylund, you're a cocky son of a bitch who could have led this squad if you'd had the fucking balls to step up and be a man. At least now you've manned up enough to speak your mind."

"All right, Corwin, lets settle this."

He pulled his rifle strap over his head, placing the weapon against the nearest tree, and then took up his fighting stance once again. Corwin approached confidently with his hands held low.

"Ain't nobody gonna stop this?"

"Why should we, Beyett?" Rane asked.

"Not like there is anything else to keep us entertained," added Vi.

Nylund made a quick jab towards Corwin's face, but he voided it and returned an even quicker straight punch of his own. Nylund seemed stunned by the speed, and Corwin's body language was of a man that had already won the fight before it had even begun. Nylund kicked for his leg, but Corwin casually moved it back and went right back at him with a single punch. It struck him square in the face and launched him back until he rocked to a halt, his back impacting with a tree.

"If you want this so bad. If you really want it, then prove it. Your half-hearted attempts at taking over this team are pathetic. Win or lose this; it's time you stepped up, and manned up to be the soldier we all need you to be."

That infuriated Nylund and he came rushing at Corwin with a new found sense of anger and determination. He struck forward with two quick jabs and then leapt with a flying knee, though it did not get high enough to strike Corwin's face, and was instead brushed aside by his body armour.

Corwin locked his arms around Nylund's head, turned and threw him over his back so that he landed face first in the dirt. But he quickly leapt forward and rushed low at Corwin and got a firm grapple around his waist. He lifted him off the ground and carried on until he was smashed hard against a tree. Corwin drove an elbow down onto Nylund's collar, and it was enough shock and pain to release his hold. Corwin shoved him back and delivered a powerful kick into the centre of his body.

The power of the blow caused Nylund to fly back two metres, hitting the ground on his back and sliding to a halt in the dirt. He was in pain but tried to get up, only to find Lecia's foot stamping down on his chest and pinning him to the ground.

"Enough," she said.

Nylund tried to struggle for just a moment, but Lecia raised her hand to reveal her pistol in hand and aimed it right at his face. He stopped in shock and looked into her eyes to see she wasn't fooling around, and he nodded in agreement. She took her foot off and casually walked away as he got up, trying to find some shred of dignity as they all looked at him with a mixture of anger and disappointment. Only Porter was still grinning like an idiot; his sadistic sense of humour only wanted to see more of Nylund’s suffering.

"Don't pity or hate him," said Corwin, "Confidence, pride, ambition, I want it all in each and every one of you. The job lying before us requires nothing less than everything we can be. If you think you can do my job better than I do it, then do something about it, you got that?"

There was agreement, but nobody actually said a word.

"Tonight all hell is going to break loose. Beyett says the operation here was a disaster, but it also should have happened a year ago, so we just don't know what to expect. Either way, there will be a level of panic and mayhem that should allow us to move a little more easily."

"And where will we go?" asked Vi.

Corwin stopped a moment; he hadn't fully worked that out for himself.

"If Beyett is right, then Villiers is working with the Germans, and he must be pretty high up to have implemented such changes. First thing, we find some Germans and beat the facts out of them."

"Porter smiled, and Rane, too, but Tano looked less than impressed.

"Great plan," he added.

"If you can think of a better one, then I'm all ears."

"If you want to stand any chance of getting to Villiers, and he is as big a deal to the Germans as you think he is, and I think you're probably right, you won't be able to get to him by force. You can't get through the whole German army by yourself."

"We can try," Rane joined in.

"Come on, be realistic. If we are going to get to Villiers, we must infiltrate the German forces."

"Infiltrate?" asked Corwin, "We are soldiers, not spies. We don't know the first thing about infiltration. We have no knowledge or back-story to work with. We don't look or sound remotely the part for it. We don't even speak German!"

"I do," he replied with a confident grin.

"When the fuck did you learn that?" asked Vi.

"Probably when you were whoring around," said Harland.

She looked at him in disgust to see there was no humour in his face at all. He genuinely hated her for what she was, and she him for his attitude, but Tano went on.

"I watch, I read, I learn, and I understand far more than you ever can begin to imagine."

Corwin was looking to Beyett for an opinion, and he simply shrugged.

"Okay, so one among us could get away with this, what about the rest of us, Tano?"