Free Battle Earth: 11 by Nick S. Thomas

hand down on Taylor's shoulder in a friendly fashion.
    "You really are crazy, Colonel, but perhaps just the right sought of crazy for this war."
    He'd made a friend there, and he knew how valuable that was.
    "I always thought you were an arrogant son of a bitch, but now I get it," added Moye, "Your way isn't my way, but I understand it. Were there a bar nearby, I'd happily buy you a drink."
    "We'll sure find something."
    But Taylor was distracted, thinking of his own unit and those he had fought beside for so many years. And Eli.
    "How long until we reach the surface?" he asked Lasure.
    "We are still conducting running repairs and limping her all the way. We are going to have to save much of our power for the descent into the atmosphere. Maybe we'll be there in an hour."
    It felt like an age to wait, but that was all he could do now, when he suddenly thought about why he came aboard in the first place.
    "Got to be Mechs still aboard, Moye, and we need to flush them out."
    "Relax, Colonel, we already have our marines doing that very task."
    Lasure turned back as he heard the comment.
    "Yes, and you've shown yourself more than capable of defending the bridge. If it would be agreeable to you, Colonel, we'd all feel a lot safer if you watched over us until we reached the surface."
    He agreed to do so, understanding the Captain was in fact suggesting he rested. He took a seat on the floor, propping himself against the wall near the blast door and waited. It felt like a long haul to reach the planet, and as they finally made their descent, he stood next to the Captain, looking at the display screens of the grounded fleet they were approaching. Most had made it before them, and it was a shattered fleet.
    "It'll take us months to get these ships up and running again, if at all," said Lasure.
    "Erdogan suffered at least as much as we did. I think we've bought ourselves more than enough time to prepare for the next move."
    "Next move?" Moye asked, "Isn't this the sign that we're staying and making a life for ourselves here?"
    "I don't know about any of you, but I won't settle down anywhere, knowing that bastard sits atop a throne over our world. I will not stop. I will not stop fighting and trying to get back home. Nothing will stop me but death."
    "And if that's what you find?"
    "Well, then better I died trying, Major, than lived in exile out here."
    "Do you regret leaving Earth?"
    He had to think about it for a few moments. It was something he'd thought about often and could still not make up his mind.
    "Yes and no. I regret leaving so many of our own kind down there, and I can only pray they have somehow made it, although I don't see how. But how could we have ever won down there? Now with allies, we might stand some hope, but alone, we were defeated."
    They could hear the ship's structure creaking under the strain of the entrance into the atmosphere, and it shook so violently Taylor wondered if they'd even make it to the surface alive.
    "Never did much like flying."
    "Then perhaps you should not have joined the marines."
    "Well, we can't always get what we want."
    The ship reached the surface and put down on an empty plain of desert with twenty-five other ships of the human fleet. Their alien allies were nowhere to be seen. As the landing ramp went down, Taylor was the first one striding down it and finally felt the earth beneath his feet. It was a relief.
    "Taylor!" a voice cried.
    He turned to see Parker running towards him. It was the most amazing feeling he had felt in weeks. The possibility of loss, and the realisation she was still alive, was overwhelming. She leapt into his arms, and he felt a surge of excitement overcome him.
    "I've looked all over for you, every ship down here. I just kept looking and looking. I knew you couldn't be dead."
    "I saw the Washington go down and my heart sank," he replied.
    "They just came out of nowhere and kept hitting us. Didn't even have much chance to fight back. Before we knew it, the