Taylor turned to face another but was hit full force in the back of the knee by a baton. The Major stumbled to get to his feet but was thrust with one of the electrified batons and pushed to the ground. He remembered shaking from the voltage before being struck in the head and knocked unconscious.
Taylor awoke in a small pool of his own blood and saliva. He was face down on a hard concrete floor. He rolled onto his side and rubbed his eyes as he tried to regain composure and focus. As he began to get his sight back, he could make out cell bars a metre in front. It was a grim reminder of his incarceration, and he leapt up to his feet. He turned to see several other bloodied soldiers sharing the cell with him. He recognised the brothers, Monty and Blinker.
Opposite them were sat Commander Kelly and three of his troops. They looked up at him but showed no aggression. Despite the pain in his body, he felt remarkably sober. He must have been out for some time.
“How you doing, Major?” asked Blinker.
Taylor turned away from the Commander to look at the two friendly faces.
“Still standing, how long we been here?”
“Few hours,” replied Monty.
“Guess they aren’t too keen on a little friendly disagreement?”
The two brothers chuckled.
“You got us in here, Major,” muttered Kelly. “Think you can get us back out?”
Taylor turned around to see that the MDF Commander was not joking. Blood had dried where it had poured from the man’s mouth. He was stern and confident but not confrontational.
“It was your boy that started this. Striking a superior officer, that’s a serious offence.”
“Ah, hell, what does it matter anymore? We just need to get out of this shithole.”
“It matters to me. We have given everything in this war, and I don’t appreciate having the efforts of my Company brought into question by an officer who wasn’t even here.”
Kelly nodded in agreement.
“Look, I get it. I have seen the reports. I know what you and your people have done.”
“No, you don’t,” interrupted Taylor. “You weren’t there. You think you can have any idea of what we went through by reading a few notes?”
Kelly nodded in agreement once again.
“I get it, Major, I really do. We cannot know what you went through, but we didn’t sit this war out either. We were prisoners in our own colony. We had nowhere to run. We were waking up every day and expecting it to be our last. Do you know what it feels like to live within a siege? When you know that if the defences fail, everyone dies. Every soldier, every civilian, all the children.”
Kelly stopped for a minute to take in a deep breath and calm him. “Our war was no walk in the park is all I am saying.”
“I never said it wasn’t, but I didn’t look for a fight back there,” snapped Taylor.
Taylor turned and paced back across the room.
“I am not saying what Lieutenant Perera did was right. I’m just saying that under such extreme pressure, we don’t always make the best decisions. We’ve lost our home colony and a great deal of our friends. I will discipline him appropriately.”
Taylor strolled over to Monty and took a seat beside him on the hard and uncomfortable bench that ran the length of the wall.
“You should know that I never wanted to leave your colony back then. I wanted to help you, but I had no choice.”
Kelly sighed. “I know. None of us could have foreseen this was the way it was gonna go. Who could have known we would ever have to face such an enemy in our lifetimes? Hell, in our history?”
“We made it though, didn’t we?” replied Taylor. “We’re still standing.”
“True, but many aren’t. All we ever wanted was to be left alone on our colony. We thought the threat upon us came from Earth, from corporations and governments wanting to muscle in on what we had. Never could we have imagined that we’d have to flee our homes.”
“You really like it up there that much? Living in artificial environments?”
“It was our land. Few Earthers ever understood.”
“No, I get it. A man will defend what is his to the very end, no matter how little it may seem in the face of others. But now you have a chance to rebuild your community here on Earth. Hell, there’s certainly some space going free.”
“It’s not a pleasant thought to be filling a space where a population has been exterminated,” he replied.
The cell went silent as they all thought about it for a moment.
“By that thought, we’d never live anywhere. Humans have butchered each other for as long as we have lived, and wherever you are, you stand over bloodied ground.”
“Maybe that’s why we liked the Moon. We started from afresh,” replied Kelly.
Doors opened down the corridor and footsteps approached. Moments later, Commander Phillips appeared with an MP on either side. No one in the cell uttered a word.
“Major Taylor, it seems you are adamant to get back behind bars. Commander Kelly, I was surprised to see your name on the list of those detained during this disturbance.”
“It was a soldier’s disagreement, nothing more.”
“I trust it has now been resolved?”
The two officers nodded in agreement.
“Good. We have seen enough conflict over the last year, so how about we work together from now on? I can put this down to a little too much drink and a one off incident, but Gentlemen, do not let it happen again. The French authorities are trying to rebuild their country, and the last thing they need is trouble. You’re all here to help rebuild, not destroy what’s left.”
“Understood, Sir,” replied Taylor.
“Major Chandra informs me that you are moving out at noon. I have procured release for all of you, on the condition that you will all return immediately to your billets and sleep off this silliness.”
“Much appreciated, Sir. You won’t see any more trouble from us.”
“See that I don’t.”
The MPs stepped forward and opened the doors of the cell. The soldiers sat on both sides of the room sighed as they stood up and worked their aching muscles and joints. Kelly stood before Taylor.
“We don’t blame you for not helping us. You have become famous for your deeds down here to save Earth, but you can’t help some of my lads feeling a little put out.”
“I was only following orders,” replied Taylor.
Kelly nodded. “I know. Sometimes orders are the best thing to do, but not the right thing. I know you have some experience of this.”
Taylor smiled in response, and Phillips laughed at the sentiment. Taylor had breached his orders more than any man could ever expect to get away with.
“You look after yourself, Major,” said Kelly as he strolled out of the cell.
“Go home, Major, enjoy what sleep you can get before dawn.”
Home? He wasn’t sure he had one any longer. The company of Eli seemed to be the comfort and security a home might offer, and it was the best thing he could hope for. He stepped forwards and out of the cell. In the corridor, he found the other doors open and the rest of the troops being released. Eli stood awaiting him with a bruised jaw.
“You just couldn’t stay out of it, could you?” he asked.
She smiled in response.
“Hey, it’s been years. After the battles we’ve been through, it was nice to have a fair fight for a change.”
He threw his arm over her shoulder, and she wrapped hers around his waist. He winced as he felt new bruises on his flank where someone must have kicked him on the ground after he’d been knocked unconscious.
“You okay?” she asked.
“This? It’s nothing.”
She didn’t press him any further. Taylor had been through far worse beatings and didn’t need to be reminded of it. The bloodied soldiers staggered back to their billets. It was a pleasant reminder of some of the good nights out they had enjoyed before the war had begun, but the locals didn’t seem to agree. Civilians continued to pour into the country day and night. Vehicles rolled past that were packed to the roof while others walked back to their homes.