“Look at her. The metal has been melted away like it was nothing at all. Gerty is one of the toughest little birds I’ve ever flown, and I’ve flown a few. But that thing, that weapon. We might as well have had paper walls. If it had hit us dead on, none of us would be here to discuss it.”
“It was a damn good bit of flying,” Taylor murmured, attempting to reassure him, “damn lucky flying.”
Rains slowly turned and looked back to Taylor. His face was pale, and he quivered a little as he responded.
“Luck! How many times can we expect to survive by luck? It can’t last forever.”
Taylor stepped up and laid his hand on Eddie’s shoulder.
“Tough day, but not nearly as tough as it could have been. We all came back alive. Take a few hours. Get some food and sack time. The Admiral is finding us bunks, use them.”
Eddie nodded in appreciation and staggered off to do as ordered. Taylor looked around to the others who had gone with him.
“That goes for the rest of you. Get your heads down. Rest, and get some chow. We have a long way ahead of us. I want you ready for anything we have to face!”
None of them moved for a moment.
“Fall out, go!”
They scattered before him, and he was left with Huber and his detail.
“Your people have done some fine work throughout all this, Colonel. Do not think it has gone unnoticed.”
“Appreciated, Sir, but we don’t ask for anything. All we want is to win.”
Huber looked surprised.
“Win? The battle or the war?”
“Everything,” Taylor replied dryly.
With that, he turned and left without as much as a salute to the Admiral or request of leave. Huber did not question it. He felt humbled before the Colonel and knew he would have to rely on him for so many things in the times to come.
Taylor carried on in a weary fashion. Only Morris strode beside him. For a moment he imagined it was Jones walking alongside him, and he turned to make a crack at his British comrade, and then realised it could not be.
“You okay, Colonel?”
Taylor stopped. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to lie down where he stood and sleep. But he turned to Morris, who he knew needed a lesson in being an officer within his unit.
“Being okay isn’t a luxury we can afford, Captain. Being okay is for the civilians to feel while we protect them. While we fight for the survival of our race so that they can go on living. So that there is still a human race left after all this. So, yes, I am okay. I am okay as any man or woman in the Inter-Allied Regiment is entitled to feel. I am glad to have you with us, Captain, but do not forget your duty.”
Taylor turned and left. Morris could not help but feel abandoned and alone. Taylor knew he would, but he was too exhausted to explain it any further. More than that, he knew Morris had a strong will, but not yet strong enough.
He carried onwards. The Washington was roughly familiar to him. He knew where to find the officers’ quarters and made his way there. Somehow he expected to have someone guiding him to his quarters, but it never happened. Finally a Sergeant of the marines approached him.
“Can I help you, Sir?”
“Looking for…where I can call home, I guess.”
“Sir, your unit are back the way you came and port side. Sector 34F.”
He looked surprised and more than a little puzzled. The Sergeant could see it in his face.
“I’m sorry, Sir, but there isn’t any accommodation available in the officers’ quarters at present. We’re already running pretty tight and cycling beds through duty rosters.”
“I…uh…see, Sergeant, thank you. Thirty what was it?”
“34F, Sir, it’s just…”
“I got it, thanks.”
"You okay, Sir?"
He nodded before turning and wandering on. He finally saw a familiar face. Sergeant Silva giving orders to a squad outside the entrance to 34F. He looked as wide-awake and lively as ever.
A good Sergeant Major, thought Taylor.
It was an inspiration to him, too. As he reached Silva, the others were sent off about their duties.
"Colonel, you look like shit."
"Always the charmer," he replied sarcastically, "This our lot?"
"Yes, Sir, temporary quarters for additional marine contingents. Haven't been used in a few years. Hardly luxurious, but we've had a lot worse. I'm chasing the crew to get you your own quarters, but for now you'll have to rough it with the rest of us."
Taylor nodded in appreciation. He could see Silva was working hard to maintain order. He stepped through into the bunkroom and found it was more basic than he expected. It reminded him of the boot camp when he had first joined the Corps. Beds were built into the walls and three high all the way to the ceiling. The space between each column of beds was just a metre wide, and every three beds a cross roads leading to the others either side.
Reitech armour lay piled up on the floors, as it was too bulky to fit in the narrow lockers beside the beds. It wasn't an old vessel, but it was a sign of how much technology and equipment had changed since it had been laid down. Every bunk in sight was taken. Half the marines filling them were asleep; the others were desperately trying to get to the same state. Few had even taken the time to draw the curtains across for privacy. The light was dimmed anyway, so few cared.
Considering how many of them were awake, it was eerily quiet, with just one quiet conversation going on in the distance. He carried on down the line until he stopped on finding a small plaque with his name on it beside one of the beds. He looked around to see it was the only one. The bed had been reserved for him. It was a middle bunk and therefore at waist height, for the lowest lay almost on the deck.
Taylor stowed his rifle in the locker and pulled off his armour. But as he opened the curtain to his bed he stopped in surprise to see someone inside. It was Eli, wide-awake and staring at him.
"And I thought this one had been saved for me?" he asked jokingly.
"Oh, it is, as long as you don't mind sharing."
He climbed into the bunk, but even with Eli on her side, they could only just squeeze in, but he didn't care.
"Time to learn how the rest of us live," she said with a smile.
"Sure beats a muddy trench or some bombed out wreck of a town."
"Got that right."
"And anyway, not like you have had to rough it like this in over a decade, Sergeant."
She only smiled in response and cuddled into his shoulder. Taylor was exhausted and falling asleep with seconds of lying down.
"Do you think we'll ever get home? Do you think we'll ever step foot there again? Stand on real earth and sleep in a proper bed?" she asked.
Taylor at first grumbled and then realised what she had said.
"Damn right we will."
He then nodded off to sleep.
* * *
"They're here! They're here!"
Kelly didn't move or flinch. He knew the enemy was coming and had expected it. The only thing that surprised him was that he was still alive.
"Sir, what the fuck are we gonna do?"
Kelly did not respond.
"Sir!"
Finally, he looked up. It was Doyle; a man who had been with him since it had all began. He turned and looked to Lewis who was sat opposite him in his own home.
"What do we do, Sir?" Doyle asked once again.
"What would you do?"
Doyle was dumbfounded.
"Me?" he answered before a long pause, "Sir, you're the Commander. You are our leader. You must know what to do?"
Kelly shook his head.
"We have to do something," Lewis added.
"We stayed here as to not abandon our home again, but we might as well have gone if we're gonna sit around here and wait to die," said Doyle.