"That's a bit of a stretch," Rains grinned.
"Yeah, well, it worked, didn't it?"
Morris took his seat opposite Taylor once more.
"What were the chances of that working?" Taylor asked.
"Do you really want to know?"
Taylor shook his head.
They continued on without further issue. As they made their approach for Meaux from the north, they could see smoke bellowing from parts of the base, and battles still raging on the plains. It was surreal and looked more like a scene from a movie than anything else. They had all been used to being in a battle, not looking onto it from afar.
On approach, they were glad to be noticed this time and asked for identification and guided in to a secure landing zone. It was clear Dupont had wrestled control of the base and the surrounding area back into his hands, but none of them were under any illusions that it wasn't just a short term measure.
Taylor had half expected Dupont to have a greeting party waiting for them to see if he had succeeded in his mission to kill Erdogan. But as they came into land, they could see that despite the number of personnel in the area, none of them were there for them.
"You think the General is gonna be pissed?"
"I couldn't give a damn, Eddie," replied Taylor.
The second they had touched down, Taylor ripped open the door and made a break for Dupont’s headquarters, with Morris close beside him. They stepped inside and found Captain Grey and Lieutenant Ota standing with Dupont, discussing enemy positions. He stopped in surprise, for he had not expected to see any of his own people for some time.
"What are you doing here?" Taylor asked.
"Seems you're not the only one who seemingly ignores his orders when he sees fit," replied Dupont.
"Sir, as soon as we found out where you'd gone, the entire Regiment insisted on following after you. Captain Grey returned to duty as we left and assumed command."
"And you made no attempt to stop the Regiment coming here?"
"No, Sir," he replied curtly.
He couldn't complain. He needed friends right now.
"So you didn't kill Erdogan?" Dupont asked.
"How'd you know that?"
"Come on, Colonel, what do you take me for?"
"It's true. I went for help from Commander Kelly, formerly of the Moon Defence Force, and he opened my eyes a little."
"To what exactly?"
Taylor took in a deep breath because it was hard for him to admit.
"To the fact we have lost Earth, and to continue on fighting is to see the end of us all."
Dupont nodded in agreement, which surprised Taylor.
"You've been thinking the same?"
"Since before you left. I thought we had a chance with you, and it was worth a shot. But I never believed it would ever work."
"Okay. Kelly believes we need to evacuate Earth, and run to fight another day."
He was surprised at Dupont's lack of response, as if it came as no shock to him at all.
"You already had it in mind, didn't you?"
Dupont nodded. "After we narrowly survived the first war, we all knew then that we came close to extinction. A council of key representatives around the World laid out plans for a mass evacuation of the planet."
"And?"
"And certain resources were set aside, plans put into place. Of course, this was before the division of nations we have today. The UEN nations were well involved with these plans."
"Yeah, well, not a lot we can do about that now."
"So tell me about it."
"It's a long story."
"Give me the gist."
Dupont took in a deep breath and looked around his war room. Every single one of the staff was staring at him.
"Follow me," he said to Taylor, "Just you."
The General led him to his private quarters, and he sat down with a groan.
"Review boards were setup to determine how we could leave Earth. How many people we could take, how quickly it could be done, where we would go, and how we could amass the resources to make it happen."
"Okay," replied Taylor.
He was glad to hear a plan was in place, but he was waiting to hear the caveats.
"Evacuating Earth is not like evacuating a city or even a country. It is an event of unimaginable magnitude. The simple fact is we never had the resources to get everyone out, not even close. Our best estimates showed we could transport fifty million people into space."
"Fifty million? That's a tiny fraction of the World’s populace," Taylor replied in shock.
"Yes, and that assumes no variables, such as an aggressive enemy. Many experts estimated that if we tried such as exodus under wartime conditions, as seen in the first war, we could estimate the total number of human beings that would survive and get free of the solar system to be no greater than fifteen million at best."
Taylor's eyes widened at hearing the shocking figures.
"That's...not acceptable."
"You're assuming we have a choice. If we cannot win this war, we must either flee or surrender."
"And if we did surrender? Would the human race survive?"
"Nothing of our experience of the Krys would indicate so. They have sided with some humans so they could win this war, but what do you think will happen once they have control of the planet?"
"So there is no hope?"
"Oh, there is hope, just only for a minority. When these plans were drawn up, they were intended as a means of survival for the human race. That does not in any way attempt to consider the welfare of any individual or collective of people. It's a numbers game, that's all."
"So that's what is being considered?"
Dupont was silent.
"You've already initiated it, haven't you?"
Dupont took in a deep breath. "It has been clear for a couple of days that our chances here were slim."
"And you put this into action, even before you sent me to Munich?"
"Let's get something straight. This is not about my decision, or any other single person. This is a joint programme initiated by surviving governments and their military leaders. I brought you in here to tell you in person because you can already imagine the hysteria it will create."
"Damn right it will."
"And there is nothing we can do about that. The simple aim now is to save as many people as we possibly can."
"And how are we gonna move that sort of number of people?"
"Barges. They have been in construction for several years now at locations all around the World. They are probably the greatest kept secret of our time. Several hundred space worthy transport barges, each with a living capacity of twenty thousand souls."
"How? Where have they been built?"
"Most have been constructed to appear as permanent ground constructions. Many currently have large populations living within them, under the assumption they have been built for such a purpose on Earth."
"And what, we're just expecting to take off and fly off into the distance, just like that?"
"Allied forces will of course provide as much cover to civilian ships as possible to minimise losses. Ultimately, they can only shoot so many of us down once they become swamped."
"That's gambling with millions of lives."
"It's isn't really a gamble when you consider the alternative. I want you to stick around, Taylor. There are still many factors to consider in order to make this operation a success, but you keep it to yourself, okay?"
Dupont got up and led Taylor to the door. Mitch stepped out of the room with a pale distraught face, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Morris and Grey. He carried on past them without a word. Jafar met them as they stepped out of the bunker. He was standing patiently awaiting them. Taylor patted him on the shoulder as he walked past, and the alien turned and continued on beside him.