Through the next day I assessed signals from the monitoring posts, from groups inside Roma Nova, reports from Regulus in Graz, from the field units mustering by the western border post. But nothing from Miklós. He wasn’t military, but I’d assigned a radio operator to him with firm instructions to report in regularly. By seven in the evening I was pacing back and forward in the signals office until the duty signals officer asked me very politely to sit down or come back later.
I was dozing in a chair when a triple beep came through indicating field traffic. My heart thudded as I leapt up. It could only come from one source. It was only just eleven. All the operators and telegraphists stopped and watched the cypher clerk feed the message into her machine. Nothing but a gentle hum from the unit. I hovered, hands clutched under each armpit. Then the printer started clattering in the deep silence. I didn’t register Volusenia entering the room, but there she was beside me. The printer stopped and a telegraphist leapt up to the printer and tore the print out of the machine. She glanced at it and handed it to me without a word. I felt the gaze of every person in the room on me as I read out the message.
FLASH. Western border post under imperial control. Proceeding Aquae Caesaris. Second horse squad proceeding Castra Lucilla. Farkas
I clamped one hand over my mouth and handed the message to Volusenia with the other. She beckoned to the duty signals officer.
‘Send Lieutenant Junia Sestina the following: execute Phase I Tacita.’
Portable jammers and the ones in our listening posts would disable VHF radios used by the Roma Nova military and the nats. Even if we were only partially successful it would diminish the enemy’s ability to communicate. William had sent us Brown Industries HF transceivers which would work over long distances and were less vulnerable to jamming. One of the first tasks would be to break into the telephone exchanges and throw the output switches from the battery rooms. The telephone system in each locality would shut down very shortly after that and communication to the city would be cut.
Volusenia turned to me. ‘It’ll take the horses a couple of hours to get to Aquae Caesaris and Castra Lucilla. Anything from the Families who live in the west?’
I was visualising Miklós on his black horse, galloping across the fields towards Aquae Caesaris where Mars knew what was waiting for him. I knew he was tough and strong, but I couldn’t bear it if he were injured or worse... I’d always been the one going on operation with him staying behind. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
‘Mitela! Your report, if you please.’ Volusenia’s harsh voice cut through.
‘Sorry, Colonel. I was preoccupied.’ I cleared my throat. ‘Representatives of Aquilia and Sella who have properties west and south of Aquae Caesaris sent messages last week to family members here and confirmed support. We expect to pick up another thirty fighting strength from them. Cornelia, we’ve heard nothing from. We know from when I met Claudia in the caves that her cousin has assumed head of their family and is a member of the Roman National Movement, so that’s a blank. Quirinia phoned her niece – unbelievable the phones were still working. It seems their place only has a small workforce, but—’
‘They’ll fight, don’t worry, Aurelia.’
I spun round. Quirinia stood by the door, her cheeks a little pinker than usual. By her side, Silvia.
‘I have no doubt of that,’ I said. ‘How many do you think your niece can muster?’
‘She couldn’t be specific – about eight or nine – but they have a cache of shotguns and rifles they hid in the sheepfold when all weapons were confiscated. Honestly, Caius is an idiot. How can you run a sheep farm without a firearm of some sort, I ask!’
I smiled. Here we were in the middle of a military invasion and she was concerned about scaring wolves away from her precious sheep. But she was right on every count.
‘We’ve had indications from all the city-based Families, apart from Vara and obviously Tella. They’ll be ready as soon as we broadcast our messages, as will the resistance groups.’ I looked at Volusenia and said in my most neutral voice, ‘I sent Quintus Tellus a message via the Swiss Legation to find and safeguard his young nephew, Conradus. The child was living, if you call it that, at Caius’s villa in the suburbs. I don’t have a clue whether or not my message reached him. If it does, Quintus is not stupid. He’ll know we’re on the way.’
Every single person in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at me. Volusenia looked like thunder, Quirinia gasped, Silvia covered her mouth with her hand. Only the hum of the signals equipment and the odd beep interrupted the silence.
To my surprise Silvia recovered first, came over to me and took my hand.
‘You were right, Aunt Aurelia. Conradus is in a dreadful place at that hateful man’s villa. Uncle Quintus must rescue him.’
‘Do you realise, Major, you have committed an act of treason in time of war as well as breaching the military code?’ Volusenia thundered at me. ‘Contacting any Tella is expressly forbidden by imperial order in council.’
‘Yes and no. It was a political decision, Colonel. I know that we are in the military phase and you are the commander, but these next few days and weeks are not going to be a neat splicing of authorities.’
‘What’s to stop Quintus Tellus giving his brother a warning, or being coerced?’ she barked.
‘You don’t know Quintus, do you?’ I sighed. ‘I’ve tried, but I see I haven’t been able to convince you of the complete, visceral and unremitting hatred between the two of them. Quintus keeps it civil, something that unnerves Caius, but believe me, Quintus would die before he’d give Caius the drip off his nose.’
‘Humph. I know you are the political authority here under Imperatrix Silvia, but if you do anything like that again while I control the operation, I will throw you in the secure room myself.’
I nodded, but said nothing. Silvia pressed my hand in support. Luckily, more field traffic came in and Volusenia was diverted.
‘Centurion Atrius says his column has arrived within striking distance of Aquae Caesaris and is harbouring in the woods to the south. The horse squad set off for the town twenty minutes ago and he’s expecting their signal any minute now. As soon as they’ve neutralised their targets he’ll go in and broadcast his message to the groups there and proceed to secure the town.’
And so it went on. Castra Lucilla fell to the second horse squad. The motorised column followed close behind, drove into the square and broadcast Silvia’s prerecorded message. I could see in my mind’s eye the expressions on people’s faces as they woke; suspicion giving way to disbelief as they realised it wasn’t a dawn raid by a nats squad, but a liberation force. And in my own town. Gods, I’d have given anything to be there.
35
Aquae Caesaris and Castra Lucilla were easy gains. Volusenia would now send a column in a wide circle north of Roma Nova city to race to secure Brancadorum in the east, then a second one south to join up with them.
Now we had to wait.
The signals crew changed shift and Volusenia turned to me.
‘Go and grab some rest, Major.’ She jerked her head in the direction of the door. ‘It’ll be at least four hours before the strike forces reach their new harbour points on the edge of Roma Nova city. Atrius has first to combine his front-line troops with those from the Castra Lucilla force. And I need to know that Brancadorum is secure before we move to the next phase.’
It was good practice, I knew; a tired soldier is a useless soldier, but there wasn’t a hope in Hades I’d sleep.
* * *
A hand on my shoulder, pressing down. I blinked awake.
‘For you, ma’am.’ A telegraphist was waving a printout in my face. I sat up and shook my head. I glanced at my watch; sunrise in barely an hour. When I’d checked just before I’d gone for rest, neither Sergius nor Diana at the monitoring stations had reported any increase in signal traffic. But by now the nats had to be reacting. I swallowed, sat up, dreading what was in the decrypted message.
‘Brancadorum secured. En route for harbour point east of city. Report capture of air cavalry base west of Brancadorum. Military personnel detained and secured. Light casualties. Aquilia.’
I leapt up, laced my boots and rushed out of the door, half running down the stairs and through the hallway to the signals office.
Junia looked up from the desk and grinned.
‘I thought you’d be pleased to read that.’
‘Pleased! That’s bloody wonderful! Have you told Volusenia?’
‘She only went for rest a couple of hours ago, so I didn’t want to disturb her.’
‘Quite correct. Okay, send back to Aquilia to advise us as soon as any women former air force personnel arrive. At least the fighter jets won’t launch now, thank Mars. That would have been disastrous. But we need those damned helos up in the air.’ This part of Volusenia’s plan was extremely risky. Securing Roma Nova’s military air force base had been crucial. They would have made mincemeat out of our convoys. Making contact with the women former helicopter pilots had been difficult; asking them to take to the air after a gap of over a year in the face of Caius’s brutal regulations was tantamount to a sacrifice. If we failed, they’d be executed out of hand. But if we succeeded we’d have some air cover and fast transport. At the last report, Volusenia had eight affirmatives and two maybes, plus three air traffic controllers and ground and safety crew. I sent a silent prayer up to both Mars and Mercury. The only problem would be dodging artillery launched from the bases around Roma Nova city.
A young telegraphist was by my elbow.
‘The cypher clerk’s compliments, ma’am. She said you or the colonel should read this.’
I took the sheet, read it and glanced at Junia. Gods! I dropped down onto the nearest seat.
‘What is it?’ she said.
‘Atrius reports over a hundred people have turned up at the harbour area west of the city, some with weapons, some with knives, some as they are. We anticipated an element of this but not this many people this quickly. His unit’s cover is blown, obviously.’ I took a depth breath. ‘Check back with Aquilia,’ I ordered. ‘Has she had the same?’
Within a second, Junia was dictating a message to the telegraphist who typed, logged it and passed it to the cypher clerk. As I watched these young volunteers going about their tasks as quietly and effectively as any regular military unit, my heart warmed. It was their dedication and hard work that would win us this war. It was up to Volusenia and me to give them the leadership they deserved.
A triple beep sounded.
Brancadorum airbase operational. Civilian irregulars arrived, est. 200–250, includes female former Praetorians and vigiles. Integrated into ground forces as tasked units, principally security and patrol. Ground units proceeding northern border post and northern and eastern harbour areas. Await your further orders. Aquilia.
I covered my mouth with my hand. It had almost been too easy. Roma Nova was only a small country, but to have covered so much territory and achieved so much in twenty-four hours!
A mug of coffee was thrust into my hand.
‘Having a good war while I’ve been asleep?’ Volusenia’s voice sounded as gruff as usual, but I could hear the pleasure in it.
‘Bloody marvellous one!’ I grinned at her.
‘So people have risen, as we suspected they would. What field strength do we have?’
Junia handed me a sheet with the figures. ‘We started with just under two thousand exiles. With the locals who’ve joined us, we are now at three thousand five hundred on closest estimate. That’s not counting the resistance groups in the city and anybody they’ve recruited. Vibianus has dispatched civilian teams to Castra Lucilla and Aquae Caesaris to take over, or at least supervise, the local curia staff running the towns. They should arrive tomorrow morning. He’s organising one for Brancadorum but is fretting about the safety of the journey there. I’ve reassured him and said I’d send a fully armed escort.’
‘Will putting these teams in work?’ Volusenia sounded sceptical.
‘It depends how far the local government employees have gone over to Caius,’ I replied. ‘But we can’t leave a power vacuum anywhere, at any level. Just look at history for that mistake.’
‘Well, you’re the politician, you know best, but they’ll have guards, certainly at first.’
‘Prudent, but tell them to keep in the background. People will be jittery.’ They wouldn’t be the only ones. As I sipped my coffee, I wondered where the hell Miklós was. I stepped forward to the bank of screens and radio equipment where the duty signals officer was talking in a low voice to one of the operators.
‘Anything from the horse squads?’ I said.
‘No, sorry, ma’am. We don’t have a regular sched for them but I’ll send a message to all of them asking for their status and location.’
I nodded and gave her a tight smile.
Volusenia and I stood back for a few minutes, each with her own thoughts. I knew what was coming. I chewed my lip while I thought about it. Dear Juno, I was more anxious about this than anything I’d done in the past few days.
Volusenia pulled me to one side. ‘We have the smaller towns and the airbase, and our troops are in the harbour points round the city. Now we’re ready to execute the next phase. Time to make that call.’
When Silvia had suggested the idea, I’d politely shelved it. But now we were about to gamble the whole operation on a teenager’s suggestion.
I nodded, grasped the handset and punched in the number. The long ringtone seemed to repeat incessantly. But I knew it was his direct line.
‘Yes?’
‘Salve, magister militum,’ I said in the firmest voice I could muster, but it came out shriller than I expected. I cleared my throat.
‘Who in Hades is that?’
‘Come, come, magister, don’t you recognise my voice?’
‘Aurelia? Aurelia Mitela?’ A pause. ‘Pluto in Tartarus!’
‘Not quite yet, magister,’ I answered drily. ‘Do you have a moment?’
‘Not now. I have a crisis to deal with. Somebody’s invading and I have to muster my troops.’
‘Yes, I know. It’s me. And no, you don’t.’
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
‘Three quarters of the territory is back in imperial hands, including the principal towns and the airbase at Brancadorum. Local troops have joined us, and hundreds of former women military and vigiles have remustered in units commanded by us. We are coming after the traitor and usurper Caius Tellus and all those associated with him. The legal government of Roma Nova is still the imperial one, now headed by the Imperatrix Silvia. As her senior minister, I am ordering you to stand down your troops.’ I took a breath. Would he do it?
‘I have to obey the government in place whatever its type or character. And the military forces have to obey me. The Twelve Tables and the constitution bind us.’
‘They bound all of us, magister. Unfortunately, Caius Tellus did away with them. Any new provision he has made since to secure your obedience is illegal, like all of his declarations and ordinances.’
‘Fine words, Aurelia, but being realistic, I’m stuck between you and Caius.’
‘No, you will be standing next to him when he’s executed.’
‘Are you threatening me?’
‘No, just telling you what will happen if you field troops against us. Listen, it would break my heart to fire at any Roma Novan legionary, but I will give the order if that legionary gets between us and our objective. And it will be your sole and entire fault if he dies.’
‘I… I can’t give you my answer now.’
‘You have the options, magister. Now is the time to use your brain and examine your conscience.’ And I replaced the handset.
36
Volusenia looked as grim as Pluto himself when she dictated her message to go out to all ground units. No hesitation, no quarter if they met uniformed resistance. Simple words, but a soul-wren
ching thing to do when faced with a former comrade. The horror of confronting a friend or brother, parent or even cousin at the wrong business end of a gun barrel and having to pull the trigger. Hades. We’d had to do it at the caves and it had haunted me for days.
‘Execute Phase II Rubicon,’ Volusenia barked at the assembled senior military staff and civilian officers. A dozen or so, we stood for a few seconds in a semicircle in front of her, notebooks in hand, tasks in our heads, but in a kind of stasis.
‘Go!’ she ordered.
I nodded to Junia and we grabbed our personal weapons and made our way to the hall to collect our already packed field rucksacks from our rooms. As I put my booted foot on the first step of the stairs, there was a thump on the main entrance door. We glanced at each other. The main gate at the end of the driveway was closed and guarded now round the clock; entry was only by escort from that gate. Nobody should be knocking at the door of the building itself. The young clerk on the reception desk flinched. The security guard by the door hesitated then spoke into her radio.
Another thump. The guard’s radio buzzed. ‘Gendarmerie.’
Merda.
I spun round to Junia.
‘Go covert!’ I shrieked at her.
She sprinted off in the direction of the signals room. The security guard was already relaying the same message to all posts. I ripped off my jacket and stuffed it with my pistol and rifle into the hall cupboard. The security guard threw her pistol and holster in the floor vase containing tall dried flowers.
I glanced round and nodded to her. She took a breath, grasped the handle of one of the double doors and opened it.
In strode my cousin Achim, in his grey police uniform, in full Commissioner Huber persona, his face as fierce as Cerberus. Two gendarmes followed him in. He glared round the hall, his angry glances darting into every space he could see. Eventually, his eyes came back to me.
Retalio Page 27