“The Heaven’s Lament…” he gasped, “The ship of the Star Healers Legion.”
Sabre could not help but feel the same reaction, even though he had seen it a hundred times before. It was responsible for saving the lives of thousands of legionnaires, many of them from the same legions surrounding Gothica right now.
“It fills me with such courage and faith just to look upon her hull” Lupus confessed. He looked at Sabre and spoke to him as if he were a confidante. “It’s unfortunate, our need to sacrifice her to serve the Empire. We will need her more than ever in the war to come, my friend”.
Sabre nodded solemnly. “She is a boon to any force, my Lord. But we will always fight the enemy as if we have her at our back; our courage will not waver”.
Lupus shared a knowing look with the commander before returning his gaze to the fleet. He felt a strike of acquaintance in his heart, as if he were looking at his long lost home. Then his eyes fell upon a ship that dwarfed even the Heaven’s Lament. It soon filled the entire viewport of the Stormfalcon as the transport approached it and he struggled to find the words to express what he was seeing.
Sabre saw this, his nonverbal behaviour expressing it all to the commander and said nothing, thinking it best to let the Apostle come to terms with the change, or more accurately the return, that he was experiencing. Of course, only the former had ever set foot on this mighty vessel, but the latter had seen it in visions and had memories of it from the Blessing, all of which made it as much his home as the commander’s. For what else makes the past a fact, if not memory? Sabre thought.
As the Stormfalcon docked with one of its starboard gateways and touched down inside the main hangar, Sabre left his seat and the other legionnaires joined him in practiced unison. The ramp lowered and they stepped out, marching down it to form ranks either side of the transport at its back. Lupus gathered the resolve to face what was only a memory before, and disembarked after them.
Walking down the access ramp of the Stormfalcon, he watched as the legionnaires saluted him with rigid postures and the strictest discipline, their right arm curled into a fist over their hearts. Sabre and Olympus were at the end of the file, along with a legionnaire that Lupus had not yet seen. It was clear that this man was the captain of the ship, his bearing, although not arrogant, enough alone to convince him of that.
As he came closer to the officers, Lupus scrutinised the captain carefully and knew, as certain as instinct could grant him, that he was a man of honour and nobility as much as Sabre was.
“My Lord Apostle,” the man acknowledged him. “I am Captain Orion. Welcome aboard the Luminon”.
Lupus reached out a hand to the captain and the latter seemed ill at ease to shake it; not out of disrespect, rather the contrary, as if no-one had ever offered him the gesture. He hesitated only for a moment before returning it.
“I am proud to finally stand on deck, Captain. It’s taken far too long” the Apostle said with regret, not chastisement in his voice. Looking around the hangar, he saw squadrons of fighters parked in dozens of bays, all ready to be launched at a moment’s notice in the event of battle. There were banks of Stormfalcons also, but higher up to allow faster access to the barrack decks. Behind them, the transport that brought them in was being raised on a platform to join its brethren above.
“We are humbled to have you here, my Lord” the captain replied, genuinely pleased. “As you can see, the Luminon is full to the brim with everything we need to fight the Great Enemy. We are ready and waiting for your command” Orion bowed.
Lupus regarded the man once again with interest. It appeared that the legionnaires were vastly different not only in rank and purpose as befitting a military force, but also in personality, as if each one had a personal story to be told. They truly were as individual as the Gothicans. He remembered how Vermillion had told him about this at the Blessing, but he could never appreciate how human Her creations seemed until now.
Remembering himself and his authority, Lupus realised the captain was waiting on him. “Show me the rest of the ship, Orion. On the way, I will have you tell me what the legions know about the Great Enemy’s movements. Do not yet presume my knowledge is perfect” Lupus said. As his words fell on their ears, he had a flashback. Surrounded by the brilliant light of Her dying sacrifice, Vermillion had laid before him a vision of the legions; their supremacy, their technology and their potential.
There was a fleeting apparition of the Luminon, embedded in it a sensation of homeliness like he had been on board for all its history. All this he experienced in no more than a few seconds, yet his face betrayed no sign of distraction. In that short time he learnt more about the ship and the fleet he was now in command of than the captain could ever hope to tell him in the next few hours.
Nevertheless, he knew it was important to be seen to take a great interest in the ship. It was crucial for the other legionnaires to see him, to finally behold his existence as their Apostle and leader. He would have to send these men and women to their deaths, an unknowable score of times, and he vowed he would see every one of them in life before the inevitable tragedies of war threw themselves at the legions.
“Of course, my Lord” Orion replied, snapping his attention back to the deck. “Follow me”.
THE TOUR THAT Captain Orion took Lupus on showed him all the key parts of the ship; the medical deck, the troop bays, the armouries, the tactical hall, and finally, the bridge. Sabre and the other legionnaires he had come aboard with on the Luminon left to perform important duties. Chief among them was preparing the fleet to make transit across the stars.
Orion informed him that, at this moment, Colossi had thirty years left in stasis and the legions were busy regrouping. The timelines had finally realigned, and now that the Blessing was over, the remaining legions that hadn’t been cast back through time were free, but equally alone. Lupus had known that the aftermath of Vermillion’s actions had been massive, but even he couldn’t predict how spread out the legions had become. Orion understood that in her wisdom, the Auranair had sent them all over the Empire in the hope that the Apostles would be found. As of this time, none of them had been.
“Why did She not put us together, or, at least, tell your brethren where they could be found? Why the needless search?” Lupus had asked.
Orion gave him an uncertain look. “None can say, my Lord. Whatever reason She had, it is beyond us. We can only trust in Her actions” he answered.
They strode onto the bridge of the Luminon. Orion had explained a while before, with pride clear on his features and in his voice, that it was a Blackstar-class vessel. It was the most formidable craft in the entire arsenal of the legions. The complexity of the bridge alone reflected that fact, the rings of computer banks and teams of operators tasked to their various functions alluding at a sophisticated orchestra of command.
The helmsmen were kept at the front before a panorama of screens that provided a complete field of vision of the space around the ship, its brother and sister ships currently filling the vista. Lupus remembered the innumerable masts he saw nestled around the Luminon’s hull on the way in and found his conclusions proven right.
The captain’s control throne was kept near the middle of the bridge, where he could give orders through both power of voice and digital interface, allowing him to command the chaos of battle without any of his officers missing the orders that would keep them all alive, and when fate smiled upon them, victorious over the Great Enemy.
When Lupus took those first steps onto the metal grille of the bridge floor, coming through the bulkhead door with the presence his title deserved, faces from every direction turned to witness the moment that the Apostle of the 617th Legion stood with them. Had this been a Gothican ship, applause would have rung through the interior of the ship ceaselessly until he commanded them to stop. Instead, here they regarded him with disciplined respect and controlled their behaviour with a dignity born from war and loss. They all knew his rank, his status, and what it meant
for him to be here. They were humbled that he, Apostle of the Auranair, was in their presence. Yet, outlandish praise would be unseemly. They were soldiers, not sycophants.
The legionnaires returned to their stations diligently, but from time to time looked back to Lupus and Orion, who now sat dutifully on his command throne as befitted the captain’s rank and purpose. Orion was already receiving updates from his staff; information about fleet preparations and the status of each ship under the Apostle’s direction. The captain was ready to answer any question his Lord gave him.
“When we depart, how many ships will be with us?” Lupus asked.
“Fifteen, my Lord. We could not bring many with us to Gothica, but what we have is still enough to ensure our supremacy wherever you choose to lead us”.
Lupus picked up on the implied meaning behind the captain’s words and sought an explanation.
“The fleet She gave me is bigger than this? What stood in the way of your full deployment here?”
Orion was still receiving communications from his staff. Despite his next words being more serious than he gave them attention to, Lupus knew the captain had a job to do at present.
“We encountered factions of Phantoms on several planets, my Lord.”
When the Apostle gave no reply, the captain turned and realised his full attention was better placed with his liege, not his officers.
“As you know, the Blessing occurred at the end of the Battle for Colossi. It was supposed to be the final engagement, one to finish the war for better or worse. The Auranair never told any of us what She was planning. We had thrown all our might, every last one of our forces, at the Great Enemy that day” Orion said, his voice now heavy with memory. “Of course, the Enemy was ready for this. I think, somehow, they knew what She was planning. They spared some of their forces from the fight, spreading them through the Empire to pillage and burn. For reasons we can’t find, they haven’t made any lasting attacks on the humans yet, which is why the Gothicans, thankfully, can’t appreciate the danger of this war.
I think the Phantoms are waiting for the time they can strike back at us; perhaps when the time lock is over, so they can hit us from many sides. It’s imperative that we find them and eliminate them, but I’m certain I don’t need to advise you of that, Apostle.”
Lupus heard the captain’s words and felt an ounce of annoyance at Sabre for not telling him, even though he had sensed since his days at the Academy that something other than the forces of good had escaped what befell Colossi.
“If there is more to say Orion, I would have you tell me now” he said firmly.
Orion nodded, eager to do as Lupus asked. “We found a Phantom presence in the Abodian Sector. The worlds aren’t heavily habited due to their mostly unstable natures. Fortunately our efforts to cleanse the enemy have gone without notice so far. We had to leave a portion of our fleet there to complete the war-task while we continued our search for you, my Lord.”
Vermillion had warned him of the potential aftermath of the Blessing, but Lupus had never imagined that even a goddess couldn’t prevent the enemy’s moves. A chill ran down his spine as he considered how valuable the Abodian Sector was to the Empire.
“Captain, what manner of ships do we have here with us?”
“My Lord?” Orion replied, uncertain about the sudden question of the fleet’s composition.
“Tell me, Captain. Now” Lupus demanded.
“We have this Blackstar, two destroyers, nine frigates and two carriers, my Lord” Orion replied calmly.
“And in the Abodian Sector?”
“Unless other legions have regrouped with us by now, less than that” Orion told him. Before Lupus could continue, the captain tried to address his concerns. “We have enough ships there to defeat any potential enemy outside the time-lock without any losses”.
Lupus sighed and walked from the command throne to gaze at the screens showing the small but impressive fleet now at his disposal. He knew that the Phantoms wouldn’t just be in the Abodian Sector. They were more cunning than that. Yet, he also knew what was in that system of planets, what sacred technology was situated on the most unlikely of worlds. He knew because it belonged to the humans. They could ill afford to lose it to the Great Enemy if victory was to be theirs.
“But how can you know that, Captain?” he finally replied, turning to face the determined legionnaire. “We have little idea of the enemy’s power outside Colossi. The Abodian Sector could just be the start. If the enemy has other forces out there, they will call for reinforcements when they realise we have come to crush them.
The Abodian Sector is vital to the Empire, so it will be to them too. Trust me on that, because sooner or later even the Phantoms will call for aid. The Promethian Shipyards there are invaluable; we cannot lose that asset. Forget just fighting the enemy there, we need to exterminate them.”
Orion privately chastised himself for being ignorant enough not to realise that the Abodian Sector was not only the major staging area for the Gothican Empire, but one of its principal planetary systems. Even if the enemy didn’t have the power to destroy the shipyards, they could make their presence known to the humans and undo all the work that the legions were doing to protect the Gothicans from the war.
“Yes, my Lord. Forgive my misunderstanding, I should have known to consider it more than just a battle to win” Orion said humbly. He didn’t expect to be told things about war by someone who, in reality, didn’t have physical experience like he did. Nonetheless, he accepted the Apostle’s knowledge and words with the respect he deserved.
“What are your orders?” Orion asked.
Lupus grinned at the captain’s question, revelling in the feeling that he had been waiting far too long to experience. He was finally able to give a command to bring his legion to fight the enemy. He could do now what he was always meant to do; he could wage the Deian War against the Phantoms.
“We jump the fleet to the Abodian Sector, Captain. Then we annihilate every Phantom we find”.
SABRE AND THE rest of the command structure of the 617th Legion were waiting for Lupus in the Primary Tactical Hall of the Luminon. They were surprised to be drawn away from their various duties by the captain when the fleet made its first jump towards the Abodian Sector. Now, they were in debate over the merit of the journey, and Sabre watched with disappointment as his subordinates railed against each other over the massive holographic table in the centre of the room.
“This is absurd. It’s a waste of our resources and time!” Olympus cried, smashing his fist down and denting the durable flexiglass of the surface at his waist.
“Do you not think the Apostle knows what he’s doing?” Arcadius replied, bewildered by the second in command’s position.
“You speak out of turn, Arcadius. You forget that you are only here because you are familiar to the Lion, nothing else. He will grow wiser to real council, so I think it best you remember the difference between your rank and my own” Olympus snapped back. His temper was short enough, and the Guardian’s challenge had sparked it.
Sabre, though, was commander. He would have no disrespect, whether it was directed at an officer or a mere legionnaire. “His point remains, Olympus, whether he was out of turn or not. You should answer it”.
Olympus rolled his eyes, defiant to answer the question of Arcadius but honour bound to obey Sabre. “No, I don’t think our Lord knows what he does. He hasn’t had any encounter with the enemy; if he doesn’t think our forces in the Abodian Sector are sufficient then he clearly has no understanding of our ability. He’s hungry for a fight, that’s all. We have more important things to do…” Olympus said.
“Do you really think that’s the case, Olympus? That our Lord has no understanding of this war?” Sabre asked, reluctant to let this go on any longer. His tone silenced his second-in-command, so he turned elsewhere. “Valerian,” he said. The legionnaire he addressed now was the same as he did back in the Senate House on that first night. Valerian was the Reco
n Master of the legion, and as such was in charge not only of fleet operations, but also preparations and assessments for battle. “Is our fleet at in the Abodian Sector sufficient if the enemy calls for aid?”
Valerian rose from where he was sitting near the edge of the table, unwilling to participate until now.
“No, Commander, it is not” he replied bluntly.
Sabre nodded. “How possible is it that the enemy could actually find reinforcements from the other sectors we haven’t been to yet?”
“Difficult to say, but not unlikely. The Empire is massive and until the Blessing, we have been too few to secure it” Valerian said.
Sabre turned back to Olympus and with his right hand gestured to the Recon Master. “Now, unless you want to deny the experience of our own legion Olympus, I suggest you reconsider the understanding our Apostle has of the war. The Auranair Herself spoke to him. She taught him, gave him the memories that belonged to Her. Remember that, old friend”.
Sabre intended for the late term of endearment to ease his chastisement, but Olympus looked as if he had been slapped across the cheek with a steel fist and sat down, scorn and humility etched on his face in equal measure. At this moment, the doors to the Primary Tactical Hall opened and Lupus, Apostle of the 617th Legion, walked inside and joined the legionnaires at the head of the table.
They saluted their Lord and he motioned for them to stand at ease.
“You all know where we’re heading already, so I’ll cut this short. We’re making way to the Abodian Sector to ensure the destruction of the enemy and prevent knowledge of the shipyards being spread to any remaining Phantom forces” Lupus said, his explanation simple but informative. “Before we begin to develop a tactical plan for making planet fall – something I will not be dissuaded from – I need to know something”.
The Deian War: Vermillion's Apostles Page 15