"About damned time."
He looked inside and at once felt a little relieved. The sound was coming from several training machines the Jötnar had erected. Using spare sections of armour they had connected the components to motors, giving themselves a dummy to attack. Another similar machine lay shattered and in pieces off to the side. A pair of Jötnar attacked the thing with metal clubs, while others used it to strike back. Two Jötnar lay on the ground, rubbing their heads, and blood dripped to the metal flooring.
This is no riot. It's just a few Jötnar letting off some steam.
It was easy to see it as something else, but few had experienced as much of the Jötnar culture as Spartan had. They were a tough, hardy people, with little interest outside of combat or the design and construction of weapons. He moved away from the door and made a note of what was happening in there. The Jötnar were all busy, that much was obvious. Some were sparring, others testing their gear or using their own tools to tweak or improve it. Off at the far end was a small group of five or six of them.
That's where he's been.
Khan looked up as he approached, and Spartan could see the calmness of his friend. There were marks on his arms that looked like he'd been fighting, or perhaps restrained. Spartan even considered it could also have been a combination of the two. He didn't stop and moved right up before bringing his arm down hard on Khan's. It had been more than a day since the two had spoken. Khan had wanted time to think, but as far as Spartan was concerned, that time was over.
"Khan, my friend. I need you for this mission. Are you ready?"
Khan's mouth twitched.
"I'm always ready, Spartan. Has the mission changed?"
Spartan nodded slowly.
"Just a little. The battle has turned, and not for the better. Are you ready for a war?"
Khan didn't speak. He didn't even answer; he just grinned. Spartan knew exactly what this meant and stepped to his side, turning so both were facing the rest of the large open space. Few of the Jötnar noticed what was happening until Spartan called out to them.
"I'm sure you all know my background. I am Spartan, and it was me who first met and fought alongside your people. A long time ago I formed an alliance with Gun, your leader."
The mention of Gun seemed to have an almost calming effect on them.
"At that point, we formed a bond that is as strong today as it was then. I have protected Gun in a hundred battles, and he has done the same for me."
Spartan pointed towards the door.
"Out there is a tyranny, one that is bigger and more dangerous to all of us than even the machines of the Biomechs. They are a people poised for war, one our own people are unready for. The clans of the Anicinàbe are like a group of primates trying to build up the courage to take on a beast. If the Tenth Quadrant falls, they will be unstoppable. Expect the Byotai to take the brunt of the attack, and then we will follow. It is a war we will lose."
The Jötnar seemed stunned at that news. Spartan was a legendary figure on almost every colonised world, and yet his words suggested defeatism that was completely at odds with his reputation.
"We cannot stop the tide of the Anicinàbe, but we can make them pay such a price that they either halt the attacks, or we buy enough time to persuade the Alliance and the Byotai Empire to fully commit to the region's defence. Alliance Intelligence believes the Anicinàbe will back down after a major show of force."
He moved his head from left to right, looking into the eyes of every single one of them.
"I call upon the blood debt every one of you owes me, and I owe you."
It was a strange thing to say, but it caught the ears of the handful still refusing to give him their attention.
"I saved your brothers and sisters at Euryale, and it is because of me your people have a home amongst the colonies of the Alliance. Gun has a personal bond with me back from his awakening on Prometheus. Since that day, he swore that his kin would always follow my lead, wherever it took me."
He looked to Khan who said nothing, but his expression already confirmed he was satisfied with what Spartan had to say. Spartan took that as the cue to continue.
"Your brothers have died on Karnak, their bodies desecrated by the soldiers of the Red Scars."
He paused, giving them a moment to think about what they already knew.
"We've all seen the footage, and I know exactly how you feel."
One of the Jötnar shouted loudly in disagreement with Spartan. Another quickly shouted him down. Olik moved from the shadows to stand alongside Spartan and Khan. He wore the same armour as the rest of them, and might just as easily have been another rank and file Blood Pack soldier.
"It is true," said Olik, "Spartan has fought and bled with us in a hundred battles. He has lost as much as any one of us. Any that stands against Spartan, stands against us."
Spartan gave Olik a signal, subtly thanking him.
"In six hours we enter the Rift to the Byotai Empire, and from there we travel to Karnak and to battle. We will return Tenskwatawa and his Exiles to their territory, one they occupied before being kicked out by the Red Scars and their allies. They might be considered lower class citizens than pure-blood Byotai, but that doesn't change the facts. They are our allies, and we will help them do their job."
Spartan rubbed at his beard and caught Khan's eye as he spoke again.
"Wictred and your brothers are gone, brutalised by the Anicinàbe. There is a name though, one that you must always remember. Nakoma."
A few of them muttered her name.
"As chief, she is the one pulling the strings on Karnak, and she took Wictred's life. The Alliance may not intervene while the region is disputed; they want to avoid a war with the Anicinàbe. They will not take decisive action on Karnak, and so our friends and our kin pay the price."
He could see agreement spreading through the group.
"Our mission was to assist General Makos wherever we could, to keep his forces in the fight until help comes. Specifically, it is our job to stop the Anicinàbe from making further gains on Karnak."
Spartan shook his head angrily.
"I say, no chance! We are not going to do that, not anymore!"
The assembled Jötnar were silent, stunned by his change of heart.
"We will do much more than watch the Anicinàbe. We will land on Karnak and bleed the enemy. We will inflict such losses on them they will regret ever having heard the name Jötnar. Together we will make the fight untenable and either force the Alliance and the Byotai to help us, or win the battle on our own."
Khan stepped forward and lifted Spartan's right arm while calling out to his kin.
"I'm up for a fight, and our brothers require vengeance. Are you with us?"
Spartan listened to the roar of one hundred and twenty Jötnar. There was nothing quite like the sound these giants made; he also felt pity for whoever would be facing them. All of that quickly vanished as he remembered he still had no major strategy for defeating the enemy. He leaned in towards Khan.
"Meet me in one hour in the war room. We have a campaign to plan."
"What about the half-bloods?"
The way he said the name of the Exiles surprised Spartan. Half-bloods was a term most of them tried to avoid, even if many of the Exiles used it themselves. There might be thousands of them on the ships, but they were quiet and did their best to remain discreet, undoubtedly a trait picked up since losing everything in the fighting.
"We're here for all of them, no matter their blood status. Tenskwatawa and his officers will be joining us."
Khan lowered his head a fraction in compliance.
"Khan, information is sketchy on Karnak. One thing I think we can both agree on is that we need a base to operate from. Let's figure that one out first."
Khan seemed to cheer up at that and looked to Olik, who was clearly preoccupied with his own thoughts.
"Well?"
Olik spotted him and beamed with pleasure.
"There's onl
y one region under the control of the Byotai. We need to secure it fast before we can even think about an offensive."
Spartan and Khan spoke at the same time.
"Melantias."
CHAPTER EIGHT
373CC marked the introduction of the revised command structure of the Alliance military, and the creation of the first three Unified Combatant Commands, each one based around the three principal divisions of the Alliance; and included a senior command staff, a dedicated fleet, and a number of attached ground units. They were designed to simplify the command structure and logistics for each of the large areas now governed and protected by Alliance armed forces, making them more self-sufficient and flexible.
Central Command covered all of the old territory of the Confederacy and was based at Terra Nova. This command included the local star systems of Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri. As the most valuable region, Central command contained as many military assets as the Colonial and Orion Commands combined.
Colonial Command was based at Mars and included the substantially less populated star systems of Sol, Epsilon Eridani, Procyon, and Gliese 876.
Orion Command was based at the Admiral Jarvis Naval Station in T'Karan, and included all Alliance territory in the Orion Nebula, around the Helion Nexus. This included all of the old worlds of the Helion League as well as the conquered Biomech system of Taxxu.
Title 10, Alliance Code Sections 161–168
Fortress of Melantias, Stone Teeth Hills, Karnak
5 Days Later
Governor Nak Sekieki reached the halfway point of the stone steps of the defences and clambered over a small heap of rubble. The staircase was as old as the outer wall and in just as bad state. Holes the size of his foot dotted the structure, and only a recently installed metal handrail provided any protection from the long fall. He took up a position on the flat parapet, paused to regain his breath, and pushed himself on to finish the climb. With each step he thought back to the latest reports coming in from the last enclaves on Karnak.
A week ago we were looking like we might hold. Now Kras does this, the insane fool. He's lost my supplies, and without warriors, Caldos has fallen without a fight.
The reconnaissance imagery from a Khreenk scouting party angered him the most. The small, but heavily reinforced Caldos enclave that had caused the Anicinàbe so much trouble; now the survivors were out in the open plain, streaming North, and hotly pursued by the clans.
Nakoma will enjoy every kill she can make.
Governor Nak Sekieki took enough steps and then stopped to recover. His left leg groaned, and he could feel the bones grinding as he stepped. He was an old Byotai, and from one of the noble families of the Trinity, making him equally valued as he was also an Elder. There were, of course, no family names amongst the Byotai, but a few bore honorific titles for those distant few that had achieved greatness. Those with titles could continue them on through generations, creating a patrician caste at the heart of the Empire. Nak's own name signified that in the past his ancestors were riders of the ancient beasts from Sovax.
Few on Karnak considered the name to refer to actual history, and to many something pompous and almost vulgar to use, but not for Nak. He regarded his heritage as more than just a story or plaything. The stories of the ancient riders of the Sekieki had been passed down through his family and gave him the authority needed to lead, even this far from his homeworld. Whatever Governor Nak Sekieki lacked in martial skill or knowledge, he made up for in the belief that he was born to lead Byotai in battle, as his ancestors had before him. And those around him recognised the noble lineage that ran through his blood, and accepted him as such.
In the background he could hear the never-ending sound of Byotai workers and engineers slaving away on the defences. Melantias was one of the three great settlements buried deep inside the rocky hills surrounding the mining pit of Consta. Even the mine was protected from the elements, dug directly below the extinct volcano of the same name. This was one of the deepest mines ever constructed and conveniently protected by the vast rocky structure that lay above. The Byotai mined deep underground for generations, and the entire region was now a warren of tunnels that led kilometres in all directions. This great engineering project was to mine and harvest the natural wealth of Karnak, a substance with similar properties to Nanocrystalline Cellulose being developed in the Alliance. This material was known colloquially as Nanocrystals, and a single kilogram of the raw material was worth a year's wages for the Byotai.
This unique material had its origins in the distant past where the worlds had been covered in dense woodland, prior to the great scouring. The unusual planetary chemistry effectively ground the substance to a pulp and hydrolysed in many of the large underground acidic pools. It was a strange and complex procedure and took millennia, but the end result was a vast source of crystals that could be harvested as a paste. The resulting material could be applied to surfaces or processed into strands, creating advanced Nanofibrils that were incredibly hard, dense, and tough. So far, nothing had been synthesised to match the strength of this naturally occurring material, and it could be used in a hundred applications from electronics and computing through to ship hulls and personal body armour. It was considered to be the most useful single material known to exist.
The Melantias settlement was not the largest of the three, but it was the first. It had grown to such a size it could house over fifty thousand settlers. The war saw that number drop to little over ten thousand, the rest having fled back to the Empire, or now captured and put to work in the many camps in the Depression, thousands of kilometres to the South. Now the Melantias settlement was much more than a refuge, it was the only fortification still standing and occupied by substantial numbers of Byotai on Karnak.
A single Byotai soldier looked down at Governor Nak and extended a hand. The steps were steep, and Nak was an old soldier, hardly suited to the rigours of so much exercise. The younger individual helped him past a series of thick cables that ran across the open space at the top of the steps.
"Engineer Soltak. How much longer? The enemy is not far from us now, and I can still see breaches along my defensive line. Our air defences are strong, but only the wall can protect us from a sustained ground assault."
The Byotai soldier wore little armour, and instead carried multiple utility belts filled with measuring devices and tools. His hard outer skin was rough and worn down from constant labour. He was thinner and much stronger than his superior.
"I need another month, ideally two. The walls are impressive but have not been maintained in years. The damage to the structure is unparalleled. Where the structure is intact, I had teams apply the refined Nanocrystal paste. It takes just over a day to fully cure."
Governor Nak Sekieki opened his mouth and emitted an odd snorting sound. Soltak knew he was far from happy, rubbing his shoulder as he tried to argue his case. His skin was beginning to turn a lighter shade, the traditional sign that a Byotai was soon to shed, and also something that occurred when under great or unexpected stresses.
"These walls are part of our heritage. For centuries we have dug deep, creating entire cities underground and showing our engineering skill to be exemplary. This wall is the greatest defence against the elements we have ever built."
The chief engineer tried to speak, but Nak kept speaking as though he was giving a speech to a large crowd.
"Diverting the Nanocrystals to our own defences will give us the advantage we need. Even a thin layer that is given time to cure will make the wall impervious to all but the heaviest bombardment."
He noticed Soltak was resting his forehead in his left hand.
"You do not believe me. Are you telling me they cannot beat back the attacks of primitive Anicinàbe soldiers?"
The engineer looked surprised at the question.
"Primitive they might be, but they control most of Karnak, not us. They have numbers and weapons on their side. If they knew how weak we were, they would attack us today."
"This is not Caldos. These walls were never designed to be used in battle. Our ancestors constructed the wall as a barrier against the dust storms that can remove entire cities in days. The Nanocrystal layer will not be complete until the breaches are repaired."
He looked back and pointed at the scores of domes marking the upper floors of the structures buried underground. The settlements were vast, but only the very tips pushed out from the rock, much like the tips of icebergs on a frozen ice world. What was originally constructed on the surface had long been partially abandoned due to the risk of attack by the enemy.
"The changes suggested by General Daniels of the Alliance are..."
Governor Nak hissed in reply.
"Are what, exactly? General Daniels is an expert in military strategy and siege warfare."
"Yes, I know. But these defences are still incomplete and far greater than we can ever man in battle. I have teams working on fifty-seven sections of the walls, but they are still nearly six kilometres in length."
Governor Nak reached the top of the outer wall and moved to the edge to peer out through the narrow horizontal slit. His head was protected by the slab like roof that merged in places with parts of the mountains. From this position he had a perfect view of the open plains to the South.
"Our ancestors first build the Southern wall as a defence against the storms. It has held off the elements for generations, but never a frontal attack by an aggressor. The breaches must be filled."
He turned back and looked at his chief engineer.
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