War of the Exiles

by Michael G. Thomas

  Khan's mind flashed back to operation in the Great Uprising. Back then he'd seen the Zealots using looted Confederate aircraft against them. Wild Weasel missions were common on both sides, and though very dangerous, they performed a critical role if any attack was to succeed.

  "Very well. Get them ready at the defences. I'll put the perimeter on lockdown until the units have been relocated."

  "Understood, Khan, Arana out."

  Another missile launched, and it hissed as the weapon accelerated out of its unit. Luckily for the Byotai, the reinforcements brought in by Khan and the others had a large quantity of weapons.

  Still, not even the missiles will last forever.

  That one thought annoyed Khan more than he knew it should. Without the air cover, the aircraft of Nakoma could fly at will, bombing targets and dropping off commandos where she liked. It left him feeling passive, a style of combat he was no fan of. As the missile vanished from view, he felt warmth in his body that began to build up to an old feeling of anger. Khan had little respect for the Byotai traditionalists, and this Sekieki continued to prove the old guard of his race were just as self-righteous and arrogant as he expected. He'd thought much more of them in the Biomech War, but even then their numbers had been fewer than expected, and there was still much bitterness throughout Helios that they could have done a lot more.

  If their warriors are all like this, maybe it was just as well they stayed at home.

  Khan knew it wasn't entirely fair, and the warriors aboard the Byotai ships had fought and died the same as the rest of them. Even so, what was happening out here on Karnak was quickly tarnishing that reputation. As Khan thought back to the great battles fought by the legendary leader Makos, he spotted dozens of Byotai settlers running from their positions as the air-warning alert sounded once more.

  This is starting to tiresome.

  A single unit of Exiles had climbed down from their position in the bastion and were off, heading back towards the wall and on to the other side.

  "Hey, stop there!" Khan yelled.

  He reached out, grabbed the first, and spun him about. Armour plates taken from one of many Helion battlefields protected the Exile, and he carried a hunting rifle on his shoulder. It was heavily modified, and Khan noted the primary chamber was fitted for thermal rounds. It was unlike the weapons carried by the others in the unit.

  "Where are you going? Did we not make the orders clear? Captain Arana has taken control of the inner defences today. Has she called you back?"

  The Byotai listened and then spoke in his own language. Khan shook his head and tapped the side of his helmet, but still nothing. Then the squad's officer approached and activated his translator, one of the many brought by the Exiles to assist in the campaign. He lowered his head a fraction, in acknowledgment of Khan's authority.

  "Captain Khan. Our orders from Captain Arana were to protect the outer line to the South. But we..."

  Khan shook his head.

  "No, there is no but. The chain of command is here for a reason. The watch commander sends commands to company commanders, and the orders continue down to sub commanders. The Governor is a civilian. He has no place issuing you orders. Not if he wants to win this fight. Junior commanders have enough to worry about as it is."

  Khan placed his hand on the officer’s head.

  "That, my friend, would be you."

  The Exile said something that the translator failed to convert and then started speaking much more rapidly.

  "We are heading to the watch towers on the Northern perimeter. Reports from the Governor say airborne forces are moving in from that direction. By the order of Governor..."

  Khan lifted his hand in front of his mouth to silence the officer. He then opened his mouth to speak just as another soldier came along. He might have tried to berate Khan, but upon seeing the armoured behemoth he just stopped and waited in silence.

  "This is a ruse, a trick to get us to redeploy. It will take you thirty minutes to get there, and all you will achieve is weakening our defences here. We've already got units in position to protect the rocks and passes to the North. Nobody is getting through any time soon. They would require more than a week to work through the narrow passes, and we've mined and blocked them all."

  Khan stopped for only a second as he took in breath, and each of the Exiles seemed to almost tremble as they waited for the onslaught.

  "Now, get back to your positions, and keep the Southern approach secure!"

  The first officer hesitated, but the second, clearly a more senior leader, just struck him in the back. There followed a short exchange of angry words, and the squad turned back around and moved back into the bastion.

  That's more like it.

  Khan looked up, but didn't move from his position near the newly erected bastion. Missiles were already launching from the hidden position behind the wall and moved up to yet more unseen targets far into the distance. He looked back and to the wall where hundreds of work crews were still slaving away. As the Exiles rejoined their comrades in the bastion, he spotted two more squads of Byotai soldiers running to the wall, in stark contrast to the resilience shown by the Exiles.

  Interesting, the Byotai pure-bloods run, and the Exiles stay.

  It wasn't entirely fair, of course. The settlers were just that, civilians with firearms, and these individuals had held this ground when others had run. Khan was feeling far from charitable today, however. A small gust of wind blew dust into his face, and he immediately regretted leaving his helm open and exposed to the elements. He looked to the left and spat out the dust, finding several small chunks still grinding between his teeth.

  Blood means nothing.

  As Khan shook his head, he spotted a small number of drones flying off into the distance. These were the standard Byotai models, lightweight, hard to track, and capable of flying for hours at a time. He watched them for a few more seconds until they finally vanished, moving in long, slow circles to gain height.

  Our eyes in the sky.

  Khan's overlay on his visor filled with new details as the drones sent back all manner of information. There was always a drone in the vicinity, but in the last hour the nearest one was sent to the South at the request of Spartan. Khan thought back to his friend and the reports he'd seen coming back. In many ways he'd much rather have been there and taking part in the hit and run attacks. But forces coming to the city, and their numbers were truly colossal. Two drones had been lost in the Khagi district, but they already showed that an airlift was underway to the Qatar Depression, and that could only mean one thing. War.

  What's that?

  Khan stopped and turned his attention to the new icons appearing fifty kilometres to the North, first one, then another, until finally there were more than a dozen.

  They really do think they are cunning dogs, don't they? Nakoma is trying to lure out our force, so she can strike from the opposite direction.

  Khan licked his lips with anticipation and continued his walk just below the position of the new trench. The Byotai had named it Spartan's Wall, and each time Khan heard them saying it he laughed. Spartan was known for many things, but having buildings or defences erected in his honour must have been a first.

  Give it time; they'll learn to hate him here too soon enough.

  Now that Khan was satisfied with the defences here, he moved back to the small squad of Blood Pack warriors nearby. The remainder were behind the wall and busy running through weapon drills and training with the Byotai and Exile soldiers. Khan had taken this short moment to leave the wall so that he could check the perimeter. Even this close to the main defences, he was followed by the small retinue of five more Jötnar, including Olik, who on this particular operation was his second-in-command. Olik moved to his left flank. They looked like metal gods alongside the others, and as they marched past each squad, there was a palpable sense of awe. The Jötnar were more than just oversized monsters armed to the teeth, they were inspirational. Few other warriors could match
the Jötnar, and their reputation for fair-handedness and violence.

  "How are our new lieutenants doing?"

  Olik seemed amused at the question.

  "The Iron brothers are temperamental, but the Pack respects them. There are fewer better to lead them in our absence."

  "Good."

  The six Jötnar moved along the Southern rampart while constantly checking the status of the soldiers in this section, making sure their weapons and equipment was ready. Khan was perfectly capable of protecting himself, but he had not complained at being issued a bodyguard, or even argued against it. Aside from Spartan and his own kin, there were no others he truly trusted on Karnak, and he would be damned if he was going to be killed before he exacted vengeance upon Nakoma and her warriors. Khan had seen enough battles where the defenders had been caught by surprise. He had little doubt any problem, no matter how big could be solved by his kin.

  Olik stopped walking, deactivated his visor, and pointed off to their flank.

  "Khan, the Byotai militias have fled from the outer defences. I see eight complete platoons of Byotai all fleeing their positions."

  Khan shook his head angrily.

  "They aren't fleeing. Not even the settlers are that pathetic."

  He snarled upon recalling the direction they were all moving, and the more he thought about it the angrier he became.

  "They are falling back on the orders of the Governor. Can you access the low-level commander sent by Sekieki?"

  Olik chuckled as he began working through list of commands. There were a number of security barriers, but with the access codes given to Khan he quickly bypassed them. Unlike Khan, Olik had always been something of a prodigy amongst the Jötnar. The majority were interested only in military matters, violence, or engineering, but he'd taken a strong interest in the world of technology around them. As he hit the last security block, a whole barrage of commands appeared, each connected to specific platoon commanders.

  "Well?" Khan asked.

  Olik took a moment as he filtered out anything non-essential, and finally he had only the unit movement orders for all the Byotai and some of the Exile units selected.

  "There. Updating now."

  Khan's face tightened as he looked at the dotted lines. Each showed a location order than had come from the bunker deep underground. He'd expected a few based upon what had happened to the nearby platoon of Exiles, but not this.

  "The incompetent fool!"

  Even Olik found himself speechless for a second. He swallowed twice before saying what he thought.

  "The Governor has called back almost half of the perimeter defences to protect the Northern approaches. But what is this?"

  Olik highlighted a section at the centre of the facility, only a short distance from the Constans deep core mineshaft. The imagery from the drones provided much more than the position of individual units. It also gave detailed topographical information, as well as live imagery.

  "He's pulling back more than four hundred warriors to protect the approaches to his underground lair. That leaves holes in the Southern defences, right here."

  Khan pulled in air through his nostrils and did his best to remain calm, simultaneously selecting the section a kilometre away along the wall. It showed nothing protected the broken section of wall, other than the Spartan's Wall.

  "The fortress can go to hell, all providing the Governor is safe in his hole."

  He paced back and forth, and then looked directly into Olik's eyes, his gaze penetrating and angry.

  "Can you override those orders?"

  Olik shook his head.

  "Kind of. But the Governor has major influence, even with the Exiles. It would cause a panic with numbers of countermanding orders moving about."

  Khan hissed.

  "The idiot, this is the kind of lunacy that killed Wictred."

  He felt angry, so turned his attention to what was actually working.

  "At least the Exiles are standing, and so are the first of the Byotai that we've retrained so far. As for the others, let the shame of their fear bring them resolve next time they are needed."

  Olik grunted.

  "If there's a next time."

  Khan smiled, pleased in the knowledge that he'd done his part. No matter what hit the wall, it wouldn't matter to him. He was surrounded by warriors, and an insatiable desire to see Nakoma pay the ultimate price. The only possible concern for him was that the entire battle would be fought from the air.

  "Olik. We needed to hold this facility for three days. We've done that already and still the enemy has refused a ground assault. Spartan and his commandos have done their job, and every day he holds them off is a day we can use to prepare. The turning point is coming, I promise you."

  Olik looked less that excited and struck Khan on the shoulder.

  "Friend, those words work on the rookies. We both know what's really happening out here."

  Khan chuckled.

  "True."

  With that, he reconnected to Arana, who was still moving about at the top of the wall, issuing orders and keeping every single individual at Melantias busy.

  "Arana, this is it. They're all yours. All I need is a single Exile platoon to cover the breach at position seven. Governor, whatever his name is, has pulled back the guard unit."

  "Understood."

  Khan breathed slowly as he listened to her give a long stream of orders to the officers in the field. Arana was calm and collected, much more so than her twin sister. She gave the orders quickly and clearly, and Khan was pleased to see the acknowledgement commands coming back over the Secgrid. He stopped and listened to her final transmission to those at Melantias.

  "This is your chance to show Nakoma and her dogs that this world, this entire Quadrant is yours. Now...fight!"

  Khan looked up and spotted the woman, dressed in black and holding the Byotai Empire flag. This wasn't something he'd discussed with her, but the effect was electric amongst the defenders, even to the Exiles who often seemed far from committed to the cause of the other Byotai.

  "Fight...fight!"

  Arana called out the order three times, and each time a chorus rumbled along the wall. Olik looked to him with a wide beam.

  "Listen to them, Khan, you can barely hear the Blood Pack with them. Now that, my friend, is motivation."

  The warning sirens continued their howl, and Khan took the opportunity to walk calmly up the dirt rampart on the Northern side of the bastion. His small entourage did the same, though now they had their weapons in their hands and ready. The bastion was far grander that its name implied, but in twenty-four hours it had certainly transformed from a series of tall dirt walls to something resembling a fortification. Rocks had been brought out from around the Constans pit and used to reinforce sections of the Southern wall. Exile gun teams had also position multiple Helion heavy weapons, as well as a number of air defence systems. Olik stopped and looked back. His armour made a gentle squeak; a piece of dust or dirt must have become caught up in the joints.

  "Listen to that. They are bombing the Northern approaches."

  Khan twisted at the waist and watched the first smoke columns rise. To anybody else there it might have seemed he was wrong, but Khan had little doubt about what was happening. He checked the drones once more and found the image to the unit heading South beginning to fade. Then with a single flash the feed cut out.

  I knew it.

  He turned to Olik and his small entourage of Blood Pack warriors.

  "This is it. Get ready."

  Khan was now inside the bastion and broke out into a run to the Southern side. The middle was filled with Exile soldiers and workers. Most were heading for the dugouts and trenches still being dug into the ground. The Blood Pack reached the rampart and climbed up to look out to the South. Khan was at the wall first and waited quietly while Olik issued orders to the nearby squads. All along the Southern dirt wall were two full platoons of soldiers, half of which were Exiles. Each of them lay down on their b
ellies, just their heads and weapons visible over the top.

  "There!"

  Khan pointed off to the horizon where a long shimmering dust cloud made it almost impossible to identify the ground from the sky. Large black shapes, this time much bigger than the Abn'dak Raptors were coming down low. At first Khan thought they were going to crash, but they moved above the ground, never coming close enough to land or even to drop off warriors. They were then absorbed by dust. Khan lifted himself up higher.

  The crazy fools, if they're not putting down troops, then what are they doing?

  Even as Khan thought it, he knew it was exactly what the enemy was doing. There was no way of telling how many craft had landed. There may be as few as three, or anything up to the entire air-mobile element of Nakoma's forces, and that could mean thousands of warriors.

  "Arana. They are doing something to the South...the scanners say forty kilometres away and closing."

  "I see them," replied Arana, "Doesn't seem they've landed yet. High-altitude drones show multiple larger class dropships heading your way. Looks like they've found a way to use the dust to mask their approach."

  Khan laughed loudly, and some of his comrades looked back, wondering what the fuss was about. Olik focussed their attention to the South, while keeping an eye on his old friend.

  "Tell me something I don't know, Arana?"

  At least six missiles roared overhead and rushed off to the South to meet with the new targets. They disappeared into the cloud, and moments later came a dull yellow flash and then a loud cracking sound. There was no obvious sign as to whether they made contact with enemy forces, and they might just as easily have struck the ground. Behind them they could still hear the sound of bombs and missile strikes, but the drone footage showed the attacks were having little effect, and landing randomly. As Khan had suspected, the attacks were only there to sow confusion, and had very nearly succeeded.

  "What is it?" Olik asked.

  Khan licked his lips with anticipation.