Turmae acted as if he’d forgotten he was in a high tech control room. He started reaching out to specific knights, issuing crisp orders for defenders to each side to reinforce the middle. He then contacted nearby defenders to fill in for the soldiers racing along the battlement to reinforce.
From Galborae’s position on the wall, gleasons suddenly became visible on the far side of the clear area as shuttles lit them up with stunners. As soon as they became visible, the gleasons’ straight charge changed to erratic leaping, making them difficult targets to hit. Everyone opened up with long and short-barreled blasters, but in their panic many of the shots went wide. Snipers in both watch towers opened up with precision shots, and from high above and behind him, snipers stationed in watch towers along the inner wall added their carefully aimed shots. Shuttles and scooters followed up stunners with blasters, but shuttle weapons were too powerful to use near the wall itself for fear of breaching the wall. Multiple flights of arrows sung through the air from archers on the inner wall, their effect on the gleasons almost as awful as the blasters. As gleasons neared the wall, grenades rained down on them mercilessly.
In the command center, Turmae had things well in hand so Havlock waited in the background for the rest of the attack to materialize. Strangely, it did not.
Fighting along the wall intensified as gleasons neared the wall. Gleasons, horribly mangled, fell by the dozens, but many reached the wall and started climbing, and they were fast. Soldiers leaned out through the crenels shoulder to shoulder and sent a solid wall of energy straight down the wall, taking out more of them. Gleasons, when wounded enough to lose their grip on the wall, fell, knocking gleasons below them from the wall, but that did not stop them. They just regrouped and started climbing again.
The catwalk became crowded with men and melds as Turmae sent in reinforcements, making movement difficult. Galborae felt the fear rolling off the defenders as an almost physical thing, and when the first gleasons made it onto the catwalk, that fear changed to terror. He shared their terror—he did not need imagination to know what it meant to be engulfed by the arms of a gleason, he only needed memories.
If the men succumbed to terror, the battle would be lost. He had to rally them. He sent a mental command to Limam that she would relay to the rest of the melds—focus only on invisible gleasons that made it over the wall. The men would deal with the visible gleasons.
He lifted his eyes to the sky and uttered a brief prayer, then he jumped up onto a crenel and hoisted himself farther up to the top of the merlon, the highest part of the wall. He drew his sword, looked at its four foot blade, and decided it wasn’t long enough. He touched controls on the hand guard and doubled that length. To his amazement, when he looked out over the gleasons, they had slowed for a moment and had turned their faces to him. Then, like a flock of birds turning in mid-flight, the whole mass of charging gleasons changed course toward his blade.
Galborae leaped along the top of the wall from merlon to merlon toward that weakest spot, very much aware that a misstep would send him into the gleason mob at the bottom of the wall. As he ran, the shimmering blade swung back and forth along the outside of the wall, cleaving any gleason within reach. When he reached the shortest part of the wall directly above the rock outcropping, he stopped, but his blade did not stop.
Turmae, not certain what was happening, went to a cut-out in the wall of the spire and looked out at the wall. Even in the bright sunlight, Galborae’s flashing sword caught his eye. The effect that sword had on the gleasons was readily apparent as well. He returned to the electronic display and confirmed that a wider attack had failed to materialize, then deployed more defenders toward Galborae.
Galborae stayed up high on the parapet leaping from merlin to merlin, his blade slashing without pause. Soldiers packed into the crenels below him shoulder to shoulder, leaning out with blasters. Suddenly, King Tennisol leaped up on the merlin next to Galborae with his sword held high. A dozen of his knights followed with blasters, then marines to each side joined them high on the merlins, doubling the number of weapons pouring fire down on the gleasons. Gleasons swarmed, even climbing over the backs of gleasons above them as they frantically tried to reach Galborae, but the murderous hail of energy and the slashing blade stopped them dead.
The attack ended almost as quickly as it began. Within just a very few minutes, the gleasons were either dead or too wounded to attempt the wall. Blasters still sounded as wounded gleasons at the base of the wall moved, but the defenders had successfully defeated this attack. Galborae sheathed his sword and jumped back to the catwalk, then turned and offered a hand to Tennisol. The two ended up in a bearhug. The rest of the men, covered in gleason blood and entrails, joined them in celebration as medics spread out among the wounded. Limam joined him, rubbing against his leg to let him know she was back.
Havlock still waited tensely for the rest of the attack. He passed the word to his men to stay alert, then he went to Turmae and clapped him on the shoulder. “Well done, General,” he said.
Turmae turned glaring eyes on him. “We’re not done yet. Don’t get cocky, Sky Lord. Men died out there.”
Havlock backed up and nodded. “I stand corrected. This was not the attack I expected.”
“They’re testing our defenses, looking for weakness. If they weren’t certain before, they are now—they know they’re up against your modern weapons, not just our swords and arrows. What’s with that sword?”
Havlock’s eyebrows lifted. “Galborae’s sword? It’s special and the only one like it in existence. It cuts through most anything.”
“Can you make more of them?”
“Not right away, and maybe never. It’s an incredibly dangerous weapon, and I’m almost sorry I had it made. It doesn’t care what it cuts. It’s a danger to enemies and friends alike. We noticed on the convoy that it seemed to attract gleasons. It seems to be attracting them here as well. Did you notice?”
“I did. You did not reinforce with shuttles or scooters. Why?”
“I want to leave a few surprises for the gleasons.” He shook his head. “I don’t get it. All of my studies suggest they do not work together. They’re loners.”
Turmae looked him in the eyes. “I have to act on what I see, not what I expected to see. I see an organized enemy force out there. Someone is commanding them. I don’t know what that commander learned from this attack, but the next one will be different.”
“I confess I thought we would hold the outer wall. After this, I’m not so sure.”
Turmae let some frustration show. “Sky Lord, that was just a small probe and a few made it over the wall. We are up against an overwhelming force of hideous creatures this fortress was never designed to defend itself against. We might not win. We are truly in a fight for survival.” He took another look at the display, saw it was clear, and turned away from Havlock. “I have to speak with the queen. She’ll be worried.”
Havlock shook his head and called Lebac who was overseeing things from the transporter. “Do you believe what just happened?” he asked his second in command.
“No. I’m not sure what I just saw.”
“Turmae believes it was a feint to test our defenses. I think he’s right, but that begs another question.”
“Exactly. Just how organized are these gleasons?”
“Turmae has convinced me we’d better start treating them as an intelligent opponent rather than dumb beasts. This changes everything, Zac, for us and for General Stymes when he gets here.”
“I’m not sure I agree. I think you’re giving them more credit than they’re due, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment. I wonder what they’ll try next?”
“Think basic warfare, not high tech fighting, Zac. They’ll send scouts, they’ll probe us, and they’ll be ready to shift instantly when they find a weak spot.”
“They have to know by now that we see them even when they’re invisible,” Lebac said as he rubbed a hand across his chin. “Invisib
ility is their greatest asset and it’s not working for them.”
Havlock snapped his fingers. “Night, Zac. They’ll attack at night.”
M’Kind broke into their conversation. “That’s not all, sir. If we’re really going to credit them with intelligence, they’ll weaken you with the next attack and come at you tomorrow or the next day with fresh troops.”
For the first time since entering the walls of Tricor, Havlock actually sensed his own mortality, as if he was back on the road with the caravan. There was a real possibility he could lose Tricor and his whole command to the gleasons. He stood up and walked to a window, staring out across Tricor to the lands surrounding it and the many, many gleasons roaming freely out there.
Who are you? he wondered of the gleason commander. How smart are you? How far are you willing to go?
Havlock had lost his entire command to Chessori invaders at the outset of the war on Aldebaran. He’d regrouped and fought back, had actually become a hero, but the loss was never far from his mind and he had never forgiven himself. As he stared out toward the gleasons, he vowed it would not happen here.
He lifted the communicator to his mouth. “What kind of lights do you have on the transporter?” he asked M’Kind.
“I can light up the whole perimeter. They’ll see me, but to the best of my knowledge they cannot hurt the ship.”
“How do we stop a second assault?”
“My weapons are anti-ship lasers, far too powerful to use near Tricor. However, I can bring them to their lowest settings and scour an area far beyond Tricor of reinforcements. There are lots of them on our sensors. I can draw a line they won’t be able to cross.”
“Get started as soon as the main attack begins. Let’s find out how badly they want this place.”
“Uh, sir,” M’Kind said, “I don’t think they care about Tricor. It’s you and your men they want. I get the feeling they don’t want us here. Let’s face it—they had a pretty good deal going for themselves before we came.”
Havlock shook his head. “We’re going to show them we mean to stay. I’m just sorry Tricor got caught up in it. How are things on the ship?”
“My fine ship has turned into an ark. I think she sent more animals than people. I’ll never get rid of the smell.”
* * * * *
The main attack started with full darkness. Only one moon was up and it was a small crescent, so the night was fully dark. Blobs massed across the clear zone, then more moved out of the buildings from all directions simultaneously, their horrible screams resonating across the city. Turmae passed the word, but it wasn’t really needed. Soldiers with visors and pilots on the shuttles knew as soon as he knew, and none of them hesitated. Stunners fired non-stop, and everyone knew that lives depended on accuracy. The wall lit up with the red lances of blasters reaching out to gleasons.
Havlock warned them that lights were coming on. M’Kind gave them a moment to reconfigure visors, then the whole city lit up with intense light. The gleasons actually stopped moving and became sitting ducks. Clearly, the light had blinded their sensitive night vision.
Defenders took advantage of the lull, the first time any of them had seen an opportunity to shoot a stationary gleason. Inside the command center, a series of tremendous blasts shook the room. Everyone whirled around to see the arms master, Sergeant Guarl, firing a seriously heavy weapon at the heaviest concentrations of targets outside the wall. The weapon was so heavy that it was normally mounted on a vehicle. It came with its own separate power supply and computer aiming system, but Guarl had left that behind and was using it the old fashioned way—aiming with a scope and a laser.
On the wall, long blasters took out hundreds of gleasons. Havlock issued a curt command to his shuttles to blast the far side of the cleared area and take out the closest structures in the process. As soon as buildings began blowing up around them, more gleasons headed for the wall, some of them already wounded. Shuttles’ stunners hit this wave hard, then the gleasons had to get through the massed firing from the curtain wall. Snipers on the towers had a field day, but then the blinded gleasons started moving again, all of them. As soon as they did, the defenders returned to needing multiple shots to take down the erratically moving creatures.
The wall served its purpose. Havlock watched in amazement as possibly half the attackers died before crossing the wall. However, half was too many to fight hand-to-hand.
Turmae had a tough decision to make. Clearly, the curtain wall would not contain the attack, but the wall still provided an obstacle which would slow and reduce the number of gleasons. On the other hand, he had to give the defenders time to withdraw.
He turned to Havlock, yelling above the insistent pounding from Guarl’s weapon. “Bring your shuttles in closer. I’ll accept some damage to the wall. Tell them to remember there will be other battles. Preserve what they can.”
Havlock brought his shuttles and scooters in closer. Still, gleasons continued swarming toward, then up the wall.
On Galborae’s section of wall, the battle was a repeat of the earlier foray. Gleasons streamed across the 100 meter cleared area outside the wall. He raced up the steps of the watch tower for a better look, the stones of the tower ringing from repeated blasts from snipers’ weapons. When he reached the top and looked out, the cleared area was a sea of visible gleasons, and he knew there would be some invisible gleasons intermingled with them.
Everyone was doing their job, so he raced back down to the wall and worked his way around men on the catwalk until reaching King Tennisol’s side in the center, then added his blaster fire to theirs. Before long, gleasons were at the wall. Soldiers again leaned out through the crenels to fire straight down.
Turmae called Galborae on his communicator. “I’m sounding the retreat shortly. I want you to show your blade. Last time it attracted them. If it does so again, it will take the pressure off some of our men as they retreat. Reinforcements are already on the way to you.”
Galborae knew what Turmae’s words meant—he needed Galborae up on the wall again. With a sick feeling, knowing in his gut that he had already tested fate too far, he hoisted himself to the top of the merlin and held his gleaming sword high. The moment his sword cleared its scabbard, gleasons near and far swerved toward it. Tennisol joined him, then his knights joined the two of them. Soon, more defenders lifted themselves to the tops of the merlins, doubling the amount of firepower directed toward the gleasons.
Turmae sounded the retreat. The battlements began emptying to both sides of Galborae’s section of wall. Closer to him, reinforcements joined his own men until they were two deep at the wall.
A short time later Turmae ordered Galborae to retreat, identifying specific units to pull back one at a time. Galborae’s sword kept up its non-stop slashing as the ranks of men behind and beside him thinned, half of them retreating to each watch tower, then down into the tunnels below.
Then it was time to completely abandon the wall. Galborae ordered Tennisol to retreat, and the king jumped down to the catwalk. He and a dozen men held the rear on one side as Galborae jumped to the catwalk and fought a rear action on the other. With no one to stop them, individual gleasons leapt over the wall and onto the catwalk, but most ignored Tennisol. They had eyes for Galborae and his shimmering blade.
Marines pounded up the catwalk to reinforce Galborae, fighting shoulder to shoulder, their blasters firing without pause as Galborae worked his way backward toward the tower. Gleasons fell and began piling up as the men fell back. Scooters reinforced, but there were just too many gleasons.
Havlock reached out and touched a shuttle symbol on the display. “Hawke, we’ve lost the outer wall. Galborae is about to get overrun. Start taking out the wall.”
“Aye, sir.”
Hawke’s shuttle hove to just inside the wall. Both guns from one side fired once, and the horde of gleasons on the center of the catwalk disappeared. So, too, did the catwalk and the wall.
Galborae’s men continued retreating towa
rd the tower as gleasons poured through the breach, but gleasons also continued swarming up the wall. Scooters moved closer to the retreating men, hovering just above their heads and pouring a solid wall of energy into the gleasons. Hawke continued blasting the wall, chipping it away as the men fought their way closer to the tower.
Galborae finally reached the tower with gleasons climbing over each other in their frenzy to reach him. He shortened the blade in the confined area but never stopped cleaving. He was the last man to start down the stairway, his blade flashing sparks as it carved through stone at the end of each swing. Then the tower shook hard several times. Hawke called him to say he had collapsed part of the tower onto the catwalk, sealing the doorway and possibly the stairwell.
Galborae could not seal the tunnel with gleasons behind him. He continued slashing, but now he forced his way back through dead gleasons toward the top of the stairs. By the time he reached the top, there were no more living gleasons. The landing had been sealed with rubble. He turned and headed back into the tunnel, stopping only long enough to reach up and pull a long lever. A heavy, carved stone fell into place above him, sealing the tunnel on this end.
Chapter Fifteen
Catwalks emptied far quicker than Havlock thought possible, though in fairness, the men were seriously motivated. Still under the onslaught of the shuttles and scooters, gleasons now truly swarmed over the wall through the reduced firing, and though many of them bore serious wounds, some of them remained fully intact. Once clear of the wall, they began working their way through the city toward the inner wall.
Tricor had lost its first level of defense, and so quickly that Havlock felt numb with shock. Turmae stayed calm, acting like he’d been doing this all his life. Reports came in from his men on the status of the retreat and he shouted to Havlock, “Some of my retreating forces will be in position on the inner wall in five minutes. All of them will be in position in 15 minutes.”
Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights Page 21