“We will deal with this later, when we have the chance.”
Artemas tied to look comforted, but it did little to appease Roxana.
“Arrival in five seconds,” said the helmsman.
Roxana held her breath for the last few seconds, something she often did in such circumstances. When travelling at such vast speeds, there was always the uncertainty of arrival. Even worse was that they could appear in the middle of some terrible celestial phenomenon for which there was no escape. There was time to return to her seat, and she did so, just as the stars slowed, and they arrived at the Eternal Fortress.
“Now!” said the helmsman.
The first thing to come into view was the planet. They were close, but not as close as she had expected. There were plenty of ships near her, but the three Titans were almost in orbit around the planet already.
“Damn Chirisophus sent us the wrong coordinates,” she said angrily, looking to Artemas, “We were supposed to be at maximum range in case there were issues. Now look at this.”
Artemas was not in the slightest surprised.
“The Strategos has other plans. He clearly wants us to win, or die at this place, and he has chosen to end the battle. He has left us out here, exposed and vulnerable.”
Roxana lifted her left eyebrow, but Dekarchos Leontius, her tactical officer spoke.
“Contact, enemy vessels on an intercept vector! They are coming from low orbit around the planet.”
He began issuing orders to the other officers, getting the guns and shields ready for the inevitable. Roxana watched via the vast cathedral-like viewing point. There were three Titans in view now, as well as scores of heavy warships, and they were already engaged.
“I have two dozen ships around the planet, plus orbital satellites.”
Roxana shifted in her seat and pointed to the planet.
“Get us in position to hit the weapon platform. I want atomics primed and ready.”
A pulse of light lit up the forward view, and a single line connected one of the captured battleships with the planet. Orbs of energy pulsed up from the planet, and with each strike a huge chunk of the ship ripped off. Then came one last flash, and the ship exploded into tiny fragments.
“Gods, that weapon system will end us.”
The auletes looked back at her.
“Komes. The Strategos is moving into position to blockade the planet and is sending in torpedo boats with missiles to hit the pyramid. Estimated time for the attack is twenty-three minutes. He is calling in all escorts and fighters to provide an ablative shield for the Titans.”
Lady Artemas took in a deep breath; one that Roxana knew highlighted her fears.
“He will raze the Fortress to the ground if he gets the chance, and any of our soldiers on the ground will die alongside them.”
Roxana was more concerned at the burning ships she could already see. Most were the derelict transports, but there were only so many capital ships. She checked the tactical disposition of the Legion one last time and then made up her mind.
“Helm, I want a high-velocity course laid in here. Take us directly above that weapon.”
Her new officers were well chosen, and her orders were relayed without a single question being raised. The ship rumbled from the engines increasing in power, and they accelerated towards the Fortress world. Lady Artemas walked up to Roxana and waited at her side like a sentinel.
“I want to see how this ends.”
The battle was unusually in the favour of the Terrans; their much larger fleet easily dominated the area of space around the single planet. Only the threat of the massive defence system offered anything in the way of resistance. Terran battleships and cruisers had already secured high-orbit, and the pitiful number of defending ships were being taken apart by concentrated fire from the Titans. Hundreds of Terran fighters moved about in squadrons looking for targets of opportunity.
“Soon,” said Roxana, “We will finish what Chirisophus fails to complete.”
There were other ground defence platforms, many of which were equipped with high-power cutters. Though nothing like the pyramid system, each was perfectly capable of burning through the hull of an unshielded warship. Any vessel moving into high-orbit put itself into the path of these weapons which numbered in their hundreds. Into this maelstrom moved the great Bactrian Grand Battleship, and what was left of Xenophon’s personal fleet of warships. They were hit by a mixed assortment of plasma and missiles, but the layered shielding did its job.
“Will she hold together?” Artemas asked.
Roxana didn’t answer her and just nodded forward. The large shielded windows gave a perfect view of their target and the gunfire that was hitting about them like rain. Each impact fizzled and crackled, but not one broke through.
“Komes, there’s a problem, a big problem,” said Dekarchos Leontius.
He looked backwards and nodded at the imagery showing behind their force of ships. Small dots were increasing in size, as additional vessels decelerated from their travel at faster than light speed.
“It’s the fleet of Ariaeus. I count seventy plus ships, including heavy assault ships and cruisers from the Robotic Domains.”
Roxana swallowed, her throat feeling dry and uncomfortable. A single white circle appeared on the view ahead with extra details appearing alongside it.
“What’s that?” Roxana asked, “Is that an atomic blast?”
Dekarchos Leontius shook his head.
“No, Komes, that is a layered shielding system. A micro-atomic warhead just struck the weapon site and detonated.”
“And the weapon?”
In a sickening reminder of how precarious their situation was, another line reached up to strike a warship, a simple answer to her question. This time it struck some of the broken and battered shipyard and exploded in a blast, so vast five fighters were caught up in the debris field.
“...that damned weapon is still active. Attacks from orbit are just not going to do it.”
She rubbed at her face, clearly concerned.
“We’re in trouble, a great deal of trouble.”
She looked to Artemas, whose own expression had not changed. The image of Chirisophus flashed up on the general broadcast channel, a system designed to answer automatically and fitted on all the Terran warships.
“We have been betrayed. The planetary anti-air defences were waiting for a strike on the weapon. Three torpedo boats are down, and orbital fighters are pursuing the rest. Only one missile made it through, and it impacted on a shield system.”
He looked much angrier than usual but did not appear unduly concerned.
“We are pulling back. All Titans have released their entire stock of micro-atomics at the site around the pyramid structure. They will impact in minutes. Anything within five kilometres of the target will be vaporised. This should destroy the weapon and buy us time to complete the mission. All vessels are to pull back to my location. We will present a wall of shields and weapons for these Medes animals that have arrived. We will then deal with the planet when the battle is over.”
Artemas tapped her communication system, but the auletes looked back to her.
“The Strategos is blocking all incoming traffic. He is on transmit-only.”
Roxana looked at Artemas and shook her head.
“He is going to leave all of those on the surface to die, Xenophon and the rest included. And the shielding, it will have no problem deflecting more atomics. You saw the power surge on that thing.”
Artemas shook her head.
“No, Xenophon and the others will not fail. We have to buy them time. Once the shield is down, we can use whatever weapons are at our disposal to finish this.”
Roxana wanted to agree, but she failed to see how this would work.
“What are you proposing?”
Artemas considered her options, but she had very little time to plan.
“Get us close and stop those missiles. I will assemble every warrior I can find
aboard. We will end this the way the Strategos should have.”
She stopped and then grinned.
“Do we have any atomics onboard?”
Roxana nodded slowly.
“Yes. One rack of eight micro-warheads.”
“Excellent. I have an idea. Just get us to the planet and fast. Can you stop those missiles?”
Roxana was already asking the same of her tactical officer. He looked at them both with no sense of pleasure or excitement reaching a single muscle on his face.
“Get me closer and I can stop them. But only if we reach this point before the missiles begin their entry procedure.”
Roxana nodded furiously.
“We’ll get there, even if we have to drop down through the atmosphere itself.”
* * *
The Eternal Fortress, Shattered Systems
Glaucon was out in the open, and dozens of spatharii were running to him. With the tracks on each flank proving to be deadly traps, they could do nothing for their fallen comrades. And so the growing number of Terrans formed up into a phalanx twenty warriors wide. Every second their number grew, and more spatharii rushed in behind them.
"Shields!" Glaucon shouted.
Many body shields flickered on, and even one portable unit carried by a pair of Acadians. Most of the front rank was now covered, all the warriors presenting their weapons to the front in a dense hedgehog of metal blades and firearms. Xenophon stayed close to Glaucon, and Desma as always protected his right flank. He spotted more Night Blades entering, and he gave hand signals to send them up to the walls, while the spatharii held the central ground in front of the keep.
"We're protected from their larger numbers here," said Glaucon.
His tone was hopeful, but Xenophon knew they had a much bigger problem. Every minute gave the enemy time to bring in more soldiers, and his forces were finite. The entire front of the enemy formation flickered as each opened fire and unleashed an entire magazine in a furious bombardment. Without armour and shields, the Terrans would have been massacred. Xenophon flinched as the projectiles clattered against their shields and spotted at least six Terrans fall down, including one of the shielded Laconians. He stood up tall, ignoring the gunfire and relying upon his own protective equipment.
"Return fire and advance!”
Just as with phalanxes thousands of years earlier, the unit moved forward. It was a fast walk, and they unleashed their own firepower against the automatons. Scores of the enemy fell for just a handful of Terrans, and they were halfway to the broken keep. Little fire came down from the rooftop. The Night Blades were busy hitting them with precise suppressing fire.
"Charge!"
The front rank of the phalanx jumped ahead and surged ten paces before crashing into the remaining automatons. They were broken and running before they knew what had hit them, but even as the defeated automatons fled, Xenophon could see what was behind them.
"Phalanx!" he cried once more.
It was a testament to the training and skill of the Terrans that so many of them reacted and returned to the shield wall so quickly. Nonetheless, fifteen were killed by the charging Taochi that had been crouching behind the automatons and in the shadows of cover offered by the devastated bastion.
They led us into a trap.
There was no more time to think. The monstrous creatures were already at the phalanx, and try as they might the Terrans were unable to hold them back by force. The phalanx was shattered in seconds, and the battle became a free-for-all; each warrior forced to rely on his individual skill with arms to survive. Maces, hammers, and guns swung around or blasted. Both sides were cut down in equal number.
"It's Timasion!" yelled a warrior from further back.
Xenophon glanced towards the breach and spotted the shapes of the heavily armoured spatharii gleaming in the bright light and equipped with a number of portable shield units. He looked back to Glaucon.
"That's more like it. Now let’s break them, and shut down this weapon!"
He pushed on ahead, not even bothering to check behind him. If he had, he might have spotted the blades hacking at his men. A scream from Desma finally forced him to twist about to deflect a strike, but this time it wasn’t a Taochi warrior, it was the kopis blade of a spatharii. He beat it aside, but more of the Terran soldiers crashed into his troops, and they were overrun in seconds.
“To me, brothers!” he yelled.
It was too late, though. Any knocked down were already being held down with guns to their heads. He spotted Glaucon coming towards him, and then a blast struck him in the flank. Blood spurted out from the wound, and he twisted about before hitting the ground face down. In just a few more seconds, the fighting slowed and then stopped. Xenophon watched as Timasion, his rival and a long-time leader in the Legion, emerged from behind the protection offered by the armour of his spatharii. He stopped upon reaching Xenophon and bared his teeth in a wide smile.
“I cannot tell you how long I have been waiting for this moment.”
Timasion then looked to the Taochi.
“Shackle him and bring their officers to our new patron, Lord Ariaeus.”
Xenophon was dragged away from his warriors, shackled and kicking. They were only a few metres away as he shouted out to his fellow officer.
“Why are you doing this?”
Timasion continued to walk and then stopped. He rubbed at his cheek, and Xenophon could see he was loving every moment of this.
“Money, plain and simple, old friend. Ariaeus has offered me a Titan of my choice, plus territory on the Ionian border with our own worlds.”
He looked to Xenophon as though he was disappointed at his foe’s expression.
“Why, you do not approve? I left my world for this campaign on promises of loot and rewards. Thanks to you, Chirisophus and Xenias, we are now paupers. I took on debts to bring troops to this fight.”
He thumped his chest.
“Now it’s time for my reward.”
He walked away, and Xenophon found himself being pulled along in chains towards the breach they had fought so hard to enter. Around him were scores more spatharii and stratiotes, each suffering the same fate. He glanced at where Glaucon had fallen, but there was nobody there anymore. A look in either direction showed no sign of the man.
Where are you, you fool?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Eternal Fortress, Shattered Systems
The battleground outside the walls was a graveyard of smashed dromons, fighters, and transports. The only undamaged equipment appeared to be a long column of armoured vehicles, each one massive and tracked. He was marched up a wide ramp and into the interior of the first one. This was the first time he’d seen one of these heavy automaton transports up close, and he was far from impressed.
“What do you want from me?”
He was forced to move a little further inside and then stopped. In front of him was a group of five Taochi, and in front of them a face he’d not seen in quite some time.
“Ariaeus.”
He almost spat out the words. He’d never been comfortable with Ariaeus, even when he’d been the deputy of Lord Cyrus. At his side was the mercenary commander he had met before, one of the infamous Hooshang Brothers.
“What do you want?”
Ariaeus moved closer to him, but the relish on his face was hard to hide.
“I have what I want...Xenophon. I have your fleet surrounded, and this weapon system will vaporise one ship after another until your little Laconian lapdog begs me to stop.”
“And now I have the man responsible for the death of my brother,” said the mercenary. Xenophon’s nostrils flared in irritation.
“Chirisophus will never surrender the Legion.”
He then looked to the warrior.
“And your brother deserved exactly what he received.”
Ariaeus laughed while blocking the path of Bijan. The mercenary could easily have brushed him aside, but there was something about this new, cocky Ariaeus
that commanded respect, where in the past he might have been ignored.
“I know, and that is what makes this last battle so wonderfully delicious.”
He turned his back on Xenophon and walked back inside the ship. From in here, and without his helm, Xenophon could hear the sound of Median reinforcements arriving. Just as he had suspected, they would overrun them with superior numbers if given the time. It wasn’t Ariaeus that sent a chill through his body, though; it was the traitor Timasion and the fact that his own men had turned on his.
“Where is the Dukas Timasion, the man you paid to turn against us?”
Ariaeus had gone further inside the craft and was about to enter the next compartment. On either side were mercenaries, each resplendent in thick body armour. He stopped and gazed at Xenophon, finding it hard to avoid smiling.
“It didn’t take much. I would have paid ten times what he asked for. Your hatred of each other will be your undoing.”
“And your arrogance will be yours.”
A loud warning klaxon sounded, and a Median officer moved from near the front of the craft. He began muttering words that meant nothing to Xenophon. He could hear a sound, one that was nothing like the whine of fighters or transports. Then the ground began to shake, and he found it hard to hide his smile.
Somebody has begun the bombardment, Xenophon hoped.
* * *
Glaucon pulled hard with his arms to drag him past the dozens of bodies. He’d already lost count of the number of dead Terrans, automatons, and Taochi he’d pulled himself over. His helmet was off, and his breastplate broken into multiple loose sections. None of this compared to the pain from his wounds he was trying to hide. He made it over the next body and glanced back. His left leg was broken in multiple places, and blood ran from wounds caused by deep penetrations to his torso. Only the remainder of his armour seemed to be keeping him together and conscious.
The Eternal Fortress (Star Legions Book 6) Page 24