The Warlord's Path

by Michael Kotcher

  The brown-furred lupusan nodded, ears flat to his head. “Yes, Commander.” The tactical officer always sounded as though he was doing his best to hold back drool, giving him something of a speech impediment. Come to think of it, during the heat of serious combat; he did have a tendency to drool.

  Pondering that, Hestian departed the bridge.

  Chapter 13

  In short order, two assault shuttles were on the ground and Hestian, War Leader Vok and all of Unruk platoon were in the governmental complex, with Vok and most of the soldiers securing the shuttles, and Hestian and his two guards going inside. The implacable Cromm accompanied Hestian with a strange vest of armor and his great axe, and one of the zheen soldiers wearing similar armor but loaded up with firearms. Hestian wore a black vest and a leather pleated kilt, cut in military fashion, decorated with steel rivets. The only weapons he carried were a pair of knives on his wrist bracers and his sidearm belted at his hip. The small entourage did much to impress the prey… er, the governing council, who were mostly human. They all gave nervous looks and quick glances at one another, as the lupusan entered into the conference room. The aide who had led them here scurried inside looking like he was about to wet himself.

  A stocky human, balding, with dark hair and a beard tinged with silver, was in the center of the group. He wore an olive drab suit that was cut in obvious military style, with brass buttons going down the front in two lines. He steeled himself and then addressed the newcomers.

  “I am President Nordd Callas,” he said in a voice filled with resignation and sorrow, but strangely devoid of fear. He must be convinced he is about to die. He still might. “I formally surrender to you, Commander.” The man’s jaw muscle twitched as he spoke, but he managed to get the words out.

  “President Callas,” Hestian growled, watching only that man. The others were largely irrelevant. Lackeys, he suspected. From what he’d heard over the comms during the initial transmissions, V’ka’sith was convinced that this place was run by a dictator in the form of its President.

  “Just stick a gun or your claws in his face, and he’ll get you anything you want,” the zheen had stated, and Hestian could only agree.

  “I appreciate your cooperation in this endeavor. My troops did not come here to harm anyone. The damage inflicted on your city was unfortunate, but you needed to understand my resolve.”

  Callas nodded, but the throbbing vein in his forehead betrayed his anger of having his authority undercut this way, that and Hestian’s hypocrisy. Luckily, he managed to avoid saying anything damning. “I want to get through this minimal fuss. I will chalk our losses up to… experience… and try and move on.”

  Definitely a dictator. An elected official would have been screaming to the heavens about losses and casualties. “An excellent way of looking at it. To that end, you will direct my shuttles to those warehouses on the east side of the city. My ships are detecting large amounts of refined metals there: aluminum, steel, copper, tungsten, among others.”

  One of the men behind the President sputtered. “Those are the metal stockpiles for our aircraft and tank factories!”

  “Then they should be of acceptable quality,” Hestian noted. “Then, you will direct my troops to your gold storage.”

  At this order, the advisors all started exchanging confused glances. “I’m sorry, Commander,” Callas said slowly, aware that his words might portent doom, “But we only keep a few dozen kilos of gold in storage. We use it for industrial purposes for military and civilian products, but that is all.”

  “Only a small cache? What about for monetary purposes?”

  Callas shrugged and shook his head. “We use paper bills for our currency, backed by silver, of course.” He said this as though it was the most obvious concept.

  Hestian looked slightly disgusted but nodded. “Very well, we’ll work with that.”

  “Actually, if you’re looking for gold,” one of the advisors spoke up, brightening. He wore a pinstripe blue suit with an enormous mustache on his face. “Then Geldar is the place you want.”

  “Yes!” the President jumped on the idea, like a ragged lifeline in a raging sea. Their blood gold mines are supposedly bottomless. Considering how much they’ve brought out of those mines in the last two centuries, it certainly would seem so.”

  Hestian grinned at this, flicking his ears. He didn’t forget about those warehouses, but this had certainly caught his ear. “You have my undivided attention, President Callas.”

  “Those godless bastards flaunt their wealth,” the President went on, warming to his subject. It was obviously a well-trod rant. “Their gold backs their currency, and they demand the exchange rate reflect that. An Aquinnean sovereign is valued at less than a third of their Unity liro. And we either accept those numbers, or they strangle our trade!”

  “What can you tell me about this Geldar nation?” Hestian asked.

  Callas puffed out his chest, while the advisors all nodded. They very much liked that the conversation was steering away from pillaging their cities to attacking a rival instead. “What would you like to know?”

  “What sort of defenses do they have? How many soldiers? Where are they deployed?” He smiled again. “And where are those gold storage vaults?”

  “We have all of that information, Commander,” the President replied, nodding himself. “In fact, if you were willing, we could assist you with this, Commander. If your ships could target their anti-air cannons and their radar, we could provide air cover for your cargo vessels.” He beamed. “In fact, we could help each other. I could bring troop transports to help secure the landing sites. It would be an absolute pleasure to finally be able to end that menace to our borders and our way of life once and for all.”

  Hestian flicked his ears. “Help in that area would certainly be appreciated. I accept. You will fly cover for my ships; I will take out their anti-air defenses and radar.”

  “We would be happy to put soldiers on the ground to clear the way for your people,” he pushed, doing a poor job of schooling his expression.

  Hestian covered his own smile by nodding. “Very well. How soon will your advance units be ready to deploy?”

  Callas exchanged looks with his advisors, all of whom were showing signs of avarice. “Elite air corps units can be ready in twelve hours, Mister President. We can scramble the alert fighter wing for extended operations in three hours. The rest will take longer, especially if we don’t want the enemy getting wind of our plans. We can pass the scramble off as a training exercise.” The man considered it. “Though, I’m sure they’ve detected your ships, Commander, and the explosions in the city. They might think that we’re gearing up to fight you.”

  Hestian grunted. That is fast. “Were you preparing to attack them?”

  “We have been arming for years now,” Callas told him. “First against Geldar then Drusiliad. No open fighting has happened in over two decades, but we’ve had to be ready. Tensions between our nations have always been high ever since our last armed conflict.”

  “I see. Just keep me informed of your progress.” Then he paused. “Does Geldar or Drusiliad maintain an embassy here?”

  Callas looked about to spit. “Nest of vipers, all of them.” He gestured to an aide, who nodded and rushed out of the room. “I’m sending teams out to roll them up.”

  “Do what you can. I will work to disrupt communications before we strike,” Hestian said in approval.

  One of the other advisors, a weasel-looking man, looked around. “We are really doing this,” he said in a tone of wonder.

  One of his colleagues punched him in the chest. “Shut up, Olivan. This is a serious business.” Rubbing his chest, the first man closed his mouth. “Sorry, Mister President.”

  Callas scowled at them, then looked back to the lupusan. “Forgive me, Commander. We’ve prepared and trained for this day, never knowing if we would ever have a chance to strike such a blow against the Geldar.”

  The lupusan nodded. “I complete
ly understand.” He rose to his feet. “If you could provide information and targeting coordinates to me for the gun emplacements, I will ensure they are taken out.”

  “I ask only one thing in return for our cooperation, Commander,” Callas said tending as the lupusan scowled and bared his teeth. “We ask that you allow my forces to retain control of the capital once you have the depositories in your control.”

  Hestian chuckled. “We will assist in the fighting, but my troops will be concentrating around those depositories.”

  “Of course, I understood that. But I would like your assurance that you will let my troops move unhindered, and keep what we take, as far as the territory was concerned.”

  Hestian didn’t like the tone, but he nodded. “Yes, President Callas. I think that is acceptable. We can help one another. I get the gold stores; you get their capital city.”

  The man beamed with a smile as bright as a supernova. “Then I have a military to mobilize.”

  “Indeed. I will be returning to my shuttle to coordinate with my ships.”

  ((--[][]--))

  The “rest” of the troops turned out to be over a hundred thousand soldiers, armored vehicles and scores of rockets armed with chemical warheads. They were leaving some five thousand soldiers behind as a defense, but these were little more than militia, not up to the training levels of the main army.

  The ambassador of the Geldar consulate demanded at once to be taken to see the leader of the invading force, wanting to try and work something out. Callas allowed it, simply for the amusement he’d gain in seeing the man grovel for his life. The ambassador did not, in fact, grovel, he made a counter offer to Commander Hestian. If his troops would dispatch the armies of Aquinnea, and allow the army of the Union of Geldar to move in and secure these lands, he would offer twelve thousand kilos of gold. Hestian pretended to take the offer under advisement, while simultaneously telling the diplomat to inform his people that the nation of Aquinnea would be paying tribute to him in the form of their silver stores, strategic metals, and military hardware. If Geldar knew what was best for them, they would stay out of it. He then released the man, telling him to leave Aquinnea immediately.

  “He’ll be back on the radio, sending signals to his own people within minutes!” Callas told him, upset.

  “Of course he will.” Hestian’s voice held a certain amount of smug satisfaction. “I want him to report back. And that means that you need to get on the radio and inform the populace of what is happening. That you have surrendered to us, and that we are helping ourselves to your goods, much of which will be military hardware and arms.”

  The President started to smile, which continued to broaden as the implications sunk in. “Indeed. I will do so immediately.”

  Twenty minutes later, the radio stations in Aquinnea, in all the cities, began sending out messages to the people, pleading with them to cooperate with the warriors from space, and occasionally lamenting the loss of the war materiel. And a few hours later, Adrasteia’s and Ganges’s sensors detected a large amount of movement in the Geldar cities, with a large number of troops and vehicles mobilizing at the airbases in all cities. Any lingering sympathies Hestian might have had (which were very few) evaporated upon hearing that report. Geldar, it seemed, was waiting for the space pirates to take what they wanted, leave Aquinnea damaged and militarily weakened, and then move in for the kill.

  Vultures, Hestian thought to himself. The lot of them.

  There were two types of shuttles coming down from the Strike flotilla, the sleek assault shuttles capable of carrying up to a score of soldiers, and the larger cargo shuttles, which by cramming in soldiers and ground vehicles, could stuff in over a hundred men and two tanks. It wasn’t comfortable, but they wouldn’t be inside for long. Mobilizing the forces and loading up the vehicles took three days, during which time, Aquinnean espionage from Geldar was hard at work, as was the false information being spread on the home front.

  When the shuttles, as well as cargo planes, troop planes and fighters finally lifted off the tarmac and into the air, Hestian was about ready to start chewing on the bulkheads. There were constant delays, though getting that many soldiers and vehicles mobilized, loaded and ready in such a short time for a full-fledged invasion was impressive. It spoke to the warmongering nature of these people that they would have such a force ready to roll at a moment’s notice. That thought made Hestian laugh, thinking about a warmongering nation, considering his own proclivities and the whole reason for his being here.

  The armada of planes made their approach toward Geldar’s largest city, Ithros, under cover of night, but the various radar stations along the way would have no trouble detecting them all coming in. A good sixty seconds before they would be detected, kinetic projectiles dove through the atmosphere, launched from Adrasteia and Ganges and crashed into eight of the stations along the border, wiping them all out in an instant. In that same instant, the way into the Union of Geldar was clear. Oh, they knew something happened, they knew that most likely someone was coming, but by the time they could get mobilized in the right direction, it would be too late.

  Racing past the border of the Union, the combined armada started their descent. The assault shuttles leading the way targeted the two cannon batteries and fired. Missiles streaked forward and slammed into the anti-air guns. Fireballs lit the night as the guns exploded. The armada swept overhead past the burning defense batteries.

  “There it is,” the pilot reported. “Three minutes, Commander.”

  “Copy that. Coordinate with the other ships.” The six assault shuttles broke into groups of two, each pair heading for one of the gold storage depositories denoted by the Aquinnean spies. The vaults weren’t a secret, but it wasn’t exactly knowledge the government of Geldar wanted falling into enemy hands. Of course, there was little they could do about it once it did. Also, these were vaults, secure and strong, so there should be little worry about from thieves. Following along behind the assault shuttles were seven cargo shuttles carrying more troops and tanks.

  “Landing now!” the pilot called. “Ten seconds! There’s a series of streets that are wide enough for the assault shuttles and a park about a block away from where the cargo shuttles can set down. There’s a parking area in front of the vault building that you can clear out, and the cargo shuttles can move up.”

  “Incoming ordnance!” V’ka’sith’s voice sounded over comms. Explosions rocked the world over the horizon as Adrasteia and Ganges let loose with kinetic projectiles, hammering the Geldar airbases. Thousands of soldiers and aircraft were neutralized in seconds. Only seven of the ten bases were hit since the heavy cruiser had only five launchers and Ganges had only two, but removing that hurdle would make this raid a lot simpler. The nearest airbase was at the farthest end of Geldar territory,

  “Good shooting, Commander,” Hestian said, smiling.

  “What big eyes I have,” V’ka’sit replied, buzzing. “The better to launch projectiles with!” The channel clicked off.

  The lupusan moved to the aft area of the shuttle, where Vok already had his platoon up and ready.

  “Smash! Smash! Smash ‘em!” the Secaaran siblings were yelling, stomping their feet on the deck. Vok had advised Hestian of this beforehand, but he hadn’t ever seen them in action before this. Thankfully, the ship’s inertial compensators were running at full or else they would have unbalanced the flight. This time, however, it wasn’t just the Secaarans participating in the ritual, nearly all of the platoon had joined in.

  “Ready to go!” Vok shouted over the din and received a chorus of cheers. “Weapons up. We move fast; we have to get inside the building before they can seal it up.” The hatch lowered as the shuttle touched down and the soldiers rushed out, feet pounding on the metal.

  Resistance inside was light. One uniformed security guard was aiming a pistol at the oncoming soldiers and even managed one shot before he was himself was shot. One of the zheen in the platoon cried out in pain and dropped, a bulle
t puncturing his lower thorax just below his body armor. He waved the rest forward, but no one even noticed him.

  Once through the front door, the fighting was sparse. The guards were spread out through the building but were trying to converge. However, the platoon managed to take them in dribs and drabs, and was easily able to fight through. Taking down two more guards, they blasted through a security door further in.

  The workers inside, all dressed in formal clothing that looked remarkably uniform, scattered when the door blew in, screaming in terror. When three massive Secaarans crashed through the wreckage, bellowing war cries, the collapsed to the floor, quivering and all but squeaking in fear.

  “Secure then,” Vok ordered, and two zheen jogged forward with plastic handcuffs to take care of them.

  Hestian surveyed the vault area, then waved the demolition crew forward. Six minutes later, with some detcord and composition-eight and the massive steel door pulsed from the explosion. Swinging it outward, the locking pegs fell from the frame, severed cleanly in the blast.

  “Get the hover carts in here, start loading,” the lupusan ordered, nodding in satisfaction. Stacks of gold bullion lined the walls of the vault and in the center were racks holding boxes of gold coins. Each of the blood-red coins was in a wrapper, depending on the size of the coin they were broken into ten, twenty and even fifty-coin denominations. These still were differentiated by the purity of the gold.

  “Yes, I think this will do nicely,” Hestian remarked as soldiers and crewmen from the shuttle started hauling the boxes out.

  “Cargo shuttles landing in the parking area,” came the call over the comms. “Ground crews, is there a place where the smaller freighters, Bemish and Summer Grass can land?”

  Hestian checked his team; they were busy with loading and trying to secure the building. “Nothing near us here,” he commed. “Check position two. They might have better luck up there.”

  “Copy that, Commander.”