The Celestials
Page 13
As the first light of dawn flushed the sky, conches and trumpets sounded, awakening the sleeping troops, and bringing them to breakfast before the battles ahead. Each man ensured his water bottle was full and put some food away in his pouch. It could be nightfall before they were able to enjoy another meal.
Krishna had volunteered to drive Arjuna’s chariot, and he drove it up to Arjuna’s tent. It was a four-wheeled chariot pulled by a team of six matched horses. Down each side of the chariot and across the back are fixed shields, eight altogether. Behind each shield sat a warrior armed with bow and arrows and a spear each. In the middle on a slight platform was a padded seat for Arjuna, fixed to the back of the seat was the pole holding the large parasol. This was braced with four cords. One to each corner of the chariot and provided shade for the occupants and the driver. Fixed to the front two corners were also the flagpoles, thus each chariot could be identified. Arjuna’s battle flag had the figure of Hanuman the monkey god on it; the other flag was plain pale blue denoting the army of the Pandava.
“Come on you sleepy head,” called Krishna, “it's a fine morning and your army awaits you.” Arjuna stepped from the tent fully dressed, sword by his side carrying his bow and four quivers full of arrows, he handed up the bow and the quivers to one of the warriors on the chariot who hung them behind his seat. Arjuna then climbed aboard and settled himself as Krishna whipped up the team turning the chariot toward the front line.
“You don't look as though you have slept very well, your eyes are red-rimmed, and you have black marks under them,” he called to Arjuna while threading his way through various companies of warriors as he made for the no man’s land between the two armies.
As they trundle along the front lines in no man’s land, Arjuna could see the chariot of Bhishma flying the palmyra tree flag that he favoured, and the chariot of his old weapon's instructor Drona. Arjuna faltered at the sight of both his beloved uncle and his weapon's teacher.
“I cannot in all conscience fight this day,” he told Krishna. “How can any good come from fighting one's own relatives? What value victory if all our loved ones are killed? We will be overcome by sin if we slay them; our duty surely is to forgive them. Even if they have lost sight of dharma due to greed, we should not forget dharma.”
Krishna pulled up the chariot and addressed Arjuna trying to pull him back from this course of action that was preying on his mind.
“Arjuna it is your destiny to fight this day. The real battle you need to win now is not on this battlefield before us, but within yourself.” Krishna then went into a discourse on Dharma and a warriors duty and desires, putting each point of his argument in a clear and meaningful way, when he finished he waited for his friends reply.
Arjuna looked at his friend for a long moment the struggle within clear to Krishna, then the eyes cleared and a smile broke out.
“You're right old friend, my dharma is to do my duty to the best of my ability, this bloodshed we are about to embark on wasn't of our choosing. My karma tells me our struggle is just.”
Bhishma's chariot had also come down into the no man’s land between the two armies, and he called to Arjuna. “Show me how well you shoot Arjuna, and I will reply with my arrows.”
“Very well uncle guard yourself,” he replied as he fired two arrows in quick succession. The warriors on Bhishma's chariot deflected both arrows with their shields. Bhishma's arrows in immediate reply are similarly deflected by the warriors in Arjuna’s chariot. But the next four that arrived in rapid succession from Bhishma were aimed higher, and whizzed past Arjuna’s head one lodging in the pole of the parasol. Arjuna fired six arrows very rapidly in reply the first two caused Bhishma to duck whistling just above his head, but the next four had been aimed lower and one of the four hit Bhishma's bow snapping it asunder.
“Fine shooting lad,” he called to Arjuna. “I'm returning to the rear to get another bow and start directing this war, may the gods go with you,” he called, his chariot turning away and thundering through the ranks of warriors that opened for him.
“We had best take up position at the rear to direct the flow of battle,” called Krishna turning the chariot back up the slight incline through the ranks of warriors who cheered Arjuna for his consummate skill with a bow and arrow.
At ten in the morning, the conch horns sounded all along the front line. Drums started pounding out the beat as vast lines of men moved slowly forward at a steady pace into battle. Where elephants were in the front line on one side, the other side had arranged elephants also. The same with the chariots and cavalry which lurked in the background behind the foot soldiers, ready to charge forward at any breach in the enemy forces. They moved together and clashed like two great oceans, before they met the sky momentarily darkened, as countless arrows from both sides arched into the opposing forces with a dreadful thrumming noise.
The screams of the dying are drowned out in a vast cry from millions of throats, as the front lines of the two sides met in a crash of thrusting spears, flashing parrying swords, and clashing shields. The warriors in the front lines of both sides, were being crushed together relentlessly by the sheer weight of warriors trying to move forward from behind until the entire front line was deadlocked.
The warriors in the front ranks were being crushed to death by those behind, but still held upright in the huge press of warriors. Further back on both sides were the archers firing into the front ranks of the armies opposite, the air blackening with the thrumming roar of volleys of arrows. So thick was the press that no one who was still alive in the front rows could move to defend themselves against the volleys of arrows raining down on them.
All along the twelve kilometres of front line the same scenario was being re-enacted, hundreds of thousands of men dying without being able to move in a vast press of bodies. Yudhishthira, realising what was happening, called his commander of armies to him. “What can we do to relieve our men on the front lines without actually retreating,” he asked the commander when he arrived.
“Your highness I suggest we use our fire weapons, the rockets and the catapulted flaming bales, against the enemy archers, causing them all to retreat and relieving the pressure on our front line, with their superiority in numbers of four extra armies we had better be quick before we end up being pushed back and broken.”
“Do it directly then, and send word down the line to use fire weapons against their archers.”
“Yes highness,” agreed the Senapati of all the armies as he hurried to carry out his plan to relieve the front lines.
Carts of fire rockets are hauled forward, and the catapults were readied all along the front, as gallopers were dispatched to carry the new orders to the various heads of armies. The first into action were some of the catapults firing the sacks of unquenchable fire into the ranks of the enemy archers. A giant roar heralded them, as the flaming sacks rose over the front lines to fall into the massed archers at the rear. As the flaming death roared from the sky onto them, the archers sought to dodge them, at first, they were successful. As more catapults came into action and then, the first of the rockets roared overhead exploding in mid-air and raining down fire on top of them, they began to falter. Then run for their lives toward the rear or suffer agonising death by fire.
As the barrage lowered slightly onto the front line so those that could, disengaged and ran to the rear to regroup, out of range of the blazing sacks and sheets of flame dropping on them from the sky.
Ancore and the crew were flying above the front line; they were in awe at the amount of destruction they were witnessing. Slowly all along the front line fire blossomed in the enemy ranks.
Then as they watched the Kaurava replied with their own fire barrage, they too had fire bales and fire rockets, it started toward the middle of the lines working outward, huge ripples of flaming fire falling onto the Pandava armies, who like the Kaurava army before them, retreated from this holocaust of fire raining down on them.
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nbsp; Both armies pulled back watching, as the front line turned into a pyre of burning bodies. Acrid black smoke from the burning fat of the bodies blackening the sky, and causing such a stink that whole armies were busy vomiting, as they became shrouded in the oily black smoke.
That was the end of fighting on day one of the war, as both sides sought to recover, regroup and replenish used stocks of weapons, and come up with numbers of casualties, they also needed to decide a new strategy for the next phase of the war. Bhima had ridden to Yudhishthira's tent along with the rest of the Pandava brothers, the Senapati of all the armies and the various kings, who had gathered in some urgency after the shambles of the morning’s battle.
Bhima spoke openly of what they all now thought. “Brother we tried honourable warfare and would eventually have lost if you had not used unquenchable fire. But we had to use devious warfare to disengage without being overwhelmed, and it appears the Kaurava also have the use of celestial fire rockets, presumably either the Zedds, or spies have been at work here.”
“Yes, I agree with you Bhima, but we should still try to wage honourable war. Not to kill retreating enemy, or striking them on the backs or legs, and if they have a straw in their mouth, we should let them surrender. As for the rest of devious warfare, I think each stratagem should be judged and approved before being allowed into the battle plan.”
Arjuna spoke up next, “that's all very well brothers but a battle is a very fluid affair. It is possible the commanders on the field haven't the time or opportunity to get each strategy approved, before they can use it. Would it not be better to say that we shall try to observe honourable warfare, but if we are to win this war we need to think seriously what devious tactics we can use tomorrow, and the day-after brother?"
King Yalambar spoke next, “Myself and King Muktananda have been conferring Yudhishthira. We feel after the disaster of today the battle formations should be based on the Vyuha array consisting of a centre, two flanks and two wings, each of equal strength that should contain between nine to twenty one units. Each unit containing, one elephant or chariot, five horsemen, and fifteen infantry at the front and rear. This would give us considerable mobility in changing formations during the battle. What think you of the tried and true formations, Yudhishthira?”
“I agree with you. The Vyuha array would give us the best mobility and therefore should be implemented immediately. As for devious warfare much as I dislike it, I am forced to agree that we shall have to use it if we are to triumph in this war. I was misguided to think we could win the war using only honourable methods, have we a strategy planned for tomorrow?” Yudhishthira looked askance at the assembly.
Bhima spoke up, “it depends on what formations they decide to use tomorrow. We can use our war elephants to break up closed ranks of enemies, and use our inferior troops first to tire out the enemy before sending in our fresh superior troops. Attack the enemy wherever we see vulnerability, using inferior troops and feigning a withdrawal thus luring them into a trap. Of course, we could also attack at night with small forces, burning supply lines to deprive the enemy of sleep, then attacking with fresh forces in the morning. We moreover have the shrapnel and fire rockets to break up concentrations of enemy troops and besides all those devious tactics, we have our friends the Coorg to help with new weapons and surveillance behind enemy lines.”
“You are right Bhima; we will set out a normal battle array tomorrow but look for weaknesses to exploit. First will be our unseasoned troops, behind which out of sight will be our reserves of battle hardened troops and cavalry waiting to pounce.”
Everyone, all the kings and commanders started back to their own troops to sort out the army units for the morning.
The second day dawned, pink and purples slowly turning red then gold as the sun rose in the heavens, the Vyuha units looked splendid but then consternation. The enemy had fielded the exact same units, the Vyuha on their side.
Yudhishthira spoke to his Senapati of armies, “have we a spy in our midst old friend, look, they have the very same battle order as we do.”
“It is not surprising your highness. Your uncle and teacher Bhishma is Senapati of all their armies, he would surely have known well the Vyuha formation. It is not so surprising then that he would also deploy them after the terrible losses of yesterday.”
“Yes, Senapati you are right it is foolish to think we have a spy in our midst. My uncle is a battle-hardened warrior and commander. It is just coincidence he has chosen the same tried and true formations we did, all right Senapati today we harry them with hit and run sorties, hoping to draw them into a trap, but our troops must remain fluid and watchful.”
At ten in the morning after a good breakfast, the raw guild troops are sent in trying their hit-and-run tactics to draw the enemy out of their set positions. They were not succeeding until one Vyuha turned to retreat.
A Kaurava archer fired a three-metre arrow into the war elephant on the Pandava side; it hit the poor beast just in front of the ear and bounced out. Nevertheless, it had enough force to daze the beast, which promptly lost its senses and charged the enemy lines smashing through them and turning the chariot in the midst of its formation into matchwood. Soldiers were dodging the crazed beast and hurling spears into its flanks, most of which fell out but maddened the poor beast into a frenzy of destruction. It caught and threw horses and riders, and fleeing infantry from out of its path as it charged forward into the enemy lines. Seeing the enemy seemingly routed by their war elephant the rest of the unseasoned guild troops in the Vyuha wheeled about and followed the trail of destruction the elephant left behind, slaughtering anyone still standing. The enemy troops tried to rally but were overwhelmed. After they had cleared two whole Vyuha in this manner, the elephant is skewered by at least four, three-metre arrows and fell in a welter of blood. The unseasoned troops then realised they were deep in enemy held territory and began retreating still fighting as they moved backwards trying to reach their own lines.
As more enemy Vyuha pressed forward, the Pandava guild troops began to run trying to escape, at least three enemy formations are pulled out of the line and away from the archers behind.
At that moment, the Kamboja cavalry struck. Thundering into the enemy, lances glittering in the sunlight they went straight through the Kauravas formations like a hot knife through butter. As they lost, their lances buried in the enemy, so they drew their swords and charged back in, cleaving and beheading everyone before them. It was a relief to the fleeing guild troops, who rallied and finished off anyone trying to escape the slaughter the Kamboja cavalry were wreaking on the unfortunate Kaurava units that had been lured from their fellow units. At least two and a half thousand men died in this brief flurry of activity lasting less than an hour.
Not everything was going in favour of the Pandava armies, at the other end of the lines Drona was commanding the armies facing the King of Lanka's troops, and was making mincemeat of his Vyuha as they tried hit and run tactics. He was deploying regiments of massed archers just behind his front line where they were free to move up and down the battle line to wherever the next threat came from. Each time a Lankan Vyuha ventured close to the front line it met with an overwhelming weight of arrows falling on it and each time most of the warriors in the Vyuha were killed. The Lankan king stopped the hit-and-run tactics, as his men were the ones being hit and forced to run. Next he arranged his men into a Vee formation but kept them to the rear, in front he put fifty war elephants to follow up, he had fifteen thousand cavalry just behind to exploit any gap the elephants managed to open in the enemy ranks. The elephants charged in trumpeting in fear and rage, tied to each animal’s tail was a rope ending in a sack of unquenchable fire that caused the poor animals to run even faster. They are protected by thick leather armour that helped to protect them from the hail of arrows that fell on them, even so a third are killed in the first part of the charge.
The rest were into the front ranks of the enemy caus
ing havoc and setting the tinder dry grass on fire. Several brave warriors who stood together spears butts planted into the earth killed an elephant, but not before, it crashed onto them, crushing them beneath its dying body. The remaining elephants were now into the ranks of massed archers causing mayhem; then the Lankan cavalry swept into the fray. Their target was specifically the enemy archers who they cut down in great numbers. Behind them, the great wedge of the Lankan army marched forward heading for the command post of Drona up on top of the slight hill. As the Lankan army entered Drona's front lines and became embroiled in the fighting, they inexorably moved forward towards their goal, Drona's command post. Whoever killed Drona was in for a very large reward.
They never made it, from over the top of the hill hidden from sight, came the flaming sacks of unquenchable fire. The air filled with whizzing rockets that exploded with shattering effect on the massed troops among the exploding shrapnel rockets were mixed fire rockets. The sky was alive with fire and rockets. Men, horses, elephants, chariots all went up in flames and are torn to shreds by the whistling shrapnel.
The Lankan army retreated streaming back to their own lines, only to be engaged as the barrage lifted by the might of the Kaurava cavalry who now came thundering over the hill, lances glittering red through the smoke and flames as they smashed into the disarray that had been the Lankan army. They were slaughtered in their thousands that day, before the Lankan army reserves managed to save the remnants of the attacking force. That was the end of day two, both sides had lost many men and supplies and were becoming much wiser.
That night the first of the small groups of Pandava troops went in, designed to sabotage anything they came across after sneaking through the lines of sentries, they sabotaged water supplies, set fire to animal fodder, and especially attacked the supplies of rockets the enemy held in storage back behind the front lines. Over sixty bands of warriors had penetrated the enemy lines that night, and they created havoc, there was little sleep for the enemy as fires sprang up everywhere, punctuated by huge explosions as rocket stores went up. The lines were in an uproar, and the Kaurava army had scant sleep. Most of the raiding force managed to get back through the lines, being mistaken for Kaurava forces in the confusion, all except those that stayed too long, and were either killed or captured. Of the six hundred men who had entered the enemy lines four hundred and ninety men had made it back, forty three of whom were wounded.
Days Three and Four of the war continued much as the second day, but without the huge losses that were inflicted on days One and Two.
Day Five dawned, it would be clear and hot today, everything seemed normal. The war continued but neither side was particularly adventurous until the afternoon. King Yalambar and his army from Kathmandu had been very successful so far against the southerner, King Musheer of Kosala, who had suffered large losses in his campaign against King Yalambar.
However, this afternoon everything was about to change. King Yalambar's forces were attacking with great courage and forcing back the Kosala army. Suddenly, from the east came a muted throbbing that quickly grew louder until it was ear-shattering, animals were frantic trying to break away from handlers and riders. The eyes of King Yalambar's army were drawn to the skies where the noise was coming from, and then the sky demons were overhead with a noise like thunder they swept past, five of them belching flame as they turned and came back toward the fray.
As the frightened warriors watched, bright lances of fire stabbed out toward the tent of King Yalambar, suddenly the tent went up with a whoosh and was gone. Next to go were the rocket batteries hidden over the brow of the hill huge balls of flame and shock waves as the rockets ignited most blew up but some went roaring through the Kirati rear lines blowing up chariots and medical facilities where the wounded were being tended.
The five sky devils then rounded on the front-line troops, the noise the craft made was so loud the troops did not hear the bombs dropping on them. Those that survived only saw the effect of enormous whoomps that deafened them and knocked them flat as deadly shrapnel tore men, horses, elephants, chariots, and cavalry into shreds. Fires were started in the tinder dry grass helped as the breeze fanned the flames back up hill into the Kirati lines, almost as quickly as they came the flying devils disappeared into the distance with a muted throbbing burble, leaving behind them pandemonium.
King Musheer's warriors must have been briefed. As they seized the moment, wading into the deafened and shocked survivors of the bombing raid. Charging elephants crushed men and chariots, and behind came the cavalry swords swinging cutting down survivors, and behind them came the reserve forces eager to get among the feared enemy while they were still shocked and in disarray.
It was a brave Nyakas, a lowly commander of reserve troops who managed to rally, and then urge on the reserves to rescue their brother warriors. Sending in the cavalry first followed by foot soldiers, soon they managed to extricate what was left of the main attacking force and started a strategic withdrawal fighting all the way back to their own lines.
The Kirati troops made a stand at the top of the hill and drove King Musheer's troops back to their own lines. When the Kirati army took stock, they found that King Yalambar had been killed by the flying devils. This was the end of day five.
Every afternoon around four fighting ceased, and the truce began. Streams of carts and elephants on both sides came down to carry back the wounded and clear the battlefield of weapons, piling the dead animals on a pyre along with the bodies of the fallen warriors. Many of the dead horses were butchered on the spot and carted off as meat for the troops the next day, not too much was wasted as there were millions of people to feed.
The commissary troops of both sides were now large armed units foraging everywhere in the insatiable quest for food. Large battles being fought, as opposing commissary forces tried to obtain the same food.
Gradually, the main armies on both sides were spreading further and further along the front as they realised, they needed much more room for manoeuvre. In Yudhishthira's tent, all the heads of armies and the crew gathered for a counsel of war. Everyone is subdued by the death of King Yalambar, but the war went on. His funeral rites are scheduled for the following day when all the heads of armies would try to attend, but for now all they wanted to know was how to defend themselves from this threat from the skies. In addition, what these flying devils had looked like that had attacked and killed King Yalambar, and got almost a third of his army killed.
Yudhishthira had promoted the young Nyakas, who had rallied the troops and saved the day to supreme commander of the Kirati, as all the high-ranking commanders had been killed alongside King Yalambar in his tent working out battle tactics.
He was now explaining what his troops had seen, his explanation left a lot to be desired from the crew's point of view, a roaring fiery sky devil with beams of bright light that burnt everything it touched and blinded warriors, then caused huge explosions like exploding rockets only much larger. This just didn't give them much to go on except that they were obviously aircraft of some sort propelled by some kind of flaming motor, armed with lasers and bombs, very loud motors and very fast.
Adeeone had reported flying machines leaving the palace of Hastinapura and flying east toward the Himalayas there. He had lost them in the ground clutter.
Ancore asked the crew for ideas. Rogan spoke up first, “we could go and blow up the compounds at Hastinapura and the foundries, which should stop them building anymore of these flying machines.”
“Yes that's fine but where are they now, and how do we stop them attacking the Pandava armies,” she asked.
“Somehow we need to be able to track them into the foothills and mountain ranges of the Himalayas to discover where they are hiding, these craft are small the length of two wagons by all the reports we have.”
Glaina came up with a good idea, “why can't we use heat signatures, if they have a flaming engine it sounds as if they might be rocket prope
lled aircraft, we could set up the scanners to track anything above the temperature of boiling water, all we need is to find their base then we can attack them.” “Brilliant Glaina, what a clever piece of thinking, we can have Adeeone modify his display and be ready to track them next time they appear, meanwhile we can modify our Lander so that we can intercept them when they subsequently try to attack. If we modify our Lander now we can attack the compounds at Hastinapura tomorrow morning early and put them out of action.”
Having agreed the crew set about contacting Adeeone and explaining what they wanted him to do, then set about modifying their Lander to be able to track these craft.
Yudhishthira and the rest of the commanders had to leave the flying craft to the Coorg to fight, as they were powerless to help in any way. Tomorrow, they had decided to stand their ground on top of the hills and let the enemy come to them for a change. In addition, there were the funeral ceremonies to attend if possible, they sat around eating and drinking chai chatting to each other about the state of the war so far, and who had done what that merited special treatment for bravery, before they began leaving for their own lines and sleep, before morning was on them.
The crew assembled next morning and after breakfast, they boarded the Lander and took off, as they began their raid, they were intercepted by missiles from the area of the palace, there were at least four batteries firing missiles at them, it was all they could do to knock them out before they got too near. Ancore jinked the Lander around the sky then told Rogan and Breen, “concentrate your fire on the batteries if possible.” For a few seconds, they had a respite and used it well knocking out one of the batteries. That gave them even more time and Rogan fired six discs at the compounds before they had to defend themselves again from a barrage of missiles. Three compounds blew up with a roar and on one of them, flames roared over fifty metres into the sky, punctuated by huge jets of flame that soared skyward feeding the inferno. Ancore flew the Lander away from the missile batteries climbing higher and higher until the missiles could not reach them, and they could relax and observe the effect of the raid. The rails were still standing but the three compounds were destroyed, and one was still burning furiously.
“They must have had fuel of some sort stored in the third compound, look at it burn,” whooped Rogan to the rest of them.
“It's certainly a fine sight,” agreed Breen with a big grin on his face.
Glaina and Ancore were smiling in triumph, when the radio burbled and Adeeone called them, “five heat signatures are speeding into the area of the Pandava armies' west of your present position,” he told them.
“Keep watching Adeeone, we are investigating now,” replied Ancore pushing the Lander at top speed toward the Pandava army trying to sight the craft, that were now starting their attacking runs on the Pandava armies spread out beneath them.
“There they are,” called Glaina getting the heat signatures on the tracking radar and putting them on the main screen they could be seen moving over the Pandavan army and then more heat signatures blossoming.
“They are bombing the army,” called Glaina.
“We will arrive in two minutes,” called out Rogan. They watched powerless as the five heat signatures passed back and forth over the Pandavan army, more and more heat signatures blossoming over the screen, then they could see the first of the fires coming over the horizon as they rapidly began to fly over the Pandava lines.
“There they are,” Glaina shouted.
“Got them,” called Ancore banking toward the five craft flying in formation.
They could all see them clearly now, the motor was just a simple bent tube glowing red hot fixed to the rear of the body above the tail and squat rudder. The centre had simple square ended wings, with a cockpit ahead of the wings where the pilot sat, at the nose of the craft was mounted a double laser. The craft were about the length of two chariots as they had been told, they had rocket and bomb racks under the wings and were travelling about two hundred and sixty kilometres an hour along the Pandavan lines, formation bombing to deadly effect against the helpless ground troops.
“Open fire when we get low enough behind them,” ordered Ancore putting the Lander into a steep turning dive to bring her craft behind the five marauders at the same level. Rogan fired at the left hand craft then followed with a shot at the craft next to it the first two craft exploded in balls of flame raining even more fiery death on the unfortunate army below them. Before Rogan could fire the rail gun again, the other three craft broke formation, increasing speed rapidly as they scattered and turned toward the Lander. Laser beams lashed toward them, and Ancore had to take immediate avoiding action at the same time increasing speed and climbing to gain a height advantage.
The three Zedd pilots were no slouches and were climbing and circling, trying to get a clear shot at the Lander. Luckily, the nose lasers were fixed which required them to point their craft at the Lander before firing.
The Landers rail gun could rotate to fire in any direction, but as it was fixed to the top of the Lander, it couldn't fire beneath itself unless it turned itself upside down first, which was what Ancore had to try to do as the enemy craft were slightly below the Lander.
She climbed and rolled the Lander at the same time trying to give Rogan a clear shot with the rail gun. He took a snapshot at one and caught it in the engine leaving a shower of flaming debris falling earth ward. Meantime one of the other two had slid beneath the Lander and pulled up into a vertical climb, which it could not sustain for very long. However, it was enough to rake the top of the Lander with a double laser blast, which they later discovered had fused the rail gun mount, so that Rogan could not rotate the rail gun onto the target. This meant that Ancore had to spin and aim the rail gun by lining up the Lander on the target; things were beginning to look dicey for the crew in the Lander, still circled by two Zedd craft looking for an opening. Each time they nosed over looking for a shot. Ancore managed to evade the worst of the lashing beams and gained height on the two determined Zedds. Climbing steadily they suddenly realised that the Zedds had reached their ceiling and were wallowing in the upper atmosphere before falling away and diving for the ground.
“They can't get above twenty thousand feet without oxygen,” Ancore called in relief, “what happened to the rail gun,” she asked Rogan.
“I think it must have been hit,” he answered, “It wouldn't rotate onto the target it just froze,” he replied.
“We will have to land and check it out,” Ancore told them, “Glaina call Adeeone and make sure he doesn't lose those Zedd aircraft, while we land and find out what damage they inflicted on us,” she asked putting the Lander into a steep dive for the Pandava army, heading for the landing site near the tent of Yudhishthira.
They landed amidst pandemonium. The Zedds had been targeting the top army commanders and had duly bombed their tents, but luckily, all had been outside with the troops, but fires were raging where the tents had once stood. The raid shook up Yudhishthira and the rest of his commanders. Rocket blasts had taken out a convoy of wagons heading for the front lines. They had once contained replacement rockets now they were just piles of burning remnants. The rockets had ignited and gone off into surrounding troops causing great carnage.
Rogan and Breen checked over the Lander, as they had surmised the rail gun rotating mounting had been hit and fused locking the gun in one position.
“We shall have to dismantle the rail gun and manufacture a new rotating mounting for it. This one cannot be repaired,” pronounced Breen from the top of the Lander.
“How long will it take before the rail gun is back in operation,” asked Ancore.
“With Adeetoo’s help I can have the gun operational by morning if we work all night,” pronounced Breen confidently.
“You carry on then Breen. The rest of us will try to work out how we can find and kill this new enemy craft."
“They are pulse jets,” replied Breen, “I knew I had seen something li
ke them before, it has just come back to me the museum of military flight on Kala. We used them over two centuries ago as cheap flying bombs during the planetary wars. They only require a pressurised fuel feed and initial ignition to light them up, and then they are self-regulating due to the design of the bent pipe.”
“Great now we know what they are and how they work, all we need to do now is turn them into pulverised jets somehow, has anyone any bright ideas,” she asked Rogan and Glaina as they walked to meet Yudhishthira, who had appeared with his retinue.
“You arrived just in time,” called Yudhishthira, “those flying devils were causing panic among our troops until you arrived and killed three of them, well done Ancore.”
“We are sorry we arrived so late, but we had been destroying their compounds at Hastinapura when Adeeone reported they were attacking your army. We came as quickly as we could.”
“You and your crew have done splendidly you should have heard our men cheering you when you killed the first two flying devils.”
“Our Lander was damaged during the fight, and it will take Breen and Adeetoo all night to repair it, so we are out of action until morning if anything else happens we will have to call Adeeone down from top cover. He is only armed with a laser,” she replied to him.
“Come I shall have chai brought to us all while we decide our next battle deployment,” replied Yudhishthira leading them to a hastily erected shelter.
That was the end of day six of the battle.
The following morning saw the Lander fully repaired and Breen sleeping soundly in the engineer's seat, with a satisfied smile on his face. Without waking him, the crew took their places, as Ancore lifted off and climbed above the Pandavan army that stretched into the blue haze of the distance. They called Adeeone on the radio in code and got the co-ordinates from him of where he had lost the pulsejets in the ground clutter.
They headed that way seeking the base they were operating from; it was toward the foothills of the Himalayas they flew, searching their screens for any sign of the pulsejets or their base. One second the screens were empty the next a formation of ten pulse jets were on screen flying in two formations of five craft, they had appeared in a long valley ending in a large mountain.
Ancore briefed the crew, “we will open fire at long-range and pick them off at extreme distance. I shall manoeuvre to keep them as far away from us as I can manage, while Rogan picks them off one by one.”
She put the Lander into a climb calling to Glaina. “Strap Breen in his seat then yourselves, this could get pretty hectic,” she banked the Lander allowing Rogan to open fire. Just as he fired three discs at the rear formation, they must have caught sight of the Lander, because they split apart, rapidly turning, while climbing to get a shot at the Lander. The first three discs exploded harmlessly on the valley floor, far below. Rogan compensated and opened fire on the swirl of pulsejets arrowing up towards them; he hit two that blew up in balls of fire. The rest were jinking all over the sky trying to avoid the discs that were now pouring from the Lander.
Three more Zedd craft are hit one after another as Ancore tried to stay away from the lashing lines of laser fire. The distance was so great that when they had been hit it had only blistered the hull paint not causing any great damage, but now they were drawing closer, and Ancore put the Lander into a maximum climb pulling away from the Zedds, sitting way above their ceiling.
They sat there picking off two more Zedd ships before they realised and the remaining three began diving for the ground. Splitting up and taking evasive manoeuvres, they disappeared into the mass of frozen valleys far below.
“Did you get the co-ordinates of the valley where we first picked them up Glaina,” asked Ancore.
“Yes I have put it on screen, the red circle,” she replied.
Ancore lined up the red circle under her cursor and guided the Lander to the valley where the Zedds first materialised, “keep your eyes open everybody they must have a base somewhere around here,” she called to the rest of the crew bringing the Lander lower, and flying slowly up the valley toward the mountain, in the distance.
As they drew closer, they realised that the dark mass at the base of the mountain was a giant cave along each side of which were snaggle pinnacles of up thrusting rocks.
It was from among these that the first sign of danger came, puffs of smoke as the fuel in the chemical guided missiles ignited. BLEEE, BLAAAH, BLEEE, blaaah, Ancore turned the alarm down as she pushed the Lander up to combat speed putting the throttle through the stops into the danger zone, ten minutes at combat speed and the nuclear heart of the Lander would begin to overheat dangerously, but Ancore needed the emergency power if they were to survive this missile attack.
The Lander shot back along the valley Ancore desperately looking for outcrops of rock, she could use to dodge the missiles and throw them off track.
“Can't you kill some of those missiles Rogan,” she screamed at him, just then the rail gun fired twice, and the first two missiles were blown from the sky.
“I am on it,” he shouted back, trying to get a snap shot at the other missiles as the Lander jinked all over the sky then headed in a screaming dive for a rock outcrop. Ancore hovered the Lander behind it, as the remaining missiles lost lock and exploded into the valley floor raising great geysers of rock and shale high into the air as the high-explosive heads detonated causing the Lander to ring like a giant bell as stones splattered them.
Ancore lifted the Lander above the rock outcrop and got a shock as unguided air to ground missiles flashed toward them from the three pulsejets that had suddenly appeared. Rogan was frantically trying to get the rail gun firing at the Zedds, Ancore pushed the Lander into a screaming vertical climb as missiles exploded all over the rock outcrop blowing them upwards even faster, which probably saved them from destruction as laser beams lashed into the space they had just occupied.
Then they were free but because the Zedds were now below them Rogan couldn't bring the rail gun to bear on them until Ancore rolled the Lander onto its back, as she brought it around in a huge loop, he took a quick shot at the lead craft just as it put its nose up into a climb. The blast of fire, and debris was very satisfying to Rogan, but that still left two more Zedds to kill. The last two Zedds had split and were jinking and climbing lasers firing, as the beams flashed around the Lander Ancore prayed they were not hit in the nuclear reactor as it was close to the Bottom of the Lander.
She banked it onto its side giving Rogan a shot at the Zedds. He wasn't slow this time, and another ball of flame blossomed then fell to earth. The remaining Zedd was a brave foe and pressed home his attack regardless, scoring two direct hits before Rogan blew him out of the sky. The Lander started fizzing internally and smoke started pouring into the cockpit as wiring in the bowels of the Lander shorted out causing a fire that began to spread toward the anti-gravity drives, Glaina, Breen, who was now wide awake and Rogan were busy pushing alarms off and triggering fire bottles as they tried to bring the fire under control.
Ancore took the Lander back toward the Pandava army lines as the crew got the blowers going clearing the smoke out of the cockpit. They finally got the fire under control. Now they could all take a breather and take stock of the situation, they found themselves in. Most of the damage to the wiring was confined to the oxygen and cabin pressurization system. It was not necessary to have either system working, but together they allowed them to climb into the upper atmosphere and stay there, safely out of range of the marauding pulsejets.
“Any idea if the damage to the wiring can be repaired tonight,” Ancore asked Breen.
“I need to get under the floor to assess fully the damage. We will need to weld patches on the hull also where the laser beams entered to maintain cabin pressure. The systems can't handle large leaks,” he replied.
“Will you and Adeetoo get on with the repairs directly we land please Breen,” requested Ancore.
“Yes captain,” he replied.
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Chapter Thirteen