A Paradox in Retrograde (43 page)

"I should think not. I have made available to you a contingent of
thirty of the finest horsemen in all of Baldur. I have given instructions that they are to be at your disposal. Do you accept this
command?"

The expression upon Ananda's face spoke volumes. To this
chance to command men in battle perhaps for the last time he
would trade the world. "Yes I do accept. For this I am truly
grateful."

"I have ordered the men to assemble and await your orders at the
stable. There the keeper will make ready your mounts. I have requested one for you in particular Ananda. She is a feisty mare
named Brownie the fastest and smartest of the bunch."

"I am much obliged to you Colonel. I know that all of this, well it
cannot have been easy for you." Landaus with his hands made a
confident gesture as he said.

"There is no need now for such regrets. But if you must make
amends you can do so by doing me a favor. Would you take as
good care of Brownie as she has of me and we will call it even?"

The Colonel returned to his maps and the corporal led the two
guests out. They followed him out through the gate into the outer
court yard. After a short walk they came across the old round
brick barn that had for generations served well the citadel and its
animal workers. Into the center hub they walked and were met
there by those men who had been assigned to serve under him.
They had been standing around in animated conversation when
he walked in. Upon sight of him the room grew silent. Charlie the
main keeper came forward and introduced himself. "Hello my
name is Charlie I'm the keeper around here. I understand you're
the cause of all our problems." Ananda did not seem to appreciate
the humor in the old man's voice so he responded as only he
would.

"I am afraid that you misunderstand my situation. It is only by
sheer coincidence that I find myself here at all." Upon hearing
this, the men broke into a boisterous laughter.

The enemy ships by now had crossed the great gulf of space that
had existed between the two worlds. So possessed were the crews
upon their mission that they had failed to notice that their own
planet of Nibaru had suddenly and mysteriously vanished. Pressing onward they found themselves now captured by the tidal forces of the Earth. The manner in which things may have unfolded
differently would remain then forever mute.

From a distance of several thousand miles the light emanating
from the Earth now filled the space within the cockpits of the
three approaching vessels. Aaralaat who copiloted the lead ship
was fixated trance like by the glowing orb as it grew ever larger
before them. He was not so enamored by the sight however to
forget his duty. Over the inter ship communications system he
prepared the crews of the other ships of an imminent course correction. Simultaneously throughout the three enemyships Aaralaat's voice could be heard giving the order. "On my mark all
stop on main engines. Mark." With his orders followed to the letter each pilot brought the main thrusters to a stop and with that
the thundering sound of the rockets had diminishedto nothing. In
the silence the echo of his voice now was all thatthey could hear.
"Prepare for orbital insertion. Firing order of the retrorockets is
being calculated by the navicomputer. Coordinates will be transferred to your system in three, two, one, and zero." Aboard the
two remaining ships a graphical image representing the numerations flashed upon their control room display screens. After the
long line of code had been captured a mere instant later each
computer calculated and returned all vectors as nominal. With
impeccable timing the three ships computers were now synced
and a silent count down began again. As the clock reached zero
ignitions in each of dozen or so retro rocket engines on each ship
began in a specifically sequenced pattern. The silence was then
again replaced by the sound of firing rockets. The ships that were
caught in furious free fall abruptly altered their angles of approach and began now to spin into a semblance of controlled
flight.

As the ships glided gently into the upper atmosphere, the friction
they found there caused their thin composite outer shells to glow
a cherry shade of red.

From a distance the three streaking fireballs seemed to fall in an
elegant formation. To those on the ground it must have seemed
quite an unnatural sight; One that was easily recognized by an
acute observer. There upon a high mountain look out one of the
guards there stationed had taken a keen note to the unusual spectacle. It was unlike any celestial object he had ever seen. He
called out to his commander, "I see them. Three enemy vessels
have entered the atmosphere." All the men there present looked
into the sky off in the direction to which he was pointing. They
were now easily visible with the naked eye. There they saw what
now appeared as fire balls with jets of billowing white smoke
trailing closely behind. The officer yelled out to the signal man,
"Sound the general alarm." The signal man did not hesitate; he
sprinted hurriedly to the siren box and inserted his key. He
opened the box and grasped firmly onto the handle.Turning with
all his might the siren's call began to wail. The sound growing
slowly at first grew more intense with subsequent each turn of the
crank. Soon its wailing sound could be heard throughout the citadel.
Down in the valley below the citadel defenders scrambled to take
their battle positions. There every man and woman at the front
took to making ready their weapons. Xora who had taken position
within the high walls looked out upon the plain made heavy with
obstacles. She called out there to the children who had joined her
there along the high promontory. Over the sound of the wailing
siren she said, "Look there children." She pointed out towards the
defensive positions. The children craned their necks to see what
preparations were being made far below them. "There along the
exterior walls the defenders of Baldur in just a few short hours
have produced a miracle. To this you shall all be witness." From
their vantage they could barely make out individuals as they took
their places along the line. It was just then Ibsen who under order
of his father to remain there within the sanctuary of the citadel
made the discovery. "Look Lady Xora, up in the sky the enemy
ships they have come." They all turned round to look in the direction he had indicated. There they saw three small glowing objects
arching across the sky. They watched as the tiny points of light
drew ever nearer growing larger in size as they did. Suddenly the
crashing sound of a sonic boom resonated loudly causing the children to duck for cover. Xora sensing their growing unease spoke
in an attempt to sooth them. "It's alright children, it was just a
scary noise, but soon we will need to go below and seek shelter.
Alright children form into a single line and follow me." The
frightened children did just that. In one long linethey marched
through a set of stout wooden doors then descendeddown a flight
of steps, deeper into the recesses of the fortress.

Alone there were left a pair of elderly guards who stayed to
watch the bizarre site unfold before of them. Thethree glowing
objects before long were floating stationary about a hundred meters above the obstacle strew field.

Eldred, the commander of the second ship sent out over the airwaves a coded message to Aaralaat on the command ship. The
ships radio man captured and decoded the message. "My Lord
King, there is a coded message coming in from Commander Eldred. Do you wish it to be displayed upon the main screen?" Aaralaat merely nodded in approval. The message read as follows,
"Lord King Aaralaat, it is of my opinion that this place of landing
has to be some sort of trap. We are obviously being cordoned into
areas where at the very least they will retain a tactical advantage.
I fear however they will have something there waiting for us that
will likely prove dangerous. I recommend that this landing be
aborted and that the fleet be redirected to landing at a secondary
position farther afield." The message was followed by a string of
coordinates for the suggested landing site. Aaralaat calmly turned
to the radio man and said, "Send the following coded message in
response to Commander Eldred's request. The radioman readied
his keyboard as the King began to speak. "Commander Eldred,
Your hesitance is duly noted. I must however point out that in my
opinion there is no other current viable option. Your ships will
land as commanded at the pre indicted coordinates. Do I make
myself perfectly clear?" The radio man typed the message into
the machine. A moment later the response came back, "Yes your
highness."

All along the line facing out toward the enemy ships the long
cannon with teams of horse were rolled into their firing positions
and made ready. The crews began to load the twenty four pound
shells into the breeches. Behind these the powder canisters were
carefully placed behind the projectile. The breechdoor was then
closed up tight behind it. Final adjustments for windage and elevation were being made just as the landing legs on the descending ships began to extrude themselves from the bodies of the
crafts. The gunnery commanders stood silently awaiting the designated signal to proceed with the bombardment. Anxious beads
of sweat accumulated upon the brows of the keen eyed gunners
as they too awaited the signal.

The droning siren that had filled their ears now suddenly stopped
as its whine was reduced to no more than a whimper. This caused
the defenders to take careful heed for surely something else must
replace it. They would not need to wait long for no more than a
moment later the noise of a tinny yet insistent horn began to
sound. Just as they had been trained the gunnery commanders
recognized the distinctive call to arms of the sergeant of the
guard. Upon the signal, the guns having been zeroed in unleashed
their first volley. In unison the twenty big guns fired. A flash of
light and smoke was followed shortly after by thundering shock
that seemed to shake the ground. Out across the valley an almost
simultaneous concussion was witnessed as the ordinance rained
down upon the prone vessels. The precision curtain of steel lain
down by the gunnery crews had hammered hard into the lead
ship's fuselage. Secondary explosions rang out with furious destruction. Smoke and flying debris had not yet had a chance to
settle from the first round when the gunners were ready for round
two. The gunnery commander called out the order to all the
crews, "Fire at will."

In those first seconds the command vessel had taken several direct hits. Though it had remained mostly intact it was severely
rocked by the sheer concussions it had endured. Its composite
armor though cracked and dented had not broken. It had however
sustained unrepairable damage and it would never fly again. Under the continuing stress of concentrated volleys of fire the upright vessel soon was leaning heavily on to its crumpled landing
gear. It would take only one more shot to knock itover. In such
battered shape a direct hit squarely to the ship's mid-section was
all it took to send it toppling to the earth like a great tree. With a
great crash the mighty ship had fallen to the ground in a twisted
heap. From across the battle field a great manly roar echoed out
from the human camp. Their celebration was howeverbrief as the
bombardment on the remaining targets again resumed.

For those crew men aboard the downed enemy ship who had survived the bombardment and the impact were in a state of shocked
delirium as they tried to regain order from chaos. There within a
nightmare of smoke and agonizing cries were strewn about the
various compartments the injured and unconscious. Most of the
crew however had in fact survived, due in most part to the nature
of their armor. Among those delivered alive was King Aaralaat.
He awoke to find himself still strapped tightly into his pilot's
chair. Mayhem filled his senses as he surveyed the inverted fuselage of his one mighty ship. His ears bled and his head pounded
from the shock of the repeated concussions. These left him to
contend with a dull and relentless ringing sound that played havoc with his balance. He began to be conscious of the flickering
light of sparking electronics and also of small fires that had broken out here and there about the ship. Think noxious billows of
dark smoke began to fill the air. These too were beginning now to
cloud his vision. The primal fear of burning to death in his pilot's
seat roused him to full consciousness. With the air full of smoke
his instinct told him to undo his flight harness. He hit the release
button and immediately slammed head first into what had been
the ceiling. He hit hard but quickly rebounded and found his footing. The air down below was not so thick with smoke and he
soon found his bearings. He checked himself and was pleased to
have suffered only minor injuries. Others as he soon discovered
had not fared as well. Looking up towards the floor there he saw
rivers of gore flowing downward as a number of his fellow warriors having sustained massive injuries were dead or dying. Many
had succumbed as large pieces of shrapnel were cast about during
the bombardment betraying their armor. He forced himself to
look away as so to calmly assay his continued fighting capabilities. The ship of course was a total loss. She would not fly again.
To himself he whispered, "Let us hope the others fair better."

Landaus had secured an observation post within the walls of the
secondary defensive position. From where he stood he enjoyed
an unobstructed view of the entire field before them. He watched
with tempered emotion as the first ship hurtled downward. He
dared not allow himself to share in the celebration. It was, he
thought far too early for that. Moments later during the brief
pause in the barrage, he watched as the gunnery teams re acquired their targets. He allowed himself a moment of pride in
how well they did their job. Just then through the main gates of
the citadel the newly minted national cavalry rode in double file.
At the head of the line the two brothers rode side by side. Alone
among the riders as was their tradition they each wore the set of
black composite armor. It was an awe inspiring to watch as they
moved En mass into position beside their commander. "Sir I present to you your cavalry force."