Black Legion: 05 - Sea of Fire (18 page)

“We’ve patched up the ships and are making our way to the Strategos’ next waypoint.”

Xenophon shook his head in obvious irritation.

“Even though we have casualties and captured heavy fighters, he doesn’t want us at Bijar Prime.”

“Well, I’m shocked,” said Roxana.

Xenophon smiled at her feigned surprise.

“I know. He wants to keep us out of the way. The waypoint will put us close to the Sea of Fire. He says he wants us to use any intelligence taken from our prisoners to locate routes through the border zone.”

Roxana shook her head in irritation, and they continued to walk on. Naval crew walked past, but few even noticed who he was or what they were doing.

“Xenophon, we should be at Bijar and consolidating the fleet. We took a beating back there. It will take days, if not weeks to get everything back to normal.”

Xenophon kept walking but did seem to agree.

“I know, but I’m not in charge, and the Strategos in his wisdom has left an entire sector unexplored, scouted, or protected.”

He stopped and looked to her.

“If we don’t take our ships there, we risk leaving an entire flank of our forces vulnerable. Even worse, we’ll have no way to make it to the border.”

Roxana laughed.

“Something tells me we should think about another vote after this. I think if even I was in charge, we might actually get out of this in one piece.”

They continued on to the end of the passageway when the emergency alert siren activated. Roxana groaned in discomfort and irritation.

“What now? I thought we were already traveling on FTL engines to this new waypoint of yours?”

Four of the crew ran past them, and Xenophon reached out and grabbed the first. He pulled away but then realized who he was looking at.

“Sir.”

He lowered his head a little, nervous at his initial approach to the senior officer, and also that he had been caught off guard.

“What’s going on?”

The man looked to his comrades before answering.

“A general alert has been activated, that’s all. The Kentarchos hasn’t said why, not yet.”

Xenophon released him, and the group rushed off into the bowels of the ship. He began moving again, but Roxana pushed away and leveled herself off under her own weight. She looked dizzy, almost punch drunk.

“This isn’t the time for sleep. We both need to be on that command deck. Can’t you reach him through the comms node?”

Xenophon could see she was in no real position to offer help, but that even in this state, she was one of the most experienced officers in the fleet.

I need her.

“No, I had the node removed some times ago. It was damaged, anyway.”

Roxana sighed and tapped her own unit. She nodded to herself as she listened and then looked to Xenophon.

“Cadmus needs us on the command deck, and fast. Something is going on up there, but he won’t say what over the comms system.”

* * *

Xenophon rushed through the doorway and onto the command deck. The VOB unit had been deactivated, so there was no way to see outside of the ship. Even so, he could feel the trembling in her hull that betrayed the fact they were hurtling through space at incredible speeds. The command deck was calm, but Xenophon could already see something had happened. Kentarchos Cadmus, now without his helm, spotted him and indicated to a large display on the right. Xenophon approached with Roxana right beside him.

“What do we have?”

The Kentarchos stood in front of the image and pointed at the large structures. They were similar to those at the outpost, but much larger, and were spread over a wide area. Even larger facilities, and what appeared to be several small artificial moons also betrayed an immense facility.

“A urgent message just arrived from the Strategos at Bijar Prime.”

Xenophon looked to him.

“The Carduchian capital? Tell me he didn’t arrive with gun ports open and went directly into battle?”

The Terran rubbed his forehead as he chose his words.

“It would appear that Lady Artemas and a small boarding party somehow triggered a trap on one of the floating cities.”

Xenophon felt a twitch in his chest. The discomfort was plain and obvious, but as always, it was the uncertainty that hurt the most. If Artemas was on the surface, then so were Glaucon and Tamara. The three of them plus Roxana were all that he had left in the world, and he had no intention of letting any of them fall.

“The Strategos sent them to the surface of an abandoned orbital city complex, instead of a complete military scouting party? Was he trying to get them all killed?”

The Kentarchos had nothing to say in response, so Xenophon looked more closely at the site. He could see so many structures, as well as the three mighty Titans that drifted about in the background. Every few seconds a series of flashes would appear from one part of the image. He used his hands to select and then magnify the one area. It expanded to show a small, shielded city complex. To the one side was an abandoned docking bay with nothing but a single Terran cruiser docked to one of the clamps.

“The Strategos, he’s conducting a rescue?”

That was the point where the Kentarchos’ expression changed, and not for the better. Xenophon didn’t know him particularly well, but he knew the look of doubt on any man’s face.

“That’s the problem. As soon as the trap was activated, a sequence of deep-core charges detonated. Large sections of this structure collapsed, and contact was lost with those on the ground. Before reinforcements could be sent, a series of wide-range beacons activated.”

Xenophon continued to watch the pre-recorded footage and tried to imagine his friends in a safe place. No matter how hard he tried it was obvious, even to him that they were in a great deal of trouble.

“There’s more,” said the Kentarchos.

Xenophon closed his eyes and did his best to control his breathing.

“Go on.”

“The Strategos has called in all our scouting parties and is preparing to dig in. That’s why we got the message to divert, and I changed our course.”

Roxana pointed to the images of Terran warships on the display.

“So we’re no longer heading for the forward deployment area?”

Kentarchos Cadmus shook his head.

“We will be rejoining the fleet, as will all of our contingents.”

He then changed the display to show the starmap of the Carduchian Wilderness and the bordering Sea of Fire.

“The Strategos expects an attack, and I think he’s probably right. The traps on the structures are small but spread out.”

“To keep our people busy,” suggested Roxana.

She rubbed her head as she spoke, giving the impression she was suffering from a headache or a hangover. Xenophon could see she was suffering, but there was no chance in getting her to leave and to rest. She looked at him, her face grim, but showing a determined expression.

“I would expect the enemy to arrive at any moment.”

She then looked to Xenophon.

“It’s actually a pretty damned good plan. If you ask me, somebody is coordinating this with major resources and knowledge of our tactics. They have made us feel vulnerable and are seizing the initiative at every stage.”

Roxana considered the options for a brief moment and then continued.

“I don’t like this. They have held back our entire fleet with the use of just a few explosive devices. We need to extract the survivors quickly and then establish a course of action.”

Xenophon nodded in agreement.

“Yes. It’s time we removed ourselves from this barren wilderness and on to richer pickings. We are at a major disadvantage out here, with no friends, no scouts, and no local knowledge.”

He shook his head in annoyance.

“This is not the way to operate in unfamiliar territory.”

Kentarchos Cadmus called out to his crew and looked back to Xenophon as the VOB system reactivated. It flickered three times, and all around them turned semi-transparent. They could now see the remainder of their contingent. From this distance it was possible to see the marks, scars, and damage on more than six other ships. There were even a number of the Carduchian heavy fighters mixed in with the formation, and operating under their own FTL engines.

“We will arrive within hour. What are your plans?”

Xenophon’s mind was pounding as he considered every possible option. He had ideas on how one or two ships might slip through safely, but there were major problems.

“I need to get this fleet out of here, but that will require the authorization of the Strategos.”

Roxana smiled, but it came out as more of a grimace.

“He will listen, but he will not act without a viable option. We have no local knowledge and no scouts. That was supposed to be our job.”

Xenophon rubbed his forehead.

“Yes, a last minute scouting party with damaged ships is not the solution.”

That was when it hit him, like a Terran spear to the brain. He turned to the Kentarchos and almost choked himself as he blurted out his question.

“The Carduchians. We took prisoners, did we not?”

The Terran officer nodded.

“Yes. We captured a good number of ships, the best of which are traveling with us.”

He pointed off to his flank and to the shape of six heavy fighters that were in a loose formation.

“But the crews?”

“I don’t follow.”

Xenophon placed his hands on the man’s shoulders.

“The Carduchian prisoners, where are they?”

A glimmer of understanding flashed across the brow of the Kentarchos’ face.

“Ah, I see. We have six prisoners in the brig.”

Roxana seemed surprised at that.

“Only six? What about the robots?”

The ship’s commander looked to Xenophon and then to Roxana.

“We kept some of their senior commanders. Most of the others are on the transports. The Carduchian leadership proved adept at escape. The six we captured were from a single fighter that was disabled and boarded at the start of the battle.”

Xenophon looked confused.

“I thought you said the rest were adept at escaping. What happened?”

Kentarchos Cadmus grinned with amusement.

“Well, the team that hit this fighter was a little more aggressive than they were expecting. They vented part of the ship and blew out their crew into space.”

Xenophon looked astounded at this part of the story.

“Blew them into space, without suits?”

The Kentarchos shrugged.

“They were wearing basic survival gear. Not much, but enough to keep them alive for an hour or so. Our stratiotes brought them back with harpoons and grappling gear. It wasn’t pretty, but the end result is six of their best.”

Xenophon rubbed his chin, considering their situation.

“How do you know they are the Carduchian senior leadership?”

Kentarchos Cadmus grinned again, his teeth gleaming with pleasure.

“We were offered terms while you were fighting the machines. In exchange for these prisoners, they would withdraw. I took this as the opportunity to hit them harder. There’s something else, though. One of them carries unusual body markings. I think he might be a war chief, or whatever they call them out here. In any case, he’s angry, very angry!”

Xenophon turned his attention to the still partially dazed Roxana.

“What do you think?”

She shook her head and then groaned at the discomfort.

“You know what I think. We should only ever consider action after careful planning and reconnaissance. How can we know what to do when we have absolutely no idea what we might find? The Emperor himself could be sitting a parsec away and ready to jump in and finish off the Legion.”

She then looked to the Kentarchos.

“What about the robots? Were they all destroyed?”

The Terran leader nodded, as he remembered Xenophon had already asked him the same question.

“Yes, that is a good point. We pushed them back, and they withdrew in their heavy transport ship. We hit them as they fell back. Maybe they are still there; hopefully they are still adrift.”

Xenophon placed himself between the two. He knew what he had to do, and it was something he’d hoped to avoid.

“Kentarchos. I need intelligence from these prisoners and fast. The Strategos is going to dig in, and we are going to be surrounded. If you want to survive this, you’re going to have to think outside of battle, and to the long-term.”

“You want a way out? But we’ve got less than an hour before we reach the fleet.”

Xenophon shook his head.

“No. You need to change course.”

He moved about and stopped in front of a small viewscreen. With a few hand movements he brought up the star map. Their location, along with that of the Strategos and the Legion were clearly visible. He looked to the right and the long ribbon marked as the Sea of Fire, the terrible border that separated the two Satrapies. He then placed his finger down hard in the middle of the Sea of Fire.