Sword of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) (11 page)

“Halt.”

There wasn’t time, Max’s men smashed the two troopers down with laser blasts and they swarmed inside the city’s walls. Half of the group was heading for the space dock with its barracks and armories, now almost emptied of soldiers as they ran to deal with the emergency. Berg and Max were heading for the Planetary Comms Station. When the reactor blew the emergency power source at the Comms Station would be the only way to liaise with Blas’ armada, assuming it got past the Axian defenders who would certainly try to stop them. Then the Power Station erupted, a distant crump and the characteristic shape of an atomic mushroom cloud appeared in the sky. There was cheering from the crowds thronging the city, most of them had no idea what was about to happen. They were just delirious with joy that someone was putting a crimp in the Axian machine. Smetana’s force reached the Comms Station, they were almost out of time.

“Duck, get down,” Berg shouted.

They flattened themselves on the ground behind a solid, low building. A roaring noise fell on their ears as a vast pressure wave hit the city, they felt themselves being lifted by the strength and power of the blast. The noise was shocking, enough to shatter ear drums. As the blast receded it seemed to fling them back down pinning them in place with the reverse pressure. Then everything went quiet. They got to their feet, the city had gone from a teeming metropolis one moment to a mass of bodies lying on the ground the next. They weren’t dead, some of the people started to get to their feet.

“Berg, look, the Comms Station.”

The outer defensive wall had disappeared. The guards were gone, swept away in the blast. At last, after the disaster of the attack on Dafne, something had actually gone their way. They had a chance. Smetana started running, Max behind him.

“Charge!”

System Standard 2728.1273 Above Planet Corazon

“Comms officer is picking up reports of a thermal blast from the surface of Corazon, Captain. It looks like the reactor has exploded, the orbital defensive platforms should be losing formation.”

Blas looked quickly at the message. Smetana had thought it likely that the platforms, the main defenses for Corazon, would cease operating once their ground control stations were disabled.

“Anything from the ground assault force?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Very well, put the main batteries and ship’s defenses at maximum readiness. Make the jump into hyperspace.”

They experienced the jolt as the ship went hyperspatial, then they waited as they hurtled towards Corazon. The bridge was alive with activity as crewmen rushed to begin the long awaited offensive. Then they were out of hyperspace and the main screen lit up with the Axian defenses arrayed in front of them. The platforms could still be deadly and the enemy warships would not be far away.

Guide Tell came to bridge and watched everything intently. Admiral Rusal was at his side, both men glanced at the main tactical screen.

“It’s too early to see anything, Mr. President. You should be somewhere safer than the bridge, we could encounter a heavy salvo from one of those platforms if they’re pick us up.”

“Thank you, Admiral. I’ll stay here until the mission is over and we can step foot on Corazon.”

Rusal didn’t say ‘if we set foot on Corazon’. Their surprise attack should succeed, but there was always the unknown waiting to trip them up. A crewman called over to Blas. “We’re moving into range of the outer defenses, Captain.”

“Very well.”

There was nothing more they could do, either they would win, or they would die. There were no second prizes in this kind of attack. “Is the rest of the Fleet keeping formation?”

“Affirmative, Sir.”

“Open fire now on the platforms, ignore the ships, just take out those platforms. Fire!”

 
The guns of their powerful strike force joined with the formidable armament of the Battlecruiser. Ordinarily the platforms would have coordinated their own powerful strike on the incoming ships, but they were leaderless, rudderless and only able to mount piecemeal attacks. One by one the multiple plasma weapons lashed out, smashing the planetary defenses. Two powerful beams hit the Rex Vitas, the flagship shuddered as the destructive power struck the outer hull, but two beams were not enough to break through their shields.

“That last burst came from a platform sitting almost directly behind one of the wrecked platforms, Sir, I need to alter course to hit it.”

“Make it so, Mr. Gehlen. Destroy that platform, it shouldn’t hurt us but it could destroy the cruisers.”

They held on as he gave the order to the helmsman and the ship swerved into a tight turn and righted on a new course. The platform slid into view, it had been using the wreckage of another platform as a primitive barrier against detection.

“Main batteries, hit that platform, fire!”

The space battle went to a different phase as the last of the platforms was reduced to space junk. The defending cruisers came up to begin their attack, Admiral Rusal looked keenly at the screen.

“I would suggest a change of tactics, Captain, I wouldn’t want to get into an attritional fight with those ships.”

The Battlecruiser shook as several well-aimed shots hit them, but it was still long range.

“I would suggest we turn and run, then pincer them,” Blas said. “A hammer and anvil?”

Rusal nodded. “Yes, that ought to do it, most of those Axian commanders are inexperienced.”

“They beat us before,” Xerxes Tell reminded him.

“That’s true, Mr. President. But they did it from within, crews and officers mutinied, it was impossible for us to counter. When they did take us on ship to ship, they outnumbered us by twenty to one. Our Fleet is much more evenly matched.”

Tell didn’t answer, he watched the intricate maneuvers as the ships wheeled and turned in the immensity of space. Plasma batteries lashed out constantly, silent in the vacuum of space but they seemed to roar with martial intensity. Many scored hits on shielded hulls that flared bright in space. Some ships staggered and started to fall out of formation when their shields were unable to repel the repeated onslaught. They then simply exploded, disintegrating into millions of tiny fragments that would float through space for an eternity.

“We’re ready, Admiral.”

“Very well, Captain, signal all ships, execute.”

 
There were more than seventy surviving Rescom ships. In twin movements that exactly matched each other, they wheeled and rocketed away in opposite directions. Half disappeared around the dark side of Corazon, the other half led by the Rex Vitas, moved to long range and then split into a ragged group of frightened runaways. For a few tense moments the Axian ships hung back, undecided. Then they altered course.

“They’ve fallen for it,” an exultant voice shouted.

Sure enough, they looked closely at the screens, the Axians were chasing the Rex Vitas. They thought the Rescom Fleet had made a fundamental mistake in splitting their forces. More than sixty Axis light cruisers with an assortment of single seat fighter interceptors chased after them.

“They’re almost in range, Sir, I estimate ten seconds,” Dirk Gehlen said tensely.

“Is the hammer in place, Number One?”

“Yes, Sir, they’re waiting for our signal.”

“Good. Signal our anvil ships to make a one hundred and eighty degree turn and order the hammer to attack immediately.”

It was like a space ballet Guide Tell thought to himself, marveling at the ability of these crews to carry out seemingly impossible maneuvers and make decisions in microseconds on which the fate of navies, even planets and solar systems would rest. The Rex Vitas came about and faced the enemy, reducing speed to minimum, thirty other Rescom ships followed suit. They were now pointed directly at the enemy who were rushing towards them.

“Maximum power to our front shields, this is going to be rough,” Blas said quietly.

Rusal took the President by the arm. “Sir, I really must insist, we’re about to come under a sustained attack, this is the most dangerous part of the maneuver. Please leave the bridge.”

Again, Tell shook him off. “No, Admiral, your concern is commendable, but I will stay here. Either I will live or I will die, but I will not desert this bridge.”

The first salvo hit the shields of the flagship, they staggered as the vessel seemed to almost stop dead in space, shake violently and then continue on her course. Rusal held on to Tell, who would have been thrown violently to the floor by the severe impact. More beams struck and it seemed impossible that any ship could survive such an attack.

“Aren’t you going to fire back?” Tell called out to Blas.

“Not yet,” he replied cheerfully. “We’re nearly there, just watch this.”

“Watch what?”

A swarm of Rescom warships suddenly appeared from the other side of the planet, hurtling towards the Axian craft at maximum speed. They started to shoot immediately, they were already at close range when they appeared.

“Order all batteries to open fire!” Blas shouted.

It was an incredible sight, these spacecraft seemed to have a character all of their own. The Axian ships, exultant one moment, triumphant in their victory like strutting, arrogant conquerors. The Rescom ships, cowardly, sniveling runaways, too scared to fight. Then, as if someone had thrown a switch, it all changed. The fleeing Rescom ships turned about, the Axians, still triumphant but puzzled, kept flying towards them. Then the remainder of the Rescom Fleet appeared behind the Axian ships and surged towards them. Both horns of the pincer movement were firing furiously. The Axians, caught in the murderous fire that assaulted them from all directions, milled aimlessly, searching for a way out of the incredible reversal of fortune. But there was no way out, one by one the enemy ships fell. A few Rescom craft exploded too but when the last Axian light cruiser and single seat interceptor had been blasted out of space, there were still more than sixty Rescom light cruisers still flying, although some were severely damaged. The flagship, the Rex Vitas, flew on at their head.

“Captain Blas, have we suffered any serious damage?” Rusal called out.

“Nothing we can’t fix ourselves, Sir. We’re ready to fight on.”

“In that case signal the ground forces, tell Berg Smetana that we’ll be landing to reinforce his attack.”

“They’ve already tried to call them, Sir, but Berg’s forces don’t answer. Perhaps their equipment has been damaged.”

It was best not to speculate on the only other reason for a communications failure.

“In that case get us down there as fast as you can.”

They attacked Corazon just as Ahura had commanded Axia, and they killed all the men. All of the leaders died in the battle. They also killed Baldach son of Maelor with the blaster. Then the Axian army captured the Corazonian women and children and seized their factories and all their wealth as plunder. They burned all the towns where the Corazonians had lived. After they had gathered the plunder and captives they brought them all before Axia and divided it between the whole army, which was waiting to land on Corazon and secure their wealth.

Excerpt from the Scrolls of Axia – Part VI Trials of The Prophet

System Standard 2728.1274 Surface of Planet Corazon

Smetana looked around at his beleaguered forces. The Axians had rushed up artillery to use against them and he’d seen thousands of civilians cut down in the indiscriminate bombardment they’d employed to prevent the attackers from getting near to the Comms Station. The target was a vital one, it comprised the main administration building that governed all of Corazon as well as the Comms Center. He’d had to divert half of his force to get the survivors under cover. What should have been a straightforward urban assault had become a rush to prevent a wholesale senseless slaughter by the Axians. As a result, he had too few men to make the final attack on the building.

“Can we still do it?” Max asked him. “We’re thinly stretched.”

“We have to take the Comms Center,” Berg replied. “Otherwise it’s all for nothing.”

Max shook his head doubtfully. “It’s going to be a close run thing, we could lose a lot more good people.”

“What am I supposed to do, Max? Give up and let them murder the rest of these poor devils?”

He shook his head tiredly. “No, of course not. But we’re going to bury too many of our people before this is over.”

“I hear you, Max. Is everyone ready?”

“Yes, just give the...”

“My God, what’s that? Are they giving up?”

The double doors guarding the Comms Station were slowly opening. When they were half-open they could see a machine inside, a heavy artillery piece.

“It’s a multi-barreled plasma cannon, Max, it was a device we were perfecting just before the Axians overran us. It’s going to be a bastard to beat.”

“What does it do?”

As they watched the eight-barreled gun began revolving and a powerful hum started to emanate from it, rising to a high-pitched shrieking whine. The gun tracked around until it was pointing at a warehouse building on the opposite side of the vast square. Blue flame suddenly ripped out of the revolving barrels and an enormous bolt of energy smashed across the open space. The building opposite exploded, sending broken plastisteel, metal, plastic and masonry up into the air in a dark shower of millions of fragments. They took cover as the fragments fell back to the ground in a hot, lethal shower. Where the building had stood there was nothing, it had been obliterated.