Black Legion: 05 - Sea of Fire (27 page)

The holographic shape of the Strategos appeared, and he looked less than impressed. The imagery shuddered and flickered with each volley of gunfire.

“Strategos, I see you kept me in the dark about Lady Artemas and your own men. I offer you the chance for redemption or the desolation of an ignominious defeat in the Carduchian Wilderness.”

The VOB system showed the Titan was now under attack by more than thirty ships and was surrounded in flashes. The subtle difference between heavy cutters and plasma was not always obvious, but when they managed to break through a section of shielding, it was very clear; every few seconds another flash would mark where a large section of armor had been breached or wrenched apart.

“What is your plan, Xenophon?” said the Strategos.

Xenophon knew that tone, and also that there would be a reckoning if any of them survived. Right now, that was a problem for another day and would require a victory, or at the very least, a cunning escape.

“I want you to assault their command ships, but be prepared to jump to the new waypoints on my signal. When you jump, make sure you are venting plasma from your port breaches.”

“Are you insane?” snapped back the Strategos, “I have already sustained heavy damage. Venting plasma will reduce my range, and it will lead them directly our new location.”

“Exactly,” Xenophon replied.

He looked back to Roxana.

“I’m not leaving till they are back here. If Artemas is on that craft, then so are Tamara and Glaucon.”

Roxana simply smiled back at him.

“I know. I’ve already plotted an elliptical course that will run us directly past them. We can do a rotational pickup.”

Xenophon raised his eyebrows at that and then looked to the Kentarchos.

“Can you do a rotational pickup there?”

He pointed at Roxana’s plotted course and considered it for a few seconds. His Kentarchos moved alongside him and checked the data himself before breathing out slowly and nodding. The Kentarchos looked back to them.

“Yes, but it will not be easy.”

Xenophon laughed and recalled something his old teacher Kratez hold told him.

“Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.”

Roxana moved to the Kybernetes and checked the details with the second-in-command of the ship. She noticed Xenophon watching carefully.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get them. You’d better deal with him.”

She pointed at the shape of the last Titan, and it was busy firing its engines to change its course. For the briefest of moments, Xenophon wondered if the Laconian officer had decided to risk it all in one last attack on the man he clearly despised. To his amazement, and obvious relief, the huge vessel twisted about and unleashed an overwhelming barrage against the Super-Elamite battleship. Beam after beam struck into the gaps in the shielding before a number of Robotic Domain ships intervened.

He might be a pain, but when he gets stuck into a fight, there are fewer you can rely on.

* * *

Mercenary Raider ‘Havoc’, Bijar Prime, Carduchian Wilderness

Komes Artemis tapped Glaucon on the shoulder for the third time in a row. The nose of the stubby craft was cramped and could barely fit two people inside, let alone the two of them plus Tamara. Right in front of them were a number of transparent panels that could easily have been glass. There were two pilots’ seats; one of which had been removed and replaced with a gunnery control mount, seat, and manual targeting system. Tamara had already wedged herself into the unit and was busy controlling the chin quad cannon mount.

“I’m busy, Komes,” said Glaucon.

His voice was stern and tense, but that wasn’t good enough for the Laconian. He tapped him again, and this time refused to take no for an answer.

“Lady Artemas is stable. My soldiers have used their medical kits as best as they can. She needs proper medical attention if she’s going to survive.”

Glaucon shook his head and then pulled on a stick. The short craft spun about on its axis, and its two powerful engines groaned as they forced out even more power. The belly of the vessel was fat and ungainly, perfectly designed for carrying a platoon of mercenary soldiers or a haul of looted treasure.

“I know.”

They were the only words he could spit out as the gravitational forces of the hard manoeuver pushed them all deep into their seats. Even as the craft spun about, Tamara continued to fire. Each time the gun mount released its ancient kinetic rounds the unit would vibrate.

“Look!” Komes Artemis said.

He pointed ahead where dozens of flashes were all that remained of the entire Terran fleet. The mood shifted in the cockpit until Tamara yelled at them.

“Some of the ships are left, and the cruisers are coming this way.”

Glaucon looked at the three computer displays laid out in front and below the main window. Two were targeting systems, but one showed a three-dimensional model of the nearby sector of space. Large segments of the data made no sense, but one ship in particular was on a strange course.

“What are they doing?”

The Komes looked at the data, but it meant almost nothing to him. He had little, if any experience in the world of starship combat and navigation. Even Glaucon found himself at a disadvantage here, but at least the computer understood. Dotted lines showed the projected path of the ship, and to both of their amazement, it would bring the cruiser around and behind them before slowly overtaking.

“They want to attack us front behind?” Komes Artemis asked.

Tamara took aim at a passing Carduchian heavy fighter and raked it from bow to stern. The quad gun mount unleashed a lethal burst that battered the shielding and knocked one of its engines as it drifted on by.

“No,” said Glaucon, his tone already changing, “They aren’t attacking. They are going to try a rotational pickup.”

He lifted his hand and pressed a series of buttons before looking back at the man.

“You’d better hold on. This is going to be very interesting.”

While he made subtle adjustments, he also hit the communications system to transmit once more. Based on the fact they hadn’t been targeted by the Terran ships, he assumed they must have heard their last message.

“This is Glaucon of the Black Legion. I have wounded spatharii and survivors from the ambush on Bijar Prime. I assume the approaching ship, Antaeus, is moving on a rotational pickup.”

He considered what to say for a second.

“If this is your intention, please provide confirmation.”

Almost immediately a double blast from the nearby cruiser’s forward gun flashed past their nose. The shot was close but clearly intended to miss them by some margin.

“Very well.”

He looked back to the Komes.

“This is going to be a difficult one. Make sure everybody is buckled in tight.”

He nodded, disconnected himself, and rushed aft to the central cargo area. Now it was just him and Tamara left in the cockpit.

“How are we doing?” he asked.

“Oh, just great. Just keep bringing me targets.”

He glanced at her and watched as the light from the targeting matrix flashed across her face. She was concentrating hard, but each time she pulled the triggers, he was sure he could see something close to pleasure.

She’s a strange one.

“Well, hold on, this is going to be tight.”

It took four more minutes for the cruiser and its escorts to move on the new vector and to approach from behind. The ship was still rotating as it came around, and Glaucon did his best to match the rotational speed. Unfortunately for them, the only accessible hangars were those on the flanks, and that meant he would have to be alongside the ship as it passed. By the time the two were alongside each other the distance was just seventy meters, and the cruiser was starting to move past.

“Uh, Glaucon, do you think we should be...”

He lifted his left hand to silence Tamara.

“Hold on!”

He hit the retro system, and with a grinding lurch the craft pushed hard to the right. Normally, it would have been almost impossible to tell they were moving sideways, but with a massive light cruiser alongside it was easy to see. Closer they came until Tamara was convinced they would hit the hull. Both craft were slowly rotating but as they met, the mercenary raider slid into the hangar and struck its dorsal plating along the top of the opening.

“We’re going to hit!” one of the spatharii shouted.

Glaucon ignored the man, and with every last piece of concentration he activated three more thrusters to twist the craft inside the tight confines of the ship. It was an impressive piece of piloting, perhaps the best he’d ever managed. But that couldn’t alter the fact that the space and the vessel were simply mismatched. The external antenna was the first part of the raider to be torn off. Then the alarms sounded, and everything inside the vessel shut down. Even the glass cockpit went dark, either by accident or by design.

“Glaucon!”

He opened his eyes and felt a stabbing pain at his brow. Glaucon lifted his hand to his face and immediately felt a stinging pain. His vision was fine, though, and from his position in the craft, he could see the entire front of the raider had jammed hard against one of the inner hangar doors. There were people outside, looking in at him and talking, but their voices were muffled and confused.

Move it, you fool. Get out!

He twisted and pulled until he was partially out of his seat.

“Well, we obviously made it,” he said quietly. Then he remembered his cargo. Glaucon twisted his neck and immediately regretted it. Off to his left was Tamara, out of her straps and helping to unclasp him. She moved quickly and darted about to pull on the levers and straps to release him. A small group of men moved to the side with projector units and pumped foam against a series of sparks. At is cleared, he saw it wasn’t foam but a fire retardant mist.

“Glaucon, are you with me?”

He nodded.

“Did we make it?”

Another figure came alongside her and looked down to him.

“Roxana?”

His friend smiled and reached out a hand to help.

“Of course, you thought I would leave you all out here to die?”

“This is the Kentarchos, thirty seconds to jump. Seal all doors and activate breach shields. Twenty-five seconds.”

Roxana helped pull Glaucon from his seat and put some of the weight onto her shoulder. They made it four steps before Glaucon asked the question he dreaded.

“Artemas and the others?”

Roxana nodded calmly.

“They all made it. Each of them is heading to the medical bay. Xenophon is going with them.”

They were now in the cargo hold where the rest of the survivors had been waiting. There was just one of them still remaining, Komes Artemis. He looked at Glaucon and then moved to help him out of the Raider.

“I wouldn’t say that was the best flying I’ve ever seen, but it was the best timed escape I’ve ever seen.”

“All hands, prepare to jump...jump!” said the voice over the loudspeakers.

A low groan spread through the ship, and then in an instant the light cruiser was accelerating toward the speed of light. Even Glaucon was amazed at the thought of them leaving this place in such a hurry. He steadied himself and found that although his head was hurting, the pain was already subsiding. Roxana watched him carefully, expecting him to fall at any moment.

“What’s the plan, then?” he asked.

Roxana pointed to the mercenary ship.

“It’s not just guns for hire out there. We came across a massive force of Carduchians, as well as ships from the Robotic Domains. But who do you think is in charge of this entire little affair?”

Tamara moved up beside them.

“Tissaphernes?”

Roxana shook her head.

“Try Ariaeus. It looks like he’s been tasked with stopping us.”

Glaucon’s mind seemed to be working more slowly than normal, but even in this state, he found that idea to be very strange. Tamara pulled at him, checked he was not heavily wounded, and then left to follow the Komes and his spatharii.

“I’ll see you on the command deck.”

She moved quickly and vanished before Glaucon could even reply. His mind was full of explosions, battles, and the memory of the incredible landing they had just performed while in the middle of a massive battle. He turned his attention to Roxana.

“Ariaeus is here, but there’s no Imperial fleet? Why would they send him with nothing but a few ships? I thought this was a raider force sent by the Carduchians?”

Roxana shook her head.

“He’s not with Imperial ships, but he might as well have been. We’re facing Bactrian warships and more mercenaries than I’ve seen outside of our own Legion. They are here to do his work for him, and that must mean he’s been sent with money but no military support.”

They walked in the direction taken by Tamara and the spatharii. Glaucon grinned as they went along. They all had a very good idea as to how the Medes political system worked. The wealth, distances, and resources were legendary on Terran worlds, but those that had experience of their hierarchy often wondered how the structure was able to maintain itself.