Sword of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) (17 page)

Blas had a serious concern, one they hadn’t yet addressed. “Admiral, what about surface armor? With a force that size it’s inevitable that the Axians will have a large number of armored surface vehicles. Caxas consists of large, open spaces that lend themselves to the use of Armored Surface Fighting Vehicles.”

“You’re quite correct, they have a number of ASFVs on the surface, most are the Trifax Mk Vs, we developed them ourselves before the Axian takeover.”

Many of the men looked unhappy, the reputation of the Trifax was formidable, it was heavily armored and carried a powerful plasma cannon. Stanislaz Trifax, the design genius who had insisted that the role of the armored surface fighting vehicle was as important as ever, had developed it. The Fleet admirals objected, insisting that surface warfare was outdated. After all, when space warfare was so highly developed who would be crazy enough to want to go to battle on the surface, with all of the attendant property damage and civilian casualties that would result? But the arms lobby disagreed and the program was put into production.

“Weren’t they built on Dafne?” Blas asked. “Surely we can draw them from stock now that we hold the planet.”

“We tried that but there is no stock left to draw on. The Axians decided they had nothing left to conquer and didn’t bother to build any replacements. They only tooled up for lighter vehicles for putting down civilian unrest and riots. I’m afraid we disappointed them.”

They all smiled at his attempt at humor.

“The good news, however, is that Dafne has been working non-stop to build up our own squadrons of ASFVs. They’ve developed a new type, the N34, it’s more robust than the Trifax, faster to build and it’s proved to be almost as good as the Mk V.”

Smetana immediately seized on the Admiral’s words. “What exactly does ‘almost’ mean, Admiral?”

Rusal gazed at him. “Exactly, Berg? It means that the N34 has to be quite close to punch through their armor. The Trifax armor will withstand a hit from our N34s if they are more than one thousand yards away. It means that we have to get in close to knock them out.”

They looked at each other in dismay.

“What about the Trifax, at what range can they knock out our N34s?”

“Five thousand yards, Berg.”

“It’s going to be a bitch, Admiral.”

System Standard 2728.1307 Heavy Battlecruiser Sword of Axia above Moon Caxas

Kerawan heard the knock on his cabin door. He knew it would be the Admiral, but these military people needed to know that the politicians ruled here, so he would have to wait. He bent to his paperwork. There was another problem, what to do with the First Lady? She currently occupied a suite inside their military headquarters on Caxas, heavily guarded of course. It meant that he, Shemal Kerawan, had a powerful bargaining chip. How best to use it, that was the question? He signed the order in front of him, put it to one side and said, “Come.” The door opened and Admiral Wallas Kahn came into his cabin. He could see the officer looking around at his sumptuous quarters, twenty yards square and paneled in expensive woods imported from Hesperia. It was furnished with ornate fittings, a considerable luxury for a warship. Thank goodness they had been able to obtain the wood from Hesperia before that damned planet fell to Rescom, the peculiar and valuable material had a special sheen that made it unique in the Systems. He indicated a chair.

“Do sit down, Admiral, what can I do for you?”

“There has been a request from the Grand Pasha, Sir, he wants us to send a ship immediately to take the First Lady back to Axis Nova.”

“I heard about that, yes. I’m not happy about it, we’re in a war zone and there are Rescom ships out there. If something happened to her, if her ship was ambushed and destroyed, the Grand Pasha would not be happy. Are you prepared to take that responsibility?”

“No, of course not, but the Grand Pasha was most insistent.”

“You may reply that a ship is being readied even as we speak and it will be sent on its way as soon as it is safe to do so. Was there anything else?”

“The Rescom Fleet is assembling in orbit above Hesperia, without doubt they’re readying to come here for an attack to prevent us from retaking Corazon.”

“How many warships do they have, Admiral?”

“Five hundred, Sir.”

Kerawan smiled. “So we massively outnumber them. Good, let them come, you can blast them out of space.”

“Our spies report that they have a number of freighters loaded with armored surface fighting vehicles.”

“Really? That means they’ll land them on Caxas to attack us there too. If that happens, Admiral, you’ll need to land half the fleet to the surface and use our men and equipment on the ground. It’s no use smashing them in space if they defeat us on the ground.”

Admiral Kahn winced. “That’s not a good idea, Sir. If we divide the Fleet we lose much of our advantage. It would be better to…”

“Are you trying to tell me that we can’t beat them if we outnumber them only two to one?”

“Well, no, Sir.”

“I hope not. Make sure it’s done, Admiral. Land half the Fleet and deploy the crews and weaponry with our ground forces.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Kerawan indicated to him that the interview was at an end, the Admiral got up and left. Kerawan thought about Evelyn Gluck and her handmaiden, the strange, enigmatic Nightingale, both of them locked up on Caxas. He didn’t want them on the ship, he suspected that Evelyn was an Orphexian, although he hadn’t told the Grand Pasha of his suspicions. That information could be valuable at some time in the future. Thank Ahura he didn’t have any Orphexians on board, those witches were always plotting and scheming, one never knew what their real agenda was. One thing he could be certain about, there were no Orphexians whatsoever within the Axian Fleet. The mind readers were exclusively female and Axian law forbade females from serving anywhere inside the military.

Five decks away from where Secretary Kerawan busied himself with the finer details of the battle plans, Ensign Alex Yalonda pulled on his uniform ready to go on duty. He worked in the fire control section of the ship, keeping the targeting equipment for the plasma batteries functioning. The gun batteries were prime targets when ships went into action and it was regarded as a high-risk duty station, but one that carried rewards of medals and early promotion. When the ship went into action, it was Yalonda’s duty to be on station in a pressure suit, instantly ready to lead a team of specialists to make fast repairs and bring the systems back on line. At least, that was Yalonda’s public face, within the Fleet. The private face was rather different. When Orphex needed a presence on the flagship, it was a simple matter of finding one of their own who could pass as a man. The officer’s name really was Alex Yalonda, it was just that Alex was short for Alexandra, not Alexander. She was, to her eternal regret, very flat chested and slim hipped, giving her the physique of a male rather than a female. The only obstacle was the ship’s medic, who would easily have uncovered the charade if he were dealing with anyone who could not influence his mind. When he saw Ensign Alex Yalonda, he thought he was seeing a normal male with normal male responses to the battery of tests that all crewmembers were put through. She thought it a pity that Evelyn and Nightingale weren’t on the ship too, their combined power could have made a substantial difference, but she was still able to influence certain things. Following her orders from Orphex, it had been a simple matter to convince Shemal Kerawan that it was necessary to land half the Fleet on the surface. It wasn’t hard to work out the reason why, she knew that the Axian Fleet outnumbered the Rescom ships by four to one, it was simple mathematics. There was still a huge problem for Rescom to overcome, outnumbered two to one in space and by all accounts out-armored on the surface, it was going to be a hard fight. What was needed inside the Fleet was a massive mental assault on the Axian crews. One Orphexian woman, sealed inside a pressure suit and well away from the bridge, would be unlikely to be able to bring much power to bear. Perhaps there was a way of approaching the problem from a different direction, she was deep in thought as she left the cabin to report to her duty station.

System Standard 2728.1308 Battlecruiser Rex Vitas approaching orbit of Moon Caxas

“We’re coming up on Caxas now, Admiral. The Axian Fleet is on the far side but they’ve certainly detected our arrival.”

“Thank you, Commander Gehlen. Give the order to the freighters to begin landing on the surface to unload our troops and equipment. We’ll cover the landing, tell me when they’re all down and we’ll start the attack on the Axians. Do we know yet if they’ve split their Fleet?”

“Half of them have joined the surface force, thank the stars for that.”

“Thank the Orphexians, Commander, they’re the ones that got it done.”

“They give me the creeps, those women. They’re all so beautiful but I never know when they’re inside my mind.”

 
“It’s a problem, yes, but they’re our allies at present, so we have to accept that they are just different to us. They insist that they will not use their powers for personal gain or advantage. They live by the rule, ‘born to serve’, they regard themselves as servants of humanity, here to protect and guard the greater good that is within the known universe.”

As he walked away, Dirk Gehlen wondered how the Orphexians would behave if they decided that the Axians represented the greater good. Or was that an unworthy thought about the allies of Rescom? He returned to his bridge and gave orders to land the freighters. Inside he felt a surge of excitement, the battle was soon to begin. And he, Commander Dirk Gehlen, acting Captain of Admiral Rusal’s flagship, was about to be part of history. According to all known records, it would be the largest fleet action in history, at least one thousand Axian ships against five hundred Rescom vessels. The figures were astonishing and if the land forces were factored in, the troops, the armored surface fighting vehicles and artillery, it was to be a battle that would be talked about for hundreds of years. Would it be called ‘The Battle of Caxas’? Or something else?

System Standard 2728.1308 Surface of Moon Caxas

The freighter dropped to a gentle landing, Blas had watched anxiously as the skipper piloted it down. He wanted to make suggestions that would improve the performance of the craft, but held back. The last thing he wanted was to be thought of as the kind of officer who watched over his subordinate’s shoulder. The ramp dropped down and immediately men in pressure suits started maneuvering equipment outside to set up a defensive perimeter. The gravity was much lower than they were used to and the men had to be careful to bring their equipment out carefully. It was easy for a heavy crate to float away ten yards into the sky, but when it hit the ground it would be just as damaged as it would be on a planet with a much higher gravity. They were only fifty miles from the fortified town of Cax that guarded the dark side of Caxas. On the other side of the moon was the main force of the Axians, the armored legion they would soon be meeting in battle. Inside of an hour every freighter was unloaded and they were traveling across the surface of the moon, hundreds of N34 ASFVs and their accompanying troop carriers. It was a massive and impressive force, it would be even more impressive if the enemy were not so formidable. He checked his wristcomm, then looked around at his companions packed into the troop carrier. It was difficult moving around in the pressure suits, although while they were inside the vehicle they were at least able to remove their helmets and converse normally, until they went into action. Then it was necessary to fasten their helmets in place in case of sudden de-pressurization. He was with Berg Smetana who was the mission commander, together with Max Biermann and a squad of twenty troopers. If Admiral Rusal knew what Berg was planning he’d have heart failure. Berg intended to lure the Axians into battle and deal with them quickly using the superior speed and maneuvering ability of their N34s. While the Rescom force was finishing off the Axian armor, Berg would take a small squadron, no more than five vehicles, and make straight for the fortified town of Cax. Their troop carriers were the same vehicles as used by the Axians, with any luck they would be so covered in dust after the battle that the garrison of Cax would just see friendly troops fleeing to the town to take refuge and lower the defenses. It was a plan based on many ‘ifs’, but it just might work. Once they’d dealt with the main Axian force.

“Detectors are showing enemy armor deploying in front of us, range thirty miles,” the overhead speaker announced.

They bent to the screen to look at the threat display, a peppering of electronic dots that indicated the enemy armor.

“It looks like about fifty of them, the stupid fools,” Smetana said with a satisfied tone. “They’ve split their Fleet, they’ve sent half of their ships to the surface with the armor. Whoever is in charge of their forces doesn’t know his business.”

Blas was thinking the same thing, it was a basic tenet of military operations since the early days of warfare, to bring a large force to bear on the enemy and hit them hard where they were weakest. Either they didn’t know their job or they were being influenced. If that was the case, the probability was that Evelyn was here, somewhere. Was it possible that she was inside the fortified town, only a few miles from where they were now? All of a sudden the most important thing in his life was to find Evelyn Gluck again. A stream of heavy plasma pulses slashed towards them, the threat indicator lit up and the driver immediately took evasive action.