Sword of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) (19 page)

Kerawan nodded his approval. “Good, Admiral, good. Kill them all!”

As for you, child of your God, prophesy: Thus says the God Ahura against the unbelievers and their insults: A blaster is drawn for slaughter, charged to consume and to flash lightning, because you planned with false visions and lying divinations to use it on the bodies of depraved and wicked men whose day has come when their crimes are at an end. Return it to its holster! In the place where you were created, on the planet of your origin, I will judge you. I will pour out my indignation upon you, breathing my fiery wrath upon you, I will hand you over to ravaging men, artisans of destruction. You shall be fuel for the fire, your blood shall flow throughout the planet. You shall not be remembered, for I, Ahura have spoken.

Excerpt from the Scrolls of Axia – Part XI Penalties and Punishments

System Standard 2728.1309 Surface of Moon Caxas

They were spotted when there was still fifty yards to go, plasma beams shot towards them and their driver veered sharply to avoid them. Their vehicle was hit on the front armor but the N34 was able to withstand the shot. Then they hit the gates at high speed and the heavy armored vehicle smashed through, they were inside the town. Ahead of them the Axians had a platoon of soldiers hastily trying to deploy a heavy plasma rifle, the driver kept going at full speed and smashed straight into them, scattering the troops and crushing the weapon, leaving it broken and useless in their wake. Blas looked back, two of the Axians were tugging at their suits, they’d been ripped open by flying metal and plastic, if they didn’t get assistance to reseal their suit integrity fast they’d be beyond help. Smetana spoke rapidly to the driver. “The command and control center is in the center of the town, keep straight ahead, don’t stop for anything, I don’t care if every trooper in the Nine Systems gets in your way, keep going.”

“What do I do when we get there?”
     

“Go straight in through the front door.”

“But, this vehicle is too big.”

“No, the door is too small. Widen it. It’s a simple matter of the application of a little force. Use the force.”

They all grinned as the driver nodded and leaned forward to concentrate, understanding exactly what was required of him. Several plasma and laser beams struck the hull but their heavy armor shrugged them off as if they were no more than flashlights. The main square loomed in front of them, the command center was obvious, transports and troop carriers were parked outside, there were two armed sentries watching their approach. The Axian guards realized they were watching the enemy attacking, they leveled their rifles at the armored behemoth bearing down on them. They might as well throw stones as attempt to take on an N34 with rifles, they scattered at the last moment, inside the clear visors of their helmets Blas had seen the men’s lips moving as they shouted into their communicators. Then the N34 hit the building, they were thrown against the metal walls of the vehicle as it hit, the noise was like two asteroids colliding. If Blas was a believer in any deity it would have sounded like a thunderous protest from the heavens. A shower of dust and papers swirled around them and obscured the view through the ports, then the vehicle depressurized.

“Everybody out, fan out and shoot everything that moves.”

Smetana was shouting to them, the transition from their wild, careering charge to a standstill had left them momentarily stunned. Blas followed a trooper out of the open hatch, immediately in front of them an Axian squad had stopped, astonished by the sudden appearance of armor inside the building. They opened fire and shot them down before they had a chance to recover their wits. Smetana charged past with a squad of men, Blas could see Max leading another squad to the upper parts of the building. He followed Berg, Axian troopers were emerging from doorways, shooting as they saw the Rescom invaders but they were cut down almost before they had a chance to fire a shot. Many men were writhing on the floor gasping for air. Only the troopers on duty were wearing pressure suits, the off duty men typically relaxed in ordinary clothes, protected by the pressurized environment of the building. Not so now, they’d blown a huge hole in the building’s pressurization, a few managed to scramble into their suits using portable emergency oxygen supplies as they dressed but most died a terrible death, choking and spluttering their last.

“I’ve found their main control center, the door’s locked.”

They looked further along the passage, a trooper had run ahead and arrived at a massive door with no markings, they followed him and discovered there was no way to open the heavily armored structure. Smetana examined it carefully.

“This is it, no doubt, the bastards are skulking inside. If we can destroy this place we’ll cut off their central command for half of the entire moon. But it won’t be easy, I’ve seen this kind of military structure before, the whole place is essentially a hardened alloy shell, the door fits closely into the walls like the armored pressure hatch of a Battlecruiser.”

They stood for a few moments looking at the seemingly intractable problem.

“What about our N34, surely that would pack enough punch to smash through.”

Berg smiled at him. “Constantine, that’s a good idea except for one problem. It won’t fit along that narrow passage.”

“So let’s make it fit. We’ll start destroying the walls from here, the N34 can smash its way towards us. We’ll demolish the building until all that’s left is the command center, that way our armor can charge head on.”

“That’s not very subtle,” Berg smiled. “Who gives a damn about subtlety? I want to kill the bastards. Signal the N34, tell them to start knocking down the outer walls of the building and work towards this room. Do any of you have grenades?”

He looked sternly at Blas. “I don’t mean like the last one you used either. I want to wreck the building, not half the planet.”

“Don’t worry, that was the only one I found. I’ve two standard grenades in my pack.”

They piled up all the grenades they had, there were sixteen in all. It was time to go to work, the walls slowly gave way as they destroyed them one by one with the precise application of explosives. Max Biermann finished clearing the upper floors and clattered down the stairs with his squad.

“All clear upstairs, what the hell are you doing down here? I thought we’d better get back before the whole building collapsed.”

Smetana explained the problem with the command center. Max nodded.

“Sounds like a good plan. That armored vehicle will give them a surprise when it comes knocking on their door.”

At one time a squad of Axian troopers emerged from another part of the town and mounted a half hearted attack on Smetana’s men, they’d obviously been called in by the command center. Even though the Rescom force was outnumbered, they had the N34 and the heavy fire from its main gun made short work of the attackers. They quickly broke off and disappeared back where they came from, dragging their wounded with them. The detonations continued, the N34 joined in using its heavy gun to smash down the internal walls, until at last there was a viable corridor that led to the armored door. Smetana nodded to the driver of the armored vehicle who was looking out of the open hatch. “That’ll do it, break it down. Men, stand by, when we break through we need to destroy everything inside, it’ll cripple them.”

The ASFV drove back across the central square, then the driver shot forward, it ran up the steps, into the devastated entrance and all the way through the building. It hit the armored control center with a tremendous crash that shook the whole building, part of the upper floors at the side collapsed and fell into the street. As more smoke and dust spewed out they ran forward and squeezed past the vehicle that was jammed at an angle, its nose pushed inside the control room. They were in! Max Biermann was in the lead, he squeezed past and Blas heard him open fire, bright laser flashes lit up the passageway. He leapt on the metal hull of the N34, climbed over and jumped down into the control center to join Max. Bodies littered the floor, none of them wearing pressure suits, the room had been pressurized and the sudden breach in the wall had scooped the air out of the room as if with a gigantic pump. Some were dead, others dying, some had been cut down with laser fire, probably a better way to go, Blas thought to himself. The prospect of a hideous, gasping death on the airless planet was enough to disgust even the toughest soldier.

Across the control room an officer shot at him from behind a metal locker, the man popped up twice and loosed off more shots, they missed. He was clutching a portable air supply to his face with one hand, a blaster with the other. Blas shouted at him.

“Don’t do it, my friend, you’ve lost this battle, you don’t need to lose your life.”

The man slowly put down his pistol.

“You’d better get your suit on, that portable supply will only last for a few minutes.”

The man looked at him steadily. “Why are you showing consideration to your enemy?”

“Why not? Rescom doesn’t make war on human beings, our real enemy is the Axian leadership itself. You’re a prisoner, no longer able to fight. Why should I not show you mercy?”

“I am Colonel Eben Zaria, in command of the Axis forces for this sector of Caxas. I’m not sure I would have treated you the same, but I offer you my surrender. If you will allow me to broadcast I will order my men to put down their weapons, there is no need for any further loss of life.”

Blas spoke to Smetana who came and shook hands with Zaria. “You’re more than welcome to broadcast the surrender, Colonel,” Berg said to the Axian. “Go ahead and use what you want, I trust that I have your parole?”

“You would trust me, a senior Axian officer?”

“Of course, we’re all military men, doesn’t that give us all a duty to respect one another?”

The officer was thoughtful for a few moments. Then he looked up. “I agree, I think that perhaps I had forgotten some of the lessons I learned as a young soldier. Thank you.”

Around the town, the firing had died down, more Rescom troops had arrived and were securing the prisoners. Blas and Biermann walked outside to inspect the progress of their men. Suddenly there was a roaring noise, the sound of a craft taking off, then they spotted it. From the far side of town a tiny craft no more than a shuttle had erupted into the sky and was shooting straight up, obviously heading for space.

“I’ll call in one of our interceptors to go after her,” Max said.

But Blas had a feeling, a strong feeling, it would be wrong, utterly wrong to shoot down that craft.

“No, belay that, Max, let her go.”

“What? It could be someone important getting away, we can’t allow that to happen.”

“No, it’s Evelyn Gluck, she’s on board that craft.”

“How the hell can you know that? It could be anybody.”

“I know. It’s Evelyn.”

Max subsided. He was dubious about Blas’ statement, but if it was true, Evelyn Gluck had tied her colors to the Rescom mast. Or so it appeared.

“Ok, let it go, I hope I’m not making a mistake, Constantine.”

“You’re not.”

A trooper came running up to them. “Commander Smetana wants you inside, a senior Axian General has arrived under a flag of truce.”

The rushed inside. Berg Smetana was still inside the wreckage of the command center, Colonel Zaria stood next to him. Opposite were two officers, a full General of the Axians and his aide, he looked like a Major. Berg nodded to them.

“Gentlemen, this is General Rafael with his aide Major Trent. They are here to negotiate the surrender of the entire moon.”

The two men looked at him in shock.

“Berg, is this for real?” Blas said. “I mean, we haven’t even begun to attack the rest of the moon yet, why are they surrendering?”

“It’s for real, I’ve given the order to cease fire.”

General Rafael stepped forward. “It is a sincere offer, many of my troops have been called away for duty on other planets, most of my armored surface vehicles have gone with them, your attack destroyed many of the remaining ones. I have no wish to incur more bloodshed, there is nothing to be gained from continuing the fighting.”

“It does seem peculiar, General, you must admit. Your men on the other side of Caxas haven’t even begun to fight yet.”

Rafael shrugged. “Even so, that is my offer.”

“Max, would you take the General and his aide outside so that we can talk about this.”

“Sure, Constantine. General, if you would come this way?”

When they were on their own, Blas looked at Smetana. “Something’s up, Berg. No one gives up this easily. I don’t care what he says, this is some kind of a smokescreen. They’re planning something, something that General Rafael is not telling us.”

But what? Whatever it was, the surrender was a gift, or it seemed so. A trooper was sitting at one of the undamaged consoles, he whirled and shouted across.

“Commander, scanners indicate multiple ships lifting off from the sun side, freighters and light cruisers, I estimate over a thousand.”

In a second they understood what the General had done. While their defenses were temporarily stood down he’d arranged for his forces to lift off the planet. But where were they going, what was so important that they didn’t stay here and fight? The answer was obvious, they both spoke the name in unison. “Corazon.”