Sword of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) (26 page)

“It’s been a good life,” Smetana said with a cynical smile. “I just wish I could have lived to see the end of these Axian bastards.”

“Do you think there is any hope, could the President have something up his sleeve?”

“What could he do?” Smetana scoffed, looking down at the President. “It was a fatal mistake coming here, he should have known that the Axians would arrest him.”

“So why did he come, and why did he ask us to come with him?”

“I’ve no idea, Constantine. Perhaps he wanted company, perhaps the strain of the past few weeks had been too much for him. He made a mistake, pure and simple.”

It was strangely quiet in the cellblock, they appeared to be the only prisoners. The massive flagship was still secured from battle stations, both men were well aware that every minute that went past was a minute more that their comrades in the Fleet would live. They started to doze too, overtaken by the pressure of the recent battles, now that the adrenalin had stopped pumping around their systems they both felt sleepy. Their eyelids closed.

System Standard 2728.1326 Battlecruiser Rex Vitas above Planet Axis Nova

“A message from Guide Tell, Admiral,” Serena said, handing him a portable screen.

“What? I thought he was across on the enemy flagship?”

“He is, he left the message before he went over there. He instructed me to give it to you now.”

Rusal read the message.

‘Admiral Rusal, when you read this message, you must immediately commence the attack on the Axian Fleet. They will not be able to withstand your ships and you will win. It is our only chance. Trust and believe in me. Tell’.

 
“He wants us to attack, is he mad? They’ll blow us out of space, we may as well put a gun to our heads.”

“Admiral, I do not understand what he has planned, but he knows what he is doing, he is a very clever man, a truly great leader. If he says that you will beat the Axians it must be true, he has never stated anything other than the truth.”

Rusal hesitated, his mind whirling. It was crazy. “I need time to think about this, it sounds insane.”

“There is no time, you must attack now. Right now, it is our only chance. Admiral, trust him, he knows what he is doing.”

It took Rusal precisely two seconds to decide. “Captain Gehlen, signal all ships, we’re going in to attack, our President has given the orders and we will follow them. Send the crews to general quarters, sound battle stations, we’ll throw everything we’ve got at that fleet. Don’t shoot until we’re close, when we hit them I want it to be a single, devastating blow.”

It was as if a jolt of electricity had charged every crewman on the ship. A minute ago there had been slumped shoulders and downcast expressions. Every man and woman on the flagship knew that to slink away would mean the loss of most of their cruisers and condemnation to a lifetime of running and hiding from the vengeful Axis. They watched the enemy ships as they grew larger on the screen, the Fleet dominated by the leviathan Ahura. Surely they would open fire, they were almost begging the Axians to fire on them, but still no salvo issued from the waiting enemy ships.

System Standard 2728.1327 Heavy Battlecruiser Ahura above Planet Axis Nova

“I told you to fire, what in Ahura’s name do you think you’re playing at?”

Bose was livid with fury, he’d seen the ships rushing towards them, they were as good as dead, waiting for the guns of his Fleet to pick them off. The fools hadn’t even opened fire yet. He shouted to the fire control officer. “You, man, open fire at once or I’ll have you court martialed, I’ll have you shot!”

He flinched as a hand touched his arm. “General, would you come with us.”

He looked around, the officer next to him was the master-at-arms. “What in hell’s name would I come with you for? I’m in the middle of a battle.”

“No, Sir, not any more. We’ve taken over the ship, you’re under arrest.”

“What are you talking about, you fool? I’m in command of this ship, you can’t arrest me.”

He looked around the bridge at his officers, “You men, take this fool away, get him off of my bridge!”

They looked back at him in silence. Not one of them moved.

“Damnit, Commander, this is a mutiny, I’ll have you all executed, get rid of this man and start the attack!”

“You are correct, General Bose, it is a mutiny. I’m afraid you’re no longer in command of the ship.” Commander Vis Deckermann, the executive officer of the Ahura, nodded to the master-at-arms. “Take him away and lock him up. Bring President Tell and the other two men to me, we have matters to discuss. Signal the Rex Vitas, tell them we’re ceasing hostilities and joining the Rescom Federation Fleet.”

System Standard 2728.1327 Battlecruiser Rex Vitas above planet Axis Nova

“Sir, they’re not attacking, there’s a signal requesting a ceasefire. They want to join us.”

Rusal shook his head in disbelief. “In all my years that is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. But it’s good enough for me, acknowledge the ceasefire and signal our ships to break off the attack.” He looked around and saw the four women watching him, Serena had a half smile on her lips.

“Did you have anything to do with this?”

The Vice-President smiled. “No, Admiral, I promise you, nothing at all, the distances were too vast for us to use our powers. In any case, I told you we would not interfere again.”

“So what happened? They could have destroyed us.”

Serena shrugged. “You should have more faith in your President.”

He nodded and turned to more pressing matters than faith. He arranged for the President and his two men to return from the Ahura, then he sent over an armed party to ensure that the Axians were sincere in their wish to join Rescom. The arrangement took less than an hour, the door to the bridge opened and President Tell came out with Blas and Smetana. Immediately Tell joined Serena and the women, they huddled at the back of the bridge, deep in discussion. Rusal shook hands with the two men.

“I’m glad to see you both still alive. It’s time to finish what we’ve started.”

He brought up a tactical map of the surface of Axis Nova on a screen.

“As you can see, their ground defenses are no less formidable than their Fleet. They’re desperate, it’s going to be one hell of a fight.”

“Perhaps we’d better not give them any further warning,” Tell said to him.”Set your course for Axis Nova, Admiral. Mr. Smetana, are you ready to lead the ground assault?”

“I’ve been ready for a long time, Sir. It’s time to show those bastards we’re back!”

At that time the spirit of the God Ahura came upon Axia, and he went throughout the planets of the Vega System, including Axis Nova, and led an army against the unbelievers. And Axia made a vow to the God Ahura. He said, "If you give me victory over the unbelievers, I will give to the God Ahura the thing that is closest to me in return for my triumph. I will sacrifice it in homage to you.

Excerpt from the Scrolls of Axia – Part VI The Book of Truths

System Standard 2728.1342 Lyra City, Axis Nova

Gluck stepped out of the armored hatch that protected his underground bunker. He’d almost forgotten how beautiful the sky was on Axis Nova, how clean and fresh the air. He’d been cooped up in that damned underground HQ for the past three weeks directing his troops that fought the tough battles against the Rescom forces. Even now, those traitors were nearing Lyra City and he’d decided on a snap inspection of the outer city defenses. He climbed into his surface car, the guard closed the door behind him and his cortege set off, two vehicles in front, two behind and a troop carrier at a safe distance with a squad of armed soldiers. They reached the first outpost, the Axian Twelfth Army. Troops were drawn up for inspection, there were less than a hundred of them. There should have been nearly two thousand. He called the General over.

“Where is the Twelfth Army, General?”

“This is the Twelfth Army, Sir.”

“No, there are too few of them, what happened to the others? According to the order of battle you have a full army group stationed here.”

“They’re dead, Sir. They died in battle, defending against the Rescom forces.”

Gluck sighed. “I will send you one of my replacement armies.”

The officers exchanged glances. Didn’t he know? They were at the very end of their available forces, there was nothing left.

“Where to next, Sir?” the driver waited anxiously for instructions.

“Take me back to my headquarters,” he said tiredly. “I must plan for the next attack.”

He arrived back in the city center, a group of boys were drawn up outside the bunker entrance. An aide hurried over.

“They’re here to meet you, Sir, this is the Axian Youth Brigade, they’re manning the guns to the south east of the city.”

“Thank you, I’ll meet them now.”

They were young, so very young, yet so loyal and committed to the Prophet. He spoke to them for a few minutes, thanking them for their brave service. He left them and went down to his underground bunker. The battlefield was laid out on a huge table in front of him, a huge flat electronic screen. The blue arrows that denoted the enemy forces were numerous, the red arrows for his Axian divisions depressingly sparse. At the side of the planning table was a locked cabinet, only he had the key. Inside the cabinet was a large, red button, the button for the doomsday device. It would begin the ignition sequence that would detonate explosives to destroy the planet’s underground nuclear storage facility, located close enough to the city to annihilate everyone and everything in and around it. The blast would also pollute everything on the planet of Axis Nova for the next hundred years with plutonium, tritium, deuterium, strontium and Ahura knew what other toxic elements that would result from the destruction of their nuclear facility. Did they think they could beat him? Let them come. And let that treacherous daughter of his, Evelyn, be the first sacrifice in the nuclear holocaust that would destroy the planet. He summoned an aide.

“Is my personal cruiser prepared for flight?”

“Er, yes, Sir, as you ordered.”

“Good, you may tell the pilot that he will be needed soon, he is to remain at his post.”

System Standard 2728.1345 Outside Lyra City, Axis Nova

They surveyed the defenses that stood in front of them. In the distance the heavy plasma gun emplacements were a ragged line, they’d been battering them for over a week and the gaps were like broken teeth. To one side was the Intersystem Spaceport, still as heavily defended as the city itself. Rusal turned to Blas and Smetana.

“The wheel turns full circle, it seems. It all started here on Axis Nova when the three of us were together and all hope had gone. Now we’re back, knocking on the door of Lyra city. I think it’s time to revisit our friend Merca Gluck. Perhaps we can give him the vacation on Nabucco I that he offered to us.”

There’d been no sign that they would surrender, despite the enormous casualties the Axians were taking. Lately they’d found the bodies of old men and boys left abandoned on the front line, as the superior Rescom forces kept up the steady advance on the capital. They’d managed to capture scores of Axian senior officers, all told him the same thing. Despite the fact that they all knew the battle was lost, the Grand Pasha would not allow them to surrender. He’d sent out an order to his troops, ‘the time for retreating is over. Not one step back, in the name of Axia’. To reinforce the order he’d sent out security troops to police the battle areas, their orders were to shoot any man who looked as if he was retreating. As many bodies as there were slabs of stone now protected the walls of Lyra. They watched as the Orphexians arrived, led by Serena.

“Is there no sign that they will end this senseless waste?”

Guide Tell shook his head. “Gluck has ordered them to fight to the end.”

Evelyn stepped forward. “I could try to go and see him, he might listen to me.”

“He’s more likely to kill you than listen to you,” Blas warned.

“Surely it’s worth a try,” she persisted.

“I don’t like it,” Serena said. “He knows she has the power of mind control, he could well take drastic steps to control her. No, I forbid it, Evelyn, we’ll find other ways to take the city.”

“At a cost of thousands more lives.”

“If they choose to fight, so be it.”

“When does your next attack begin, Admiral?” Smetana asked.

“At first light, we’re giving them a night of feint attacks and bombardments so that they’ll lose some sleep. You never know, we could make the breakthrough that finally gets us into the city.”

“Or creates another thousand corpses,” Evelyn said quietly. As the women walked away, Evelyn glanced back at Blas. There was a world of meaning in that glance. That night, he was in his quarters, finishing a bottle of Corazonian brandy. The door opened and Evelyn came in, she was wearing a long cloak.

“I wondered would you want company, or is that bottle enough for you?” she smiled.

He smiled. “Come on in.”

They shared the brandy together, after a few drinks he told her of his home, about his parents slaughtered in the Axian revolt. She closed her eyes in pain. “I’m sorry for my father, Constantine.”