Sword of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) (5 page)

System Standard 2728.1218 Planet Isolde

The controller looked up from his screen. “It’s the Prophet Ramak, Sir, they just appeared out of hyperspace, they’re calling for clearance to enter the outer atmosphere in preparation for a landing.”

The supervising officer, Lieutenant Pell, looked bored, he was almost at the end of his shift and he was thinking about his date for tonight, the beautiful young cadet who was here on Isolde as part of her flight training.

“Yes, that ship is on the arrivals roster, assign a dock and give her clearance to come right in.”

“But, Sir, we had a signal from Axis Nova, isn’t that the name of the ship they’re hunting for?”

“What’s that? I didn’t see a signal, show it to me.”

The controller brought it up on his screen, Pell looked at it with a sense of growing horror.

“By Ahura, it’s Rescom, they’ve taken over the Prophet Ramak, our orders are to blast it out of space. Sound the alarm, get the gun crews to their stations.”

The man reached for the red button and the sound of the alarm klaxon echoed around the spacedock. Blast shutters started to slide down into place, sealing off the control room from the outside world. As Pell watched the screens he saw the tactical board light up green as all of the guns came ready.

“What do I say to the Prophet Ramak, Sir, they’re asking for clearance again.”

The officer panicked, “Tell them to go and fuck themselves, I don’t care. Are the gun batteries all online? Fire, fire, kill that ship before it gets any nearer!”

On board the Revolution, they were waiting for landing clearance, Gehlen looked across at Blas.

“They still haven’t answered my request for landing clearance, Captain.”

The attack warning abruptly sounded and the screens started tracking the concentrated bursts of fire that surged up from the surface of the Planet Isolde.

“I think that means no, Commander.”

Ahura announces victory, and throngs of believers shout the happy news. Enemy leaders and their armies flee, while the believers of the prophet Axia divide the plunder. Though they lived among the outer planets, now they are covered with silver and gold, as its wings cover a Spican Ricabird. The God Ahura scattered the enemy leaders like a blowing sandstorm on Nabucco I.

Excerpt from the Scrolls of Axia – Part IV The Conquests of Axia

System Standard 2728.1219 Above Planet Isolde

“Main drive emergency boost, corkscrew to port, put maximum power to the starboard shields, crew to battle stations.”

The klaxon horn echoed around the ship and every crewman found the nearest handhold as the Revolution went into the first violent maneuver of the corkscrew. Most of the incoming fire went wild and missed completely, the ship shuddered as it was struck by a salvo of high intensity plasma artillery. It seemed to stagger in space and then shrug off the sledgehammer blow as it continued corkscrewing away from the enemy fire.

“Damage reports, are any of our systems compromised?”

The computer replied almost instantly. “All systems are optimal, damage to outer skin does not affect hull integrity.”

“Captain, they’ve fired again.” Gehlen looked at him with a worried expression. “Another hit like that could do some serious damage.”

“Thank you, Mr. Gehlen, I’m afraid we can’t avoid it. Carry out the same maneuver as before, but as soon as we take a hit put the ship into orbit over the planet and shut down all but the emergency life support systems. I want you to find some nice chunks of space junk to hide inside.”

Gehlen looked at him with a dubious expression but after a few moments started to carry out his orders. Blas could feel all eyes on him, he knew they were wondering if he’d taken leave of his senses, if they had made a wrong decision in making him Captain of the Revolution.

“Captain, I understand what you are doing, but how long can we float above the planet?” Tell asked him, his face showing extreme concern. “We need ships and the only way to get them is to get down on the surface and start taking over the naval shipyards.”

“I know what we want, Sir. It’s true, we could float undetected amongst the space junk for years, but we’re not going to. We’re landing on the planet’s surface in a few hours time, as soon as these people are convinced that the ship is dead. For now, we’re going to die.”

The bridge was quiet, Blas noted with amusement that they all looked stunned. “No, I’m not going crazy. Your plan for a simple landing has obviously gone awry, they obviously recognized the ship from a security alert. I assume that we can still count on some support when we get to the surface, Guide Tell?”

“I believe Sister Serena would be better qualified to answer that. Do you think our people are still safe, Sister?”

“They are safe, yes. If we can get to the surface they will be able to hide us.”

“How do you know they are still safe?” Blas asked her.

She stared at him. “I know.”

He nodded. “Very well, but I want you to understand that I don’t want them to hide us. We’re going to land, take the planet, and get ourselves a fleet. Can these people fight?”

She hesitated for a few moments. “Yes, they will fight, they will do what you expect of them.”

“Of their own free will?”

“That is not your concern, Captain, but yes, of their own free will. They will fight.”

He had to accept her word, he knew that. He’d take up the matter of mind control later, it was a two-edged sword. When it came to a fight he wanted soldiers who were committed to battle, men who would fight and die for the flag, not mind-altered zombies whose allegiance could switch depending on who was controlling them at the time.

The ship lurched again as a pair of hits from the latest salvo struck the hull, this time the hits were almost on top of the main engines. The damage alert siren wailed.

“Warning, hull integrity breached, main engines damaged, moving to auxiliary power.”

Blas could almost feel the accusing glances. “Mr. Gehlen, put her on course for planetary orbit and then shut everything down.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Admiral Rusal snapped. “If they hit us again without shields they’ll destroy the ship.”

Blas stared him. “Admiral, if I’m right, we’ll soon be in the clear. And if I’m wrong, well, we’ll worry about that when it happens.”

The ship’s systems started to shut down.

“Warning, artificial gravity will be lost in four seconds, warning! Defensive shields are now inoperative!”

“Hold tight everyone, we’re about to go for a ride,” Blas smiled. No one smiled back.

The overhead lighting went out and the emergency lights flicked on, casting a ghostly glow around the bridge. They could all feel the beginnings of weightlessness and looked for the nearest handholds. The auxiliary power cut out too and the ship was suddenly quiet. They sailed on through the blackness of space in silence, then there was an abrupt grinding crash. Guide Tell looked at Blas.

“What was that?”

“Space debris, Sir. It’s alright, it wasn’t big enough to do any damage, we’re entering an orbital path, there’s lots of debris, there always is. All we need do is keep pace with it.”

For an hour they waited, clinging to the handholds as the air grew stale and the temperature plummeted, but there was no more incoming fire. They had joined the thousands of pieces of scrap metal that slowly orbited the planet Isolde year after year, until their decaying orbit sent them plunging down to burn up in the atmosphere.

“It seems you were right, Captain Blas,” Tell said eventually. “They think we’re all dead.”

Blas nodded. “We need to make our way to the shuttle bay. How many shuttles and lifeboats do we have?”

“Two shuttles and four lifeboats,” Gehlen answered. “But we can take everyone off with just the shuttles.”

“Take every gun, piece of equipment and case of food we can carry. We might need all of it when we’re down there. We’ll leave a small maintenance crew on board, they can use portable life support systems so that they’re not detected and they’ll be able to make limited repairs while we’re on the surface. We’ll need this ship later. ”

“I hope we manage to steal those warships,” Tell said. “We’ll have a hard time otherwise trying to start a revolution with only one damaged cruiser.”

“Guide Tell,” Berg Smetana looked across at the President. “If your people on the surface are as good as you say they are, I’ll get those ships for you.”

Tell looked back at the Hesperian warrior, the tough, battle-hardened merchant-assassin. Since his release from the chains he was a different man. Tell sensed an immense strength, a raw, elemental power only thinly hidden beneath his skin. Without doubt he was ready to explode into murderous violence, to return to the profession he had been born and bred for. Killing.

“Yes, yes, I believe you will, Mr. Smetana.”

“Start moving everything to the boats,” Blas ordered. “Admiral, could I ask you to supervise the ship’s boats, I’ll go around with Berg and start stripping out all of the equipment we need. Does anyone know where we’ll be landing? Somewhere friendly, I hope. And warm.”

“I have the co-ordinates here,” Serena answered. “We’ll be landing on the far side of Isolde, I’m afraid it’s very cold, it never sees the warmth from Arcturus. We have a base there, once we’re inside you’ll find it’s got everything you need.”

“Good, I suggest we start moving.”

Admiral Rusal led the President and the rest of the civilians to the shuttle bay, pulling themselves along on the handholds. Blas and Smetana took the rest of the bridge crew on a tour of the vessel to collect the equipment they would need. Gehlen took three crewmen and started collecting foodstuff. It was a vital mission. Since the Axian war food had been scarce inside the Nine Systems, the fanatical attacks on Corazon had been prolonged and deadly, the resultant damage immense. It was a strategic flaw that needed to be corrected, Blas thought, almost the entire food production for billions of people centered on one solar system. Most of it on one planet. Whoever controlled Planet Corazon could control the other eight systems, provided of course that they had enough weaponry to defend Corazon itself. He filed that information in a compartment for later, when the revolution succeeded someone would need to deal with that weakness. ‘If’ the revolution succeeded, he reminded himself. So far, they had one crippled ship, it was not much to begin with, it was a shaky start. They assembled in the shuttle bay area and everyone, even Guide Tell Blas noted with amusement, lent a hand to packing every closet, nook and cranny in the boats with the equipment and food they were taking with them. Finally they climbed aboard and waited for the natural orbital path to take them over the far side of the planet. In the lead shuttle Gehlen manned the remote panel that released the outer hatch.

“They might pick up the noise down on the surface,” he said worriedly. “If they’re scanning this area they’ll know we’re still alive.”

“They are not scanning this area at present,” Serena said quietly. “They will not notice anything.”

Everyone wondered exactly the same question. How did she know, and how much did she know? Some questions were best not asked. The hatch rumbled open and one by one the shuttles and lifeboats floated away and started their descent to the planet’s surface and Serena’s coordinates. Once beyond the planet’s curvature and out of scanning range they fired up their tiny motors and steered towards the surface, under automatic control of the navigational computers. The clear vision port showed the planet coming up rapidly, they were headed towards what looked like the dark mouth of a volcano. Ice or snow showed around the rim, they flew nearer and nearer, then the craft banked over and plunged deep into the dark crater. The collection of tiny ships made a soft, automated landing and through the viewport they glimpsed a small group standing a short distance away, waiting for them.

System Standard 2728.1219 Surface of Planet Isolde

“It’s alright, they’re my people,” Serena said. “They’ll cover these boats so that they cannot be seen from the surface. Just one thing before we open the outer hatch,” she smiled. “As I said earlier, we’re on the dark side of Isolde. It’s very, very cold out there, but as soon as we get inside you’ll find it more comfortable.”

She nodded at Gehlen and the hatch hissed open, immediately the cold air rushed in. Cold didn’t describe it, Blas thought. It was bitter beyond belief, as if they had been dipped into a bath of frozen Co2. A man appeared in the hatchway.

“Quickly, this way, the temperature is below minus fifty degrees.”

They hurried after him, glad to be moving, there was no need for him to repeat himself. Crew and passengers were streaming out of the boats, they hurried towards an open doorway that proved to be an airlock outer chamber. Two hundred people jammed into the chamber, the outer door closed, the air temperature started to rise, then the inner door opened. They walked through into the blessed warmth of the Rescom base.

“Welcome to the Rescom Federation,” Tell smiled. “It’s not much of a federation, but if we are successful in our mission here we will soon be able to expand our fledgling union until it is large enough to challenge and defeat the Axians.”