Spartan looked to the others. Syala simply smiled.
"Where you go, I go. Arana is still leading operations in Hyndla, and she's taken the remaining Khreenk engineers with her. She can't make it back here in time."
That left Knaro, and he had little objection. With that, Spartan looked back to the screen.
"Very well, let me confer with Olik. If we're going to do this, we have to do it right. I'll start this fight, but on the condition I know you have my back. A full-scale aerial assault to back me up, understood?"
Tenskwatawa nodded slowly.
"You have my personal guarantee, Major. When you reach Tanau, I will have Olik there in command of a full aerial armada. Tomorrow will be the 12th of your month of November. As the sun rises, Nakoma will be dead, and your forces will have shattered her forces. With your standard flying from the East, the remaining Byotai will then rise to assist us in the final hours of glory."
The half-breed leader of the Exiles bowed.
"And then this war will finally be over."
He looked back at the camera, his face emotionless, and then left, leaving Olik alone to face Spartan.
"Well, where do we start?"
Spartan laughed at his question.
"I need your full assets, flight plan, schedule, and options. We have three hours to get ready. After that there's no turning back."
He then looked to his immediate entourage.
"Send everybody you can to the East, and hurry, even if they are in the middle of operations. We need everybody for this one."
He considered his options and tried not to let the weight of responsibility weigh him down. Khan saw this and took up the slack.
"Syala, are the diversionary charges ready yet?"
"Not all of them. They are in place in most of the urban areas and along the North cliffs. The rest are due for placement in the next few days."
Spartan considered that.
"It will have to do. When we hit the surface, I need every single charge detonated. We'll need all the confusion we can get."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
12km West of Tanau District, Southern Depression
11 November 2472
An hour had passed since the transmission, and even this far down it was possible to make out the sound of violence. The thump of artillery sent shockwaves deep underground, and occasionally the rattle of small arms could be heard at points where the tunnel passed under the more urban areas. The message had been simple, but one many had been waiting for so long now. By combining the partial network created by Spartan's mercenaries with a public broadcast from Melantias, Tenskwatawa had given enough Byotai the will to fight. Spartan closed his eyes and listened to the last part of the broadcast once again. The voice was the translated text, but he could just make out the impassioned plea of the alien tongue in the background.
"Brothers and Sister from across the Empire. We have sent the Human warlord Spartan to help you. Raise your fists and join him in rebellion. Attack the Red Scars, attack the Spires, and attack anybody that attempts to enslave you. Today is the day, make it the day of victory!"
Spartan sighed at the victory part. He knew the dangers they faced, and the overwhelming firepower and aerial superiority of the enemy. The uprising might work for a day, perhaps even a week, but without armour, air support, and experienced soldiers, the battle would turn against the Byotai; and this time Nakoma would leave few, if any alive.
It's crunch time. We aren't leaving this planet until Nakoma is dealt with.
Spartan wished he were up there in the middle of the fighting. He had never been a great fan of discreet operations behind the lines. He'd started as a marine, and nothing appealed to him more than a stand-up fight with the enemy in front of him.
Still. I've got Khan and the Pack to help, plus a lot of militia. I've fought against worse odds.
It was sheer optimism, though, and he knew it. They were massively outnumbered, and if their attack at Tanau stalled, they would be quickly surrounded and overwhelmed. As he waited there with his head kept down low, he ran over the deployments they would use at the target. He'd done everything he could in the limited hours they had, but still so much relied on other people, and worse than that, chance.
"Spartan. You okay?" Khan asked.
Spartan looked to his friend and tried to look positive. Both were fully armoured, though their visors were locked away to show their faces. Khan looked like a mechanical beast and seemed to be enjoying his Blood Pack armour.
"Yeah. Just thinking about the mission.
"It's gonna be a tough one, but we have the Pack with us, and a lot more besides. Syala knows how to kick some ass, and even Knaro's militiamen are handy in a fight."
"I just hope the others reach the perimeter at the same times as us. A lot can go wrong."
Khan twisted the muzzle brake on his Thumper and then laughed.
"Spartan, there's always a lot that can go wrong. That's why we just worry about what we can change. We get there, breach the defences, and then haul ass to their command centre. We can do this."
Spartan nodded, and they said no more as they bumped over a long line of cracked masonry. He clung to the rear of the eight-wheel utility transport, his metal armour scraping on the frame of the vehicle. An old, ugly machine was unsuited to military work. It carried no weapons or armour of any kind, and its faded paint bore the remains of a long, dormant Byotai company. What it lacked in military finesse, it more than made up for in sheer muscle. The heavy vehicle pushed through rubbish, debris, and the many pieces of broken masonry, metal, and glass that filled the service tunnel. A shape turned back on the lead vehicle and called out to Spartan.
"Slow down. We've got a collapsed wall ahead!"
Spartan waved back.
"Understood. Keep moving if you can."
The small crawler at the front of the column was of a similar size to an Alliance Bulldog but with an open back and cab. The Byotai had used it to move machinery, using its caterpillar style track system to manoeuvre over rough and uneven ground. It twisted and turned and then slowed almost to a halt.
"I don't like this," said Khan, "We're strung out in seven different tunnels, and all heading in the same direction. Until we hit the surface, we're vulnerable."
Spartan agreed. Syala's crawler pushed through the debris with a grinding sound, and then she shouted back over the whine of the vehicle’s electric motors.
"Okay, we're clear. Just give it a sec while we open up the space for you."
The vehicle twisted about in one place, using its shape, weight, and bulk to shift or grind the broken masonry into smaller chunks, and finally driving off into the tunnel.
"Driver, move on," said Spartan.
The vehicle shuddered, and then the electric motors pushed them on. Spartan let out a long, slow sigh of relief as they continued on their journey towards their destination. Even Khan seemed a little happier as they left that latest chokepoint.
"They dug deep down here in the old days."
Spartan looked up at the ceiling, and the ribbed shape where boring machines had tunnelled deep into the rock and dirt.
"Yeah, these tunnels are impressive."
Spartan turned back and checked on the progress of the others. There were another thirteen similar machines filled to the limit with the oddest assortment of soldiers Spartan had ever seen. Improvised lamps hung from the civilian vehicles to provide light in the long abandoned tunnels that ran to the South of the inhabited parts of the Southern Depression.
"Why did your people cut so many tunnels this far South? Seems a lot of wasted expense to me."
Lahok, who'd remained silent thus far, rose to his feet. His face was bruised from his encounter with Syala.
"Our engineers and miners found reasonable sources of the Nanocrystal ore here. So the first urban settlements were established, and many dug underground to avoid the storms. Deep core mines were opened, and the spaceport at Tanau constructed."
"
So what changed?"
Lahok sniffed the air, grunted, continuing in a lower tone as though his comments might offend some ancient elder.
"The discovery of Melantias. That one mine is more valuable than the entire planet. Most of the workers moved away, and the South depopulated. After that, the raiders and pirates started to hit us. So the capital was moved to Montu, at the centre of the continent and protected by mountains."
"I see. Kind of makes sense, apart from so many still living here."
Lahok sniffed the air again.
"Yes. With so many refugees and opportunists coming here from the Empire, every inhabited zone is valuable. The abandoned settlements here were easier to patch up than to build new ones. And the Depression is still better protected from the storms than the open wasteland."
"Spartan!" Syala shouted, "There’s something ahead."
This was what he'd worried about, that in their haste they would end up stuck underground in tunnels blocked by cave-ins or other problems.
"What is it?"
Syala pointed to the ceiling.
"We're at the ramp to the abandoned transit station."
Spartan smiled and looked back to those in his own vehicle, in particular Lahok.
"Tell me about it, fast!"
Lahok licked his lips before speaking, and Spartan's brow tightened in frustration as he waited for the translation. Kanjana listened intently, adding to the computer’s rough version of events when needed.
"It's a large dome, partially collapsed. It is where three of the old underground lines connect near the surface. The Southern raised highway drops down and passes by. In the old days, it was an important crossroads. Now it's just a ruin."
Spartan checked the position against his mapping data.
"And this surface highway road system, it leads directly to Tanau, right?"
Lahok moved his head slowly as he answered.
"Yes. The system connects the old capital districts with the Southern perimeter road system, and the unfinished starport. That's why it is so wide, to take heavy transports between districts."
Spartan liked what he was hearing.
"Good. Very good."
Kanjana spoke to Lahok for a second, and they shared words at a speed no computer could match. When done, she looked back to Spartan.
"The starport, it's South of the city, and nothing but dust-covered rocks. The road system doesn't enter Tanau. It passes half a kilometre to the South and has multiple exits into the lower zones."
Spartan tensed his shoulder blades and then tapped his hand on the top of the vehicle.
"Get the convoy topside, and send word to the others. Once we're in position, we need to move fast."
Khan grunted in approval.
"High-speed attack?"
Spartan's eyes widened in excitement.
"Oh, yeah. We'll hit them hard and fast. And with Olik coming in behind us, we can end this, tonight!"
Spartan sounded positive, but Khan knew him well enough to detect the doubt in his voice. Therefore, they did what they always did at times like this, and checked their gear ready for combat. This was the largest column so far, but at least half of the Blood Pack was scattered through the other settlements, assisting Byotai rebels where they could. That meant a third of those in this one group were local militia, and not the heavily armoured and experienced soldiers Spartan would have liked to use.
"Heading up now!"
Her tracked vehicle tipped upwards and moved towards the ceiling. Chunks of dust and stone fell down as it travelled away from the dark tunnel. Spartan watched it carefully, wary of any traps nearby, and that Syala was driving in the lead vehicle.
"Our turn," said Khan.
Spartan increased his grip on the external roll cage as the front wheels bit into the ramp, and they lifted up. It was steep, and the rear of the vehicle scraped the floor due to the lack of ground clearance. Then they were heading up, and Spartan could already feel the difference in temperature and air quality.
A few more seconds.
The nose of the wheeled vehicle inched out like a badger emerging from its underground burrow. Spartan expected to see nothing but blackness, but instead his eyes were drawn to hundreds of orange lights in the distance. They left the ramp and moved carefully around the wreckage of nearly a dozen vehicles waiting in a clump outside the broken dome of the transit station.
"Must have been something back in the day."
His eyes lingered over the remains of the large structure, but his focus moved to a large tear in the dome, and the remains of a Byotai landing craft now barely recognisable.
"And now it’s a ruin, like everywhere else," added Khan.
The rest of the column emerged from the underground passageway and into the cool night air. Spartan's vehicle moved alongside Syala's, and both stopped to give the others time to catch up. Khan pointed to the North.
"Look at the place. They started early."
Spartan shook his head as he watched. As well as the hundreds of fires, there were streaks of light as shells, rockets, and flares moved over the settlements. They had a perfect view in every direction, and the only place unaffected so far was to the South, and Tanau in the Northeast.
"And how are our friends doing?"
Spartan activated his networking system, and after a few seconds, it picked up encoded network traffic. The system was incomplete, but enough existed to provide a decent enough picture, and what he saw nearly made him choke.
"What is it?" Khan asked.
Spartan pointed to the West.
"Contact has gone in the central districts, but Hyndla and Movi show our units have joined up with four brigades of militia."
He stopped, and then laughed.
"Looks like Arana has made herself known. If this is right, she's got over a thousand Red Scars heading her way."
"Then we need to hurry."
Both turned their attention to the East where the highway rose up on its mighty pillars. It passed over several dangerous chasms in the distance and vanished inside a vast double tunnel. A little to the left were hundreds of dots and great beacons marking landing positions.
"And that's Tanau. Is it me, or are we going into this seriously outgunned?"
Khan shrugged.
"With Olik, we'll have the numbers to cause trouble. Remember what you said. We cut off the head, the Byotai will do the rest."
Even as he said the words, several identification codes popped up on his overlay, showing the position of four more militia units, and three were just four kilometres away.
"Well...I'll be damned."
"What is it?" Kanjana asked.
"Check your overlay," said Spartan.
He then pointed to the highway.
"Syala, lead on. It's time."
The tracked vehicle shuddered and pulled away in a gentle puff of dust. Its powerful electric motors pushed it from a relatively modest speed to almost as fast as the wheeled vehicles. Spartan's was next, and in less than thirty seconds the entire column was on the go. They lifted up onto the overpass and headed over the first of the deep chasms. As the machines hurtled along the road, Spartan looked back to Khan.
"It's the Byotai," he said excitedly.
"What about them?"
Spartan pointed to the North.
"They've not just risen up, a large number are marching on the Western suburbs of Tanau. They want this over, just like we do."
"Yes!" Khan growled, "That alien fool Tenskwatawa must have encouraged them to move."
Spartan opened his mouth to answer, but quickly closed it as a great ripple of explosions tore the horizon apart. Flames soon followed the flashes, and the dark shapes of aircraft swooping down on the urban areas.
"Nakoma," Spartan hissed through his teeth.
The column was now moving so fast that as they entered the pair of tunnels it felt like they'd hit a wall. All of the vehicles activated their lamps, but none dropped their speed by more than a few kilometres
an hour. Some of the Byotai yelled with excitement, but none of the mercenaries made a sound. They had all seen battles like this one and knew the odds were far from in their favour.
Here it comes.
The darkness faded, and in front of him appeared the outskirts of the administrative district of Tanau. The road system pulled off to the right, but their column veered away to the dusty streets of the settlement. The buildings and roads were deserted; the only signs of life the myriad of lights in the upper district on the line of three low hills to the Northeast of Tanau, barely a kilometre away. Spartan looked on intently as the first flashes of gunfire erupted.
"Incoming!"
Streaks rushed past and slammed into the ground or the dusty buildings. The column of vehicles shifted side to side, but travelling at fifty kilometres an hour, or faster, there was little room for manoeuvre. Spartan looked to Lahok, but before he could speak he spotted other shapes to the North. It took a second for his optical system to stabilise properly, but there was no doubt about what is was.
"More vehicles!"
Then he saw the Blood Pack banners.
"It's Kornag, and they are moving to the Northwest gate."
As excitement spread through the occupants of his vehicle, he focused on Lahok once more.
"You need to be certain, Lahok. You're one hundred percent sure about the layout? The largest and most lavish government buildings are on the second hill, and in the block of large structures."
"Yes...Major. The basilica is there, with the administrative offices, communication tower, and habitation blocks. Enough capacity for thousands of..."
"But the basilica, is it the most lavish?"
Lahok seemed confused.
"It is not the most advanced building in Tanau, and the communication tower offers better..."
Spartan looked angry.
"Answer me!"
Yes. Yes, it is the most lavish and was used to house guests and ambassadors before being abandoned."
"Excellent," said Spartan, "Then that's where she will be."
Battle for Karnak (Star Crusades: Mercenaries, Book 4) Page 23
