War of the Exiles

by Michael G. Thomas

  "That's it then, one mixed squad per dropship, just like we drilled. We'll go over the brief on the way. It's a three hour trip to our position."

  There were no further questions, and a single fireteam from each mercenary unit filed into the waiting dropships. Each was capable of carrying much more, but with the Helion Skiffs inside, the transport capacity was severely reduced. By splitting them in this way, Spartan would have a mix of Helions, Khreenk, and Human in each squad. They'd already worked together, and the odd mix of capabilities had proven very interesting.

  Good, this might even work.

  Spartan waited with Syala and Arana at his side. It took just under two minutes for everybody to make their way about the Jackals, and this close to the walls of Melantias it would have been reasonable to feel even a little nervous. The fighting on Karnak was between forces in the thousands, and Spartan was taking just three squads, little more than a normal platoon in strength.

  "Will this work?" Arana asked.

  Spartan looked to her and her sister. With their visors open he could see their faces, and though genetically identical, they were a world apart in personality. Arana was serious, and might easily have been considered the elder of the two. Syala, on the other hand, was a hothead, and likely to make a snap decision, whether it was the right or wrong call. Together they combined everything a small unit commander could want.

  "Yeah, with a little luck, it will work."

  He rubbed his upper lip and lifted an eyebrow in a mocking expression.

  "All we have to do is kick up enough fuss that Nakoma will turn her attention to us. Every hour we keep them busy is an hour where they are not attacking this place."

  He turned back and looked up to the walls. Already there were scores of ropes and gantries being lowered down to work on them. The talk deep underground was less than an hour before, and already the work crews were using their machines, plus the excavators brought by the Exiles to start work on the trench line.

  "If we can hold Nakoma here, we will break her. And when the other Byotai on Karnak see that, they will rally and rise up. There are more than half a million missing right now, and I can guarantee they are hiding because they have no hope."

  Syala appeared almost excited at Spartan’s thinking, but Arana still seemed staggered at the complexity of the job before them.

  "You don't need both of us for this mission."

  Spartan nodded in firm agreement.

  "I know. Arana, I need you to work with Kanjana and Khan. Help them create a military force that knows what it's doing. We're going to need a mobile reserve, and I suggest you base it on the Blood Pack, your mercs, and any others you trust. If Nakoma breaches the defences, it will come down to veterans."

  Arana looked into Spartan's eyes and studied him for a moment. What he said made sense, but she was sure there was something else.

  "Are you trying to keep us apart intentionally?"

  Arana moved her attention of Syala whose smile instantly faded.

  "What?"

  Spartan shook his head while letting out a bored sigh.

  "Not this again. No, I am not trying. I am doing. The two of you are the best out of the box thinkers I have. Khan and the Blood Pack are best suited to the upfront brawl, but you two..."

  He stepped towards them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, grasping them firmly.

  "...you two are going to give me options when the fights heads South. Dynax and the Helion 5 units might be good, but there's nobody with the background you two have. One of you will come with me; the other will help Khan get the reserve forces ready. Choose amongst yourselves if you want, just get a shift on."

  The sisters looked at each other, and Arana finally said what Spartan wanted to hear.

  "Okay, then. Syala, you go with him. I'll stay and prepare our new friends for what's coming."

  Spartan seemed happy with this.

  "Good, then let's give the Byotai what they've given up on. We'll give them a victory, and when Nakoma's warriors are crushed and running, the full-scale uprising can begin."

  * * *

  Fortress of Montu, Karnak, Tenth Quadrant

  Visions of wars were common when she was asleep, but this particular dream was unlike any she had experienced before. Hundreds of ships swept in and deposited legions of Imperial soldiers, each one looking like an exact clone of Tahkeome. Worlds of the Byotai, Helions, and even the Humans burned, all the while her kin continued onwards. She saw herself at the forefront of the fight, with Tahkeome at her side, but not once was his face ever visible. He moved in the shadows, with his personal guard always stopping him from coming too close. Ogimà Nakoma rolled over and opened her eyes. Senior Centurion Siwili was waiting at her door.

  "You!"

  She automatically pulled the curved blade that was always at her side and lifted it, ready to defend herself where she lay.

  "Apologies, Ogimà. But I thought you would want to know."

  The female war chief was already sitting up and pulling on her body armour. She was naked from the waist up and showed no signs of embarrassment or discomfort in front of her subordinate.

  "They have arrived at our defences?"

  Senior Centurion Siwili shook his head.

  "No, Ogimà. The mercenaries landed at the Constans mining facility and engaged our reconnaissance force. Our units report the arrival of significant ground forces."

  Ogimà Nakoma tightened a strap around her waist and pushed her blade back into its tight sheath.

  "Byotai Imperial troops?"

  "No, mercenaries carried aboard Byotai privately flagged ships."

  Ogimà Nakoma's brow tightened in irritation.

  "I knew this would happen. With our fleet shattered, we can no longer offer a useful blockade of this world. Time is not on our side, and now they muster sell-swords to attack us. They grow confident."

  She shook her head as if trying to remove water from her face.

  "Pull back our aircraft from the Southern theatre and concentrate them all at Melantias. Bomb them into submission. I want nothing left but ashes."

  Senior Centurion Siwili made for the doorway but stopped.

  "What of our ground forces? They are ready to defend Montu and awaiting orders."

  Nakoma stepped out to the window of her quarters. As one of the few that lived on the surface, she was granted a view of the entire city. Dust rose up in a hundred places as clan warriors and vehicles moved about in a constant state of flux. Off into the distance a pair of fighters was coming in to land, and she noted both were lacking their external ordnance.

  Either they were successful in their attacks, or they dumped it on the way back.

  She was so busy looking at her forces; she almost forgot what her deputy commander was saying.

  "Siwili, say that again."

  "Our ground forces, Ogimà. The Zuni and Kolchan clans report they are ready to begin a ground offensive against Melantias. Their ground vehicles are in position, as are the penal units."

  Nakoma's mouth opened to the side in a cruel grin. The penal units were her own solution to the problem of manpower, especially since she'd been forced to send a large force to assist Tahkeome. There were thousands of Red Scars on Karnak, but with Ogimà Takosk dead, they were leaderless and ineffective. She’d been magnanimous in their defeat and sent in new officers from the Spires to take command. Those Red Scars that had shown her loyalty were retained. This meant that the Southern Front was now effectively controlled by a Spires officer corps, but with clan soldiers mainly from the Red Scars.

  The others will not have it quite so easy, though, will they?

  Nakoma recalled the short, but bloody revolt by a small hard-core group of Red Scars. They had refused her leadership, and the offer to join her command, and instead tried to steal ships to leave. Nakoma's response was brutal, and she sent in her troops to pacify them. More than half were killed, and the survivors now formed three penal companies kept under guard by the fo
rce of the Zuni clan. Her eyes opened wider as she remembered something else.

  "And the new unit? Are they also in position?"

  Senior Centurion Siwili lowered his head.

  "Yes, Ogimà. The survivors of Kras and his Byotai militia are at the depression and under guard by the Zuni clan."

  "Good. Very good."

  She considered her options for a moment. Karnak was close to breaking point. Her forces in the South were still in control, even if the remaining Red Scars were proving unruly. Khagi had been crushed, and the last stronghold in the North would soon be surrounded. She turned away from the grand view and to her senior centurion.

  "Tahkeome has little faith that we can end this war. He wants us to wage nothing more than a campaign of terror. We can do this, but when he returns, he will simply sweep in and claim the glory, and the spoils for himself."

  Her tongue flicked out, and a small piece of gleaming metal flashed in the light. The stud was embedded in her tongue and seemed to catch the light from multiple directions. She ran the tip along the inside of her upper lip as she considered her options. Nakoma had spent a great deal of time thinking on this subject already but until now had not made up her mind on a final course of action. For a second she contemplated doing nothing, but then the news of the mercenaries in the North settled things her mind. Having a large number of unknown forces over three thousand kilometres away was unsettling.

  "Send the signal. I will not leave these new arrivals alone so they can plot and scheme. It is time our Byotai friends were introduced to a real war. One where they will be unable to sleep for fear of our weapons."

  Nakoma rubbed at her cheek, imagining the devastation to the Byotai enclave. Her assembled aircraft were a force to be reckoned with, and though primarily designed as assault craft and troops transports, it was still quite easy to change them to the role of bombers.

  "Yes, that will work. I want the Zuni and Kolchan clans to move from their base and into forward bombardment positions, no closer than ten kilometres from the defences. How is their work progressing on the rail system?"

  Senior Centurion Siwili looked at a report on the flat display panel fitted to the wall. A monotone diagram showed the maglev system on the planet and lines where breaks had been made. The Byotai had managed to destroy large segments of track, making rail travel all but impossible this far from the capital.

  "The equipment is in position. According to the last reports, the North-South line has been severed at four points between Qatar and the Constans mining facility. The clans should be able to make repairs as they go."

  "Good," said Nakoma.

  She nodded to herself as she gave more thought to her plan.

  "I want them in position in..."

  Nakoma did a quick calculation to work out how long it would take for the clans to move the three hundred kilometres across rough ground. There were no roads this far North, and the rail system was severed closer to the Byotai positions. The Qatar Depression was the final functional destination for the maglev rail system that operated throughout the planet.

  "...three days."

  She turned back to Siwili.

  "These are my orders, and I want both initiated within the hour. Understood?"

  "Yes, Ogimà."

  Nakoma closed her eyes and assembled an image of the planet's surface in her mind. Karnak was unlike other planets and lacked large numbers of cities or major settlements. Outside of the three main regions was nothing more than hundreds of small settlements, each little larger than a village.

  We need to control all three regions, and then we can deal with the stragglers.

  "First, the defensive walls sheltering the Constans facility must be reduced. I want the guns we paid for in position and firing day and night until they are rubble. I suspect that with the walls gone, the survivors will plead for mercy."

  She nodded to herself, as though she was removing them from a list.

  "Second. The rail system from the Stone Hills, back to the Qatar Depression must be repaired. It is not enough that we can send goods and materials to the staging post. I want to be able to send shells directly to the guns. We can use this to transport more troops North as needed."

  "Yes, Ogimà. I will send the orders immediately."

  He began to move away.

  "And our own forces, Ogimà? What orders should I give to our clan commanders?"

  Nakoma turned from him and walked back to the balcony. She gazed out at the assembled warriors. Already they were starting to look more like the legions she had discussed with Tahkeome. Her eyes drifted and then focused on the long lines of aircraft. The majority were safely protected beneath prefabricated shelters, only the air defence interceptors waiting on their pads in case the order was sent. Nakoma had assembled a veritable arsenal, with more than a hundred of them waiting for her command. Their number was insignificant next to the thousands of clan warriors that waited at her beck and call. With the entire clan on Karnak, the Spires now had air power, but without the rail system, it would take weeks to transport all of their warriors and heavy equipment to the front-lines.

  "Yes, Zuni and Kolchan clans can bear the brunt of this attack. I want our troops held in reserve. It's time for our new friends to prove their quality."

  Siwili looked a little confused, but as expected, said nothing. Nakoma noticed his hesitation but decided to make nothing of it.

  "Senior Centurion, you never know. The Byotai might be stupid enough to attack us again here at Montu, and if they do, the war will be over in a single day. Pray they are that stupid."

  Nakoma wanted to mobilise all of her forces and head North. Her logistics were still too weak, though, and she refused to fritter away her resources until she could be guaranteed of a victory. One mistake could see the Byotai march into Montu, and the war would be reversed in an instant.

  "Senior Centurion Siwili, bring all our officers here in one hour. It is time to organise the last campaign of this war. Karnak will be ours, and all of you will share in the success."

  With those last words, Siwili left through the side door and marched past the pair of Spires guards. A short flight of steps took him down to the ground level where he could now see outside. There were ground vehicles, containers, and aircraft as far as the eye could see. One of the newly turned Red Scars waited patiently with two more Spires officers at his flanks, each keeping a wary eye on the turncoat. Siwili stopped and gazed at the three.

  "It's time. Assemble the officers."

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  As the years moved on from the Great Biomech War, the memories of those lost faded. Teresa Morato, senior officer of the Alliance Marine Corps, and wife of the infamous Spartan, was not one of them. From a troubled background on Carthago, Teresa joined the Corps to provide for what remained of her previous family. Her growing involvement with Spartan created a relationship that would survive the fires of the Uprising, and even the bloodiest battles of the Biomech War. Only in the last hours of the war, when Spartan and Teresa fought against impossible odds did she finally succumb. For Teresa, there was both death and glory; for Spartan, the bitterness of victory and the loss that so many now felt. Since the Biomech War, the Morato name had been used for training centres, civilian ships, and even a school. Even in death, her name would remain a constant reminder of what price so many paid.

  Teresa of Carthago

  Ninety-nine hours later

  Fortress of Melantias, Stone Teeth Hills, Karnak

  Spartan and his group of commandos had gone for only four days, and already three separate air attacks had hit Melantias, each coming at different times of the day or night. The first was a disaster for the Anicinàbe, but they were learning. And with each subsequent attack their tactics changed. Unlike the Byotai, the Spires Clan were especially strong proponents of hit and run attacks, the fighting conducted by ground troops brought in by air. They lacked a large arsenal of heavy attack aircraft, though, and that weakness was already beginning to sh
ow.

  This attack marked the fourth time the Spires had positioned aircraft around Melantias since the arrival of the Exiles, and something had definitely changed. The first warning was not an alert siren, or even shouting, but instead the bright flash off to the North as a single object was destroyed. Khan had insisted on placing air defences out to fifty kilometres in all directions, much to the objections of Governor Nak Sekieki. Even as Khan watched the wreckage fall from the sky, he knew it was not one of their attack craft known as Abn'dak Raptors. After so many engagements, he was sure he could identify the Anicinàbe from little more than a distant silhouette.

  That's no Abn'dak.

  The broken object tumbled from the sky as more missiles streaked out to hit targets. Khan watched as yet another was hit, and this too tumbled down.

  What's going on?

  Two more missiles moved out from one of the distant sites, and then Khan immediately knew what was happening. With a quick movement of his retina, he selected the identifier for Arana who was currently the acting commander at the wall.

  "This is Khan. Shut down the launchers on the outer perimeter, and switch all scanners to passive operation."

  "You think they're decoys?"

  Khan lifted a single large eyebrow as he considered the question.

  "That, or the Anicinàbe have suddenly become very lazy. No, I think this is something else. Either they are trying to exhaust our missile supplies, or..."

  The communication system crackled gently but with little audio degradation. Arana continued Khan's sentence, much to his amusement.

  "They want to identify our air defence sites."

  Khan nodded in agreement even though she could not currently see him.

  "I suggest we relocate the outer defence missile systems immediately."

  Again there was a short delay before Arana's voice returned.

  "I agree, Khan. Nakoma isn't stupid, and she already knows we have substantial air defences. If she knows our full capabilities, she will be able to perform precision strikes to remove the scanners, and then the missiles. I believe you know the Wild Weasel operations?"