“We have a platoon’s worth of specialists here, seventy-eight of us to be precise. We also have eleven people who are too badly wounded and incapable of moving. There are five dead as well,” he said the last with a much weaker voice. It wasn’t something that should be accented as no one liked to talk about dead specialists. “We have enough ammo and supplies for two days’ worth of intense fighting, so we should be covered on that end. Did anyone get any orders from Tailor?”
Ivor, a young Tier 3 Gearlord, was the first to reply. “We attacked a comms jammer and talked with him shortly. He told us to move toward the western gate where Qualt’s army is and help him breach the mine.”
“Help him how?” Ginsk asked, leaning with both hands and his chin on his Nas-axe. The Gearlord shrugged, and it was obvious none of them had any idea what Tailor meant by that.
“Attack supply chains, kill comms jammers, fuck up the security network. All of these are options available to us.” Borgatti was serious, and the others nodded in agreement.
“Attacking supply chains is a long-term strategy, we don’t have time for that. By the time the Aloi run out of ammo, Qualt will be dust,” I said, knowing he wouldn’t like it. “We can kill comms jammers, but what’s the point in wasting resources on that? They’ll patch up their security holes within seconds.”
Borgatti stared emotionlessly at me with his green eyes.
“So? What then? Attack the security network?”
“Look at this,” I said, pointing to the Pavlov Guns surrounding the main drill.
Four of them sat in a crescent formation around the main drill. Pavlov Guns were giant stationary turrets equipped with rail guns that could penetrate starship hulls. They were of no use to the Aloi because they couldn’t reach outside the walls but any army that would find itself too close to the drill would have to go against them. Pavlov Guns were fueled by detrium, although they didn’t utilize it directly like the Donnerjack. The detrium only served to create enough electromagnetic force to propel a solid projectile toward the enemy where the projectile would turn into a shrapnel-type bomb that was beyond devastating and often way more effective than any explosive device. Because it lost velocity pretty quickly and was mostly used against enemy formations, its effect decayed substantially over distance and had no other use.
I knew the details because I had worked on these types of weapons back on Persei Prime, so I explained it carefully to everyone at the meeting. If we managed to get our hands on the controls, things could pretty quickly turn in our favor.
“We can infiltrate the guns with enough Technomancers. According to my calculations, we would need some twenty of us. We have eighteen but I think that could still do the trick.”
Before I could continue, Borgatti snorted and interjected.
“But what’s your point? You have an Aloi army at the western gates defending against Qualt. You have another one behind Qualt and our two regiments behind that one. How are you going to force them toward the mine?”
“I’m not going to force them toward the mine, Qualt is.”
There was a moment of silence around the military-green box.
“Son, Qualt isn’t going to take orders from you,” Ginsk said almost apologetically. “And if Winters finds out you’re going against his orders to go west—”
“Fuck Winters!” Birch cursed absently while cleaning dirt out from under her nails.
There was some general agreement that Winters was an asshole for putting us in this position, but nobody dared to question his orders. The bastard had some strong patrons which allowed him to do what he wanted to on occasion and even clean his shit up. But not this time.
“Tailor’s orders are Winters’ orders, you all know that. You all know that Tailor would never put us in this mess if he had any other choice, right?”
“Be that as it may, orders are orders, Stavos. Even you have to listen to them,” Borgatti said as he stroked his mustache. The underlying message was clear: you think you’re better than the rest of us? Well, you’re not.
“Borgatti, just hear me out. I say we contact Qualt and tell him to push into the mine. He can then—”
“If he pushes into the mine, he’ll have another whole Aloi army at his back, Stavos. Thousands will die in that move and the Eres aren’t quick to sacrifice their people.”
“You’re right,” I said, already annoyed by the constant interjections, “but if Qualt pushes into the mine, the Aloi will seek shelter beneath the drill. We can use the Pavlov Guns to destroy them there. By the time the second Aloi army catches up, we’ll have the first one destroyed and the second army will be in a pincer between us and Winters’ regiments.”
Judging by the expression on their faces, I could tell that my words had finally reached them. Ginsk was immediately onboard together with Birch. Mavis hesitated a bit out of decency for Borgatti and the others who had just saved our asses, but he finally agreed.
“This is insane, Stavos,” Borgatti insisted. “And you’re all insane for wanting to follow this ridiculous plan. I’m not on board with this, and neither are my men. If word gets out about this, you should know I won’t defend your asses.” He stood up and stomped his feet like a pathetic little bully. “We have seventy-eight specialists; we can do a lot of work before Qualt’s army pushes in. I’m going west to secure Qualt’s arrival and I suggest you bring your squads along. If you want to play heroes with Stavos, be my guest, but whatever the outcome of his idea is, you’ll all end up either dead or facing a court martial.”
I stood up as well and was ready to slam my fist into his nose.
“Do you really think that Qualt will push into the mine anytime soon?” He turned around and started walking away. I was at the end of my patience with this guy. “How the hell can you be this dense, Borgatti? Are you fucking blind?”
My insults didn’t reach him, I had to give him that. The man had his pride and ego, so fuck him. He stopped near the men from his squad and was speaking animatedly; I knew he would give them a speech, so I had to cut down his little rebellion at the root.
“Don’t,” Ginsk said as he put his hand up, but I didn’t listen to him.
“Borgatti!” I yelled after him. “Listen to me!” I stormed after him and headbutted the fool before I leaned into his face. He glared at me and I knew that I’d made a lifelong enemy, but I didn’t care.
“Get the fuck out of my way, Stavos!” he hissed as his men approached from the sides, but Leo and Layla were already there.
“All right, kids, let’s calm down before anyone does something stupid,” Ginsk said, hoping to disarm the situation. It was Squad 88 staring down Squad 79, fingers on triggers, fists curling around Warhammers.
“I told you to get out of my face, Stavos!”
“Not until you listen to me, Borgatti.”
There was a short, tense moment of silence where everyone was scanning each other. Behind Borgatti, who was a Tier 4 Technomaner, stood Private Neils. The man was a Tier 4 Commando and next to him was Private Bakhar, a Tier 3 Warwalker. His squad was a force to be reckoned with, and everyone knew that. You didn’t need to respect Borgatti as a person, but you sure as hell had to respect the strength of his squad. I didn’t wait for an answer, so I just started talking.
“Qualt isn’t coming, Borgatti. The goal isn’t to take the mine anymore, it’s to save the Second Army. They’re just waiting for an opening to get their forces out! Winters sent us here to distract the enemy and die so Qualt could save his people!”
“Says you!”
“Says common fucking sense!” Layla yelled, unable to hold herself back. There was stupid, and there was blind, but Borgatti was stupidly blind.
“Look at us! Look at our orders! Are these sensible orders? Our mission was to sit tight and wait until a day later; it was ‘do some random shit around the base so you look busy.’ We’re a distraction for the Aloi so Winters can save Qualt and you know it! You’re just too proud and stupid to admit it!”
&
nbsp; The words seemed to finally have breached his thick skull. Almost all the soldiers who weren’t on guard duty now listened in. Judging by their expression, I knew they saw the logic of my words. Still, they were mostly young soldiers with little to no experience who knew that ignoring orders wasn’t something they’d been trained to do.
“You have no idea what you’re saying!”
“We can take the Pavlov Guns! We have enough Technomancers to burn out the firewalls, then we kill the Aloi army, take the mine, save Qualt, and save our fucking asses! Or you can go try to sabotage some comms jammers and get new orders from Winters that will have us commit suicide!”
“How the fuck can you know that? Because you’re the great genius Richard Stavos? Just based on your assumptions, you want us to ignore direct orders from the colonel, and you want to manipulate General fucking Qualt into sacrificing his men? Do you even hear yourself?”
I hated how much sense he made, and even more, I hated it because if I was him... If I was in his position, I’d think the same way, but I wasn’t Emilio Borgatti. I had enough experience and strategic thinking to know how officers should treat this situation.
“Men, if you want to follow orders as soldiers should,” he said and turned to his audience, “then let’s leave this damned temple and make our way west as Tailor told us to! If you want to play hero, go against orders, and get yourself killed or imprisoned, follow our friend Richard Stavos here.”
“Enough of this shit!” I finally yelled as my patience not only disappeared but turned into an angry troll that was beating at the inside of my skull telling me to murder Borgatti then and there.
“I don’t give a shit if you’re going to die here, Borgatti, but I will not let you incite this platoon to follow you!”
“Not going to let me?”
“You fucking heard me,” I hissed, leaning even closer into his face.
“Get the fuck out of my face, Stavos.” I could smell the fear in him. No man could call Emilio Borgatti a coward, but the way he spoke, the way he postponed any real conflict, I knew he didn’t want to mess with me.
“You and your squad can go, the rest stays with us.”
“You don’t command the other squads! They can do whatever the fuck they think is right and following the captain’s orders is what’s right!”
Then it dawned on me. If he wanted to play an obedient soldier, well, I’d just let him do as much.
“Come to speak of orders, Borgatti, you’re a Technomancer, and as such you’re under my orders. I tell you where you go, and I tell you what to do.”
The shock that was plastered on his face was even more delicious to me than a big, fat, juicy steak. How would he be getting out of this one?
“Tailor’s orders—”
“Tailor’s orders were to obey me, Borgatti! Have you forgotten?” His face went red with anger and I enjoyed every second of it. I pushed him a little too far because he told me to fuck myself and my orders the same way I’d imagine Birch would talk to Winters. Fine, I thought. That only made it even simpler for me.
“Borgatti, you’re hereby stripped of command of Squad 79. Hand in your weapons. Private Neils and Bakhar, you’re under my command now.”
The two soldiers looked at each other and then at their sergeant.
“You are crossing the line, Stavos.”
“Are you threatening me, Borgatti?”
“Threatening? I don’t threaten, I act.”
Just as he finished those last words, Borgatti fired up his Blade Shield and put his hands up in an attempt to spike me with nanites. A small twitch under his right eye had betrayed his intentions long before he did any of those things. You’re good, Borgatti, but you’re not as good as I am.
I sent out two nanite chains to grab his arms and then pulled him to the ground before he had another chance to move. At the same time, two more nanite chains erupted from under the feet of Private Neils and Bakhar that grabbed their weapons.
Borgatti was now kneeling in front of me, chained by my nanites. I could feel his fight against the chains, I could feel his nanites trying to envelop them and cut him free, but he was so much weaker than I was and there was no chance for him to escape.
“Stop resisting, Emilio, you’ll never break free.”
“Fuck you, Stavos! I’ll have your head for this!” he screamed, but I ignored it.
“Sir?” Layla whispered. “Should we?”
I turned to the men around me and spoke.
“I’m not your commanding officer, as I’m not Captain Tailor, and heaven thanks I’m not Colonel Winters, but I’m in this shit together with you, and I’m telling you that we’re dead if we move west. We can save the mine; we can save the Second Army, and we can save ourselves if we follow my plan.”
The faces around me were still confused by what had just happened, but I could sense agreement in most of them, especially considering that their squad leaders had already agreed with me.
“Don’t listen to—” Borgatti began again, but Ginsk out of all people knocked the Technomancer unconscious with a heavy-handed fist to the temple.
“Let’s see if he changes his mind later,” I said and stared at his squadmates. “I will not in any way hurt your squad leader, but I can’t allow this operation to falter because he doesn’t agree with my orders.”
Except for a stink eye, the two soldiers said nothing. Good, I didn’t want to have to deal with them too as it would only serve to decrease our already low morale.
“What now?” Ginsk asked as he stood next to me with both his arms crossed.
“Now? Now we march.”
It didn’t take long to reach the comms jammer where I met the Templar. This time I had an escort given Ginsk, Donovan, Leo, Layla, Harper, and Zaic who all tagged along. Harper and Zaic were left without a squad leader and they sort of attached themselves to us. I didn’t mind as a Farseer was a nice addition, and Zaic, well, I appreciated her skills as a Commando. I had to be honest and admit that I enjoyed her company, even more since she looked like a Valkyrie bred for war.
I managed to establish a line with the Eres forces while the rest of them guarded me. There were no Aloi troops nearby to break my concentration, so I prepared an octagonal code to protect the line. Even if the Aloi battled me over the comm’s node, they wouldn’t be shutting me out in only several seconds.
“This is Lieutenant Graf of the Eres forces, identify yourself!” a rough voice said on the other end.
“This is Sergeant Stavos of the human forces. We’re inside Sardok Mine, sir. I’m requesting a word with the general. We don’t have much time.”
“Sergeant, General Qualt doesn’t answer requests from soldiers, especially from other armies.”
I knew he meant races and not armies, but I didn’t want to get into the Eres’ famous sense of superiority right now.
“I need to talk to the general, sir. It’s very urgent and has to deal with your very survival.”
The lieutenant went silent for a moment. The Eres were exceptional warriors but they also exceptionally loved themselves and their own lives. While they wouldn’t shy away from a fight, they’d still prefer not to sacrifice any of their own if at all possible.
“What do you mean?”
“Lieutenant, I don’t have time to explain it twice as the Aloi will cut my connection soon. Either you let me talk to the general or you very carefully listen to my words and give them to him personally. I just hope you don’t miss out on any of the details. How good is your memory?”
The Eres lieutenant went silent again for several long seconds that felt like a damn eternity. I heard some shuffling and then a gravelly voice picked up the conversation.
“General Qualt here.”
I almost forgot to speak when he replied. The tone of his voice alone sounded like it could move clouds and mountains at will. General Qualt was more legend than man as he’d been on Detera for almost a century now.
“Sir, my name is Sergeant Richar
d Stavos of the human forces,” I finally said before he growled at me, and explained my plan in as much detail as was reasonable. I told him about the Pavlov Guns and how we could use the giant rail cannons against the Aloi if he pushed his forces into the mine. I told him about the pincer movement we could have on the second Aloi army and how we could save both our lives and the Sardok Mine in one move. He listened without uttering a single word to all of what I had to say.
“Is that it, Richard Stavos?”
“That’s it, sir.”
He went quiet again for ten long seconds where the line started to waver. My heart skipped a beat as I felt that my head was going to explode. All of this was both unreal and dangerous as hell. What’s more, if Qualt decided to tell Winters what I had proposed, I’d be dead. Even if I somehow made it out of the mine, I’d spend the rest of my life hiding.
“You betray your superior’s orders, Richard Stavos.”
The blood in my veins froze. How could I have been so stupid and naïve? I knew Qualt would respect the plan I offered because he was a strategic genius who would appreciate such a thing, but he was also the very epitome of what an Eres stood for: respect for your profession, respect for your superiors, and respect for your place in the social order. Currently, I wasn’t covering any of those three points.
“What do you mean, sir?”
“An Eres must always respect his superiors. Always, even if the decisions of the master guide you to certain death.”
Ah, here we go, I thought. Good job, Richard Stavos you can kiss your life goodbye. Ginsk stood next to me the whole time and listened in. His face was a grimace of mixed feelings, both a pity for my destiny along with his.
“Right, sir. I agree with you.”
“Then be silent! As you are no Eres and a mere human, you’re still a human with a good plan. A much better plan than that of Alfred Winters. I will inform him of my actions, but I will leave your name out of it since he strikes me as weak-minded and I would not have a weakling interfere with my plan. Do your part, Richard Stavos, and the Eres will respect you. A human who earns our respect can die in peace.”
Starblood: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 1) Page 25
