“We didn’t choose this. Timasion ordered us to turn on you, but not all of us did. My squad refused.”
An Arcadian spat on the ground.
“No chance, you’re all in this together.”
Shots hit the ground around them, and they dropped down, taking cover behind a random assortment of wreckage and bodies. Those with weapons fired back, the rest just kept their heads down. The Arcadian blasted at a distant target but continued to keep an eye on the two traitors. Xenophon could see what was happening.
“Your squad, where are they?”
The man shook his head.
“Timasion ordered us executed on the spot. Only we got out alive. The rest of my pempas are face down, just like your people.”
Another Arcadian tossed a carbine to one of them.
“Then it’s time to remind these bastards who’s in charge down here.”
The man took the weapon, loaded in the clip, and fired short and highly accurate bursts. Hundreds of automatons were now out in the open, with perhaps half taking cover, the rest trying to form up in dense lines.
“Shoot the ones in the open!” cried out a Thessalian.
“No!” said Xenophon, “It’s a trick. Those are labourers and workers. Look, none are armoured or armed. They are a distraction. Hit those in cover.”
The Terrans responded quickly with deadly and accurate gunfire.
“Artillery!”
A spatharios pointed up at the shape of three smoking projectiles. They had lifted up high and were approaching the apex.
“Scatter!” Xenophon yelled.
The group broke apart and ran in different directions. They just made it as the first shell came down and struck the ground. A great explosion sent dirt after them, and then the other two joined it. Xenophon hit the ground and rolled over. He spotted one of the other Terrans fall down. The man’s carbine rolled to the side, and a single Taochi warrior stepped out of the dust cloud.
“No!”
Xenophon rolled off to one side, grabbed the carbine, and emptied the clip into the armoured figure. Each round bit deep, but the bloodied monster kept coming for him. The two-handed maul came down towards him, and Xenophon lifted his carbine up to protect him. It was not even close, but just before the weapon struck him the warrior was knocked back. Xenophon watched in awe as a stream of fire from five spatharii killed the creature.
“Thanks, good timing.”
One of them helped him up. Another heard something, looked back, and pointed up. A pair of heavy Median transports was lifting up from the ground, protected by four fighters, and all bearing the markings of the Empire. The man opened fire, but it was almost impossible to hit from this far away, not that a simple rifle would do anything.
“You can’t do anything from back...”
The first transport broke in half and exploded. Through the smoke and flames came a dozen armoured dromons, and they continued unleashing missiles and gunfire as they ploughed through the wreckage. The second transport activated its primary engines and rushed away, leaving its fighter cover to the mercy of the new arrivals.
“Take cover,” said Xenophon.
They slid behind one of the many wrecked transport crawlers and found even more Terrans, this time spatharii. Two were attending a wounded warrior; the others lay down fire on a similar squad of automatons behind a crashed heavy fighter. A dromon flew overhead, coming in low, and a second moved off further into the distance. The first craft skidded to a halt and immediately came under fire. Its ramps dropped and out surged dozens of spatharii. The first two groups all carried shield generators and formed up in a loose line so that the next wave could come in behind them.
“Look,” said one of the Night Blades.
Xenophon tracked to the right and spotted Timasion, along with an escort of his warriors. They were running in the direction of one of the still functioning crawlers. Dozens of automatons fired from hatches and gun ports in the huge vehicle. At the same time, the increasing number of Terran hit back.
“And there,” said another.
In the opposite direction, a group of Taochi were running from cover to cover, inching ever closer to the newly landed dromon. Xenophon tapped his communications node, but it was gone, and he didn’t even remember anybody taking it. The Taochi came out from cover and charged towards the flanks of the Terrans. At first it was just a few dozen, but then their numbers were bolstered by many more.
“We have to warn them,” said Xenophon, “Timasion can wait!”
He leapt from cover and ran as fast as he could. Gunfire raked his previous position, and one of the spatharii was hit six times and forced back into safety. Incredibly, he was still alive, but the others had no choice but to stay there and provide covering fire.
* * *
Lady Artemas dropped from the ramp and behind the spatharii shield wall. Gunfire crashed into their position from three directions, even while the turrets on the dromons provided additional fire support. She wore her customary combination of Terran and Median clothing but topped with a horsehair plume, much like Xenophon’s.
“Taochi advancing to our flank,” said the Arcadian Komes.
He looked to Artemas and nodded at them.
“You might want to keep your head down.”
“Nonsense.”
Artemas moved to the centre of the unit and lifted her own rifle. The Terrans put down considerable fire. The Taochi were finally scattered, as another dromon overhead dropped four seismic charges that threw them to the ground. There were still plenty of the enemy left, and one managed to hurl a hexagonal proximity charge. It exploded in front of the line and hit the legs of three Terrans. They all collapsed to the ground, crying out in pain.
“Attack!” cried out the Komes.
The formation broke apart as the Terrans surged out from behind the shield wall and into the scattered Taochi. Many were killed before they could fight back, but even with the benefit of the airstrike, the fight quickly bogged down into a ferocious hand-to-hand struggle.
Artemas moved about carefully, looking for weaknesses and opening fire where she could. Occasionally, one of the monsters would spot her, but its attention taken by other Terrans posing a more immediate threat. She moved about the group, encouraging the warriors and avoided getting too close to the enemy. It couldn’t last, though, and one hacked its way through and headed for the centre of the group, exactly where Lady Artemas was standing. A spatharios leapt in front of her, and he was cast aside with a single impact.
“Animal!”
She drew out her magnificent Makhaira blade, the one given to her by Xenophon, and hacked at the monster’s chest. The blade bounced from his armour, and she sidestepped to avoid the counter strike. In her left hand was her sidearm, but its projectiles did little more than to annoy it. The blade came down again, and she displaced it with a high-hanging parry. The Makhaira blade was one of the few close quarter weapons that could ever hope to beat off such a powerful weapon. The metal screamed, but her skill helped in displacing most of the energy.
“Duck!” yelled a familiar voice.
Artemas had fought in enough battles to know there were actions she had no time to think about. She dropped her head and lowered her body in a beautiful example of perfect form, and the two-handed hammer just missed her. Artemas watched the blade swing over her head in a vicious arc. A spatharios without a helmet leapt past and hacked at its legs. The warrior howled and then swung at the Terran. The hammer slid off his chest plate and knocked him back, but he managed to stay upright.
“Xenophon!”
She moved in and lunged at the monster, but this one was much better trained than the others. He leaned to one side, avoided the strike, and then hit back. Artemas was forced to leap back to avoid the counterattack, but then Xenophon was back in the fight. The two hacked and stabbed at the Taochi warrior, but between the three of them the fight was something of a stalemate.
“As one!” Xenophon shouted.
&nbs
p; They moved closer together and proceeded to stab repeatedly with little gap between their attack. The Taochi warrior could defend against one, but not two at the same time. They managed three separate hits before the tall shape of Desma and three more Laconians arrived. They cut their way through a squad of automatons to assist.
“In pairs!” Desma ordered.
Three pairs of warriors were a deadly combination, and they worked together with speed and timing. Desma approached from one side and hacked away with a pair of razor sharp kopis blades. Xenophon and Artemas came in from the front, but it was the next pair that managed to hamstring the creature, and it dropped down to one knee. Two more grabbed its arms, and Xenophon closed in, his blade at its throat.
“Enough!” he shouted.
The warrior looked at him, and then loosened his grip on his weapons. Xenophon pushed it away, and the creature collapsed onto its bleeding leg. Desma lifted her weapon to deliver the finishing blow, but Xenophon raised his hand to signal to stop.
“No. There’s something odd about this one. Look at it.”
The warrior looked back and snorted in derision as it spotted the approach of another group of Terrans. It then coughed and spat blood on the ground.
“Lady Artemas,” said a man in a smooth, articulate fashion.
She turned around, and there was the fully armoured form of Dukas Timasion. His personal guard were bloodied and battered, and he looked a little worse for wear. He moved closer to her, and Xenophon stepped to intervene. At the same time, he saw Timasion’s guard lifting their weapons slightly upwards and towards him and his warriors. Artemas turned around fully to face him. Xenophon opened his mouth to speak, but Timasion mouthed a word back to him.
The bastard will kill her if I act.
He felt numb, unable to help. The Dukas stepped nearer until he was within two metres of them both, and then stopped. His armour and clothing was impeccable, as always.
“A noble victory indeed, wouldn’t you say?”
Xenophon started to speak, and the look from Timasion could not have been clearer.
“Yes, destruction of the shield wall gave our ships time to finish the job. It could have ended badly.”
“Quite,” he answered, turning to Artemas, “I am so glad to see you here, on our newly conquered world. It would be my honour if...”
In a spinning movement that surprised every one of them, she dropped down low and swung the blade with such intensity that it decapitated the Terran in one clean movement. She looked back at Xenophon with a bittersweet look on her face.
“Tamara told us what happened.”
Xenophon’s warriors took aim, but with their leader gone, his personal guard were uncertain and quickly lowered their weapons. One paused, considering his options and then joined the rest.
“Remove their weapons and take them away,” said Xenophon.
He moved towards Artemas, but she was already throwing herself at him. As they embraced, she spoke into his ear.
“Tamara told us what happened. Glaucon managed to get inside the Night Scythe and activated the atomics. He brought down the shields and was killed in the process. It was him that allowed us to destroy the weapon.”
Xenophon held onto her, but he could feel an uncontrollable rage building inside him. Timasion was dead, and it was the lack of focus for his anger that hit harder than anything else.
“And he allowed you to come to us, to end this fight.”
He was unable to speak for a time, and instead they stayed there as the Terrans proceeded to round up their defeated enemies. With there being little chance of Medes fighting back, they were now surrendering in substantial numbers. Even the few remaining Taochi had lowered their weapons, for some reason now being unwilling to continue the battle.
“Glaucon was wounded in the battle. We were pushing them back when Timasion arrived and broke our assault on the orders of Ariaeus. I thought he would have been captured or killed.”
Artemas shook her head.
“He was dying, but his last wish was to destroy our betrayers.”
Xenophon did his best to look less miserable at the entire affair, and so turned his attention to the headless corpse on the ground. He walked up to the body and rolled it over. On the thigh was one of the most exquisite kopis blades he’d ever seen. Without hesitation, he reached down and pulled the weapon from its sheath.
“Well, he succeeded with that.”
More and more dromons dropped down from orbit. The automatons were marching away in large columns, with only a modest aerial battle reminding them there was still a minor danger to those on the ground. With Terran airpower filling the skies, and spatharii moving out in all directions, the ground battle was effectively over. Artemas tapped her ear and looked up at the dark shape of the Bactrian Grand Battleship blazing a trail through the sky.
“The Strategos has announced the enemy ships are in full retreat, and many of the contingents surrendering. They will not fight with the weapon gone, and their commanders have vanished.”
She tried to look happy.
“The Fortress has fallen, just like you said it would, and it is the last barrier to us leaving the Empire.”
Xenophon knew he should have been elated, but all he could see was the thick smoke rising up from the ruins of the fortified towers and walls, as well as hundreds of bodies from the bloody battle. The thought of his dear friend Glaucon having been killed was the real tragedy to him, though. They had joined the Legion together, and now he would leave the Empire without him.
“A victory, yes. But it cost us dearly.”
He looked up at the sky and the arrival of yet more heavy transports into orbit.
“It’s time to heal our wounds and then leave this wretched place. I never want to see this territory again.”
Artemas held him tightly.
“Do you want to see where he died?”
Xenophon thought about it for a moment.
“Let’s find Tamara, and then we’ll go and see where Glaucon brought down the shields.”
“Yes,” Artemas agreed, “His sacrifice allowed us a final victory. Without Glaucon, there would be thousands dead, and the rest in chains.”
Xenophon knew she was correct, but their victory was bittersweet. He looked to the bodies of those that had betrayed them and the burning ruins of the planet.
“Glaucon and I had scores to settle, both here and at home. Now it is just me.”
Desma approached and stopped alongside the body of Timasion. She kicked at his flank, perhaps making sure he was dead, but with him being headless it was much more likely to be out of spite. Artemas might have smiled on any other occasion, but she looked back to Xenophon and shook her head.
“No, not alone.”
Desma nodded to the two of them solemnly.
“Wherever you are going, I will be there.”
Xenophon extended his hand to the bloodied warrior. They clasped their arms in the Terran fashion.
“Dukas Xenophon, your enemies are now my enemies.”
* * *
Scythian Class Battleship ‘Mithra’, Leaving the Shattered Systems
The journey to reach his previous command ship was fraught with difficulties. The Terran blockade was strong, and most of his capital ships were either destroyed or had fled before being able to reach him. Only Mithra and the ships of the Robotic Domains survived long enough to take away the small number of survivors from the Eternal Fortress. As the small flotilla made for the border and back into the Empire, Ariaeus marched back onto the command deck.
I have been betrayed at every point. The Terrans will pay the ultimate price for this.
He stormed towards Tir, while the crew continued with their duties as though nothing had gone wrong. They might have easily been on parade or testing the ship’s guns. The great machine waited patiently until Ariaeus was within just a few metres.
“You have failed me, Tir. Why is my fleet smashed to the stars? My mercenaries have fled,
and all that remains are your own ships! Why even bother coming for me?”
The machine twisted at its waist to face him, but as usual, there was nothing but cold words to answer him.
“Your last orders were to engage the enemy fleet on your command. I did so, but there has been contact from Babylon Prime. You are my superior, and I obey your command.”
Ariaeus might have smiled at the machine’s pre-programmed loyalty, but not today. The machine paused, and then his voice changed as it played back a perfect recording from an Imperial official.
“By order of the God King Artaxerxes, Lord Ariaeus is exiled for failure of command and treason to the Empire. A price of one million talents has been placed on his head, dead or alive.”
Ariaeus swallowed uncomfortably and then glanced back, expecting to see his own crew turning on him at any moment.
“Arteshban Qarz is to be executed for incompetence, and the border facility known as the Eternal Fortress is to be destroyed from orbit for its shame.”
Ariaeus sighed in irritation.
“No, we will set course for home.”
“We are not returning to Babylon Prime?” asked the machine.
Now Ariaeus finally seemed to cheer up.
“No, my friend. We are heading into exile, well away from the tendrils of the Emperor. Our time out here is done. The Eternal Fortress is a heap of ashes, and the Terrans are welcome to feast upon it.”
Ariaeus turned from the machine, but the expression on his face was far from the relaxed words he had just spoken. His jaw and forehead were contorted in anger and rage.
I will have my revenge on Artaxerxes and that traitor Tissaphernes. One by one, they shall fall at my feet, and then it will be time for the Terrans, time for them to pay for their mistakes.
The Eternal Fortress (Star Legions Book 6) Page 26
