Black Legion: 05 - Sea of Fire

by Michael G. Thomas

  Glaucon and Roxana were busy tending to the wounded, but Tamara had ignored them, and instead walked to the side of Lady Artemas. As Xenophon finished his rebuke, a single Laconian, a big man of almost two meters in height, swung his left arm to swipe Artemas in the face. Her reaction was incredible, perhaps better than any Terran in the fleet. Her shoulder lowered and her head twisted to miss the strike by the tiniest of a fraction. The man staggered past and directly into the path of Tamara.

  “Big mistake,” she snarled.

  Ducking under his arms, she kicked into the back of his leading leg and sent him crashing to the floor. Another of the Laconians came in with his blade ready and his carbine activated, but Komes Artemis arrived and blocked his path to her. He looked back to Chirisophus.

  “Our troops are securing the outlaying sections of the outpost. The fight is over, Strategos.”

  He then glanced at Xenophon and shook his head ever so gently.

  “Good work, Komes,” said Chirisophus.

  He then looked to Xenophon.

  “Now, what was it you were saying?”

  The man’s voice had changed, and some of the rage had already subsided. Even so, there was still a fire in his eyes, and Xenophon knew him well enough to know it would take little for the Strategos to turn on him.

  “We didn’t need to do this.”

  The Strategos smiled.

  “There is little we need to do. I agree with your plan to avoid the Core Worlds. A full confrontation with the entire Imperial Navy is a fight that even we cannot win. But that is as far as your advice goes, Xenophon.”

  He extended his right arm and grasped Xenophon’s shoulder, pinning him in place.

  “We don’t have the luxury of time to negotiate with these...savages.”

  He looked down at the dozens of bodies.

  “We will take what we need and push on. The Carduchians are primitives, and when word gets out what happened here...Well, they will..”

  “Avoid us at every chance they get,” suggested Artemas.

  Chirisophus threw her a withering stare.

  “Then that will leave every outpost from here to the Hayastan Satrapy open to us.”

  Xenophon shook his head.

  “I warned you. The Carduchians will not melt away.”

  Chirisophus nodded as a pair of his soldiers dragged a Carduchian male toward him. The younger of the two soldiers spoke first.

  “This is the provisional Sarvan of the outpost.”

  He threw the terrified Carduchian at the feet of the Strategos. Even as this little drama unfolded, there were scores of stratiotes carrying off crates and supplies to the landing pads. Xenophon watched as they looted the place of anything of worth.

  “This outpost will be a reminder to all of your people. Either you give us what we need peacefully, or we will raze your facilities and take all of your assets.”

  He looked down at the trembling figure and then laughed.

  “Xenophon, you wasted your time here. They are barbarians, and they will fetch us a good price when we reach home.”

  He then gave a quick hand gesture. The young Laconian officer pulled the Carduchian to his feet and dragged him off in the direction of the rest of the loot. He then smiled at the sight of a dozen or more female prisoners being marched off to the ships in chains.

  “I’d say this might make our trip worthwhile after all.”

  He then looked at Xenophon.

  “I suggest you and your entourage return to the fleet. We will leave as soon as the fleet is resupplied. That should take a day, no more.”

  “And you plan on taking these slaves? They are more mouths to feed, and we need everything we have to make it home.”

  Chirisophus called over to one of his men and passed on a series of orders before bothering to look back at Xenophon.

  “Yes, I plan on taking slaves at every chance we get. This expedition cost us a lot of money, and I mean a lot. I will not return home empty handed, with nothing but damaged ships and dead soldiers. The strongest will work in Laconian mines, the rest...”

  He looked at the tail end of the column of Carduchian females.

  “We can always find a use for the softer ones.”

  “And the rest? The older, infirm, the children?”

  Chirisophus shook his head and walked away from the scene of the battle. He looked back and laughed.

  “They will go to the slavers.”

  Xenophon was left with his friends and the small group of Arcadians. Roxana had finished attending one of the wounded men, and his comrade was carrying him away. She moved closer, with Glaucon right at her side.

  “This was a debacle.”

  Glaucon laughed.

  “As if there was any doubt.”

  A single Carduchian moved off to the side, but the blast from a Doru rifle ended his life, as surely as any other weapon. Xenophon looked at his comrades, but as his eyes scanned the open space, he stopped at the still open doors of the elevator that led up into the structure.

  “Follow me.”

  He made it to the doors before they even realized where he was going. All five of them entered the shimmering chamber, and the doors whisked shut without making a single sound. There were no buttons inside, nothing at all, just bare, gleaming metal.

  “Great, now what?” Glaucon asked.

  With a gentle shudder, they began to move. It took less than ten seconds to make it to the elevator’s destination. The door hissed open, and ahead of them was a large hexagon room that ran around the vertical elevator shaft in a wide ring. The outside was fully transparent and gave a perfect view of the outside of the outpost and the armada of ships nearby. Tamara stepped out first, moved to the right, and then stopped. She pointed at the circular wall running around the shaft.

  “You need to see this.”

  Artemas and Glaucon were next out and looked at the imagery. A single large screen ran around the shaft with continually updating information on the facility. Diagrams of its layout were mixed with logs of ships and even the location of people. Xenophon also stopped to look at the imagery.

  “I don’t understand the text, but the images are pretty clear. This isn’t just the security station, is it?”

  Lady Artemas brushed passed him and pointed at one particular section.

  “My Carduchian is poor, but I recognize this part. It is a communications network between outposts.”

  Xenophon licked his lip as she spoke.

  “Communication? So the other sites will know what has happened?”

  Artemas raised an eyebrow and moved further along, looking carefully at the data. It took nearly a minute until she stopped by a series of automatically updating lists. She carefully slid her hands over the imagery, and it scrolled back.

  “This is a public log. It goes back six hours.”

  Artemas then pointed at one part in particular.

  “This word is Terran, and this one is distress.”

  Roxana turned from the data and to the single window running all around the ring and giving such a fantastic view. A few Median transports were moving into a docking area, and the damaged dome remained abandoned and derelict.

  “So this is how these people will remember us? As the monsters that assaulted an already damaged outpost, and then looted it for all it was worth?”

  Lady Artemas said something in her own tongue and then repeated it.

  “This is much worse. The stamp on this data is from the Core Worlds.”

  “Imperial?” Roxana asked.

  Artemas shook her head.

  “No, this is a regional code, not from Imperial High Command. I have seen it before, though. It is from an operative, but one with Imperial backing, and it has been sent via a coded courier out of this territory.”

  All of them were now looking at her suspiciously.

  “To whom?”

  “The Satrap of Hayastan.”

  “Tirbazus,” said Xenophon through clenched teeth.


  * * *

  Terran Titan ‘Valediction’, Outpost Iraj, Carduchian Wilderness

  Xenophon waited along with Dukas Xenias as the commanders of each ship contingent filed out of the Great Hall. The battle was barely worthy of its name, yet after the trials and tribulations of the last few engagements, Chirisophus was milking the event for all it was worth. One man received double pay for capturing a valuable commodities trader, while another had shot down an escaping fighter pod. The speeches and awards had dragged on for nearly two hours. At the same time the dromons of the fleet continued the looting of the outpost.

  “Finally,” said Chirisophus.

  He was out of his armor now, relaxed and charming, but none of that had erased the memories of what Xenophon had witnessed on Iraj. He walked down from his raised platform and stopped in front of his two commanders. He reached out and brought his arms down onto the two men as though they were his greatest comrades.

  “My Topoteretes.”

  Xenophon opened his mouth, but Chirisophus lifted his hand to silence him.

  “I know you do not agree with my approach to Iraj, but that is behind us now. I am more interested in the data that your team extracted from the security station.”

  Xenophon indicated for Artemas to approach. She placed a unit on the large table and tapped it. A model of the massive asteroid belt appeared. Gray sections indicated large segments filled with debris.

  “This is the Carduchian Wilderness.”

  She then pointed to a single spot near one side.

  “This is Iraj, the border outpost and the largest in this sector.”

  With a subtle movement, dozens more outposts lit up at every conceivable point through the Wilderness.

  “These are the other outposts with a size large enough to support more than ten ships.”

  Chirisophus studied the imagery with confusion showing on his face. He looked a little while longer and then to Xenophon and Xenias.

  “I understood you had actual intelligence taken from the enemy? This is a map. All it does is confirm there are plentiful support locations for the fleet. I assume from the dour expression on your faces that this isn’t the case.”

  Xenophon pointed to the open sector of space on the opposite side of the vast area of debris.

  “Outpost Iraj received an open message from an operative with Imperial support. The message was sent through the Wilderness and direct to Tirbazus, out in the Hayastan Satrapy. Our next destination and an area we cannot bypass.”

  Xenophon gave the nod and almost all of the dots vanished.

  Since our arrival, a signal has been sent to each of these positions, and they are no longer communicating with Iraj.”

  Chirisophus looked confused.

  “So?”

  Dukas Xenias, who had been silent until now, pointed at their destination.

  “Our attack forced them to send out an alert or signal. Either they were already communicating with this entity, or our actions forced them to act. In either case, they have now gone dark. Either they’ve shutdown, or they are evacuating.”

  Chirisophus looked back at the map from left to right, tracking the route he knew from memory.

  “But if they are abandoning these outposts, we will have no route through to reach Hayastan.”

  Artemas said something in her own tongue; something clearly designed to offend. Chirisophus had no idea, but Xenophon picked out enough words that he had heard before and tried hard not to laugh. Xenias noticed his amusement and also the fact that their Strategos had seen it, too. He attempted to bring the subject back into focus, knowing only too well the mood of the Laconian.

  “We need Carduchian guides to help us through the deadliest parts of this territory. More importantly, there is little chance of breaching the border between the two territories without local knowledge.”

  “The Sea of Fire,” added Artemas.

  Chirisophus’ lip trembled at the mention of the border region. It wasn’t fear, no Laconian would ever suffer from such a trait, but it was at the very least trepidation. Even among the Terrans, it was known as a place best avoided. He leaned back and looked to Xenias and Xenophon. He lifted his hand and made a dismiss gesture.

  “The rest of you can leave.”

  One by one each of them left until only Artemas remained with the trio. Chirisophus looked at her with impatience.

  “That includes you, Lady Artemas. I wish to speak with my Topoteretes.”

  Artemas began to speak, but his booming voice drowned her out.

  “In private!”

  Xenophon gave her a nod, and then the Great Hall was silent. As the door shut, the expression on the Strategos transformed. He changed from looking just a little annoyed to something bordering on rage.

  “How dare you both defy me? This operation is under my command, and the two of you are my deputy commanders.”

  He stepped closer to Xenophon. His hands waving about as he spoke, immediately unsettling him.

  “I decided to capture this site, and instead you stopped my advance and allowed them time to prepare their defenses.”

  He then looked to Xenias.

  “By your own admission, they were able to contact their comrades, and perhaps even this Imperial operative.”

  His eyes shifted back to Xenophon.

  “All because you gave them the time to do this and demonstrated that we were weak.”

  He shook his head and smiled, as though he’d just understood some great secret.

  “From now on, there will be no negotiation in Carduchia, or anywhere else. We will follow a direct course to the next two major outposts and then on to the border.”

  “And how will we refuel and resupply? The fleet doesn’t have the fuel to make the last three jumps.”

  Chirisophus moved closer to Xenias, his lower lip trembling with barely controlled rage. There was no love between the two men, and even though Chirisophus was nominally in charge of the fleet, he was technically the equal of Xenias.

  “I will not take advice from a man that lost his Titan, or to a man that thinks diplomacy and other distractions to be more important than the Legion.”

  He looked to the doorway. The implication was as clear as his tone.

  “That creature has no place in this fleet. We are Terrans, and the Medes have proven themselves...unreliable at every stage. I would not be surprised if she is the one that has been feeding information...”

  Xenophon moved his hand to his flank where his traditional, short kopis blade was slung.

  “Watch your mouth, Strategos. Lady Artemas is the only one that can get us out of this mess. Or do you want to navigate us through the Wilderness yourself?”

  He nodded to the starmap that was still activated. Chirisophus walked toward it and indicated a number of points.

  “It’s not difficult. We plot jumps to the next two outposts, and then a final jump to the border.”

  Xenias sighed.

  “Then you have killed us all with your rank stupidity.”

  Chirisophus looked back at him, his eyes positively glowing with anger.

  “What did you say?”

  “He’s right,” added Xenophon, “Lady Artemas has explained this part of the Empire to me in detail. Assuming the outposts are still supplied and not deserted because of our attack, we still have to reach them.”

  Chirisophus looked confused.

  “We just plot a course and jump. How difficult is that?”

  “Xenophon rubbed his eyes with frustration.

  “The asteroid and debris fields are unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”

  He pointed to the walls of the chamber.

  “Just this area alone is nothing compared to the deep core of Carduchia. Lady Artemas says there are sections where not even a Titan can fit without maneuvering under conventional engines. FTL drives could put us in the middle of a rock.”

  Chirisophus licked the side of his mouth and considered what he had heard. Then he grinned
as though they’d just shared some great story.

  “Very well. Get her in here now, and let’s chart the first jump. I want to be at the next outpost and loading up on supplies within thirty-six hours.”

  Xenophon looked to Xenias who gave a barely perceivable nod. He then looked back to Chirisophus.

  “Very well.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Light Cruiser ‘Antaeus’, Terran Rearguard, Carduchian Wilderness

  The view of the fleet never ceased to impress Xenophon. Any ship, even one as small as a frigate was still a wonder of science and technology. The ability to survive and travel in space was one of the great advancers made by the Terrans. He recalled the history books he’d read where vast metal ships had plied the trade routes in the past, but across water, not space. He looked out at the ship and smiled.

  “What is it?” Roxana asked.

  “Could you ever have imagined a fleet like this one?”

  She looked back at the view and wondered quite how deep the question really was. Sure, she had never imagined such numbers so far into Median territory. But she had also never expected to be in a fleet where the number of alien vessels now almost matched the number of Terran ships. Even worse, the people within the fleet were some of the most irksome and troublesome warriors she had ever met.

  “I really don’t think I could have,” she answered quietly.

  Even after multiple setbacks and pitched space battles, the fleet still looked impressive. Many of the warships had been crippled or lost in the campaign, but the manpower losses were still modest in comparison to the struggles they had been through. For every ship lost, there was at least one captured ship to replace it, and the longer the journey home took, the greater the change in the fleet’s disposition. As before, the wide variety of ships was grouped around the three mighty Titans, the most powerful vessels known to have ever been built. The floating cities were a testament to the skill and ingenuity of Terran shipbuilders. Even so, the remaining three was a constant reminder of the loss of Olympia many weeks earlier.