“Yes, sir,” Ahumm agreed. Then he thought about it and added. “It would be hard to line up an angle of attack when swinging around islands.”
***
The Qart Hadasht whip line headed directly at the Republic squadrons. Before reaching the ranks of warships, the Empire ships-of-war veered to starboard. Stacked ram to stern, they carved a giant arc until the Qart Hadasht ships surrounded the Republic vessels.
Periodically, one of the moving ships-of-war broke the circle and charged at a Republic ship. But like the stern to bow coverage of the Empire configuration, the densely packed Republic ships protected each other and prevented an attack.
On the third trip around the enemy warships, fleet Lieutenant Ahinadab noted the flaw in the Republic’s formation. With flags, he signaled his intention to the other Lieutenants. Return signals requested he circle twice more. Just enough time for the other Group leaders to position their ships-of-war for an assault of their own. Victory and personal glory were within grasps of the trio of fleet Lieutenants.
***
When his three Group leaders broke the circle and started attack runs, Admiral Hannibal Gisco shouted.
“No, no. Break off, break off,” he bellowed from the stern deck of the septireme. Although he could not tell how or why, he sensed that the three Republic ships rowing in front of their organized lines were traps.
Then like flies in a spiderweb, his three fleet Lieutenants were ensnarled.
“Captain Ahumm take us in to the center ship,” Gisco ordered a few moments later. “Ahinadab seems to be taking the worst of it.”
The Captain peered across the water. He disagreed with Hannibal for a couple of reasons. Taking the big ship-of-war into the center of a melee not only put the ship in danger but the Admiral as well. And young fleet Lieutenant Ahinadab had squads of Iberian heavy infantry on board. So, of the three Group leaders, Ahinadab was best equipped to fend off the Republic’s attack.
“Yes, Admiral,” Ahumm acknowledged. One could think disagreement, but in the end, a smart Captain did not argue with an Admiral. “First officer, roll sails and dip oars.”
***
Earlier on the Deimos’ Claw, the two Centurions rotated, taking in the sights of the circling Qart Hadasht ships-of-war and the compact formation of the Republic squadrons.
“We are hanging out here like an unguarded necklace around a fair woman’s throat at a gathering of cut-purses,” Flictus Savium complained. “And the bandits are circling, Centurion Sisera, literally circling.”
Flictus and Alerio continued to rotate while watching the Qart Hadasht ships-of-war travel around the Republic formation.
“Yes, sir, they appear to be orbiting,” Alerio confirmed. “But none has come forward to claim the prize.”
“Now I feel like a trophy for the winner of a chariot race,” Savium confessed. “Why don’t they make a move on us?”
“You are nervous, aren’t you?” Alerio inquired.
“I train to ram and sink the enemy. I work at being sure my crew delivers my bronze at the correct speed and at the proper angle,” Savium replied. “Casually rowing through Empire waters with my cūlus hanging out of my tunic is not soothing to the nerves.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Alerio pointed to a ship-of-war that nosed away from the circle and aimed its ram at Deimos’ Claw. “I believe we have our first customer.”
“How can you be so calm?” Savium demanded.
“Who said I was calm, ship’s Centurion,” Alerio told Savium. Then the weapons’ instructor called out. “Untie the corvus. Collect your grappling hooks. Marines. Legionaries. Sailors. It’s time you earn your Legion pay.”
Flictus Savium observed Centurion Sisera stroll down the length of the top deck. Even with the ram of a Qart Hadasht ship-of-war bearing down on them, Alerio paused to touch forearms with anyone needing the contact. The Death Caller’s personality displayed on Ostia beach seemed to be gone. Savium wondered what character would emerge for this situation.
As if in reply to the quandary, Alerio Sisera, in an off key, gravelly voice, screeched, “On this day of reckoning. Follow me to the fight unquestioning. Today, you will be tested, emerge supreme, or be bested.”
***
The bronze ram plowed water. Three hundred experienced oarsmen dug deep and powered the ship-of-war forward. Lieutenant Ahinadab and his navigators adjusted the heading for the perfect angle of attack. All the expertise and years of experience on the Empire ship was focused and aimed at the doomed Deimos’ Claw.
Flictus Savium wanted to angle away and readjust for his own angle of attack. Instead, he gritted his teeth, made fists with his hands, and braced for the killing blow that would rip a gash in his warship.
Chapter 35 – Day of Reckoning
“Get those top ropes off,” Alerio ordered. “Cut them if you must.”
A sailor, walking his hands up the sides of the near vertical boarding beam and using the bindings to get purchase for his feet, scampered up and loosened the final ties. Anchored by six Marines, the boarding ramp fell forward to the extent allowed by their ropes. Three more Marines used their shoulders to rotate the ramp until it leaned to the starboard.
“Steady. Steady,” Alerio coached. “Hold. Hold.”
The Qart Hadasht ship-of-war came at the Deimos’ Claw. Alerio could see the mercenaries on the deck and the ship’s officers and the navigators at the stern. Shifting back to the soldiers on the deck, he thought there was something familiar about them. But he didn’t have time to think and remember.
As the bronze rams of the two ships came abreast, he envisioned a spear thrown at a running wild pig. Leading the animal, the shaft flew out front and, if judged correctly, the pig ran into the spearhead.
“Drop the ramp,” Alerio shouted. “Drop the ramp.”
The six Marines released the ropes, ran forward, and shoved the corvus. While the beam fell and the top folded outward, Alerio slipped on a helmet then tightened a shield on his left arm.
The ship-of-war ran under the falling beam and the spike. Splitting the deck boards, the barb and boarding beam locked the two vessels together. Both ships jerked and the distance between them began to close.
While the starboard oars of the Deimos’ Claw were pulled inboard, only the fore section of the ship-of-war’s oars were pulled inside in anticipation of the ramming run. Crushed between the hulls, the mid-engine rowers of the Qart Hadasht ship suffered injuries when their oar handles rattled around like logs in a shaken bucket.
On the deck, a handful of soldiers, unprepared for the movement of the boarding ramp, were swept off their feet and crushed.
Infantrymen on both sides rushed to the rails. One side twirling grappling hooks on the ends of lines, prepared to throw them across. On the other side, mercenaries waited to cut the lines to prevent hauling the two ships together.
***
“On this day of reckoning. Follow me to the fight unquestioning,” Centurion Sisera sang while running along the still moving beam. Behind him, thirty Marines danced across the narrow corvus. “Today, you will be tested, emerge supreme, or be bested.”
“Today, we will be tested,” the Marines answered in full voice. “emerge supreme or be bested.”
Alerio planted his foot on the last strand of binding and pushed off the corvus ramp. Three mercenary soldiers rushing to prevent the boarding absorbed his body’s weight and flung him to the deck.
“Averruncus, help me,” Alerio cursed while rolling away from the shields.
Alerio’s plea to the God who Averts Calamity came after he recognized the mercenaries. He had faced Iberian heavy infantrymen at Agrigento and knew the units to be formidable opponents. The light armor and cut down shields of his Marines were designed for quick movements and fights with tribal mercenaries. The presence of the Iberians heightened the need to bring his Legionaries across. Alerio rolled twice before coming to his feet.
“The enemy’s blades are at your throat
Linking up with three Marines, Alerio pressed into the Iberians along the starboard side. Unfortunately, his fall had caused a delay. Several of the ropes for the grappling hooks had already been cut. If they were all severed, the ships would drift apart. And, his thirty Marines would be trapped on an enemy deck facing forty heavy infantrymen.
“Never break the Legionaries’ boast
As blood soaks the deck of the boat”
Republic shields smashed into infantry shields. To the delight of the Iberians, they stopped the charge. The Marines didn’t realize it in the moment due to their panic at the thought of failing in their mission of guarding the grappling hooks. But the halt was a gift from the Goddess Pietas.
Alerio stepped out with his right foot and, under the shields, hooked his heel behind an infantryman’s forward foot. Then in a cross step, Alerio drove his left knee into the Iberian’s knees. The pressure low on the legs upset his balance and the infantryman fell to the side, disrupting the formation.
“Today, you will be tested, emerge supreme, or be bested
Neptune’s depths are beckoning
On this day of reckoning”
Following Centurion Sisera’s training mantra of putting them on the ground and killing them, the Marines swarmed over the thin line of infantrymen.
“On this day of reckoning
The Empire menaces
Via the run
Amid the air”
Alerio charged over the falling infantrymen, bent into his shield, and plowed forward. Then, he almost stopped. There were no ranks behind the assault line. The bulk of the Iberian infantrymen were in a defensive formation at the stern of the Qart Hadasht ship-of-war.
Gathered there, the Iberians protected Ahinadab.
Pietas, the Goddess of Duty, guided the Iberian infantry officer to do his duty of guarding the fleet Lieutenant. Even if it meant leaving the deck clear for the Republic borders.
And Alerio sang.
“Via their boards
Amid their soldiers”
A few Qart Hadasht sailors remained at the rail sawing at the ropes with knives. The Marines cleared them from the starboard side.
“Thou my heartbeat be deafening
Today, they learn the threat is me”
New hooks caught, ropes went taut, and the ships drew together.
On the foredeck, pairs of Marines dropped down to the rower’s walk.
“Remain at your stations and live,” they announced. “Come to the top deck, join in the fighting, and you will surely die.”
Slaves forced to row the Empire ship-of-war, the Qart Hadasht oarsmen picked up water skins, raised them in salute, placed their feet up on beams, and relaxed. Their posture told the tale. Other than tending to their wounded, the rowers would not be joining the battle.
***
Fleet Lieutenant Ahinadab realized his mistake when thirty heavy infantrymen of the Legion stepped across the gulf and marched onto his vessel. In response, the Iberian infantry shifted from a defensive formation to an attack line.
“It looks like they do want to play, sir,” a Legion squad leader remarked.
“We’re pretty evenly matched,” Alerio replied. “I don’t like it. But it’s not like I can whistle up reinforcements.”
“We could cut this one loose,” a Legionary suggested. “Maybe fish around for one more lightly defended.”
Alerio glanced at the bow of the ship-of-war. Four Marines were rocking the corvus and the spike trying to remove it from the deck. He shook his head knowing the orders were to take more than one ship-of-war captive even while lashed to this one.
“This is the fight Zelos delivered to us,” Alerio countered by referencing to the God of Zeal. “And this is the battle we will fight.”
“Here we go,” the infantry Optio shouted. “Brace, brace.”
Bunched in the center of the deck, the knots of heavy infantrymen clashed. Big shields against big shields, the Iberians and Latians pushed while hacking and stabbing with short swords. Except the Iberian swords were heavier and worked slightly better between the shield walls. Two Legionaries fell back with deep cuts.
“Attrition is not our friend,” Alerio told a group of Marines.
The naval Legionaries stood behind the infantrymen waiting to move forward if necessary. From the looks of the fight, it might be sooner than later.
“This is the day of reckoning, Centurion Sisera,” a Marine reminded Alerio. “Waiting for our turn on a combat line is a land tactic. As you pointed out, often enough, we are Marines.”
“And we have limited time and resources to complete your tasks,” another Marine added. “Because in ship to ship fighting the only combat line is where two or more of our shields lock-in-place.”
“We can take them from the side,” a Marine Decanus observed. “On this day of reckoning. Follow me to the fight unquestioning.”
“Let’s go,” Alerio announced.
He pulled his gladius and sang.
“Today, you will be tested, emerge supreme, or be bested
The enemy’s blades are at your throat”
In five steps, Alerio cut around the end of the Iberian formation. A single line of linked shields presented a wall of wood and steel. The Iberian defensive wall should have been enough to deter an attack from the flank.
Alerio ran to the center shield. Parried a sword stab, then he raised his leg and kicked the infantry shield hard. Hard enough to stagger the Iberian and open narrow gaps between the adjourning shields. Alerio angled left and charged the gap.
“Salvation lays in your comrades’ hard post
Never break the Legionaries’ boast
As blood soaks the deck of the boat”
The side of the infantryman’s body bent to the shape of Alerio’s shield. Shoving the shield threw the Iberian off his line and stabbing the infantryman on right opened the gap wider. Alerio moved inside the enemy’s formation. Progress but, not healthy as three Iberian blades targeted the Legion officer.
“Today, you will be tested, emerge supreme, or be bested.”
Alerio blocked one blade and swung his hips to avoid another. Then a shield shifted in from the side and Alerio’s shield hung up on it. Leaving nothing but air between his chest and the tip of the third Iberian sword.
“Neptune’s depths are beckoning
On this day of reckoning”
The feeling resembled the collapsing walls of a dirt house caught in a mud slide. From over Alerio’s head, and on his left and right, Marines clawed their way into the Iberian formation.
“On this day of reckoning
One ship-of-war will fall
By my shield”
As they had been taught, the sea going Legionaries fought with blades, fists, elbows, knees, and feet. As if uncaged beasts, the Marines put surprised Iberians on the deck and killed them.
“With my blade
By my valor”
The crumbling of the interior of the formation stripped away support from the front rank. The Iberian line staggered. Through brutal training and days of learning coordinated attacks, the Legionaries knew how to capitalize on a weakened combat line.
“Legionaries, advance, advance,” the infantry Optio ordered.
From individual strikes and solo blocks, from dueling between adversaries across shield walls, the Legion line solidified.
“With my heart
For I am most threatening
Today, not my warship
On this day of reckoning”
The Legion shields slammed forward as if a single beam powered by a giant’s arm. Then the wall of leather covered hardwood withdrew, and a rank of steel flashed forward. Iberian infantrymen fell to the deck and the shields hammered forward again. Falling back, the mercenaries scrambled before reforming at the base of the stern deck. With their legs pressed against the steering platform, they fought back.
“The infantry can handle
it from here,” Alerio offered to his Marines. “We may get a rest if…”
From the fore deck of the Deimos’ Claw the voice of the Marine Sergeant called out.
“Steady. Steady. Hold. Hold,” the voice instructed. Then he cried. “Drop the ramp, Drop the ramp.”
Alerio didn’t order the Marines to follow. They turned as a group. Together they ran to the gap, jumped over the sea, and sprinted for the boarding beam and a second trapped Qart Hadasht ship-of-war.
***
Ship’s Centurion Flictus Savium split his attention between the fighting on the neighboring Empire vessel and the fate of the three Republic squadrons.
As feared, the Qart Hadasht ships were faster and better crewed. In open water, they should have divided the squadrons and quickly sunk all twenty-seven warships. But light ships required space to build up speed for their rams to work efficiently. In this battle, they did not have the room.
Three artificial islands, created by warships with corvus boarding ramps, broke the sea into segments. Weaving between and around the islands, the heavier Republic warships required shorter runs to damage the Empire’s ships-of-war. Further back in the Republic squadrons, more islands of captured ships were forming.
If evenly matched, the Republic Navy held an edge. Flictus Savium raised his eyes to the finger of land sticking out into the sea. From Milazzo, the rest of the Qart Hadasht fleet rowed out to join the battle of Mylae. The idea of parity vanished with the arrival of those vessels.
Then a voice broke through Flictus Savium’s worries about the fleet.
“Steady. Steady. Hold. Hold,” the voice instructed. Then the Marine NCO cried. “Drop the ramp, Drop the ramp.”
And while the Legionaries still fought on the first captured ship-of-war, the Marines on the corvus dropped the ramp onto the deck of a second.
Chapter 36 - Two Battles
The Marine Optio at the corvus held up his palms and, by extension, halted the squad of sea going Legionaries. It wasn’t that he feared crossing the beam even though it moved as the vessels closed the gap. His hesitation came from the mercenaries on the newly trapped ship-of-war.
Unjust Sacrifice Page 21
