Black Legion: 04 - Last Stand (19 page)

The fools!

The thought of the democratic idealists drew a laugh from him that surprised the other officers on the deck. He waved them on, to continue the battle while he recalled the last days of Attica, prior to their defeat and occupation by Laconia.

Good days, indeed. And after my victory, this entire fleet will remember that a Laconian is the only real choice for survival...and victory!

It was strange, but these thoughts of old victories had completely distracted him from the momentous events occurring right under his nose. His smiling was halted by the report from Jeane Coxand, one that it seemed he had repeated now three times. The Kentarchos waited patiently alongside him.

 
“Strategos?” asked Kentarchos Broge Monsimm.

Chirisophus scowled, not liking the look he was receiving. The mere audacity of these officers suggesting he hadn’t been paying attention angered him more than the enemy he was supposed to be fighting. Two more officers overheard him before he forced himself to calm down.

“Report.”

Kentarchos Monsimm spoke first.

“Strategos, we are in the middle of the enemy formation, but we are taking damage.”

Jeane Coxand nodded smartly in agreement.

“We have breaches along the dorsal sections. The battleship is focussing fire on the damaged sections as we move past them.”

He looked at the VOB unit and quickly realised what had happened. Although the ship’s officers had full controls over their individual stations, he had no interest in yielding tactical control of the battle to anybody but himself. He had trusted the Titan to get them into the middle of the enemy vessels unscathed, yet even his Titan seemed to be letting him down. He shook his head angrily.

“Why must I do everything myself?”

He stormed over to the tactical officer’s station and pointed to an area of space slightly ahead of their ship. Jeane Coxand waited alongside him, waiting for the next barrage of complaints.

“Rotate and continue forward. Present our underside to them, but do not stop firing! You should be able to do this without my intervention.”

He used his hands to move a targeting grid along the flank of the enemy battleship. Even as he selected area, there were puffs of light as the flank mounted gun batteries continued to pound the Titan. Finally, he found the point he was looking for, the joint between the after section of the ship and the rearmost weapons battery. The mixture of his anger and new orders placated them, for now anyway, but it was also clear to them all that their new commander had plunged the Laconian division of the fleet into a dangerous position. The Zacynthian ships had now spread out, and although there was little chance of them claiming any degree of victory, they still had a very good chance of causing significant damage to the Titan and its escorts.

“Send the order to all Laconian ships to select this point as the primary target. They will fire heavy cutters on my command.”

Jeane Coxand nodded sharply and then sat back down at his console.

“Yes, Strategos.”

The Laconian wing was modest in size, but with the Titan leading the charge there was little the pitiful section of Zacynthian cruisers could do to stop them. Those that were able had already tried to reach the nav beacon and then jump out, but most were too heavily damaged to escape, and Chirisophus’ bloodlust was up. One cruiser had even tried to jump in the middle of the fight. As its engines powered up, their shields had dropped and a single volley cut through the armour, detonating the engines. The destruction of that ship had discouraged any others to join them.

Jeane Coxand sent the signal to the rest of the Laconian ships. In less than three minutes, they arrayed themselves ready for Chirisophus’ final manoeuvre. One by one the ships locked onto the battleship and powered up their weapons. Return fire struck the Laconians but caused only minor damage.

“They think they still have a chance,” he muttered quietly to himself.

The Laconian ships were now completely surrounded, yet every single one of them had their primary weapons trained onto just one of the Zacynthian ships. As the lights flashed green to indicate a target lock, Chirisophus lifted his hands up high in a dramatic gesture.

“These Zacynthians will pay for their betrayal!”

There was no response from the crew though, and that annoyed him far more than he would have expected. The Laconians were warriors, every one of them, and none would balk at death on the battlefield, but the cries and excitement coming from their new Strategos was at odds with their ethos. Thessalians or Arcadians might give themselves up to their urges in battle, but not these stoic warriors. Personal pride, ambition, and heroism came second to the military needs of the Legion. Chirisophus knew this, yet he was unable to understand what was happening.

“Strategos, an urgent message is coming in from Dukas Xenias,” said the auletes.

The mere thought of the Arcadian Dukas sent a pang of bitterness through his body.

That old fool. I have a battle, nay, a war to win!

Unlike Xenias, Strategos Chirisophus had taken his title as a given in the midst of the battle, and expected the rest of the Legion to follow his lead. Instead, only the Laconians had accepted his self-appointed position of Strategos. It was much worse than that though, especially to a Laconian’s ears. Not only had two thirds of the fleet sided with Xenias and his allies, but they had chosen to let an Arcadian Dukas lead, without even granting him the coveted Strategos. It was madness to him, and a decision that could cost many Terran lives.

It will be that damned Attican.

The more thought he gave to Xenias, the more he decided it was almost entirely due to the fact that Xenophon had allied himself with the old man. He could think of no other reason why so many of the Legion would choose him over a noble Laconian with a proven track record and the faith of Clearchus. It had to be down to the upstart junior officer that had seen the Strategos die.

All of this because he was in the right place at the right time.

He wanted to ignore the man, but the fight couldn’t be won just by his smaller contingent, certainly not before the others took heavy casualties. There was a part of him happy to see his competitor suffer, but that would also mean letting the thousands of other Terrans suffer too. There were small numbers of Laconians in the other units as well as old allies of his countrymen.

“Put him on the main screen.”

The face of the Dukas and Komes Sosis appeared right before him. The sight of the two together made him immediately suspicious. He assumed the Komes was now in league with Xenias and his Arcadians. It was a move that surprised him.

“I see you’ve found a new ship, Xenias. And Komes Sosis, always nice to see you.”

The mention of the other man’s title dripped with bitterness that only a fool would not hear. Xenias shook his head in irritation at the game. It mattered not a jot to him whether Sosis was a Komes, Dukas, or any other title right now.

“Chirisophus. This is turning into two separate battles; you of all people should know the dangers of splitting our forces. The Zacynthian ships are a diversion, nothing more. The bulk of their fleet is facing the entire Legion while you pursue one ship.”

That was a jibe, though Chirisophus couldn’t quite place the reference. He ignored everything Xenias had said after the mention of splitting the fleet.

What does he mean?

There was the glorious death at the Hot Gates where the Laconians and their allies, under the command of the Hero-King, Strategos Leonidas, but that was due to betrayal, not because they had split their forces. He thought back to the same period but could think of nothing more than the massive combined battles of Plataea, but even that affair had been down to confusion between the Atticans and the Laconians, and they had still been victorious over the Medes and their Terran mercenaries.

Ah, so he implies I am creating a problem such as Plataea. The idiot, he needs to learn his history a little better.

Chirisophus shook his head and then looked genuinely confused.

“You must be mistaken, Xenias. I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Xenias hissed in response, but Chirisophus continued to speak, drowning out the Arcadian in a barrage of words.

“Throughout this skirmish I have shown leadership at a time where we needed it most. Our numbers are finite, and we must fight and die as one. We must strike as a spearhead, directly into the heart of the enemy, quickly, powerfully, and decisively. Just as Clearchus would have done.”

Xenias lifted his hand to persuade him to stop.

“No, we do not have time for your ego and Laconian pride. The rest of the Legion has pinned the primary Median fleet. Their Carian warships are heavily engaged and troops are fighting boarding action on more than twenty of them.”

“So?” he replied.

Xenias raised an eyebrow at his question.

“A number of their ships are trying to move to the nav beacons to jump out. I need you to return to the fight and close the trap around them before they can escape. If we are to get home, we will need to demonstrate that any frontal assault on the Legion will result in failure.”

Chirisophus snorted in derision.

“If you had come with me, this fight would already be over. You split the fleet, and now you will face the consequences of your actions...Dukas.”

He looked to his officers on his own deck and considered the request. Kentarchos Broge Monsimm, the Titan’s commander, continued to manage the ship as they ploughed through the thin defensive screen of cruisers and moved in at point-blank range with the battleship. Chirisophus had almost forgotten about the attack he had planned. He looked back at the Dukas and smiled.

“One moment, Dukas, let me deal with this.”

He then turned his back on the Dukas, even as he started to speak. It was a great insult to any Terran, but to do it directly in the face of a chosen Dukas was tantamount to a physical attack.

“All ships, open fire.”

The order was calm and matter-of-fact, but the response was far from calm. A dozen voices repeated the order down from the Kybernetes and then to the tactical officer. The junior officers in control of their various batteries and gun stations then moved the orders down to the gunners. The response was devastating, and Chirisophus loved every minute of it.

Gods show them no mercy.

The heavy cutters were the most powerful weapons used by the Terrans. Though not immediately as deadly as plasma weapons, they were faster and applied continuous damage against their targets. With there being multiple breaches on the damaged battleship, it was easy for the cutters to work their way into the hull. The guns were already fully charged, and the initial volley struck the designated target like a raging torrent.

“By the Gods, this is beautiful!” he cried out without thinking.

The target area was no bigger than the size of a Terran fighter and easy to hit at this range, and with minimal changes in velocity. By the time the second cruiser had fired, the shields had already collapsed in this section. More ships opened fire as the cruisers and escorts used their main guns, and the Titan used its powerful cutters. Unlike the super-hot plasma projectiles from the other guns, the cutters were designed to burn through metal, flesh, and plastic in an instant. The outer plating tore off, and as quickly as the attack had started, the beams punched through and out through the other side of the ship.

“Beautiful,” said Chirisophus.

The beams continued to rip the ship apart until finally a series of explosions wracked its flanks. At first it looked like that was as far as the damage would go, but then one final blast vaporised half of the ship. When the blast cleared, there was nothing but three chunks of ship and an entire cloud of debris heading out in all directions.

“Strategos, sensors detect multiple escape pods launching away from us.”

Dukas Phalinus, you sly old dog.

He heard the words, but the implication didn’t get through to him for almost three full seconds. His attention was now firmly on the status of his rival and whether he might at that very moment be escaping from the heart of battle.

The shields!

He spun about and looked directly at Kentarchos Broge Monsimm who was effectively acting at his Kybernetes. The man was supposed to be a veteran commander of warships, yet he had allowed them to be positioned in such a way that they could be badly damaged by much weaker ships.