“To what end? A hole won’t bring it down.”
“Not just a hole, I can bring down a fifty metre wide section, knock out the rockets and give us time to land the dromons.”
Dekarchos Maxentius thought about it for no more than two or three seconds then nodded in agreement. Xenophon smiled, surprised at being given the chance to get them out of the situation.
“Give me half the squad and two generators, and I’ll keep them busy on that wall.”
The Dekarchos looked at him in amusement but could tell the young man had a plan, and at the rate they were losing men, anything was worth a try. He looked around him, checking on the gear and immediately picked out a dead soldier with a shield pack on the ground.
“Okay, Xenophon, whatever you’re going to do. Do it fast!”
He waved to Glaucon who was forced to crawl along the ground to reach him.
“Yeah?”
“I need you, Tamara, Roxana, Jack and one more to come with me to the wall.”
Dekarchos Maxentius leaned in close.
“Count me in, you can take this one, Komes.”
Xenophon almost smiled at the joke, but to him it felt like the greatest compliment a commander could give to one of his men.
“Okay, grab all the plasma weapons you can find and two shield generators. Meet me there, behind that dip,” he said, pointing off to the left where the ridge dropped a little in height. It was also the closest point between the position held by the Night Blades and the base being held by the enemy.
They split up, with all of them keeping down as low as possible. The gun battle continued along the ridge with streaks of gun and rocket fire moving back from both sides. It was tempting to join in, but Xenophon knew they could do little to alter the outcome of the battle. What they needed was to silence those heavy weapons to give the rest of the spatharii an opportunity to land in the open space. Tamara and Jack appeared, both already filthy and dishevelled from the dirt and muck on the ground. Tamar lifted up a plasma cannon, and its large size dwarfed her small frame. Jack, on the other hand, dragged one of the shield generator units and dumped it next to Xenophon.
“Good, that’s a start. Where are the rest?” he asked, looking out for his friends.
Maxentius arrived with no extra weapons, but he did carry two large magazines for the plasma cannon.
“Might come in handy,” he said with a grimace.
“Yes, that is perfect, the more the better.”
Roxana and Glaucon appeared behind. They dragged the body of one of their soldiers, his generator kit still strapped to his body. They rolled him alongside the group, much to the surprise of Xenophon.
“Why not just remove the generator?” he asked.
Roxana rolled the man over to show his front. He was carrying a webbing belt with four distinct pouches. Roxana reached down and opened the nearest. From inside she removed a small metal device with a glowing blue rim. Maxentius moved closer to examine the items. Overhead, a pair of Laconian fighters screamed past them and fired two streams of cannon rounds at the wall. Several Mulacs were blasted apart, but the defences remained strong. As the craft pulled away, a guided missile, as well as scores of tracer rounds closely followed them from the Mulac rifles and heavy weapons. Maxentius shook his head and looked back down at the small orbs.
“Plasma grenades? Where did he get those?”
“We’re too far away to use them though, aren’t we?” asked Jack.
Xenophon indicated for them to look at the wall. Flickers of light ran along the to from the muzzles of the dozens of weapons still blasting away at the Night Blades. His voice sounded almost calm through their communications gear as he explained his plan to them.
“The grenades, they could be useful, but not yet. Okay, here’s my plan. We will move when the next fighter attack starts. Jack and Tamara move to the front and carry the shield generators. The rest of the group will follow them closely behind, so the shields protect us. We rush the open ground to the wall, and I’ll do the rest.”
Glaucon lifted the plasma cannon and slid in a new magazine. The neon-blue ready light blinked along its side. He looked down to the weapons and equipment they had scavenged.
“I don’t understand. Those grenades won’t do much, even at that range.”
Dekarchos Maxentius placed his hand on Glaucon’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, I think I have an idea about his plan, let’s do this.”
They stayed low and watched the wall, waiting for the moment. The spatharii that had landed earlier were making slow progress, but at a distance of fifty metres, they had been halted by concentrated rocket fire. Not even the shields could protect them completely from such a continuous bombardment. They split into several small groups and joined the Night Blades amongst the rocks and cover. Xenophon looked up at the fortified Citadel. It was clear that on the planet this single structure was the most important location, possibly even the most populated. The short briefing on the flight down had explained that Cappadocia was hit frequently by heavy dust storms, rendering much of the planet uninhabitable on the surface. The fortress was built around a formation of five peaks that provided a natural defence against the elements.
“Here they come!” called out Jack.
Behind them, the two fighters were moving in for another strafing run.
“Now!” shouted Xenophon.
The six warriors jumped down from their position with Jack and Tamara at the front. The shield generators were heavy, but between them they were able to keep moving forward with the shimmering shields in front. As the rest of the group huddled in close, they gave the impression of an ancient mantlet being pushed up to a castle wall. Pulse fire bounced harmlessly from them as they moved closer.
“This is your plan?” shouted Glaucon, irritated at the constant patter of gunfire hitting the generator.
“Just keep moving. We need to get close to the walls,” answered Xenophon.
Gods, I hope this works, he thought nervously.
They were making good progress and reached the halfway mark when the Mulacs must have spotted them. A rocket hit the ground nearby and sent a shower of rock and metal at the flanks of the group. Their armour held, but the impact knocked them all to the ground, exposing them to pulse weapon fire. Maxentius was struck twice in the leg, and Glaucon used his great strength to drag him under the protection of the two shields. The wounded Dekarchos reached up and grabbed Xenophon’s arm.
“You have to keep moving. We’re sitting ducks out here. You’re in charge now, so move it!”
The group tried to continue, but more weapons fire continued to strike around them. Another rocket arced in, and this time heading for their left flank.
“Watch out!” cried Xenophon, but there was nothing they could do. The smoke trail seemed to travel in slow motion as it flew down. Xenophon tensed, waiting for the pain of the strike, but instead three armoured men blocked his view.
Spatharii? he said to himself.
More shields lit up around them as the survivors of the heavy infantry massed on their left to provide extra protection. More gunfire blasted them, but for now they had the protection they needed to push forward. In seconds, they pushed ahead and were even able to drag the wounded Dekarchos into cover behind one of the hundreds of boulders littering the ground. Once at the base of the wall, Xenophon grabbed the plasma cannon and aimed it at point blank range at the base.
“Keep clear!” he barked and then pulled the trigger. At this range, the weapon blew a metre-wide hole in the wall that travelled nearly half a metre inside.
“Tell me you’re not going to shoot your way inside?” asked Tamara, her patience starting to wear thin.
Xenophon ignored her and motioned for the rest of his team to hand over their gear. The spatharii continued providing protection, as well as picking off any Mulacs that leaned over the wall trying to hit the Terrans with their weapons.
“That’s it, and those grenades. Put them all here.”
Xenophon placed all the equipment inside the hole, as well as the spare magazines from the cannon. He then motioned for Glaucon to hand over the pulse cannon itself.
“What?” he asked, looking confused and little annoyed.
Xenophon reached out and grabbed the weapon.
