Armageddon?? (104 page)

“Caesar
loves radios Sir.” Kim had finished taking her orders from Caesar. “He’s
crossing the Styx now, his force will swing through 90 degrees, then advance
with the wall on one flank and the river on the other, rolling up the enemy
line. He wants 2 PARA to concentrate its fire, especially the artillery, on the
baldricks ahead of him so they don’t get a chance to form up. Baldrick warfare
depends on rigid formations, so if they can’t form up, they’ll be destroyed.”

Jackson
nodded and gave the necessary orders over the radio. The artillery and mortar
fire shifted, concentrating on the baldricks who had survived the cluster
bombs. By the time he had his orders issued, Caesar had his legions across the
river and had executed his change of front. Jackson watched fascinated, knowing
he was the first living human to watch demons fighting demons. The front rank
of Caesar’s legions fired their tridents at the disorganized mass in front of
them, then dropped to one knee to recharge. The next rank passed through them,
fired, and dropped as well, followed by the third and fourth ranks. The effect
was a constant ripple of fire that ground into the baldrick ranks. The fire
from 2 PARA completed the job and in front of him, Jackson saw the force that
had threatened Free Hell dissolving into chaos.

“How
did he do it Lieutenant?”

“He
took my DVD player Sir. And disks we got last night of the fighting along the
Phlegethon. He just told Plomniferasticas that he could be with us, then showed
him film of the gas attack on the harpies and the Russian tanks smashing Beelzebub’s
right wing. Or he could be against us and then he showed him the film of the
battlefield, carpeted with layers of dead baldricks, mile after mile of them.
Baldricks aren’t fools Sir, Plomniferasticas knew he couldn’t win against us so
he changed sides.”

“But
we couldn’t have stopped him. Not with them as well.”

“I
know that Sir, you know that, Caesar knew that. Plomniferasticas didn’t know
that. To him we are the Lords of War, unbeatable. We even blew up Satan’s
palace, we didn’t get Satan himself by the way. Plomniferasticas isn’t afraid
of Satan any more sir, but he’s mortally afraid of us. Oh, by the way, the army
in front of us is commanded by one Xisorixus. Another Lieutenant of Asmodeus
left adrift when the Grand Duke was killed. His army was basically Asmodeus’s
portion of the sixth ring garrison plus odds and ends he scraped up. Not real
legions at all. Plomniferasticas has real legions. Take a look.”

Jackson
did as he was told. Across the river, Xisorixus’s army was collapsing, Large
portions were throwing down their arms, the rest were being driven into small
groups and cut down. At the forefront of the advancing legions was a single
figure in polished bronze armor. Jackson didn’t need to be told that was
Caesar. He was directing the troops, sending groups forward, navigating the
advance so that it would do the maximum damage possible.

Kim’s
radio crackled again. She listened and then smiled. “Cease fire Sir. Xisorixus
has just been taken prisoner. Its all over. He’s quite a man isn’t he?”

Jackson
looked sharply at Kim. She was smiling gently and there had been a lot more
than just professional respect in her voice.

Chapter
Seventy Two

Four
Leagues West of Belial’s Stronghold, Tartaruan Range, Northern Region of Hell

Memnon
settled back and closed his eyes. He was almost gray with exhaustion but he’d
made it up and found a good place to hide. One concealed from Belial’s
stronghold yet with good observation points near to it. Now, all he had to do
was to make contact.

Hello,
humans. Anybody can answer? This is Memnon speaking.

Memnon?
Where are you? Is anything wrong.

Memnon
stirred with pleasure, it was the human female with the rich mind-voice that
sounded like water running over stones. The one who had praised his earlier
efforts. “Nothing wrong, I just wished to report that I have reached Belial’s
stronghold. I am four leagues west of it now and ready to receive the
humans.[/i]

There
was a startled silence at the other end. Wow. You must have moved very fast.
Well done Memnon. You wait until I tell the Generals this, they’ll want to give
you a medal or something. How are your wings?

Memnon
was happy, at hearing praise again, and at the fact one of his masters cared
about his health. They ache but they will be better with rest. I had to get
here fast so I could arrive when the light dimmed. Nobody will have seen me
come.”

That’s
great. I’ll get word that you’re in place out, we’ll open a portal to you soon.

Memnon
relaxed back on his rock and got ready to doze. His wings hurt and he was
hungry but he didn’t care.

Recreational
Hall, Camp Hell-Alpha, Hell

“McElroy?
McElroy?”

“Here,
Sir.” The Special Forces Lieutenant looked a bit harassed; he’d been told to
find the dead sergeant quickly and it had taken longer than he had expected.
And in any case, he felt awkward speaking to somebody who was dead. It was
something a lot of people were going to find took a lot of getting used to.

“Get
your team together. Quickly, the mission is a go. Get your kit as well, we’ll be
gating you to Earth and then to your operational location. Be at the portal hut
in twenty minutes.”

“Very
good Sir.” McElroy saluted, mentally debating whether he could get away with
saluting with the wrong hand and explaining it as being one of the curious
effects of being dead. Not worth trying, he decided. Not now at any rate. The
Lieutenant, now definitely relieved, vanished in the direction of the command
hut.

“Cassidy,
DeVanzo and Walsch. Get the rest of the team together, we’re ruling out. Mikkelson,
get a work detail, draw our gear and get it over to the portal hut. Let’s roll
guys, we’re on our way.”

McElroy,
turned and headed for the door, almost bumping into a figure as he went. He
stopped for a second, hardly recognizing the man in the red-mottled BDUs. “Hey,
Aeneas, how goes things?”

“Not
fit work for a man. Teaching scholars about what really went on in Sparta and
Thermopylae. One of them insulted Queen Gorgo and when I disciplined him, there
was much trouble over that.”

McElroy
was fascinated. “Disciplined him? How?”

“He
wrote lies about our Queen. So I broke every bone in his writing hand. I
thought it was only just but the others were most displeased with me. I wish I
was going with you and the rest of the gang.”

“I
wish you and Ori were coming too but the brass says otherwise. This is a
modern-soldier job. Where is Ori by the way?”

“Teaching
some Japanese about the way of life in his era.” Aeneas shook his head. “The
ideas you people have are so strange, when they speak of us it is like we see
ourselves in a mirror coated with mist. The form is there, but the details….
Anyway, take care my friend. I will tell Ori that you remembered him. And kill
baldricks.”

McElroy
left and ran over to his quarters, picking up the bankroll he had won at poker
over the last few days. One thing that didn’t change was the laws of chance and
the fact that people couldn’t understand the mathematics of odds. He had a nice
roll of bills for his family, enough to keep them going anyway.

By
the time he got to the portal hut, his team was assembled, eight modern
soldiers, all dead, none more than twenty years ago. All loaded down with the
electronics gear for the mission.

“Ready
to go everybody? You know the drill, spot Belial’s fortress, then set up the
navigation beacon and wait for the B-1s. No fighting, no hunting, no shooting
except if we get discovered.”

There
was a series of nod, then a pasty faced, sulky-looking man settled back on the
portal generation couch. There was a quick hum and the familiar black ellipse
opened up.

“That’s
quick.” McElroy was impressed.

“Our
gear’s a lot better than the early versions, and its easy to push a portal
through from this side. You wait, tomorrow we’re opening up a portal big enough
to bring a carrier through.” The technical sergeant grinned. “I’ve even heard
that Enterprise is being fitted to generate her own portals. Through you go
Top.”

McElroy
stepped through the ellipse and found himself in the hangar. Once again, a few
families were there to greet the relatives they’d never thought they would see
again. McElroy found his brother and slipped him the roll of cash. A few hugs
and back-slaps later, he was on his way back. An Indian woman in a royal blue
sari was taking to the technical operators.

“Excuse
me, you must be Indira Singh. I’m Tucker McElroy. I’m sorry to trouble you, but
do you know how kitten is?”

“It
is no trouble Tucker. kitten is doing well, she had her last operation three
days ago and is recovering properly in the best hospital money can buy. She has
many visitors, she is something of a hero for the way she held the portals open
by herself while other sensitives were being located. She is much honored.”

“Operation?
Nobody told us she was sick as well as suffering from keeping the portals open.
What was the matter with her?”

“Oh
she was not ill, but she had to complete her gender reassignment surgery.
Because of her efforts, the governments picked up the charges to make sure she
had the very best.” Singh looked at the shock on McElroys’s face. “You did not
know that kitten was a trans-sexual?”

“No.”
McElroy was aghast. In his pocket was a long letter he had written to kitten,
expressing his gratitude for all she had gone through on his behalf. Then to
find out she was a……… McElroy stopped himself, hard. She still had gone through
all that hadn’t she, still suffered so the people she was supporting in hell
could get the tools they needed to stay free and out of torment. How dare he
criticize her when she’d done all that? Inbred prejudice and irrational bigotry
warred with McElroy’s reason and sense of justice. Reason and justice won out
and he reached into a pocket. “Indira, could you see kitten gets this please.
And send her our love, that’s from all of us. Tell her we’ll never forget what
she did for us and we hope we’ll see her again but if we don’t, we hope she’ll
be very happy. And tell her she won’t have to worry about going to hell any
more because she’ll have lots of friends there ready to look after her.”

His
team assembled, McElroy looked around. Singh was already on the portal opening
couch, searching for Memnon’s mind. She found it and locked on. Then she
started to shudder as the electronic equipment opened up the portal. McElroy
stepped through and found himself back in Hell, but in a vastly different Hell
from his previous experience. The mountains were stark, mostly volcanic, but the
valleys between them were covered with vegetation, green and purple. It was
warm and relatively pleasant, even the choking dust of Hell was less pronounced
here. In front of him, the hulking black shape of Memnon was looking at him
curiously.

“Sergeant
(deceased) Tucker McElroy. We’ll take over the surveillance from here. You are
Memnon aren’t you?”

“I
am.” Memnon was amused by the way the question had come last. Humans were so
confident their machines would work. “I must brief you on this area and where are
the things you seek. Then I must fly back to Dysprosium.”

“Why
don’t you portal back? We can open a gate easily enough. Just rest up until the
next scheduled contact and then we’ll gate you back. No need to work harder
than you have to.”

Memnon
thought it over. He’d assumed he would have to fly back but the human was
right. There was no need to, not now. The humans had a staging point near
Belial’s fortress, why should he have to fly?

The
Collegium of Fornessa, City of Dis, Hell

“You
have heard the fate of Beelzebub?” Deumos sat elegantly in the luxurious seat
she had brought with her.

“That
he had been defeated, yes.”

“Not
defeated. Killed. In an attack by human aircraft. They shot him with their
cannon and blew him up with their missiles. He died like an orc, sniveling and
weak.”

Dagon
looked around at the decaying building that housed the meeting. He needed time
to think over the news that Beelzebub had followed Asmodeus into the void.
Followed him and all the others. The ranks of the Hell aristocracy had been
thinned in a way none could remember. Not even the Great Celestial War had
caused carnage like this. So he decided to stall for that time. “Why do we have
to meet here? In this disgusting place overrun with orcs?”

Deumos
recognized the stall for what it was and knew she had shocked the Great Duke.
Time to answer a question with a question. “And where is Satan?”

“He
moves from place to place, hiding from the humans and their aircraft. Never
stays in the same place long for fear of them finding him and sending their
bombers after him.”

“Satan
fears the humans. Yet he asks us to fight them while he runs and hides.”

“Lady,
those words are treasonous.”