Black Legion: 03 - Warlords of Cunaxa (28 page)

All I have to do now is to get Cyrus to calm down and wait!
He mused.

He sent a simple thought to his communications node and connected directly to his junior commanders. Each of the Dukas, including
Proxenus
,
Kratez
,
Sophaenetus the Arcadian
and
Sosis,
returned their current status and dispositions. Only Meno and Xenias were notable by their absence. Xenias was understandable. The last information he had was that the old Dukas had crash-landed inside the enemy compound and was trapped in a battle at the tower complex. His communications could have easily been damaged or jammed that close to the Emperor. After finally confirming their status, he turned his attention back to the primary battle zone around Cyrus. It was clear that although Cyrus had managed to bring enough of his troops to bear, he was having a hard time breaking through the outer defences. Meno had brought a number of troops, including some siege equipment, yet he was refusing contact. More ground troops from Xenias had arrived, and in that, he was thankful. Now in much smaller numbers, the Arcadians were, in his opinion, at least reliable and trustworthy. He was already regretting letting Meno and his Thessalians come on the operation. He instead connected directly to Cyrus.

“Lord Cyrus, I need a full report on your operation.”

“Clearchus?” came back a crackling voice, barely identifiable as being that of the Median commander. “When will you be here? I need protection for my flank.”

Clearchus shook his head angrily.

“Cyrus, please answer my question. What is your status?”

It became even harder to understand Cyrus, as gunfire and explosions seemed to drown out much of the sound. The helmets built-in filtering tools delayed the sound long enough to perform as much error checking and repair work as it could. It sent the butchered results to him a second later.

“Clearchus. Meno and his siege equipment are creating breaches, and more forces are already heavily engaged. On Meno’s advice, I will take the walls first.”

Clearchus sighed with relief.

Thank the Gods. Maybe Meno isn’t as much of an idiot as I thought.

“Lord Cyrus, it is imperative that you do not push any further. Secure the walls and await my arrival. My reconnaissance drones show he has formidable gun emplacements and additional troops within the compound. The main buildings are also very heavily shielded. It will need to be taken room by room with heavy infantry. This is a job for the spatharii. Understood?”

“Yes...yes!” answered Cyrus impatiently. “There is more, though. Tissaphernes has brought a large army, and it is heading for our right flank. I’ve despatched scouts, but they were eliminated just after sending their report. Scout drones show they are less than three kilometres from my position.”

Clearchus looked to the tactical overlay and noticed the movement off to the top. It was a region that was being guarded by a large contingent of six thousand automatons. There was no reason why he needed to get involved. At the very least, Cyrus’ forces should be able to hold them off.

The worst case is they would need help, but not yet.

Right now, he wanted to get his best troops into action before the enemy had time to react.

“That doesn’t matter, Cyrus. I will be on the ground in minutes, and we will take that wall. We’ll take care of Tissaphernes and his troops later.”

“No, you don’t understand. They have brought up machines from the robotic domains, vast machines, as well as thousands of troops and hundreds of vehicles and legions of Mulacs. Most of them were already in hiding. That’s why they are not showing on your overlays. Here, add this to your tactical data. It is the latest data from my forward units.”

Clearchus looked back to the overlay and tracked their progress. It appeared they were heading for a point that would split Cyrus off from the landing zones, but they were much further away than Cyrus was suggesting. The data attachment from Cyrus arrived, and he added it to the overlay. In an instant, the red colour that represented the enemy’s Northern forces increased to five times their size. Even more serious, there were a number of small units almost at the flank of the Citadel itself.

“Gods! How did this happen?” he muttered involuntarily.

If they succeed, the forces at the front will be trapped, and the Legion will be forced to defend the landing zones or risk being stuck here. I have to hold them back.

Clearchus selected the commanders on the overlay and sent tactical commands to them directly. It was efficient, and they each acknowledged the change of plan in seconds without the need for voice communications. He thought of Cyrus and his troops stuck outside the Citadel.

“Very well, Cyrus, maintain your current mission. Secure the walls and stabilise your flank. I have revised orders to the
Boeotia
ns, Arcadians and Megarans to assist you. They are bringing over four thousands Terrans to your aid.
Proxenus
, the commander of the Boeotian contingent will command them and help secure the outer section of the Citadel. He will take command of Meno and his forces upon his arrival.”

A missile exploded nearby and sent shards of red-hot steel into the left flank of the dromon. A small number of holes appeared but luckily, none of the ammunition was able to penetrate the metal skin. Clearchus glanced at the damage and turned his attention back to the warriors inside the dromon. Kleandridas turned away from the damage and back to Clearchus. He’d been following the conversation with interest, and he looked unimpressed.

“I’ve seen the reports from Cyrus. Can he take the walls without us? It will only be Proxenus and his combined forces trying to take the Citadel?”

Clearchus nodded but was stopped from speaking by the sound of a dromon exploding nearby. It had been packed with dozens of Laconian spatharii, men and women that Clearchus knew individually. His heart felt heavy, but as always, the battle had to come first. A fighter screamed past them with thick black smoke trailing from its engines. It quickly lost control and spun upside, tumbling to the ground; he looked away and then back to his deputy.

“Yes, it will be enough to take the walls, but Cyrus will need our Laconians to finish the job. My worry is that we need the ground troops to link up with Cyrus. By the time the rest of Proxenus’ troops are in position, Tissaphernes will hit them. We need to smash him and fast. After the flank is stable, we will reinforce Meno and Proxenus at the Citadel for the final push.”

Kleandridas nodded in agreement at this revised plan. Clearchus took a long breath, filling his lungs with air.

“We have a small window of opportunity, and Tissaphernes is right where we want him. This isn’t the way I wanted it, but it could be to our advantage. Cyrus’ early attack has drawn out Tissaphernes. If he’d waited, we might have already been fully engaged. With one swift hammer blow, we will scatter his troops. Then we will return and explain to Cyrus how Laconians besiege cities.”

Kleandridas grinned at this last comment. He’d fought in enough battles alongside Clearchus to know exactly what happened when Laconian heavy infantry were used, and it was anything but pretty.

“I will coordinate our dromons for a combat insertion. We’ll be on the ground in less than a minute, two thousand, seven hundred spatharii and a thousand stratiotes. Tissaphernes will never know what has hit him!”

As the commanders of the Laconians issued new orders, the force of dromons and their escorts broke away from their advance on the Citadel. The large formation split up into three separate divisions, with the bulk of the drones and fighter cover staying with the larger, central division that was led by Clearchus himself. One made directly for Tissaphernes and his massed forces, and the other two sped off to the flanks. Directly beneath them, moved the vanguard of the rest of the Legion. The fastest were the eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers of the Arcadians. Behind them moved an array of tracked and wheeled vehicles, all bristling with weapons and covered in thick armour. Each contingent flew the colours of their respective regions, but the armour of the vehicles maintained the dull grey, consistent with the rest of the Legion. It was a great sledgehammer with one simple goal in mind, the reduction of the fortified Citadel. Clearchus and his airborne reinforcements were the scalpel, a force of almost four thousand warriors, and all being carried into battle by the large numbers of dromons.

* * *

Xenophon heard the loud drone from the horde of dromons and escorts behind him. He had little time to look, but was able to glance over his right shoulder long enough to spot the aerial reinforcements changing direction and shooting away parallel to the wall. He spotted scores of craft, probably over a hundred, but he had little time to enjoy the view. The wall of the Citadel was proving just as difficult to hold, as it had been to capture. Artemas had also heard them but instead had taken the opportunity to move from the door and had lifted her carbine, ready for trouble. They’d already cleared this section of the wall and were looking to move into the relative safety of the tower. Thirteen of the Night Blades had made it onto the same section, and all of them kept low to avoid being seen by those on the higher levels of the tower that looked down to the wall.

   
“You ready?” he called out to the others.

   
They all nodded even though their numbers and heavy equipment was limited. Roxana moved to the doorway but noticed something. She leapt to the right just as two of the Median soldiers moved out from the entrance to the spiral staircase leading inside the tower. They carried their pulse rifles low and were evidently expecting trouble. Glaucon didn’t hesitate and opened fire at point-blank range. He cut both of them apart as the others waited patiently near the wall. The roar from the powerful weapon pushed him back half a metre, yet he continued to hold down the trigger. Two more Medes soldiers appeared and tried to avoid the fire, but it was all in vain. The entire group were thrown back inside in a spray of bloody and battered armour.

“That’s it, go, go, go!” shouted Xenophon.

He was through the doorway and inside the wide room. It appeared to be a barracks. There were two more soldiers inside, but these were heavily armoured and much more thickly set. The first brought down a gold coloured blade that glanced off Xenophon’s shoulder armour. The power was surprisingly heavy, and he was knocked down to one knee. Artemas jumped inside, quickly parrying the man’s blade and beating him back with her own weapons. Glaucon’s arrival was announced by another burst of cannon fire that punched fist sized holes through the second soldier’s chest armour. As Artemas and two of the Night Blades chased down and finished the first soldier, more of them moved inside. Xenophon lifted himself up and tapped the node in his helmet.

“Komes, we’ve taken the first level of the tower.”

“Good work, Dekarchos. Keep moving. I need those enfilade guns taken care of. How about the wall?”

Xenophon moved back in the direction they’d arrived from and looked out onto the wall. The crenulations to the right faced the Terran battle lines. No more Night Blades had made it, and he could only assume they had been killed or forced back into cover. He could see movement. It was more Medes soldiers coming out of the other staircases and onto the top of the wall. He lifted his right arm and fired a long burst from his Asgeirr-Carbine. The fire caught one of them, but the others took cover and proceeded to send a withering hail of pulse rounds towards Xenophon. He ducked back and shouted over to the nearest Night Blades.

“You two! Protect this doorway. No one comes in or goes out, understood?”

The older of the two nodded and took up position on the left hand side. All the Night Blades were excellent shots, and Xenophon had no doubt that these two would easily be able to hold the doorway, at least for the few minutes he needed to finish his mission.

“Right, everybody else with me. We’re taking this damned tower!”

With that, Xenophon, Glaucon, Artemas, Roxana and the eleven Night Blades moved onto the wide, circular staircase that led up to the higher levels. The design had much in common with ancient Terran fortresses. Glaucon and Xenophon led the group as they surged upstairs. It seemed an age before they burst out into the next room to find a dozen Medes automaton soldiers. They were busy taking aim from the two positions on each side of the room. A bulge on the flanks of the tower allowed them a perfect view from which to shoot down onto either the walls or just in front of them. Xenophon charged ahead, and the others rushed to join him. With two Asgeirr-Carbines blasting away, he cleared the entire left side of soldiers before they even knew what was happening. The rest lifted their hands in the universal signal of surrender when they saw the enraged Terrans running amok in their tower. As quickly as that, the tower had been secured. Xenophon contact Komes Pasion.

“Komes, we’ve secured the tower. The walls are safe for assault.”