Centurion's Rise (36 page)

Hastelloy entered the
brightly lit room with soft measured steps and ducked behind one of twelve support columns ringing the room’s perimeter.  He’d spent the last three weeks instructing a team of twelve soldiers in the delicate art of stealth assault, now he would see if it was time well spent.

The target sat at a desk in the middle of the thousand square
foot room.  Blazing floor lamps arranged in a grid pattern spaced fifteen feet apart cast the room in a bright orange and yellow glow.  The lighting was not the only impediment to reaching the target; eight guards kept watch over every column and corner with random patrol patterns.  The target was as secure as anyplace in the Republic.

Hastelloy waited for the nearest guard to turn
around and then gestured for the other three members of his assault team to enter the chamber.  The odd sensation of seeing movement without the accompanying sound put a satisfied smile on Hastelloy’s face.  Before he could give further orders, the nearest guard performed an about face and headed straight for the column Hastelloy used as cover.

He stood flat against the
stone pillar and inched his way around to stay out of the guard’s line of sight.  The problem was if he went much farther he would be visible to other guards stationed about the room.  Hastelloy determined he could go no farther and then pulled out a small white cloth hanging from his rope belt and held it at the ready in his right hand. 

The guard rounded the column and Hastelloy grabbed the man’s head with his left hand and covered his nose and mouth with the cloth in his right.  After a second he felt the guard’s body go limp and he caught the man before his body could collapse
to the floor with a clatter.  Hastelloy arranged the unconscious guard into the fetal position and nestled him up against the column.

Hastelloy looked at the rest of his assault team, raised a clinched fist and then opened his fingers out wide.  The men immediately fanned out into the room using the columns and shadows for cover. 

In no time, four more guards were out of action, but they were now entering the most dangerous phase of the assault.  The remaining guards would soon notice their missing peers and sound the alarm.  It took another two seconds for his men to reposition themselves to take out the remaining three guards.  Hastelloy took that time to close in on the target.

Haste
lloy drew his dagger and lightly tapped it two times against the stone column he used as cover.  The nearly inaudible order was received loud and clear by the assault team.  At the same moment they all dashed out into the open and applied a white cloth over their respective guard’s face. 

For his part, Hastelloy
bolted for the man sitting at the desk.  He got to him just as the target rose to his feet upon hearing a faint squeak from one of the guards momentarily resisting his attacker.  The target turned around just in time to feel Hastelloy’s dagger arrive under his chin.

“I think we’re ready,” Hastelloy announced as he looked into the surprised eyes of Valnor as he held the dagger to his throat.

“Without a doubt,” Valnor replied.  “You took all of us out, and we had the advantage of knowing the attack was coming.”  Hastelloy returned his blade to its sheath while Valnor then clapped his hands two times and announced, “Alright everyone, on your feet and fall in.”

The eight guards immediately
picked themselves off the ground and fell into rank and file with the assault team.  Hastelloy joined them on the inspection line and looked for Valnor to address them all.  It was odd not playing the commanding roll, but Valnor held the position of power.  This was his operation to lead, and Hastelloy felt a great sense of pride at seeing his young helmsman step up to the challenge with confidence and skill.

“Tonight,” Valnor began, “the twelve of you
will infiltrate the Temple of Vesta.  This must be done without notice, and without doing harm to anyone or anything inside those sacred grounds.  Is that understood?”

“Yes
, sir,” the men replied.

“Very well,
General Agrippa,” Valnor said looking at Hastelloy.  “Dispense the chloroform vials.”

Valnor continued talking as Hastelloy handed each man
a tiny glass jars with a clear liquid inside and a cork on top.  “To this point you’ve practiced assuming the cloth over mouth trick would work as I’ve said.  Here is your proof.”

Hastelloy handed Valnor the last glass jar.   He immediately
pulled a white cloth from his waist, removed the cork and poured some of the liquid onto it and then held it over Hastelloy’s mouth and nose.

The surprise move induced a
reflexive gasp causing Hastelloy to breath in a lung full of the sweet smelling fumes.  A fraction of a second later the lights went out and his body folded into Valnor’s waiting arms.

“
Once the target passes out, remove the cloth or you will do them harm.  The effect lasts about an hour, which will be more than enough time for us to carry out our business,” Valnor instructed.  “It’s that simple, gentlemen.  We move out at midnight.”

**********

Hastelloy held up a clinched fist and the thirteen men behind him came to an abrupt halt and melted into the nearest shadow.  The dark grey shirt and pants they all wore made them practically invisible against a stone wall shrouded in the darkness of a moonless night. 

Two very drunk citizens staggered around the corner.  The slightly less inebriated individual was practically carrying the other down the narrow street.  The pair came within three feet of Hastelloy and his men, yet
they drew no notice.  When the drunks finally meandered around another corner, Hastelloy gestured for the group to move forward.

They rounded the corner and headed down a long street with the Temple of Vesta standing proudly at the end.  The temple was rather unique in its shape and size.  Roman architecture was typically very square with hard, sharp angles.  The Temple of Vesta stood in stark contrast to this trend with its circular shape and
modest size of only standing two stories tall.  Embracing the temple on two sides was the House of Vestals with only a few feet between the temple walls and those of the house.

Contrasting the round, cottage feel of the temple,
the House of Vestals was truly Roman.  The grand structure stood five stories tall, was rectangular in shape and boasted over seventy rooms surrounding a central courtyard.  Prior to Hastelloy’s discovery that the temple housed the Alpha engineer’s life force, the temple and house were open to the public.  They were secure in the knowledge that no Roman would dare defile the sacred grounds or the vestals who resided within them.  Now the compound was a locked down fortress.

The only entrance was through a well guarded
front gate.  From there guests were escorted across a five foot wide, thirty foot long paved path to the temple. Anyone stepping off the paved stones was apprehended and, in numerous instances, beaten severely. 

The only
way to gain entry into the House of Vestals was by ascending an arching stairwell that rose from along the temple’s right side up to the third story of the house.  Blazing torches lit the temple grounds at all hours during the night, and the guard details were no joke.  Six armed soldiers stood watch over the main gate, while four more protected the lone staircase granting access to the House of Vestals.

Hastelloy pointed twice to the left with an open palm causing six members of his assault team to cross the street and take up positions te
n feet away from the main gate where two guards were stationed outside the walls on either side of the entrance.  Two more held mirroring positions inside the walls, while another two patrolled along the paved path leading to the temple.

Hastelloy raised
both hands above his head with index and middle fingers extended.  Immediately, two team members from each side of the gate approached to within a few feet of the guards.  There they waited for Hastelloy to give the signal.

A half hour passed before the two guards who were just inside stepped through the gate to effect a changing of the guards.  The exchange of positions would only
take a few seconds, but that was all Hastelloy’s men needed.  He snapped both his fists towards the ground, sending his strike team into action.

From across the alleyway, Hastelloy watched as four shapes materialized from the temple wall. 
In unison, the four shadowy figures wrapped themselves around the unsuspecting guards, and a second later the targets lay unconscious on the ground.

Hastelloy and the rest of his strike force moved in as the attackers stripped the guards and
adorned their purple tunics and helmets with enough purple feathers fanned out across them to make even a peacock blush.

“By two’s, go,” Hastelloy whispered.

Two of his disguised men walked through the gate with another member of the assault team hugging behind them as they moved.  Matching movements and steps they headed toward the remaining guards patrolling the paved path under the guise of a routine position exchange. 

Hastelloy’s men came to a full stop just in front of the remaining temple guards.  Without sound or ceremony, t
he live shadows leapt out from behind their escort and incapacitated the last two temple guards.  Hastelloy then ordered the rest of his men to join the others just outside the temple door.  This left two men in disguise to guard the front gate and the bodies of four passed out guards who now looked like vagrants sleeping off a night of overindulgence.

Hastelloy sent two of his disguised men back to the main gate to continue the facade that all was well in the eyes of the
four soldiers covering the stairwell leading to the House of Vestals.  Two assault team members put on the tunics and ridiculous headdress of the most recently sedated guards and resumed a regular patrol along the path.  This left Hastelloy, Valnor, and six strike team members to enter the circular temple through the lone open air doorway.

The temple’s interior was
lit by an enormous open trench fire roaring in the middle of the circular room.  Above the fire, at the apex of the domed roof, was a hole to allow the copious volumes of smoke to escape.  At the cardinal points of the compass around the fire four priestesses maintained vigil over the perpetual flame.

Up until he entered the temple, Hastelloy held out hope the Alpha relic would still be featured as the eternal flame inside the templ
e.  Prior to Hastelloy uncovering the Alpha relic’s existence, the flowing metallic flame carrying the life force of Elohim would have hovered where the perpetual flame now roared.  Immediately following the discovery, a new Roman tradition was set where every resident would extinguish the fire in their house hearth on the first of March and relight it using the sacred fire of Vesta as the source.  This furthered the citizen’s reverence of the Goddess and gave the perfect opportunity to relocate Elohim’s relic to a more protected location within the House of Vestals - somewhere.

The four priestesses
sitting in the temple posed no real threat, but their ability to sound an alarm needed to be eliminated.  Four men silently approached the young girls from behind and rendered them unconscious without a sound and lay their bodies flat on the ground.

Hastelloy allowed the small sack he carried to slide off his shoulder onto the ground.  He
removed two flowing white gowns complete with head dresses from the bag.  He tossed one to Valnor and began putting on the other.  To complete the disguise, the two men donned horse hair wigs that flowed over their shoulders. 

In broad daylight the disguise would
n’t fool anybody, but in the dark of night in the middle of a long night shift, Hastelloy was certain they could slip past the first two men guarding the stairwell leading to the House of Vestals.  It was time to put his theory to the test.

Side by side, Hastelloy and Valnor stepped through the doorway with their hands clasped neatly at their waist, as if in prayer.  They turned left
and headed for the guarded stairwell.  As they approached, both men were careful to keep their heads tilted downward slightly to better conceal their masculine features under the pearly white headdresses.

G
uards stood on either side of the staircase.  Both had the look of men who’d just spent the last four hours watching paint dry.  A marching band probably could have paraded past them and barely gotten more than a raised eyebrow as a reaction.  Two priestesses in flowing white gowns garnered no reaction at all.

Hastelloy paced his way up the arching staircase alongside Valnor and was secure in the knowledge that two members of his strike team were now in position to take out the
two guards they just walked past.  At the top of the staircase, two more guards stood their post on either side.  These men were more astute than the others.  Hastelloy felt their analyzing stare from ten steps away.

With one last step to ascend, Hastelloy and Valnor
each dashed for the nearest guard to them and placed the white cloth concealed by their prayerful hand positions.  With mission accomplished they both looked back to validate the sentries at the staircase base were also down.  They were, and six barely perceptible shapes were making their way up the stairs and into the House of Vestals.