Centurion's Rise (39 page)

“
Let me make
sure I have this all straight,” Dr. Holmes said to his patient.  “Gallono and Tonwen are incommunicado for thirty years in Israel doing their own thing.  Tomal is in open rebellion against your leadership, and Valnor is now acting as your superior by virtue of his more prominent place in society.”

“Well
, when you say it like that, it sounds a bit dysfunctional,” Hastelloy mused.

The patient’s story today had a common theme– loss of control. 
This was particularly odd considering Hastelloy was supposed to be the commanding officer of these well trained and disciplined men.  Jeffrey had many friends and family members who served in the armed forces at some point in their lives.  They were all over disciplined to a fault, so Dr. Holmes couldn’t imagine any military unit functioning the way Hastelloy’s men were.  Jeffrey knew he needed to press for the meaning behind this state of chaos the patient was projecting into his delusion.

“I
s there any other way to see it?” Dr. Holmes asked rhetorically.  “It doesn’t sound like any way to run a military unit.”

Hastelloy let the insult to his organizational skills slide right past.  He leaned forward in his chair to make
yet another emphatic point.  “Have you ever had your wife’s family stay in your house for an extended period of time?”

Here we go again, Jeffrey thought.  As usual the patient
sidestepped the issue, but these little mental detours usually had a way of getting back on point, so Jeffrey played along. 

“Yes indeed
,” Jeffrey finally answered with a pained look.  “Every year her parents and sister’s family spend the week between Christmas and New Year with us,”

“By
your expression I can tell it isn’t all fun and games the entire time.  Why not?”

“I’m not quite sure.  I like
her side of the family well enough so we get along just fine, but somehow by the end of the week everyone winds up getting on each other’s nerves.”

“Go on Doctor, get specific,” Hastelloy prompted.

“Who’s the patient here anyway,” Jeffrey joked before continuing.  “If I had to put it into words, I’d say I get tired of everyone being in my face all the time.  Having a medium sized house filled with that many people for a week with virtually nothing to do invariably culminates in a blowup.  I think what shreds my last nerve is always having to do what everyone else wants; that lack of autonomy to do my own thing eventually sets me off.”

“Now imagine if you spent two thousand years with those same people,” the patient instructed.  “No matter how well you got al
ong, or how disciplined everybody was, eventually conflicts would erupt.  People would want to do their own thing.”

Jeffrey let loose a hearty laugh.  “How did I not see that analogy coming?  Now if I translate that to your version of history, the Roman civil war
surrounding Julius Caesar was a result of your men needing to get out of the house and blow off some steam?”

“
You’re understating the severity of the situation, Doctor,” the patient countered.  “While my men did suffer from a bit of cabin fever, the Alpha were in the background stoking the fires of discord, both among my men and Roman society at large.  They used their considerable leverage to throw the entire Neo Scale out of balance.

“
First, the Social Conscience of the people was off as evidenced by the acceptance of slavery and the brutal entertainment they sought in the gladiator arenas.  Second, Leadership Ethics were almost non-existent as corruption, ineffective gridlock, and greedy grabs for power by the ambitious reigned.  Third, the Religious pan was completely off kilter with the Alpha revered as gods once again, plus we had the elitist nature of the Hebrew faith to contend with.  Only the fourth and final arm of the Neo scale, Technological Development, was in balance at that time.”

Jeffrey got the subtle message.  Something in Hastelloy’s life threw the tight control he had on
things completely out the window and replaced it with utter chaos.  The only escape was to force it all into the make believe world Hastelloy conjured for himself.  Dr. Holmes needed to press this control issue harder.

“So Valnor has roused the people of Rome for war once more
to put Tomal, Cleopatra and their Alpha manipulator down for good,” Dr. Holmes summarized.  “What does he do with his armies?”

Hastelloy sat back in his chair
, visibly easing himself back into the comfort of his delusion.  “Tomal knew he needed more allies than just the African and eastern provinces to stand against the might of Rome.  To fix this he sailed his entire fleet and land army to Greece hoping to curry their favor.”

“And did that work
for him?” Jeffrey asked.

“Nope,” Hastelloy
responded with a pursed grin.  “You see, Tomal made the tactically correct maneuver of keeping his army and navy together in the Ambracian Gulf.  The large body of water had but one way in or out that was just one mile wide and three miles long.  This offered an imminently defensible position that was enhanced further by the fortifications his army constructed on both sides of the small inlet.  They would obliterate any ship that ventured near the coast.  Tactically this made sense in the short run, but for the strategic long range planning it was his undoing.

“The position was impregnable and yet with my navy a hundred miles south of that well guarded Gulf I managed to crack the position wide open without firing a shot,” Hastelloy said with a large amount of pride in his voice.

“How’d you do that?” Dr. Holmes asked.

“I captured the Greek city of Methone,” Hastelloy went on.  “The city and port were the last to carry support for Cleopatra’s fo
rces on the Greek peninsula.  With that, I no longer had any need to run the gauntlet and attack Tomal in the well defended gulf.  Once their supplies ran out I knew they would come out and offer battle in open waters.  What transpired after that was the largest naval engagement the world had seen in two hundred years, or would see again for another thousand.”

**********

“Do you really think he’ll take to his ships?” Valnor asked Hastelloy as the two of them stood on the deck of their flagship.

“Without a doubt,” Hastelloy pronounced.  He did not even bother hiding the excitement and anticipation in his voice.

“Is that really a good thing?” Valnor continued with concern.  “We have as many vessels as them, but their ships are easily twice our size.  Even if we manage to ram them on a vulnerable side, the sheer mass differential will cause more damage to our ships than theirs.”

“There’
s more to naval combat than ramming the enemy ship to sink it, even with these primitive vessels,” Hastelloy instructed.

“I still think we should try
taking his army with a land assault,” Valnor countered.  “At least then we have equal strength.”

“A land battle, even if successful, would still allow their navy to escape and fight another day,” Hastelloy countered.  “On the other hand, if we crush their ships, the army will be stranded and forced to surrender.  Why fight multiple battles when one will do.”

“But if the odds of that one battle are stacked against us . . ,” Valnor protested.

“The size of our opponent’s ships is his strength, but that can also be a weakness if handled correctly,” Hastelloy
interrupted as he saw the first enemy sails appear on the horizon. 

The Quin
quereme’s Tomal commanded were enormous, measuring 150 feet long and 20 feet wide.  As indicated by their name, the ships sported five stacked levels of oars running the entire length of the mammoth ships on both sides.  In all, three hundred oars and three sets of sails propelled the vessels forward.  The bows of the ships carried an iron ram that would send any of Hastelloy’s ships straight to the bottom, even with a glancing strike.

If all thos
e features were not intimidating enough, catapults armed with grappling irons loomed large on the forward decks.  If these iron claws got hold of an enemy ship, the doomed adversary would find itself hauled up next to the Quinquereme and boarded by an overwhelming force of well armed marines.

Over two hundred of the behemoths filled the horizon and bore down on Hastelloy’s fleet of two hundred comparatively tiny Liburian vessels.  The ships only had two stacks of o
ars per side and a single main sail, but were considerably more maneuverable than their counterparts with a streamlined shape built for agility rather than brute force.  The only aspect of the ships not constructed for speed were the missile towers erected on the bow to protect the archers as they rained death upon their enemies from an elevated trajectory.

Hastelloy had his flagmen signal for the left and right flanks of his formation to set sail and draw the line out farther to create more separation for his ships
to maneuver.  Tomal responded in kind by sending his wings out wide to prevent any kind of envelopment maneuver.  The center continued sailing forward at flank speed while an abnormally large contingent of ships was held in reserve.

“Why do you think he’
s choosing to keep so many vessels out of the engagement,” Valnor asked.

“I don’t think choice has anything
to do with it.  I’m quite certain the queen of queens insists on remaining out of the fighting along with an adequate protection force just in case,” Hastelloy responded.

“Why would she hamstring her own a
ttack force like that?”.

Hastelloy turned away from the action to stare directly into Valnor’s doubting eyes and
made a declaration of fact, “Because at her core she’s a selfish coward who manipulates others into fighting her battles.”

“That’s a bold assumption,” Valnor challenged.

“Examine the evidence,” Hastelloy said as he returned his line of sight back to the sea.  “She married her brother to get a foothold in power.  Next, she seduced Julius Caesar to kick the husband out of power leaving her as the sole ruler with the backing of Rome.  When her Roman sponsor died she seduced the next Roman in line to defend her power base.  Tomal’s weakness for fine things and lust for power made him the perfect target for her considerable charms.”

“When
this battle goes bad for them,” Hastelloy went on, “she’ll pounce on the first opportunity to save her own skin and flee. It’s in her nature because above all else, she’s a survivor.”

Valnor
said nothing further and simply chose to look on with grim anticipation as the central cluster of ships came into range of each other’s catapults and archers.  The air about them hummed with the thrum of heavy projectiles launched by catapults and the soft hiss of arrows sent on their way by archers.

The smaller ships, for the most part, managed to dart in and out of the larger ships harassing them with close quarters arrow barrages
.  Then before the target could orientate itself to give an adequate response, the fast little ships sped away to safety once more.  Little damage was done to the enemy vessels themselves, but the deck and oar crews took casualties with every pass.

Eventually
some of the grappling irons on Tomal’s ships connected with their prey.  Like a spider moving in to consume a moth captured in its web, the deck crews pulled the little ships alongside for boarding.  Six of Hastelloy’s ships were already in the process of being taken over, while another two were getting hauled in.

“Our archers aren’t able to do enough damage,” Valno
r cried out.  “One by one they’re going to grab hold of our ships and take them over.”

“The beauty of a grappling iron is it imbeds into an enemy ship so deep it can’t be removed without considerable effort,” Hastelloy said in a level tone
that gave no hint of anxiety.

“Exactly,” Valnor hollered.  “Our ships can’t get away once the grapples hit.”

“Why would we want them to get away when it gives us the perfect opportunity to destroy the enemy?” Hastelloy asked.

Valnor looked closer at the situation.  It was then that he noticed
the six ensnared ships were hanging unusually low in the water, which caused the larger vessels to list noticeable to the side.  Soon water rushed over the bows of the smaller ships and the sea began pulling the vessels to the bottom in earnest.

The unbreakable embrace the grappling iron created between the attacking and sinking ship pulled the larger vessel under the waves as well.  Hastelloy and Valnor
looked on as six of the mighty Quinquereme capsized and soon vanished beneath the waves.  A few minutes later another was pulled under, but the last managed to detach the grapple in time to allow the smaller suicidal ship to reach bottom alone.

“There, I think that’ll make the other ships abandon that particular assault technique, don’t you?” Hastelloy asked with a satisfied smile.  “That leaves them with trying to ram our ships or shower us with arrows.  Both will be difficult considering our speed and maneuverability advantage.”

As the hours passed, Tomal’s ships grew slower and slower in the water as their crews were utterly decimated by the fast moving archery strikes
.  The task would have been considerably more difficult had the rest of Tomal’s fleet chosen to engage.  To their detriment; however, they chose to hang back and protect the queen.