Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights (27 page)

“We all serve, and at the moment we have only one purpose: to kill gleasons. As you can see from my appearance, I come from the road. I’m told you would like to join me for a few days.”

“Well said, Sky Lord, and true if you haven’t killed them all yet.”

Havlock turned to Hawke who saluted him. “He understands the program, Sky Lord.”

Havlock turned back to Envaeg. “You’re comfortable with your weapon?”

“Not at all, but I have Teacher’s approval. So do my men.”

“Very well. Let’s go.”

Havlock turned toward the shuttle and everyone followed, including the gorlacs. He stopped in surprise and spoke to Envaeg. “You’re bringing your mounts?”

“How else will I fight the demons?”

Hawke stepped up. “They’ve ridden the shuttle, including the gorlacs.”

Havlock frowned for a moment, then looked over the king and his knights. “You will get your chance to fight demons, but not from a gorlac. Not today. Maybe tomorrow or the next day.”

Envaeg was clearly unhappy with Havlock’s words so he explained further. “It’s not because you’re not good enough. It’s because we’ve developed a process for killing demons, and a lot of it comes from the wagons. I want you to see the most important aspect of what we do, and you need to be in a wagon to see that.”

Envaeg, still frowning, said, “We understand you’re in command. My men are good at taking orders, but I’m better at giving them.”

“Understood, Your Majesty,” Havlock responded. “You’ll feel differently when you reach the caravan.”

Kings and knights tend to be stoic individuals, but these were gleasons they were going up against. Nervous glances passed between each of them as they resumed their way into the shuttle.

The flight was brief. When they arrived over the caravan, a major gleason attack was in progress. Havlock personally checked everyone’s uniform, kit, and translator device. He singled Atiana and Hawke out. “Surely you’re not going with us?”

Atiana had expected the question and answered first. “I need to know and understand your tactics. As for Teacher Hawke, it’s important he be seen as a warrior. After all, he’s dealing with kings and knights.”

Havlock sighed. He didn’t like the logic, but he agreed it was right. His voice lifted to take in everyone. “We won’t interrupt the knights below in the middle of an attack. Instead, we’ll observe from here. I’ll do my best to explain what’s happening, but you’ll understand much better after you’ve seen it from the ground.

Battles against gleasons did not usually last long. Some 20 gleasons had attacked, all at the same time and from all directions. The caravan had actually ridden into the ambush with prior knowledge from the shuttle above. Targets and duties had been pre-assigned. Havlock and the observers watched and listened as terse orders flew, sometimes from the local commander and sometimes from the shuttle pilots. Order deteriorated as the engagement progressed, a normal tendency, and by the time the last gleason fell, some chaos had interjected itself.

“As you can see,” Havlock observed, “the outcome is never certain. You can never let your guard down, and you must respond to orders as best you can. The normal progression of an attack requires more and more individual choices, but never tune out the commanders. I’m certain you can appreciate the advantage of orders coming from the shuttle where they can see everything.”

“You lost a lot of men,” King Envaeg growled. “I’m sorry. How do you sustain such losses?”

Havlock made a quick call to the surface, then responded to Envaeg. “We’ve lost two people during this journey, none during this skirmish. You’ll see quite a few injuries, but do not give up if you’re injured. We have some very capable healers.”

“I saw a number of riders succumb,
”
Envaeg said.

“Have patience, Your Majesty. You’ll understand my meaning very soon. Let me remind you that your first duty after joining the caravan is not to fight—it’s to watch and learn. This is as important as it was during your first lessons with the sword. Follow my advice and you’ll be better demon fighters when we’re done. More important, I want all of you to return home.”

The pilot interrupted. “Sir, it’s now or wait. We’re coming up on another assault.”

“Already?”

“Yes, sir. The number of possible targets has increased enormously in the last few hours. My guess is the gleasons know where you’re going. I don’t think they want you to reach the restricted zone around Zobar.”

“Okay, set us down.” Havlock directed a hard gaze to each of the party. “We’re going right into battle. Regardless of your rank, do not question orders. Do exactly as you’re told until our tactics make sense to you. I need agreement from each of you on this.”

After watching the fighting below, even Envaeg agreed. For appearances sake, Havlock did not ask for a response from either Hawke or Atiana. The shuttle settled to the ground beside the middle of the caravan, and a marine led each of the newcomers to his assigned wagon. Traders tied gorlacs to the trailing herd of spares.

Half an hour passed before the next onslaught. Havlock, Atiana, and Envaeg crowded into a wagon with the projectionist, and Havlock did his best to explain the process, though he knew it would only become clear when the fighting started. Everyone wore helmets and had multiple targets showing. Not all the targets were necessarily gleasons, some of them could be local animals, so targeting was not 100% effective, but it was the best they could do.

The projectionist normally sat inside the wagon with one guard/spotter in case a gleason got through. The gunnery team, all of them using long-barreled stunners and blasters, sat atop adjacent wagons in plain view of the gleasons. The caravan commander assigned initial targets, ensuring that heavy weapons covered the sides, front, and rear of the caravan, then everyone waited tensely.

Sergeant Nuwe brought an imaginary mounted marine out from between wagons and led him well out to the side of the caravan, definitely an unsafe distance for a real person. Five other operators did the same with their projected riders. King Envaeg did not, at first, believe Havlock’s explanation that the figure was not real. Even Atiana had trouble with the concept. When gleasons struck, all that the team in the wagon saw initially was moving blobs of light on their helmet visors, some of which had been tagged by the shuttle above as definitely gleasons. Sharpshooters fired into the blobs and the targets quickly turned into the real thing. More shots struck the gleasons, continuing to wound them but not stopping them. Even the projected rider appeared to be shooting at them as he worked his way back toward the caravan.

Two wounded gleasons reached the rider simultaneously and leapt for him. Sharpshooters managed to knock each gleason to the ground moments before it would have touched the nonexistent target. The gleasons sprang back up, only to be hit again. The holographic target continued firing at approaching gleasons as it continued drifting back toward the caravan, now displaying great, gaping wounds to the legs, torso, and to the gorlac. As the outriders neared the caravan, gleasons spread out, going to targets of opportunity instead of just the outriders, and that’s when the mayhem began. Some order prevailed, but in some respects it became a free-for-all.

The pilot in the shuttle overhead called the caravan commander. “Sir, there’s a second wave coming at high speed. You’re not going to get a breather.”

The caravan commander called Havlock while the first wave of fighting continued. “Sir, I’d like to break out the heavy weapons and see if I can thin them out. I’ll start with those farthest out.”

Havlock considered. The shuttle could work on those long-range targets with better efficiency, and the close-in gleasons might not even know distant gleasons were dying if the dying was quick. On the other hand, using heavy weapons from the caravan might become a solution to releasing shuttles for other duties. Havlock was quickly running short of shuttles to guard the increasing number of caravans.

“Approved, Lieutenant, but use them sparingly. I don’t want to scare off the gleasons. You know what I mean. We’ve talked about it.”

“Aye, sir,” came back the terse reply.

Four heavy blasters telescoped up from wagons, two of them bursting through flaps in the fabric coverings of their wagons and two of them rising up through doors that folded back from wagons with wooden tops. Weapons operators stayed hidden within the wagons, their targeting data now a complex combination of targets sent by the ship and the elevated view as seen by their guns. The guns remained silent.

The current attack ended abruptly with the last gleasons dead or dying. The caravan continued its never-ending progress.

Havlock studied Atiana and King Envaeg. “Got the picture?” he asked.

“More or less,” Atiana said.

“I think, um, maybe less,” Envaeg admitted.

“Thank you for your honesty. None of this is simple. In fact, it’s very complicated and it’s going to get more complicated. The second wave is not far off.”

Envaeg gulped. “Can you deal with it?”

“We will, and you’ll be an integral part of it by the time we reach Zobar. You and your knights will lead the caravan on the final stretch.”

* * * * *

King Envaeg did indeed lead the caravan into Zobar. During the intervening days he had killed many gleasons and even operated a heavy weapon on two occasions. Gleason activity had increased steadily until nearing Zobar, then it stopped abruptly. The gleasons seemed to have learned about the boundaries patrolled by the shuttles within which they could not experience ecstasy.

Havlock, Atiana, and Hawke were not with Envaeg when he passed through his main gate. They had left two days earlier to meet King Goragii of Gaedon. They took him through the same process, let him lead the caravan through the main gates of the city, and they remained for two days of discussion. They then gathered up all the kings they had visited and brought them to a meeting in Tricor. Discomfort emanated from these leaders, some of whom were meeting each other for the first time, but fighting gleasons provided common ground for discussion, and it tended to minimize other problems.

One item of particular note came out of the meeting. Galborae leaned back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest and addressed Havlock. “One of your priorities is for the inhabitants of Tranxte to take this war to the gleasons by themselves using your weapons and technology, is it not?”

“It is.”

“I’m still healing, but I haven’t been idle. I spend a lot of time aboard shuttles watching everyone, and the heavy weapons intrigue me. They not only shoot farther, they see farther when they’re deployed to their full height. With that increased sensor range, I think your plan to reduce shuttle coverage could work. And we’ve discussed how you’ll never have enough marines to spread out over our whole world. With those weapons, caravans might get through without any marines at all.”

Havlock stared at this illiterate knight, a man who had gone through so much over the past year and remained sane. He nodded solemnly to Galborae. “Your insight continues to guide all of us,” he said. “We could probably start the process by sharing the shuttles with more than one convoy, but we’re always going to have to keep an eye out for ambushes. We might be able to do that from orbit, I’m not sure. As for going without any marines at all, we’ll have to establish a formal training program for your knights and traders before that’s possible.” He stared at Galborae. “It might work. Would you like to lead the training?”

“No, Sky Lord. Your marines need to be the trainers. I serve our people best by training you.”

Havlock looked around the room of kings and nodded. “Too true, my friend.

* * * * *

Later that evening, Atiana pulled him away from an impromptu celebration. These kings and military leaders had, indeed, fought and beat the gleasons to a standstill in this part of the world. Desperation still occupied most of the planet, but a moment could be taken to acknowledge the first successful steps.

“You’re exhausted,” she said, “and preoccupied. Why? You’ve made great progress.”

He looked away, stepped over to a chair and sat, then changed his mind and stood up again. “I’m pleased with our progress. I have the tools to continue until General Stymes gets here, and when he does, I’ll have a plan of action he can get started on immediately. You and I need to talk about that by the way. We need to figure out which kingdoms get to know about us next.”

“I’ve already been in discussion with your experts on the transporter.”

He blinked. “You have?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I get the feeling your heart isn’t in this.”

“If you think that, you’re wrong. I’m completely engaged here, and I intend to stay that way.”

A faint smile lit her face. “Thank you. I needed to hear that. I worry every day that you’ll disappear forever, off on some new assignment.”

“No, my place is here for as long as I’m allowed to stay.”

She stepped up to him and placed her hands on his chest, moving in close. “The task before you will not end in your lifetime. Stay forever, Gar.”

He took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. “I’m a soldier, My Lady. As such, I’m not in complete control of my life. Just know this: I will stay as long as I can.”