Wrath of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) (3 page)

“But you know why that is, Admiral. Xerxes Tell died of a heart attack and Sister Serena was lost during a space voyage,” Evelyn reminded him. “Fabian Bartok was the designated deputy to take over the leadership. It was all done legally.”

“Yes, it was very convenient, wasn’t it, those two dying within twenty-four hours of each other?”

“The investigation decided there was no wrongdoing, Admiral,” Blas reminded him.

“Fabian Bartok’s investigation, I know about that,” Rusal said bitterly. “Why in space did Xerxes Tell give that bastard a seat in the government? I never understood it.”

“None of us who fought in the war understood it,” Blas reminded him. “But it happened, so we have to live with it.”

“No, we don’t, Constantine. There is another way. We have to fight them. That means the resistance.”

“You, a serving naval officer, and one of the most experienced and senior admirals in the whole of the Nine Systems, join the resistance? It sounds crazy.”

“It’s the only way I can fight them. I truly believe that our government has been taken over by the enemy. Too many strange things have happened for it to be mere coincidence. They couldn’t beat us in battle, so instead they’ve beaten us by stealth. Believe me, there is an Axian dictator running the government. My reports suggest Bartok has support too, probably from the Orphexians.”

Blas jumped to his feet in anger. “Evelyn is an Orphexian, Admiral. It’s ridiculous to suggest she’s involved.”

He smiled. “Calm down, Constantine, I didn’t mean all Orphexians. It’s just a few who have made fortunes since the Axian defeat. I believe that Fabian Bartok, our President, set out to totally destroy the remnants of the Republic and replace it with his religious dictatorship. That’s not surmise, it’s already happening. The Axians are back.”

Blas nodded. “It’s true that things are bad, Admiral, but perhaps we need to be more patient. We need to wait for things to settle down after the end of the last war. There was a lot of chaos and destruction.”

Rusal smiled. “You mean we should wait longer than five years? That doesn’t make any sense. How long should we wait, another five years, ten years, twenty? No, something’s wrong. The ideals we fought for have disappeared. Fabian Bartok is the new Axian dictator. It’s no different now than when the Axians ruled. Haven’t you seen their temples rebuilt on every planet? Did you know that the Security Bureau is recruited exclusively from Axians? Even the senior posts in the military are going the same way. No doubt mine will be the next to go.”

“Surely they can’t remove you? At worst, they’ll move you sideways. That’s the way these things work. Forget the resistance, there must be another way. We don’t need another war.”

Rusal shook his head. “If I am relieved of my command on some trumped up charge, the only way to fight on is with the resistance.”

“What do you want from Constantine and me?” Evelyn asked, her dark eyes flashing. Rusal noticed her glossy hair flashing in the sunlight that streamed through the window. It almost gave her a halo, the appearance of a princess, as indeed she once was. Her father, Merca Gluck, had been the President of the Nine Systems, and leader of the Axians. Evelyn was his First Lady. Gluck’s motives had been as twisted and wicked as her own were honest and pure. It was no surprise to them that he’d died when his regime was overturned. Berg Smetana had been on his tail and had seen to that.

“I want to know that you’re both with me, Evelyn, ready to join the fight for freedom when the moment comes.”

Blas interrupted and shook his head. “I still think this is crazy. It’s hard to believe. You’re telling us that our old enemy, the Axians, have taken over the entire government. Is that correct?”

Rusal leaned forward, his face earnest and grim. “Not quite. What I am saying is that Fabian Bartok has taken over the government of the Systems and turned it into a dictatorship. He’s using the Axian religious fanatics to support him and repaying them by stealing assets from anyone who is opposed to him. Believe me, Bartok doesn’t believe in anything, least of all Axia. His only belief is Fabian Bartok. He’s playing one side off against the other. It gets worse. The Security Bureau has started to decimate the native population here on Hesperia, in spite of all my efforts to stop them. The people they don’t kill they use as slave labor. I’ve had word that other planets too are being systematically cleansed. Their property is stolen and handed to supporters of the regime. Can’t you see, Blas? If they remove me, there’ll be no one on Hesperia to defend the planetary population. No one to stop them.”

“What about your number two? Who is your executive officer?”

“Pieter Bose.”

“Not…”

“Yes, Rad Bose’s younger brother.”

Rad Bose, the former Commander of the Axian forces. A cruel, brutal and ruthless tyrant, but somehow he had survived to retain his senior rank. After the war, Fabian Bartok had confirmed him as Commander-in-Chief of the new Tricon military.

“By all the stars,” Blas breathed. “We do have a problem.”

Rusal was relieve to hear his friend use the word ‘we’.

“Now you understand, my friend. The stakes are enormous, even our lives are at stake. Now you have something to fight for.”

Constantine Blas looked sideways at his partner, Evelyn Gluck. The truth was that he would be fighting for something else. For her. When they met on Hesperia he fell in love with her. Since then, she’d become his life, everything he lived for. If her life was threatened by dictatorship and tyranny, it was all the motivation he needed to once again take up arms.

The next day they took a hired skimmer for the ride to Peria, the ancient and beautiful city that was the historic heart of Hesperia. Rusal had persuaded them to keep to their itinerary and give the appearance that they were innocent tourists. Peria was also where they’d fallen in love, and the old city had a very special meaning to them. They planned to meet with Smetana’s number two, Max Biermann. If anyone knew what had happened to him, it would be Max. Berg Smetana was more than a legend across the Nine Systems. A merchant, military leader and master assassin, he was one of the main architects of the victory during the Second War of the Systems. A native of Hesperia, he was thought to be indestructible by most people. More than ever, Blas needed to locate the tough, old fighter and link up with him and his resistance forces. Even so, it was a dismal prospect; everything they’d fought for was unraveling. He’d looked forward to a long and happy life with Evelyn; it seemed that it wasn’t about to happen anytime soon. He thought of the old saying, ‘for evil to prosper, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing’. He was horrified to think that he’d spent five years doing nothing, five years in ignorance of what was happening in the universe, while he enjoyed his carefree new life with Evelyn Gluck. Could it be true, that they were enslaving and murdering the Hesperian population as well as the populations of many other planets? Perhaps now it was indeed time to round up a few good men and act. Maybe he’d find some of them in Peria, along with some answers as to where he could locate Berg Smetana.

They skimmed through the lush, green countryside, a marked contrast to the scenes of desolation and crumbling infrastructure where they passed the few built up areas. It was as well they hadn’t taken a ground car. The roads were terrible, pitted with holes and cracks so that anyone running on the surface would have a very uncomfortable journey. An enterprising Hesperian businessman had imported these skimmers. Although the technology was only capable of carrying lightweight loads over short distances, they were ideal recreational vehicles. The gravity-repulsion system they employed was revolutionary, coming about by accident in a government laboratory during the recent wars. The military were pressuring the inventors hard to adapt it to power their heavier, armored fighting vehicles, so far without success. But for two people the vehicle was a joy to ride in. Except that what they saw that day made their joy feel very hollow.

Both of them ducked when a flock of huge birds passed close overhead, so close that they could almost reach out and touch them. Evelyn screamed and Blas swerved to avoid a collision.

“What are those things, they look horrible?”

The birds were called Galuppis, common to some of the outer planets but he was certain they weren’t native to Hesperia. They were much prized by hunters on depopulated worlds, these enormous creatures, with a wingspan that averaged fifteen feet. They had a semi-armored shell, almost like the extinct tortoise. Galuppis were carnivores, meat-eaters, and with their two rows of razor sharp teeth were formidable quarry for any hunter armed with less than a powerful laser rifle and some measure of personal armor. They were known to take human young, babies, so much so that they were banned from being imported to many planets, Blas was certain that Hesperia had such a ban. When humans attacked them, they were apt to become vicious and carry out repeated attacks on adults and any other perceived threat. Most people were relieved that the food shortages, a result of decades of inter-planetary wars, had resulted in the birds being hunted to extinction. Yet sportsmen cried out for the thrill of hunting the heavy birds. There was little doubt that the growing demand meant that some enterprising local had imported some of them to Hesperia, despite the laws prohibiting them. He studied the sky and saw more flocks of Galuppis in the distance; there seemed to be huge numbers of them. Whoever was behind it, this would become a sportsman’s paradise, as well as a contest between the starving locals and the birds, as to who would kill who first. It was more evidence of the disintegration of the planet that had once been a paradise.

He accelerated away, anxious to reach Peria without further delays, but he wasn’t about to get his wish.

“Constantine, over there! Those people, they look like slaves.”

He’d already seen them but had hoped she wouldn’t notice. It was a forlorn hope, her instincts of fair play and decency would prevent her from driving past. Huge areas of the countryside had been turned over to fields of burlash, the fast growing crop that had been developed in the laboratories to help feed a population starving after years of war. Needing no hydroponics, burlash could be grown almost anywhere, in any soil and in any climate.

“I expect they’re criminals, my love. It’s part of their sentence, to work in the fields. Let’s drive on.”

“But they’re chained together.”

He looked closer. “You’re right. It does seem to be brutal and excessive.”

“It’s also illegal.”

He remembered that she’d studied to be a lawyer. “I don’t suppose the law has much to say about it out here in the Hesperian countryside.”

As they drew near, the wretched state of the prisoners became even clearer. They were ragged and emaciated. All of them were fastened at the ankles with heavy, rusty iron shackles, joined to each other with a long, heavy chain.

“Stop! Stop the skimmer,” Evelyn shouted.

Blas sighed, but did as she asked. Whatever she intended, there could only be trouble. She climbed out and he followed. Two Security Bureau troopers came running up, their guns drawn but not yet aimed.

“Hey, you, you can’t stop here. It’s against the law. This is private property. Everything around here belongs to the Bose Corporation.”

The guard who spoke looked mean and dangerous. A face covered in acne had probably given him a complex that he worked hard to compensate for by being as brutal as possible to other men. No doubt women would fare even worse. He was in the right occupation, Blas reflected.

“No, it isn’t,” Evelyn replied in a firm voice.

The soldier looked perplexed. “Eh? What do you mean, it isn’t?”

“I trained as a lawyer, and the law is quite clear. Stopping anywhere on a public highway is not and cannot be made illegal anywhere in the Nine Systems. It’s against the constitution. As is putting shackles on these men. Who authorized this disgraceful chaining?”

The guard looked wary. “I can’t say, Miss. Now move along, these prisoners have work to do. Otherwise you’ll be locked up.”

“On what grounds?”

The trooper gave her an evil grin. “For your own protection, Miss, under an SB special protection order. These are dangerous times. Resistance fighters attack our soldiers, kill the natives and blow up buildings. You never know when or where an attack can come. What’s it to be, will you move on or do I take you into custody?”

“Captain Blas, Captain Blas.”

The looked across the field, a man, hardly a man, more of a skeleton, was waving his arms. He tried to move towards them, but chained to the other prisoners he couldn’t get more than two steps. Blas thought he looked familiar and he started towards him.

“You there, stop!”

The guard had drawn his pistol. “Don’t go any further, that’s private property. You take one more step and I’ll shoot. I want that man…argh.”

Evelyn called to the nearest guards. “Your friend is ill, he may need a doctor.”

It was frowned on for Orphexians to use their mental powers other than in approved cases, but rules were made to be broken. Especially in situations like this. The soldiers rushed over to attend to their squad leader while Blas floundered through the thick, prickly stands of burlash. When he reached the prisoners he was horrified to see that the crop had slashed at their bodies and limbs, they were covered in untreated wounds and suppurating sores. He reached the man.