Chapter 18
A Matter of Honor
It all began the next evening as the work day at the factories came to a close. The Noelmians who worked in the two cruiser factories revolted against their Tragadomian supervisors. A bloody battle ensued in which there were casualties on both sides.Tragadomian soldiers from the nearby base sped to the factories on flying platforms. They arrived just in time to prevent some Noelmian workers from flying away in a recently-completed battle cruiser. The Tragadomians were forced to destroy the cruiser in order to keep it out of enemy hands. Before the cruiser was blown apart, Noelmians on board had used the laser cannons to exact a high price from the Tragadomians. Sixty-seven Tragadomian soldiers were killed by the cannons, and many more were wounded.In the end, the Noelmians were unable to steal any battle cruisers from those factories. However, the Tragadomians suffered heavy losses in that fight. Simultaneous with the uprising at the cruiser factories, the Noelmians in the weapons factory revolted. They were more successful than their allies at the cruiser factories. These Noelmians managed to steal several hundred laser pistols and rifles. Some were killed before they escaped from the factory grounds, but most managed to break free and head toward the tent village of the Emerald Warrior crew. Tragadomians on flying platforms were only able to cut down a few of these Noelmians in the race for the Emerald Warrior camp. The Noelmians were too well-armed for the platforms to be effective.Morley sent the signal to Roarke to join the battle. Roarke immediately acknowledged that his unit was ready. Roarke, Landen, and Francis stood on a wide ledge on the eastern face of the Golden Mountains. From that vantage point, they could clearly see the Crystal Palace off in the distance, glittering in the evening sun. The sight was both terrible and beautiful.Most of Roarke's unit was on board the large shuttlecraft from the Emerald Warrior. Donovan sat in the pilot's seat of that shuttlecraft. At Roarke's command, Donovan lifted off in the craft and flew toward the palace.To the south, bugles sounded in the mountains. Noelmian mountain camps were beginning their charge. The bugle blasts proclaimed the start of what later generations would call "The Battle for the Crystal Palace."Standing outside of his command tent, Morley watched the advance of his troops. There could be no stopping now, he understood. By their actions that day, the Emerald Warrior crew was no longer protected by the promise of Haden. The witch-captain was now free to kill them all. Morley was certain that Baalson would strike quickly and ruthlessly against the Emerald Warrior crew."Never surrender," Morley told his officers. "Let that be our battle cry. If we never surrender, we can never be defeated. The worst thing that our enemies can do to us is to kill us, but that is only a temporary setback because we shall rise again and be victorious."As Morley's troops advanced northeast, Donovan's shuttlecraft opened fire on the Tragadomian base that had been built between the factories and the Crystal Palace in the event that such an uprising occurred. Donovan severely damaged the base by using the three heavy cannons mounted on his craft. Then, spotting Tragadomian cruisers coming up from the south, he veered to the north.Donovan decided to test the defenses of the Crystal Palace. Staying a quarter-mile above the ground, Donovan skimmed the shuttle along the western perimeter of the palace grounds. As he passed, Donovan directed fire from his heavy cannons at the palace. Although he scored several direct hits, there was no visible damage.Francis sent Donovan a telepathic message. "Do not fire on the Crystal Palace, Linus. It is useless to do so. You cannot destroy the palace. No mortal can. The Crystal Palace was built by supernatural power and is sustained by that same power."Because of the message, Donovan did not make another pass at the palace. Instead, he diverted the shuttlecraft north. Three battle cruisers were rapidly closing in from the south. Although the shuttlecraft that he now piloted had more laser cannons than his previous shuttle, Donovan knew that he still did not have sufficient firepower to engage three battle cruisers in a dogfight.Still, he was forced to do battle with them. Flying in a triangular formation, the lead cruiser overtook the shuttlecraft. Donovan blasted the lead cruiser with all three of his laser cannons, obliterating the Tragadomian craft.The other two battle cruisers came bolting in with their guns blazing. The shuttlecraft was severely damaged by the heavy fire. Almost all navigating capacity of the ship was lost. Donovan immediately realized that a crash landing would be necessary.Guiding the shuttlecraft to the northeast, Donovan scanned the ground for a good place to set down. Meanwhile, the two battle cruisers had doubled back to make another bombing run.Donovan sent the craft skimming into an open field about a mile from the town. Everyone aboard was jolted by the impact of the crash landing, but no one was injured. "Everyone out!" Donovan shouted. "Get out quickly and run far from this shuttle!"The shuttle crew obeyed the order. They had managed to run fifty yards from the shuttle before it was destroyed by the two battle cruisers.Donovan looked back at the smouldering ruins of the shuttlecraft. "Damn! That's the second shuttle that I've lost this week." Using the sound psychological practice of joking during battle in order to relieve anxiety, Donovan added, "They're going to take away my pilot's license if I keep doing this."Adams laughed. "At the very least your insurance rates should go up."Donovan chuckled. He knew that only his great skill as a pilot had saved their lives on both occasions. Donovan was certain that both shuttle crews fully understood this as well.The shuttle crew spotted several hundred Noelmians coming from the direction of the town. The Noelmians were traveling southwest, along the same route that Triamber had traveled with the group carrying supplies to the Crystal Palace.Donovan and his crew joined the Noelmians in their trek across the plain. The Noelmians carried a variety of weapons ranging from crossbows to laser rifles.They explained to the shuttle crew that they had defeated the guards posted at the gates of the fence which surrounded the town. Many of the guards in towers were killed silently by arrows fired from crossbows.Although the Tragadomians had been careful to keep laser weapons out of the hands of the Noelmian populace, the Tragadomians had no way to prevent Noelmians craftsmen from making basic weapons like crossbows, spears, and knives. Many Noelmians kept such weapons hidden in their homes so that they would have some means of self-defense in case the Tragadomians decided to carry out a genocidal policy against them.Today, it was with those weapons that the Noelmians broke out of the town. They soon improved their weaponry by taking the laser rifles and pistols from the dead Tragadomian guards. Now, in union with the shuttle crew, they marched toward the Crystal Palace.Haden saw all that was happening. He looked with sympathy at the gathering army which sought to end his reign; their cause was hopeless. Haden could not be killed. Only the Creator could undo His creation.Haden had known about the uprising before it began, but he had not told the witch-captain. If Baalson had received advance knowledge of the revolt, he would have ruthlessly crushed the usurpers before their revolt gained any momentum. Thousands of Noelmians would have been slaughtered.Haden would not permit this to happen. For this reason, he had not summoned Tragadomian troops from bases on the opposite side of the planet. Against such massive numbers of troops, the Noelmians would be overwhelmed and massacred.I never intended to bring misery to Noelm, Haden reflected glumly. I only had one goal. That goal was good, but I had no right to use Noelm to achieve it. Everything went wrong. The wrong can be righted, though. I can still attain my goal, too. There is still hope that I can return to the Throne of Grace. How I long to return to the Throne of Grace.Although the battle raging on the plain had effectively confined the witch-captain to the Crystal Palace, he had no intention of remaining a spectator in this struggle. He sat in his chambers with Miriam and planned strategy.Because Francis had used telepathy to communicate with Donovan in the shuttlecraft, Baalson had been able to monitor their communication. His thoughts briefly focused on Donovan seated in the pilot's seat, but Baalson quickly dismissed any ideas of directing his power against the Irish lieutenant. The battle cruisers would remove the threat posed by Donovan in the shuttlecraft.The witch-captain formed a mental image of the three men at the other end of the telepathic bond. He could see Landen, Francis, and Roarke standing on a ledge overlooking the battle field. Baalson did not know Roarke, but the sorcerer could tell that the man was a high-ranking Western Alliance officer by the insignia on his uniform.Baalson transferred the image to Miriam. "Who is that officer with Landen and Francis?" Baalson asked her."I don't know," she said. "He wasn't one of the men who came to my home.""He holds a communication device. He is helping Morley coordinate the battle." The witch-captain walked across the room. He removed a key attached to chain around his neck. "What are you going to do?" Miriam asked as she watched her husband stoop to unlock an ancient trunk. She hated the contents of that trunk."I am going to strike against the leaders of the revolution," he told her. "Once the leaders are removed, the revolt will fall apart. First, I'll attack the three on the ledge. Then, I'll locate and destroy Morley."The witch-captain opened the lid of the trunk. Inside were a saber, some scrolls, and other objects that he used to perform black magic. The saber was his most prized possession, but on this evening, the scrolls were more useful to him."Don't use anything from that trunk!" Miriam pleaded with him. "Every time you use black magic, you become more deeply committed to it. You will soon be irreversibly bound."Baalson laughed. "I reached that point long ago, my dear. If I tried to pull away now, I would come to an end of indescribable horror.""There must still be some way that you could escape," Miriam insisted. "A good start would be to refrain from using black magic against those men on the ledge. You never even met the third man. Why would you want to kill someone whom you don't even know?""Because he is a threat to me!" the witch-captain replied sharply. He disliked debating these matters with his wife. "This discussion is ended. Now sit back and enjoy the show. I'll transfer an image of the proceedings to you so that you can watch the curtain call of Peter the Good." Miriam walked to the door of the chamber. "I want nothing to do with this foul act." She left the room.The sorcerer turned his attention to the contents of the trunk. Some of the scrolls he had not used for years; some he had never used. The magic in those scrolls was so dark and so terrible that it frightened even him. In previous years, he had doubted that he could control the magic. Now he believed that he was strong enough to do so.The witch-captain tried to decide which scroll to use. He considered using one whose magic would teleport him from one place to another. He could suddenly materialize on the mountain ledge and quickly kill Landen and Roarke. Francis might be fast enough to stop me, though, he realized. Briefly, he speculated about using another scroll that would hurl a wall of flame at the trio. However, Francis was also capable of blocking the flame.Finally, Baalson decided to use a scroll that he had used previously. This was not the time to experiment with new spells. The scroll that he selected contained a chant that changed the natural to the unnatural, the straight to the crooked, the pure to the impure.Baalson understood that the spell was more powerful than the simple uses to which he had applied it. The previous year, by using this spell, he had fouled the waters of the streams in the Golden Mountains. He had contaminated those streams in hope of poisoning the runaway Noelmian slaves who had taken refuge in the mountains. He feared that one day those runaways would unite in rebellion against him, and today those fears were proven justified.The spell had not been successful. While some of the streams flowing out of the mountains into the eastern plains remained contaminated, the streams flowing westward contained pure water. Baalson was certain that Francis had used his powers to cleanse those waters.The witch-captain picked up the chosen scroll. I wish that I knew how to make full use of this spell's magic, he thought. I will do as much as I know how, though.He began to chant the words written on the scroll. As he sang the inscription, he visualized his three enemies standing on the ledge. Boulders and stones from the peaks above them came loose and hurtled down the mountain. The spell was converting the solid to the unstable, the whole to the unwhole.Roarke looked up in horror at the large rocks which were crashing all around them. "The entire mountain is coming down on us!"Francis raised his hands. The avalanche of rocks fell harmlessly into a chasm, missing the men entirely.Not easily deterred, the witch-captain continued to chant. The ledge on which the trio stood started to crumble. Landen grabbed Roarke as the first officer slid toward the chasm.Francis broke the spell. The ledge again became solid beneath their feet.Realizing the futility of his efforts, the witch-captain ceased chanting."They won't always have you with them to protect them from me," Baalson told Francis telepathically."Adrian Baalson has been watching us ever since I spoke to Linus," Francis said to his two companions. "What the witch-captain did not know was that I was watching him also. I saw him unroll the profane scroll that he used against us." Baalson flung the scroll back into the trunk. His frustration was almost as great as it had been when Triamber's body had been snatched away from him. No one had ever escaped him previously. He had been a killer with a perfect record.Troy Roarke walked back toward the main encampment on the plateau. He had held back the second, smaller shuttlecraft until the course of battle clarified the best manner to deploy that shuttle. Because the larger shuttlecraft had been destroyed and no additional shuttles had been captured, Rugert's shuttle was the only one available to their side. Roarke decided that his small unit should merge with the large command post. Everyone boarded the shuttlecraft, and Rugert flew them down to Morley's encampment.After landing at the command post, Roarke, Rugert, and Francis went to confer with Morley. Landen was the last person to disembark from the shuttlecraft. Standing a few yards from the craft, a slim woman waited for him.His wife rushed into his arms as he came out of the shuttle. "Oh, Peter! I have you back again! For a while, I was afraid that you were lost to me!""There was no chance that I would perish," Landen said. "I had a good protector. Even when I came to Noelm the last time, he was here and was guarding me."Susan mistakenly thought that Landen was referring to the mystical bond that existed between Triamber and himself. That bond had been strong enough to extend across the vastness of space."I was so sorry to hear about Triamber," she consoled him. "I know that you loved him. I loved him, too."Landen stroked her hair. "Triamber is at peace. Rather than weep for him, we should rejoice that he is being rewarded with unending happiness.""We might soon be joining him," Susan said."We'll join him one day, but I think that reunion will take place many years from now.""How is this battle going to end, Peter?" she asked."That will depend on what Haden chooses," Landen said. "Haden stands at a crossroads: the path offered by Francis leads to life; the path offered by the witch-captain leads to death.""I hope that Haden makes the correct decision," Susan said. "And I hope that he makes it soon. Captain Morley is not pleased with how the battle has been going. We've taken heavy casualties. I've been working as a nurse since the battle began. The nursing tents are filled with the wounded." She glanced at her watch. "In fact, I'd better get back to my post."Landen kissed her passionately before they parted. While she hurried toward the nursing tents, Landen went into the command tent. The men inside were discussing battle strategy.Morley stood up and clasped Landen's hands. "It's good to have you back, Peter," he said warmly. "We really need you today.""Thank you, sir, but others in this tent can provide you with more help than I can," Landen said. "What are the latest developments, Captain?" "Things are not going as well as I hoped. We've surrounded the outer walls of the palace, but we can't break through the steel gates. The Tragadomians are bringing in reinforcements from distant bases. If we don't seize the palace grounds before those reinforcements arrive, our troops will be crushed between the two armies." "Those steel gates aren't sustained by the power of Haden," Landen said. "We should be able to break through the gates." "Yes, but even if we are able to demolish the gates, the Tragadomian reinforcements could follow us onto the palace grounds," Morley explained. "Essentially, our problem is how to destroy the gates, capture the palace grounds, and then seal off the grounds so that the Tragadomians can't retake the palace.""I have a proposal, Captain Morley," Rugert said.Everyone turned to look at the Noelmian engineer who sat near a corner of the tent with the members of his engineering team. "You have the floor, Mr. Rugert," Morley said. "I propose a variation of the Trojan horse strategy. The shuttlecraft will be our Trojan horse. We can hide about twenty soldiers beneath the false bottom of the craft. There is a large cargo hold beneath the floor of the crew cabin. The Eastern Alliance had us design the craft in that manner so that the shuttle could carry many weapons and supplies. "My engineers and I will ram the shuttle through the gates. Then we will fight the Tragadomians at the wall with our laser weapons. While they are distracted, the men inside the cargo hold can slip out the small door near the bottom of the craft. They can assist our soldiers outside the steel wall get onto the palace grounds."If I am able to make the crash landing properly, the shuttlecraft will become an effective blockade of the gap caused by the destruction of the gates. We can keep out the Tragadomian reinforcements, while at the same time allow our own troops to pass through small openings on either side of the shuttlecraft." Morley was stunned by Rugert's proposal. "You and your engineers would be killed if you attempted to carry out that plan. I won't send anyone under my command on a suicide mission." "It would not be a suicide mission, sir," Rugert insisted. "We would have a good chance of surviving." "Are your men willing to participate in this mission?" Morley asked, scanning the faces of the engineers in order to ascertain whether any of them were being coerced into volunteering.Each engineer stood and requested permission to participate in the mission. Morley was impressed by their courage."Your plan has a chance of working," Morley said. "I'm inclined to try it because I have no other options. However, I don't want you to volunteer for this mission because you feel guilty about helping the Eastern Alliance build their spaceships. Mr. Landen and I understand that your misjudgment was caused by good intentions, and we do not hold your mistake against you.""Captain Morley, in order for a thief to be forgiven, he must make restitution. My engineers and I have stolen nothing, so we cannot make restitution. Going on this mission is the closest that we can come to making restitution. Allow us to regain our honor. Allow us to go on this mission." Morley paused, then said, "Permission granted."
