Insubordination

“You want me to do what?” Ajax asked, his eyes jumping between Eversor and Ayla who had brought him back to her cell. Ayla’s Thorakai remains unlocked nearby. The entire back of the suit remained open for the wearer to return to at any moment. Eversor’s suit was next to hers having been moved by him to the pillbox when he retrieved his friend.

“Pilot,” Ayla said as if it was a simple order.

"You're insane.” Ajax turned around rubbing his hand through his hair, “I only ever went through training and one mission, and yet you expect me to fly a ship with no training for it, into an active combat zone where one stray rocket, missile, or burst of plasma could tear us apart?”

“We don’t have any other choice.” Eversor pleaded with his friend.

“Oh yes, we do have a choice, not listening to this Germanic!” Ajax spat. Ayla looked towards him clenching her fist before swinging towards his unarmored face. Luckily for the soldier, Eversor caught her fist in his hand protecting his friend.

“Watch it,” Eversor said calmly towards Ayla.

“You're suicidal!” Ajax snapped glancing between them, “Do you know how many holes are in that plan? What if we get shot down by our own allies, the Hephaisteion doesn’t respond, the ship doesn’t start, or the factories' defenses fire upon us if they don’t believe you? How would we even do it once inside?” Ajax asked, looking back toward Ayla with questioning eyes.

“It's either that or letting many of your own allies die pointless deaths, on a pointless battlefield.” She said

“It’s to save our comrades! Think about it, if we don’t do it they’ll resort back to throwing wave after wave of us at the facility! Do you really want to fly off of this planet with ten thousand corpses loaded up on the mors ships?” Eversor yelled as he let go of Ayla’s fist and threw his hand into the air, raising it in a dramatic fashion.

Ajax looked into his friend's eyes then back at the ground seeing the blood stained into the concrete. His boots were smeared with dirt, bloody sand, and a disgusting purple hue of coagulated blood. He knew that if the battle the next day was to go through there would be a lot more men like him. Staining their boots with the blood of their comrades, the blood of their enemy, and the blood of their friends mixed together into the mud.

“Fine… I’ll help you.” Ajax muttered, “I didn’t make that commitment back when we joined for nothing but…if this goes wrong…I guess it would be on both of us.” Ajax relented, “Now where’s that ship?”

“It’s near the other transport ships that you landed,” Ayla said gesturing her head in the general direction.

“What about Roark?” Ajax asked, looking back towards Eversor.

“Not a word.”

“Your…you're kidding me how can we not—”

“You know why, he won’t stand for working with the Germanics he’s been fighting them for decades,” Eversor said trying to plead with his friend.

“We’ve been fighting them for eight years now!” Ajax yelled back. If the pillboxes didn’t have such thick walls they would have been heard.

“We’ve been fighting every kingdom and empire under the stars for eight years! The tribes are just another enemy, don’t make this personal…Roark will. He’s lost too many of his men to them.”

“And we haven’t lost friends to them?”

“We may have, but not enough to be blinded by anger towards them.” Eversor said as he stared down his friend, almost desperate to keep what they were doing away from Roark, “Do you want him to become like Nestor?” He asked. Ajax looked between the two others in the room once more, shaking his head he sighed.

“Me and Ayla will go to the ship and see if we can get it running, meet us there if there’s something you need. Let's go, Ayla.” The two walked towards their suits reaching in first their legs to stand within the metal armor before putting their arms in. Reaching to the tips of the armored gauntlets they hooked their fingers into the rings that allowed them easier control and allowed Eversor’s sword to retract. The back of the suit began to clink before gas was expelled from the joints and crevices of the suit releasing the pressure that kept the suit from closing.

Once the suit had fully closed the two began to move. Reaching for the bent rebar once more Eversor bent it around the wrists of Ayla’s suit. Grabbing her wrists as if she was still his prisoner he led her out of the pillbox beginning the trek towards the ship.

Ajax was left standing there alone for a few moments before exiting the pillbox himself. I can’t just lie to Roark, he should know. I’m not betraying him just to—, Ajax’s thoughts ceased. Disappearing as he opened the door to the barracks seeing his commander lying on the floor in a drunken stupor. Bottles strewn around him. Ajax kneeled down to the floor, he rolled the two empty bottles of wine before grabbing the third away from Roark’s limp hand. “Roark?”

“Huh?” Roark asked with a slurred and tired voice as he was helped onto the cot he had fallen off of.

“Hey, it's me,” Ajax said softly.

“What are you doing up so late? We got… stuff to do tomorrow.” Roark asked with the same voice as he looked up at Ajax squinting. His vision is blurry and both body and mind exhausted he couldn’t even make out the face of the soldier above him.

“I could ask the same of you. You can’t get like this when we're in the field.”

“We're not in the field… we're in our beds…go back to your room.” Roark waved his hand as if shooing Ajax off.

“I…I need to tell you something?” Ajax said with a whisper as he glanced at the door and then back at him.

“What is it?”

“Eversor and Ayla are planning something, they want to pilot a ship and go over to the Germans. They seem to think that—”

“Oh…oh that's good…kids these days always…always running off together…catch up or you’ll get left behind.” The older man chuckled.

“Old man this is—”

“We can talk about it in the morning…goodnight son…don’t bother your sister,” Roark said cutting off Ajax and muttering until sleep took him. Ajax was left speechless as he gazed down at his commander with watery eyes. I…can’t do this to him. If we stay he’ll just keep…maybe if we…just go. Maybe he’d leave. Maybe, Ajax thought.

Standing up, Ajax slowly backed away entering his suit before waking to the door. Grabbing the handle he grabbed it delicately, taking one last glance back at Roark he left.

Walking towards the ships Eversor kept Ayla close as if she was still his prisoner while approaching the ships. Once they had gotten closer to the shipyard two guards took notice of them.

“Eversor, got another prisoner?” One of them asked.

“Moving her with the others, she’s too much of a troublemaker to be left alone.” Ayla rolled her eyes beneath the helmet, swiping her arm back to elbow him in the side.

“Like I said. Trouble.” The two guards shrugged their shoulders nodding back at him before gesturing for him to go through.

“Jack ass.” She whispered.

“Troublemaker.” He muttered back as they approached the Germanic ship.

“Well, you're one now too.” She spat back. Reaching the back of the ship she searched for a hidden panel, popping it open she pulled down a lever. The ship's loading ramp fell down quickly making a thud in the dirt below. Walking into the small transport the two headed towards the cockpit.

“You’ll get it up and running?” Eversor said.

“Stop stating the obvious.” She responded.

“Thank you for this.”

“For helping?”

“For the opportunity this gives us.” He clarified.

“This help does not extend past our agreement.”

“Fair enough,” Eversor said as he looked over the cockpit controls. The early morning fog was setting in as the night was nearly over. A clunking sound came from behind them pulling both of their attentions. Ajax entered the ship. Looking back at the loading ramp he grabbed a protruding metal handle and closed it behind him to not arouse suspicion.

“The moment I'm able to get this thing back on we’ll have to go immediately before your men gun us down.” Ayla said as she began flipping switches, cocking levers, and preparing everything to get a quick take off “When is the attack supposed to commence?”

“Not long from now. Two hours at most.” Ajax responded.

“Good. I'm almost done. Are you ready?”

“Like I said earlier, I've never piloted anything more than a standard transport.”

“If you were training to do that what led you to be a ground troop?”

“Insubordination.” Ajax chuckled.

“Noted, you brute,” Ayla said with a sigh.

“Both of you stop the bickering. Either we do this together or we—”

“All die?” The two cut him off at the same time. Eversor looked back at them shaking his head.

“Yes.” He said bluntly before the ship jolted to life. The engines burst to life along with the lights in the hull.

“Now!” Ayla yelled urging him to get in the cockpit. Ajax looked over the controls only for a moment before getting to work. Outside the ship guards around the ships watched a buzzing sound come from the Germanic craft.

“That ship is taking off!”

“Who’s in there?”

“What the hell is going on!”

The yelling of soldiers back and forth continued as they watched the ship come online. The buzzing ship lifted off the ground, its repulsors lifting it into the air. “We're off!” Ajax yelled as he pulled back on the controls. Lifting it into the air the ship began turning towards the direction of the facility.

“Fire on that ship! We have intruders!” One of the Romans called before opening fire on the craft with his rifle. Inside the ship, Eversor heard the pelting pops and clinks of the bullets colliding with the small ship. All the guards closest to it were unloading whatever firepower they had on them.

“Hurry it up!” Eversor called out.

“I’m rusty! Give me a second!” Ajax yelled.

“I can tell!” Ayla said.

Grabbing the controls, he jerked them back, sending the ship jolting forward even as it continued to sustain more and more fire. Alarms blared through the camp grabbing the attention of everybody nearby. Running out of the mess hall men made it to their stations assuming an enemy attack was taking place. Inside the barracks, men jumped out of their bunks running towards the armories. Inside of his cot, Roark tumbled out of his cot with a grunt.

“Eversor, Ajax, get up! We have to…Eversor? Ajax!” Roark yelled as he stumbled up off the floor grabbing the side of the bunk to support himself. Looking around he didn’t see his two men and couldn’t have possibly guessed what was going on. Thoughts swirled in his head as he vaguely remembered Ajax above him while he was drinking but beyond that, he couldn’t remember anything yet.

Bullets pelted the ship again and again as the ship flew away from the camp as fast as it could. Its glowing blue engines moved it forward onto the no man's land. The blaring sirens were replaced by voices coming from them. “All forces prepare for battle! We have been infiltrated! Prepare for an assault on the facility!” The loudspeakers yelled out as men rushed by their stations. Those in their Thorakai began to enter their armory and find their weapons. Armored soldiers ran out of the barracks finding their squads and platoons. Shouting went back and forth constantly, the camp could be described as organized chaos.

In the space above the planet, the Roman ships and Germanics continued their battle of attrition. Plasma burst back and forth tearing at the hulls of each other’s ships. Swirling around each other the ships collided not only with each other but with their own allies in the chaos. The hundreds of fighters swirling around the battle wreaked havoc like flies buzzing around a carcass taking chunks out of the enemy ships and each other.

Inside the Roman vessel Quinctilius, Admiral Valerio stood at the bridge of the massive cruiser. Surrounded by scrambling navy men and others operating the ship's controls he watched the battle before him. At this rate there won't be any ships on either side to take their men home, he thought.

“Admirable we’ve received a transmission from the base below! A spy reportedly infiltrated their base and is escaping on a ship to the facility, they’ve called upon us to send our fighters to take it out!” One of the shiphands yelled as he ran onto the bridge of the ship.

Looking out at the battle ahead he singled out one of the Germanic ship’s engines flickering and failing to propel the ship forward. The admirable smiled on. There it is. Glory and victory before me, he thought.

“Full charge towards the Germanic ship in front of us!” The admirable yelled, pointing forward at the enemy ship, his hand reaching out as if he could grasp it himself.

“But the fighters need time to readjust and move out of the way!” One of the men at the ship's controls yelled.

“A few ships lost and a damaged cruiser is well worth the price of victory, history will look upon it as a necessary sacrifice.” The admirable barked out at the man behind him. The lowly messenger gazed at the admirable with a look of revulsion as he stood there helpless to alter the state of the battle, “I gave an order!” Valerio screamed out, jolting the crew that had been silently watching into following their orders. The propulsion systems of the cruiser were sent into overdrive.

The Germanic ship with its destroyed engine floated helplessly as those on the bridge began to panic seeing the approaching Roman vessel. Everybody on the ship's bridge knew what was to come if they didn’t move. Blasting all of its plasma reserves it fired off its last resort of defense at the Roman vessel. The plasma tore into the Roman ship, tearing at its armor and blasting chunks off of it. Running around the bridge of the ship the crew scrambled to get the engine back on and avoid the incoming enemy ship. The approaching hunk of steel bashed its way through the swarms of clashing Germanic and Roman fighters that had been engaged in dog fights. Pilots with no time to react were left to be obliterated against the giants clashing.

“Brace for impact!” Valerio yelled out as the ships in a flurry of steel, plasma, and explosives collided. Bashing into its side the Germanic ship crumpled, nearly being torn in half against the Roman vessel. Whether or not any fighters were left to breach through the blockade and aid the camp below was yet to be seen.

Flying out of firing range from the beach the trio’s small ship picked up speed flying towards the facility as fast as it could. The ship soared over the no man's land, trenches, and firing lines. Germanic soldiers watched from below holding their fire as they left it up to the facility to handle them. The ignis cannons defending the walls of the facility and the larger ones in no man's land prepared to fire at the incoming ship when ordered.

Inside of the cockpit, Eversor held onto the ceiling railing while Ayla reached forward pushing down on one of the larger blue buttons. Sweat ran down her face under the helmet as she expected at any moment for plasma to come raining down on them.

“This is Colonel Ayla Glasner! Hold your fire!” She yelled into the speaker frantic knowing what could come at any moment. Inside the command room, the men rushing around taking in radio calls, directing orders, and preparing for the coming attack heard the message come in.

“It's a colonel!” One yelled.

“From the beach?” Another asked.

“I thought all of them were killed or captured! Is this really Colonel Glasner?” The communications officer yelled out into the microphone.

“It is! I’ve escaped the Roman camp, I have valuable information on their plan of attack! Please don’t open fire, we’ll try and make a landing in the shipyard!” Eversor listened to the conversation between Ayla and the communications officer while looking out at the slowly approaching facility.

The barbed wire, trenches, mortars, and every other defense that the Germans had set up made a shiver run down the soldier's mind. He knew that any approaching legionaries, fighter ships, and even special units would be slaughtered. Their legions would be smoked across the battlefield at some innumerable cost before they ever reached the facility.

The static radio went silent after Ayla had spoken. The entire cockpit was dead silent waiting for something to come through the line when the ship jolted to the right. The starboard side of the small transport erupted into flames from one spurt of a passing Roman fighter. The three in the cockpit watched in shock as five Roman fighters fell from the gray lighting filled clouds above.

“How are they here? Did you guys take out our fleet?” Ayla yelled over the ship's alarms and rattles as the weakened vessel tried to keep itself from falling apart.

Ajax thought for a moment before shaking his head, “No or we’d see the entire fleet coming down! The operators in the camp must have called for whatever support they could get to take us out.”

“That doesn’t explain how they broke through the blockade!” Ayla retorted as she was looking back at Eversor when the cockpit window went dark for a split second pulling her attention back.

As Ajax looked at the sight in front of him his hands shook around the control stick. From the sky, hundreds of crumbling, exploding, destroyed Roman and Germanic fighter ships came tumbling out of the heavens. Like a meteor shower, the ships were an endless stream of burning metal crashing down into the facility and no man's land.

After only a few seconds of looking out at the horror that was seeing countless ships colliding with the ground and continuously falling out of the sky, colossal bursts of fire came their way. Soaring through the sky like siege weapons of old they watched the falling ships turn into globs of melting metal when they were hit. The melted ships collide with the ground smashing into trenches, men, supplies, provisions, and landmines that explode in a flurry of fire.

Running across the deep trenches men fired up at the Roman ships that were pursuing what they assumed was their own ally. Whizzing around the small vessel the Roman fighters dodged and weaved around the falling ships, trying to take out the small vessel Ajax’s controls were stretched to the limit as he jerked the center stick.

“Are they firing at us or at the ships?” Ajax yells out whipping to the side and dodging a shot of fire before jerking down avoiding an incoming ship then soaring up avoiding another Roman fighter.

“At us!” Ayla yelled before being thrown out of her seat by a violet twisting to the right. Eversor behind her was whipped back slamming into the walls and floor. With nothing to grab onto besides an out of reach railing. Ajax watched as two of the ignis canons fired simultaneously towards them. With not a moment to think Ajax pushed his thumb onto the button on the top of the control stick. The ship jolted forward with a brief burst of speed. Turning the ship sideways the ship flew between the two balls of fire, the heat making the ship’s walls almost melt.

“Hold on!” Ajax screamed out as the ship made repeated barrel rolls spinning out of control. The ship just inches above the walls of the facility, skims the top. “Bloody hell!!!” The ship skipped across the top of the facility’s buildings. Like a stone, it collided with more and more structures. Inside the ship, the right side fully ripped open air swirling inside of it. Bouncing off the wall Eversor reached for a bar that slipped out of his grasp letting him fly towards the opening of the ship. Ayla watched as she grabbed onto the railing. Looking towards Eversor she turned a blind eye.

Letting go of the rail Ayla fell towards the hole in the ship to grab Eversor’s hand and grip onto a different rail. The whirling sound of the wind, the shriek of the scraping metal against the structures, and the deafening alarms of the ship didn’t allow either to say a word. All that was exchanged was a simple nod at each other before she pulled him back into the ship.

“Brace, yourselves!” Ajax roared out moments before the ship collided with the factory’s main structure.

For Eversor everything went black as his body collided with the ground.