Fourth Vector Ch. 28

"Ah, but you've only dealt with a tiny portion of Swabian strength," said Adalbert. "You overestimate your homeland's importance. So do all that fight against Swabia. You people love to hate us, but that hate is only borne out of fear. Fear of being conquered."

"I can assure you there's no fear here," said Jack with firm glare.

"No, no, there isn't," said Adalbert softly as he regarded him. "You haven't seen true fear yet. But you'll find out shortly. Where we're going, you'll see all about fear. And maybe then, you'll realize that it's pointless to continue to resist."

"That's not something I'm going to be able to do," said Jack simply. "Sorry to disappoint you."

Adalbert sneered. "Wait until we get to our first destination. Then you'll see. We should be there tomorrow. And then I think you're going to see how hopeless your position really is."

"First destination?" asked Jack with a confused tone. "I thought we were going to Swabia."

"We are, Jack. But first, we're going to make a supply stop in Naxos. You've heard of Naxos, haven't you, Jack?"

Of course he'd heard of Naxos. Their plight had been told to him a year ago by Heron, and then in bits and pieces by Kat ever since. Naxos was a small island right on the doorstep of Swabia. It straddled the trading routes between Apulia and Picardy, and for that reason, the Nax had been a lucrative stop for traders in the years before the war with Swabia.

Their wealth was what led to them being conquered. The island was fully subjugated by the Swabians just over two years ago, the majority of the people having been used for slave labor in Swabia ever since. From all reports, Naxos was a bleak place without a future. The only power they knew was what came on the hard side of a Swabian boot.

"We'll be in Naxos for only a day or two," said Adalbert as he stood up and approached the door. "It'll be good for you, Jack. Perhaps then you'll see it's futile to keep fighting Swabian power. You'll see what broken people truly look like."

*****

When Jack didn't come back after his check on the front lines, it was Kat who was the first to get worried. She'd been alone in the palace for most of the morning while Abigail caught up on some work on theDestiny, but she certainly noticed when Jack wasn't back by the usual time they had breakfast. Figuring that something had come up, she ate alone, getting some much needed nourishment into her growing figure.

It was midmorning when she knew something was definitely wrong. Short of a battle, there was no reason why Jack wouldn't have checked in by now. She grabbed the radio that he'd given her at one time and called out on the frequency he used when on land.

Nobody answered.

Feeling panicked, Kat reached out to Abigail and waited for the other woman to come back ashore.

"How long has it been?" asked Abigail once she reentered their shared room.

"He left at dawn and it's nearly noon," explained Kat. "He's not answering the radio. Something isn't right, Abigail. I can just feel it."

The two women rushed to find Greg, who was already eating a meager lunch in his quarters. From there, the search was on. Greg alerted every officer in the marine force and had them check in on whether they'd seen Jack that morning. None of them reported seeing him, an especially worrying sentiment for the three of them.

Aedan was alerted next, as was the leadership of the Carinthian force, General Barca. Orders were given to check the entire city for the missing admiral. By the time the sun set over the capital city, no one could find Jack or figure out what had happened to him.

"He has to be here somewhere," consoled Aedan to both Abigail and Kat nearly an hour before midnight. "We'll keep looking. He can't just disappear and he wouldn't leave his ships willingly."

"That's what I fear," said Abigail as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Something had to happen. He wouldn't do something like this, especially not without checking in."

Kat nodded firmly to that statement. She'd seen better days as well, her hair more disheveled than usual. "I agree, he wouldn't have just left without telling anyone or taking a ship. It has to be the Swabians. We know how close their lines are. What are the chances that they got to him when he was doing his check-ins?"

Aedan shook his head softly. "I'd have a hard time believing that. They'd have to get past our lines to do that. And it would have to be several of them to not only have a chance of taking Jack by surprise, disarming him, and getting him back without Jack making a ruckus. To me, that seems like an unlikely outcome."

"It's the only thing that makes sense right now," pressed Kat.

Aedan nodded reluctantly. "Listen, I'll have my men keep searching as best they can throughout the night. I know that Greg has promised the same with your marines. He's out there, and we'll find him. But for now, let's get some rest, at least as much as we can."

Abigail gave him an incredulous look. "Do you really think I'm going to be able to sleep right now?"

Aedan took a deep breath. "As much as you can. It's been a long day and we're all exhausted. Let's try to get some rest and we'll restart again tomorrow."

It took a little more convincing from the king before Abigail and Kat were able to give it a chance. They pulled together in the bed they shared with Jack. There was so much extra space without him, so they moved together closely while Abigail rested her head against Kat's shoulder.

"Where is he, Kat?" she asked, her voice in a low whisper once the light had been put out.

Kat closed her eyes and held the other woman tighter. "We'll find him. We have to."

Despite her own words, Kat wasn't sure just how much she believed them.

"You found him once, right?" offered Abigail. "Even if the Swabians have him, we can find him again."

Kat shuddered at the thought of the Swabians having him. She knew what they did to prisoners of war. Especially an important one like Jack. If they truly had him, he wouldn't be alive for long.

"We'll find him," repeated Kat. "If it's the last thing I do, we'll find him."

She felt the bed rock gently as Abigail cried beside her. A few tears of her own slipped down Kat's cheek before she wiped them away. The bed didn't rock for long. Abigail's sheer exhaustion from a physical and mental perspective meant she carried off to sleep moments later. Kat wished she could be so lucky. She laid there awake for the better part of an hour before sleep took her.

The entire time, she rested her hand on the small bump in her lower stomach. Right now, it was the only physical connection she had to Jack. Their child grew just underneath, and she was determined that this child would know his father. She'd come all this way, searched all these years, and put her life on the line too many times.

It just couldn't end like this. She couldn't lose Jack after all they'd been through.

She wouldn't let that happen.

*****

Unfortunately for them, the search yielded no results the next day despite a more thorough search. Aedan even gave permission for his men to start searching entire blocks of houses within the part of the city they still controlled. By sundown, the entire city had been searched.

No one resembling Jack had been found.

The search continued onward from there, but never with as much heart on the Picard or Carinthian side. They knew he wasn't in the city, and that could only mean one thing—the Swabians had him.

Neither Kat nor Abigail was as quick to give up hope but their options were becoming more limited by the day. It was only on the fourth day of the search that some meager results were found.

Jack's radio that he usually kept clipped to his belt was found down a dark alley. It had been smashed, most likely against a wall, and laid in several pieces on the street.

For Kat, it was all the confirmation she needed. She paled at hearing the news, knowing exactly what it meant.

On the evening of that fourth day, a small council had gathered to discuss what to do about Jack. Kat and Abigail were there, as were Greg and Dustin from the marines. Vera was there, her eyes just as red as the other women's. She'd been an integral part of the search as well, not wanting to lose her brother just a couple weeks after he'd returned to Picardy.

From the Picard side, Aedan and Neil were there as well to discuss their options. They were now briefing the rest of the group on their results.

"I've had every regiment check in this evening," explained Neil. "Of course, quite a few of them knew who Jack was so they didn't need much of a description. The only problem there is they've already searched the city two days ago. When our hands came up empty with that, many of them are of the opinion he's no longer inside the city, an opinion that I now share."

"And if he's not, that means he's probably on the other side. With the Swabians," whispered Vera.

Neil nodded. "Unfortunately, our forces are rather limited right now with what we can send outside our lines. With Daban being the only Picard soil that we control, it becomes problematic to think about sending our scouts to the countryside."

"Not to say we haven't though," chimed in Aedan. "We have several agents that have crossed the lines already. Mostly spies, which is how we can get an accurate estimate on the amount of Swabians on the other side."

"Have the spies heard anything?" asked Abigail. "I would imagine if they captured someone like Jack, they wouldn't exactly keep that one a secret. Even the rank and file must know of something as big as that one."

"They didn't give any indication that they knew," said Neil while shaking his head. "Even capturing a big fish like Jack should mean that word escapes out to the common soldiers. But the spies have reported no such talk."

"He's not a big fish," said Vera angrily. "He's my brother. He's the Galician king!"

Neil winced. "Forgive my words, Vera. I just meant that he's important enough to be noticed is all."

Kat reached out and gently rubbed Vera's back. "It's okay," she said consolingly before turning back to Neal. "I think we're all a little on edge this week."

Aedan nodded. "It's understandable. But Neil is ultimately correct. The other side gives no indication that they've gotten their hands on someone like Jack."

"Perhaps it was a covert operation then," suggested Greg. "Maybe this was something they didn't intend to be common knowledge."

"It's certainly possible," said Aedan. "Although, I would think the morale value of capturing an enemy commander would outweigh the rest of the benefits. I'd be hard-pressed to believe they would miss the chance to gloat about it."

"What if we're dealing with someone operating outside the chain of command?" asked Dustin. "What if this is a lone wolf who captured Jack?"

Greg gave his second-in-command a wary look. It wasn't so much for what he'd just suggested but it was more so about news that he received from home that would affect Dustin. He filed that bit away for after the council and addressed his question head-on.

"I just have trouble believing a lone wolf could take on Jack one-to-one," said Greg.

"As do I," said Aedan. "This would have to involve a few men at most to make sure they got out of the city without anyone seeing anything."

Kat started to pale. "There is one possibility here," she said, looking over at Vera. Only Vera would know for sure what Kat was suggesting.

Vera wouldn't even look back at Kat.

"What's that, Katherine?" asked Aedan.

"A death squad," said Kat softly. "It's the favored way for the Swabians to deal with individuals that they wish to eliminate."

"I thought that was only used for traitors," said Aedan. "Do you really think they would go after Jack with such a force?"

Kat shrugged. "It seems to fit our theory. One man would never have been able to get Jack out of the city by himself. If the Swabian army on the other side of the line doesn't know, then that seems to suggest to me that this is the work of a small group of men. Death squads are a definite probability."

"And the Swabians have to know who Jack is by now," said Vera with a hollow tone, her eyes glued to the table. "After Sorella, Andalucia, and now Picardy, he's done enough damage to their plans. A death squad makes sense."

"What exactly is this death squad?" asked Dustin.

"A group of five men—all trained killers," said Kat. "They've been around for centuries, as long as the Swabian state has been in existence. They have two purposes, although one purpose has been more prevalent recently. They go after traitors to the Swabian state mostly. Anyone who betrays their homeland and seeks to run, they will go after and bring back to Swabia to face a gruesome death."

"What was the other purpose?" asked Greg.

Kat gave him a terse look. "They used to go after important figures that fought for their enemies. Kings, generals, statesmen, and the like. They were exceptionally potent during the last Swabian war, even killing a Galician general during the Siege of Dagobern."

"This is true, but they haven't let loose with that kind of death squad in over five hundred years, Katherine," interjected Aedan. "We have no reason to believe that they've done that for Jack."

"But he has caused a lot of damage to their plans," replied Kat. "It's certainly plausible and not something that we should rule out."

"You're not wrong, but usually the death squads were sent by the Swabian emperor," said Aedan. "Lord Avila hasn't been emperor long enough to get a death squad in place for Jack."

That had been relatively recent news for all of them, only making it to Picardy a few days ago, and only because a captured Swabian soldier spilled the news before the official diplomatic cables could come through. Lord Avila had made a strategic move with his forces against the Swabian capital city of Dagobern and captured it, putting the old emperor to death.

The news had been poorly received in Daban since Avila was the main architect of the war against the country. Now that he had the resources of the entire empire at his disposal, the prospects for continuing the war became bleak indeed.

"True, but we know that Avila has had designs on the emperor's throne for a long time," countered Kat. "It's entirely possible he created his own death squads before he officially became emperor."

"If that is the case, are we to assume they are taking him back to Swabia?" asked Neil. "Will they take him to Dagobern?"

Kat nodded slowly. "If it was a death squad, they will report to the emperor. They will most certainly take him back to Avila."

The room went silent. None of them were prepared to say anything in response to that. All knew just what kind of fate was likely to reach Jack if he arrived in the heart of Swabian power.

"So what do we do about it?" asked Abigail finally, finding the courage to look everyone in the room in the eyes. "We can't give up on Jack. Even if he is on the way to Swabia right now, there has to be something we can do!"

Aedan shook his head. "I don't know what we could do if that was the case. We can barely contain the Swabians here. Our chances get a lot more bleak the closer we get to Swabia. If Jack is on his way there, he is quite out of reach for us."

Abigail stood up and smacked her hand against the wooden table. "That's not good enough!"

Tension filled the room as all eyes settled on the upset Javan commander.

"I will take the rest of the task force if I have to," continued Abigail. "I will pursue any Swabian forces all the way back to Dagobern, wherever it is, in order to find Jack."

"You'll be outnumbered and outgunned," said Aedan. "The Swabian navy is still out there somewhere. They've bloodied enough of our naval forces months ago. Your ships are impressive, but there aren't enough of them to take on the entire Swabian navy by yourselves."

"Well, there must be something that can be done," shot back Abigail. "I won't leave Jack to face certain death on his own."

With those words, she turned heel and stormed out of the room.

*****

The rest of the council didn't last long after Abigail stormed out. In fact, Greg was one of the last to leave, shortly after Kat and Vera went after Abigail. Since Aedan and Neil had to attend to the supply situation within the city, that left Greg with Dustin as they left the palace.

The air was already somber because of Jack, and it would get no better with the news that Greg had just received from Java. He'd already shared the news with Dustin about the disturbances in Tyrol some weeks ago. The only problem now was that Tyrol was in open rebellion, and the war between the Javans and their one-time allies was heating up to disastrous proportions.

It was made even more dangerous because a good portion of Greg's force was Tyrolean. If they all knew that Tyrol was in rebellion, would they continue to fight for Java? If they refused to fight, the situation in Daban would quickly crumble. Any hopes of an offensive to push the Swabians out of the city would have to be put on hold and any counterattacks by the Swabians could push them right into the sea.

It was a desperate position but he couldn't hold back news of what was happening from Dustin. His second-in-command might be a little unorthodox but Dustin was a good man at heart. Greg was willing to gamble that the news in Tyrol wouldn't take away his fighting spirit, but he knew that if Dustin found out about Tyrol on his own, and found out that Greg kept it from him, their relationship might never recover from such a bomb.

"Where do you think Jack really is?" asked Dustin, interrupting Greg from his thoughts. "Do you really think the Swabians have him?"

Greg nodded. "It's the only thing that makes sense right now. Knowing Jack, he wouldn't just disappear on us. Nor would he leave his radio behind willingly."

Dustin nodded. "That's what I fear the most. I get the impression that Jack is the linchpin that keeps this whole thing together. Without him, what the hell are we going to do?"

"We do our best to find him," said Greg firmly. "We keep searching everyday. And we keep our ears open for any word of him. It's all we can do right now."

"I suppose," said Dustin sullenly.

"Listen, I have to share another piece of news with you," said Greg, choosing his words wisely. "Something you're going to want to hear."

Dustin raised his eyebrow. "About what?"

"Tyrol."

Dustin's walk slowed. He stopped to look at Greg. "What now? What's the latest that you've heard? More bloodshed?"

To his credit, Dustin knew what was going on there to some degree. He knew Javan forces had to be stationed in Tyrol because of escalating tensions. The news had troubled him to some degree earlier on but Greg wasn't surprised that Dustin had an inkling of where this was going.

"I guess it's degenerated into open warfare," said Greg. "I've received word that they stationed several marine regiments in Tyrol to augment the forces of the regular army. Bancroft gave the decision to send in the marines. My guess is that he thought the Tyroleans wouldn't fight back against the marines like they did the army."

Dustin shook his head. "They must not know that Tyrol wouldn't make a distinction like that. A Javan is a Javan, whether he wears an army uniform or a marine one."

Greg nodded. "Several marine regiments have been ambushed in the mountain towns of Tyrol. From what I've heard, there were enough losses to send a larger force. More army and marine forces are on the way."

"I should've known it would come to this," said Dustin after a moment of silence. "Tyrol isn't going to be subdued easily. It always takes a war before that can happen."

"It looks like that war is now here," said Greg. "I've heard of a few places where the marines took grievous losses."