Fourth Vector Ch. 44

Reynolds was meant for greater things than going after rebel farmers and merchants.

He was about to bag the biggest rebel of them all.

*****

Trevor Downing had never seen anything like the sight in front of him right now.

In fact, the building that he was now standing in was quite unlike anything that existed in Tyrol.

For one, it was made almost entirely out of stone--marble to be exact. It had tall, white marble columns that were perched thirty feet into the air, and judging by the count, there were at least a hundred of them.

The roof of the building was colored in faded frescoes of a time long since passed. Just about every scene showed man's interaction with the gods in some form or another--from gaining the wisdom of the gods through various physical and mental exploits to tales of caution and guidance passed down through the ages.

The reason there was nothing quite like this temple in Tyrol was also because this temple was unique to Thessaly alone. It was a monument to their past, a time when the free men of Thessaly worshiped multiple gods and goddesses. This was a time before the Javan conquest, when the Thessalian pantheon was cast aside in favor of worship of the singular Javan god, the same god that the Tyroleans recognized as their own.

Of all the peoples of the East, the Thessalians held onto their polytheism the longest but these temples were reminders of a bygone age when the Thessalians still had their freedom.

Trevor found a certain affinity being in the temple. He felt a kinship with the Thessalians of old, many of whom tried to maintain their way of life in direct opposition to the Javans, who sought to impose their will by force. Many of the more extravagant temples were leveled and their priests were hunted down and killed in the process. These smaller temples survived only because they were so remote, and here in the middle of this forested area, they stood as reminders of their pagan past.

"Trevor?"

Trevor turned his head toward the sound of the familiar voice. He could hear the footsteps echoing along the darkening marbled walls and soon the flash of dark hair became all too visible.

"Over here," replied Trevor as he looked at the remains of a fated fresco.

Nina emerged from behind a column and made her way closer to him. She seemed not to concentrate on the surroundings like he did, and her single-minded purpose was to get to him.

"You're still in here?" she asked. "I would have thought you'd have gone back to camp by now."

Trevor shook his head. "Just looking at the temple. I was looking at this old fresco actually. See this warrior?" He used his fingers to trace the warrior on the wall. "He's battling an old Thessalian god by the name of Manos. In this scene, Manos has assumed the form of bear and is testing the warrior, only to be bested in this scene over here."

Trevor moved his fingers to show the warrior standing over the bear's body, his spear embedded in the animal's chest.

Trevor found the scene oddly symbolic more than anything. It was a reminder that even though the enemies he faced could seem greater than he, there was always the chance he could triumph.

Unfortunately, Nina didn't see the symbolism in them as much as he did.

She smiled at him. "I don't really see what's so interesting about these old paintings."

Trevor chuckled. "You have to study the frescoes to really see what's happening. It also doesn't hurt that I've had a few conversations with some of the Thessalians that have joined our force. A few of them have a good knowledge of this time in history."

That was quite the understatement. Most Thessalians knew their history prior to the Javan conquest better than what had happened after that time. Of course, that wasn't exactly a surprise. Thessalians were fiercely proud of their history and their culture, and it wasn't hard to see that this pride was instilled into them during their schooling years.

"At least the Thessalians that are now under our command are better able to take instruction than their governor," remarked Nina sourly. "Morris continues to be just as unpredictable as ever."

Trevor grunted at that statement. Dealing with Governor Morris was mostly a mixed bag. While Morris wasn't hesitant to put the resources of Thessaly at Trevor's disposal, there was always some reason why Morris ended up on Trevor's nerves.

For one, the governor made it very clear that he would only support Trevor as long as it looked like Trevor would get the better of the Javans. If at any time Trevor was defeated, Morris would cut off his support and go back over to the imperial fold. In the last six months, that hadn't been an issue at all, seeing as the Javans were too weak to put together an army large enough to confront Trevor's.

Because of the Thessalian support, there hadn't been any time in the history of this current rebellion that the Tyrolean Army had been in better shape. The men were fully clothed and supplied with plenty of ammunition. They were treated to two decent meals a day, and if Trevor wasn't mistaken, many of them were now beginning to develop an extra layer of fat because of how well fed they were.

In all, the partnership with Morris hadn't been a bad thing, but Trevor knew how precarious the situation could be if fortune decided to work against them.

"What about this one?" asked Nina, bringing Trevor back to the present. "What does this one mean?"

Trevor moved closer to the faded fresco that Nina was now looking at. On it were three devastatingly beautiful women, each one seeming to call out to a ship at sea from their position on a nearby island.

"Ah, those would be sirens," said Trevor with a soft chuckle. "Nasty creatures. They use their beauty and soft voices to lure in sailors and once they are close, they will feast on his flesh. From what I hear, it's a very popular legend in ancient Thessalian mythology."

"So what's the moral of the story then?" asked an amused Nina. "Don't get distracted by a woman just because she's beautiful?"

"Possibly," answered Trevor. "Or maybe it's only the beautiful ones that will end up crushing your soul in the end?"

Nina gave him a wry smile, and he soon had to duck lest he get smacked in the head. With how often he referred to Nina's beauty, he wasn't surprised how quickly she connected the dots.

"Well, that's enough of a history lesson for today, I think," said Nina as she grabbed his hand. "Besides, it's getting dark and I'm getting hungry."

"If we must," said Trevor with an exaggerated sigh. They left the ancient temple a short while later, finding Trevor's headquarters which was situated a short distance away. Around them was the entire Tyrolean Army, encamped on this same land for next to four days now.

For the most part, Trevor hadn't stayed in any one part of Thessaly for too long in the past six months. He'd moved from Worchester after spending two weeks there and started to make his way up the coast of the country before doubling back toward the sparsely-populated interior. He was careful not to go too far from the reach of Governor Morris, and even now he was only about three weeks away from Worchester at most.

In terms of geography, the closest landmark to them now was Horton Lake, a large body of water that dominated the middle of the Javan continent. The lake was bounded on the west side by rocky and barren land that served as the natural boundary between Thessaly and Java. On the east, rolling plains marked the land all the way to the eastern coast.

The only prominent feature about Lake Horton was the outflow of its waters. Lake Horton eventually drains into what was known as the Horton River, which flowed on a northerly course until it dumped into the Bay of Aberdeen. Because of the river and the lake, Thessaly always had a well-defined boundary against their western Javan neighbors.

It also put quite a boundary between any would-be Javan Army units that might think to chase Trevor's force into Thessaly proper.

Alas, Trevor knew he couldn't stay in Thessaly forever. Eventually, the Javans would seek to threaten his army by attempting another invasion into war-torn Tyrol. Trevor was content to keep his current position as long as they stayed out of Tyrol but he knew that eventually that would have to end.

That's why he'd been giving a lot of thought to his next steps, especially now with the army in the best shape it had ever been.

The topic of conversation was brought up by Nina in a roundabout kind of way.

"I'm hearing news that Bancroft is preparing quite a mighty force in Belfort right now," said Nina as they walked to their tent. "One that has a joint naval and land component."

"From what I've heard, the naval component isn't for us," replied Trevor. "But it's meant for chasing Jack Easterbrook."

Nina nodded, knowing the situation well. There wasn't anyone in Java that didn't know that Jack Easterbrook was now considered a traitor and Bancroft was determined to bring him to justice.

"The thing I wonder about is the army they're assembling," said Nina. "Is that army for chasing after Easterbrook? Or is that army meant for us?"

"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," said Trevor. "If it loads out on those ships or if it starts heading west out of Belfort. We'll know what its intentions are once we see what direction it starts marching."

"It makes me nervous though," she confessed. "How many Javan forces are we going to have to beat before they just give up and give us our freedom?"

Trevor gave her a subtle nod of agreement. It was a question he'd often asked himself in the stillness of night. What would finally make the Javans give up? How close was he to getting them to admit defeat?

"At least we have Easterbrook to divert their attention," said Trevor. "I mean more so than they've been diverted with Ruthenia and Occitania."

It was saying that statement that brought an idea to Trevor's brain, one that he liked very much the more he thought about it. He turned it over internally for several minutes before broaching the subject out loud.

"I have an idea, Nina. One for how we might be able to make the threat of Easterbrook work for us against the Javans."

"What are you thinking?"

Trevor cleared his throat. "We know that Bancroft is preparing this army for an attack on Easterbrook, however this army hasn't moved out of Belfort since it's assembly. It's staying close to the coast, which means that they haven't threatened Tyrol or Thessaly in these past six months, right?"

"As far as I can tell, that's right," she replied.

"So that tells me something," continued Trevor. "It tells me Bancroft is worried about an invasion. He's concentrating his troops on the coast where he can quickly respond to any attack from the sea, but he's probably considering it too risky to come attack us in Tyrol. It would look bad for him to leave his capital city undefended lest any forces under Easterbrook raid from across the ocean. It also definitely explains why we've seen no action in the past six months."

"Is there an idea coming here?" interrupted Nina. "I'm not seeing one yet."

Trevor chuckled. "Patience, I'm getting there. What I'm saying is that we take Bancroft's fear of invasion and use it against him. By doing our own invasion of Java."

"Another invasion of Java?" asked Nina warily. "That didn't work out so well for us the last time."

"The last time was an entirely different set of circumstances," said Trevor. "We ran into a force larger than us that was determined to keep us in Tyrol. Right now, any such force is far away from us and has to split their attention between us and Easterbrook. Why don't we use that to our advantage?"

"So you want to invade Java and do what? Put pressure on Belfort?"

Trevor shrugged. "Why not? Think about how this could benefit us. We can invade Java and live off the territory of the enemy, depriving him of those resources. If the average Javan citizen starts to suffer from enemy occupation, no doubt that will increase their willingness to end the war more quickly. If we get as far as Belfort, we could potentially even put the capital under siege, and the best part of all of it is that we know they'll never be able to fully concentrate on us as long as Easterbrook is out there. They are always going to have to watch their backs, which means they can't fully respond to everything we're doing."

"You think if we invade Java as far as Belfort, we can force a quicker end to this war?" asked Nina. "We put our most pressure on Bancroft when he's the most constrained to end the war now?" "Exactly," replied Trevor. "And here's the kicker--it keeps Bancroft out of Tyrol. We know that any strike against us is going to fall there first. They've had six months to start rebuilding without any Javan forces there. Let's continue to give them more time while we move the war from Thessaly to Java. The best part is that I don't believe they would pursue us even if we had to retreat. They need to keep their forces near the coast to deal with Easterbrook. Bancroft's hands are tied behind his back. Let's use this to our advantage."

"I like the idea," said Nina finally after mulling it over for several minutes. "But a lot of this depends on the threat of Easterbrook to Bancroft. If Easterbrook stops being a threat, our whole plan falls apart."

"I wish we had a way to contact him," said Trevor. "Or even to contact my cousin, Dustin, who I believe is still fighting with his force. If we could offer our support and unite against Bancroft, I'm sure he would take that opportunity."

"So how do we contact Easterbrook?" asked Nina. "We have no way of reaching him via radio at this distance or via dispatch if we don't know where we're sending it to. How do we reach him?"

Trevor let out a deep sigh. "I don't know. But we're going to figure out something."

*****

"Wait until you see it, Jack. You won't even recognize the ship!"

Jack found himself chuckling at Abigail's enthusiasm that morning. She was nearly dragging him by the hand toward the naval harbor of Kalmar. The sun was already high in the sky, and the citizens of Kalmar were just starting their day, many of them opening their shops and getting their first customers.

"You know I've been getting regular progress reports," said Jack with some amusement in his voice. "I know much of what's been going on with the ship."

Abigail shook her head. "There's nothing like seeing it though. It's completely unrecognizable!"

"You said that already," teased Jack, earning a swat in the ribs.

"Russ and Dustin are already there, so that's why I'm hurrying," explained Abigail. "Plus I want us to get there quickly so we can be aboard for the demonstration."

The demonstration she was referring to was the unveiling of the battleshipCenturion in its new orientation. Henceforth, theCenturion would no longer be a battleship but was now something quite unique that history had never seen before. Gone were her main guns and prominent superstructure that dominated the center of her deck. Those items had been replaced with a much smaller structure that had been moved to the starboard side. Most of the main deck had been replaced with a flat wooden surface, extending nearly nine hundred feet in total length.

Jack had seen all the reports of the progress of the conversion but today would be his first time seeing the ship up close now that she was ready for active duty. He'd kept in close communication with Russ and Dustin as they engineered the changes to be made--the final result of their idea from the Swabian campaign.

It had been nearly a year since that time, and theCenturion was now ready to take on a new role for Jack's fleet.

Still, that didn't prepare Jack for the first viewing.

His mouth fell open as he gazed on the newCenturion, a ship that now had a new purpose. Her hull was newly colored with fresh paint and all her battle scars from the previous war had been repaired.

What was the most impressive was seeing her new deck up close. It was like an air strip had now settled right on top of the vessel, giving them a mobile air base that could be moved anywhere in the world. Already, there were three planes sitting on the deck, monoplane varieties that were now by far the dominant design.

Standing proudly at the gangplank to the ship was Russ and Dustin. Russ looked most pleased with the results of the ship but it was Dustin who was wearing a grin that most resembled a little boy about to get his favorite toy.

"Jack, welcome to the newCenturion," said Russ as they approached. "Would you like to inspect the ship?"

"I'd be happy to do that, Russ," replied Jack as they shook hands. "She looks beautiful. Your men have done fine work."

"Operational trials have been completed just two days ago," confirmed the admiral. "She's seaworthy and ready to launch. I thought you'd like to see up close the handiwork of our engineers though."

"Wait until you see what they've done," said an almost giddy Dustin. "It's like an entirely new ship!"

Russ led the three of them up the plank and onto the deck of the ship. They came aboard precisely at the point where the superstructure gave way to another structure where exhaust fumes from the engine could be let out. Since theCenturion was the first ship to get the new Polonium reactors when the technology was first mastered in Java, her exhaust burned clearer than most of the other ships in Jack's navy. That small facet would be especially helpful with her new role.

"As you can see, the superstructure is much smaller than the old one on theCenturion," said Russ, placing his hand on the side of the ship. "Since we removed the larger guns, we had a lot more space that was usually taken up by ammunition, where we could move some of the existing space in the superstructure. The result is that we could keep it smaller and free up more space for the deck."

"Show him my favorite part," said Dustin eagerly. "Come on, we're close to the elevators. Let's do it!"

Russ chuckled and gestured them to follow him. They moved away from the superstructure and went across the deck of the ship to the port side. Jack marveled at all the open runway space they now had, easily seeing several squadrons of planes being able to take off and land at once.

However, one problem that Jack foresaw was that even with all the extra space, the ship would have to allocate some percentage of that space to airplanes that weren't in the air, either in storage or various states of repair. With both sides of the ship being used for landing and take-off, that would make the available space more tricky to use for both operations.

Fortunately for Jack, he quickly saw a solution for that problem when Russ stopped them on a square platform next to the edge of the ship. He pressed on a button on the side of a raised pole and then the platform they were standing on started to lower, much to Jack and Abigail's amazement.

"Even with all this new deck space, we knew we needed a place to do repair work and store any planes that weren't in active use," explained Russ as they were lowered from the main deck to a secondary deck just below. Jack marveled at all the open space, seeing the elevator stop on the secondary deck where a hangar had been established for the care of the ship's airplanes.

"This will allow us to dedicate the space on the main deck exclusively for landing and taking off, while we take any other problems down here to be fixed," said Russ proudly.

"Incredible, Russ," said Jack as he watched an airplane be moved across the secondary deck. "You must have been reading my mind. I was thinking of this exact problem as we walked across the main deck!"

Dustin beamed with a smile. "It was my idea, Jack. This one is all me."