Trojan War Chapter 41

 

The saga with Troy

 

41.

King Menelaus was upset with the battle with Paris and then of the malicious programs that stifled his attack on Troy. Nearly all that was in the fleet was hampered by it but the recovery was done. It took them a long time; the system had to be restored with new programs and the installation took time. He had only restored a part of the combined fleet and it was taking its toll on the alliance. He was thankful that Troy did not retaliate then.

“What of Achilles?” Menelaus asked the gathered leaders there and saw two of his own was missing.

“He had left us.” Odysseus had turned up behind the King. “I am sorry, my King. I was delayed. He was …”

Odysseus was to speak the truth but Agamemnon had taken the turn to speak. He had arrived after Odysseus.

“Achilles had withdrawn after we disagreed on Troy Five. He had grown soft with his stay at Lycomedes. I have to let him go.” Agamemnon told his brother. “I have to make my decision as to the leader of the fleet.”

“Good. Then let us work on a new strategy. It seems that the Trojan influence is disabled but they are still strong. Troy One to Three are still formidable and their fleet intact.” Odysseus advised the King.

“We can….” Odysseus was cut off by Agamemnon.

“As a leader of the fleet, I am proposing a siege on the Trojan planets.” Agamemnon looked at Odysseus who did not stop the other. He knew his position was to listen to the main leader.  

“A siege? That will lengthen the war but …” King Menelaus had given his thought on it.

“One that is needed to avoid unnecessary bloodshed but during the siege, we will sneak in past their shields and hit them where it may hurt. We fight them the ancient way.”

The murmurs of disbelief resonated among the leader. The ancient way was to mount the war on foot with armored suits and weapons. The new way was to engage with stealth fighters and ships from space and the orbit level bombardment. It was more effective than sending the warriors to close contact war.

“My King,” King Haliz called out. “I am not in favor of the siege. Let us finish them off.”

“King Haliz, I would have done it but the Trojan held some shields which we are unable to penetrate. I am not in favor of the siege but we have not many choices.” Agamemnon replied. “However, we have studied the defenses, and we may have a breakthrough.”

“Troy Three registered some hits from the unusual bombardment. I had the data analyzed and it displayed some interesting results.” Agamemnon looked at the others. “Our first break but we need time to work out the results.”

“We have the best among our side.” A Hellas leader cut in. “We can assist…”

“And we declined. The data will be analyzed by us. And only …” Agamemnon reply was interrupted.

“I thought we are an alliance and why can’t we share the data?” King Haliz cut in. “This is insufferable. If we are not to be treated as equals, then we will call off the alliance.”

“The Halizones is not much of an equal.” A Hellas leader sniggered. “Your feats are not memorable to any of us.”

“Hellas, I hoped that you are not mentioning the defeat at Loni One.” The Hellas leader mocked the other. It annoyed the Hellas to be reminded of that. The Hellas reacted with a rush towards King Haliz but the guards there prevented a fight.

“Leaders of the alliance, please restrain from creating a new war. We need to work together.” King Menelaus addressed the leader. “The Archaeon will study the data and then shared it out with all. And then we can end the war.”

 “The Task forces will remain as before with First Task to cover Troy One and Second Task to cover Troy Two. The third Task is to be on reserve just outside the boundary in case we are hit from the rear.” Agamemnon gave the assignment.

“Agamemnon, Second Task Force is without the assigned leader. Achilles had left the position vacant.” The Argos commander had reported in.

“I am aware and have another to be assigned.” King Menelaus did the announcement. “I am assigning Palamedes to replace Achilles. He will…”

“I protest, my King.” It was Odysseus who snapped at the appointment. “He is not experienced to take it on.”

“And it will be noted for your protest. I did not complete my statement. Ajax brothers will be with Palamedes as co-commander. They will share command and only myself will override any disputes.” King Menelaus looked at Odysseus. “Will that be acceptable?”

At Troy, King Priam was looking at the data compiled from the last battles. He was with Hector and the other leaders of Troy.

“Troy Three, Four, and Five were regretfully lost. We had to abandon Troy Three even though it was not overrun. It had to be abandoned, however. We could not protect it as a whole. The shields were at most forty-five percent coverage but we made up with the fleet to deter the attack.” King Priam sighed. “And Paris is missing too. He had about with King Menelaus and then unexpectedly, there were some explosions, and Paris went missing.”

“Maybe he was taken off by Helen.” A jest from one of the gathered and then the heckling began.

“Release the woman and end the war.” A leader of the Trojan descent called out. “Helen is the cause of our misery.”

Others joined in to call for the return of Helen.

“Leaders,” King Priam held out his arms. “If we cannot protect our own, then we are a letdown as a nation.”

Those words dug deep into the Trojan heart and the murmuring stopped.

“We will find Paris and also protect Troy.” King Priam shared his view. Now, prepare for the enemy to lay a siege on Troy One and Two.”

“I will share the fleet between Troy One and Two.” Hector cut in. “Two Mothership, five destroyers and ten frigates to cover those two worlds, and a thousand stealth fighters will remain at Troy Two. The others of two Mothership, and four frigates here without the Chariots again.”

“You will have three thousand stealth fighters here at Troy One. With the ten cannons with the new projectiles, you will be protected.” Hector reminded the King.

“And you hold the similar cannons there at Troy Two.” King Priam reminded the other. “How much did we salvage from Troy Three?”

It was the long-awaited question.

“We did what we could; the cores but some were unstable to move, and we rigged it to explode. I think all of it exploded.” Hector reported to the King.

“You think…” King Priam glared at the other.

“I had sent in a new task force to double confirm,” Hector replied.

“They ought to find nothing or we will be in trouble soon.” King Priam sighed.