"What? If I had known, I would have insisted you stay back at Noran!!!" Johnny exclaimed. Starfleet policy, as well as his own sensibilities, dictated that personnel who were pregnant should not go into combat. But then again, Starfleet policy dictated that they had no business destroying a medieval stronghold on a backwater planet like Xenon III...
"Listen, I wouldn't be any safer there than here!!! Given a choice between a sword in the gut or typhoid from the Borial water supply, I know which one's more pleasant! Now, let's get moving!!!" Jenara replied.
Can't argue with that! Johnny thought to himself. "Barek, how does our column look?"
"Fifty-four dead, another forty wounded," Sergeant Barek reported. Johnny's army was reconstituting itself after gaining the city gates.
"Lieutenant Benton's got a covert operations team around here somewhere, most likely in the vicinity of the city dungeon where we think the Captain and Dweezle are being held. Dispatch First and Second Companies to the dungeon; he'll need support. Barek, take Third Company and move on the forge. We'll take Fourth Company and attempt to gain control of the powder works," Johnny ordered.
An Aody carrying a rather wicked-looking agricultural implement was led by two Borials to Barek. The four men conferred, then Barek spoke up.
"Sir, if I may, we've just been informed that the Aody are taking our invasion as an opportunity to rise up against their masters. We have learned through them that the forge and the powder works are powered by a large water wheel at the north end of the city. If the water wheel is destroyed, then dismantling the rest of the Horde's heavy industry will be much simpler."
"Does this water wheel power anything the Horde might actually need?" Johnny asked. Like a sewer system, he thought to himself, remembering the smell of the river. Industrial pollutants weren't the only things fouling the river, and the plague which inevitably followed warfare at this level of technology was not something Johnny wanted to confront even on an intellectual basis!
Barek turned to the Borials and asked them. They, in turn, asked the Aody. "No, sir. It would appear that the Horde is only using the water wheel to power their industrial pursuits."
"Fine. Who's in charge of Fourth Company?"
"Nkrumah still has Fourth Company. All of our people made it through this one," Barek replied.
There's a change! Johnny thought. "Tell Nkrumah he is to take Fourth Company and gain control of the powder mill. He is to take particular care around their pressing operation, as that is the most dangerous part of the process they're likely to have perfected. If he can secure the magazine and the corning operation intact," Johnny continued, referring to the stage where the powder was filtered into uniform grain sizes prior to pressing, "that will help out the rest of this assault to no end!"
"And you, sir?" Barek asked.
"Jenara and I are going to destroy that water wheel!"
The second sun was just passing the zenith, ten degrees behind the first, brighter sun. The heat of the day had passed, and the fighting was starting to intensify again. The rebelling Aody slaves had gained control of half the city at any given time, though the field continued to shift as the day lengthened. Johnny and Jenara encountered very light (fewer than twenty) Horde resistance as they moved toward the heart of their industrial operation.
"So, how long have you known?" Johnny asked.
"It's only been a few weeks, but I'm certain," Jenara responded. "It happened just before you joined the crew. Benton and Lataro and I were abducted by a race of unknown aliens. They experimented on us."
Johnny reached out and touched her lightly on the arm. "It's okay, you don't need to go any further," he said. As part of his history studies at the Academy (and as part of a rather bizarre hobby he'd pursued in his teens), Johnny had read about the various "abductions" alleged to have taken place on Earth during the 20th and 21st centuries. Oddly enough, the "abductions" stopped just after Zefram Cochrane perfected the warp drive, but many of them did reportedly include sexual experimentation.
"Thank you," Jenara said. At least he hasn't asked who the father is! she thought.
Johnny held up his arm and motioned for Jenara to find cover. They'd reached the water wheel.
Johnny scanned the area briefly. The Horde had intensified its guard around this critical area: no fewer than twenty-five Horde were in and around the control room. Another four surrounded the gear room, adjacent to the water wheel but hidden from sight of the other guards by the enormous, five-meter wheel. This is not going to be pleasant! Hero Twins, where are you when we need you?
"Okay, it's now or never!" Johnny told Jenara. A frontal assault with 12-to-1 odds would be nothing less than suicidal. Subtlety was called for.
Dodging from building to building, Johnny and Jenara moved in on the nearest of the Horde guards, getting within two meters of the guard without being noticed. Just as the guard turned his back, Johnny reached out and broke the Horde's neck. Jenara moved on to the next guard, taking advantage of the harsh afternoon shadows generated by two suns. Moments later, Johnny heard the strangled cry of another guard as the Horde collapsed, blood spurting from his neck.
Two down, twenty-three to go, Johnny thought. But the objective was not to kill the guards. The objective was to destroy the water wheel!
Moving from shadow to shadow, and killing two more guards from within said shadows, Johnny and Jenara approached the gear room of the water wheel. This room acted much like the transmission of an ancient automobile, transferring the wheel's power to the places where it was needed. The system was driven by cams and belts rather than by gears. Too bad, Johnny thought. If their machine technology was just a little more advanced, we could have really wrecked this place!!!
Thick, tough belts of cured glap'ta sinew ran between cams nearly a meter across and the main hub of the water wheel, which was almost three meters across. A false move and either Johnny or Jenara could easily lose an arm, a leg, or more...cutting the belts was out of the question. The tension on the belts was such that a loose end could easily decapitate anyone nearby.
Of course, that could work to our advantage, Johnny thought as he eyed a large bucket with a brush by the door. "Jenara, could you see what's in that bucket?"
Jenara went to the bucket and picked up the brush, smelling it. "This stuff smells disgusting! It seems oily..."
"Perfect! Bring it over here!" Jenara brought the bucket to Johnny.
Jenara caught on immediately to what Johnny had planned, and started coating the cams and the belts with the lubricant, which was originally meant for the shafts in the system. But unlike the shafts, the belts were the one place in the system where friction was definitely not needed!
The plan began working within moments. The belts lost traction on the cams, which began to rotate faster. This generated heat, which caused the lubricant to smoke and the belts to squeal. This drew the remaining guards, who had been so preoccupied guarding the waterwheel and the control room that they had neglected the gear room almost completely!
At once five guards charged through the door. Johnny and Jenara set into them at once, their backs to the machinery which was quite literally spinning its wheels in utter futility. Jenara grabbed one of the Horde by the arm and threw him into the main linkage. His ear flaps got caught in the central hub. The Horde's screams were cut short by his head being crushed in the cam. In the effort to crush the doomed Horde guard's head, the torque load on the camshaft increased dramatically and the shaft snapped! Belts and cams flew everywhere throughout the room as Johnny and Jenara ducked. The remaining Horde, not being nearly as mechanically adept as their opponents, were decapitated by the high-speed belts flying across the room.
Suddenly a horn sounded. The Horde guards were calling for reinforcements.
"What do we do now?" Jenara asked.
"Run like hell!" Johnny shouted as he ran for the door.