Free Sword of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) by Eric Schneider Page B

there not enough planning, not enough troops, not enough ships. And worst of all, insufficient intelligence. We should have been warned about that Axian division refitting on the surface, we need to know what the enemy is doing before we attack.”
    “So what do we do next, Constantine? Please, sit here, let me get you a drink.”
    “Thank you, Serena.” What was he saying? That perfume, it was so overpowering it was hard to think straight. “What we should do is hold back our forces until we’re fully ready and make sure we have the kind of intelligence in place that can give us the information we need. We’ll need to replace the ships we lost today and to train new men and crews. It’ll take time, but when we do hit them next we need to make it an iron-hard punch where they’re weakest, that way we’ll win. We need certain victories, Serena, that’s the way to recruit people to our cause. Victories.”
    “You make it sound so wonderful, Constantine. May I just sit a little closer to you, yes, like that? Oh, yes.”
    They were kissing, pulling at each other’s clothes, he looked towards the door, but she touched him gently. “It’s alright, Constantine, we’re totally private here. No one would dare to enter.”
    Then they were naked, stroking each other’s bodies, touching, caressing, kissing, finally he entered her and they made love, a long, sensuous, passionate and exquisite experience. It left him almost gasping afterwards with a wondrous feeling of ecstasy that seemed to linger long after the event. Serena had the firm body of a teenage girl with smooth, creamy skin, he’d never known himself to become so aroused, so carried away by a woman’s touch. Yet he had surprised himself even more, at the point of climax he’d been thinking of another woman, one whose face he hadn’t even seen. Evelyn Gluck. Finally, he broke away.
    “I’d better get dressed, I may be needed on the bridge.”
    “No, wait, let me help you.”
    She held him tightly until he relented, then slowly she helped him back into his clothes, garment by garment, button by button, lace by lace, zip by zip, it was the most erotic experience he’d ever known, almost better than the sex itself. Almost, but not quite. She put her own clothes back on and they sat again on her couch.
    “Will it work next time, Constantine, if we do those things you have suggested?”
    “Yes it will. It’s a basic military precept, to bring overwhelming force to bear on one single point of weakness. It almost never fails.”
    “In that case, please start preparing for our next attack, Constantine.”
    He blinked. “You’re not serious? We haven’t even returned from this disaster yet.”
    “But we will. What is the most heavily defended target in the entire Nine Systems, the most strategically important to the Axians?”
    He laughed. “That’s no secret, the hydroponic factories on Corazon are the most critical resource in the known universe, whoever rules Corazon rules the Nine Systems. They will control almost the entire food supply for billions of people. Its defenses are massive, they’re totally impregnable, they are impossible to breach. We need to look for a more lightly defended option. There are plenty of places we can strike next, but not Corazon. Besides, what about Dafne, we still have to go back and finish the job there.”
    “I understand that, yes. I will make arrangements to secure Dafne. I intend to speak with Guide Tell and we will begin infiltrating our people onto the planet. What we can’t win with military force we will achieve with subtler methods, persuasion, promises, alliances, even bribes where necessary. Given time we’ll bring the entire planet to a standstill, then we can take control. It’ll cut off the Axian’s munitions and leave you free to continue with the attack on Corazon.”
    He couldn’t prevent his jaw dropping. “Didn’t you hear me? It can’t be done, attacking Corazon is impossible.”
    That