Ofana

by Clay Moore

  “You look good enough to eat,” said Brian.

  “I’ve always like orange, but this faded orange is just great.”

  “Thank your father. My personal account was boosted by fifty-thousand Crowns. Just in time to cover the bill I was sent by my tailor for these clothes.”

  She took off her bra and her panties. She walked to Brian with purpose. Brian leaned up to remove the Uniform he wore, but Ofana stopped him. You are not going to remove this Uniform. I’ll do it. I will, then, drive for a little bit. Then you take me like a soldier-born.”

  Brian was pleased, so to do.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A Pleasant day's Journey into Tomorrow

  Hecton was watching a gaggle of old soldiers in their uniforms, forming on the street leading to the stadium. He had wanted to visit the spot where she planted the bomb.

  The soldiers, who may, or may not have been given his picture, prevented him from making that inspection. He had to trust that she was a woman of her word. Then his mind chastised him for not getting his binoculars. He retrieved his briefcase and got the binoculars. Then he stepped outside onto the patio. He looked down at the men. The uniform was familiar to him. He queried his slate, and it showed him the various Uniforms of Giesling. He found out that he was looking at the Combat Dress Uniform of Giesling Infantry of over 38 years ago.

  He paused for a moment. Anton had no formal education, and He read the same books as the kids in University read. History was one of his favorites. Now his mind was searching for the time 38 years ago.

  Thirty-eight years ago, there had been a war between Giesel and Alphacent. Alphacent raided Giesel and threatened to take the planet by force. Giesel Appealed to Eridani, who contracted the problem to the Eridani High Guard, a mercenary fleet based on Eridani. The Eridani High Guard brought back much of their forces and then hypered to Giesel. The battle of 45.6 Easting had been a model of how to fight in the formation you were caught. The combination of a Torpedo attack by their fighter-bombers and Boarding action by Marines caused Alphacents fleet to run.

  The Eridani High Guard went into orbit around Giesel. They hounded the troop transports and screening vessels. Those vessels tried to escape and were severely mauled. The Eridani High Guard landed Marines in support of the Giesel Infantry. There was the assault of the 210th Regiment on the Alphacent improvised Starport gained instant fame.

  Those men couldn’t be remnants of the 210th, could they, thought Hecton.

  He picked up his binoculars and went outside. This time he concentrated on the collar flash and saw the numbers 2—1—0. Hecton staggered back a couple of steps. Those people were the 210th, and they were not reenactors. He went back into his apartment. He tossed his binoculars into his briefcase, and He called to his guard.

  “Bring her up here.”

  The guard knew Anton was asking about Deanna. They brought her up from her cell. Anton had her last night, and he was not gentle with her. She was not moving so good when She walked into Hecton’s apartment.

  “I got something for you to do. I need you to reset the Timer for when the Parade begins. Thirty minutes earlier.”

  “I can’t do it.”

  “Why not.”

  “I wanted to protect against someone tampering. I wrote a routine to detonate on opening the access panel. No password will work.”

  You did what, Bitch? You better think of a way. I want that time changed. Or I will kill you myself.”

  She thought fast and hard. She had no doubt that Hecton had read her manuals. There was one thing mentioned in the manuals and nowhere else. They had written in a presence algorithm, and It was accessible from the outside panel. She might be able to dance with that bit of trivia.

  “There is something. It’s old code, but it is still in the bomb operating system. It’s a presence monitor.”

  “Yes.”

  “My presence can be sensed, and it will suspend the countdown until I leave the area. I will have to activate that code before the detonation can take place. Once that is done I should be able to reset detonation. Using the presence monitor like this might cause the anti-tampering software to kick that code out.”

  “Sounds reasonable. Go down and do that.”

  “Are you kidding? Every entrance to the catwalk is locked and covered by a guard. They won’t let me in unless there is a casualty in the mechanism.”

  Anton crooked his finger at his guard. Take her to the armory give her a pistol and one bullet. Make her kill the guard. Use one of our guards to make sure that she does the change of the bomb.”

  “Okay, Mister Anton.”

  The Behemoth took Deanna’s right hand in his large hand, and He walked her down to the armory. He chose a pistol with an integral silencer. He picked up an ammo box for the round.

  “Take only one,” he rumbled.

  Deanna could not believe the humongous idiot was going to let her take her own round. She took one round, and with the other fingers of her right hand, she palmed one more round. She kept wondering why Hecton would surround himself with idiots like this. All this guard did was shoot a gun and impress those who were not in the know about military matters.

  Deanna whistled. She had Hecton, and Hecton worked in a manner of an evil magician. He put forward the large guard, and everyone would concentrate their fire at the guard while Hecton picked off the enemy. Hecton was dangerous, but he was more dangerous when he had props to work with. He meant for the guard and Deanna to die in the nuclear fire of the bomb.

  This was subtle doing, and beyond the ken, most of the people hired as just muscle. As she walked out of the building, she pocketed the rounds along with the long barrel Planetary Interests made pistol.

  She followed the Behemoth through the crowd. A benefit of his size and gruff exterior was that the normal Giesling did not want to tangle with him. Then they came to the stadium. She and the guard were passed without being stopped. She thought that was unusual. Then she remembered the power of money. A hundred Mark note might look like a king’s ransom to the right person. To a Giesling that was the almost-universal price for someone’s honor.

  They rolled across the Festival Surface to the access portal to the workings underneath. A guard was posted there, and He opened the door for him. Anton must have spread his 100 mark notes here as well.

  The Behemoth turned and pointed to the guard. Deanna drew her pistol, and She opened the chamber and shoved in the bullet. She eased the slide back to seat the bullet. Her instructor in how to shoot guns would have jumped on her nine different ways about what an idiot Jasmine was. She did not want to spook her large friend. She took careful aim and squeezed the trigger.

  The pistol bucked, and she hit the guard-center mass. The Behemoth went to his knees and fell forward. The Behemoth went to the guard’s body. He pulled it down to the section below the Festival seating. Then he kicked it into the pit below. He turned around to see the hole made by a pistol pointed at his head. He heard its discharge, and that was it.

  Deanna looked at the body and realized what she had done. She realized that there were a nuke twenty-five yards from where she stood. Jasmine tried to push the body into the pit, but the guard was substantial and a deadweight. She closed the door and then ran back to the where she placed the bomb yesterday. Suddenly she heard the last thing she wanted to hear.

  Someone blew a lung-powered whistle, and then four short bursts. Jasmine recognized the cadence as sixty paces per minute, and The Parade had begun.

  Brian led Ofana and his team out of the Hotel. Their bags were Packed and deposited with the concierge who told him they would be given to the boys Amarantha was using as her legs. The team could leave their luggage in their rooms because their rooms had a day left on them, and he encouraged them to eat well.

  Ofana had told him that his team would be subsumed into the Bodyguard detail for certain officials. At least they would have a job that they were good at.

  Brian knew where the parade was forming. He
walked up to the head of the forming 210th. Brian’s and Ofana’s arrival brought the attention back to the forming Ghost regiment.

  Major Mortimer in a uniform is matching Brian’s except for the rank tabs, with his hair cut short and face shaved clean, saluted Brian. Brian returned the salute.

  “How many do you have for the parade?”

  “We have One hundred twenty, sir. We also have a full drum corps. Some of the drummers form the current army are here in their uniform.

  “That might do it. Form the Regiment, Major!”

  “Form the Regiment, sir.” Major Mortimer saluted once more, and Brian returned the salute. He walked to the bodyguard detachment.

  Ofana was resplendent in her Light brown dress with a red belt and a red purse. She wore a filmy scarf around her head. It was crossed under her chin with the ends over her shoulders. Brian knew that he had to place her at the center of the parade, left and right.

  “Bodyguard Detachment, ATTENTION!”

  The four remaining members of the team snapped with parade ground precision. Brian smiled with pride. Yes, he looked at how far they had come, but just as Giesling, he knew how far they had to go.

  “DETACHMENT: RIGHT SHOULDER, ARMS!”

  Again with the same parade ground precision, they brought their weapons up to their shoulder.

  Brian got to do a little marching of his own. In a series of com messages, Mortimer and Butler talked about how to place the Ofana so that she was the center of the formation. Brian had suggested that we pace of the formation from wherever she stood. They agreed.

  Brian walked to the front. He placed himself in front of the Ofana. Then he surprised her by not moving. She was expecting a different command.

  “UNCASE OFANA’S BANNER.”

  Brian thought of the consternation in Parliament over sending the Entire Seventh fleet. The Old Man knew his political theatre. He sent that fleet plus representatives from other alliance worlds, and He also sent the Marines Ceremonial unit. Brian was more interested in the Precision Drop Unit. They were the best in dropping so close to someone. This time Brian could feel the jet wash from the jet that slowed the Marine’s drop while in Battlesuit.

  In the Marine’s hand was a long Pole. The Marine unzipped the cover that protected the flag inside. She lifted it high. The flag slowly unrolled until a fortuitous breeze grabbed the material and it extended.

  Brian hated this flag so much. It was the banner’s fields color that made him sick. It was a very feminine Pink, He saw the Tears welling up in her eyes.

  It was a poignant moment for Ofana. Her father had sent a message to her. She was still entitled to have her flag on Parade, but after today it will fly no more for her.

  The Regiment and Brian’s Bodyguard were paced off and set. Then Brian ordered the flags brought forward. He alternated calling the flags of Eridani and Giesel. When the penultimate flag was displayed, and the crowd saw it was the Regimental Standard of the 210, the real regimental standard with all the bullet holes from that battle. Then the Eridani Marine’s Standard was unfurled with all its battle damage from that battle. The roar of the crowd was deafening.

  Brian let them cheer. Then he blew the attention blast on his whistle. The crowd stopped. Brian and Mortimer paced out the formation for their detachments. Once that was done, Brian ordered the colors about-face. Then he looked at his watch. He was two minutes early.

  He blew the attention call on the whistle. And then indicated the pace of the march by blowing four short bursts.

  The drums started up, and the Regiment went at the parade march. Following the military display were the other coalitions that were running.

  The other coalitions were bad winners when they had the lead in the unofficial polls. They were even bad losers when they were far behind Ofana’s alliance. They wanted the military pageantry removed from the official ceremony. The committee understood that their life was on the line, so they denied the petition.

  The coalitions came up. Some of them were purposeful, not marching to the beat set by the cadence. That was a bold move on that part, except they had not counted on the remaining members of the Ghost Regiment forming behind the Ofana.

  Brian reached the point, and he halted the procession. He performed the bit of maneuvering required for Ofana and the bodyguard. Brian ordered the colors to the right side of the oval made by the stadium. Then he split the Regiment into two. Brian turned to the grandstand behind him. He saluted the Grandstand and Announced the return of the Ghost Regiment. Again the crowd cheered and threw up their caps.

  The Master of ceremony spoke from the pulpit. “The Ofana has made it to the rally.”

  Another Ovation, the crowd, gave her. She was actually blushing with embarrassment. Those people who speak of her as being attention seeking should have seen her blushing this day. Here she was not seeking attention for herself, but for the cause.

  “Penol’s Group take your position in front of the grandstand.”

  The drums sound a cadence for that coalition. They no longer disdained to march to the rhythm because Ofana was no longer at the lead.

  Brian took this time to duck out of the ceremony. He knew how the bomb worked. Alphacent is an interesting dichotomy of how to wage war. They did not want to spend a lot to money, so they make weapons that had several purposes. This bomb is a perfect example of that concept in action.

  This fifty megaton bomb is considered to be a mega kill weapon. It has the potential to kill over a million people, depending on population density in its blast radius. This bomb could quickly destroy the entire city of Giesling City.

  That result was too terrible for Brian even to contemplate. He had to find it, and he had to defuse the bomb.

  Where it could be, was a problem that he hoped to which he had given enough thought. If this was terrorists, then the bomb had to go off in the Stadium, a symbol of Mining Guild oppression. This could not be someone extorting money. It could be someone trying to influence the vote, and That group was trying to set things up for themselves. A bomb explosion could be used to rally opinion against outside help and intervention. In that case, the bomb would be detonated in the Stadium. Where in the stadium?

  In the actual stadium building, you had many nooks and crannies that you could secret the bomb. The problem with that was that the stadium was also the site of a lot of offices. There were many people and double that many eyes. A time bomb of any kind works best when it is well covered, or placed where it cannot be seen.

  The last place then had to be the Festival Surface. The festival Surface was designed for use in theatre productions or music shows. As such it was crisscrossed by many catwalks and had openings on the surface for sudden appearances.

  Brian made up his mind and ran toward the door he knew about. The crowd wanted to slap his back. He had to beg off. They let him go, Then just before he got to the door, Radiological alarms went off. He dove through the doors and hit the override buttons. The radiological alarms shut down. That part of the crowd that panicked regained their calm.

  Brian drew his fantastical-looking weapon, and He walked along the catwalk leading from the door. Brian saw someone working on the bomb. He walked a little closer. Then he spoke.

  “Hey, you, what are you doing there?”

  The person turned around. It was Jasmine. In her belt was a gun, She seemed to be going for it, so he squeezed the trigger.

  The sound was about the same as a high caliber pistol. Lead, however, did not come out of the gun. Instead, Greenlight leaped from the barrel and struck Jasmine in the chest. Brian holstered his weapon. And shook his hand. His hand had never felt a kick like that. It was almost too much. Now he knew why the Colonel holstered his “ray-gun” and picked up a rifle to use it instead. Brian did not want to fire the “ray-gun” again. His right hand turned a little numb. It also seemed a bit sluggish to him.

  He ran to the round bomb. He took out his slate and sent pictures to his AI on his Ship.

  “Do yo
u have those pictures?

  “I have them just Barely, sir. The satellites orbit is decaying

  “I am underground with a convex metal roof.”

  “That won’t help, either What you have is the bomb type listed in our Alert. You should have the manual they provide their techs in your secure queue.”

  “Brian looked at his slate. He found the manual. Then he heard a buzzing from the bomb. It showed ten minutes to Detonation.

  “Amarantha, I got ten minutes to detonation.”

  “Timer on.”

  “Can you open up the access panel on the right side of the timer display?”

  “No tools. I was hoping it was all on the front panel.”

  “Nine Minutes thirty-seconds. Is there anything blinking on that panel?

  “Yeah, the Plutonium Available light is blinking.”

  “Anything else?”

  “That is the only thing blinking.”

  “That is the normal operation condition. Nine Minutes till detonation.”

  Brian looked to the left of the timer panel. There was a panel, but he could see that it was locked with a locking screw and required a unique tool, which he did not have. He looked to the right

  “Eight minutes Thirty-seconds till detonation.

  “Dammit Amarantha, can you be nicer on the time reports?”

  “Yes, sir, I will try sir. Will I die?’

  “We have No time for philosophy, Amarantha. I promise you we will have a full hour or more discussion about the possibility of AI death, and after-life.”

  “Thank you, Sir. Examine the other side?”

  Brian looked at the right side of the timer screen on the outside of the bomb. He saw a series of four buttons with four different colored lenses; red, green, blue, purple. He reported that to Amarantha.

  “That’s the code display and entry panel. The colored lenses are buttons. You press those in a sequence, and the bomb executes the commands, or displays information.”

  “We don’t have that book do we?”

  “Seven Minutes till detonation. No, sir.”