Chapter 19. IRS Mailon over Chelora 1100, 22 June
Imperial Admiral Meeka Sallusam cast an eye around the conference room aboard his flagship, the Imperial Rogan Ship (IRS) Mailon. He sat at the big table with his back erect like the aristocrat that he was. His left eye twitched as it so often did when he was frustrated or stressed. And right now he was both.
“Damm Mugailen. Why is he never on time?” asked Meeka.
No one around the table replied. No one dared add to the Imperial Admiral’s displeasure.
“Chundah what is their latest estimate?” asked Meeka.
Commodore Assani Chundah, the Imperial Admiral’s chief of staff, waved his hand over the table surface to activate its display. He moved his hand to the desired location and tapped the table. “Not for another 13 hours.”
“Damm him…” said Meeka once more. “Well then, do we wait or go without the 7th Fleet?” Again there were no volunteers. “You know you can speak up. I’m not going to bite your head off, well not yet anyway. What does the commander of the 8th Fleet think?”
Rear Admiral Jamu Trintsta shifted her weight uneasily. She was the senior fleet commander, a veteran of many campaigns. She had a sharp mind and few words. “Well if we still had the 10th I’d say go now but we don’t, so my advice would be to wait.”
Meeka tilted his big head back sharply. “Humm…damm Soola. We are all paying the price for his recklessness. We will avenge the destruction of the 10th mark my words but I warn you all. There will be no foolish independent actions tolerated. Is that understood?”
Everyone either nodded or mumbled their ascent. “Admiral Failon what do you think? Should we wait?”
Sanwa Failon was by far the biggest Rogan at the table. His large belly would never pass a Fleet physical but it was his family connections that mattered most. He was never one prone to rash movement nor quick thought. But he had a reputation for resolute action once he was moved to act. His 9th Fleet had just finished putting down the remaining sleth resistance. “Mmm…” he muttered “Is the intel still the same?” he finally asked.
Chundah again moved his hand to access the data. “There has been a slight increase. They have 8 cruisers and 14 frigates operating within their system plus the Resolute in refit at Tumos. There has been no change to their missile defences or fighter strength.”
“So we’ll outnumber them by more than two to one in combat ships” said Sanwa in his deep pontificating voice. He paused to think some more but could see Meeka was impatient to hear his verdict. “I’d say go now. The 7th can catch up and be used for subsequent operations. I doubt we will need them.”
“General Orgon?” asked Meeka.
“I would wait” said Lieutenant General Pinto Orgon, commander of the 3rd Imperial Army Corps. “Three to one is much better odds. I would prefer not to have any risk to our vulnerable transports.”
“Of course you would” said Meeka with a hint of displeasure. He was sick of Orgon’s timidity already. “Chundah, what do you counsel?”
“To be honest Sir, it’s borderline. They do have significant ground based fighters and missile defences. When we factor them in the force ratio is 1.76, so less than two to one. We should still win but with heavier losses and remember we are a long way from our repair facilities. I would err on the side of caution.”
“Hmm…wise words. We will wait then.”
Chapter 20. Resolute over Tumos 1830, 22 June
“If you don’t mind Captain” hailed Mani “Can we run that last speed test again. There are some minor anomalies in the results here.”
“I’m happy at my end Mani” hailed Dave. “But I need to deploy my droids to Butros Alia. How about we leave this till tomorrow morning?”
Back in Lab 2 on Tumos Mani wiped his brow, not because he was hot but he was tired. “We still have other tests for tomorrow.”
“I realise that but we must deploy these droids and set the defences. We’ll cram the rest of the tests into tomorrow.”
“All right. Can we start at 0730 then?”
“Gee I thought I was a hard task master.”
Mani laughed “Alas the world is full of hard task masters Captain. But it is important. The good news so far is that the life support systems seemed to be working perfectly.”
“Yes that is good news. But we won’t have time to test the warp drive, not that we will need this right now.”
“Don’t worry” said Mani “we can test it after the battle. The impulse engines are my main concern.”
“OK Mani 0730 tomorrow. Have a good one.”
“You too Captain and thanks to your crew.”
It had been a long tiring day. They had been up at 0530. Launched at 0730 and began testing at 0800. Dave looked at his command centre staff and could see that they too were fatigued. But there was still more to do.
Dave hailed Aubrey who was had just finished warping from Sibu after a day’s exercises. “Sir” she hailed.
“I’m just about to launch our pods. I’ll meet you and that sergeant of yours down at the facility. What’s your ETA?”
“Give us 40 to get on the deck.”
“OK see you then.” Dave then turned to Ivan. “Launch the pods. The ship’s yours.”
“The ship’s mine” replied Ivan.
Dave made his way down to G deck and boarded Whiskey 1. 2nd Lt Parinya Puket was waiting for him. As soon as he sat down, she launched into bright sunlight. But soon they dropped into the planets shadow and Dave stood behind Parinya’s seat and stared out through the cockpit window at the planet surface.
“You better sit back Sir” said Parinya “entering the atmosphere in one.” Dave nodded and sat back in his seat as the craft began to be buffeted by the atmosphere.
Once Parinya advised him they were on their final approach, he came forward again keen to see what he could see around the facility. He had been promised the construction of the missile battery would be completed. But it was obvious from all the vehicles and the flood lights that it wasn’t. “Damm it” muttered Dave.
“Sir?” asked Parinya while still keeping her focus on the glide line.
“Nothing” said Dave and he sat back down for the landing.
Chapter 21. Butros Alia 1900, 22 June
Twilight was fading as Whiskey 1 landed. Brennon came over to greet Dave as he got out. Even in the fading light Dave could see that Brennon looked happy and he knew why.
“Howdy Dave” said Brennon.
“Hi” replied Dave a lot less enthusiastically than Brennon’s greeting.
“Rough day hey?” asked Brennon.
“Long and getting longer. Aubrey should be arriving soon. In the meantime I need to see these guys” and Dave pointed to the construction crew.
“I’ll wait here then.”
“Wise” said Dave and he forced himself to stride over to the project manager’s demountable.
“Oh, Captain…” said Rooty MacNamara, the project manager.
But Dave cut him short “You promised this would all be done by now.”
“I know but we’ve had some problems with the power. We’re just wrapping up here now. We’ll be back tomorrow to finish it off.”
“That’s not good enough. We need to be conducting firing tests tomorrow.”
“Look Captain there will be no tests till we have power, simple as that. You’ll have to postpone the tests.”
“No we won’t.” said Dave emphatically. “You do whatever it takes. I don’t care if you have to work through the night but this battery will be ready for tests by 0800.”
“That ain’t going to happen Captain” said Rooty in a pugnacious manner “We’re not funded for any more overtime.”
“I don’t care if you have to pay these guys extra. That is not my concern. You were contracted to deliver by the agreed delivery date. That was today.”
“Well even so, we’ve run out of time. We’re packing up now and will be back at first light. We’ll get it working as soon as possi
ble tomorrow. That’s the best I can do.”
Dave’s fatigue was now overtaken by anger. He leaned over the small desk looking down on the seated project manager and stared into his face from less than 30cm. “You’re not listening. Either you do this voluntarily or you’ll do it under coercion from my marines. Their lives are on the line right now and they are going to need this battery to support them. They won’t take too kindly to any bullshit from you. Now, get this job finished tonight” shouted Dave.
Rooty was not one to back down from a challenge. He went to stand up so he could face off against Dave at an equal height. Dave placed both his hands on Rooty’s shoulders and pushed him back down, knocking Rooty back into the seat of his chair. “Don’t even think about it” warned Dave.
Rooty scowled back as his foreman entered the demountable in response to the shouting. He was a huge man, taller and wider than Dave. Dave turned to face him. The foreman looked to Rooty “Is everything all right?” he asked.
Rooty reluctantly nodded. “Tell the boys we will be pulling a late one and get that fucking power going.”
The foreman glanced to Dave and back to Rooty, who cocked and flicked his head towards the door. “Right O boss” said the foreman and he left.
Dave looked at Rooty one more time before moving to the door. At the door he turned abruptly and ordered “Advise my watch officer when the job is done.” He then turned and left.
The Phantom’s shuttle had just landed. Brennon and Aubrey were embracing. Dave shrugged his weary shoulders and marched over to them. Sgt Jules Meyer was standing back and trying to look elsewhere. Dave came along side of Jules and asked “So you know how to operate these command droids then?”
“Sort of Sir” replied Jules. “Apparently better than anyone else on board, though I’m not sure that’s turning out to be a good thing.”
“Come with me then” ordered Dave. Addressing the now kissing couple Dave advised “I’m just taking your Sergeant, Aubrey. Carry on!” he added cheekily. Brennon raised his hand and waved goodbye without pulling out of his kiss.
As he and Jules strode along the apron to the droid pods lined up near the facility entrance Dave said “It’s certainly hard conducting a romance during a war, hey sergeant?”
“Some seem to manage just fine” said Jules with a smile.
Dave chuckled. “Yeah they do, don’t they.”
The pods were big, twice the size of a warthog. Dave went to the nearest one and placed his hand on the ID verification plate at the side of the hatch. He pressed his eye up against the scanner when requested and was satisfied when he heard the synthetic voice say “Access authorised.”
Dave turned to Jules. “So you see what I did. I’m just setting you up as an authorised user. OK go ahead and place your hand here….good and now look into the scanner. Terrific. Let’s test it.” Dave logged off and Jules went through the identification procedure and he smiled when he too was advised “Access authorised.”
“Now to get them out” said Dave. “You see these options here. There’s a lot but we’ll keep it simple stupid and just select the Dismount option. Do it and step out of the way.”
Jules did so and followed Dave’s jump to the side. The hatch on both sides slid open and the droids dismounted on both sides and assembled into three lines facing the craft on the starboard side.
“Now to get them back in you select the Mount option” said Dave. Jules nodded. “OK show me how you can operate that command droid.”
Jules went through the ID procedure on the back of the command droid and climbed in. He hailed Dave once he was set. “I’m ready Sir.”
“OK impress me.”
Jules was a little tentative at first. He had the droid strutting more than walking for the first ten paces but soon was walking briskly across the apron. He turned north on the runway and opened out into a jog before finally stretching out into a run at its full speed of 15 kph. He charged down the runway for a kilometre and then easily slowed for the turn and came back at full speed. He stopped in front of Dave and waved the droid arm in its best imitation of a flourish.
“Not bad” said Dave “OK get your mates here to do the same.”
Jules took a good minute to refresh himself with the controls. “Do you want them to follow me or move independently?” he hailed.
“Independently.”
On the internal console Jules selected the icons of each of his section leader droids and issued them a Move command, with the first waypoint on the runway directly in front, the second at the same location he had reached down the runway and the final one back at the start loc. He set the formation of the second waypoint to left echelon and to right echelon for the return leg. He set the frontage to 100m and the depth to 200m and hit send without specifying a start or end time.
The AI in the command droid developed the tasks for the plan and issued the orders with an immediate start. The three lines of droids – one for each section – began moving in individual columns to the start loc on the runway.
From there they shook out into left echelon with the nearest section having its leftmost droid on the edge of the runway and its right most one 30m in and 60 m forward. The others were located on a diagonal line between these. The other two sections were deployed similarly but further forward and further in. Soon they were set in one big angled line. They began racing down the runway. At the second waypoint they turned abruptly and changed formation. Now the nearest section was 200m forward and the furthest section had its leftmost droid 100m in and in line with the second waypoint. They were then in one big angled line running from left front to right rear. They then charged to the final waypoint, stopped and remained in formation.
“Very good Sergeant” praised Dave “I am impressed. How about you have the droids mount back into the pod and we’ll have a chat about what you need to do here.”
Chapter 22. Butros Alia 2200, 22 June
While Aubrey was putting her uniform back on in Brennon’s quarters, Jules lay on another ‘new’ bed in another ‘new’ cabin. He was all alone, except for his thoughts. And it was his thoughts that prevented him from sleeping.
He flinched as a muscle at the back of his ribs went into spasm, just like it had when he was shot. He instinctively pulled his knees up just as he had tried to in the tunnel on Klaster. He was in the foetal position and like a baby craved for some protective caress. It never came.
Eventually, as his emotions and breathing slackened, he stretched out. ‘And here I am’ he thought ‘on my Pat Malone in charge of droids of all things and expected to defend this place….why me?’
Chapter 23. Resolute over Tumos, 2245 22 June
Dave crawled under the covers in his cabin and turned the light out. He was very tired and he had to be up at 0615. He lay on his back and instinctively swept his arm out searching for her touch. But then he remembered, Rihan was not here with him. He blew her a kiss and in his mind’s eye saw it land on her thigh. ‘Sweet dreams my love’ he whispered and smiled.
His mind was still busy. He should have repeated the mantra but instead he indulged the thoughts. He was thinking about his earlier discourse with Aubrey. ‘The commander’s conundrum’ he observed. He smiled when he realised how hypocritical he must have seemed trying to argue for obeying orders when it was only a year ago almost to the day that he had disobeyed a direct order to rescue Sue Chalker from the sleth on Zuon.
‘So when is it right and when is it wrong?’ he asked himself. ‘Legally it’s always wrong. But morally, now that’s a much more difficult question.’ He recalled how a year ago he had justified it by saying that he needed to support his crew so they would support him. ‘But the circumstances with Brennon are not the same as it was with Sue. Sue had been captured by the enemy. It was a case of not abandoning her. Brennon is anything but abandoned. He just happens to be at a site that could be attacked. Mmm…and if he is…then what?’
Dave rolled over onto his side and tried to close his eyes. He shoul
d sleep.
‘The other difference’ he thought ‘was that on Zuon he wasn’t putting any other operation in jeopardy.’ But then Dave reflected on that and knew that the loss of his ship could have jeopardised others, just not directly.
Dave shook his head slightly, annoyed at his mind. He closed his eyes, breathed in and repeated his mantra. He breathed out and repeated the mantra. Again, again and again….till sleep claimed him.
Chapter 24. IRS Mailon over Chelora 0010, 23 June
“About time” hailed Imperial Admiral Meeka Sallusam.
“I am sorry Admiral” said Read Admiral Dugar Mugailen “Provisioning took longer than anticipated.”
“Yes, yes. It always seems to, Mugailen.”
Dugar was not going to be drawn on that point. He knew Sallusam did not hold him in high regard. But the feeling was mutual.
Satisfied he wasn’t going to get a reply Meeka continued “I’m transmitting your orders. Study them carefully. We warp in twenty.”
“Of course” said Dugar ‘What a pompous ass.’
Chapter 25. Resolute over Tumos 0600, 23 June
Dave woke early from a dream in which Aubrey disobeyed his direct order not to intervene. In his dream he had to make a snap decision and he found himself intervening too. He knew it was wrong but felt compelled.
After washing his face he sat for meditation. From deep within the void he realised what he must do.
He found Ivan in the officer’s mess just before 0700. “Ivan I need to see the Admiral. I’m going to leave you in charge today. Mani will let you know what tests to run and remember the missile test at 0900.”
“Sure Sir” said Ivan. “Leave it to me. When will you return?”
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