Resilience (Warner's World Book 6)

by Dave O'Connor

  She got a lock on an enemy fighter but dismissed it. She was only interested in the shuttles. But the four fighters at the rear were doing a good job of shielding the shuttles. She thought about climbing to get a better angle but knew that would entail great risk for she too benefited by being this close to the ground.

  Jenna barked an order to her other pilots but Jeb’s translator could not decipher it. But he soon realised what must have been said. Jenna accepted the lock on the fighter and fired two missiles as did her wingman. The pair then climbed sharply. The enemy fighter had no choice to return fire and rise to block a direct lock on the shuttles.

  As sixteen missiles targeted Jenna and her wingman, the other two republican craft accelerated at burst speed and soon there were six missiles and then another six fired from these two craft.

  The screen went black as Jenna’s craft was blown to pieces. Jeb was shocked at what had just happened. Then he heard a cheer go up as one of the command centre staff reported four shuttles destroyed. The surviving republican fighters were banking right tightly. They would survive.

  Jeb looked at Felis who had a grim expression on his face that was at odds with those cheering. Others were like him, partly in shock, partly in awe at the sacrifice they had just witnessed. Jeb saw Felis lean over and whispered something to Kraag, who nodded.

  “Such bravery and self-sacrifice” commented Jeb.

  Felis nodded. “I have asked Kraag to ensure they are honoured.” Felis paused and then added “The trouble is there are so many to be honoured and fewer of us left to do the honouring.”

  “More fighters and shuttles” announced one of the staff. “Eighteen fighters…ten shuttles…”

  “Where to?”

  “Not sure exactly…wait.”

  Jeb could see the strain on Felis’ face.

  “The enemy force at Mintoslum has begun moving south towards Lewista” someone else announced.

  “The enemy light ships are redeploying closer in” reported another voice.

  “Where are those fighters and shuttles heading” demanded Felis.

  “Probably Lewista.”

  “Enemy force Alpha (the original group of fighters and shuttles) changing course for Lewista.”

  “Rowisus is a diversion” announced Felis. “Have Warner’s battle group move to Lewista.” He knew now that they would be arriving after the enemy touched down there with his latest reinforcements.

  Felis then turned to Kraag but Kraag just shook his head. They had shot their last bolt with the fighters, at least until they could get a resup of missiles and that would be hours away. Felis felt like thumping something to express his frustration. But he knew that would not be good for the morale of those looking to him for leadership. He gritted his teeth instead, sat back into his chair and forced himself to breathe.

  Chapter 28. Resolute 1610, 21 September

  Ivan received the message relayed over the surface and then rebroadcast from the far side of the planet to his ship. He was glad for the intel on the enemy ship redeployment. It only confirmed his gut instinct not to do a rinse and repeat. Trying to pick off the pickets would now mean exposing his ships to missile attack.

  He studied the holo. “Has the latest Neeblo COP (common operating picture) been incorporated?” he asked.

  “Affirmative” responded Crystal.

  “So they have two lights to the east and west and one to the north and south but nothing above or below. How can we exploit that?”

  “Coming from above would allow us to close with the enemy caps largely undetected” mused Crystal. “We could certainly get in a beam attack on two or even four of the enemy caps if we use the Phantom and Spectre, but the real issue then is surviving the return fire from the other four not to mention the six lights.”

  “If we cyber-attack each of the surviving caps” preferred Jasmin “we can limit their missile capability.”

  “Reduce yes, stop no” said Ivan.

  “Those enemy caps won’t have a full loadout” suggested Derick. “They’ve been engaging fighters and missiles now for two hours.”

  “Good point” said Ivan. “Set the enemy loadout to 50% and refresh the relative missile table. Assume we deploy our fighters defensively and that they only have thirty fighters available.”

  The table on the main screen refreshed showing the enemy with 780 ship missiles and 180 fighter missiles. They had 700 ship missiles and 192 fighter missiles. It was very even but Ivan did not like an even fight. He began to rub his chin as he tried to think of some other thing he could do when Jasmin interrupted his thought train.

  “You can probably halve those ship missiles for the first minute due to our cyber-attacks” she said. “If we target their carrier, then we will probably only have to deal with whatever fighters they have on CAP. According to this latest update that was only eight fighters. We can warp away in one minute. So I reckon that will reduce the enemy missiles down to 480 ship and 48 fighter. Almost two to one.”

  Ivan’s face lit up. But he checked himself from rushing to accept it. “Do you see any problems with that?” he asked as he looked around the command centre. No one spoke. “Right let’s put that to the other ships. Jasmin organise the conference call.”

  Chapter 29. Rogintinam 1620, 21 September

  “They are on the other side” announced one of Haina’s staff. “They have two Resolute class caps and two stealth frigates.”

  Haina leaned forward and pondered. She wanted to surprise them for a change but she dare not move till her fighter and shuttles were recovered. They were only now off-loading the third brigade in Lewista. It would be a good ten minutes yet...maybe twenty. She momentarily thought of splitting her force but ruled that out as far too risky.

  She knew then that she would have to weather another attack from them before she could go hunting. She contended herself with the knowledge that at least this time she should be able to inflict some damage of her own.

  Chapter 30. Lewista 1630, 21 September

  The Confederate AFV column advanced into the outskirts of Lewista at some speed. Speed was of the essence now and so safety played second fiddle. Veteran engineer Major Hecton Malessium had ridden roughshod over his AFV commanders, urging them on. He had to berate them when they had lost one vehicle at the checkpoint three kilometres back along the highway that came from Rowisus. Their column had joined the highway after a mad dash from Mintoslum. His goal was the Treasury building in the government circle located at the northern end of the city centre.

  With a bit of luck Hecton reckoned they would arrive at the Treasury in twenty minutes. He was thankful for the fact that the streets were deserted. Most of the civilian population had taken to the shelters fearing the worst from what they had probably thought were Imperial forces come to deliver retribution.

  Regardless, Hecton was grateful for the clear run. The two AFVs in front were moving at over 80 kph. Hecton got a scare when a fighter screamed low overhead, discharging its beam weapon. Instinctively the vehicles in his column slowed and took evasive action. The lead vehicle careened off into a side street about 400m ahead.

  “No!” hailed Hecton. “It’s one of ours. Back on the route and hurry it up” he barked.

  The target was a couple of kilometres ahead. The fighter had been one of the escorts for the 3rd Endosian Brigade landing not more than three kms ahead. It was responding to the firing of a portable anti-air rocket fired by an ISS trooper.

  As the lead vehicle regained its position on the main road it cautiously began moving. “Faster” ordered Hecton. He knew that if this kept up he would definitely miss the deadline set for him in his orders from the Fleet Admiral.

  As the column began picking up speed he reflected on the last time he had been assigned a similar mission. It had been two years ago in the extended territory when they had put down a rebellion on Posern. The rebels had taken over the treasury there and it had been Sallusam who had ordered his brigade to retake it. It had been a hard fig
ht to clear the area and much of the complex had been destroyed in the fight. Sallusam had come down to inspect their handiwork and had asked if it were possible to break into the vaults. Being an engineer Hecton was summoned and given the task. He did not disappoint.

  He would not disappoint this time either but this time he would look after himself too. It was getting to that stage where all good rogan had to look to their own future. A wry smile came across Hecton’s face.

  Unbeknown to Hecton, there was another column of vehicles also heading to Lewista along the highway from Rowisus. It too was moving at speed, but unlike Hecton’s column it would not be delayed at the checkpoint.

  But like Hecton, Dave Warner had been haranguing Lizzy to keep pressing on in the vanguard. She though was very concerned about enemy fighters, especially since they had just seen the same fighter that had just screamed over Hecton’s column.

  Chase was constantly monitoring the intel updates as they sped along. They knew a large force of enemy were right now unloading in the north of Lewista. The shuttles were now airborne and climbing for their return to the Confederate carrier. He was informing Dave each time he received a new report.

  Dave was glad the pain killers had cut in at last. But he was worried about his ability to move on foot once they arrived.

  “Something big has just happened upstairs” advised Chase. “Neeblo Control reckons our ships have just made another attack.”

  Chapter 31. Resolute over Checklin 1640, 21 September

  The 17th Flotilla had climbed high over the system plane and had descended on a steep angle to a position some 7K above Bogey 3, aka the RCS Rogintinam. There they pulled up and adopted a synchronous orbit with the enemy ships below them.

  It had been an extremely nervous approach. It was the most stressful time of Ivan’s life to date. It was even more stressful than the Pulton tunnel assault on Klaster when he lost Sherri. Then he had adrenalin coursing through his veins to offset the effect. But this time his blood was very cold indeed. He swore everyone had held their breath during the approach.

  They had waited two, long and tense minutes to ensure all ships arrived at their designated locations and to deploy all their fighters on CAP. Only then did Ivan give the order to fire.

  The beam weapons tore into and ripped their targets. Haina on board the Rogintinam was one of the first to die. She never knew what hit her. The cyber-attacks played their part in disrupting the surviving enemy caps from returning fire with their own beam weapons. They did manage to fire off their missiles, which were dealt with by lightnings and their own ship missiles.

  But it was the second series of beam attacks that turned the tide. This change in the original plan devised by the Resolute staff was the brain child of Aubrey. She had argued successfully after recounting how they had successfully prosecuted multiple beam attacks within one minute during their earlier raid on the Imperialist transports.

  While two of the Confederate caps warped away after firing their missiles all the rest were destroyed. Two of the Confederate frigates were also despatched before the remaining four warped away.

  It gave Ivan immense satisfaction to see the enemy icons disappear from the holo. But the smile that was creeping onto his face was wiped away in an instant when Derick hailed “17 runners still heading our way. No missiles left. Engaging close in defences.”

  A second later Derick yelled “Where did they come from? … Enemy fighters, 15, from down below firing …shit …90 missiles…30 at us.”

  Ivan could also see the stream of missiles launched by the returning fighters. They no longer had a carrier to come back to but they were determined to unleash their missiles nonetheless. This was not part of the plan. “Warp away now.”

  “But we won’t have time to recover our fighters” advised Crystal.

  “They can land below. Warp away.”

  “Warp in one” hailed Crystal.

  Jasmin drafted a brief signal and sent it just before they warped away. The other ships in the flotilla followed suit.

  Chapter 32. Lima Bravo 1 over Cheklin 1645, 21 September

  There were no remaining targets for the Confederate missiles, save for the 24 lightning fighters, but these were too small to fit their attack profile and so they each exploded in empty space.

  Li had ordered the fighters to land at the Rowisus space port. It was a fearful time for the lightning pilots as they descended to the planet unsure of whether there were any more enemy fighters still with missiles. There were not, but the Confederate fighters were armed with a short beam weapon and they were ordered by none other than Fleet Admiral Meeka Sallusam to attack the human fighters.

  Meeka had opted to go with the insertion of the 3rd Endosian Brigade and was now inside an AFV not 200m from the Treasury building in downtown Lewista. He was not a happy rogan by a long shot. He had just lost his fleet and with it his best chance of asserting his authority on the rogan empire.

  But unlike over Polaris, this time Meeka Sallusam was not prepared to fold and run. He also had a strong vindictive streak and it was this streak which motivated him to order his fighters to engage the human fighters.

  The lightnings carried a rapid firing pulse cannon in the nose. With a range of only 30kms it was seriously outclassed in a dog fight with the Confederate fighters. Their beam weapon had a range of 50kms.

  1st Lt Rose Joslen the senior pilot of 11th Ftr Sqn took charge. She had no intention of mixing it with the enemy fighters. Her greatest fear was the enemy fighters closing to within engagement range. Her next greatest fear was the enemy fighters capping Rowisus or Lewista and thereby preventing her from landing.

  She knew their best chance of survival lay in hiding from the enemy fighters. She ordered her pilots to cloak. But she knew this would take several minutes. In the meantime she had to keep as much distance as she could between the two groups. Staying put was not an option since they were heading straight to them and even cloaked they would be detected by the enemy ladar.

  She knew that the enemy fighters would have already used up a good portion of their fuel. So the trick would be to avoid them till they were forced to land. A smile came across Rose’s face as she realised that they would have no friendly space port to land at.

  “Follow me” she hailed and headed at cruising speed for the north polar region of the planet. The enemy fighters, who were still climbing, banked to intercept and were now in hot pursuit. There was a 3K altitude gap between the lightnings and the Confederate fighters. Speed wise the Confederates were not going to match it but they knew the lightnings had to head for the planet and land. They would have to slow down or burn up as they entered the atmosphere and this is where they would try to intercept them. In effect they would cut a direct line to the north pole and have less distance to cover.

  The race was on. Federation fighters were moving in a stream towards the pole, staying well above the atmosphere while the Confederate fighters, also above the atmosphere but at a significantly lower altitude were streaking towards the same objective.

  Rose could see the cloak indicator flashing. She hailed “Once cloaked, head back to 10K above Rowisus and then descend to land. No further comms.”

  The Confederate fighters were feeling more confident of an intercept when all of a sudden the Federation fighters disappeared from their screens in rapid succession.

  The shock of the event forced many of the Confederate pilots to ponder their own precarious situation - no detectable objective, fuel low, no friendly ship to return to and no friendly spaceport to land at.

  “Confederate pilots” hailed Kraag on an open channel “this is the Republican High Command. Your situation is hopeless. If you land and surrender at either of the spaceports listed in the message just broadcasted you will be fairly treated. Otherwise you will be hunted down. You must comply within fifteen minutes.”

  “Do not listen to the enemy” hailed Meeka, who was furious at this attempt to lure his pilots. “Land at Lewista spaceport. It i
s in our hands.”

  A momentary state of confusion overcame the Confederate pilots. But a simple check of the COP (common operating picture) on their screens clearly showed that the Lewista space port was still contested. One by one the Confederate fighters peeled off seeking to land at a spaceport that wasn’t a battleground.

  “Aaagh!” howled Meeka as he realised he no longer had a fighter force either.

  Chapter 33. Lewista 1650, 21 September

  Arkimon Fetula, the ISS Station Chief, was under extreme pressure. He knew that a deal was going down to hand over a mass exchanger device to Sallusam. He knew that the Confederates had just landed not more than four blocks away from the ISS HQ where he was currently located. Given the earlier conversation they had intercepted between Sallusam and Melnar, it wasn’t too difficult to assume that this was Sallusam attempt to acquire the cash he needed to pay Melnar.

  His over-revving mind had already determined that he had three top priority tasks, apprehend Melnar, deny Sallusam the funds he needed and stay alive.

  Salinta had already despatched a team to nab Melnar. He had used a series of proxies to hide his exact location but Salinta’s analysts were top rate and while it took some time they had pieced together the indirections. Salinta convinced him that he was at Chelcene, a small private spaceport his corporation owned not more than 20 kms from the centre of Lewista.

  She had also despatched a team to the Treasury but they were not responding to hails and both she and Arkimon concluded they hadn’t made it.

  Salinta was also martialling troops to defend their HQ. Given all the other commitments they were over extended and had only fifty troops manning the hasty barricades. Both she and Arkimon knew that if the heavy hitters from the enemy turned their attention on their HQ it would not last long.

  “Draag” hailed Arkimon.

  “Yes” responded Felis. It had been an incredibly active period in the command centre at Neeblo and Arkimon sensed that Felis resented the interruption. “They haven’t made it” he blurted out. “We’ve lost contact.”