Resilience (Warner's World Book 6)

by Dave O'Connor

  A smile came over Phil’s face. It caused Gret’s own smile to broaden. But then Phil’s smile was replaced with a concerned look. “Transports I have” said Phil “but fast warships are in very short supply. How much opposition is there within your systems now?”

  “Our latest intel is that the enemy has two caps and two frigates over Slenthsl and another pair of frigates warping between systems as required. We are prepared to commit our remaining cap and two frigates to the operation. We believe that if you commit the Audacity Group we would have enough force.”

  “The whole group?”

  “Yes but our ground troops will bear the biggest burden of any ground operation.”

  “That’s as well, but for how long?”

  Gret smiled. He knew this would be asked and he believed he had an answer that would please the Admiral. “We need 20 transports for as long as it takes to secure all our home worlds. Three months is our estimate. We would need another 12 to ferry our brigades to you and this should take no more than ten days.”

  “And the warships?” interjected Phil.

  “Four, maybe five weeks; six at the most.” There was a slight note of hesitancy in Gret’s voice.

  “Mmm…that means delaying our main op yet again. We will need another week to ready them after they return here.” Phil consulted the calendar on his terminal. “That means slipping our op till the beginning of December. I’m not sure, the resistance on Slidwon will be able to hold that long. What do you think Alex?”

  Alex had anticipated this question. “If we stick to our plan we can count on two battered brigades of rogan troops on Istridium – the 32nd and 33rd. They are getting new recruits daily but they’re untrained. If we wait till the second week in December we will have these three hardened sleth brigades plus the Gelk. They’re due in on the 1st of December, remember?” Phil nodded. “And they come with a whole corps of 50,000 troops.”

  “I can see the merit in that” said Phil “but I am also worried about the readiness of Dave’s new ships. They really need some time to work up together. That was what the next two weeks were for.”

  “Could we split the difference Admiral” suggested Gret. “We can wait a week.” Gret had a soft smile and his facial expression said ‘what do you think of that?’

  “OK let me consult with my staff. I will give you an answer later today.”

  “Of course. Thank you Admiral.”

  After Gret left, Phil commented to Alex “smooth talking bugger is our Gret.”

  Alex tilted his head and replied “Yes, he is that. For what it’s worth I reckon it’s a good deal.”

  “Yeah, me too, provided we don’t lose those warships – or too many marines. We need to consult with Dave on this. When is his fleet due back?”

  “They are scheduled back at 1600. I could ask them to return sooner.”

  “No. It can wait till then. Ask Lawrence to hand over his role in the exercise and work us up a plan for this commitment. I want him to highlight any issues that could affect their return time.”

  “Will do” replied Alex.

  Ten minutes later it was an annoyed Lawrence McGreedy, the new OPS Officer at Combined HQ, that tore himself away from an exercise he had written and was supposed to be overseeing. He was in Alex’s office. “So what’s so important?” he asked. Alex took only five minutes to explain the situation.

  Lawrence’s demeanour had changed. “I’m sure we can make this work.”

  “The boss will be glad to hear that.”

  “You know this is manner from heaven. My biggest concern so far has been having enough ground troops” said Lawrence. He stood his tall lanky frame up and added “I’ll be back.”

  Alex smiled as he departed. He had always liked working with Lawrence. He had a great get up and go attitude. They had served together on Phil’s old staff at Special Operations for two years. But physically Lawrence did not look as robust as he once had. The tropical disease he had come down with had taken its toll. He now had an almost gaunt look to him. Reflecting on this took the smile off Alex’s face.

  It wasn’t until 1630 that Dave walked into Phil’s office.

  “How did it go Dave?” asked Phil.

  “The ALS is working fine now” reported Dave. “The fighters and bombers got a real work out. Toyah impressed. She knows her stuff. She managed to coordinate the fighters from carrier and the caps really well.”

  “Good to hear. Now I want to run past you a proposition that the sleth have just put to me. I said I wanted to consult with you before I gave my response. So nothing has been agreed. I want you to listen to this and hold off commenting till Alex and Lawrence have finished.” Dave nodded. “Alex?” asked Phil.

  Alex gave a rundown on the sleth proposal and handed over to Lawrence who ran through the draft op plan he had worked up. Dave duly kept quiet till Lawrence finished.

  “The plan looks good” said Dave and he gave a thank you nod to Lawrence. “I can see why you want to do this. But it means losing valuable prep time and you know that things rarely go as planned. We may get stuck there longer than intended. What then?”

  “If we have to we delay going to Slidwon” answered Lawrence.

  Dave noted the nod from Phil. “And what about coordination with the other fleets before warping to Slidwon? At best we’ll have a week.”

  “As long as you don’t lose any assets Dave I’m sure we can make this work” said Phil.

  Dave paused and pondered. The others waited patiently. Finally Dave looked at Phil and said “OK, we need to do it. Those ground troops alone justify it.” Lawrence smiled and turned to Phil.

  “Good, you leave in a week” directed Phil.

  Chapter 3. Neeblo 0620, 12 October

  Felis woke to a hail from the watch officer in the command centre. “I think you should read this straight away Sir” said the watch officer.

  Felis was yet to wipe the sleep from his eyes. “Just send it to my communicator.” Felis went to his ensuite and washed his face. He heard the communicator ping as he dried his face. He threw the towel down on the rack, picked up his communicator and walked back to the desk in his quarters as he read the message from Yomoto.

  “Blast him!” he uttered. He was furious at the thought of Evie being in danger any longer than needed. He knew too that Meelanda would be furious at the further delay.

  But then his discipline cut in and he sat down in his chair and reread the message. The thing that stood out for him was the additional 60,000 ground troops. They would reduce the risk of failure dramatically. He rubbed his chin as he pondered. ‘We need to convince Angina to stay her hand.’

  Forty minutes later he marched into his office and called Meelanda. It was still only 0700 but he knew she would have already been woken with the same message.

  “You do realise I am trying to eat my breakfast” said Meelanda, her annoyance obviously conveyed in the tone of her voice.

  “But it’s not going down easily is it?” asked Felis.

  Meelanda pushed the plate away from her in disgust. “No it is not.”

  “But the news isn’t all that bad” suggested Felis.

  “Oh, the fact that we have to delay until December or that we now have to deal with the Gelk as well?”

  “They bring 50,000 troops and a fleet. For that you can deal with them. They improve our chances of success from borderline to very good. I don’t like the delay either but if it means we now have a good chance of pulling this off then we need to go along with it.”

  “There are times Felis…” said Meelanda raising her voice.

  “When I give sound advice” interjected Felis.

  “When…” Meelanda trailed off. She knew she had to reign in her emotions here. “When you give sound advice” she finally added in a calmer tone. “Does that mean we should delay our departure?”

  “We could but I’m for sticking to it. It will mean we have more time in Qwantum to coordinate and rehearse with our allied forces…”
/>
  “And it will mean we can be physically present when Yomoto makes decisions” interjected Meelanda.

  “Exactly” said Felis with a smile and a matching tone of voice.

  “Agreed then.”

  Chapter 4. Audacity over Q2 0530, 17 October

  Rihan woke before her alarm sounded. She swiped her communicator to ensure the alarm didn’t fire and wake Dave, who was cuddled into her back sound asleep. She rose from the bed careful not to disturb him. In her tee-shirt and knickers she stole her way to the ensuite in the dark.

  She was familiar enough now with the relative location of things in the cabin that she could navigate around even in the darkness. It wasn’t total darkness. Two tiny blue lights adorned their consoles on their respective desks and a tiny red light emanated from the alarm system on the ceiling above the small coffee table. She used these like beacons on a bay marking the areas to avoid.

  Once the ensuite door was closed behind her she turned on the lights. They were already on a dimmed setting according to the program she had set on the first day she arrived on the ship. In the subdued light she could still see her reflection enough in the mirror to know that she really needed more sleep.

  ‘But duty calls’ she said to herself. As the Flag Captain she was in effect Dave’s Chief of Staff and as such there was a lot for her to check prior to their departure at 0800. She had to confirm with Val that her replenishment was finished. They had still been at it at 2300 when she retired.

  She meditated for just 20 minutes. ‘Not really long enough’ she said to herself as she got to her feet and began changing into her uniform. She was out the door before Dave’s alarm went off.

  When it did his first reaction was to find his wife and cuddle her. ‘Blast’ he said to himself as he searched the bed with his outstretched hand and made no contact. Then he remembered about the replenishment and the departure. He forced his body upright and made his way in the dark to the ensuite on almost the same path as his consort had done a little earlier.

  But by this time, Rihan had already woken Val and managed to get confirmation that all was done with the replenishment. She didn’t begrudge Val who fell back to sleep after the call. Rihan knew that her Quartermaster had been up till 0200 along with her staff. They would be excused from the normal ‘stand to’ on warping out.

  Rihan strode into the command centre and touched base with the watch officer, who had only taken over the watch half an hour ago. The checklist for warping out was up on the main screen. Rihan liked the green ticks next to most items, especially the engineering items. She glanced at the holo and noted the CAP of four lightnings on their race track around the carrier.

  “What’s this?” she asked on spotting the icon for one of their warthogs. It indicated the shuttle was on the deck at Rollinium.

  “It broke down last night on one of the replenishment runs” responded 1st Lt Mandy Coombs. “They assure me that they will be back up within the hour. That timer” said Mandy pointing to the timer counting down over the holo “is to remind me to read the riot act to them in…23 minutes.”

  Rihan gave Mandy a smile. She had not known Mandy for long but already she liked her no-nonsense approach to her work. She was one of her BS officers. Rihan knew from her file that she would turn thirty on the 27th of October. “OK but keep an eye on them.”

  Rihan took her seat and began scanning the details for their warp. She looked to Mandy and exclaimed “So we arrive on your birthday!”

  Mandy was surprised and she physically jolted her head back enough to set her brunette bobtail in motion. “Yes we do. You must have a good memory?” she asked.

  “For the important things” said Rihan and she looked back at her terminal after seeing a smile appear on Mandy’s dial. A minute later Rihan was satisfied everything was in order with the flight details. She turned her attention to the other ships and confirmed that only the Dominator was yet to post a ‘ready’ status for the impending warp.

  “Chase up with the Dominator” said Rihan “and let me know if there is any issue or they’re just being slack. Feel free to use my name in vain if you have to, but do whatever is necessary to get them ready.”

  “I hailed them just before you came in. They are waiting on one of their officers, who was supposed to be getting a lift on that shuttle down there. Once we get it and her back up they’ll be ready.”

  “Good work Mandy. I’m going to get some breakfast. Have you had any yet?”

  “No, I was hoping to duck out after we go into warp.”

  “You’ll be starving by then. I’ll send you in some. What do you fancy?”

  Again Mandy was surprised. She gave Rihan her breakfast order and watched her boss leave. She already knew Rihan to be well organised, like herself, and she had seen her give a tongue lashing to those who fell short of the mark when they were getting the ALS working. But this had shown a different side of her and Mandy liked it.

  Rihan went to the officers mess and placed the order for Mandy with the steward, who undertook to take it out to Mandy personally. Rihan then went back up to the command deck and her office. She scanned the latest reports to see if there was anything that would cause them to delay or abort their mission. She noted the latest report from Orina on Istridium that said they repulsed another attack from a company-sized force. This was a step up from the platoon sized probes of the last week but so far the resistance there was holding.

  “Maam?” hailed Mandy.

  “Yes Mandy” responded Rihan.

  “Thought you would like to know that that shuttle has just taken off and should be here in twenty.”

  “Good thanks. Oh, I have to go Mandy, the Admiral has just arrived.” Rihan terminated the call as Dave, who had just entered, said “breakfast?”

  She gave him a smile, rose, hooked her hand over his offered arm and headed off to the mess knowing her job here was done.

  Chapter 5. Audacity to Cheylista 0645, 19 October

  Dave was working his dumbbells in the gym while Crystal pounded the tread on her walking machine. She stopped it prematurely and went round to begin her stretches. Dave could see there wasn’t her usual enthusiasm for physical training.

  “Bit tired?” asked Dave as he too paused his exercise.

  “Yeah, didn’t sleep that well” replied Crystal.

  “John?”

  “Yeah, had another dream.”

  “Have you thought of grief counselling?”

  “Me and shrinks don’t mix.”

  “It might help though.”

  “Mmm…” said Crystal as she started another stretch, this time raising her foot onto the waist height bar and extending her leg to stretch the hamstring.

  “Just a suggestion.”

  Crystal knew that Dave was just trying to help and she appreciated his restraint. ‘He’s getting better at it’ she thought. She gave him a weak smile and said “Thanks.”

  Crystal had the morning off because she pulled watch the previous evening. So after breakfast she decided to follow Dave’s advice and headed on down to the med bay. Mary wasn’t there and she was about to walk out when the male nurse at the reception said “but Dr Lin could see you.”

  She didn’t know Dr Lin and didn’t fancy sharing something so personal with a complete stranger. She was about to say ‘don’t bother’ when the said Dr Lin appeared with a smile on his face and said “Yes come this way” and he ushered her into a consulting room.

  “I’m Jim, what can I do for you?”

  “Oh it’s nothing really. I was hoping to see Mary about…” but Crystal struggled to form the necessary words.

  Jim was patient. He was also sensitive. “If you prefer, I can let Mary know and she can arrange a time to see you.”

  There was something about his kind expression that cut through Crystal’s reluctance. “I was after some grief counselling” she said rather quickly.

  “I see” said Jim. With a smile he added “that’s my specialty around here. Well it
seems that way with Mary referring many to me.” Crystal gave him a brief smile. This encouraged him to continue. “I’d be happy to help if you would like or…”

  “OK but when?”

  “Now’s good.”

  “Oh.”

  “Why don’t you start by telling me what’s happened.”

  Crystal did all the talking, only occasionally being coaxed on by Jim. At half an hour in she saw him check the time but he said “Please go on” and she continued opening up to this stranger. She felt a measure of relief just unloading how she felt. Jim didn’t seem to judge her, certainly not like she did herself, and for that she was grateful.

  At the hour mark he said “I think that might do us for today. Would you like to have another session tomorrow?”

  “Yes I would like that” said Crystal. “Thank you!”

  Chapter 6. Audacity to Cheylista 1515, 21 October

  “Well I reckon it stinks” grumbled Sue as she sat down with her coffee at one of the tables in the café on B deck.

  “Yeah” said Aubrey as she put her cup down on the table and sat down in a chair “this is the second lay day in a row when those guys back there have got their way. I don’t mind the odd action movie but every time. Give us a break.”

  “You’re the ship captain, Rihan” said Sue “We should all get a fair share of the theatre. Can’t you pull some rank here?”

  Rihan put her cup back down, swallowed the sip she had just taken, sighed and responded “Now let me see…aah yes, a Rear Admiral does outrank a Commodore.” She gave them a knowing look.

  Sue raised her eyebrow. “You are his wife!”

  “And I love him dearly.”

  “Well we need some love too” said Sue.

  “And more importantly” chimed in Aubrey “for those of us here, who don’t have a husband in their bed each night, we’d like the odd romantic comedy” and she looked to Crystal who gave a weak smile and nodded.