“Nothing” said Art and patted her shoulder before swinging his fully clothed body off the bed. He grabbed the pistol that was under the cushion he was using for a pillow, rubbed his eyes in an attempt to get them to focus and then followed Dai out the door.
She led him to the window. The street lights were out but the vehicle lights had multiplied. There was faint light glow in the distance foreshadowing sunrise.
Art peered trying to make out the other two vehicles. Both were low silhouette fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), the likes of which he had never seen before. “Shit they must be rogan!” he said with a jolt. They both had a small turret at the front. The one further back had a rear hatch open and standing next to it were two rogan warriors conversing with one of the human rebels. The rogan were shorter by about a half head than the human alongside and were less well built. They wore dark suits like he had seen on Fulmar but no helmet.
Art realised that this was a worrying development. It meant the rogan had left the confines of the spaceport and were now actively assisting the rebels to control the city – the very thing they are supposed to prevent.
But what concerned him more was the emergence from the back of the rogan AFV of a human figure that he knew from his stance was none other than Bernie McShane, Kyle Bane’s Mr Fixit. In the splash of the headlights Art could see his familiar stocky frame, his square jaw that he jutted out like a hound projecting its snout. He could also see that he had a slight limp as he walked over first to the near side of the AFV and took a look down the street and then to the other side and looked the other way. ‘Making sure the coast is clear hey?’ Art now assumed that it was him and not Bane who got winged as they made their escape from Soln. ‘Blast I had hoped it was Bane’ he said to himself.
Another taller leaner figure emerged with more difficulty from the low vehicle. “Come on Bane, you bastard” said Art out loud.
“Sir?” asked Dai in a whisper.
Art turned his head for a moment and said “Our friend Bane and his offsider McShane just turned up.” He then turned back to the street.
Bane was dressed in a business suit no less. He seemed totally out of place with his surroundings thought Art until he noted the nearby gutter. Bane made his way over to where the rebel and the two rogan were having a powwow. But it didn’t look like they were in earnest conversation. ‘They must be waiting for something or someone more likely.’
Chapter 17. Resolute over Beta Phi 0505, 22 May
“Whisky” hailed Chase from the command centre “report status.”
“All Whiskys ready for launch” replied Parinya. “All Golf are locked and loaded.” The former meant that the warthogs were ready and the latter that the ground forces on board were ready for action.
“Hotel report status” hailed Chase.
“All hotels are ready for launch” replied 1st Lt Felix Schneider, the senior heavy shuttle pilot. “All Tangoes are locked and loaded.”
“Delta Control report status.”
“Delta are ready for launch” advised Julian.
“Launch on my mark in one minute” hailed Chase. He got a nod of approval from Dave and turned his attention back to the timer counting down over the holo display.
“Launch in 5, 4, 3, 2, away.”
The droid pods of course were first away avoiding that momentary delay before the human pilots reacted to the voice command. The pod hatches were located on the bottom hull of the ship in two rows of eight. There were four pods per droid company and another four for Bn HQ and support. The flush hatches on the hull over twelve of the pods recessed slightly before sliding open. Retros fired propelling each pod out of the ship. They then formed a column, each on active cloak. The Droid pods would be down first too. They went in hard and fast not having to worry about the effects of too many Gs on their payload.
“Look how fast they are going” said Rihan.
Parinya led the first of the warthog flights and they too formed a column and descended to the planet in a gentler descent than the droid pods. Last out were Felix’s hippos and they definitely would be last down. Adding to the fact that only one of these could launch at a time none of their pilots, Felix included, had ever actually flown these craft before fully loaded. The first time they saw them was at the famil at Butros Alia. They had been working overtime on the simulators but as good as they were nothing beat actual time on the machine to develop a feel for it.
Chase zoomed the holo display so he could get a closer look at all the flights. The routes of each of the three flights of droid pods, two of warthogs and one of hippos could now be distinguished.
“Impressive” said Jasmin.
Dave was impressed too but he was also praying that they didn’t get spotted. Active cloaking was great at fooling the most sophisticated electronic sensors but it couldn’t fool the naked eye and Dave knew it. He glanced at his workstation where he had the current weather on Niku and its surrounding region displayed. Forty minutes to first light said the display. Twenty five minutes to drop off. Depending on how efficient they were at releasing their payload that should leave about ten minutes to clear the atmosphere, where the greatest risk of visual detection was.
He was strumming his fingers on the work station. Rihan saw this and knew that she was not alone in worrying whether those Trojans could be released quick enough or whether the Hippos would run out of time and be spotted.
In fact everyone in the command centre was worried about the same thing. All remained quiet. There was little they could do now. The die had been cast but it didn’t make the waiting any easier.
Chapter 18. Niku 0520, 22 May
They were still waiting out in the street. Art went into the bedroom and came back with his rifle in hand.
Buster came forward and said “Not a good idea Sir, not with us holed up in here.”
“It’s all right Buster I’m not got going to shoot I just want to use the sights to get a closer look.”
Buster looked into his eyes for a moment and then stepped aside. Art took up position at the window and brought the rifle to his shoulder. He turned off the thermals as there was too much light from headlights. He looked down the sights and could clearly see Bane. He was obviously unhappy about being kept waiting. ‘Good’ thought Art.
Art took his eye away and glanced across to Buster. With a smile he teased “it’s surely tempting.” Buster smiled back weakly. Art returned to his scope.
McShane was carrying what looked like an old fashioned machine pistol, small enough to be carried and fired one handed. Art took a closer inspection by zooming in only to have McShane turn and walk away from his view. Art zoomed back out a little and could see the splash of more headlights approaching from the far end of the street.
Another truck pulled up and four heavily armed humans disembarked, with two on each side of the street. One acknowledged one of the other rebels with a nod. He was talking but not to anyone there – obviously hailing.
Sure enough another set of headlights came into view. It was a car. It pulled up behind the truck that had just arrived. The door opened and out got a woman of average height and build. She was dressed in dark slacks, a dark coat and a dark fedora.
Art zoomed in and took several snaps. Buster was already looking at them on his console and cross checking her with their database for a possible ID.
“Shit” said Buster “she’s Emily Shriver, housing minister with the Niku Council. Well not any more.”
“I bet Bane got to her and made her an offer she couldn’t refuse” said Art without taking his eye off her. He was now focussing and snapping the face of her offsider.
“Not sure Sir” said Buster. “Can you get another?” Art duly complied. “Better. Alexis Rega…oh nice…company commander, 2nd Phi Militia, based here in Niku. These rebels might be more than a rabble Sir.”
“Yep….OK there all together now, the rogan, Bane and our new chums. Buster, what have you got in your bag of tricks that will allow
us to listen in?”
Buster reached for his bumpack on his webbing and ferreted out a directional mike. “Here you go. Old habits die hard boss.”
“Once a techie…”
“Always a techie. Here let me do it.” Art gave Buster his rifle and he fitted the microphone which was housed in a cigar shaped cylinder and he fastened it to the stock by means of the attached ‘grip-stick’. He hit a control on the side of the cylinder and then used his console to sync to it. “OK. You’re good to go.” Buster turned around to the others in the room. “Everyone remain quiet. We gotta open the window.”
Buster ensured his head phone was on his left ear. He tapped it and Art did likewise. Buster then leant forward and before he unlocked the window he faced Art who gave him a nod. Buster unlocked and opened the window just a little and very slowly. He gave Art another nod and got out of the way.
“You said this would not happen” said Emily Shriver. There was real concern in her voice.
“Don’t worry Emily” said Bane in his deep smooth voice “our rogan friends have dealt with it.”
“Not all of it” said Alexis Rega. “There’s a column of 12 AFVs approaching from the south. There’s at least 2 battlewagons. They entered the southern suburbs ten minutes ago. My troops are not going to hold them.”
“It’s all right Alexis. As you can see the good rogan here has his own AFVs. They will help you stop them.”
“These two are not going to be enough” said Alexis a little more forcefully.
“More are coming” said the rogan commander.
“How many and when?”
“Six more, thirty minutes.”
Emily looked earnestly at her military commander. Alexis could feel the heat. This was not the bloodless coup he signed up for. He was having serious regrets. Finally Emily asked “Well will that suffice?”
“We’ll see” said Alexis. He then turned to the rogan commander. “You had better fight.”
“Of course. It’s the rogan way.”
Chapter 19. Niku 0530, 22 May
The five droid pods on the eastern side of Niku were the first to touchdown. Like the well-oiled machines that they were, the droids of Bravo Coy disembarked, secured their immediate perimeter, waited for the two support droids to unload and deploy from the fifth pod, and then headed west-nor-west into the city. The pods automatically sealed their hatches and began the steep climb back into the atmosphere.
To the west of the city Alpha Coy and Bn HQ touched down. Alpha Coy was as rapid as its sister company in heading out. The Bn HQ took a little longer to deploy its support vehicles, which included two dozers, four logistics vehicles, a generator vehicle and a workshop vehicle. But any marine support commander would have looked on with envy for they were on the move not more than five minutes after disembarking.
At 0535 the warthogs dropped 30th Coy off on the eastern side of the city but south of Bravo Coy. Jim had ordered 1st Platoon to head off straight away while 2nd Platoon secured the area for the arrival of the hippos. It was still dark but Jim swore there was a glimmer of light on the eastern horizon. He knew he had to wait here but he didn’t like it.
It was another three minutes before the hippos got down. Tammy Jahir raced over to the first of the hippos to supervise the release of the vehicles. As they suspected, the vehicle had shifted to the left at the rear and this made it difficult to release the chains.
The Trojan commander, Sgt Sunny Winchester, was alongside the loadmaster, a big strong lad named Jeb Stuart. They were wrestling with the chain on the rear axle. The chain from the middle axle was off already.
“Fuck it” said Tammy “just cut them.” The loadmaster was all too happy to oblige. Jeb handled the laser cutter like he did this every day. Tammy didn’t wait to see them unloaded. She raced to the next hippo and ordered them to cut the rear chain too. It took them a good five minutes to unload all four Trojans.
Tammy made her way back to the first hippo and gave the pilot Felix Schneider the thumbs up. Was he glad to get that signal. He fired the retros and ordered the rest of the flight to lift off. Felix knew he had to shift it now if they were to escape visual recognition. At 100m above ground he brought in the main thrusters and transitioned out of the retros as soon as it felt like it would take. This was something you just didn’t get in the simulator – that feel of the craft as it handles under the competing momentum of the main thrusters and retros.
He was pleasantly surprised as the big craft made the transition quickly and delighted when the main thrusters took over completely and responded to the full throttle. He turned to Jeb who was strapped into the seat on his right “much better than the old Hinds.” He was referring to the earlier heavy shuttle model still in active service throughout the fleet.
Jeb nodded. He was all smiles as he watched the numbers on the display pass escape velocity. “Much better indeed, boss.”
Back on the ground Jim had ordered Sunny Winchester in Tango 1, with Tango 2 under command, to race ahead, catch up with 1st Platoon and then support their advance. Once the two Trojans departed, Jim gave the go ahead for his 2nd Platoon to start marching. His small HQ group and the two remaining Trojans brought up the rear of their column.
Tail end Charlie was Tango 4 and it did not start moving till 0550, a good 15 minutes after the drop off. It would be dawn in 15 minutes and Jim did not want to get caught out in the open. “Double time” he hailed his troops.
In downtown Niku, everyone from the insertion team was awake. The window was shut, the rebel leaders had left when the rogan armoured column arrived ahead of schedule three minutes earlier. Dai was on watch while the others were getting their kit on. She could see the original two rogan AFVs move out. “They’re on the move” she said in a measured tone.
“What about the rebel truck and the troops in the street?” asked Buster.
“Nah, they’re still there.”
“OK I’ll check out the back.” Buster opened the door and gave a nod to Reg who was on guard at the top landing. He looked out the window on the landing that overlooked the courtyard at the back of this block. The courtyard was obviously common space to the apartment block on the other side. It was empty at the moment except for an array of luggage, a child’s stroller and an odd assortment of cartons that had been unceremoniously dumped. Buster knew that it must have been bedlam here 24 hours earlier when everyone scarpered with whatever they could carry.
He came back in to find Sue with her headphone on listening to the news from her console. Her eyes looked tired but it was her ears that were focussed. “Anything interesting” he asked.
“There’s talk of the Alliance sending more troops from Assam” said Sue. “But they are being held up by a constant stream of refugees heading south out of Niku.”
“Anything from the rebels or the rogan?”
“Yeah there’s a broadcast from Shriver about the need for people to stay indoors and not breach the curfew.”
“Doesn’t sound like those refugees are paying too much heed to that.”
Art emerged from the bathroom, his face washed but unshaven. “Too much heed to what?” he asked.
“Ah it seems we have the rebels imposing a curfew, the populace at large are ignoring it, one Alliance column in the city and more on their way, rogan AFVs determined to prevent them from reaching the spaceport and we’re stuck right in the middle” said Buster. Sue nodded her agreement to Buster’s assessment. “So what are we going to do boss?”
“More trucks” called out Dai. “Shit their dismounting.” The sky was lightening in anticipation of dawn.
Somewhere in the background south of the apartment they could hear a series of explosions. Everyone looked around at the others. Art went to the window. He saw two rebels carrying Alliance issue Lance portable missile launchers. Another was carrying a portable shield and his mate had a nail gun for fastening it to concrete.
“Looks like these guys are going to be making a stand here. We have to get out, now
. Buster let’s go out the back now.”
Buster led the way carrying Reg’s pack with him. He tossed it at him as he passed. There was no way of getting out the back without having to descend the stairs to the bottom floor. Buster was wary less one of the rebel soldiers out in the street glanced their way and saw them moving past the front glass doors.
Just as he was about to take his first step down, two rebel soldiers walked past the front door. He withdrew a step back onto the landing and turned to face Art and shook his head.
“We need another way out.” Buster nodded and went past Art and along the corridor of the first floor. Art followed. Buster was about to break into an apartment facing the back courtyard when he realised the door was actually opened. He entered. It was deserted with stuff everywhere strewn over the living area. A broken picture frame with what was obviously a family portrait lay on the floor. He saw it too late and crushed it under his boot as he stepped in. Art was right behind him and he tensed before he realised what had happened.
Buster went to the window of the living room, which faced out onto the courtyard. He reached into his bumpack and withdrew a cutting laser and a suction cap.
He fastened the suction cap to the glass and used the laser to cut out the inner pane of the double glazed window. Art placed it down against the wall while Buster fastened the cap to the outer pane. Rinse and repeat and the whole operation had taken them two minutes.
Akos came forward with the climbing rope and a towel he liberated from the bathroom. He placed the folded towel over the window frame to prevent the cut glass from severing his rope. He tossed the rope out with the grapple on the ledge of the window. Sue led the way down.
Dai finally climbed down and Akos retrieved his rope with a looping pull. Sue headed for the apartment block on the other side where she could see the back door was held ajar by a box or something. As she closed she saw it was a case of wine no less but resisted the temptation to liberate it. A suitcase was splayed open on the ground in the corridor. She kicked it to one side and made her way to the front.
Insurrection: Book 3 of Warner's World Page 17
