“I second that” said Crystal.
“Alright we’ll leave the targets as is for now. But that’s good intel Ivan. Well done.” Dave looked down at the holo and could see that the Hippos were entering the atmosphere. He felt a little more relaxed this time, especially as there was plenty of darkness for the entire return journey.
Rihan entered still in her suit but without her webbing. She gave Dave a smile and then checked out the holo and read the message from down below. “Oh that’s good news isn’t it?”
Dave nodded and smiled. “I want to find out what happened to Pious though. I have a suspicion that that bastard Bane is responsible. Oh and by the way, the rogan are shy two frigates.” He watched her mind processing and smiled when she spoke.
“Alpha Phi?”
“We need to be done here by 0530 to beat the arrival of Sydney and Washington.”
“Breakfast then?”
Dave and Rihan were still in the mess at 0500 when Aubrey hailed “They’re back on board Sir.”
“Good I’ll be there in a minute.”
When they entered the command centre Aubrey was going through her checklist for the next phase. Dave let her finish.
“We’re good to go Sir. Warp locked in” said Aubrey.
“Engage” commanded Dave.
“Missiles away” said Crystal.
“Transmissions away” said Ivan.
“Warp in 1” said Aubrey.
“We have 60…62 runners targeting us” said John “and 48 targeting strike 1 and 24 on strike 2.”
“Warp in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”
Once again the Resolute left the space over Beta Phi with her hostile intent still running to its targets. Bogey 1 faired the better but was severely damaged. Bogey 2 exploded, again lighting up the early morning sky over Niku and Assam much to the good cheer of those watching.
Chapter 17. IRS Kunter 0505, 24 May
Once again Admiral Soola was furious. He immediately requested a damage report from the IRS Trago but as its commander was giving his report the ships damage control failed and it too exploded. For the first time in his long and illustrious career the Admiral realised he was facing defeat against a technology that he had no effective counter to.
He was overcome with mixed emotions – resentment, anger and despondence – but he reminded himself that he was an admiral in the Rogan Imperial Fleet and he forced his body into an erect posture lest those around him see him weakened by this development.
His subordinates, who were rarely encouraged to proffer advice, all refrained from giving any now lest they bear the venom of his anger. Soola looked at them with a mixture of mild contempt and anger, which only reinforced their reticence.
He placed his elbow on the surface in front him and rested his chin in his hand as was his want when he contemplated what to do. At least this familiar stance was cause for some relaxation in his subordinates.
He realised in that moment that he had to take the fight to this marauder. Ideally he wanted to find this enemy ship uncloaked but if that was not possible then he wanted to destroy its supporting ships or bases.
“How long for a Federation cruiser to warp to Alpha Phi?” he demanded.
“Five hours Sir” replied Cmdr Felis Draag, his chief of staff.
“And to Klaster?”
“22 hours.”
“Our frigates on Alpha Phi have not reported any enemy activity?”
“No Sir.”
“So Klaster it is then. Leave the Smirna here. We’ll use our advantage in warp speed to get there before him. Issue the orders for the rest of the fleet here to warp to Klaster in five.”
Felis Draag took in a deep breath as he did each time he was about to question his commander’s judgement. “Sir that will leave only one frigate here.”
“Yes and they will warn us if the enemy comes back.”
Felis took another breath in. “But they won’t stand a chance against this enemy cruiser.”
“My intention is to find and destroy this cruiser before it comes back.”
“But Sir what about the third wave?”
“Niku and Assam will have to wait.”
“Sir we must replenish our missile stocks.”
A frustrated Soola seethed. The last time Felis had seen that the cause was removed from his post as Soola’s chief of staff. He now expected the same.
“When are the shuttles due?” asked Soola with a pained expression.
“Tomorrow Sir along with the third wave.”
“All right then we will leave three frigates here and transfer their missiles to us. I want to be underway in an hour no more.”
“Of course Sir. But…”
“Enough. Execute my command.”
“Of course Sir” said Felis and turned to his operations officer and nodded.
Chapter 18. Assam 0610, 24 May
“Did you hear the news?” asked Murray Benson as he stuck his head into the room Art and his team were camped in.
“About the two caps?” asked Buster.
“No. The rogan fleet’s just warped away, bar three frigates.”
“What do you reckon?” asked Art. “Withdrawn?”
“No, more like they got sick and tide of being picked off and are going to chase your ship. I hope you have something over Klaster.”
“Have you warned Klaster and the Resolute?”
“Yep.”
Chapter 19. Klaster 0710, 24 May
“Fuck I knew this would happen” said Liz Adair. She put down the communicator on the table in the mess. She looked around at her staff as they went about the normal breakfast routine. She knew she had to shatter that. Time would be of the essence. But first she finished off her muesli muffin and drained the cup. Somehow it didn’t taste so good. She picked up the communicator as she rose from the table and walked out the door. She saw the smiling face of her PA as he headed past her on the way to the Mess. “Better hurry Jim.”
He looked confused but she kept on moving. She walked into her office, sat down and then hailed on the base channel “This is the Commander, this is not a drill. Threat state Amber. Commence evacuation phase 1.”
Chapter 20. Nova Vista 0830, 24 May
Admiral Phil Yomoto looked up from his desk as Rear Admiral (RAdm) Miranda Kerr marched in and closed the door behind her. She was a little younger than Phil but she was still a mature women. She filled out her uniform a little too well these days but Phil had known her since the days when she cut a firmer figure. In fact she had a fleet wide rep for being a firm if not a hard character.
“Miranda.”
“Good morning Sir. I just saw you authorised the release of our entire stock of Torads.”
“Yes I did.”
“You have no right to commit our strategic reserve. The new ships won’t have any missiles to launch with.”
“I don’t care. I have one ship out there right now who is in the fight of their lives. The Resolute’s already despatched two rogan caps. (It would be another 24 hours before he knew that in fact the tally was double that.) If Warner keeps it up there won’t be much left for the Ark Royal group to deal with. Look Miranda these new ships are weeks away. The future of Beta Phi is being decided right now and these missiles are needed to give us victory.”
“And if Warner loses this fight and the rogan come our way we will be left with our pants down.”
“Well we better make sure he doesn’t lose it then” said Phil with a good measure of venom. “I’m not backing down on this Miranda.”
“OK Sir you leave me no choice but to take this up at the joint chiefs.”
“Fair enough can you please leave my door open on your way out.”
Miranda gave him a filthy look and walked out. She thought about closing his door out of spite but then reminded herself that she was a mature woman, not a teenager.
Captain Alex Peabody, Phil’s staff officer, poked his head in. “Trouble?”
Phil nodded. “Bloody Loggies.”
<
br /> Chapter 21. Resolute over Alpha Phi 1015, 24 May
Dave let Aubrey fight the engagement which she did in short order. The two enemy lights never knew what hit them till it was too late. It was all over in less than five minutes. As Aubrey was mopping up Dave’s focus was on the message just in from Beta Phi. As soon as she was finished he put the message up on the main display.
“What’s more likely for the enemy – Klaster or here?” he asked. He gave them a little time to digest and consider. Then he asked “Aubrey?”
“Klaster.”
“Ivan?”
“Klaster Sir.”
“John?”
“Same Sir.”
“Anyone think otherwise?”
There was silence. Dave glanced around and saw that no one wanted to speak. “Options?”
“Warp back to Klaster post haste, leaving Sydney and Washington here” proffered Chase.
“Or we could take this opportunity to go back to Beta Phi and secure Assam” suggested John.
“They’ll nuke Klaster Sir” contributed Jasmin. “They don’t have any forces on the ground there and they won’t invade because they’ll know they haven’t enough to prevail. So they will destroy it and deprive us of a base.”
“Good” said Dave.
“Or they could wait for us to arrive and attack us then” suggested Rihan.
“If we arrive cloaked, how will they know?” asked Dave. “They must assume we will arrive cloaked. In which case, they are just as vulnerable over Klaster as here. No I think they mean to nuke Klaster post haste. I think it’s safe to assume that they have the same or better warp tech that the sleth have. If that’s so they will arrive before us, attack and warp away before we can get there.” Dave stopped in deep contemplation.
“We can’t leave Klaster to get nuked again Sir” said Chase. He looked around with a concerned face. “Can we?”
“Can anyone suggest an option that will allow us to stop it from happening?” asked Dave. No one came forward.
“We have six batteries on Klaster” said Aubrey. “There is little chance of them getting away with it without losing one cap. The batteries are going to target the caps as a matter of priority.”
“Even if the enemy suffers some losses it just doesn’t seem right to abandon Klaster” said Chase.
“I understand Chase” said Dave “but we can’t get there before them and if we chase them there they will be back at Beta Phi before we return. All we do is waste time. Our mission is to harass the enemy’s operations over Beta Phi and we’re not going to do that with a futile chase across the system. I know it’s tough but we will extract our pound of flesh from this rogan fleet.”
“Aubrey finalise matters here and then warp us back to Beta Phi. Make sure you get off the necessary reports. Also order the Sydney and Washington to stay here and protect the transports as they arrive. Have I forgotten anything?”
“Yes Sir we have to wait to rearm” said Crystal.
“Blast! Of course. Thank you Crystal. Chase what’s the ETA again?”
“1030…any minute now.”
“Val” hailed Dave.
“Sir.”
“Can we replenish up here direct from the shuttle?”
“Technically yes but we’ve never done it.”
“I realise that. How long that way as opposed to going down on the planet?”
“Oh gee Sir that’s hard to say. We’ll need an hour on the deck plus say another half hour each way in travel time. So two hours that way. Up here we do have the new automated loading systems but I’m not sure just how long.”
“Sir the Washington’s just warped in” advised Aubrey. “Sydney and the shuttle too.”
“We have a hail from Cmdr Suzuki and another from the Sydney” said Jasmin.
“OK Aubrey let Val try out the replenishment up here. I’ll take these calls and leave the rest to you.”
“Right Sir.”
Val botched the first attempt using the new in-flight replenishment system. They had to send out a warthog to retrieve two canisters of missiles that were ejected prematurely.
After finishing his calls to the frigate commanders he made his way down to E deck where he found Val focussing intently on her workstation. Next to her was Tracy who was operating the MagGrab system. This used a magnetic field to secure the missile canisters as they sat on the conveyor extended from the shuttle.
“What’s wrong Val?” asked Dave.
“Wait one” she replied without moving her eyes from the screen. “Of course!” She turned to face her Captain. “Oh Sir, teething troubles. That’s all. We’ve had to adjust the strength of the MagGrab on the Resolute. It wasn’t strong enough last time. I think we’ve got it right now.”
But this time the MagGrab’s strength was too great and Tracy on the controller cursed when the canister came up far too fast for her to adjust its alignment. It banged into the outer hull and everyone on the ship heard it. Tracy was forced to release it and this too would have to be collected by the warthog recovery team.
“Perhaps we should belay this and do the replenishment planet-side” said Dave. The tone of his voice conveyed his annoyance and frustration.
“Please Sir” said Val “We’ve bracketed it, it won’t be long now.”
“We can’t afford to frig around any longer Val. If this next one doesn’t work, we abort this and go down.”
“Right Sir” she replied and avoided eye contact with him. Instead she addressed Tracy “lower the strength 20.”
“Roger” replied Tracy. After she had adjusted the control she said “OK send the next one.”
Thankfully this time it went as it should. Val turned to Dave and gave a quick smile. “I think we’re good to go. Won’t be too long now.”
Dave left them to it and it was as well because it took Val and Tracy another five goes before they perfected the MagGrab strength setting. Once it was set correctly, things flowed smoothly. They still had to manhandle the wayward canisters caught by the warthog. Two loadmasters had to suit up and physically push the canister into range of the MagGrab.
Dave stopped being frustrated after he reminded himself that he had little control over this. It was his original decision to go with this option and he just had to wear the consequences. He also reminded himself that with new systems there are always teething troubles. He gave a sigh of relief when they warped away just on 1500.
Chapter 22. Assam 1430, 24 May
Murray Benson was deep asleep for the first time in a week when he felt someone shaking him. He hit the person shaking them but then his arm was grabbed and finally he heard it.
“Sir, wake up” said the duty Sgt.
Murray somehow plied open his eyes. “What is it?” he muttered.
“Bane…we have a sighting.”
Somewhere within Murray’s mind an alert fired. He jolted up. “I’m coming.”
He forced himself to wake up. He checked the time. ‘Oh shit it’s only been four hours’ he said to himself. He was walking down the corridor a minute later. He stuck his head into Art’s room. “We’ve got something.”
He continued on, now with four others in tow. They arrived at the Assam HQ Intel Centre where the large room had two rows of work stations that faced into each other across the holo display. Along the far wall was a series of standard screens on which different footage was being played. On one of these was a man in black that everyone recognised as their target.
“Where is this?” asked Art.
The Intel Analyst at the front left workstation responded “Chendu High School. It’s southwest of here about 9 clicks. It’s where our 9th Militia Coy is based.”
“Oh shit” said Benson. “Sir” he hailed.
“What is it Murray. Make it quick” said General Harry Kirkland, the current senior Alliance commander in Assam.
“The 9th Militia is about to go over to the rebels. You better react now.”
“What? How?”
“Better
come in here Sir.”
“I’m coming.”
Harry Kirkland was a small man with big stature. His head was shaven completely. Better the tough look than that of an emaciated monk. But it wasn’t his diminutive taught frame or his piercing blue eyes that had given him a reputation as a man to be reckoned with. It was the power of his intellect, his decisiveness and an almost pathological devotion to duty. He strode into the Intel Centre, looked at Art for the first time in person, though he knew all about him and his team. He nodded acknowledgement to him but turned to Benson. “Show me.”
Benson pointed to the screen which showed Bane talking to the deputy commander of the 9th Militia Coy, 1st Lt Sheila Xian.
“Is that live?” asked Harry.
Benson nodded.
“This is your Bane isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“Alright he’s yours. You better go now. I’ll organise the boots on the ground to shut this down.” Harry walked straight out. He gave Art another nod as he did so but otherwise said nothing.
“A man of few words” said Art after he had left.
“Don’t worry” said Murray “He’s a good guy. Grab your kit and John will take you to the pad out the back. Board the shuttle. It will drop you close but not too close. We can’t afford to lose it right?”
Art nodded.
“Trent here will be your controller. He’ll coordinate other assets if we can release them. Good luck.”
They were airborne within three minutes and were dropped off in another five. The DZ was in a park 1 click away from the school. The area was largely inner city suburban. The developers had cookie cut the blocks each with three walled sides, containing high rise apartments, around a central courtyard. The fourth side had a low rise building complex of around 4 storeys with shops and restaurants on the lower floor. Adjacent to this was an open access to the courtyard. The school occupied a double block and was a series of walled buildings no more than 4 storey’s high with gates on the eastern and western sides.
Art led them north up Coultier Ave with its divided road and tree lined walkways. From his map he could see that the school was now two blocks north and one east. Trent had kept up a constant stream of intel. He had advised Art that Bane had entered the building south of the western entrance. He believed he was still there. A car was parked in the entrance and they believed that Bane had used it to get there. There were two other figures with him. One matched McShane’s description but the other man they could not identify.
Insurrection: Book 3 of Warner's World Page 29
