At the next intersection Art turned east onto Paris Drive. He rolled his eyes as he read the street sign. All the signs so far had the same French styling. ‘Obviously this is the ‘better’ quarter’ thought Art. The dresses in the shopfront he passed confirmed his original assessment about this neighbourhood.
He crossed north over the street at the jog and entered the open access to the courtyard. By his reckoning the eastern side of this block faced opposite the western entrance of the school. He tried the back entrance but it was locked. He was going to curse about the need for wealthy people to lock everything but instead just went to smash it in. Buster’s hand stopped him.
“Let me, boss” said Buster.
“We don’t have time Buster for all that bio detection routines.”
“Agree. But watch this.” He withdrew a device from his bum pack and held it against the electronic locking block. He heard a few clicks and then pushed the door open. “Voila!”
Art gave him a quick smile and pressed on in. The front entrance was around the corner and along a corridor that ran by the stairs and past the elevators. “Akos upstairs, fourth or fifth probably. Get eyes on the building south of the entrance.”
“Roger” said Akos and he strode up the stairs two at a time.
“Buster, get us into this corner apartment.”
Buster had them inside in less than a minute. The living room had three tall narrow windows curtained of course in rich, dark green velvet and tied loosely with gold coloured, braided ropes a metre from the floor. Art was careful not to get too close but he positioned himself so he could see the entrance and the building that Trent reckoned was where Bane was.
“Trent” he hailed “we have eyes on the building. I assume you have not seen him come out.”
“Correct India One. Our agent is on the eastern side though and has only limited vision past the eastern wall of buildings.”
“OK we wait and observe.”
“Understood.”
And so they waited. It wasn’t until 1540 that Trent hailed “eyes on Bane exiting into central courtyard. Bane plus six others. He’s turning north. We’ve lost sight.”
“I can see him boss” said Akos.
“Do you have a clear shot” asked Art.
“Negative. There’s someone else between him and me. He’s going for the car. Do I take the shot?”
“Yes go for it” said Art.
Akos squeezed off his shots. The first hit the person between him and Bane. The second went too high because now everyone was crouching. Bane was pushed into the car by another figure that was struck by Akos’ third round. His fourth bounced off the armour plating on the roof of the car. Akos had to move closer to get the angle down to fire at the vehicle as it would exit.
As soon as he did he received a burst of fire from first the group in the entrance around the car and also from the building opposite. The one opposite was from a quanto and Akos had to dive for cover as its shots sprayed through the window albeit angled up into the ceiling. He knew he would have to move to another room.
The car came into Art’s view as it moved through the arched entrance onto the street. Buster and Art opened up with their pulse rifles but were almost immediately forced to duck for cover. Jade fired from the third window at the car as it sped away down the street but her pistol did not have the effective range. She too had to dive away as the quanto on the first floor of the opposite building now began spraying fire her way. The three of them retreated to the back courtyard where Art ordered Akos to withdraw.
Art knew that there would be troops pushing their way in a minute. He waited till he saw Akos come out the back door and then he led them onto Paris Drive at the double. As he turned south onto Coultier he could see two trucks pull up. They immediately stopped and Alliance troopers dismounted and took up positions ready to fire.
“Trent we see troops south of us on Coultier. Hostile or friendly?”
“Friendly. They’re friendly.”
“Tell them not to shoot us.”
“Done.”
Art shouldered his weapon and sprinted towards the friendly troops who were now upright and advancing north toward him. The others followed suit and soon they passed the first rank. The officer in charge was in the second rank. He put his hand up as Art approached him and Art came to a halt huffing and puffing.
“India One?” asked the young subaltern. Art nodded while taking in his breath. “Did you get your target?” Art shook his head. “Oh well at least we know where we stand. Better luck next time.” The young officer marched forward towards his encounter.
When Art and the others rounded the next corner they could hear the gunfire from where they had just come. “Trent, Bane’s got away. We need extraction.”
Chapter 23. Niku 1600, 24 May
By relative standards it had been a quiet day in Niku, not that anybody there was complaining. Justine had been flat out re-establishing the lines of command. Many good people had died but others were coming forward to take on the responsibilities of governance.
She had found time to visit Julian in the middle of the day and promised to call in again later tonight. He was starting to get some colour in his complexion other than the bruising which was starting to go down. Each time she looked at his hands and feet though she felt like crying.
The doctor assured her that he would be able to walk again but his left wrist and hand would never function fully. The wire they had used to restrain him while stretching him over the back of the chair had severed several muscles. Julian, as always, was stoic about the experience.
“Don’t blame yourself my dear” he said.
She truly loved him, now more than ever.
Sue and the 30th Coy HQ staff slept most of the day. And so did most of the troops apart from a few patrols. The droids, bless them, never tired. They had the rogan remnants bottled up in the SE corner of the city in accordance with their directive.
Meg Kenau made another visit to the hospital. She found Ken Shinto with both arms above the covers, albeit his wounded arm was in a cast. For someone she had rarely spoken to before she found so much in common. Despite her own tiredness they were still talking two hours after she had planned to leave.
Part 6
Conflagration
Danger down below, danger above
The struggle goes on and push has come to shove
Lightnings blast fury here and everywhere
We don’t dare stop we don’t dare care
The fallen are behind and we must soldier on
Their memory will keep but their presence is gone
There’s fire down here it’s all around and upon
The very ground that we’re standing on
The shot and explosion, the shock and awe
But up in the sky the sun is no more
Surpassed for a moment by what we saw
It’s the fire and destruction outlaw
Chapter 1. Klaster 1900, 24 May
2nd Lt Jim Isuzo found his boss, Liz Adair, asleep at her desk. “Maam” he said. She woke with a start. “Maam we need to go now.”
“Right Jim. Sorry must have nodded off. How are we doing?”
“You and I are the last.”
“All right. Lead the way.”
She fastened her pistol belt and turned out the light. The corridor lights went out one by one after them as they headed to the dock. Liz climbed in the passenger’s side of the buggy and let Jim do the driving. It was dark out and the headlights from the buggy lit up the road ahead. She glanced back and recalled the last time she did the same. It was not quite a year ago. ‘All of this I built since then. Will I have to rebuild it again?’ she asked herself.
As they drove towards the Pulton 1 mine entrance she glanced across to the missile batteries, now buried deep into the ridge above. Unlike a year ago these were fully automated systems. Even the control staff were buried deep underground. She was proud of that. She had had to fight hard to get the a
utomated systems. She still had nightmares about losing the crews last time. Hopefully she would be spared that this time.
They pulled up at the outer gate and picked up the guard as agreed. They drove through the main dock and down the huge tunnel that was big enough to take the monster mining trucks. They went through the series of four blast doors before reaching the small inner dock and the elevators. Another guard was waiting at the light elevator. Jim drove straight in. The last guard came in after the buggy and hit the button to descend to level 1. It took them a good two minutes to descend.
The memories began flooding in as they exited into the main tunnel on level 1, past the room where she had nearly suffocated and the blast doors she had defended in their bitter fight against the sleth. This time though they had custom built firing positions manned by the 27th Marine Coy.
Jim brought the buggy to a halt at the old command post several kilometres in. But unlike a year ago this was not a dungy makeshift establishment. On the contrary the place was lit up brilliantly. When she entered she was greeted by a hive of activity. The entire Control staff were there, now replete with workstations and holo display.
“Anything?” she asked.
“No Maam” came the reply.
“Well it won’t be long.”
No truer word was spoken. Liz was in the loo half an hour later when her communicator advised her the enemy had just warped in. She came running back into the command centre to see the enemy ships already making their run in.
“They’re not wasting any time are they?” she asked rhetorically. She watched the four enemy ship icons on the holo. The two in the lead were the caps and they were closing fast to within effective range of the heavies. The battle system was switched to full auto. The rules of engagement had already been set.
The heavies fired first at the two oncoming caps. The lights would be used to attack the enemy’s incoming missiles. The missile arcs were so dense it looked like a river of light. “Incoming” yelled the controller. The number of incoming missiles kept incrementing like a fast motion video.
Liz looked around the room. Some were focussed on the display and could not tear their eyes away from it despite the fact that they were simple observers now. A couple had their heads in their hands and a few like her were looking at the others.
‘Will this be my last vision?’ she asked herself. She glanced back at the holo. It was all moving in slow motion now. She saw the destruction of one of the enemy caps but she was mesmerised by the stream of enemy missiles that had got through. The number next to them said 15. ‘Oh fuck!’
She braced herself instinctively, her hands grasping the arm rests. Thud went the first report with its incredibly deep penetrating vibration. Thud a little closer. Thud … closer still. Thud … Thud … Thud. The last one sounded like it was right on top. Thud, Thud, Thud. The next brace rocked everyone in the room. Her chair, secured to the floor, amazingly held fast. But more amazingly, so did the structural integrity of the mine.
‘How many to dig 3 K down?’ she asked as the next brace seemed to be moving away. She looked at the holo. The enemy had warped away. The feeds from the outside cameras were all out bar one. It was from one of the camera on the ridge. Somehow it had been spared. But all that could be seen was swirling dust. The radiation levels on the display were sky high.
Someone in the room let out a cheer but most remained quiet. Liz felt incredibly tired, like some mild form of paralysis. For the life of her she could not find the energy to stand. When she thought of the devastation above and the need to rebuild but yet again she felt even more paralysed. So she remained sitting. She even closed her eyes.
“Maam are you all right?” asked Jim.
She opened her eyes to see Jim looking elated. She gave him a weak smile. “Do we still have comms?” she asked.
1st Lt Tommy Lee, the comms officer, checked each of his systems. “No Maam. They’re all down bar the internals.”
Liz just stared back at him.
Tommy felt sick in the stomach.
“Wait an hour Tommy but no longer” said Liz.
“Get the hazmat buggy ready” hailed Tommy. His elation at having survived had so quickly dissipated with the prospect of going out amongst all that radiation to set up comms on the surface.
Chapter 2. Resolute over Beta Phi 2015, 24 May
John Conrad had the watch when the Resolute warped back into Beta Phi. Dave was watching him closely. This was the first time he had been on watch in what would be a likely ship engagement. Dave was pleasantly surprised at how calm John remained on warping in.
He went through the checklist methodically and efficiently. The trouble was the spread of the enemy craft. Bogey 1 and 2 were only a minute’s missile flight time apart but Bogey 3 was a good five minutes apart and that would give it a good chance of escaping.
“Sir I would like to launch four Limas and have them close within 1 minute’s missile range of Bogey 3 and then engage all targets simultaneously” said John. “Do you approve?”
Dave smiled and said “Approved.”
“Chase please target Bogey 3 with 4 Limas. To remain cloaked till released on my command” ordered John.
“Wilco.” Chase issued the order and hailed Li Nahn “Lima control new order requiring four limas. This is in addition to CAP.”
“Roger that. Permission to launch CAP now and second serial in 2 minutes.” The reason Li wanted to do this was that the four fighters of the CAP serial were already on the launch rails and he would either have to launch them of withdraw them. If he withdrew them then it would be a good 4 minutes before he could relaunch them.
“Affirmative” replied Chase.
“CAP away” advised Li. Down on F deck four new Limas were moving onto the launch rails. The pilots were reviewing the order, including Kat Holbrook. She was focussing intently on the waypoints set for her. These would be automatically followed after launch unless she “broke free”.
She looked across at her flight leader 1st Lt Rose Joslen. She was the only one of the flight that had ever seen combat. Rose’s fighter was on the adjacent rail. She made eye contact with Kat and nodded. Kat nodded back.
“Activate cloaking” commanded Rose to her fellow pilots. Once they all acknowledged she hailed “Lima control this is Lima Bravo 1 we are all ready for launch.”
“Launch” commanded Li. The four lightnings shot out under the power of the launch rail. Around 100m out the pilots engaged their engines and immediately banked right and formed an arrowhead formation with Rose in the lead. Kat was her wingman (Lima Bravo 2) and was on her right but offset back. The leader of the other ‘pair’ was 2nd Lt Juko Comsart. He was call sign Lima Bravo 3 and he was offset to the left rear of Rose. His wingman was 2nd Lt Sammy Tan and he was offset right rear of Juko and directly behind Rose. In effect they formed a diamond:
1
3 2
4
Because they were cloaked there was not the normal chat over the net between the pilots. Kat always found this aspect alienating. She was robbed of the banter used to coordinate with each of the members of the flight. But the banter also served another purpose and that was to reassure the pilots that they were not alone. It was this aspect that now played on Kat as her lightning streaked through space.
Her display was warning her that the enemy’s active radar was sweeping her craft. If she was uncloaked this would be a major source of concern. She glanced at the data confirming that her cloaking was still active and its integrity was solid.
She found herself focussing on the display that currently showed the location of the other fighters. Because of the cloaking these were determined by passive visual scanner only. The scanners were programmed to look at a designated arc configured by the formation type and offsets set in the mission profile.
But as they all knew it only took one craft to deviate slightly and over a period of time the offsets could all be thrown out. The result was that one or more of the visual tracking s
ensors would fail to report the presence of a craft. This can be unnerving at best and dangerous at worst. SOPs dictated that in the absence of any other indication the pilot should remain slaved to the profile.
They raced past the second waypoint. ‘Just one to go now’ though Kat. Suddenly LB3 was missing from the display. Kat could feel her anxiety rising. She craned her head left but could not make out the lightning that should be two kilometres away. ‘Stay calm’ she reminded herself. The display was telling her that they would be coming up to the third waypoint in a minute. There they would racetrack until given the attack command.
LB4 also dropped off the display. Kat took a deep breath in and exhaled. She then took another deep breath in and exhaled long. She could still see Rose and that’s what mattered. Rose wasn’t deviating. ‘It must be good.’ She glanced left and thought she could see Juko. She relaxed. Up ahead, Rose began banking right. Kat followed in her wake. She checked her rear scanner but couldn’t make out Juko. ‘Surely he must be there.’
Rose eased off the right bank and Kat followed suit bringing her lightning directly behind her boss with a separation of 2K. They would follow the racetrack in single column. ‘There he is’ she said triumphantly to herself. She smiled as she relaxed and banked right again as her leader led the race around the oval.
Another alert flashed - the warning order for the attack. They had one minute in which to adopt attack formation. Rose waited till the end of the straight and then banked slightly left and down towards Bogey 3. She accelerated to close the gap between her and the target praying that her fellow pilots were right behind her. She checked her rear camera and saw Kat’s lightning closing slightly. That was a good sign. She just hoped Juko and Sammy were doing the same.
Insurrection: Book 3 of Warner's World Page 30
