Kat committed her payload to Bogey 3 less two missiles for self-defence. If they had suspected enemy fighters about then they would have kept four in reserve but not tonight. Her display indicated that she would be within the one minute range in ten seconds. Her finger was on the trigger. She was all focus now.
John Conrad in the Resolute’s command centre watched his timer tick down. “Beam ready?”
“Ready.”
Missiles ready?”
“Ready.”
John waited.
As soon as Rose confirmed Juko was in position she hailed “Fire” and a second later “missiles away. She then banked tightly and gunned the engines to buster back to the Resolute. Kat did likewise, followed by Juko and Sammy.
“Fire” ordered John.
“Missiles away” announced Crystal.
The Resolute’s two beam weapons lit up the space with huge energy beams that bore into Bogey 1. It exploded before it could fire a retaliatory shot.
“Incoming from Bogey 2…ten” announced Crystal, followed by a “why only ten?” It was only ten because that was all that Admiral Soola had left Bogey 2 before he departed for Klaster.
But John was not going to be distracted by that. “CAP” he ordered. “engage incoming two for one.”
Dave gave him a nod indicating his pleasure. He was pleased because John had opted to use his more plentiful fighter missiles and conserve their ship missiles.
“Bogey 2 initiating warp” announced Crystal.
“Bogey 3 firing ten missiles at limas” announced Crystal. “Ground launched missiles…24…at us. Bogey 3 initiating warp.”
“Recall Lima Bravo” ordered Li.
“Incoming from surface battery Alpha” called out Sgt Chad Preston who was standing in for John on the second Battle Systems station. “We have 6 runners…make that 12… no, no we have 24.”
“Another 12, now 24 from surface battery Bravo” called out Crystal.
“Engage 1 for 1 all runners” ordered Chad. “Fire 12 Missiles at each Battery. Lima Charlie and Lima Bravo engage leakers as required.”
“Affirmative” said Rose for Lima Bravo. “Show’s not over guys” she hailed her flight. Buster to way point one.”
Kat felt the rush as the engines responded to her command. They were now moving at near max speed back to way point one (WP1) where hopefully they would be in range to engage any leakers from the enemy missile salvoes.
Kat could see that they were 30 seconds away from WP1. She also saw that the Resolute’s missiles had destroyed 26 of the enemy’s 48. Lima Charlie, the four lightnings on CAP, had already fired four salvos of 8 missiles each. Those missiles were now charging down the 22 incoming leakers.
As Lima Bravo got to WP1 there were still 7 leakers. Because they were not cloaked, Rose let the AI automatically allocate the available 8 missiles on her four fighters. As soon as she had the green light, she hit the commit control and Kat felt the shudder as the missile booster cut in on both her remaining missiles.
Li Nahn had taken the precaution of launching Lima Alpha and they too fired off a salvo of 8 missiles while Lima Charlie returned to base (RTB).
Kat’s adrenaline was in a rush for the second time. Her eyes detected the strikes and she let out a triumphant “Yes!” when the last enemy missile was despatched. Kat felt elated. She was on an adrenalin high. Sure she had experienced these before but nothing like the rush she was getting now.
“Good shooting everyone” said Li over the Lima net. “Bravo you’re good to RTB.”
“OK folks” said Rose “hands off the throttle. From here on we’re cruising not loos’n.” Kat could tell that Rose too was on a high.
The surface batteries fired their remaining 48 missiles at the incoming salvo from Resolute. They took out most. But 4 missiles impacted, three on the battery SE of Niku and these effectively wiped it out. The other one caused serious damage to two of the six launchers in the battery in Assam.
There was relief on the Resolute with the destruction of the enemy leakers and rejoicing when strikes on the enemy batteries were announced.
“Now that was a clinical, nay surgical strike” said Dave over the shipwide channel. “It was well planned and executed. Well done to everyone and in particular to our pilots.” Then Dave added for the ears of the command centre “Mr Conrad well done.”
“Thank you Sir” said John.
Ivan couldn’t wait any longer. “We have transmissions Sir.”
“Thanks Ivan.” Dave quickly scanned the messages. “I also have SITREPs from Niku and Assam. Another militia company in Assam has defected to the rebels. We need to get down there asap and reclaim this system for the human race.”
Dave terminated the hail and then spoke to those in the command centre. “John have Lima Control provide an escort for the Golf serials and another to provide ground support once they’re on the deck. He will need time to rearm. Once he is ready you have the green light to launch.”
“Roger Sir” said John and he went about tasking and coordinating.
Dave left him to it and made his way down to G deck. As he entered the warthog hangar suited figures were still on the move with last minute arrangements. Val passed him at the trot on her way to sort out some problem with the loading of the Hippos in the next hangar. They would be bringing in resupply for Niku and a reserve stock for Assam.
He caught up with Rihan outside Whisky 1. She was suited, with her webbing on, and rifle in hand talking with Emilio who was going with her to help control the droids. He’d been practicing manual override down on H deck for the last few hours.
“Everything OK?” asked Dave.
“Yes we’re good to go” replied Rihan. She looked around and then added “all the marines are on board now except for these recalcitrants in Whisky 2.” She deliberately raised her voice at the end and the three marines nearby hurried even more to board Whisky 2.
“Speaking of which I better board Whisky 2” said Emilio with a grin.
Once alone Dave said “Don’t do anything stupid honey. I can’t live without you.”
She leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “You’re so sweet. You don’t deserve the reputation you have, you know.” She gave him a smile.
He smiled too. “I’m not going to bite though and I meant what I said. Come back to me Rihan. I love you.”
Rihan was touched by his sincerity. She responded in a more sincere tone. “I will and I love you too.”
“Maam” hailed Parinya “we need to go now.”
“Got to go darling. Take care.” She went through the hatch with Dave still staring at her.
He had this foreboding, this fear that this might be the last time he would see her. He caught himself and redirected his thoughts to the next task at hand.
Chapter 3. Whisky 1 over Beta Phi 2050, 24 May
Parinya led the flight of five warthogs out to WP1 where they met their escort Lima Bravo. There was no risk of enemy fighters so Lima Bravo would provide loose escort. This meant they would not have to stick close by the warthogs but had freedom to roam at some distance against any detected threat.
The four hippos slotted in behind the warthogs and the four droid pods slotted in behind them. Once they were all marshalled Parinya led the formation towards the planet surface where it was night time. The city lights of Niku and Assam and several of the smaller cities in this hemisphere were clearly visible.
Throughout the flight down lightnings would accelerate forward and swoop around in a seemingly random pattern. It had been over four years since Parinya had ever been escorted. She found herself thinking ‘now that would be cool.’
Her thoughts were interrupted when Hotel 4 hailed “separating now for Niku. See you topside and thanks for the escort.” It peeled away just before entering the atmosphere and aimed for Niku.
Parinya handled the handshake with Assam control and was directed to land at a makeshift landing pad on the eastern side of Assam. As they approac
hed lights were turned on illuminating the landing area. It was the original now disused spaceport, closed because of its limited capacity and proximity to housing.
Parinya was a little concerned as to whether the 13 craft, especially the big hippos and droid pods, would actually fit. She negotiated with the controller to have the hippos and pods land on the runway while the more versatile and smaller warthogs would wait and land in the old open car park.
The hippos were first down. A column of trucks drove to meet them and unloading began in earnest. Thankfully everything was in containers. However it took almost 20 minutes to unload and it wasn’t until 2145 that Hotel 3 began its return flight. Hotel 1 and 2 would stay on the ground for now to provide heavy lift support for the ground forces.
The warthogs were unloaded and three of them took off to return to the Resolute. Whisky 1 and Whisky 2 would stay to support the ground force, provided a mobile lift capacity and if need be close fire support.
The droids disembarked from their pods, which would also stay, and they deployed around the spaceport, pending further orders.
1st Lt Claudia Pfieffer from the Alliance Army met Rihan as she disembarked. Under the floodlights Rihan could see that she was a tall athletic looking woman with blond hair and blue eyes. She had a confident air about her. She introduced herself as their liaison officer and asked Rihan to use the trucks provided to move up to a position four kilometres away just behind Alliance Field HQ Alpha. Gen Harry Kirkland was waiting to brief her.
Rihan left Whisky 1 and 2 where they were. Emilio would stay with the Droid C Coy. She ordered the marines to follow her.
Chapter 4. Resolute 2110, 24 May
Dave read the FLASH message just in from Klaster with a heavy heart. He took a deep breath in and exhaled long. He looked back at Ivan who had obviously read it. He could see that his face was taught. He selected the shipwide channel.
“I have a message just in from Klaster. They were nuked just after 1900 by two rogan caps and 2 frigates. It looks like everything above ground is totalled but not a life was lost. Everyone is safe underground.”
“Now I know the natural human instinct is to want to go to their aid. But right now we aid them best by defeating the enemy here. They have enough air and supplies to last two weeks, maybe more. Polaris will send a decontamination group along with all the support that is needed.”
Dave ended the transmission and addressed those in the command centre. “Klaster confirms that they destroyed one of the enemy caps. That means that we can probably expect that force to warp back here…when Chase?”
Chase did the math based on the ETD of the Kunter and its arrival at Klaster 13 hours later. “0800 tomorrow Sir.”
“Right we need to be ready to destroy this enemy at 0800.”
“Shall I relay this to our ground forces?” asked Ivan.
Dave thought of Rihan’s nightmares and answered “Not yet.”
Chapter 5. Assam 2200, 24 May
“Commander Kabel welcome” said Harry Kirkland. “Your arrival is very timely and your offer of assistance most appreciated.”
“Our pleasure Sir” said Rihan. “Can I introduce 2nd Lt Agha Kahn. He commands the 3rd Pl of 30th Coy. I left Chief Emilio Shavez back at the LZ with the Droid C Coy.”
“Nice to meet you Lt. This is Colonel Greta Mendelsen, my chief of staff. She will give you a brief on what’s happening and we can then discuss options for using your force.”
Greta was a no nonsense type, very precise in what she said and how she said it. The perfect fit for Harry Kirkland. The dark rings around her eyes and the drawn face were evidence of how tired she was. But even so she still had energy to deliver the briefing.
“The enemy comprises about 200 rogan soldiers and another 300 or so rebels. They have 8 AFVs, two light shuttles and a missile support battery.” She pointed to the icons on the holo and continued “They control the spaceport, city centre and the north western area of the city. We have 450 troops, no AFVs and no fire support units. We are located primarily in the east. We had a militia company in the south but it defected this afternoon. We have forces engaging this unit at the moment.”
Greta paused and then continued “We assess the enemy as too week to mount an offensive. Through their agents they are attempting to turn our units. They have turned several militia units but we are down to just the professionals now. From prisoner interrogation we believe the rogan are waiting on reinforcements. We don’t know when.”
“Thank you Colonel” said Harry as he stood and took over proceedings. “As you can see we lack the combat power to go on the offensive by ourselves. With your support we could mount an immediate offensive and destroy this enemy before the next lot arrive. How fresh are your troops?”
“We’re ready to fight now Sir” replied Rihan. “The real question is where do we attack?”
“Downtown is on high ground that overlooks the rest of the city. If we can control that we can use it as a base of fire for our subsequent attacks NW towards the space port” said Greta.
“But that will be a hard and probably costly slog through a heavily built up area” said Rihan. “Might be better to utilise our mobility and secure the spaceport first. We have a flight of fighters in support. They can go in first with priority against enemy AFVs and support units. We can insert the Droids in one lift and our marines in two.”
Even a tired Greta could see the merits of such a move. But she was reluctant to speak first. She waited.
Harry was thinking. Finally he spoke. “This splits our force which is a negative…but I like it.” He smiled for the first time in days. “It is so nice to have options. Let’s do it. Once you have secured the spaceport and are ready to assault the city centre, we can mount a supporting attack from the east.”
“What about our supplies?” asked Agha.
“We may have to ask the hippos to move it for us. But that can wait for now” said Rihan. “Let’s take a closer look at the spaceport.”
Chapter 6. Resolute 2350, 24 May
It had been a busy night for Li Nahn in Lima Control and by the look of things it wasn’t going to let up. This was his second strike briefing. Lima Bravo’s pilots were all ears as he explained that they would be conducting a preliminary strike against the spaceport prior to the droid’s attack.
Kat found herself focussing hard, especially when she found they would be going in against the enemy’s missile battery. It was the top priority target. Any AFVs present were secondary. The trouble was the missile battery had redeployed. They had to find it first.
They would fly to WP1, where they would rack (fly in a racetrack one behind the other) prior to launching the attack. From here Rose would launch two probes. Each would approach the spaceport from different directions and hopefully they would survive long enough to stream their data to their targeting systems. Once they had this they would conduct the strike. Well that was the plan anyway.
“Now remember” said Li “you must destroy the battery before we can insert the ground troops. Otherwise they’ll be dead meat. Do you understand?” He saw all four acknowledge him. “Good. Good luck. You have five minutes before launch.”
Outside Kat found Chase waiting for her. She gave him a smile. He smiled back and walked with her over to her fighter. The ground crewman gave her the thumbs up as Kat approached. He scurried off, leaving them alone for a couple of precious minutes.
“You look different Kat” said Chase.
“In a good way?” she asked.
“Yes in a good way. You don’t seem anxious anymore.”
“Oh I’m worried alright but just not focussing on it.” She paused. “I wonder what I’d be like if we weren’t so busy.”
“What, idle minds and all that?”
“Yeah, something like that. Thanks for coming to see me off. It’s nice.” She smiled and added “but then you’re my nice man aren’t you?”
He pulled her too him and kissed her on the lips strongly. She responded in
like kind.
When they parted she said “Well nice and passionate. It’s a winning combination.” She gave him a peck and climbed into her fighter. She had her helmet on in ten seconds and was ready to go in twenty.
“It’s nice of you to join us Kat” said Rose. “I was beginning to worry we may have had to pry you off of him.”
“Jealousy’s a curse Rose.”
Rose laughed. “OK we have the green light. Let’s go.”
Chapter 7. Assam 0001, 25 May
“They’re away” informed Greta.
“OK” said Rihan “Now we wait for the results.”
“Emilio” she hailed.
“Yes Maam.”
“Have you finished?”
“Almost Maam. I’m going to fly with the pod. That way I can hit the ground running so to speak.”
“Make sure you change the settings so it knows there’s a human on board.”
“Yeah will do. Don’t worry Maam we’ll be ready in a couple of minutes.”
“Parinya” hailed Rihan.
“Maam.”
“Move to RV1. We’ll join you there.”
“WILCO.”
She turned to her platoon commander. “Agha you better go now. Good luck. I’ll bring the rest of your troops in with the second lift.”
“Thanks Maam. Good luck to you too.”
“Felix SITREP?” she hailed.
“We’re still loading at the moment” hailed Felix from Niku’s spaceport. “We’ve got to get a fix for the new Trojans that doesn’t involve all this manual labour.”
“Understood Felix, but I need those Deltas here pronto. Let me know as soon as you’re airborne.”
“Will do. Are we still going to the spaceport, subject to the strike?”
“Yep. If the strike doesn’t work out, divert to the secondary.”
Insurrection: Book 3 of Warner's World Page 31
