Start + 4400 Launch Probe 3 – diversion
Start + 4600 Commence Diversion
Start + 4600 Commence Extraction
Start + 4800 Complete Extraction
Start + 4815 Commence Approach
Start + 5000 Launch Attack
Start + 5015 Warp away
She was still trying to commit it to memory when Dave strode in and took his seat next to her. “Everything ready Aubrey?” asked Dave.
“Almost Sir” said Aubrey. “Give me a minute.” She took one last look at the schedule and then tapped her console to hide it from view. She cast her eye over to Ivan. He was still discussing things with Art. She glanced at the time. “Excuse me LCmd Simons but I need my comms officer.”
It was not a request and Art knew he had no authority over Aubrey when she was the watch officer, even though he outranked her. “Certainly” he acknowledged and then turned his focus back to Ivan’s console, pointed at it and spoke softly to Ivan “Go with that.” He then turned back to Aubrey. “He’s all yours.”
Chase took the queue and finished off his discussions with Crystal. They both looked up at Aubrey. She had their full attention. Ivan hit a control on his console committing the changes to the new protocol that he and Art had been fine tuning. He too looked to Aubrey.
“Pilot, are you ready?” she hailed.
Down in the recessed cockpit forward of the command centre Sgt James Rao replied “Yes Maam!”
“Engineering, are you ready” she hailed.
“Roger that” hailed Gunter.
The timer on the display ticked over. “Stations everybody” announced Aubrey. This time it was broadcast throughout the ship. “Coming out of warp in 2 minutes.”
She glanced across to her captain. He nodded his approval but she could see that his focus was as much within as without. She knew he would be chanting his mantra silently to himself. He always did that before coming out of warp into a battle zone.
She reminded herself to breathe. She envied his ability to remain calm at such a moment. ‘We all could be dead in a few moments’ she thought. She did one last scan around the centre. All looked good. The timer was running down fast now.
“Coming out of warp in…5, 4, 3, 2, now.”
Aubrey’s eyes were on the main display but Crystal’s were glued to her console. She had to wait the few seconds that it took for the ships sensors to activate, scan and report. She was wound up like a spring waiting to pounce on the first sign of a threat warning. Instinctively her hand moved and tapped, moved and tapped as her eyes scanned the data readings in the side displays while still retaining partial focus on the common operating picture generated in the centre of her main display.
She saw the main planet Zuon appear with her two moons. Now that she had the star system up she tapped again to switch to relative perspective. The centre display of her station showed the first moon dead centre. Thankfully no other icons appeared. She zoomed out bringing the system into view. No icons at all other than the Hermes.
“System clear - this side of the moon. No threats detected” Crystal announced loudly.
A collective sense of relief descended. Tensed bodies relaxed just a bit.
Aubrey checked the main display and confirmed that shields were up. “Pilot, loiter in situ” she commanded.
“Loitering in situ” confirmed James.
She checked the timer – two minutes and 40 seconds. “Probes 1 and 2 ready?” queried Aubrey.
“Ready” replied Chase.
“Launch in ….5, 4, 3, 2, launch” commanded Aubrey.
“Roger” acknowledged Chase.
Aubrey turned to face Dave. He gave her a smile. “Well done” he said. “Now we wait. I’ll be in my cabin if you need me Aubrey.”
“Roger Sir”.
He got up and headed back to his cabin. He was getting better at waiting but not under these circumstances. The probes would take two hours to reach the point above the planet at which they would make their pass around Zuon. One would go around clockwise and the other anti-clockwise. They would take another two hours to fly around the planet’s far side and reappear with the ability to transmit.
Transmissions had to be kept to a minimum. If they were detected the game would be up. They were programmed to make one transmission at the end of the run in and another on coming out from behind the planet. They operated under an emergency protocol that would transmit detections of enemy ships the first time encountered and every 15 minutes thereafter if there was still detection.
He was about to take the elevator back down to the crew deck when Aubrey hailed him with news they had contacts. He turned and jogged back to the command centre. He immediately looked to the main display and saw the icons for two lights and one cap. They were almost directly opposite them on the far side of the first moon in a high geostationary orbit over Zuon.
“Any sign they have detected us or the probes?” asked Dave.
“I’ve nothing on any spectrum” reported Ivan.
“No movement… no launches” contributed Crystal. “They are just maintaining their position.”
“But we have to wait another…13 minutes before we really know if they are responding” said Aubrey as she highlighted the path of the probe on the display.
“OK Aubrey, hail me when you get the next update from the probes” said Dave.
“Will do Sir” said Aubrey.
Once again Dave headed off to his cabin. He had hoped to get in some rest before the launch of the insertion team but his chances of doing so had taken a dive.
He lay down on his bed nonetheless. He had learnt over the years that when on active ops you grabbed what rest you could when you could. He was still there ten minutes later when Aubrey hailed him.
As he entered the command centre Ivan was speaking to Crystal about some data analysis he had done. Things went quiet while Crystal interrogated her own console.
“Yeah, I think you might be right” said Crystal.
“Right about what” asked Dave.
“Ivan thinks the cap is damaged, maybe undergoing repairs” said Crystal.
“Why so?” asked Dave as Ella and Art came back into the centre keen to get an update on any intel.
“I compared the emission signatures of this cap with those we recorded previously over Klaster and they are a lot quieter” said Ivan.
“Maybe that’s what happens when they loiter” challenged Dave.
“Maybe but if it were one of our ships it wouldn’t be that quiet” said Ivan. “And if you compare the signature drop of the two lights you see that their decrease is a lot less relatively speaking.”
“Fair enough” said Dave. “Nice work Ivan. But we can’t take that for granted.”
“It could well be one of the ships that fled Klaster or Chelora” said Chase. “Makes sense to me” he added.
“If it is damaged then it may not be able to respond to our decoy” said Ella. That thought made everyone ponder for a moment.
“If it’s really damaged it may not be able to launch missiles or fire its beam weapons from where it is either” suggested Art. “They may be offline.”
“Or this could be a trap” said Ella.
“All the more reason to go ahead with the diversion” said Dave. “If they are just pretending to be out of action then they should still respond when the decoy fires. In which case, it’s back to plan A.”
“And if they don’t respond?” asked Aubrey.
“Then we know the target for the first two nukes” explained Dave “unless anyone has a better plan.”
No one did.
Chapter 14. Hermes over Zuon 2003, 27 June
“Got it” called out Ivan.
Everyone waited. They knew it would take Ivan a minute or two to process the transmission feeds from the Probes. Ivan had programmed the update to feed directly into the intel system so that any sightings would appear directly on the main screen.
As the first update flashed on the screen Aubrey hover
ed the selector over it and noted the data for the “spot” – jargon for a raw feed detection. “Yes I think we can confirm that facility at Sierra 1” said Aubrey “at least one substantial generator and an active radar emitter.”
The spot turned into a fused data icon as she finished uttering her words. “See I knew it” she boasted. The other two spots marked as Sierra 2 and Sierra 3 also were updated as the AI fused the raw feeds and made the assessment as to whether they were worthy intel entities or not.
“Sierra 2’s a dud” said Chase. “I think we can scratch that one.”
“Yeah” said Ivan “though Sierra 3’s still too far to be sure. We’ll know more come the next transmission from Probe 2.”
Art was scanning through the details on Sierra 1 on the console next to Ivan. “Ooh…that’s a class 4 generator at least” he advised “enough to power a small town or base. Failing any further reports I’d say that’s our initial objective.”
Ella was standing over his left shoulder. She nodded her concurrence. “Pity it’s almost directly under that cap.”
“Which only reinforces the odds that it is the main base we need to focus on” said Art. Ella just had that ‘yeah I know’ expression of resigned acceptance on her face. “Come on” said Art “let’s go down to the briefing room and plan our approach.”
“Don’t you want to wait till the probes complete their passes?” asked Chase.
“I have a good feeling about this one” Art said as he pointed to Sierra 1. “In any event we can always create another plan.”
Art and Ella made their way to the briefing room, powered up the holo display, entered the coordinates for Sierra 1 and zoomed in till the point of origin was close enough to view the physical relief map of the area.
“So what do we know about this area” asked Ella.
“It’s in the temperate zone. But it’s still extremely hot and should have a lot of rainforests. We’ll get confirmation of that when the probe gets closer” reported Art.
“How hot?” asked Ella.
Art checked through the stats on the console in front of him. “It says here the temperate region has an average temp range of between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius.”
“And that’s in the temperate zone?” queried Ella. “No wonder this planet’s been passed over for colonisation.”
“It gets better” said Art. “It will probably be raining and the atmosphere should have a high carbon dioxide component …mmm… probably all those rotting forests.”
“So we stay in closed suits” concluded Ella “and move at night if possible.”
“Looks that way” said Art. “The good news is that being smaller than earth there’s less gravity about .9 Gs”
“So jumping here we come” said Ella. She turned her attention to the display which had now updated with the latest Sierra 1 feed from the probe. “Looks like it is on a plateau” she said as she highlighted the surrounding terrain feature. She tapped the console and the display zoomed in even further and showed a vertical cross section with a grid overlay in metres. “Gee, that’s one hell of a drop.”
“Yes it is” acknowledges Art. “I bet this is the plug for an old volcano …mmm… good defensive position…against a ground attack…I wonder.”
“What?”
Art was searching the data. “Blast. No data on native fauna. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some nasty critters down there.”
“Otherwise why put yourself in an elevated position that makes you easier to spot from space” said Ella.
“Exactly” answered Art. “So let’s avoid landing down here.”
“Fine with me” said Ella “But this plateau doesn’t look that big. I wonder how extensive an area their base is?”
“Maybe we’ll get a better idea with the next update” replied Art. “Let’s leave that decision till then.”
Ella nodded. She navigated the 3D terrain view around to view all sides of the feature. “There” she called out “looks like a knoll.”
Art looked intently. “How much below the plateau is that?”
“About 300m” she answered.
“Could be just what we need” exclaimed Art “for the warthog to hide up in….if we can find a clearing in any vegetation.”
“That might be a tall ask” said Ella. “So we insert there first and make our way on foot to the top?”
“Or we insert on the top” said Art “and the warthog retires back to here until we need a lift out.”
They both stared at the display, each in their own thoughts.
“You know” said Art “there’s not a lot more we can do till we get the updates. We really need those vegetation profiles.” Ella just nodded agreement. “OK then let’s take a break till then.”
Chapter 15. Hermes over Zuon 2105, 27 June
“Ella” hailed Art “the latest update’s in. Can you please meet me in the briefing room? Can you ask Parinya and Buster to meet us there too?”
“Sure” she replied “We’ll be there directly.”
When Ella reached the briefing room, the others were already there studying the now updated terrain map. This included a vegetation overlay.
“Now remember that this vegetation overlay…” said Art as she entered the room. “Take a look at this Ella. It looks like the forest covers everything save for the steep slopes and this area here, which looks like a lake or swamp. As I was explaining, the underlying data for this overlay is not that high res. So there could be some gaps that are too small to be picked up.”
“What about the knoll?” asked Ella.
“It looks to be covered in forest too” said Art.
“Gee it’s going to make it hard to make a landing” said Buster. “I don’t fancy a swim in whatever that is” and he pointed to the one opening in the canopy cover. “These structures are the base I take it?” he asked pointing now to the cluster of buildings grouped more or less in the centre of the plateau. “Can we zoom in on these?”
Art zoomed in. The low res scans indicated a mixture of small and large buildings. Art highlighted the complex. “This whole area is not that big, about 20 sq kms. There’s no sign of a landing strip. So I reckon one of these larger structures must have a shuttle pad on top.”
“It looks like all the structures are interconnected” said Ella.
“Could be” said Buster “but with this low res imaging you can’t really be sure.”
“Excuse me Sir” said Ella “how did Sierra 3 turn out?”
“It was a dud” confirmed Art “nothing else so far detected” he added. “So this is it unless there’s something on the far side.”
“Thanks Sir” said Ella. “So what do you think?”
“I think we need to make a recon pass with the warthog from say 50 kms then make a decision on what we find. Let’s have a few contingency options like the knoll or some other spot away from the complex if we can find a clearing. If not let’s choose a spot to repel down and another for the warthog to hide up in. If worse comes to worst the warthog can float on the lake.”
Sgt Parinya Puket didn’t look too happy about that. “What do you reckon Parinya?” asked Art.
Parinya thought for a moment before replying. “The recon pass should be fine so long as we’re cloaked.” She paused choosing her words carefully. “I’d prefer a clearing to the lake any day Sir.”
“Understood” said Art “it’ll be the last option we consider.”
“Can these bots of yours repel, Sir” asked Buster.
“In theory yes” said Ella. “But I have never seen them do it. They weigh the same as an average man. You can give them most orders you could give to a soldier. Just wait one.” She started searching through their mission listing on her console. “Yes it includes repelling” she said with a relieved expression.
Buster looked doubtful. “If one of these has a mishap repelling it could give us all away” he said. “We have no means of rehearsing this to confirm one way or the other. Do we really want
to take this chance?”
“Well actually we could rehearse it down in the dock” said Ella. “Obviously it may not be the full height they will need to descend to but it should indicate whether or not they are up to it.”
“OK” said Art “we’ll put them through their paces but first let’s try and flesh out these options.
Chapter 16. Hermes over Zuon 2300, 27 June
Dave hailed Art “Where are you?”
“Just wrapping things up here in the hanger bay” replied Art.
“How did the repelling test work out?” asked Dave.
“It’s only a limited fall here but I think they’ll do OK” said Art. “Ella seems to know her stuff” he added.
“So is the plan locked in?”
“Will be shortly” advised Art. “Chase and Ella have gone back to the briefing room to wrap it up. The probes drew a blank on the far side. Looks like only this one facility.”
“OK” said Dave. “I’d like to address the team prior to departure. Can you have the team in the hanger in 30 minutes?”
“Sure” said Art. “I’d better get my skates on. See you in 30.”
Art then hailed Ella and Buster to make sure they were all in the hanger by 2330. He took the lift up to the crew deck, strode down to his room and closed the door. His gear was on the floor next to his small desk up against the wall where he had first made love with Sue.
Her image was burned into his brain. It was the focus, the motivation and the objective for this mission. He resolved to do whatever it took to secure her release. His face was set, his mission was set and his heart was set on retrieving the woman he loved.
He hoisted his kit over his shoulder and picked up his pulse rifle.
‘I’m coming for you Sue’ he said to himself. He strode back out down the hall to the elevator.
Chapter 17. Hermes over Zuon 2330, 27 June
The main hatch of Whisky 1 was open as Dave entered the hanger. Two of the service crew manhandled the bot packs into position. Another was going through the pre-launch checklist. The team was lined up just in front of the hatch along with Parinya and Alain. There wasn’t that much space.
Redemption: Book 2 of Warner's World Page 7
