Redemption: Book 2 of Warner's World

by Dave O'Connor

  Chapter 5. Hermes over Zimar 1800, 30 January

  Crystal Wong was tense when they came out of warp over Zimar. They had no way of knowing what to expect so everyone in the control centre was alert while they waited for the all clear from Acting Sgt Chad Preston. He was Crystal’s replacement. She had worked with him for a while now and trusted him.

  “All clear” he said.

  Ivan had waited patiently for the all clear but now he called out “FLASH message in Sir.”

  Dave went to his email and read it. It was the message from Art sent as he warped out of Wallacia. “Damm” he said out loud. Crystal looked to him but said nothing. “Looks like Bane is onto us.” Dave was trying to think of what if anything he could do at this moment.

  “Another FLASH message Sir” said Ivan.

  ‘We’ve got to do something about Val’s writing’ he though as he read it. But there was no mistaking the important facts. “All right everyone. This is from Val. She says and I quote ‘unknown big ship taking off from Bane Metal. I’m off to free Art’.

  “Any likely destination?” asked Crystal.

  “No” said Dave “but I have a pretty good idea where it’s going.”

  Crystal was scratching to work out how he knew. Finally she just asked “where Sir?”

  “Fulmar” said Dave who was still distracted in his own thoughts. He was faced with another hard choice. Does he go to Art’s rescue or does he warp back to Fulmar.

  “Why Fulmar Sir?”

  Dave was now in his own mental space and didn’t respond.

  “Why Fulmar Sir?” persisted Crystal.

  “Oh, because it’s a rogan ship going to finish off the sleth.” Once again his focus was inward.

  Crystal couldn’t believe what he was saying. She was about to follow up with another question when Aubrey raised her hand. They all just watched their commander thinking.

  A full minute passed before Dave spoke. “OK Crystal, prepare to warp to Fulmar. Ivan, send a message to Raleigh HQ and to the Chicago advising that we believe a rogan capital ship is inbound from Xizu for Fulmar to destroy the sleth. Add the time of Val’s message as the estimated time of departure. Advise that we are warping to Fulmar immediately. Ask that another frigate be sent to Xizu to free Art and Val and to secure the Bane Metal complex. You got all that?”

  “Yep” said Ivan as he continued typing his message.

  “Make sure you send a copy to our mission on Fulmar and have the 103rd Battery stand-to.”

  “Roger that.”

  “If what you say is correct Sir” said Chase “the Chicago is going to arrive in Fulmar first or maybe the rogan ship and we being on the far side of this system will be the Johnny come lately.”

  “Correct” responded Dave. For the first time since the messages arrived he smiled and added “Hopefully they will have dealt with this ship and we won’t have anything to do.”

  No one responded but they didn’t look all that cheerful.

  Chapter 6. Redneck 45 in Warp to Fulmar 1700, 31 January

  Art was sitting in the pilot’s seat with his right leg raised up and resting on the panel next to the radar controls. He was sure that this would be frowned upon within Federation Fleet ships but what the heck he was boss of this one.

  He had just finished reading a chapter of the latest Kahleed Hossein novel that he downloaded earlier in the month. If the truth be known he wasn’t enjoying this one as much as his last. His taste for thrillers was leaving him.

  His leg was starting to gets pins and needles, so he swung it back down. At the same time he felt a little peckish.

  “Must be time for pre-dinner drinks Val?”

  Val half turned her head, raised her right eye away from its focus on her console where she too was reading. Her poison was not a cheap thriller. No it was something much more cerebral and poignant too she thought.

  “Why do these so called Doctors, you know the non-medical types, think they know more about interpersonal relations that us practitioners. I bet your sweet bippy they’ve not been down in the trenches. I’m sure I’m a better authority don’t you?”

  “Sure Val. Drink?”

  “Yes please. The usual.”

  “What about sleeping beauty?”

  Val turned and ducked her head into the sleeping bay. Tracy was still out to it. She’d been asleep now for almost 16 hours. It had taken Val and Art sometime last night to dress her wounds. McShane hadn’t been gentle. ‘She is a beauty’ thought Val.

  Tracy stirred. Her hand reached for her head where she had a large welt. She opened her eyes to see Val smiling pleasantly at her.

  “Want a drink?” asked Val.

  “Some water.”

  “Sure.” Val withdrew her head back into the main cabin. “Just water. She’s just woken.”

  “That’s good. I thought if she sleeps any more I might have to shake her awake.”

  “You’re already spoken for. I think it best if I do the shaking around here.”

  “You don’t know yet do you?”

  “Know what?”

  “I thought you gay girls were able to spot another from a mile away.”

  “Really! That’s very interesting.”

  Chapter 7. Soln 0300, 1 February

  The duty officer at the mission knocked on Sue’s door for the third time. This time very loudly. He decided to enter anyway and turned on the light. Even a woman in as deep a sleep as Sue was couldn’t remain so with that dazzling light.

  “Excuse me Maam.”

  Sue rolled over to face the figure “what is it?”

  “FLASH message just in Maam. You need to see it.”

  “Read it to me.”

  After he finished, Sue asked “Have you worked out the ETA for the arrival?”

  “Yes Maam.”

  “Well tell me.”

  “Sometime in the afternoon of the 4th.”

  “So this could have waited, don’t you think.”

  “It’s a FLASH message Maam.”

  “Oh look, just leave it. I’ll deal with this in the morning.”

  “Er…yes Maam. You don’t want me to stand to the battery?”

  “What for? They won’t be arriving for another two days. Just let me sleep OK.”

  “Right Maam.”

  When the light was out and her door shut, Sue rolled back over but her mind was now fully awake and it was only now that the fact about freeing Art had sunk in. She sat back up in her bed. She thought about what she could do to help. There was nothing. They had no interstellar craft here other than the sleth cap and it was still not fully functional. Anyway with news of an impending attack the sleth would be unlikely to send their only ship away.

  No matter what course of action she thought of they were all discounted and then she though ‘no my duty is here’. She said a little prayer that Art may be kept safe. She felt weary both physically and now mentally. She closed her eyes.

  Chapter 8. Soln 0900, 1 February

  Petsa took the news from Sue with grim stoicism. He immediately called in Fowlsit and Wenra. Along with the Ambassador, Kalea Boulos and 1st Lt Victor Guzik they discussed courses of action.

  “So much depends on the arrival of this rogan craft” said Petsa. “If it arrives first we will be crushed.”

  “What about your cap?” asked Kalea.

  Petsa shook his head. “Not …up to speed”.

  Fowlsit shook his head and added “Fully functional. It’s not fully functional.”

  Petsa nodded his head. “Only few missiles. Drive not optimal. Few troopers. Best to warp away now with leader and survival group.”

  “What?” said Sue “and leave everyone down here undefended.”

  “Yes” said Petsa. “That is what we did on Zuon. The sleth must survive.”

  “You can’t keep running” said Sue. “You have to make a stand and defeat the rogan.”

  “Not possible” and Petsa shook his head. “This rogan ship. It will be dragon class - a m
arauder. It has fighters, nukes, missiles and many troopers. Always first ship into battle. More will follow.”

  In a calm voice Kalea addressed Wenra directly “Warp to Raleigh and we will protect you and your survival group, but please leave us the bulk of your troopers so we can defeat the rogan here. We humans will fight the rogan. We will not run.”

  Wenra whispered with Fowlsit and then Fowlsit spoke. “I will stay with 100 troopers. The rest must leave day after tomorrow. We will commence evacuation immediately.” Fowlsit paused and waited for any reaction. Kalea nodded acceptance. It was the best she could hope for. “Good” said Fowlsit. “Now how should we coordinate the defence?”

  Wenra was everywhere marshalling her people and overseeing the evacuations. Petsa focused on getting their cap ready for its move and on using their remaining shuttle to transfer those who would form part of the survival group. It was going to take days to get everyone transferred. He had wanted to board Wenra as soon as possible but she had refused. She would leave on the morning of the fourth. Fowlsit accompanied Sue as they made plans and deployed their meagre resources.

  At lunch Sue met with Kalea. After Sue finished giving the ambassador a rundown on the arrangements she added “Petsa has agreed to take you and all non-military staff from our mission on their ship.”

  “Nonsense. I will remain here.”

  “With all due respect Your Excellency you will be a liability here not an asset.”

  Kalea looked stung by the remark. “I think I should be the judge of that.”

  Sue placed her hand on Kalea’s. “Please Kalea let me do my job. Your place is with the sleth leader.”

  “Alright Sue. I’ll go on the next shuttle.”

  Chapter 9. Chester 1500, 1 February

  Rihan was the officer of the watch in the Raleigh HQ ops centre when the FLASH message came through from Dave. She immediately put the only frigate they had serviceable on Raleigh, the Titan, on 1 hour’s notice to move. She called the Admiral.

  “McCubbin.”

  “Sir you need to come in.”

  “I’ll be there in ten.”

  By the time Rose McCubbin entered the ops centre, Rihan was reviewing the orders that would commit the Titan to warp to Xizu. Rihan briefed her on the message and the actions already underway and her intended course of action.

  “OK Rihan. Good work. Send the order to the Titan now.” While Rihan did so, Rose contemplated the other part of Rihan’s advice, namely to request Fleet HQ for reinforcements.

  “Done” said Rihan. She could see that her commander had some reservations about requesting help. “The message to Fleet?”

  Rose was almost biting her bottom lip. She saw Rihan staring at her and released her lip. “This could just be a single ship.”

  Rihan nodded but added “or it could be the precursor to a bigger force. We should not take that risk Maam.” Rihan could see Rose’s reluctance. She suspected that Rose was concerned how Fleet HQ would assess this. Was it the new Admiral who couldn’t handle her own problems?

  “You know Maam if I was at Fleet HQ I would rather have the early opportunity to assess for myself whether or not to commit the Fleet reserve than a request that came too late.”

  Rose nodded. “You’re right Rihan. Send the message as is. Also have the Rio warp to Fulmar and re-join the Chicago. Then recall all other escorting frigates. We need to form a reserve of our own here on Raleigh. I don’t want them being committed piecemeal. Order the reaction group to defend Fulmar and advise them to expect the Rio in how long?”

  “It will take at least another 4 days. They’ll arrive too late.”

  “Too late for the initial battle maybe, but they be just in time for the follow on.”

  After Rose left and Rihan finished the orders and messages she sat back in her chair and prayed that Dave survived. She also thought about Art and Sue and the rest of her old Hermes crew. All these friends going into battle while she was safe back here.

  Chapter 10. Redneck 45 in warp to Fulmar 2230, 3 February

  Art was in the sleeping bay trying to sleep but the chatter from outside was making it difficult. He got out of the bed and walked to the door. He opened it part way and stuck his head out.

  “Do you reckon you could keep it down to a dull roar” he asked. It was a rhetorical question. And that was how Tracy and Val took it for they just smiled like two schoolgirls caught wagging but who didn’t care. They continued unabated with their banter.

  Art closed the door and got back into bed. A smile appeared on his face as he lay back down. ‘They’ve been talking almost non-stop these past two days’ he thought. The bruising on Tracy’s neck and the welt on her head were healing nicely. But what was most noticeable was the lifting of her spirits. She had been laughing and even cackling today and Art knew that it was Val who was largely responsible for that.

  His thoughts turned to the morrow. They would be arriving over Fulmar in the early afternoon. He didn’t know what to expect. He knew the Chicago was due in tomorrow too but not exactly at what time. He didn’t know how fast the rogan ships could warp. For all he knew they could have been there already and that worried him a lot.

  His worst fear was that the rogan were out to exterminate the sleth, that they would nuke all settlements on Fulmar. It was vindictive for sure but he could still hear Admiral Soola’s words “It is the rogan way”. It wasn’t so much as the words themselves but the complete lack of empathy or compassion in the way he had said them.

  He had dismissed the possibility that they were after a base from which to operate, because the rogan would know, courtesy of their friend Bane, that there was nothing of significance on Fulmar to support a fleet. Besides they already had access to Bane Metal’s base on Zizu and they would have brought a small fleet not just a single cap.

  No it all pointed to a surgical strike.

  He knew that Sue would have organised the defences but would these withstand a nuclear blast.

  ‘Stop it Art’ he said to himself and rolled over.

  Chapter 11. Soln 0510, 4 February

  Dan Hoyle was drifting off to sleep. He was actually seated in a chair at the watch officer’s desk in the temporary control centre Sue had setup the previous afternoon. Being the junior officer of the mission he drew the short straw and had the dog watch.

  “WARNING incoming cap bearing 241/316 range 30,000kms” hailed the control aboard the sleth cap.”

  “Shit” said Dan forcing himself to stay awake.

  “Hostile. Under attack. Warp sequence initiated.”

  “Shit” said Dan for the second time. He glanced at the checklist he had on his console.

  “Redbite this is Soln control do you copy hostile warning?”

  Sgt Steff Heeley from the 103rd Bty acknowledged “Roger that. Our radar confirms enemy cap has launched missiles at sleth cap. Permission to fire.”

  “Of course you have permission to fire. Just do it.” Dan looked at his next items. He hailed Sue and then Fowlsit. He then sent off a message to Raleigh HQ saying they were under attack.

  “Soln control, sleth cap has warped away” advised Steff.

  “But they’ve left without Wenra” said Dan out loud. He hailed Sue and told her this bit of information. Sue was still getting her boots on.

  “Make sure Fowlsit moves Wenra to the S3 complex” she ordered Dan. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  The 103rd battery began launching its long range missiles. They were attracting a large number of interceptor missiles from the hostile cap. sleth troopers were now running past Dan’s office to their posts. Dan looked to see where he had placed his rifle. He found it at the back of the room but decided to move it next to his desk. He couldn’t recall the last time he had fired a rifle. He had never fired one in anger.

  Steff reported in “All long range missiles launched.”

  Dan knew they had had 100 but he couldn’t remember how many short ranged one they had. He looked again at his console. He swip
ed his hand over the screen until the data sheet appeared. ‘200…at this rate they will be spent within a few minutes.’ But Dan did not appreciate that this was the norm. A single battery under attack from a cap rarely survived more than half an hour and often much less.

  “Incoming missiles…50, 60, 70 on their way. Launching 100 short range missiles.”

  ‘Well our 100 should deal with their 70’ thought a relieved Dan.

  “More incoming missiles…40, 50. Launching remaining short range missiles” came Steff’s measured voice. Dan thought that she sounded incredibly calm. He was impressed.

  A kilometre away Steff had a different take on it. Her radar display showed that their intercept rate was less than 50%. She knew then and there that they would not survive unscathed. She advised Dan and then ordered the troops to take cover just as her boss Victor Gusik raced into her command position.

  “Time to go, Sir” she said to him.

  “I only just got here.”

  “No time for chit chat Sir” and she grabbed her rifle and began running with Victor in hot pursuit.

  “Did we get any hits?” yelled out Victor.

  “Yeah 11” she yelled back. “Come on Sir.” Her legs were pumping strong in a good rhythm. She saw the bunker ahead. A sleth trooper at the entrance was urging her on. She was straining as hard as she ever had. She nearly bowled over the sleth trooper but he grabbed her and pivoted her down and around the shaft. She fell over whacking her knee against the wall. “Aagh” she yelled and then the same again as Victor’s body fell on top of her. The sleth trooper slammed the blast door shut and pushed them both forward a metre. He yelled something at them. Steff didn’t need a translator to get the gist. She scrambled forward onto her knees and then ran down the tunnel. Victor and the sleth followed right behind her. They got to the inner bunker and the trooper slammed its door shut.

  The emergency lighting showed about thirty bodies, some human but mostly sleth huddled on some makeshift benches. Then they heard it – a series of thuds, followed by massive explosions getting closer and closer. The ground shook violently. The shock wave was fierce and her ear drums nearly burst even inside her helmet and suit.