He also knew that the humans knew about Evie and that some fence building was required. What he didn’t know and was most eager to find out was what happened above their planet and when would the Federation troops be arriving en masse. That indeed was the burning question on everyone’s mind except for Art and Val. For them the burning questions related to this diminutive being now sitting in their presence.
For all the burning questions no one seemed prepared to ask theirs first. Wenra cast a knowing eye over the assembled beings. Finally she spoke. “Simons perhaps you could tell us your news and then Fowlsit you may wish to talk.”
Fowlsit nodded his agreement and so Art conveyed the state of affairs as he knew it. There was a lot of glancing about by those around him and Art could sense the unease that his news brought to them. He thought it best to leave till later his proposed course of action for dealing with the enemy cap. “So you see it’s a kind of standoff and we’re waiting for the arrival of the Hermes and most probably other Federation ships.”
Fowlsit looked to Wenra who nodded her approval for him to speak. He had a lot of questions but he knew better than to raise them before he gave his report. Instead he gave an account of the initial attack and the defensive battles to date. He mentioned about how their cap had warped to Raleigh and how it had to do so before Wenra and Evie could transfer to it. He explained how Evie had come to them and the role they envisaged she could perform and how critical it was to protect her. He apologised for not confiding this to them earlier and gave an unequivocal commitment to be open and frank with their human allies.
Art felt Fowlsit’s gaze strongly. The revelation about Evie was not half unexpected. He could see that Fowlsit’s normal cool demeanour had softened. He knew that from the sleth perspective they were in very dangerous waters indeed. They had nearly been wiped out by a former enemy and were in grave risk of aggravating their new and presumably only ally. He too had many questions he wanted to ask.
Fowlsit stopped talking and turned to Wenra. “I can see that there are many questions to be asked and answers given. Simons?”
“Given that we have been misled regarding the presence of Evie how do we know then that the video you provided us back on Zuon is valid. How do we know for sure that the rogan have indeed conquered your home worlds and for the reasons you outlined back then?”
Fowlsit was about to respond but he was cut off by Evie. She rose to her full height, around 150cms. “Oh those videos were genuine and my Government is responsible. I can vouch for that. But please do not think ill of these kind souls, who have risked and suffered so much on my behalf. It is true we rogan have brought misery to so many. But it was not always so.”
“For over the past 400 of your earth years we have been explorers, traders and colonisers. We have colonised over 70 systems. But 46 years ago our empire went into upheaval. Civil war raged across the systems for over 15 years. Out of this emerged an evil that has transformed my worlds. Our wise elders have been killed, our great institutions have been sacked, our constitution shredded and we have now a new ruling council that is bent on conquering all our previous friends. The destruction of the sleth home worlds was but the last of a litany of barbaric acts.”
“Please do not judge all rogan by this. There is a growing resistance that seeks to overthrow the current council. I am but one of a number of its leaders. I seek allies to stop this madness and to help us put right the many wrongs that have been done in our name. Right now we have little to offer in exchange for your support but friends gained in our hour of need will not be forgotten.”
She looked intently at Art, Sue, Val and Dan and then sat down.
Sue looked at Art and then turned to face Evie “Thank you for your words. There is a lot to digest and we are without our Ambassador. We will need to convey this to our Federation Council and seek their guidance.”
“Of course” said Evie with a slight bow of her head.
“But in the meantime” said Fowlsit “we have some pressing problems that must be dealt with. As I understand it, neither capital ship above can force the issue without assistance. Is that not so Simons?”
“Yes, but we could provide that assistance.”
“How so?”
“We could secure those transports and use our troops here to carry the rogan cap.”
Fowlsit pondered that for a moment. “A risky endeavour. Do you have pilots for these transports?”
“I am a pilot” said Art “But I may not be able to fly these craft. I have never seen their controls have you?”
“I will ask” said Fowlsit and he spoke with Gret. Gret was about to leave the area in search of an answer when Evie again rose and announced “I can fly these transports.”
“No we cannot risk that” said Fowlsit.
“You have risked enough my friend. It’s decided. I will fly. I believe I can also instruct you to fly these craft Mr Simons. That will give us two craft. Do we have any other pilots?”
“I will check” said Gret and he left straight away.
“How many troops can these transports carry?” asked Val.
“Twenty rogan warriors” answered Evie.
“Or ten sleth troopers” answered Fowlsit and he smiled for the first time that Sue could recall.
“Aagh” said Art “so 15 human marines then” and he gave one of his big grins. There were smiles all round.
Fowlsit brought them back to earth, so to speak. “There is the matter of securing these transports and the 30 or so rogan warriors that stand in our way.”
“Why haven’t these rogan troops gone back to the cap in these transports and secured their cap?” asked Val.
“Good question” piped in Sue.
“They know they have reinforcements on the way” answered Art.
Gret came back in shaking his head. “Sorry but we have no other pilots. All are on our ship in warp to Raleigh.”
Fowlsit just nodded his thanks and quickly got back to the matter being discussed. “So we must defeat in detail, no?”
“Yes” said Art. “We need to act sooner than later. So how many troops do we have still effective?”
“Including the team from Chicago we have 51 here” said Sue and she looked to Fowlsit.
“When I left S3 there were 37 troopers and 19 marines” he said.
“Gee” said Sue.
“Yes very heavy losses.”
“Alright so we should outnumber the rogan by a good three to one” said Art. “We need to attack them so that we deny them the ability to get to those transports. Let’s look at the map.”
Chapter 25. Soln 0410, 5 February
Dan could not believe that he had been asleep for six hours. He was still tired. Sue had roused him awake ten minutes ago and despite the fact that he had sucked some glucose and relieved himself he just couldn’t get his mind into gear.
The comms set that Art had left him was stuffed in his pack and now there wasn’t room for all his kit. He left the bulkiest item, his jacket. He did not know why he had bought it in the first place. He’d been hot the entire time.
“Come on Dan” hailed an impatient Sue.
“I’m coming.” He hoisted his pack, grabbed his rifle and with the aid of his helmet light made his way up through the cavern.
“Turn that bloody light off” hailed Sue as he approached the column of sleth troopers and marines. With the light off, he could hardly see at all. He stopped and waited for a few seconds till his night vision cut in. Finally he could make out the bodies ahead.
Before he took a step a hand grabbed his shoulder. “This way Dan” said a frustrated Sue. “Turn on your thermals. When’s the last time you were out in the field?”
“I’m a language expert, remember, not a grunt” and he shook loose her hold. “Besides I’m not really awake yet.”
“Alright, just stay close. OK?”
“Yeah OK.” He turned on his thermals, saw all the hot bodies standing still in a column that snaked its way up to t
he entrance. He slotted in behind Sue and waited and waited. Finally they started moving. As he stumbled over a rock near the entrance he could see that it was slightly lighter outside.
Despite the thermals Dan found it very difficult to see. He could see the bodies immediately in front, but it was the surrounding terrain that he just couldn’t make out. He wished he’d spent more time with the kit. Every ten or so paces he found his foot tripping on some bit of vegetation or whacking into a rock. Thankfully the pace was slow. He thought about Steff in the van and pitied her. But then he knew she was much better at these things than he.
He caught himself before he finished the thought about how he wished he was back on Polaris. ‘That’s exactly what my father would have thought I would be thinking. I am not going to be that weak’ he said to himself.
Sue stopped in front. So Dan stopped. Alas the person behind just ploughed into him. He didn’t mind. At least they were finding it difficult too. He waited a couple of minutes and then Sue started off again. ‘Steff must have thought she saw or heard something’ he thought. ‘How stressful.’
After half an hour of this Dan just wished they were there. But he knew that they still had a way to go. He was starting to get quite hot. He could feel the sweat running down his back. He thought about using up some of his precious water to cool his suit but he dismissed the idea. He knew how hot it was going to be once the sun came up. ‘Who knows how long it will be before my meagre supply will be replenished.’
He whacked into the back of Sue. He hadn’t noticed she had stopped. He pulled back a little and could see her helmet turning. He knew she would not have been impressed but he was grateful for her not saying anything about it. Then he remembered that they were to be in complete silence the whole time. Another wait and then off again.
It was 0540 when they arrived at the assembly area. He hit the control to bring down the blast shield over his visor, then fired up the map display, confirmed his current loc was more or less at the assembly area, turned off the display and then raised his blast shield.
The column stopped and they waited and waited. Finally someone came up to Sue and led her away. They put their hand up in Dan’s face to tell him to stay put. Someone then came for him, grabbed him by the arm and indicated for him to follow. He moved as quietly as he could. He remembered that from the briefing. They led him to a spot about fifteen paces away and held up their hand in front of his visor. He stopped there, knowing that this was the reserve location. There was no one else close by. He was expecting some company but he knew this wasn’t the time for worrying about that. He went down on his knee and waited alone.
Eventually a line of ten or was it eleven others came to his location and dropped into their positions around him. One of them was supposed to be Cpl Jim Teller from the 103rd Bty. He checked his blue force tracker and sure enough the body on his left was Jim. Dan felt a little easier knowing that he knew the person next to him even if it had been only for a very short time.
H Hour was set for 0600. Just five minutes away. Dawn would be at 0618. It would strike with brilliance and within half an hour it would be approaching 40 degrees Celsius. His group would not be in the initial assault. Rather they would be at call waiting for Fowlsit to commit them as he saw fit.
Four tall figures approached him. This would be Fowlsit, Gret and his two body guards. They were the command group and would be located with the reserve initially. Fowlsit took up position a few paces in front and to the right of Dan. Gret was immediately to his front. Dan could see that Gret was carrying one of the Federation consoles. He would be tracking progress and updating the plan for Fowlsit.
The plan was pretty simple really and that was as well thought Dan. ‘A lot could go wrong here’ he said to himself. They were currently west of the runway and north of the facility. They would be assaulting south. Sue would lead the initial assault with Steff’s group on the left and Jelka is on the right. Between them they had around 35 combatants. Steff’s left was anchored on the runway. Jelka’s right would be about 200m in from the runway. They would assault south towards the transports, clearing everything in their way. They would advance quietly until contact. Then all hell would break loose. Each group had three grenadiers supporting them. But the troops at S3 would also at that time provide fire support and hopefully pin as many of the enemy down in front of their positions as they could.
Art would lead the team responsible for securing the transports. Val and Evie were with him plus Freddy and his team from the Chicago.
Once contact was achieved Dan was to establish comms with the Chicago. Mick Riley had been briefed last night. His offer for missile strikes had been declined. Dan knew that Mick would be sweating on the outcome too.
Fowlsit issued the command to start. It was the only utterance from their position and it was barely a whisper. Gret updated the plan on the console and every being within the force would have received an alert.
Chapter 26. Chester 0600, 5 February
Matt Turiq arrived as fast he could at the ops centre. He hadn’t slept much anyway. “So what happened?”
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” asked Jack Malawi.
“Good news.”
“The Chicago is still over Fulmar in one piece, more or less. The streamliner from the Hermes has reinforced the ground defences with Lt Simons.”
“I thought he was captured on Xizu?”
“Not any more. Anyway we know that the sleth are still holding out at Soln. They now have a comms link to the Chicago. Oh and we have marines aboard the enemy cap.”
“What, we’ve captured it?”
No, not exactly. Best if I give you a rundown of what happened sequentially…..”
At the end of which Matt had to sit down. He grabbed the nearest chair. “Gee what a cock up.”
Jack just nodded. No one spoke for a good minute.
“Should I tell the Admiral now?” asked Jack.
“No let her have her breakfast in peace. There’s nothing we can do now but pray that the Hermes and Rio can save the day. Any news in from Fleet?”
“No.”
Chapter 27. Soln 0611, 5 February
Steff was peering ahead trying to get first glimpse of any enemy. She walked at a measured pace, checking left and right to ensure her group maintained the line, then she scanned the area in front for possible targets.
Her weariness had gone, replaced with the alertness that adrenalin provided. The prospect of imminent danger had banished all her thoughts of loss that had gnawed at her during the broken sleep she had managed to catch in the night. Right now she knew she was in the van of the assault. The enemy was very close and she needed all her senses to be highly attuned.
On her second glance left she saw the first efforts of the sun to break night’s hold. A noticeable glow could be seen. This time as she scanned her front she saw the entrance to the northern bunker used by her battery the day before. She ended up looking across to her right and could just make out the taller shapes of Jelka’s troopers extending in their line into the canopy.
Scanning left now across her front she saw a bright spot that she assumed was a body directly in front of her. She pointed with her left arm to the sighting location alerting her troops to a possible target. It was less than 20m away now but it did not move. ‘They must be asleep’ she thought. ‘Do I shoot or deal with them quietly.’ Quiet would be best but she had never used a knife in anger.
She slung her rifle over her shoulder and withdrew her knife with her right hand. The body was on the ground at right angles to her line of march. At three paces out it still did not move. She led with her left foot then her right and the final pace saw her left foot land beside the body. She leaned over and with her left hand forced their helmet down and plunged the knife into their back. The body kicked and tried to roll but with Steff’s weight on top it was useless. She twisted the knife and withdrew it.
Steff’s heartbeat was racing. She was about to lunge a
gain with the knife but the kicking stopped. So she wiped the knife against the suited body, secured it and stood up. She was breathing fast. ‘Training…what do I do now’ she thought. ‘Oh Yeah’ and she brought her rifle back up in front.
She looked right and saw Tpr Janz just staring at her. The sun was rising quickly now and she could see the expression on his face quite clearly. She waved her left hand forward and he stopped staring and took a pace forward. There was something horrific about killing someone in such a close, direct way. She felt tainted, sullied. A shot rang out from the right. Then another. She went to ground as did the rest of her group.
“Steff” hailed Sue “get back up and moving.”
“Roger.” Steff got to her feet and the others followed her lead. She started moving at a good walking pace now, keen to get across the 20m of relatively open space in front and seek the security of the tree ahead.
A helmet appeared from behind the tree. She shot it instinctively, sure that it was hit, though the body must have been blown back and was now out of view. A burst of automatic fire came from Jelka’s group, followed by multiple grenade explosions. The return fire was desultory at best.
She made the tree and took cover behind it. The rest of her group went to ground to. She peered around the tree and saw the now still body of the enemy she had just shot. She scanned the area ahead, saw four figures running across her front.
“Four moving right to left 30m, fire” she ordered and she watched as a wall of pulse shot arced towards and eventually brought down the enemy figures. “Cease fire” she hailed. “On your feet. Keep moving.”
Fire now erupted out of S3. The rogan in front of the complex returned fire.
Tpr Sophie Galatas on the extreme left hailed “I can see the transports. They’re 200m ahead.”
Redemption: Book 2 of Warner's World Page 30
