Ella had been briefed before she departed from Beta Phi. She knew a fair bit about Warner and the weight of expectation on her and her colleagues. On the one hand she was instructed to cooperate fully in the common endeavour but she was expected to always remember that her prime allegiances were to the Alliance. While the Alliance hoped that a permanent treaty could be reached, they must be awake to the possibility that it may not happen. That would place her and her colleagues in a tight spot. So she had to keep her ears and eyes open and her wits about her.
Warner too had been briefed by Art on what the Alliance would be expecting from their personnel. So it was a case of both sides trusting each other fully but not so fully. He didn’t want to think about the possibility of the rapprochement falling through. He knew that it had to succeed and he was determined to do his best to ensure it did. So he decided there and then, as he looked at his new XO, that honesty was the best policy from the word go.
“I appreciated your comments earlier concerning your support for this mission. I also know that your Government would have advised you, like mine has me, to always remember where your true allegiances lie.”
Ella jerked back a little. Warner noticed.
“I don’t think that’s good enough” he continued and Ella started to look worried. “Relax” he said. “That is why I’m going to give you this undertaking. I will not keep anything from you regarding the state of play. I will trust you as I would a Federation officer.”
Ella relaxed and replied “Thank you Sir for your trust.” She was unsure at this point whether she could reciprocate. But then she realised that there really was no other way for this to work. “I will do the same.”
“Excellent” said Warner and to himself ‘Oh no, not again.’ As Warner was mentally chastising himself for sounding like Pious, Ella was studying his face. When he realised it had gone quiet he noticed Ella looking at him. He smiled back and said “We have a lot of work to do. I need to introduce you to the ships’ officers and you need to study the Hermes’ procedures and get up to speed. Tomorrow afternoon we will take the Hermes on a training run.”
“Looking forward to it Sir.”
He checked himself from saying ‘Excellent’ again and instead said “Come on!”
Chapter 3. Shangri La 2300, 20 May.
Warner was dog tired. It had been a very full day. He left Ella on board the Hermes. Aubrey had undertaken to show her the ropes. When he got back to Shangri La there was no Rihan to confide in. He missed that. He showered and waited for a while but then started nodding off so he went to bed and was fast asleep in five minutes.
Rihan didn’t get in for another half hour. She was exhausted. There was so much to do and it seemed there was no one else on this rock who could make a decision. Warner’s friendly face wasn’t there to welcome her. She poked her head into the bedroom and heard his snoring. ‘Poor darling’ she whispered to herself. She had a quick shower and crawled under the covers. She gave him a nudge and he rolled from his back onto his side and she snuggled into his back. A minute later he started snoring again but she never knew that as she was snoring even louder than her husband to be.
Chapter 4. Shangri La 0600, 21 May.
The alarm went off at 0600, its penetrating noise finally cracking open Warner’s subconscious. His hand emerged from under the cover, searching for the annoying thing. There, it’s down for the count thought Warner. He opened his eyes as best he could and noted the time. Then it dawned on him that he had less than an hour to meditate, have breakfast and get back to the ship.
He felt over behind him and found the smooth curvaceous form of his wife to be. He wanted a hug. So he turned over to embrace her. But she simply rolled over and faced the other way. Great he thought. He gave her a pat on her backside and whispered into her ear “Wakey, wakey!” She just groaned. He gave her a prod but didn’t get any better reaction. Finally he said out loud “Come on Rihan. We gotta go!”
Warner jumped up and went to the bathroom. When he came back Rihan was still under the covers. He looked at her head with its auburn curls poking through the top of the cover. He went over, sat on the side of the bed and kissed her cheek. In a gentle voice he said “Come on. You don’t have much time.”
“It’s not fair.” She grumbled and she wrapped her arms around him. He got to his feet, her arms still around him, and dragged her upright. He wished he had more time to indulge in her beauty. But he was resolved to meditate. He turned her towards the bathroom and gave her a little push. She stumbled forward out of the room.
Thirty minutes later they met in the kitchen. “How did it go yesterday” asked Rihan.
Warner thought before responding. “Well, and yourself?”
“I never thought Commanders worked hard until now” she joked.
“Riiight!”
“By the way, I need your warthogs to help unloading the base force.”
“I’ll need one for each ship, so you can have three.”
“OK.” She noticed the time and said “We have to get going.” She threw her eating utensils into the sink and tore out to the bathroom to clean her teeth.
Warner hadn’t even had breakfast. So he stuffed a weetbix in his mouth, washed it down with the remains of the reconstituted juice, noted that that was not a good taste combination, and then about turned and headed to clean his teeth.
Five minutes later they piled into the buggy and were on their way. As Rihan drove, Warner wondered if they were ever going to get any time to enjoy each other before the summit. He looked up and saw the light of the shuttles that were heading back and forth from the base force up above. What was he thinking? Fat chance.
Rihan dropped Warner off at the spaceport and headed over to the main facility. When she parked the buggy and got out she was beset by one person after another. ‘Welcome to your day Base, Commander’ she thought. But she was resolved and marched forward, asking questions and issuing instructions as she did.
Chapter 5. Klaster 0800, 21 May.
Sue and Art were waiting for her in her office. They too were up early. With Jade Moon now the Head of Mission, Art was focusing more on the administration and support arrangements for the summit. As Rihan entered she saw that they both looked well and happy. She was very pleased for them both. “You both look well” she said.
Art let Sue respond “Never better!” and she gave Rihan a knowing smile. Rihan turned to Art who had a big grin on his face and nodded that he too was never better. Rihan smiled too.
“Right, down to business” Rihan said. “With the summit only days away we need to finalise a security plan for the summit and tie that into a defence plan for the base. I think we have to assume that the enemy will hit us with a significant fleet, enough to overwhelm our flotilla. I will liaise with Dave later this morning and coordinate with him a response and contingency plan. But I don’t see the flotilla standing and fighting here. They will provide immediate cover to enable support vessels to jump away but then they too will jump away and thereafter conduct harassment raids to keep the enemy off balance while we bring up the big guns.”
Art and Sue could see that Rihan was in full swing and so just nodded.
“Once the flotilla departs, the enemy will turn its attention to the base defences. We now have one heavy and three light batteries deployed. That will double over the coming days. They will buy us time. How much I don’t know. It all depends on the size and capabilities of the enemy fleet. I think we have to plan for the fact that they will be eventually destroyed before the arrival of the Wasp Group. This will then enable the enemy to bombard and destroy everything here above ground.”
Sue was surprised by this. “Everything?”
“Everything” confirmed Rihan. Sue looked grave. To Art, Rihan’s logic made sense, so he just took it in. Rihan continued “But we’re fortunate in that we can utilise the underground mines for protection. Fixar are not going to be happy about that either but I’ll deal with that. I want us to take a look at the Pu
lton 1 mine complex, the one closest to this facility, and work up a logistics plan to relocate all quarters and as much of the facilities as we can plus develop a defence plan to protect it from ground assault.”
Sue was amazed at the scope of what Rihan was suggesting. “We won’t have enough time to do all that with the personnel we have here now.”
“Fleet are stepping up the shuttles from Polaris. They will now be arriving daily. Later today we’ll receive a heavy lift column and logistics troop to help with the relocation. Tomorrow we will start receiving ground reinforcements. In three days we will have a whole Marine company, A Company (Coy), 3rd Battalion (Bn), replete with a platoon (Pl) of battlewagons. They won’t be enough to stop a full scale enemy assault but hopefully they will buy enough time.”
That helped a bit but Sue was obviously concerned. Art stepped in “Shall we go take a look?”
“Yeh let’s go. I need to tee up our trip with Fixar first. I’ll meet the two of you back at my buggy in ten minutes.”
Chapter 6. Pulton 1 0900, 21 May.
Thirty minutes later they arrived at the entrance of Pulton 1. It was built into the side of a mountain that was part of the ridge west of the space port. An artificial tunnel jutted out and they drove into it. They went through a series of air locks. After the third one they entered the main mine dock. It was a large area with a raised dock at the end, on which stood a technician without a suit. So they could obviously breathe here unaided.
He hopped in the back of the buggy and told them to drive through the inner dock doors. They passed through another tunnel and into the entrance area. On the left was a parking bay for light vehicles. He directed them to park their buggy there and led them to an elevator. It was substantial elevator in its own right but next to it was one that could obviously take a heavy vehicle. They went down a long way to what was described on the panel as Level 1. Rihan engaged in small talk with the technician deflecting his questions about why they were there.
It must have taken a good five minutes to descend to Level 1. Art asked the technician “How far down are we?”
“About three kilometres”
“Really?”
“Yes, the reduced gravity here allows us to go down a long way.”
Art nodded.
They made their way along a wide corridor. It was big enough to take large transport vehicles. About a hundred metres along, they came to a huge set of blast doors. The technician called through and the doors began opening. Sue was looking at the thickness and composition of the doors. “Pretty solid looking?” she queried.
“Sure. Designed to contain an explosion down here.”
But Sue was more concerned with an explosion from up above, a nuclear explosion.
The technician led them through. The huge tunnel extended a long way ahead but they turned into a doorway on the left. They were greeted by the mine chief, Max Milo. He was big solid chap. While he was management these days, Art could see by the muscles in his forearm that he had done his fair share of manual work. He had an easy going demeanour and smile lines around his eyes.
He’d been instructed to cooperate. “Welcome commander to Pulton 1. Whatever you want I’ve been told to give you. How can we help?”
“Thank you. Your cooperation is appreciated. How much have you been told?”
“Not much really. Just that you want to relocate some stuff from up above.”
“Max, we want to establish living quarters down here for up to 500 people and relocate as much of the facilities that are on the surface.”
Max was surprised at the magnitude of the undertaking but he could see that this young Commander was deadly serious. “We’re going to be attacked aren’t we?”
“I won’t lie to you. Yes we think we will come under attack in a matter of a few weeks if not days.”
“Oh shit!” said the chief. “What about our mining staff?”
“They will all have to relocate. I understand you have just under a 100 personnel?”
“Ninety six.”
Rihan nodded. “So where do we put everybody?”
Max took them to another room and fired up the big central display that showed a 3D representation of the mine. His three visitors stared in awe at the scale of the complex. From the map they could see it actually extended under the main facility and Shangri La.
“I think it best that they are housed on Level 1. It has the best environment. Once you go down further, you’ll need suits.”
Rihan pointed to that part under the main facility and asked “Is there access from the main facility?”
“Well there used to be. It should still work but we haven’t used it for over a decade. I can have some of my people investigate and see if it can be reconditioned. If I recall rightly the elevator there has only a limited capacity. It would be good enough for personnel and light vehicles but not the heavies. That’s why we no longer use it.”
“If you could get that operating that would help greatly.”
“I’ll get onto that right away, if you like.”
“Please do. We’ll wait.”
Max called one of his subordinates and gave him instructions. Then he turned to Rihan and said “Right I would recommend we convert these workshops here first…”
After an hour’s discussion they had a draft layout. Rihan knew that she had to get back to the base. “Art, Sue, can I leave you two to liaise with Max and work up a defence plan for the mine entrances.”
“Sure” said Art and Sue nodded concurrence.
“Don’t worry Commander I can arrange to give them a lift back” said Max.
“Thank you Max. It’s going to get frantic here over the coming days. I apologise for disrupting your operations.”
“Don’t worry about that. Looks like you have a lot on your plate.”
Rihan smiled and made her way out.
Chapter 7. Klaster 1105, 21 May.
Warner was waiting in Rihan’s office when she arrived five minutes late for their meeting. A million and one things were still going through her mind. She had seconded a young 2nd Lt as her aide and was instructing him about fleshing out the redeployment plan as she came through the door. She looked tired already.
She closed the door behind her and they kissed lightly.
“Tough morning?” queried Warner.
“Full” responded Rihan. “Just came back from Pulton 1.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s the mine complex we’re sitting on. It’s huge and I’ve left Art and Sue over there to work up a defence plan. I think it will serve as a safe haven for everyone, provided we have enough time to relocate. Good news is there’s an access here in the facility they are trying to get back into service. That will help immensely.” Rihan’s focus then went on to how many vehicles they would need to shift the medical facility.
Dave could see that she was elsewhere. He waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention. Rihan noticed. “Sorry darling. What are we doing again?”
“Contingency planning” reminded Warner.
“Oh yeh.”
“Have you had a coffee yet this morning?”
“No”
“Come on, let’s duck into the mess and grab one. You look like you need it.”
“That bad, hey?”
Warner nodded with a sad expression on his face. Rihan hit him on the shoulder. “You’re supposed to be giving me compliments.”
“I will when I can” teased Warner.
“Meanie” and she hit him again as they stood up. He took her face between his hands and kissed her on the forehead. She just lingered there for a moment. But then she looked to Dave. “Come on. Coffee calls.”
They sat down with their drinks in the officers mess, which had a lot more space than the one on the Hermes. So they were able to get a small table to themselves. There were a few others about but the lunchtime crowd had yet to descend.
“How’d you go this morning?” asked Rihan.
“Pretty good” said Warner. “Both ships looked well run. I didn’t see any obvious issues. But it was pretty busy on both of them. They’re replenishing before departing later today. The new XOs seem keen and the mood is pretty good on both ships.”
“The fact that they have real missions to undertake straightaway probably helps.”
“Yes it does. Which reminds me, would you be amenable to stockpiling some stores on Alpha Phi?”
“Why, we don’t really have any spare transport capacity.”
“I think it best if we go back to your office.”
Rihan nodded and they left. When they were back in the privacy of her office Warner said “The reason why I want to stockpile on Alpha Phi is that I reckon we’ll have to withdraw to there if the enemy come in force.”
“Yeh I was thinking that too.” She then explained to Warner what she had outlined to Art and Sue earlier.
“Great minds think alike” said Warner and gave her a warm smile. “There’s one other thing I want to do. We need to be able to work out where the enemy is coming from and we also want to get as much early warning as we can. To do the former we need to triangulate their inbound trajectories. Normally we can do that with three different ships, provided they are some distance apart. But if they arrive unannounced we’ll probably have other more pressing business to attend to just surviving and protecting the base force.”
“So I’m thinking of setting up a sensor array at three separate locations within the belt. They can also assist in covering some of the blind spots that the enemy could jump out into.”
“You’re not just a pretty face” teased Rihan.
“Which is as well” responded Warner.
“When are you proposing to do this?”
“I’m going to take the Hermes out later today and we can deploy them then as part of the training run. I’ll get my new XO to manage it and see how she handles.”
“Yes” said Rihan with a knowing tone “I saw your new XO. I trust you’ll treat her more professionally than your last.”
The Awakening: Book 1 of Warner's World Page 23
