Still the voices spoke. She wanted them to stop. “Wait,” she said, “hold on a second.” That only made things worse, causing the voices to start making increasingly enthusiastic demands of her. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her breathing, calming herself so that she didn’t suddenly vomit. After a time, she opened her eyes once more and looked all about the cockpit, then to the nebulas that hung nearby. A forest of spinning metals floated in every direction the eye could see.
“Kelly, are you okay?”
She winced against a dull ache on the left side of her head. “What happened?” she asked.
“You were hit by a Sphinx,” came the reply, “it flew straight into you.”
“Am I dead?”
The voice gave a chuckle that seemed partly amused and partly sorrowful. “No, you’re not dead,” the voice said again. “But are you okay? Is anything broken? Are you bleeding anywhere?”
“Enrique, give her a moment,” another voice cut in. “It’s obvious she doesn’t remember what just happened. Kelly, it’s Chaz Koonan. We fly together with the White Knights. You’ve just had a crash. Don’t panic, just stay calm. Ignore everyone and take your time. Mute your comms if you need to. We’ll be right here when you’re ready.”
She did as suggested. Minutes passed and gradually her memory began to rebuild itself. She studied the cockpit and the scene outside, now recalling the events that had led up to her accident.
“I’m okay,” she said, restoring her comms to normal. “I just can’t remember very much about what happened.”
“Sounds like you might be suffering from a concussion,” Chaz said.
Kelly reached up to touch the side of her head, but her hand was stopped by the helmet she wore. Even so, she rubbed on the helmet around the area where her head was aching. She must’ve struck it against the canopy. That would explain the blackout. She still felt quite dizzy, but at least the sick feeling was passing.
“Are you good to fly?” Chaz asked.
“Yes, I think so.”
“How badly is the ATAF damaged?”
Kelly pulled herself together and looked at her readouts. She squinted at the displays, sceptical of the numbers and the images she was looking at, thinking the blow to her head might be causing her to see things. “It’s not,” she said.
*
“She’s alive?” Liu said. “After that?”
Parks nodded to the helmsman.
“By all rights, that fighter should’ve been destroyed and that woman should be dead! That’s incredible!”
It’s more than that, Parks thought. It may well represent our only hope.
With the departure of the enemy forces and the silence of weaponry, the scene beyond the bridge had become still once more. But amongst the multicoloured splendour of their surroundings lay the remnants of a battle that hadn’t been easily won. With the operation over, Parks found himself able to slow down and take in everything around him.
The bridge had been laid to waste. And while his crew were coping with the damage that had been dealt it, Griffin would, without doubt, be out of service for several weeks, if not months.
It was time they couldn’t spare.
Idiot, he thought to himself, looking over how much the carrier had suffered at the hands of an enemy he had been foolish enough to believe he was ready to tackle. We’re not ready yet! You are not ready!
Leviathan’s condition wasn’t much better, the damage to the exterior quite clear even from where Parks stood. The emblems of the mythical creature that graced the hull were broken and burnt from where enemy fire had scorched the armour. Small, glistening, crystalline shapes could be seen emanating from damaged areas, where leaking gases and chemicals froze in the cold. Loose metals and alloys threatened to break off at the merest brush of solar winds. Grendel’s Mother told a similar story, the carrier in no better condition for her part in the battle.
And then there was the loss of Grendel and all the lives that had been serving aboard. All of it, including the crew, had been volunteered by the United Naval Forces, on the condition that the safety of those volunteers was top priority.
He had a lot to answer for.
“Good work, everyone,” he said to the bridge, although the congratulatory offering felt decidedly hollow. “Now that we have time to breathe, please prioritise yourselves with seeing to the wounded and dealing with repairs.” He would call a meeting of his senior staff after he’d had time to see to other matters. “Mr Liu,” he started, “please put me in touch with Leviathan, Grendel’s Mother, and—” He stopped as a sudden anger gripped him. No, there was only one ship and one person whom he needed to speak to right now. He doubled back. “Wait; disregard that. Put me in touch with Ifrit alone!”
As he waited for the link to establish, he tried to cool his anger by counting slowly to ten.
He made it to three.
XVII
— The Journey Home —
“Thank you so much for your assistance, Commodore,” Parks began. “We certainly wouldn’t have been able to cope without your timely intervention.” He made no attempt to conceal the sarcasm in his voice, sure that, even if Ifrit’s captain had somehow failed to detect it, the scowl he wore would do an adequate job of conveying his dissatisfaction.
Hawke’s expression remained decidedly neutral as he replied. “As we had both agreed prior to the commencement of the operation, Commodore, I took up the position of rearguard, and moved in to fulfil my role as needed. Though you clearly think otherwise, I stand by my belief that had I acted sooner than was necessary, we would, without a shadow of a doubt, have been surrounded by enemy forces, and certainly wouldn’t be having this conversation now.”
“That is beside the point!” Parks glared. “I gave you a direct order that our forces were being overrun and we needed your support. You chose to ignore that order.”
“I did no such thing,” Hawke said. “Your communication was cut short and I took it upon myself to hold position until I could make a better assessment of the situation.”
Parks couldn’t believe it. With both statements, Hawke had played himself off as being utterly infallible. Your stubbornness and arrogance is staggering, Parks thought. What the hell happened to you? It was almost as if the man didn’t want to help. Had Hawke panicked in the face of the Enemy? Had a repressed memory of his experience aboard Dragon during the time of its theft reared its ugly head? Whatever it was, it was still unacceptable to stand idly by as hostile forces tore the allies apart. With all that had happened that day, Parks felt the rage building within him and decided to end the discussion, rather than let any more of his feelings become known to the bridge.
“We’ll continue this discussion later, during debriefing,” Parks said, before signalling to open communications to Grendel’s Mother and Leviathan. “Commodore, Captain,” he greeted them, “are you in need of any assistance?”
“We will be fine for the return journey, thank you, Commodore,” Mandeep said. “Much of the damage we received was superficial. A miracle, given what we just faced.”
The smile Parks had grown so accustomed to, and fond of, no longer graced her face. Mandeep looked sad and disappointed, the tremendous losses they had suffered and the deaths of her colleagues undoubtedly an enormous weight on her mind.
“Likewise with Leviathan,” Meyers said. “We did take some considerable damage, but it’s nothing that we cannot cope with prior to our return to Spirit.”
Parks nodded. “Very well. Whilst going about the repairs, we should perform a brief sweep of the area and pick up any bodies we can find. Although there’s obviously nothing we can do for them, we can at least bring them home for a decent burial.”
His eyes flickered past the holographic images to the debris that floated beyond Griffin. Many of the starfighter pilots that had lost their lives would’ve been vaporised in the explosions of their craft. This, he was glad for. After everything that had happened, too many questions would be asked if they
pulled in a body belonging to one of the Enemy. Rumours would start about the uniforms they wore and the altogether unusual nature of their appearance. Such an occurrence would only act as a catalyst and foundation for increasing rumour and speculation. As for the members of the allied forces, a name check would be taken of all those returning to Spirit, with those unaccounted for being declared as killed in action.
The loss of life for this operation was going to be huge. An investigation into the failings would be an absolute certainty. At least some of them were going home, unlike the previous incident involving Dragon. With that in mind, Parks looked to Meyers.
“Captain, can Leviathan carry some of our fighters? Our flight deck is too badly damaged to land any, and we can only accommodate so many in our cargo holds. I don’t expect that Ifrit will have room to spare,” he added, dryly.
Meyers nodded. “That shouldn’t be an issue, Commodore, as I imagine that we will have many empty bays.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Parks said, before he turned once again to Mandeep. “Please convey my sincere condolences to the families of those who were aboard Grendel. A lot of brave men and women lost their lives on that ship today.”
To lose an entire carrier was disastrous to any naval fleet. Matters were made even worse by the fact that the crew were made up of military personnel volunteered by a number of Independent naval forces. Parks could almost hear the cracks widening in the already strained relationships between some of the worlds.
“I will make sure your sympathies are known, Commodore,” Mandeep said, the sadness clear in her eyes, even through the distortion of the transmission. “Please contact us when you are ready to leave. We will wait with you here, in case we can provide any further assistance.”
“Thank you again, Sima,” Parks said.
“Excuse me, Commodore,” Meyers said, “something I’ve been trying to figure out – how do you suppose the Enemy were able to override the fail-safe protocol code that was sent to Dragon?”
It was a question that had also played on Parks’ mind for much of the duration of the battle, the sudden restoration of power to Dragon having tipped the scales well in their adversaries’ favour during the opening phase of the operation. For all the allies’ planning, it was the one consideration they had never given any thought to.
“I don’t believe they did,” Parks said. “Our initial attempt at activating the fail-safe wasn’t immediately successful, and it took a lot longer for Dragon’s systems to be deactivated than I was led to expect. I was informed that the shutdown procedure would take place immediately upon receipt of the code. The fact that this didn’t happen should’ve been our first warning. It’s my belief that the Enemy became aware of our intentions and purposely shut down all of Dragon’s systems themselves. Once we were lured into a false sense of security, they sprung their trap.”
“How could they have known about something like that?” Mandeep asked.
From her tone, it was clear she already had some thoughts about the answer, implying that the Pandoran forces had either been tipped off ahead of their encounter, or that Dragon’s former crew were now working alongside its new owners. “I’m afraid that I don’t know the answer to that, Sima,” he said. “Until we can collate a battle report and analyse all the data, my guess would be as good as yours. Once we have further information, I will ensure that it is shared with the IWC.
“Now, if there is no other business that anyone wishes to discuss?” There were shakes of heads and answers of no. “Fine,” Parks concluded. “Then we will make preparations to leave. I will be in contact shortly.”
*
For the next hour, the allied forces continued with repairs, most of Griffin’s surviving starfighters docking with Leviathan. A sweep for bodies and remains resulted in only a handful of recognisable pick-ups, a mixture of both Confederation and UNF uniforms in the group. The four remaining Red Devils were found and taken aboard Leviathan, the women identifiable by the colourful emblem of a cartoon devil clutching a pitch fork, on the left breast of their flight suits.
Dodds watched the shuttles do their work, happy to do nothing now but take a breather. He listened to the radio chatter between various parties, until Estelle began conversing with Griffin.
“Do you wish for us to return to Griffin or should we dock with Leviathan?” she asked.
“Come back to Griffin,” Parks answered her. “Return to the rear cargo bay and then await further instructions.”
“Acknowledged.”
Dodds was the third member of the team to return to the hold, and even before he stepped out and onto the ladder, he could make out the wide grin on Enrique’s face.
“Good shooting out there, mate,” Dodds said, walking over to join him. “Think I might have gotten one or two more than you, though.”
“Oh no,” Enrique answered with a chuckle. “I think you’ll find that I was ahead of you the whole time.”
Dodds shook his head. “The Crow’s Foot only counts as one. And I remember you needing help with it, too!”
They laughed and Enrique shook Dodds’ hand, before the two men gave one another a hearty slap on the back. He embraced Estelle next, who seemed to be almost bursting with pride. The slaps on the back he received from her were even more enthusiastic than Enrique’s.
“I am glad to be out of there, though,” Enrique said, nodding towards the ATAFs.
“Definitely,” Dodds said, already beginning to feel the familiar post-conflict fatigue starting to creep up on him. After all he’d just been through, he was in the mood for a nap. Right now, even the floor was beginning to look appealing. He imagined he could quite happily settle down there and sleep for a good few hours. He looked to Chaz, who was making his way over to the three. He appeared quite upbeat for a change, a smile on his face. He, too, greeted the three with handshakes and slaps on the back. Kelly came in last, and the celebratory gestures continued.
“Good work out there, everyone,” Estelle said. “I’m extremely proud of all of you.”
Though probably not as proud as you are of yourself, right now, thought Dodds, as Estelle continued to beam. She was looking even happier than she had been the night before. That felt like a long time ago now.
“I don’t think those Imperial pilots knew what hit them,” Dodds said.
“I’m not sure anyone out there did either, to tell the truth,” Enrique said. “Those fighters are still supposed to be a military secret.”
“Why do you suppose they brought them?” Kelly said.
“Test run,” Chaz supplied simply.
That’s one hell of a test, Dodds thought, glancing over at the craft that still looked as fresh and new as the day they had completed construction. There didn’t appear to be a single dent or scratch on any of them; not even on the one that Kelly had been piloting. How could there not even be a chip in the paintwork, he wondered. Something was amiss … No, stop. He didn’t want to start down that road again. He would consider it another time. But he would definitely have to get the others opinions on the subject.
“Right, come on, everyone,” Estelle said. “We should meet with Commodore Parks for debriefing and then get you some medical attention, Kelly.”
Dodds turned to make for the exit, in time to see a number of security personnel closing in around them.
“Something wrong?” Estelle asked.
“Sorry, but I have orders not to allow you to leave,” the leader of the team said. It was Omar Wyatt, Griffin’s head of security, the man who had hurriedly escorted them down to the cargo bay in the first place. He stood ahead of the other members of his team, who were each brandishing a rifle of some kind.
“Orders?” Estelle asked. “From whom?”
“Commodore Parks,” Wyatt said. “You’re to remain here until further notice.”
“What? In the hold? Seriously?”
Wyatt nodded.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“And as much as you think so, those
are my orders.”
“So what are we supposed to do? Just sit around here until we get back to Spirit?”
Dodds could hear that Estelle was beginning to get frustrated. This was meant to be her triumphant moment – returning from the heat of battle to be congratulated for pulling the allied forces out of the fire. It was yet another part of the vision she’d held for years.
Wyatt said, “The captain feels that given Griffin’s current state, it would be best for you all to remain here.”
“Couldn’t you at least escort us to our quarters, instead?” Dodds said.
“There’s a member of my team in need of medical attention,” Estelle interjected, indicating Kelly, and not waiting for Wyatt to answer Dodds.
Wyatt looked over at Kelly, who, other than appearing a little tired, displayed no signs of injury that required any kind of urgent attention. “No, sorry. No one is allowed in or out of the hold. And besides, all our medical teams are already busy dealing with those suffering from more severe injuries.”
“What the hell are—” Estelle began.
“Estelle, don’t worry,” Kelly stopped her, “I’ll be okay.”
It soon became very clear that no one was going anywhere for the time being. Chaz didn’t seem in the least bit surprised by what was happening. He let out an audible sigh, swore under his breath and then stalked off from the rest of the group, slumping down on the floor and propping himself up against a rack of maintenance equipment. Dodds watched him for a bit, but the big man neither acknowledged him nor the gathering of people by the exit. It seemed that his short-lived upbeat demeanour had been pushed to the wayside and he would now only sink back into silence.
“All crew, this is your captain speaking,” Parks’ voice came over the ship’s PA. “We are ready to make the return jump to Spirit. Please finalise jump preparations.”
The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy) Page 26
