Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (20 page)

Chapter 6. Neeblo 1630, 17 September

Felis walked across the open ground between the ‘lines’ and the operations centre. Evie walked with him explaining why she had to go to Istridium.

“So do you really think you can persuade your father to change sides?” asked Felis.

“I don’t know but I do know I need to try.”

“And what of your responsibilities here? What about the elections?”

“There are more than enough capable people here to look after that.”

“What about us?”

Evie stopped walking and took Felis’s hand. He turned to face her. “Come with me Felis.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Meelanda would let you go if you asked to take command of the 2
^nd
RIF.”

“No Evie she would not. She could not afford to alienate Veego. Besides I belong here. Don’t think that just because we won one battle here that the imperialists won’t try and take it back. In a way Cheklin is more important than Istridium. Whoever controls the Mintoslum facility has the decisive edge.”

“Only if you are prepared to use it. We’re not going to be using it, right? So we need Istridium. It’s the seat of ultimate rogan power.”

“But that’s not why you want to go there is it?”

“No, but it adds weight…”

“It’s a noble cause in its own right but you have noble causes here too. Besides I need you. I don’t want to lose you…not now.”

Evie stroked her palm against Felis’ face “Then come with me!”

Felis shook his head. Their communicators both rang at the same time. The lovers ignored the devices, each hoping the other would back down. Finally Evie answered as did Felis. They were being summoned to the same meeting with Meelanda.

“Got to go to the meeting” said Evie with a slight pause at the end, as she prayed Felis would relent. But instead he nodded and they walked off in silence towards the building.

Two hours later Felis came out of the meeting dispirited. To his surprise Meelanda had agreed to Evie’s proposal and to make matters worse he had to hand over 2,000 missiles to replenish the 2
^nd
RIF. It was now being called the 1
^st
RF (Republican Fleet). Regardless of the name change, it would take the production facilities on Cheklin days to replace those and in the meantime it made the planet vulnerable.

Evie caught up with him as he exited the building. The late afternoon sun glared mercilessly into his eyes as she took his arm. “Please don’t be angry Felis” she said. “I just have to do this.” Felis shrugged his shoulders. “Oh come on don’t be miserable.” She gave him a big smile and pecked his cheek. “I only need half an hour to pack and we don’t go for two hours.”

Felis smiled. “You know how to appeal to my better nature.”

“Primal instincts you mean.”

Chapter 7. Orina, Istridium 0300, 18 September

It had been over an hour since the firing stopped. The adrenalin that had sustained Milus Olasso during the withdrawal from Slidwon had stopped coursing through his fatigued body. His nerves had recovered though. He had not been sure he would hold it together. He knew he would be dreaming about those walkers pursuing them but before he faced that he had to find Ursoola.

Bodies moved down the hallway as some technical staff were affixing temporary lighting. In the half-light some soldiers struggled as they carried one of their comrades. An officer was directing his troops into the rooms that were off the hallway. They were more than happy to oblige, dropping to the ground and falling asleep where they lay. It was supposed to be a university but it must have been a teaching hospital given the gurneys and equipment.

Milus kept poking his head into each room and calling out “Ursoola.” His communicator had long given up the fight. ‘Not here’ was the usual response but he got a few more colourful replies for his trouble. Over the top of one of these he heard Ursoola call out from the next room “Milus?”

He entered the room in which the only light was coming through the doorway. It was just enough to show the familiar face of Ursoola. On closer inspection though Milus could have sworn she had aged five years over the last week. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing about him.

They embraced instinctively but only briefly. Ursoola wiped a tear from her eye. “I thought you were dead.” She thumped his chest lightly. “Why didn’t you respond to my hails?”

Milus tapped his communicator “It’s as dead as a doornail.”

Ursoola sat back down on the ground. She had some sleeping bag that one of the soldiers had given her – presumably purloined from the kit of a soldier who hadn’t made it. Milus sat back down with his back against the wall next to her. He was dead tired. They both were but that didn’t stop them exchanging news of who did and did not make it out. But after a while he stopped talking to find Ursoola had fallen asleep, sitting up, her head against his shoulder.

Only now with no other stimuli did he think of his own family. It had been five days since he last spoke with his wife. ‘Go. Leave now!’ were the last words he said to her. ‘How perfunctory’ he thought - no expression of love or sentiment. He wished he had that time over again. He did hope they were alive but he was honest enough to realise that the odds of them escaping were not high. They would have been marked by the FIA. Marked because of him, who he was, what he did. He felt an extreme burden upon him and it was squeezing out the tears from his eyes. He began to sob for the first time since it all went to hell.

Chapter 8. Eltekin to Istridium 1030, 19 September

Angina read Milus’s signal with a heavy heart. ‘So much loss’ she said to herself. Her mind began questioning the wisdom of their current mission. According to Milus the 33
^rd
Brigade was barely at battalion strength. She knew they would need more ground troops but where was she to get them.

She hailed Veego and asked to see him along with Evie. Five minutes later they met in Veego’s office with the door closed. Evie appeared deflated after reading the signal; Veego less so. His powerful mind was well used to dealing with setbacks. They went with the job. He knew that the key right now was to find more ground troops and the means to transport them.

“Obviously we need more ground troops” said Veego. “We can get these back at Cheklin or maybe even on Raidom “but transports are the key” announced Veego.

“Raidom would be closer” said Angina “I can ask my people there.”

“I can ask Bacun Likta about the transports” offered Evie.

“It’s not advisable to continue our warp to Istridium” said Veego in a manner which left no room for discussion. “Best if we head to Raidom. We may be able to fully replenish our missile stocks there.”

Three hours later Angina received another signal from Milus. Angina was confounded. The signal read:

‘Torine called, says she’s made a big mistake and wants to make amends. She wants to talk. She would prefer face to face but understands your reluctance to do so. She’s given me a number for you to call. I urge extreme caution. Please advise how to proceed.’

“Have you indeed” said Angina out loud in her cabin. She called Evie in and showed her the message.

“It’s a trap for sure” responded Evie.

“Perhaps” said Angina and, with a shrug of the shoulders and a half wicked smile, added “but perhaps not. Let’s ask her for a demonstration of her intent, shall we?”

Evie could see why Angina had stayed at the top of the ISS for so long.

Chapter 9. Resolute over Cheklin 0900, 21 September

The 17
^th
Flotilla had warped in 100K out from Cheklin a few minutes before 0900. The immediate tension within the command centre had died when they realised that there were no substantial enemy fleet units. Dave knew from Julian’s signal that the Dogon space station had been destroyed and that there should be just two friendly caps and one light ship in geo over Lewista. That all tallied with his sensors.

“It all looks good Sir” stated Ivan who had the watch. “Confirm warp locked in?” he demanded of LCmd Chase Hanlon, the ship’s OPS officer.

“Confirmed” responded Chase. He would activate this if things turned pear shape in the next few minutes.

Dave nodded. “Hail them” ordered Ivan.

2
^nd
Lt Jasmin Morales, now lead Comms and Intel officer (CI) hailed Neeblo Control.

“Nothing” advised Crystal as she scrutinised her terminal.

“This is Neeblo Control” responded the ground station “welcome to the Rogan Republic.” Dave smiled in relief. “Admiral Draag would like to speak with Captain Warner.”

“You mean Commodore Warner” replied Jasmin. “Putting him on.”

“Congratulations Commodore” hailed Felis.

“And to you Admiral. War seems to be good for promotions right now.”

“Yes but that’s about all its good for. Can you come down here for a conference? There is much to discuss.”

“Can do. Would 1100 suit?”

“Yes that will be fine.”

Half an hour later Dave boarded Whiskey 1 with Chase. He left Ivan in charge of the Resolute. Val was tasked to arrange the transfer of missiles to the Phantom. Dave had arranged to pick up Jeb from the Tenacity.  They touched down forty minutes later and were greeted by a familiar face.

“Congratulations Dave” said Julian.

“Why thank you Sir” said Dave.

Julian smiled. “We’re the same rank now Dave you can call me Julian.”

“Of course” said Dave feeling a tad embarrassed. “You know Chase. This is Captain Jeb Wilson of the Tenacity.”

After a few pleasantries Julian led them to the operations centre where Felis was waiting for them. Dave cut him a salute. Felis returned it. “You honour me Commodore.”

“Well by all accounts you’ve earned it here.”

“Perhaps” said Felis. “Come, let me introduce you to my people.”

An hour and a half later they broke for some lunch. They were led to the old factory’s dining room, which had been refurbed over the last few days. Before they had seated Meelanda made an informal entrance, without fanfare, and was introduced.

“I have heard much about you Madam President” said Dave.

Meelanda smiled “And I you Commodore. I must admit I am somewhat surprised.”

“In what way?”

“Well unlike the reports about you from the imperialist media you do not appear to have two heads” and she gave him a generous smile.

Dave duly chuckled. “I may have left the other one back on board.”

“Very good Commodore. I like a person with a good wit.” She leaned in a little closer and said in slightly softer voice. “In fact, I never trust those without a sense of humour.”

Dave nodded. “Very wise!”

“I see we’re going to get on very well indeed.”

Chapter 10. Resolute over Cheklin 1335, 21 September

“Contact, contact” cried out Sgt Derick Blithe from the BS station.

Jasmin, who had the watch, activated the emergency siren to alert the command centre crew to return immediately.

“I count eleven caps, 14 lights, and 22 transports” announced Derick. This was his first real engagement as a BS operator. He’d done all the training and got good marks but he had never actually been in combat. For some reason his palms were sweating and he felt his knees knocking. He got control, of the knees but had to wipe his hands quickly on his trousers.

“Val, Crystal, Art, Sue get up here now!” hailed Jasmin. She didn’t bother with titles.

Ivan came running in. He plonked down in the captain’s chair and scanned the holo. He checked the ships status to confirm they were definitely cloaked, and they were. He looked across at the empty CI station. As soon as Val arrived he pointed to the CI station and said “Prepare a signal to be sent when we engage advising the boss of what’s happening.”

“Neeblo Control is challenging the force that just warped in” advised Jasmin. “Task Group Bala is standing to.”

As Crystal came in Ivan said “Crystal, offensive BS…Dereck you’re defensive.” Art and Sue came jogging in at the same time and Ivan got Sue to take over Ops and Art to assist in CI.

“People of Cheklin this is Fleet Admiral Meeka Sallusam, commander of the Rogan Confederacy. You have ten minutes to pledge your allegiance.”

“Sallusam?” questioned Jasmin.

“They are not stopping” advised Crystal.

“What do we do” asked Sue.

“We wait for a response from down below” replied Ivan “but in the meantime we work up some options.”

“They’re launching fighters from down below” announced Derick “Seventeen…no twenty.”

“Well I think that clarifies the situation” said Ivan.

“The bogeys are heading full steam to the planet” announced Crsytal. “They will be within missile engagement range in fifteen minutes.”

Ivan felt under intense pressure. He knew that with Dave and Jeb down below it would be his call to engage or not.

“Another 20 fighters taking off” announced Derick.

“Are we going to engage?” asked Sue. “TG Bala won’t have a choice. There could be a Division or more of troops in those transports.”

Normally they would have prearranged responses and lines of command established with the Control on the planet. But they had not yet set these up. In the absence of any word from Neeblo Control the decision to commit would be his.

Sue was working her controls rapidly. She had already set the enemy objective for Lewista and had seeded the relative missiles table up on the main screen. It made for sobering reading.

The enemy with eleven caps and 14 lights was estimated to have over 4,000 ship missiles. Sue had assumed one of the caps was a carrier and so all up they had 180 fighters with a load out of 1080 fighter missiles. All up they were estimated to have over 5,000 missiles.

Opposing that, their flotilla had just over 700 ship missiles, about 75% their normal assignment, plus 192 fighter missiles (24 fighters x 8). The Bala group was estimated to be at 100% and hence had 660 ship missiles plus 96 fighter missiles (16 x 6). So far there were 60 ground based fighters with 6 each, totalling 360. So apart from ground based batteries they had 1360 ship missiles and 646 fighter missiles. All up it amounted to just over 2,000 space borne missiles.