The Enclave (The Verge) (10 page)

They stood looking at each other in silence.  And then Katherine’s calm collapsed into regret.

“If I had known who you were Joshua, last night would never have happened.  I’ve put you in a bit of a predicament.”

Joshua frowned.  “I was there; it was my choice as well. 
And
knowing what I know now I would not change what happened last night…” Joshua shook his head.  “Anyway, that is not the reason I wanted to talk to you Katherine.”

Katherine raised an eyebrow as she looked up into his dark eyes.  This was not what she expected.

“You mentioned last night that you are looking for a man.”

“Yes.  In fact I am now looking for two.”

“They must be dangerous men to send such a decorated officer after them.  Were they involved in the attack on Val Myra?”

Katherine stiffened and the simple medal now felt heavy on her breast.  She had been decorated with the Victoria Cross after Yunga.  She had saved an enemy officer but she had also bought out patchy records on the number of Federation people who had been killed there.

“If you can’t tell me who, just tell me if they were involved with Val Myra,” Joshua hurried out as he saw the frown deepen.

“One man is a hunt and capture mission.  An Alliance Black Ops operative who we know was involved in coordinating the attack on your home as well as Federation colonies.”  Katherine drew a deep breath.  “The other is a search and rescue mission.”

“Search and rescue?” Joshua asked clearly confused.  “Who?”

“Intelligence suggests that the man I am hunting has taken a ‘friend’ of mine.  I have to get him back.”

“Friend?”

Katherine closed her eyes.  Joshua had to know; 5- Daniel; is his brother.  Then the realization finally hit her.  They are brothers.
Shit!

“Joshua, the Alliance has taken your brother Daniel.  And I have to get him back.”

Joshua’s faced drained white.  “They’ve taken him? How do you know? How
can
you know?  Why are you going to rescue him?”

Katherine opened her eyes and looked up into Joshua’s again.  “I was the officer who bought Daniel out of Yunga.  And the Alliance tried to get me three years ago destroying my home colony in the process, and once Daniel was out from under the wing of Federation protection, they went out to get him too.”  Katherine felt the rage building again inside of her but with a strong force of will she kept it contained.

“You’re the officer who destroyed Yunga?”  Joshua’s disbelief flashed across his face, quickly followed by horror as Katherine’s words sunk in.

“You were the one who rescued my brother?  He spoke of the officer who got him out, but he always referred to them as ‘72’.”  Joshua rubbed hard at his face as he recovered from the shock.

“I was called subject 72, and he is subject 56.  And it is because of your brother that I am here alive and sane.  I owe him a debt that my life cannot repay.  I owe it to him to get him back from those Alliance bastards.”  Katherine breathed in deep to steady her nerves.  “I only found out 56’s real name last night when I was told that the Alliance had him again.  That was the reason I was walking down that street – and then I saw you after the fight and for a moment I thought you were 56…”  Katherine took another steadying breath and forced the mantle of an ADF Officer to cover her again.  “I think we should leave this subject for now, the GG’s private dining room isn’t the best place to discuss this.”

Joshua nodded his weary agreement.

“Come with me and I’ll take you on a tour of the AFV
Adelaide
.  Afterwards we can talk some more.”

Chapter

Ten

The New Holland Federation House is a modern marvel in architecture, Katherine thought as she waited with Joshua in the entrance gardens for their cars to arrive.  Not completely to her aesthetic tastes but Katherine could appreciate it.  She had a soft spot for the Victorian architecture that still stood in the city of Adelaide.  Those sandstone edifices were now dwarfed by the towering modern buildings that seem to grow ever higher as the decades passed by, but old North Terrace always caused a silent awe within her every time she saw it.

This Federation House reminded Katherine of the old Bicentennial Parliament House back in Canberra
, Australia.  That building now functioned as a museum and it was a building she had never been a big fan of.  But it was a symbol of Australia and seeing it mirrored in this building caused Katherine to feel a flicker of pride.

A small security detail was arranged around them in the gardens.  Joshua explained that the NHSIO had assigned a guard to him this morning when what was left of his family finally decided who would represent their people.  Katherine knew damn well that what had happened last night was the real reason the uniforms were here.

“The drivers are taking their time,” Joshua muttered.  Katherine nodded agreement.  Joshua had been fairly quiet after their talk in the dining room.  She had given him a lot to think about and Katherine did not have any idea where his thoughts would end up.

“Once we get back to the
Adelaide
, I’ll have my steward make us a decent pot of coffee and then I’ll give you the deluxe tour.”

“I’ll try and pay attention,” Joshua gave her a half smile.

“You’ll have to pay attention Joshua.  I’ll be giving you a test straight afterwards.”

Joshua let out a bark of laughter, and his face relaxed back into the face she was attracted to last night.

“I wish we could have met under better circumstances Commander,” he said.

“Cut the Commander crap Josh.  After what happened between us last night, I think you’ve earned the right to call me Katherine.”

The scream of a full throttled engine made Katherine look behind them.  A car was racing along the entrance ring road towards them followed quickly by several others.  Gunfire erupted from a window putting down two of Joshua’s security detail.

Katherine grabbed Joshua by the arm and sprinted towards the front entrance of Federation House, only slowing to scoop up a loose sidearm from one of the dead men.  The driver saw them running and floored the accelerator; the passenger kept chasing them with a hail of bullets.  As they neared the first tier of stairs, Katherine heard what remained of Joshua’s guards returning fire to the cars that had followed hard on the heels of this one.  But the car chasing them was now too close.

Katherine pushed Joshua up the stairs and then quickly turned, her right arm snaking out and sprayed the front windshield with a short but concentrated burst of fire.  She saw the plasglass discolor as it fractured and the car suddenly swerved to the right as if something heavy had caught at the wheel.  The gunman on the passenger side was caught off guard and Katherine took him clean in the head.  The car caught the edge of the stair at full speed and bucked up to roll on its side with a crash before sliding in a shriek of metal onto the manicured emerald lawns.

Gunfire flew from the cars behind and Katherine turned tail and leapt up the stairs.  Joshua was crouched waiting at the top of the last tier and had managed to get hold of a pistol.  Around them the NHSIO security from the front foyer was now positioned around the portico columns and returning fire to the attackers below.   The defenders controlled the high ground and the people in those cars had no hope of getting them now.

So why were they still attacking?

Katherine dragged Josh away from the stairs back into the foyer as more security personnel streamed past them.  No one spared them much of a glance but Katherine did
not care.  Something was not right.  Inexperience (or stupidity), would be the only reason someone would even consider committing to a frontal assault on Federation House.  The place was just too well protected.

“Are they Alliance Katherine?” Josh asked as she checked the magazine on her pistol.  Thirty HC rounds remaining.  Hopefully it would do.

“The Alliance isn’t this stupid,” she shouted over the sound of fresh gunfire
.  But I would bet a year’s pay that they are involved somehow.
  “Whoever they are; I think we should retreat back to my brother’s office.  At least I can guarantee that we’ll be well defended there if anything untoward happens.”

Joshua nodded.  Katherine then noted the ease with which he held his weapon.  “You’ve had weapons training?”

“I served with the Alliance Infantry.  Every citizen owes three years service.”

Katherine nodded impressed.  Leading families were known for finding loopholes to stop their members from meeting their obligations.  Nice to see the Val
Myrans did not use it.  “Then you can cover my back.”

Both entered the stairwell at a run; taking the lifts would have been risky if the power went; and climbed several flights before Katherine was sure they were on the right floor.  As they climbed Katherine open a comm link to the
Adelaide.
 

“
Adelaide
do you read me?” no one answered her and Katherine repeated herself another three times.  “Come on damn you – somebody talk to me!” she half shouted as they reached the landing she wanted.

“Skipper?”  A burst of static broke over the comm unit.

“Sue, is that you?”  Abruptly the static disappeared and the musical voice of Susan Mayer came over the wire.  

“-interference is shocking, like someone is jamming-”

“Sue, is Steve on the bridge?”  Katherine cut across her.

“Yes Ma’am.”

There was a click and then Steven Tran’s voice came over the link.

“Skipper?”

“Steve, I want you and two squads to suit up and get your arses over to Federation House ASAP.  We are under heavy fire and I think the idiots outside will break off if they see some extra persuasion coming up behind them.”

There was a pause and then, “Yes Ma’am,” and the link went silent as Steve cut his connection.  “Sue, has Tom returned to the ship?” Katherine asked hoping for an affirmative but knowing that not enough time had gone by since he had left from lunch.

“No ma’am”

“Katherine?” A new voice cut into the line.

“Richard?  I thought you were taking shore leave – it doesn’t matter.  We’ve got an incident here and I’m afraid that it might splash over to the
Adelaide.
  Steve is bringing two squads here to me and I want whatever personnel remaining on board to protect the ship and the port in that order.”

“How bad is it Kath?” Richard asked.

“Ask me again in another hour, I might have an answer by then.”  She cut the connection and turned to Joshua.  She may be overreacting but there was something in her gut telling her that she was right.  But first they both had to get back to John’s office.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”  Joshua’s voice was firm and there was a look in his eyes that Katherine recognized, she had seen it enough times in her own crew when the situation was tight.

She palmed the stairwell door open and checked that the corridor was clear, then she and Joshua came out, pistols raised to line of sight.  They moved down the empty corridors seeing nothing out of place except for the obvious signs of a hurried evacuation of office personnel.

“They wouldn’t be able to penetrate this far into the building?” Joshua flexed his fingers over the grip on his handgun.

“Not from the frontal assault, but I have a bad feel-”

Katherine stopped speaking as the clear sounds of gunfire echoed down the corridor ahead of them.

“Liam, what in Hell is going on?” John gasped as a NHSIO Officer fitted a flak jacket around him.  Andrea’s aide was helping her do the same.

“It looks like one of the local militant groups has taken it into their heads to make a frontal assault.”  Liam had just come back from checking the corridor guard posts.  He now wore light body armor and held an assault rifle loosely in his hands.

“But why?”

“Some of the extremist groups don’t like the fact that there is suddenly a lot of Val Myrans on their doorstep – they just see them all as Alliance fifth columnists – as enemies of the Earth Federation.”

The Ambassador and the Governor General had been herded into his office suite when the attack began, along with what staff members were around.  
It was lucky that the attack happened during the lunch period otherwise there would have been a lot more people caught in the crossfire.
John thought as he tugged at a strap on his vest to ease its constriction on his chest.  Their security detachment had now barricaded them in the small conference room at the back of the suite that was encased by thick walls with a single, narrow, point of entry.

John tried not to show the relief he felt at Liam’s news.  He had been afraid that the Alliance had sent their Black Ops team after them.  But someone in the NHSIO must have dropped the ball if they had not heard a whisper of this through their network.

The muffled sound of gunfire penetrated into the protected room.  It was a sound that Liam had not expected to hear.  “Shit! How did they get this far in?”  He turned and strode to the door as the guards outside began to overturn tables to offer better protection in case the attackers managed to get through the outer defenses.  Liam slung the strap of his rifle over his shoulder as he came back into the room and grabbed one end of the conference room table.  “Scott, help me tip this.”