Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) (29 page)

Evie turned towards her and said “Alas no. Maybe we can get some later once we sort out the time to meet Melnar.”

“You plan on calling him?”

“A little later.”

“Right to let Judy sleep in?”

“Sure.”

“Good. Things here seem…civil.”

“Yes I think we’ve sorted out our differences.”

Madge smiled with her eyes as she took a mouthful of the delicious cereal.

Chapter 18. Rollinium 0730, 15 August

Jim had withdrawn his battered force 1500m all the way back to where he had left Art, Rentra and her staff at the checkpoint. Just as he reached them he got the news that the battle was over. He was keen to go back and see what could be done for the wounded he was forced to leave behind, so too was Rentra and Art tagged along.

The troops were told to turn around and march back. Some marine mumbled “Yes Sir, no Sir, three bags full Sir” but when Jim tried to ID him there was no one obvious. Spirits lifted when Jim hailed his troops and told them that the enemy had been defeated.

With the marines leading, Jim, Art, Rentra and a couple of her staff followed. They encountered a platoon of droids that Sue had ordered to take over the defence of the northern sector. They caused pandemonium amongst Rentra’s warriors until Art reassured them that they were on their side.

Art was very weary as were most of the troops on that march. “You are tired?” asked Rentra.

“Yes I’m tired but probably not as much as these soldiers here. They were doing the fighting.”

“True” she replied. “I had no idea there was another battalion in the city.”

“Do you think there will be more?”

“Don’t know but we need to find out. My troops need a rest like yours do. I will ask Colonel Mekshino to probe south into the commercial district from his positions.”

“Or we could send in the droids. They never get tired – just worn out” he said with a weary smile.

“Your humour is good” she said and smiled “But it should be us. You have done more than enough. I will see to it.”

They walked on in silence for a while, with Art taking short steps and Rentra making large strides. Rentra was struck by the brightness of the daylight and the fact that she had rarely been out walking in daylight since the uprising began six months ago.

“It’s a beautiful morning” she said breaking the silence. Impulsively she added “full of hope” and a big grin filled her face. Art smiled back. “You know our political leaders will want to meet with your Captain. Today would be good.”

“Right…I’ll see what can be arranged. Perhaps it’s best if you let me know the time they can be at the main terminal. We can meet in there.”

“Yes. I will get back to you.”

“Art” hailed Sue.

“Excuse me I have a call” said Art to Rentra and he stepped off to the side. “Darling how are you?” he hailed.

“Tired” she responded.

“Me too. I was worried about you while I was stuck over here.”

“I spent the whole time in my command droid over here at the terminal. I was tempted to help out Argha but he and Jess got them sorted. So no action for me I’m afraid. What about you?”

Art smiled as he listened to her voice. He loved the way she downplayed everything. “Well darling I have been involved in some high risk liaising over here. You know how it is?”

She laughed. “Yes I am all too familiar with your liaising and you better have some for me later or there will be hell to pay Mr Simons.”

Art laughed out loud and nearly tripped over some debris as he walked. Those nearby, including Jim and Rentra, all looked around to see what was so funny. Rentra gave Jim a quizzical look.

“That would be his miss’s” said Jim with an envious smile. Rentra looked puzzled. “His wife… partner…lover” added Jim. Finally Rentra smiled.

Half an hour later across the spaceport Tammy had collated the casualty reports. She called Ivan over and showed him her screen. Ivan nodded as he read the figures. He instinctively brushed back his fair hair. The blood had all dried by now from when he had done the same action with his hair after helping to stack the bodies down below.

“You all right Sir” asked Tammy on seeing the blood.

“Yeah, not mine” he replied. “Send it. I’ll give the boss a call now.”

“Twenty two?” asked Dave after Ivan had briefed him.

“Yes Sir” said Ivan. It was a horrible butcher’s bill and he knew Dave would take it hard. “Plus 12 rogan from the resistance.”

“Gee…” said Dave as he digested the news. “Any officers or senior NCOs?”

“Yep three sergeants - Kapinsky from Tango 3 when it was KO’d, Akers from 2
^nd
Platoon and Owusu from 3
^rd
Platoon” replied Ivan sombrely.

All three had joined his command after Beta Phi and Dave struggled to recall their faces. It was a high price but he knew that with the surprise counter attack it could have been a lot worse. “Listen Ivan I know this might sound cruel but given the circumstances we’ve come off lightly. Had that mechanised force got down off the freeway in force we would be looking down the barrel of defeat and four times that in casualty…maybe a wipe out. So don’t hold yourself to blame for this. From what I’ve seen and heard you did good. Your whole force down there did good.”

“OK Sir” said Ivan. He didn’t sound like he had bought all that but part of him knew it to be true. It was just that the guilt, both survivor’s and commander’s, was hard to shake off right now.

“I’m going to come on down” said Dave.

“Oh” said Ivan remembering his conversation with Art “the resistance leaders want to meet you…here in the spaceport. Can you make 1100?”

“OK good. I’ll aim to be there at 1030. I’ll see you then Ivan. Job well done” said Dave and he terminated the call.

Chapter 19. Resolute over Q2 0950, 15 August

Dave found Chase in the med bay. Mary had let him go through only if he promised not to upset the patient.

A still groggy Kat tried in vain to make out who had just entered the room but with the cast on she had no hope of lifting her head. But she recognised Dave’s voice as he said hello. She appreciated him coming down to see her but then realised it was Chase he was really after. If she could have, she would have shaken her head in annoyance. She gave up the struggle and just closed her eyes. She knew Dave had taken away Chase when Chase let go of her hand. She resented Dave for that. But the pull of the opiates won out and she surrendered to the haze.

Outside the recovery ward Dave said “I’m sorry Chase but I need to go down on the deck and I need you to run things up here. Are you up to it?”

Chase was weary on all levels. Lack of sleep was the least of his problems but Dave’s call to arms cut through. “OK, when are you leaving?”

“Ten minutes. I have to meet with the resistance leaders. I hope to be back later this afternoon. Crystal should relieve Val at midday (referring to the watch). So you’ll just be on call in case anything untoward happens. Hopefully that won’t happen.”

Chase nodded. Dave gave him a pat on his shoulder and left. Chase made his way back in, the other three beds in this recovery ward were all full now – the wounded from Ginty’s platoon. They were out cold after their procedures. The bed next to Kat’s held a female marine who he didn’t recognise. Her head was covered in dressing with leads protruding back to an analyser machine. The dressing was stained with dried blood. ‘It could have been worse’ he thought to himself.

Chase sat back down again and took the hand of his now sleeping lover. He stroked the top of it with his other hand and then let her hand down gently.

There were another three in the next recovery ward and Mary had told him there would be more coming up from down below. Unlike the other battles he had been in, this one was different. He’d seen death and injury up close, real close but this time with Kat he found it…unpalatable. ‘When will this fucking war be over?’

Down on G deck, Dave waited as the walking wounded came out first through the hatch of Whiskey 1. He tried his best to be reassuring but wasn’t sure he was all that convincing. The last two off were on stretchers.

“This one’s dead” said the medic to the male nurse trying to triage the new recipients. The nurse nodded off to his right and they carried away the stretcher to the morgue.

Parinya came out through the hatch desperate to go to the toilet. Dave tried to talk to her but could see she had other things on her mind. Alain jumped out and started barking instructions to the service crew. He caught site of Dave and said “another full house I’m afraid.”

Dave nodded. “You and your skipper, when did you last have a rest?”

Alain stopped. He had to think real hard. “Yesterday morning…I think.”

“Is this the last of the wounded coming back up?”

“That’s what we were told.” Alain spotted Parinya as she came back at a poor jog. “This is the last of the wounded right?” She nodded.

“Once you drop me down there I want you both to get some rest” said Dave.

“Come on then Sir. The sooner we offload you the better.” She even managed a weak smile.

But as they went to go the hatch, the service crewman put up his hand to stop them as others passed in crates of ammo. “Did you hear about Commander Chen Sir?” asked Parinya.

“Do you mean him getting wounded?”

“No, not that” she said and she told him about how he had started laughing from his stretcher.

“Really? Well he never ceases to surprise” said Dave “though you never heard that from me.” He gave her a smile.

“Of course not Sir.”

While Parinya was getting ready, Dave sat in his seat behind her and checked the latest cas report using his communicator. “Shit” he said as he read it. There were 31 dead and 16 wounded. ‘Forty seven casualties!’ One third of his marines were out of action.

He looked at the equipment losses and was grateful they had only lost one battlewagon and one fighter. Twenty one droids were destroyed. They had paid a heavy price in delaying the armour along the freeway. He rolled his eyes when he saw he had only 63 Torad and 39 Javelin missiles remaining. He knew then that he would have to go back to Chelora.

As the warthog surged out from the ship his thoughts returned to the marines. Being ex Special Forces he had a soft spot for the foot soldiers. ‘As always, it’s they who pay the biggest price. We’ve got to do this better.’

Chapter 20. Lewista 1015, 15 August

Erkum pushed the communicator across the table to Evie. It landed next to their new IDs. “Use this from now on” he said with a serious look on his face. “It looks like a vanilla commercial type anyone could have but it’s not. All calls are routed through a number of proxies so it will take them ages to get a location fix and hopefully you will be long gone by the time they work it out.”

He continued “Never, ever, call from this apartment. If you get into trouble, call shortcut 99. That will come direct to me and I will know your loc. You don’t need to say anything. Just make the call on silent. Only use that shortcut if you are in danger. If you need to call me otherwise, use shortcut 11.”

He leaned over and pulled some more stuff out of the bag at his feet. He slid the pistols across the table. They spun as they went and each ended up facing with the grip towards their recipient. Stow those weapons you have here. Anyone sees you with those then they will know you are up to no good. These are bog standard pulse pistols.” He looked to Madge and Judy. “No one here uses solid shot.”

He next placed a box on the table and opened its lid revealing what Madge correctly assess to be grenades. “One each” he said waving his hand over the box “stunners, big flash.”

“Flash-bangs” said Judy “nice!”

“Right” said Erkum “flush bungs.”

Judy shook her head with a grin and she repeated “flash bangs” emphasising the vowel.

“Flash bangs” he copied and Judy gave him a thumbs up.

“What’s this?” he asked pointing to her thumb.

“It means ‘good’” said Felis.

“Or OK” said Evie.

Erkum made a poor effort at the thumbs up but they all rewarded him with a smile. “I like it” he said with a grin. Then he changed his expression to be all serious. “Right when you contact Melnar, assume that he will be using all the resources of his corporation to track, record and ID you. This is the Mintoslum Corp, one of the biggest comms companies in the galaxy. Don’t underestimate him and above all do not trust him. He may well be genuine but he is a first tier aristocrat. Remember that.”

“I have a location in mind from where you can make your call. It’s a public place. I think it best not to risk taking our two human friends” he said and added with a grin “even though they look so lovely.” The grin disappeared quickly. “It’s just too big a risk and we don’t need to take it. I can take you there” he said looking at Evie.

“And Felis” said Evie.

That surprised Erkum a little. “Of course that will be fine.”

“When?” asked Felis.

“We can go now. I’m done here.”

Felis looked to Evie who nodded. He stood up collected his new weapon, checked its mechanism, noted the full charge pack in the grip, pocketed a flashbang and nodded his approval to Erkum.

Erkum stood up as Evie grabbed her new toys. He turned to Madge and Judy “You will be right here. We won’t be long.”

Madge wasn’t happy about being squeezed out but she couldn’t fault Erkum’s logic. It just didn’t make sense taking a risk at this stage. “We’ll be fine” she acknowledged.

“Good” and Erkum gave them the thumbs up with a grin.

Erkum led Evie and Felis to the elevator, which took them down underground. It was a well-lit area with signs pointing the way. They followed these around the corner where they came out into a huge tunnel. Down the middle of it ran two automated walkways, one on the far side going right and the closest one going left.

“This way” said Erkum and he led them over a bridge and descended onto the far side. He hopped onto the moving walkway and turned back to ensure they followed.

Felis kept a wary eye on the other pedestrians using the walkway. The tunnel and the walkway negotiated a corner up ahead. There were several other pedestrians ahead and they took hold of the inner rail as they went around the corner. Erkum did too and Felis and Evie followed suit.