Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) (44 page)

“Don’t look at me” said Jock. There’s no way we can get any missiles to them till the main body arrives.

“But that’s a month away” countered Rihan. “The enemy will send an even bigger force after we destroy their frigates and they’ll arrive well before the end of next month. We should send the Resolute and the Mailon. I mean the Maelstrom…loaded with missiles and fighters.”

“Mmm” said Phil. “It’s a big risk sending the Maelstrom. If the enemy respond with a really big force then at least the Resolute and the frigates can hide. Not so for the Maelstrom. She will have to warp away or be destroyed. And if she warps back here she won’t be available for Cheklin.”

“What we really need is a complete stealth fleet” chimed in Alex.

“It’s coming” defended Phil and with an emphasis born of frustration he added “but it’s not here now.”

“Sir, if the frigates don’t have missiles, you might as well send them back now” said Rihan.

“Sir” said Greta “I agree with Rihan. Send the Maelstrom chock full of missiles and as many fighters as there’s space left. We can signal the Phantom. They have the rogan comms suite. They can break warp and head for Q2. She’s also in need of missiles. The Tenacity will arrive here on the 28th. We can send them off immediately. That way we have two stealth caps, three stealth frigates plus a swag of fighters, probably enough to deal with a single rogan fleet. The Maelstrom could warp to an outer planet in one of the nearby systems till the main body arrives. She may need to bounce around a bit.”

Phil nodded at Greta and then asked “What do the rest of you think?”

“I’m for it” said Alex.

“Me too” said Rihan.

“Well I’m not going to be the odd man out” said Jock.

“Do you want Lennox to take command?” asked Alex, referring to Commodore Amelia Lennox.

“Mmm…” muttered Phil. “No she’s no experience with stealth craft. Warner’s the man.” He turned to Rihan and added “I’m sure you’d approve.”

Rihan nodded. “Especially if he gets the rank to go with it.”

“Not this time” said Phil. “We’ll see how he handles it.”

Chapter 42. Resolute over Chelora 1000, 27 August

It was a lay day for everyone except Val and her loggies and Jim and his marines. Rihan and Dave had slept in till 0800, meditated, exercised, and taken breakfast at a leisurely pace. Dave had to go to his office and deal with some admin for Val.

Rihan poked her head in the door carrying a tray with two mugs of coffee and a couple of Cranky’s friands. Dave waved his hand for her to come in while he waited on his communicator. Rihan gave Dave a frown as she struggled to find room on Dave’s desk. She eventually made a clearing and then in frustration just handed Dave the mug with the froth of his favourite flat white swishing a little as he tried to grab it without really focussing on it. All the time he was responding to the person on the other end with monosyllables.

Rihan didn’t even attempt to hand him the plate with the friand. Instead she sank back into the visitors chair, put her feet up on the other one, took a sip of her coffee and placed it on top of a small carved wooden box that had been given to Dave by his uncle. It was perched at the end of the desk and threatened to fall over the edge. She poked it forward to minimise the risk of it and her cup falling off. In doing so the box nudged a piece of ePaper that in turn poked against Dave’s hand. He frowned at her.

She ignored his reproach, picked up the plate and gently held the friand in her hand, brought it to her nose and inhaled the almond essence. With a small gentle movement of her head from left to right she sighed with contentment.

Dave smiled as his focus had been captured by the image of his wife. He was overcome not so much by her beauty but by her state of contentment. He smiled even more though when suddenly she bit half of the friand off in one bite and began munching it with gusto.

He wound up his call and then took a sip of his coffee. “The good life, hey?” he asked. Rihan had her mouth full but managed to smile with her face and in particular her green almond shaped eyes. They looked crystal clear this morning. “Life seems to be agreeing with you?” asked Dave.

Rihan swallowed and then with a wan smile said “Yes but after tomorrow I’ll be miserable again. My better half will have departed.”

Dave reached over and stroked her hand. Then he spied the friand on the plate, reached out, grabbed it and downed it in one mouthful. Rihan just shook her head and smiled as Dave munched and smiled with his smoky blue eyes.

Chapter 43. Resolute over Chelora 0750, 28 August

There was an enormous amount of activity aboard the Resolute – far more than normal for the hour of the day. But Dave had insisted on an early reveille so the integrated demo could start at 0830 sharp. In fact he was in Jim’s office on G deck when he got the hail that the Admiral was arriving. He double checked the time on his communicator to confirm that the Admiral was in fact 25 minutes early.

“Blast” he said to Jim “I gotta go meet the Admiral. I’ll leave the rest to you Jim.”

Jim gave a shrug of his shoulders. He’d been here before. “So long as we’re still starting as scheduled.”

“Just get everyone ready. He may just want to discuss something else before the demo” said Dave with one foot out the door. He used his arm on the bulkhead to pivot his frame and push off into a light jog towards the shuttle bay. He got there just as the Admiral’s warthog touched down. The Admiral and his entourage began dismounting.

Rihan, who had stayed aboard the Resolute over night came along side Dave. “They’re early!” she stated. “That’s not good form” she said disapprovingly.

“Admiral’s prerogative I’m afraid” said Dave. “Who’s that?” he asked referring to the last figure getting out of the shuttle.

“Must be Captain Jeb Wilson” said Rihan.

“He doesn’t look that mad” said Dave in a whisper into her ear.

“I bet he doesn’t bark either” she came back with a smile.

Phil introduced the new captain without any reference to his ‘mad dog’ epitaph. “Since Jeb’s just arrived” said Phil to Dave “I thought it would be good for him to sit in on this demo.

“More the merrier Sir” responded Dave. “Would you all follow me.”

Chapter 44. Resolute over Chelora 1300, 28 August

It had been a full morning. There were definitely a few teething problems to be sorted but on the whole the smile on Jim’s face said it all. He was seated around the big briefing room table.

“So by the expression on your face Jim you must be pleased?” asked Phil.

“Yes Sir, on the whole I am. There are things we can improve, like the timings. The droids just execute a lot faster than we jarheads. But I’ve talked with Julian about implementing a form of orders delay in their protocols when they are working as part of an integrated force. That should do the trick. But really, just look at those exercise stats. Marine cas are down by 61%. Sure the droids are up but not by that much. It gets my tick of approval.”

“And what about you Julian?” asked Phil.

“I agree with the good commander” said Julian “And this is only using basic commands. Just imagine what it’s going to be like when we’ve got the complex commands working as well.” Julian was talking loudly, full of confidence.

Phil invited comment from the others present. There was discussion about comms security and about breaching procedures. The latter lasted for over half an hour. Finally Phil, conscious of the need to release the Resolute, said “Thanks everyone. I was a bit sceptical beforehand but you impressed me today. I say it’s a goer.” Phil turned to Jeb “Do you think you can implement these changes on the Tenacity during the warp?”

“Hell yeah” said Jeb, brushing his blond locks back. “Really impressed. We’ll need the new estabs and AI?”

“I can get that to you straight away” chimed in Julian. “But there’s a few things you or your tech lead need to know.”

“How about you go back with the Captain” said Dave to Julian “brief them and come back with him and his XO for the pre-mission briefing at 1500.”

“My pleasure Sir” said Julian.

“OK everyone” said Phil in his commanding tone “you have less than three hours before you warp for Q2. Good luck to you all. We’re done!” As they began filing out he added “Jeb, remember what I told you.” His tone was a cautionary one.

But like the perpetual truant to the headmaster Jeb replied with a big wide grin on his face “How could I forget Sir?”

Phil couldn’t help himself smile.

As Dave and Rihan made their way down to B deck he hailed the watch to make sure the Admiral’s shuttle would be coming over and to ensure everything else was in order for a warp at 1600. Then he hailed Ivan to ensure that he and Chase were all go for the briefing at 1500.

Back in their cabin he watched Rihan pack up her overnight bag. There wasn’t much to throw in it. She zipped it up and threw it on the floor. “There, done!” she said. She turned to see Dave’s eyes almost tearing up. With all the activity he hadn’t really had time to come to terms with the fact that he would be unlikely to see Rihan for many months. He had felt a wave of emotion dump on him. She walked over to him, took his head between her two hands and gently kissed him on the lips. “I’m going to miss you” she said.

“Ditto!” and he kissed her gently on the lips. He was content to hold her in his arms and breathe in her sent.

She pulled out of his embrace and looked at the time on her communicator. With a greedy, mischievous look she asked “Once more with feeling?”

Dave chuckled. “I’m not sure we have the time?” he said with an apologetic look.

“Oh don’t be silly” she said undoing her trousers. “You know how fast I can dress.”

“Well I certainly know how fast you can undress” said Dave as he sat down on the bed to undo his shoes.

“Don’t bother with those” she chided him as she bent over the bed, her bare bum beckoning. “Just take me here, right now, the way you like it.” She had her head turned towards Dave as he dropped his trousers. With a smile she added “now that’s more like it.”

She felt his warm hands hold her hips and then the delight as he pressed against her. And as she received him fully she exclaimed “Oh! …Oh Dave! …I love you!”

“…Ditto!”

Chapter 45. Phantom to Chelora 2300, 28 August

Alice was sitting in the command centre. She had been the watch officer all evening and had another hour to go. There was rarely anything to do while in warp. The watch officer was an insurance policy when in warp. It had paid dividends back in Qwantum when they were abruptly pulled out of warp by the anomaly. But mostly it was just ‘being there’ in case something happened.

She had an old movie playing on the main screen. Every now and then she scanned her terminal to ensure all the ship stats were ‘normal’. They were and so she returned her focus to the main screen. She had seen this romantic comedy so many times she mouthed the words before the actors actually said them. But she liked it nonetheless. She would be the first to admit that she was a ‘romantic’.

It was coming up to the point where the male lead was about to make his biggest mistake in his pursuit of the female lead. “Idiot” said Alice out loud, just as the red priority alert flashed on her terminal. “Oh shit” said Alice. She paused the movie and hit the alert icon. It was a priority message from the Admiral. “And using the rogan comms facility…neat” she added with a smile.

She read the message header and the words FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION leapt out at her.

“Maam” she hailed Aubrey.

Aubrey had only just retired and was still lying awake in the dark of her cabin thinking about what her lover, Brennon, would be doing right now. She picked up her communicator and propped herself up on one elbow. “What is it Alice?”

“Priority message just in – for immediate action.”

“I’ll be up in a moment.”

Aubrey threw a robe on and entered the command centre a minute later. She read the message leaning over Alice’s shoulder. “Shit hey?” she said. “Looks like our quiet trip back has come to an abrupt end. OK Alice we need to come out of warp, plot a new warp objective to Qwantum and then execute it. Are you good to do that?”

“Sure…now?”

“No time like the present but best to give everyone a ten minute warning. How long till we reach Q2?”

Alice did a quick calc and replied “Just over two days.”

“OK do it.”

Chapter 46. Aspliar to Nilsun2 0730, 29 August

Aras looked into the mirror with mixed feelings. It was now two days after his second procedure and he could take off his dressing. Doing so would reveal his new visage. Well in theory it would be his old visage but he was fearful of the outcome especially as the left side hadn’t returned his looks to exactly as they were. It was pretty close though.

Gingerly he removed the dressing. He turned his head to see the result on the right more clearly. “Not bad” he said out loud. Apart from the earlier work around his eyes he did look like his old self. In a way he was glad, not for the pain that he had undergone, but for the familiarity he now had back.

He knew his identity as Aras Leptude was now useless. The face in front of him would never match than on his ID.

“Oh well Meeka Sallusam, looks like you’re back in business.”

Chapter 47. Spectre over Q2 2030, 29 August

Sheldon had not expected to find two enemy frigates orbiting Q2. The order he had received had simply said it was now friendly controlled. But here they were, one phantom class stealth frigate, cloaked, up against two enemy frigates. There were no signals from down below and no way of knowing what the state of play down there was without opening comms and that would give away their position.

Sheldon felt confident that he could take these two out but it would use a good proportion of his missiles. There was also the chance that despite the element of surprise one or both would get off a volley and that could be very dangerous.

The two enemy frigates were operating far apart, just within mutual support range. This maximised their chance of getting off a volley against him. ‘The rogan are learning’ he thought to himself.