Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) (51 page)

As they finished the turn the big ship was moving at 10 kps. If they stayed at this speed they would be dead. James did what he loved to do, he floored it. “Hold on again folks. It’s show time.”

Jasmin had only just finished stuffing some tissues into her nostrils when she again had to hold onto her arm rests, her body was thrust back into the seat and she could feel the intense pressure again building up in her sinus. “Ahh” she screamed as the tissues blew out with more blood.

Ivan looked at the speed ticking higher and higher. Two minutes on, when it passed the 30 kps mark, he managed a smile despite the severe effects his body was enduring.

“We’re clear for fuck sake James” hailed Chase.

James eased back on the throttle and everyone was glad.

Jasmin somehow managed to stuff more tissues into her nose and got off a signal to the Maelstrom. It simply said ‘800 enemy missiles fired.’ She hit send and collapsed forward clamping down on the bridge of her nose.

Chapter 25. Maelstrom in Qwantum 0400, 6 September

Dave was very pleased to receive Jasmin’s message. By his calculation the enemy would be expected to have 1,800 ship missiles (5 x 300 for the caps and 5 x 60 for the lights). They had just expended nigh on half. They would still have a 1,000 left. He had 300 left in each of his caps (600 total) plus 75 on Spectre and 35 on Raptor plus 400 on the Maelstrom. All up this amounted to 1,110 ship missiles.

Dave assumed that each of the caps carried a standard fighter squadron of eight strong. That would give them 40 fighters, each with six missiles, making a total of 240 fighter missiles. He on the other hand had 99 lightnings each with eight missiles for a total of 792. So all up he believed he now had the advantage in missiles.

He could try and extend that advantage further by making another run at them with his caps. But was there time for a rinse and repeat? That was the burning question. When he asked Jaques what he thought Jaques replied “Probably not…look at the distances.”

Dave felt like taking the chance. It was his natural instinct. But he had a momentary thought about Aubrey and how she had nearly come-a-cropper acting on her instinct. So he let out his breath long and took a good slow breath in. “Yeah I think you’re right Jaques. We’ll stick with plan A. Let’s get going.”

“Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of death rode the six hundred” quoted Jaques.

“I never did like the way that ended” said Dave “but it does feel like we’re the light brigade. Only this time they will be charging us.”

Dave issued confirming instructions to his ships. Fifteen minutes later he told Jaques to stop and launch his fighters with instructions to “fire quick and fire often.” Jaques looked at him opaquely. “Fire, land, rearm and relaunch. Just keep it going but only in defence.”

“OK I get it” said Jaques.

“Meg” hailed Dave “time to show them your heels. Get back here pronto, drop below us. You’re our bottom cover.”

“About time Sir…about time” she responded.

“Ivan, Jeb get back here now. Deploy your fighters. They fire on defence only. When the enemy comes within your max missile range, fire another 100 torads at their caps. Save your remaining torads for the coup de grace. Jaques use your fighter missiles in defence and hold fire on your ship missiles. Use 200 in defence only if you have to.”

“Meg I want you to fire in defence only. Sheldon, so far your ship is unkown to them. You are our undeclared ace. Hold fire until I say so. If we can avoid committing you in the defence I have a role for you in the pursuit.”

“If things work out the way I hope, they will arrive within their range with about 600 ship missiles. We’ll have to wear those. Hopefully our fighters can deal with them. The enemy will then most likely turn tail and run or warp away. We’ll probably have no more than a couple of minutes to wreak havoc. So stay focussed everyone. Good luck.”

Chapter 26. Guglin in Qwantum 0410, 6 September

Hatzu was really annoyed now. He’d been stung by the intervention of the enemy stealth caps. Despite the prodigious expenditure of missiles two of his caps were damaged and falling behind. His own cap was now in the van. He was biting on the bit and he wanted to take a bite out of this audacious enemy.

He still calculated that he had the advantage in terms of firepower. He just had to force the enemy to come within range. When he saw the frigate they were chasing pull further away, he should have begun to question whether he was being played. But he did not. He dismissed his chief of staff’s advice about withdrawing behind their ladar array. No he wanted some blood for his efforts and so they ploughed on.

The enemy caps had recloaked but their last heading was to their carrier and that was where he was headed.

“Incoming missiles” called out his defensive systems specialist. A second later icons for the enemy caps appeared again near the source of the missile detection. They were not turning away sharply like the last time. That would take them away from the carrier.

“We’ve got them now” Hatzu said. His defensive specialist made announcements about their defensive fires. But Hatzu was focussed on the offensive. As the engagement zone finally overlapped the enemy caps Hatzu gave the order to fire.

It was only then that he noticed a plethora of spots on the holo representing enemy fighters. Soon the holo was filled with tracks as missiles criss-crossed, intersected, conducted avoidance manoeuvres and hunted down their objectives.

His chief of staff was becoming exasperated. He finally yelled at his Admiral to get his attention. “We have to slow down to launch our fighters. We have to do that now.”

Hatzu woke from his stupor. “Yes, yes, slow down, launch the fighters” he said. He knew in that moment that it was too late. There were just too many enemy missiles and by the time they had decelerated two precious minutes passed in which he saw victory depart and defeat enter in the form of four hundred torads hurtling towards his ships.

It would be too late for his fighters. Barely a dozen launched before their mother ships were brutally struck. And despite them firing as soon as they had a lock on the incoming missiles, they barely accounted for 40 of them. His close in beam defence systems fared better accounting for another sixty but that left more than enough to destroy all five of the rogan caps.

Scrapper Hatzu had now been scratched off the register of rogan fleet admirals. His five frigates were empty of missiles. The shock of seeing their caps destroyed paralysed them for a moment but they began turning and powering to warp away.

Chapter 27. Maelstrom in Qwantum 0425, 6 September

As soon as Dave realised that then enemy was not decelerating he knew he would win the battle. For without the enemy fighter missiles he had a two to one advantage. He had directed Ivan and Jeb to fire their remaining missiles at the cap along with 200 of Jaques. It was this 400 salvo which destroyed the enemy caps.

“Order your fighters that still have missiles to pursue those enemy frigates” he charged Jaques. “Sheldon, Meg, hunt them down.”

The two frigates and about thirty fighters charged forward to the enemy, firing missiles as they went.

Jaques quipped “You were wrong. There goes the light brigade.”

Dave laughed. Two minutes later it was all over. Sheldon bagged one of the frigates. The fighters got two more. Only two of the enemy frigates got away. It was a sweet victory.

Chapter 28. Rollinium 1800, 6 September

They never found the bodies of John or Chad or of any of the other nineteen people in the bunker on the far side of the runway. At 1400 they gave up looking. The consensus was the beam’s intense heat must have fried and evaporated them.

Rentra had proposed they turn the bunker site into a memorial and so a commemorative service was held there at dusk. Crystal stepped forward to say some words about John. They were heartfelt. She held her venom at bay and remained composed throughout the ceremony.

Art added some kind words for the rogan who had died here and how proud they were to have fought side by side with them. Rentra returned the compliments and ended with the hope that this shared endeavour and shared blood may serve as the foundation for a long, harmonious relationship.

A rogan honour guard fired a salute just as the sun set below the horizon.

Chapter 29. Resolute 2200, 6 September

It was Dave’s shout in the officers mess that night and he had invited the commanders and XOs from all ships in his flotilla. After all the anxiety and stress of the battle the occasion was a great release for most.

Jeb Wilson took the award for the noisiest reveller while Jaques Du Gorin gave Julian Smythe a run for his money as the best comedian.

But not all were revellers. Crystal was alone at the end of the bar with a row of empty shot glasses in front of her. At the outset many of her fellow officers had tried to engage her in conversation but they all soon left. It was hard to be around someone who was morose and even more difficult when they were getting drunk.

Dave came over to her and said “How many have you had?”

“Not enough” said Crystal. She tapped the empty glass on the bar hoping to get a refill.

“Walk with me” said Dave. She looked up at him, her dark brown eyes heavy from the alcohol as if to say ‘you have to be kidding.’ Dave gently nudged her on the shoulder.

“OK, OK” she said.

He led her out of the mess. The library area was occupied with several officers wishing to escape the music in the main mess. So eventually they walked along to the gym. Dave pushed the door open for her and they took up residence on the bench that ran along the wall.

“At least it’s quiet in here” said Dave.

“I’m not in the mood for one of your lectures” said Crystal.

“You’re not going get one.”

“What then?”

“I wanted to say how I appreciated the words you said down there at the service.”

Crystal didn’t want to encourage talking, so she just nodded.

“I also wanted to apologise for the way I treated you in the command centre…when we heard about John...it’s just that…”

“Yes I know all that. You did what you had to do…whatever it takes right?” The last bit was said with a degree of venom.

Dave cursed himself for going down this track. He was desperately trying to think of how he could change tack. “You didn’t cry at the service.”

“So? Are you going to give me all that bullshit about not holding it in?”

“Obviously I don’t need to.” ‘That didn’t work’ thought Dave. “You still blame yourself?”

“Of course I’m still blaming myself… for a good fucking reason….I am to blame. John would be alive now if I hadn’t been a coward.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“Oh don’t give me all that destiny crap. It should have been me down there, not him. He was good…”

“What and you are bad?”

Crystal was breathing heavier and faster now. She was trying to form her reply.

“Well let me tell you Crystal, you are not bad. You’re not the first person to have opted not to volunteer. Heaven forbid. It was the first thing drummed into me in Special Forces. ‘Never, ever volunteer.’ You were just doing what was ingrained in all of us as a necessary form of self-preservation. It could have so ended up the other way around. Have you thought about that?”

Crystal just looked at him unable to frame a response.

“We got so lucky today” continued Dave. “If the enemy commander had just slowed down and deployed his fighters we might not be here having this conversation. If we had arrived a day earlier we may have been destroyed and John may still be alive on Q2. That’s war. It’s to blame. Not you.”

“People make war.”

“OK, blame the arsehole imperialists who started this one then. Take it out on them. I don’t care. But don’t take it out on yourself. You’re a good person Crystal. Your worthy of your own love.”

“I don’t feel worthy. I feel like shit.”

Dave could see her eyes moistening.

“You are worthy. John knew that, didn’t he?”

She started crying and went for a tissue but couldn’t find one in her pants pocket. Dave offered her one.

“I’d like to be alone if you don’t mind” said Crystal.

Dave nodded and left. He went up to the command centre and checked on Jasmin who had the watch. All was good. So he went back down to the officers mess and spied Chase sitting in a lounge chair in the back corner. It was a little quieter there.

Dave pulled rank on the pilot who occupied the seat next to Chase. He sat down, leaned over and said to Chase “She’ll still be in transit.”

“Yeah she will” said Chase. “It’s not the same without her.”

“No, it never is” said Dave. “But at least now she’s out of harm’s way.”

“Yeah I know. I really felt for Crystal. That could so easily have been me.”

They drifted into silence as both pondered. Dave reflected on how glad he was that Rihan was out of the action.

“How much longer?” asked Chase.

“For what?”

“For this bloody war to end.”

“Mmm…” muttered Dave as he gave it some thought. “Well we’ve got ourselves a toehold in rogan space. That’s a good start.”

“Yeah, but it seems like there’s still a lot to do and we’re going to keep losing more and more of us aren’t we?”

“Yeah, there’s a lot more to do.”

Before You Go

Thank you for reading Audacity. I’d really appreciate you taking the time to rate the book and share it with your friends. So please respond to the “Before You Go” prompt that will appear on your Kindle as you finish the book.

Dave O’Connor

Acknowledgements

Once again I must thank my wife, Joy, who encouraged and supported my writing.

Peter Winship (author of the John Connor crime books) also provided valuable feedback and advice both in terms of writing style and getting published. He very generously shone a light for me and, coming from someone who has trodden the path already, this was very reassuring.