Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) (54 page)

In the command centre Neo drew their attention to the report just in from Q2. “It’s from Lieutenant Commander (LCmd) Simons” he said.

Aubrey felt a gnawing pain in her gut. Five days ago she had left Q2 to deliver the Commodore to Cheklin. Her mission had been, in conjunction with the stealth frigates Spectre and Raptor, to secure Q2, pending the arrival of the rest of the 17
^th
Flotilla.

Q2 was the second planet in the Qwantum system. It was in the rogan extended territories, further out from their home world systems, and the scene of the first use of a mass exchanger device. That device had created a massive gravitational anomaly on the outer gas giant, Q4. Q4 was now in the process of pulling the inner frozen giant, Q3, towards itself. It was estimated they had less than 12 months before the systems gravitational state made warping in and out of it unsafe. That would spell the end of the system.

But Phil Yomoto wanted to use Q2 as a staging base, even if only for a year. His combined fleet was in warp to Q2, hence why it was important to keep it secure.

They had already fought one action there against two enemy frigates and all three federation frigates were low on missiles. Against her own better judgement, Aubrey had let the Commodore persuade her to leave the defence of Q2 to the other two stealth frigates, along with all but two of her missiles.

LCmd Art Simons was the political officer left on Q2 to liaise with the Resistance there. He would not be sending a trivial message.

Aubrey read the message with the Commodore. Her worst fears were realised. They were under attack from the Third Rogan Imperial Fleet (3
^rd
RIF). The spaceport at Rollinium along with a good portion of the inner city had been destroyed. Their Control team at the spaceport were dead. Aubrey immediately thought of her friend Lieutenant Commander (LCmd) Sue Chalker who was in charge of the support droids defending the spaceport. “Fuck it” she said out loud.

“Wait” said Julian as he scrolled down to read more. Aubrey breathed a sigh of relief when she read ‘Sue’s fine.’ But then she felt her neck tighten as she read ‘John and Chad never made it.’ These were all fellow shipmates of hers from FFS Hermes and now they were gone.

“We should have stayed” she said emphatically.

“And done what?” challenged Julian. “Look here” and he pointed to the screen “neither Spectre nor Raptor has engaged. They are still there cloaked and so would you have been. Three frigates, with only 75 missiles, were never going to match it with an enemy fleet. You know that. You made the right decision. Now we need to get on with this.”

Aubrey was fuming. “This is two days old and the Resolute was due in at Q2, a few hours later. They may need our help.”

“Maybe, maybe not. It really doesn’t matter now. That battle has already been won or lost. If it’s been won then you are not needed. If it’s lost then even if we left now we could not possible influence things. What would you do on arrival with just two missiles?”

“Oh!” exclaimed Aubrey exasperated. “It’s impossible to argue with …”

“Sound logic” interjected Julian. “Come on, I need to get going. We can’t afford to lose any more of the night.”

Five minutes later the warthog shot out into the dark fully cloaked. On board Julian sat up front behind the pilot and next to Tola. He tried to relax. There was much to think about in relation to the negotiations he would soon be undertaking with the Cheklin Resistance. But his thoughts kept turning to events now past on Q2. ‘I do pray Dave’ he said to himself, referring to Captain Dave Warner the commander of the 17
^th
Flotilla, ‘that you are alive and have prevailed.’ He began to ponder the consequences of failure over Q2 but then caught himself and forced his mind to focus on the task at hand.

Chapter 8. LZ Alpha Cheklin 0510, 8 September

Tola was too busy to look at the warthog as it departed. She was already hailing Evie Plentun, one of the Resistance leaders. Her communicator rang for quite a while before the groggy voice responded with a “Yes.”

It had been a long night for Evie - first the political rally, then the flight back to Neeblo, then all the discussions and planning. It wasn’t until 0200 that she had got into her bed. She was struggling to function but slowly she realised that it was Tola who was hailing her.

“What are you doing here?” She listened as Tola explained. Then she said “Yes I see. But it’s very dangerous right now.”

“It is imperative that the Commodore speak with Meelanda. Now would be good.” Tola was referring to Meelanda Orocash, who was fast becoming the prime leader of the Resistance here on Cheklin.

“Wait. I will have to wake her up. Call back in ten.”

Julian dialled up the temperature setting for his suit as the temperature dropped just before the dawn. A faint glow could be discerned on the horizon. Julian knew there would be no going back before tonight. He really wanted to speak with Meelanda face to face but he doubted there would be enough time for a hopper trip before dawn made it too dangerous.

Tola hailed again but only talked to Evie. “We’re sending a hopper. It will be there in twenty. Same signals as last time.”

“They’re cutting it fine” said Julian to Tola, but he agreed anyway.

Twenty minutes later Julian made out the hopper coming in as the first light of a new day began pushing up from the horizon.

Evie’s assurances that the hopper’s radar jamming suite would make them immune to detection from radar was of little comfort when the sun would make the ladar from the space station more than effective enough to pick up their hopper.

The hopper touched down under half light and Julian and Tola wasted no time in climbing aboard. But as the craft climbed higher more and more rays from the rising sun caught the hopper. Julian and Tola exchanged anxious glances as the pilot, Oscren Mila, accelerated the hopper under full power.

Oscren took a moment to scan his passengers and noted their obvious anxiety. “Don’t worry” he said “We will be fine. All is taken care of.” Tola’s facial expression gave away the fact that she didn’t believe him.

Chapter 9. Neeblo 0600, 8 September

Meelanda Orocash, second tier aristocrat, ex director of research and development at the Likta Corporation and now interim president of the Cheklin Resistance, looked at herself in the mirror of her bathroom. She was momentarily blinded as a ray of sunlight hit the mirror and dazzled her. She ordered the window to partial blackout. She felt oh so weary. She would have rather not met this human Commodore but she knew she had to. He would be here any minute. It was too late for anything but to wash her face, get dressed and greet him.

As she came out of her apartment she met Evie and envied her youth. She knew she had as little sleep as herself but she looked so much better.

“He’s just landed” advised Evie.

“Bring him in” she directed and then made her way across to the office they had constructed for her in the basement of one of the old deserted factories. Despite the outward façade it was quite comfortable inside.

Her nephew and shadow, Erkum Polist, stuck his face through the doorway as she was sitting down in one of the seats around the low table. She waved for him to come and sit down.  “Is it just the Commodore?” she asked.

“No, Tola’s with him.”

“OK make sure they enter unarmed and arrange for us all to have some breakfast. If I don’t get to eat something I’ll fall asleep.”

Erkum gave her a smile and left just a minute before Evie entered with Julian and Tola.

Meelanda took a degree of comfort from the weary look on her guest’s face as she was introduced. “I too find this early rise most uncivilised” she said to Julian.

He gave her a tired smile. “An occupational hazard I’m afraid.”

Meelanda nodded and with a wave invited everyone to sit down. “Refreshments will be coming directly. I take it you are here in relation to the command arrangements?”

“Quite so. I wanted to convey to you that we see the merit in your proposal and to reassure you that we will be more than willing to place our forces under your command for the duration of the hostilities.” Pious paused there. He had rehearsed several times what he was going to say but nonetheless he faltered at this moment.

“But?” asked Meelanda drawing him out.

Julian tilted his head slightly acknowledging her. “But we reserve the right for independent action in pursuit of Federation interests should the need arise. Please don’t be alarmed by that. Our intent is to…how shall I put this…”

“I think your expression is if the shit hits the fan.”

“Exactly! I don’t envisage that happening but we do need to cover all contingencies.” Meelanda nodded. “Also we would require being consulted in the planning process for the commitment of any Federation assets.”

“So the Federation tail will wag the rogan dog?”

“No, no, not at all. But if we are to be partners then we need to consult. Otherwise we are but slaves to rogan authority and I’m afraid we cannot support that.” Julian set his expression endeavouring to convey seriousness without aggression. The adrenalin was kicking in now and he felt a little more energy but he knew he had to maintain a steady presence.

Meelanda had already played this out in her mind before. It was going as she expected. She also knew that if the situations were reversed she would want nothing less than what they were now demanding. She still paused though searching for the right tone in which to convey her concurrence to his terms.

Julian was used to such pauses in negotiations where the stakes were so high. But he started to get a little anxious and was about to ask if she understood his position when finally she spoke.

“Would an exchange of staff officers at Fleet level suffice?”

“A very good start but I would recommend that in addition we have suitably qualified political representative here with your staff.”

Meelanda had not seen that coming. “Really?”

“Indeed” said Julian “for political objectives drive military objectives. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes they should” said Meelanda. “I would like to consult with my staff on that matter and get back to you.”

“Of course.”

“Do you have a suitable politician close at hand?” she queried.

“Not a politician. But officers, such as myself, are from our political branch and we specialise in such appointments. A political officer has reasonably wide powers to commit to political arrangements subject to ratification from our political masters.”

“I see and so you are proposing yourself for the position?”

“If I may be so bold.”

“How very unusual. Alright then shall we break for an hour?”

“As you wish.”

Erkum led Julian and Tola out of the meeting room and down to a lounge area several rooms down the corridor. “If you don’t mind, could you please stay here” asked Erkum. “Help yourself to some refreshments. The room is not being monitored.”

Julian nodded and closed the door after Erkum departed. Turning to Tola he whispered in her ear “which means the room is definitely monitored.”

Julian eyed the foodstuffs laid out on a buffet. He did not recognise anything. But he was genuinely hungry and so he picked up several items and placed them on a plate. He poured himself a beverage and sat down. When Tola followed suit he asked “Now how did you think that went?”

She looked at him surprised and raised her eyes to the ceiling. He just looked at her expectantly. Finally she responded. “Well…it’s the first time I have ever been at such a negotiation Sir. It seemed to go OK. What did you think?”

“You have to observe carefully” said Julian. “It’s not so much what they say but how they say it and what they don’t say. So far there’s been no mention of what form the relationship between us and them will take. The focus has so far been confined to just the immediate term. What we need to address is the longer term modus operandi. That will inform the short term. But I am sure we will get to that.”

Tola smiled as she cottoned onto what Julian was doing. She picked up what appeared to be sweet bread, smelt it and then took a nibble. It tasted delicious so she took an even larger bite.

“They are really good aren’t they?” said Julian just before munching on one himself.

“Excellent” said Tola.

“Ah, I see you are getting the hang of it Tola.”

Chapter 10. Cornucopia to Polaris 0730, 8 September

Charles was sitting up in bed free of the head brace. His ear was still bandaged but he felt no pain. He was waiting for Doctor Li to do her rounds.

“You’re looking a lot better this morning Commander” she said with a smile.

“I feel a lot better…thanks to you.”

“Our pleasure. I’ll just check that ear of yours.”

Charles was more than pleased to have her peel away the bandage. He did wince when she touched his ear to clean away some discharge but really he didn’t mind.

She began putting on a new dressing and said “Looks good. Good enough I reckon for you to be discharged. You’ll still have to wear the bandage for a while yet though. You’ll have to come here each day for the next week and have the dressing changed.”

“No problems with that” said Charles. “Do I see you?”

“One of the nurses will handle that.”

“I’d prefer if you did it” said Charles. He had a warm smile as she studied him.

“I can probably manage the first one” she said. “0700 tomorrow OK?”

Charles beamed. “0700. I’ll be there.”

Chapter 11. Kiev to Q2 0800, 8 September

Phil arrived in his office feeling tired. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep. The news from Evie and Julian had taken its toll and he had found it difficult to stop worrying about it all. There was reluctance in his action to fire up his terminal.

Another priority message, this time from Dave, made him swallow hard. ‘Bad news often comes in threes’ he thought. He opened the signal and as though someone had turned on a switch, he felt a surge of renewed energy course through his body. “You little ripper!” he said loud enough to catch his chief of staff and ops officers as they were about to enter their offices.