Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (37 page)

With just over one lap
left, Ayan had almost calmed down about the view, and she was
starting her push to the end when her comm vibrated and chimed an
emergency signal. As a reflex, she looked at the unit on her arm, saw
the distant ground past it, had a sudden episode of vertigo and lost
her balance. The transparesteel window, the deck, and the safety
railing didn’t yield in the least as she tripped, rolled, and
crashed into them in that order. Her vacsuit was in workout mode, so
unless an impact was hard enough to break bone, it wouldn’t
activate, so she felt every considerable bump and twist, almost
falling over the inner edge of the walkway by the time she came to a
calamitous stop in a heap of limbs and long red hair.

“Ayan! What
happened?” Lacey asked as she ran up the stairs.

Ayan carefully
straightened herself out, and sat on the edge of the walkway,
clearing curls out of her face. “I won the fight against my fear of
heights but lost against momentum and gravity.”

“You took your jog on
the platform?” Lacey said. “How did you fall back in here?”

“There’s a platform
outside?” Ayan asked, fearful at the thought of repeating her
exercise beyond the confines of the room.

“Just above the edge,
there,” Lacey said, pointing.

Ayan followed her
gesture and noticed the outline of it, a glint of transparent metal
that overhung the inward curve of the transparent windows. “I don’t
think I’ll be ready for that for awhile,” she said. “Ran along
the inside of these though,” Ayan said, glancing at the obstacle
she just conquered.

“Nutter, I wouldn’t
even try that and heights are no big thing for me. I’d worry about
a panel popping.”

Ayan turned her
attention to her comm unit, finally catching her breath and opened
the emergency message. The image of Tyra Kim’s head appeared in
front of both of them. She was in disarray, frantic and angry at the
same time. “Ayan, the Carthans are coming here, saying that you’ve
abandoned your claim and they’re taking Haven Shore. The Council is
convening in a moment to discuss our options, but I’m afraid it’s
too late. You screwed us, taking the military with you, I hope you’re
happy.”

Ayan brought up her
holographic status screen and tactical displays, filling the air
around them with images of Haven Shore and the area around the
island. “They’re moving in right now and those idiots haven’t
put up the Everin Building’s shield or called an alert,” Ayan
said. Perhaps it was her already high heart rate, or her already low
patience for the behaviour of the civilian government in Haven Shore,
but she found herself quick to anger. “If Carl was there the alert
would have sounded already.”

“Checking now,”
Lacey said. “He’s still asleep on the Triton. Looks like he was
up late viewing Haven Shore civilian transmission logs.”

“Well, I’m just
glad I didn’t surrender my control codes for the Everin Building,”
Ayan said, raising the building’s shields. She sounded an invasion
alert within. Ayan activated a combat alert for the Triton, the
available soldiers in her base and in the other active Order of Eden
bunkers. The Clever Dream acknowledged the alert as well.

“What’s your
thinking?” Lacey asked.

“We’re going to
force the Carthans to talk to us about this. Within twenty minutes,
we’ll have nine times the firepower mobilized than they have in the
air, and that’s without sacrificing essential personnel for our
settlements.” Ayan gathered all the intelligence and a summary of
her actions into a report then sent it to Oz, her father, and the
Haven Shore Council. “The Clever Dream will pick us up on top of
the tower in two minutes,” Ayan said. She got to her feet with a
groan.

“You might want to
change first. I see a lot of support in that outfit, but not much
coverage,” Lacey teased. “Unless dazzling the Carthans is part of
the plan.”

Ayan flashed her a
sheepish grin and nodded. “Might work with some of the stares I’ve
caught from our Carthan rep at the Council table, but armour might be
more appropriate for what’s coming. You’ll probably see more
people wearing this kind of outfit. I know you didn’t watch much of
the Ranger training, but a big part of it is learning how to do
things without technology. The human body, even mine, is capable of
more than people give it credit for.”

“There’s nothing
wrong with your body,” Lacey said as she walked along side her.
“Anyway, back to the present. Do you really think this’ll
escalate?” Lacey asked as they ran down the stairs.

“I think they’re
going to try to drive us off, starting with Haven Shore and moving on
to our other positions. Fighting may be our only choice.” A signal
from Oz with a status update confirmed her thoughts. “Oz agrees,
the Triton is launching fighters and manoeuvring into a space where
it can cloak.”

“Why does the ship
have to manoeuver to cloak?” Lacey asked.

“They have to drop
out of navnet patterns and get some distance so other ships don’t
collide with it. You can’t go around what you can’t see.”

“Ah. Another
question: is it too late to turn down that promotion?”

“Absolutely,” Ayan
replied. “Your job in this is to make sure everyone has what they
need to survive so people like me can take command of the combat side
of things. I hope we can avert this, but it could become a
complicated siege if I can’t, especially since there are no Carthan
ships anywhere near our other positions. Their attention is entirely
focused on Haven Shore so far, and the largest problem we have is our
lack of intelligence with regard to the rest of their fleet. We don’t
know exactly what they’re holding back.”

Ayan dropped her light
vacsuit and slipped into her armoured suit as Lacey changed into her
medium vacsuit. She didn’t own anything that resembled Ayan’s
combat armour. “Where do I start?” asked Lacey.

“Make sure you take
stock of exactly who is stuck outside the shield right now and
forward that to me. The combat arm of our command unit will decide
where they should go and what they should do. When you’ve done
that, take control of conditions and provisions. Check food levels,
make sure the environment control systems are working well enough in
Haven Shore structures, and then start preparing a statement
informing all the civilians of the situation. Send it to me before
you release it to them.”

“Thank you,” Lacey
said. They heard the dull creak of the ceiling above as the Clever
Dream set down. “Is that normal?”

“The structure is
fine, the Clever Dream is the first ship to use that landing pad,
you’re just hearing the deck plates and the frame fitting together
as they take the weight.” Ayan’s mind was working faster than it
had in months. Despite the bruises and other minor signs, her morning
triumph was already far from her thoughts. As she finished pulling
her armour together and started to activate the systems within, Lacey
gave her a vanilla meal bar. “Thank you. If it weren’t for you I
wouldn’t eat until this crisis passed.”

“I know,” Lacey
said. “Don’t worry, I’m watching.”

Rattling Sabres

The lounging area in
the middle of the Clever Dream had been converted into a war room.
The compartment walls were covered with ever-changing information
from Haven Shore and the Order of Eden bunkers she’d claimed. There
was little chance the Carthans would turn their interest towards the
bunkers since they each had shielding, were hardened against attack,
and less than five percent of the structure was above ground. Ayan
had to admit that the Regent Galactic manufactured bunker system was
ingenious.

The holographic system
projected an image of Haven Shore into the middle of the room; troop
status screens, communications readouts and tactical summaries
hovered above it. Ayan hoped that the configuration of the war room
would be unnecessary before long. She could stand feeling a little
sheepish at preparing for a serious conflict if it meant finding a
peaceful solution to whatever actions the Carthans were about to
take. The fact was, she didn’t know exactly what they were about to
do. No Carthan representatives were answering her.

The British Alliance
hadn’t replied either. Her only allies were the Triton and the
Rangers. She was in direct control of the Skyguard and Slick, their
wing commander, was an excellent leader. Ayan allowed herself a
moment to watch their aerial manoeuvres. The thirty-five Uriel and
Ramiel fighters they managed to get into the air were split into
smaller groups of three. To the untrained eye, it would look like
they were scattered around Haven Shore, some flying low altitude over
water, others in the upper atmosphere, but every single one of them
was in range of the approaching Carthan forces.

The Carthans had sent a
battlegroup of drop ships, eight-man gunships, a handful of fighters,
and the communications trackers on the Clever Dream were able to
indicate that they were taking orders from a pair of destroyers in
orbit. As far as Ayan knew, those two destroyers represented half of
their operational destroyer class ships. It was well known they had
one command carrier, but other than that, there were no truly
threatening ships in their fleet.

The situation was
tense, but at a stand still for the moment. The Carthans hadn’t
breached Haven Shore’s borders yet, but held positions a hundred
kilometres off shore, and she’d had no further communication from
the Everin Building. Ayan took a moment to close her eyes and take a
deep breath. There were obstacles to negotiating her way out of a
massive conflict that went well past the obvious. Her sharp dislike
of the Carthans was a major one. They disapproved of the development
of the Rangers, were constantly requesting permission to board and
inspect everything from the Triton to their smallest cargo shuttles,
and allowed Ayan to take new territories if her people killed Order
of Eden soldiers in the region, but only did so grudgingly. They
didn’t police Tamber, but were constantly trying to dictate terms
to anyone who was trying to bring peace to a section, and they sapped
resources whenever they could. They were used to getting what they
wanted, and they didn’t care who they crushed in doing so. Most of
their soldiers were serving prison terms, and had mental
reprogramming that ensured obedience.

Ayan did her best to
remember that the truest victory she could accomplish in the next few
hours was one that didn’t involve bloodshed. She had to get past
how she felt about the Carthans and disarm the situation. If it came
to fighting them outright, it could cost the entire solar system in
terms of security and stability. Worse, it could bring a horrific end
to Haven Shore and death to thousands of her people.

“Status change
alert,” the system said in a gentle tone.

Ayan looked at the
tactical board and saw sixty fighters moving around Haven Shore under
water. They were forced closer to the surface as the depth of the sea
decreased. They disappeared from sensors when they were able to dive
deep enough, but reappeared as soon as they came up above seventy
metres. She marked the fighter group and sent the update to all
ships, making sure the Triton acknowledged the new data. A few
seconds later, it did. Oz was watching, and she had no doubt her
father was, too.

“Lewis,” Ayan
asked. “Do you have anything that could hit those fighters under
water?”

“I have several types
of missiles that could transition from atmosphere to water then
explode, causing incredible carnage as they tear their hulls apart
with shockwaves and shrapnel. Environmental damage would be
temporary. It would take aquatic life less than three months to
recover.”

“What are the chances
that the fighters could counter under water?” Ayan asked.

“Very little,
especially if we fired while I was hovering within a meter of the
water’s surface. Their countermeasures depend on detonating
missiles early, so even if they did manage to counter under water,
they would still be subjected to significant concussive shockwaves.”

“All right, let’s
take a position following their lead ships. Make sure you’re just
far enough from the surface of the water so your cloaking systems are
still effective.” Ayan replied, marking the lead ship as it
reappeared on scanners.

“You truly expect
this to become a battle?” Lewis asked.

“I’m going to do
everything I can to prevent it, but it’s not looking good,” Ayan
replied.

Lacey entered the room.
“I just started getting transmissions from Haven Shore again. There
was a minor problem with interference from the shield. All the
civilians have squeezed into the escape ships in the Everin
Building’s hangar,” she said. “They’re not happy about it,
but they have supplies and there’s just enough room for everyone. I
have volunteers making trips to and from Haven Shore storage for more
supplies, but all the basics are taken care of.”

“Good work,” Ayan
said. “All the ships have main power and flight crews?”

“Yup, they should be
checking in on your tactical screen soon,” Lacey said.

“Good. I hope they
don’t have to escape Haven Shore, but…” Ayan allowed herself to
trail off as a British Alliance transmission came through. “Thank
you for getting back to me, Minister,” Ayan said as a stoic-looking
hologram of Sunny Zinnes appeared. The tactical information tagged
onto the transmission indicated that he was transmitting from
somewhere in the Everin Building. The return signal was sent through
hundreds of voluntary and involuntary relays, hiding the location of
the Clever Dream.

“My pleasure, as
always,” he replied. “I know why you’re contacting my
government, and I’m afraid I’m the bearer of bad news.”

“The BA is taking the
Carthan’s side in this?” Ayan asked.