Retribution (36 page)

The shock wave rolled out in all directions, causing severe damage to the spaceport structures. The Excelsior was effectively destroyed on the ground along with several other frigates that had left the battle above to seek shelter. Over a dozen large shuttles were severely damaged and several dozen smaller shuttles either destroyed or severely damaged.

Fires sprang up in the northern part of the city and they would destroy much before firefighters were cleared to deal with them. The huge winds generated by the blast quickly fanned the fires.

Most of the windows in the Nelson Tower apartments were broken along with many of the taller buildings along the northern fringe of the central business district.

Anyone caught out unprotected within the city’s north was likely to be burnt severely. The few exposed within the city centre received first degree burns.

For one millisecond after the explosion an electromagnetic pulse emitted. It tore out at the speed of light and fried all unshielded electronic devices. There would be a huge demand for replacement electronic devices within the city.  Those at Polaris HQ were shielded and so escaped.

For the millions sheltering within the city centre, it felt like a very large earthquake. Those in the B16 command centre were physically unscathed but emotional effects were another matter.

Chapter 23. Tumos 0101, 26 June

There were no point defences left at Tumos. The missile was configured as a bunker buster and ploughed into the mountain above and 1km south of the front entrance to the facility before exploding. It vaporised much of the earth at the point of impact. It sent out a huge shockwave that blew away tonnes of earth. In effect it gouged out a crater 300m deep. It sent a huge shockwave underground creating a mini earthquake.

The top of the facility was actually 1500m below the top of the mountain. There was no penetration as such. But the earthquake rocked everything and everyone within. All internal buildings were on springs and while they rocked violently, the springs and their hardened structure saved them from destruction.

The same could not be said for the ships in various stages of construction within the huge hangars of the facility. Despite all the best engineering measures designed to protect them the two Phantoms in hangars four and five were severely damaged when their supports gave way. The new Resolute class ship in Hangar 3 was also damaged for the same reason but to a lesser extent.

Even though the tarmac in front of the entrance was a kilometre away from ground zero everything there was devasted. The initial flash melted the suits of the rogan warriors out on the tarmac. They would have felt they were being burned alive, but only for a millisecond before the shock wave hit and killed them.

The droids, even with their electronic and armoured shielding were all destroyed. The Rogan inside the AFVs fared better by being protected from the effects of heat. But they were no match for the blast wave. It flipped, rolled and smashed the AFVs crushing those inside. The big rogan transports were pulverised and torn apart in a second.

The pods that Jules and his droids came in were about 1.5 kilometres from the centre of blast. But they too were destroyed.

The gods answered Sue’s prayer that the earth around them would protect her. But they also sent a huge slide of earth and rock from the mountain wrenched by the blast. Tonnes and tonnes of material came to rest on top of her tunnel and spread out onto the runway like a huge spur of the mountain had just formed.

By a strange fate Emilio’s tunnel was spared from this calamity. He tried hailing Sue but to no avail. He tried hailing the facility but again to no avail. He was desperately trying to remember what the recommended procedures were after a nuke attack. His mind finally calmed enough to remember his console. He pulled it out and in a moment had the step by step instructions.

Everything felt extremely quiet in Sue’s pod. The internal light was still on and she could see Jules’ face looking at her with a sense of amazement. Jules was amazed, amazed to be still alive. He was also amazed at how he felt. He no longer felt under the grip of fear. For the first time since Klaster he felt somehow liberated. It was like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He smiled at Sue. At first it was tentative but soon he laughed out loud. He was overwhelmed by the sheer joy of being alive.

Sue smiled back at him. She then tried to hail Emilio but failed. She failed to get a hold of the facility. Finally she put out a call on the Polaris Fleet Emergency channel. But no one responded.

Chapter 24. Resolute over Polaris 0102, 26 June

“Get those limas back onboard, rearmed and ready to go” ordered Crystal.

“We’re going to need twenty minutes” advised Li.

Crystal looked to Dave. He shrugged his shoulders in acceptance and said “I don’t think the Mailon’s going anywhere in a hurry.”

“Ok let me know when they are ready to go” hailed Cyrstal back to Li.

“Will do.”

“Let the Aukland and Polaris HQ know what’s happening” said Dave to Jasmin.

But before Jasmin could do so Rudi hailed “Resolute SITREP?”

Dave responded “Sir we have to recover and rearm our fighters. Should take 20 minutes. We will then commence the boarding. Any news from Nova Vista and Tumos?”

“The nuke hit north west of the city. Polaris HQ is OK. No contact with Tumos yet. I don’t have any more than that I’m afraid. We have to make this guy pay Dave. I want him alive.”

“Yes Sir. We’ll do our best.”

“The Harlow groups’ just arriving. I’m going to transfer my flag to the Harlow and start sending these damaged ships back down.  Nice job on those ships. Let your crew know I appreciate their work.”

“Yes Sir I will. Congratulations to you too Sir.”

The words hit Rudi like a slap from an unexpected quarter. He hadn’t even had time to think in terms of victory. He thought for a second. “Thanks Dave but it’s an appalling victory.”

“But a victory nonetheless.”

“Yes…I have to go Dave. Keep me informed with progress on the boarding operation.”

“Of course Sir.”

Chapter 25. Tumos 0103, 26 June

It was Mani down in the lower levels that first recovered. He hailed on the internal facility wide channel “It would appear we have survived folks. If there is anyone injured please report to the medbay or call in for assistance. Everyone else you know your duties. It’s just as we rehearsed. Let’s go.”

People began moving, slowly at first but the pace quickened as supervisors and managers got into their stride. One team brought in the mobile scrubbing unit to the main foyer. Separate damage assessment teams went to each building and hangar to inspect for damage.

The comms team arrived at the main foyer along with the squad of marines designated to provide their security. They were all suited. Once assembled, the foyer was sealed and Sgt Rene Wilcox tentatively opened the outside door. This was not the main hangar doors but the 3m high 3m wide facility doors off to the right of the hangar door. As soon as it started opening the synthetic generated voice within her helmet began alerting her “Warning extreme radiation. Warning extreme radiation.” She hit the control to stop the audio but the text kept appearing on the HUD of her helmet visor. She let loose the probe and kept the door opened a small way – just enough for her to get a signal from the probe.

She watched the small display on the probe controller that was strapped to her left wrist. There was no one standing anywhere outside. In fact there was no one outside to be seen. She made out a pile of scrap metal about 300m away to the north on the far side of the runway. But the probe confirmed no threats existed out here other than the radiation.

Rene opened the door wide enough to move through and beckoned her charges outside. Her brief was no more than five minutes of exposure. “Move it. The clock is counting” she hailed.

Her six marines followed her and then the comms team of three. She deployed her team in a semi circle facing north while the comms specialists erected their portable antenna. It was instantaneously erected on activation. First its tripod legs deployed and then it shot up its telescopic antenna to its maximum height of 30m. Two specialists secured the legs of the tripod by applying a clamping brace over each leg and firing bolts into the ground. It was all done in three minutes.

Rene bustled the group back inside, where they closed the door, and stripped out of their suits. These went into the material handling compartments setup by the scrubbing team. The team leader then had them strip down and enter the showers where they were bombarded with hot jets of steam and chemicals. It smelt terrible which comforted Rene in a way. ‘Anything this bad must be tougher than the radiation’ she thought. The whole process would take ten minutes per person and they could fit four people at a time.  ‘This is going to be a right royal pain in the arse’ thought Rene as she realised there would be a lot more of this over the coming days.

Inside Mani broadcast his first message and was received by Harry at Polaris HQ. “Thank god you’re all well” hailed Harry. “What about the droid operators. We cannot raise Chalker, Shavez or Meyer?”

“I will try and raise them after this call” said Mani. “They should be in their tunnels and we may need to dig them out. Trouble is the radiation levels outside are so high. No one can survive out there for more than five minutes at a time.”

“That will dissipate over time but they may not have that time” said Harry. Harry was distracted by his engineering specialist. “Just hold on for a moment” he hailed. He spoke with the specialist and then continued “We will send a special vehicle down to you. Not sure how long that will take. I will advise as soon as I find out.”

“Have there been any other nuclear detonations?” asked Mani tentatively. Part of him didn’t want to know.

“Just one north of the city here. Thankfully casualties are very low at least we think so right now. It looks like Durramside’s been wiped out and the areas around it severely damaged.”

“Can you check to see if my wife and family are OK. They should be at the Short Stop shelter on Maynard Ave?”

“OK I’ll have someone here follow that up.”

“And up above? Are there more landings by the enemy?”

“There is only one enemy ship remaining. No other landings.”

“Oh that’s wonderful news” said Mani. “I better try and reach Chalker.”

But Mani failed to reach Sue or Emilio or Jules.

Chapter 26. IRS Mailon over Polaris 0104, 26 June

It had taken Meeka almost five minutes to regain his wits after the shock realisation that they could not warp away. He had acknowledged the report of the two nukes detonating over Nova Vista and Tumos. He felt a mild satisfaction that the manufacturing facilities at Tumos would not be playing another part in this war.

It was then that it dawned on him. ‘I can warp away…in the Dregun shuttle.’ He quickly got up, told his watch officer to carry on and left the command centre. He thought about going to his cabin to collect some things but dismissed that thought and instead took the elevator down to the third deck and from there walked briskly towards the stern. He maintained his usual erect posture like the commander in control that he knew he was. He turned right at the first junction and crossed through into the port hangar deck’s 2
^nd
level.

He ignored the warning lights that were designed to keep the through runway clear. He knew there would be no craft using it at this time. He crossed the runway over to the aprons on the far side turned left and marched past the fighter bays, now mostly empty. Mechanics were working on several craft, albeit damaged or in need of rearming.

He ignored the mechanic who attempted to salute him. His focus was set on the second rear bay where the Dregun shuttle sat. He began to smile as he got closer. Here it was his ticket out of here. But then he saw the stern, disapproving face of Assani emerge from behind the far side of the craft.

“I thought as much” said Assani.

“Humm…” said Meeka. He took another few steps towards the craft, during which he drew his pistol and fired directly at Assani from less than five metres. He fired twice.

Assani slumped to the floor not believing he had actually been shot. But the pool of blood staining his suit in the middle of his chest could not be denied. Assani now on his hands and knees and fighting for breath looked up as the third round struck him in the shoulder, spinning his body so he ended up on his back. The last image he saw was the back of Meeka as he climbed into the shuttle.

It took Meeka less than two minutes to do his preflight check and then he taxied out of the bay, onto the apron and then angled across to the runway. The doors were sealed as no flights in or out were scheduled. Thankfully, the Dregun had privileged access to the flight deck controls. He opened the hangar doors, tapped the vertical thrusters till the craft rose off the runway floor and then engaged the aft thrusters accelerating rapidly.

Meeka ignored the controller’s mutterings about his unauthorised flight. The shuttle spat out into the black space. As it cleared the ship, Meeka engaged the warp drive. Within thirty seconds he would be gone from this madness.

The watch officer was alerted immediately and tried hailing the craft. This was ignored. By the time he dithered as to whether he should engage it or not, the Dregun warped away. He then tried to inform the Imperial Admiral but he failed to respond to his hail. He sent one of his subordinates to find the Imperial Admiral.

The departure of the Dregun was also noted by the Federation. There was no chance any Federation ship could have prevented it. Meeka had got away.

Five minutes later, while Li Nahn squadron was rearming, the rogan watch officer was advised of the death of Assani and he came to the right conclusion that the Imperial Admiral was the culprit and that he had abandoned them to their fate. An intense feeling of revulsion came over him followed by the determination to live. Yes he wanted to ensure that those remaining all lived. These leaders were not worth it.