Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) (11 page)

“Well that’s the first time anyone’s complained about the size of my breasts” responded Madge with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. Judy laughed along with the other women. Eugene wanted to but restrained himself.

“There is another option though” said Evie. “It is not uncommon for rogan to be accompanied by their servants. With the conquest of many different systems the servant ranks are filled with other races. One of these is the Chellin. They are hominids similar to humans and rogan. They are not as tall as you humans but taller than us. They do however have an extended cranium at the back of their head – not as pronounced as mine but more than yours. Their faces tend to be wider and their heads not as tall. But I’m sure we can fix that.”

“Hold on a minute” said Madge “No one said anything about plastic surgery!”

“No, no, no. Nothing like that. Well not permanent anyway” came back Evie. “Tanya if you please.”

Tanya stood up and opened her case. She placed a console on the table. Then she took out four objects the size of a fist. She walked over to some open floor space and looked up at the ceiling. She activated a control on one of the objects and it hovered up to the ceiling above Tanya’s head. She placed another on the ground at her feet and activated it. It stayed put. She then took another and extended out her arm and set the control. The object hovered in place midway between the floor and ceiling. She did the same with her right hand and set the fourth object.

So far everyone was intrigued and watched silently.

“Madge can you please come over here and stand where I am” asked Tanya. Madge obliged. She looked a little wary though when Tanya asked her to close her eyes and not to open them till she was told to. Tanya activated the system on the console. Each object emitted an array of laser light that together bathed Madge from her head to her toe.

Tanya deactivated the system and said “You can open your eyes now.” She manipulated the controls on her console and then turned the screen so they all could see. There was a 3D image of Madge, replete with her clothes.

“So it’s a 3D scanner” said Eugene in an underwhelmed manner.

Tanya turned her head to face him. “Yes, but that’s not the magic. I have already preloaded the models Evie provided last night. She brought up a list and selected the female Chellin. The screen showed its naked form. “I can rotate this model in any direction” said Tanya as she did so using the controls. “But that’s not the magic either. I’m just going to open up the model we made of Madge and hit the Merge command and now you can see in the purple shade the spaces that are different. I’m now going to select the head and export the difference to form a new model. Pretty neat hey? But there’s more” said Tanya enjoying the opportunity to show off. I’ve just sent that off to our fabricator down in engineering. I’ll be back in few minutes. Don’t go away or you’ll miss the best part.” Tanya smiled and darted out through the door.

When she arrived back she was carrying a box. She placed it on the table and extracted the contents. It looked at first blush like a helmet. “OK Madge, come here and we’ll try on your new head.”

Madge was intrigued and keen to oblige. She felt the flexible plastic grip her skin. Madge secured the mould at the back of the large cranium by pressing the elements together. They formed a seamless merge on contact.

At that point Madge felt quite apprehensive. She moved her jaws and found she could breathe through her mouth no problems. She then tried doing so through her nose and that too was fine.

She looked around at the others and saw them gawking at her. “How do I look?” she asked. Evie produced a hand mirror and Madge took it and was soon gazing at herself in awe.

“How does it feel?” asked Judy.

“Ah, it’s a bit like having something sucking on your skin but otherwise no problems.” Madge just then tried blinking and that was OK too. “No it’s good. Probably get used to it after a short while?” she asked Tanya.

“Hopefully” responded Tanya.

“Well I’m impressed” said Aubrey. “What about you Chief?”

“Pretty amazing” said Eugene. “But a head alone won’t cut it. What about hands and there’s this hump thing on the back of the shoulders. What about that?”

“This was just a test. We need to do the full body. I’m going to have to ask you to leave Chief while we do that” added Tanya with a cheeky expression.

“Yeah, yeah. OK do the full thing for Madge. Then we need to have her in it and moving and operating things and in particular handling a weapon. Only then will I be convinced.”

Chapter 33. Resolute to Qwantum 1600, 11 August

Dave Warner slumped back into his chair. He looked around his office on A deck for inspiration. But none was offered. Another day of tactics in the battle lab with Charles Chen had exhausted him. He had sat in on the training given by Chase. With few exceptions Chase’s instruction had been flawless.

Dave went over the day’s sessions recalling how it had been like extracting teeth for Chase to get a response from Charles let alone establish a dialog. Charles would usually respond with a gesture. At best he gave a glib reply.

In terms of his judgement Dave assessed that he wasn’t that bad in commanding a single ship, though his staff procedures left a lot to be desired, as did his grasp of 3D space. He didn’t use his staff support preferring to do everything himself, ‘where he has direct control’ thought Dave. ‘Mmm…’

But he failed miserably when it came to coordinating a flotilla of ships. ‘He just doesn’t get the concept of mutual support’ thought Dave. ‘Aagh…he’s basically anti-social. Gee what happened to produce that?’ Then another thought came to him. “Or he doesn’t trust anyone else…”

Dave got up and paced around the room. ‘But what am I going to do about it?’ How he wished Rihan were here. In that moment he realised just how good she was at managing people. ‘It’s her forte’ and he smiled.

No simple answer came to him. He concluded that for now he would just have to keep Charles out of the command centre. ‘Tie him up in admin’ said Dave to himself. ‘But he won’t put up with that for long.’ Dave shrugged his shoulders. In the absence of another idea it would have to do for now. ‘Only two more days till we arrive…mmm.’

Chapter 34. Maelstrom over Chelora 1630, 11 August

Rihan’s bags were all packed and waiting in the large hangar beside her. Her soon to be ex-XO Commander Rueben Carson stood beside her. They were waiting for the nearby shuttle to give up its passenger – the new captain of the Maelstrom.

“I’m going to miss you” said Rueben sincerely.

“Thank you Rueben. It’s been a pleasure working with you.”

“Likewise.”

“Oh here he comes” she said as she saw the tall figure climb down from the hatch.

Rihan met the ship’s new captain with a warm welcoming smile. “Welcome Captain Du Gorin.”

Jaques Du Gorin stepped forward, maintaining a straight back. His light blue eyes smiled as he took in the form of his new ship’s previous captain. He extended a hand and took a measure of delight in her touch. “Thank you Captain Kabel. So this is the Maelstrom?”

“It is indeed. And this is your new XO Commander Carson.”

After pleasantries were exchanged Rihan asked “Would you like a tour?”

“I would be delighted. Please, I am in your hands.”

Chapter 35. Kiev over Chelora 1700, 11 August.

Phil Yomoto did not take the news well. “Fuck it!” he said forcefully.

“I’m sorry Sir” said Alex. Alex was Phil’s long serving and many would say long suffering staff officer responsible for Personnel. Normally Phil would have had a team of fleet staff officers managing Personnel (F1), Comms and Intelligence (F2), Operations and Plans (F3) and Logistics (F4). But due to the relocation of Phil’s HQ to Polaris from Earth and then his appointment to command the combined fleet for operation Bitter Woods, he was still waiting on the rest of his staff to arrive.

Alex had just arrived on the latest shuttle from Polaris with news that Captain McGreedy, his Ops Officer (F3), had reported sick on Polaris. According to the doctors it was a relapse of the same tropical disease that had hospitalised him on Earth. But that was of no comfort to Phil. “All right, all right” said Phil regaining his composure. “I suppose I should not have insisted on him coming out. Bugger it.”

Alex remained calm. It was his best approach when Phil was like this. Phil looked at him and somehow Alex’s seeming, serenity rubbed off. “Ask Rihan to come over” said Phil in a more measured tone. Alex raised his left eyebrow. “I know. I promised, but shit happens. I need a good ops officer. Do you have any better ideas?” Alex shook his head. “Do it” ordered Phil “and while you are at it I need a new F1.”

Alex was stung by the directive. He couldn’t really believe he just heard that but the shock temporarily paralysed him and he just stood there confounded. Finally he sputtered out “You can’t blame me for McGreedy?”

“Oh don’t be silly Alex, of course I don’t. But you can’t do two jobs at once can you?”

Alex turned up his palms as if to say ‘what do you mean?’

“Chief of Staff…I need one right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well you’ve been effectively doing the job for the last year it’s about time I made you substantive, isn’t it?”

A big smile came over Alex’s face as he finally cottoned on.

Phil smiled at him. “Are you going to keep me waiting or are you going to get Rihan?”

“I’m on my way” said Alex who actually skipped out the door.

Five minutes later, Rihan had just finished introducing Jacques to the principal officers of his ship when the call came in for her to report to the Kiev. She excused herself and boarded a warthog, with her luggage stowed, for the short trip to the Kiev.

After her shuttle docked on the Kiev, Rihan made her way up to Phil’s office on A deck. She had a smile on her face. Her bags were packed and she expected this to be the Admiral’s farewell before she headed back to Polaris.

Alex smiled as she entered but she also detected a certain reticence on his part.

“Please take a seat Rihan” said Phil. “Thanks for coming straight away.”

“What’s up?” asked a now wary Rihan. “My shuttle leaves in two hours.” But she could tell by the way Phil nodded that that was in fact why he had summoned her. “You promised Sir. Remember?”

“Yes I know but McGreedy didn’t make it and I’m short a good Ops officer till I get another replacement. You’re the best available candidate.”

“I’m the only available candidate you mean” said Rihan.

Phil gave her a look of annoyance and added “I meant what I said. You can keep your temporary rank.”

“You’re all beef and heart Sir” said Rihan and she caught a chuckle from Alex. “Make it permanent and you got yourself a deal.” Her eyes bored into Phil’s.

“Done” he said immediately.

Rihan knew she had been played but she smiled anyway.

“Good” said Phil. “All that needs to happen now is for you to stow your gear on the Kiev.”

Rihan shrugged. “It’s in the shuttle.”

“Not any more. I took the liberty of moving it to your new digs.”

“Why thank you Sir” said Rihan with feigned appreciation. “Will that be all?”

Phil nodded and she walked out. Alex looked at his boss with a smile on his face. “I thought that went better than expected don’t you?” asked Phil.

“Much better than expected” said Alex.

Chapter 36. Kiev over Chelora 0930, 12 August

“So there you have it” said Phil after concluding his outline of the plan for the preliminary recon and surveillance phase of operation Bitter Woods. He looked first at LCmd Sheldon Brice and then at LCmd Meg Songa. He had met Sheldon before but not Meg.

Sheldon had always struck him as a solid officer. Not physically because he was really quite lean, though daily workouts in the gym had buffed him up. No, what had impressed Phil the most was his sound judgement and the fact that he didn’t panic. Phil liked that.

Meg was the political appointee but at least she had some combat experience behind her. Phil was prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt for now.

Both junior officers were still taking it all in, pondering the tasks ahead and the ramifications of all the material presented to them in the last half hour.

“Do you have any questions?” asked Phil.

Meg smiled and spoke. “So basically we’re on our own for the first three weeks, which includes six days of transit and then we should link up with the support group. When exactly should we expect the Resolute and how will they communicate with us without disclosing their location?”

“Good questions” responded Phil. “Rihan…”

“We’re not sure when the Resolute will rejoin you because we don’t know what they will find at Qwantum” advised Rihan. “The plan right now is for them to arrive in your AO (area of ops) on the 27
^th
but that may crib or slip. They will send a signal before they warp from Qwantum. It should reach you before they physically arrive and it will have the coordinates for a rendezvous.”

“That will work” said Meg. She still had a puzzled look on her face though.

Sheldon jumped in with his own question. “So until then we divvy up the sleth systems, drop off surveillance probes and sit tight. No contact or engagement whatsoever?”

“That’s right” said Phil.

“What if we see a high value target of opportunity like undefended enemy transports?” added Sheldon.

“Leave them” said Phil forcefully. “If you engage you let the rogan know we are interested in this sector. We want total operational surprise when we launch the main op.”

“OK understood” said Sheldon.

“So do we operate independently until the Resolute arrives?” asked Meg.

“Yes” said Rihan “But if there is a need for coordinated actions then Sheldon will be in charge.”

“Right” said Meg trying hard to hide her disappointment. She wasn’t successful. Sheldon noted it too. He simply nodded his acknowledgement to Rihan.

“And once the Washington arrives with the Support Group Commander Suzuki will be in command till the Resolute arrives” added Rihan. Both frigate commanders nodded back. “Make sure you are fully provisioned prior to departure at 1400. Apart from resup you are now on lockdown. No comms or traffic.”