Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (29 page)

It had been a tense time. At one point he had to hole up inside an office building as an ISS vehicle debussed its occupants who promptly entered the adjacent building. While his two bodyguards stood guard he used the time to good effect. He had looked up the financial account details for his ex-wife. It had been over ten years since he had last seen her. While he had felt bad about the way he had abandoned her physically and emotionally he had maintained his financial payments to her to support their two children.

His eldest was now seventeen and he wanted to provide for their future. He wasn’t going soft or anything like that he reassured himself. But if he was honest with himself (and he was not) he would acknowledge that it was sentiment more than guilt and more than pragmatism that motivated him. He had copied the details to a file and uploaded it into a device he retrieved from his pocket. It resided there with another file containing his personal bank account details and a thousand other files, each of which contained the bank account details of a well-known public charity.

Major Hecton Malessium might be a henchman responsible directly for many dozens of deaths and indirectly for hundreds more but he was determined to go out on a good note. He had been the instrument of some of the most ruthless low lifers that aristocracy could proffer, but that would end very shortly.

He was sanguine about his own prospects of survival. A decade of war had made him a fatalist on that count. If he could, he would slip away, but the opportunity might not present itself. But that was war for you. He had put the device back in his pocket as one of his guards had beckoned him to come to the window.

Now he was being directed into the Treasury building by a sergeant he vaguely recognised.  They had made their way down to the vaults where a frustrated looking Meeka Sallusam waited. When he laid eyes on Hecton all Meeka said was “About time” and pointed to the terminal outside the vault.

As Hecton sat down he knew Meeka was not here for the precious metals, gems and other tangible treasures stored in the vaults. It was, as before, a ruse for an even bigger heist. Hecton took out several devices from his pack and placed them on the workstation.

Meeka hovered over him impatiently while he attempted to log in. With each attempt he failed. Finally Hecton turned to him and said “If you want this done in a hurry leave me to get on with it. I will call you when I am ready. You have the instructions ready?”

Meeka hated being told what to do, especially by a lowly major. But he bit his tongue, patted his pocket and walked out leaving Hecton alone save for an armed warrior at the doorway. Hecton deliberately failed the log in again just in case Meeka came back. But he didn’t.

Two minutes later he was in. He uploaded the files from his own device and then called for the guard to fetch the Fleet Admiral. Meeka must not have been far for he re-entered quickly. Meeka handed over the memory stick to Hecton. “All of it” commanded Meeka and he leaned closer to ensure Hecton uploaded the file containing his own bank details.

“Are you sure this is the account you want to transfer from” asked Hecton. The details of the Quazor trust account number three were displayed on the screen.

Meeka smiled. “Oh yes, that’s the one.”

Hecton hit the commit control and a message seeking confirmation appeared. Meeka leaned over and said “allow me.” Without waiting for a reply he hit the control confirming the transaction. He gave Hecton a big smile and even gave him an uncustomary slap on the back.

Hecton gave Meeka a big grin in return, knowing all too well that the trust account funds were now being transferred to 1,003 accounts on a pro rata basis. Meeka then broke out laughing and Hecton did likewise. The guard by the door even smiled.

Chapter 4. Resolute over Checklin 1850, 21 September

It was an anxious Ivan that waited for confirmation from Derrick that the space above Checklin was theirs. They had just warped back in from behind the outer gas giant. He had not been prepared to wait the requisite four hours for the light to travel from Checklin to the outer edges of the system to confirm the presence or absence of enemy ships.

“No detections above” advised Derrick “other than some fighters on CAP over Lewista.”

“Whose?” asked Ivan.

“Well they’re rogan but I can’t tell whether friendly or otherwise.”

Ivan knew that but he couldn’t help himself verbalising the question. He nodded to Derrick. If they were hostile, then he would have to beat them off with only his close-in defence systems. All his ships were out of missiles and all his own fighters were either safe down there or destroyed.

“Is the warp locked in?” he asked to no one in particular.

“Yes” acknowledged Sue who was still manning the Ops station.

“Signal ready to go?” he asked Jasmin. She nodded. Ivan took a deep breath in. “Send it.”

“Decloaking” announced Crystal.

“Sent” announced Jasmin. “Neeblo Control this is Resolute” hailed Jasmin.

“Fighters haven’t reacted” announced Derrick.

“Resolute this is Captain Wilson at Neeblo Control. Are we glad to see you.”

The next few minutes were spent updating the situation. Jeb finished by saying “The Commodore wants the Phantom’s marines and droids to insert at Echo 1, where they will be met by Lt Kahn, who will direct them from there. He said to tell you that NOW would be good.”

“Of course he did” said Ivan. A smile crept onto his face as the adrenalin was subsiding. He felt so relieved to hear that his fighters were all safe. He could see the first batch of them marked on the holo and now climbing to rejoin the flotilla. Once he had them rearmed, he had both a defensive and offensive capability.

It took Ivan a further five minutes to brief Aubrey. He offered her two extra warthogs so she could insert all her marines in one lift.

“Li” hailed Ivan “how long before you have a flight rearmed and ready to escort the insertion?”

“Not for twenty minutes yet” replied Li. “They’re still not aboard.”

“Aubrey” hailed Ivan “we can’t wait for an escort. Go now.”

Chapter 5. Lewista 1900, 21 September

After Dave saw the faces of Lizzy’s marines he knew they were not up to another heavy engagement. For most of them this had been their first real combat action. Dave recognised that look of shock and strained nerves, the faces hollowed out with pain etched where there had previously been joy. The deep eye sockets with glazed eyes that avoided contact.

They had lost one third of their number in the series of assaults that finally saw them attain their objective. With over twenty killed and another thirty odd wounded no one had been spared the loss of someone they cared about.

Dave knew that it was unrealistic to expect that veteran troops could endure that degree of loss, incurred in such short space of time, and carry on. They were no longer ‘green’ but they were at this point extremely fragile. It wouldn’t take much to tip them over the edge and if that occurred in an attack they would surely rout.

They needed time to recover. But Dave had precious little of that. He needed to press on quickly and secure the devices.

Jim reappeared from the lower floors, caught Dave’s eye and shook his head. ‘So we can’t take the battlewagons down’ thought Dave. They would have to either go another way or stay put here. He opted for the latter. He needed to deny access to the tunnels from this location anyway.

“Lizzy” said Dave “We need to press on but we also need to secure this location and deny access to the tunnels. I want your force to secure here.” Lizzy looked at Dave but he doubted she was really focussing on what he was saying. “Listen to me Lizzy.” He waited till he saw a shift in her expression and knew that she was now really focussed on him. “Secure this area. I’m leaving Argha here to guide the Phantom detachment when it arrives. After that you are on your own here.”

“Right Sir…time to deploy” she acknowledged. “Are the tangoes still under command?”

“Yep. You good?”

“We’ll be OK.” She trailed off for a moment and then added “Good luck Sir.”

“You did well back there.” She gave him a weak smile, then turned and began rounding up her subordinate commanders.

Jim came over to tell him that the good news was the elevator would take a truck. “Good, I want all of your troops and droids down in those tunnels and enough vehicles to lift them. Merge Argha’s troops into Ginty’s platoon and have her lead off as soon as enough vehicles are down. I will go with her.

It took a good ten minutes to get the first five vehicles down. Dave was not prepared to wait any longer. He boarded the second truck and told Ginty in the lead vehicle to get going. Jim would martial the rest of the force from the Resolute’s detachment. Lizzy would secure the Mintoslum building now referred to as Echo 1. Argha would wait for Aubrey to arrive and then guide them to their destination.

Dave had bought along Branish, not because he was good company, but because he might need his skills at the other end. Chase and the twenty five marines and ten droids accompanying him represented half of the surviving Resolute detachment. They had paid a very heavy price in the defence of the Mintoslum facility. Dave was determined that it would not be in vain.

As they moved off, Dave wanted to stretch out his left leg but the satchel charges on the floor of the vehicle prevented that, so he lifted his leg up and rested his calf on one of the satchels, grateful for a bit of relief.

“How’s the foot?” asked Chase.

“I’ll survive” said Dave. “Thanks for delivering my message.” Chase gave him a weak smile. “You dry yet?” asked Dave.

Chase’s smile strengthened. “Well the fatigues are but my jocks are still damp. I’m going to put in a report about the need for quick drying jocks.”

Dave gave a laugh that drew everyone’s attention.

Chapter 6. Neeblo 1910, 21 September

Felis was mentally drained. He had been operating on high revs all afternoon without a break. He had just finished berating the commander of the 3
^rd
Ecrustian Brigade who had wanted to rest for the night before conducting an assault to clear the spaceport at Lewista. The other two Ecrustian brigades, which began the battle already depleted, were spent having fought the 1
^st
Endosian Bde to a standstill. Each side held part of the spaceport thus denying it to the other. Neither side had the strength to wrest control.

With the risk of Sallusam’s surviving ships warping back in Felis desperately needed control of the spaceport to deny what was left of the Endosian division a portal to escape from. He could not allow Sallusam to leave with the devices. He was still unsure if the devices were in fact in the Casement tunnel complex. Even if they were he doubted Warner’s depleted battlegroup could hold it against the enemy’s 3
^rd
Endosian Bde which was believed to be at full strength.

He had agreed with Warner to destroy the devices if he found them rather than risk them falling into Sallusam’s hands. But he had no intel on whether Sallusam’s forces were already in possession of the device or not. He could not afford to take that risk and so he had to deny the obvious escape route for Sallusam.

Felis looked at the timer counting down to the H Hour for the attack. He knew he was taking a risk committing tired troops to an assault but he comforted himself with the reminder that this was not the greatest risk he had taken today.

“Two caps and one light warping in” announced one of his staff. Felis’ heart rate went up as he quickly glanced to the holo waiting for the new icons to show an ID. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard and saw that it was Bala returning. He turned to a tired Kraag and said “this is enough to give a poor rogan religion.”

Kraag managed a smile but then retorted “Nah, not really.” And his smile broadened.

Chapter 7. Lewista 1915, 21 September

Dave munched on an energy bar that would have to suffice for sustenance. The map on his communicator told him they were approaching the Casement location. He finished off his energy bar with one more swallow and then announced “coming up in two minutes.”

There was a last minute check by those around him. One marine was trying to secure his pack but the rest were ready. Buster and Kali were in their seats two down from Dave. Kali had her hand over Buster’s as it rested on his knee. Every now and then it would twitch and Kali would give it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

It had been a tough afternoon for Buster. All but four of his team perished back at Mintoslum. The effect of seeing so many die around him was taking its toll on his nerves. He kept remembering what the doctor had told him about controlling his breath and staying focussed on the next task. But right now it was the thought of the next task that aggravated him the most.

Dave had been made aware of Buster’s condition by Mary and he knew about his therapy sessions. Right now he was grateful Kali was there to help him though this. But he couldn’t dwell on that right now.

“Stopping now” hailed Ginty.

Dave’s vehicle came to a stop and they disembarked rapidly. Ginty and her team leaders, which included Buster, had their members deployed quickly. They had pulled up in the tunnel some 100m from where the entrance to the Casement area was supposed to be. Ginty sent two droids off to investigate.

Ginty and Dave were looking at her console. It displayed the head cam view from the lead droid. As it rounded the corner on the left, they could see a set of doors that any bank would have been proud to have on their vault. There was a security login bay and a large dark grey column that protruded from floor to roof on the left hand side of the doors.

“Back up your droids” commanded Dave.

Ginty did not understand but complied none the less. When the droids had withdrawn to the bend she asked “Why?”

Dave pointed to the column and said “Flechettes, same as they had at the Bane Metal complex. Mmm…”

“Get Buster onto it?” He was their go-to guy when it came to tech matters.