Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (36 page)

With that Dave turned off the light, got under the covers and rolled over onto his side. He repeated his mantra and was asleep in a couple of minutes.

Chapter 13. Slidwon 2200, 25 September

Chusium Kornola opened the door for his youngest child. In his eyes she was still a child, even if she was 42 years old. He forced a smile onto his otherwise troubled face.

“Sorry for the late hour father” said Essena.

“Nonsense” said Chusium as he beckoned her into the family home. It was a mansion by any standards, high on the top of the most prominent hill in the salubrious Kwinantum district. It used to boast a magnificent view over the city but now it was marred by destruction and rubble. Chusium looked out though the big windows of the main lounge room, winced at what he saw, and said “Let’s go into my office.” He shook his head disapprovingly at the vista before ushering his daughter along.

She sat in one of the easy chairs while he mixed a pair of drinks. He handed her one and sat down with the other. “Now what’s this all about?” he asked.

“You’re going to have to stop” said Essena as seriously as she could.

“Stop what?”

“I know” said Essena.

“What are you talking about?”

Essena knew her father well. There was only one way to proceed when he was like this. She pulled out her communicator, navigated to the report she received earlier today and placed it in front of him.

Chusium looked at her warily and more so at the communicator. He picked it up with great reticence. There it was, clearly detailed right down to all the names of those who attended. But what actually surprised him were the accurate details of what was discussed.

“How did you come by this?” he asked.

“That’s not important. I know about it and so do others in my branch. Too many people know about this. I cannot keep this quiet anymore.”

Chusium looked at her like he had so many times before with seriousness and deliberation. The last time he had looked at her like that was when he had told her to divorce her husband after his investigators had found him cheating on her and misappropriating family funds.

“Then you will have to join us” said Chusium.

“What?” exclaimed Essena. “No, that path leads to our death. I will not, not this time father. You have to stop all this nonsense and declare your ongoing support for the First Consul. You need to do that tomorrow.”

Chusium’s mouth closed and his jaw set firm. He maintained a steady gaze on his daughter. Silence reigned for a good minute. Then he relaxed his face and reached over taking her hand in his and said “I will not do that. I plan to bring down the First Consul and I need your support.”

She looked at his face. It wasn’t pleading. No, it was strong. He had already made his decision and was set on this path.

She extracted her hand and raised both of them to support her head as it bowed down. She felt this intense pain in her forehead. She feared this might happen and instead of it being crunch time for her father it was crunch time for her.

“Your family needs your support” added Chusium “and you know that family always comes first.”

He had used this line of argument on her many times before. But this time the consequences were life and death. Her stomach was in agony as every muscle tightened. She lifted her head out of her hands, reached over to the glass and drained the drink.

“When do you plan to act?” she asked.

“At the next council meeting – the third” advised Chusium.

“I am going to have to deal with some of my subordinates. Their blood will be on your hands.” Chusium swallowed before nodding. “How are you going to martial the forces needed?” asked Essena.

Chusium smiled. “Here’s how I see it panning out….”

Chapter 14. Slidwon 1400, 27 September

The explosion that rocked the light commercial district on the outskirts of the city had the effect of undermining the sense of security that many of the city’s residence had felt since the overthrow of the ‘complex’.

Rumours spread quickly, fanned by speculation from the indie media. Some speculated that the so called resistance was mounting an attack. Others carried reports of terrorists targeting industrial leaders for their continued support of the imperialists.

By the evening news the identity of the victims were reported as being FIA agents. That then fanned a whole new branch of speculation. Talking heads were drawing connections with the recent murder of the FIA director.

High up in her office in the FIA HQ, Essena was pleased to see all this speculation. It obfuscated the truth that the three agents killed in what was now confirmed as a car bomb were in fact terminated on her behalf by one of her most trusted agents, Fenton Zavid.

She had known Fenton professionally for some fifteen years now and intimately off and on since her divorce two years ago. She had been reluctant to make it a permanent arrangement for fear he was just another after her family money. She hated herself for using him like this but saw no other way. At least his completion of the task confirmed his commitment to her. That was about the only upside of the matter though.

She ticked off the task on her mental list. It was an essential precursor to an even more bloody enterprise. The trouble with this next set of tasks was resourcing. She had discussed this with Fenton and it was he who came up with the rather ingenious suggestion of using the agency’s own resources to clean itself up as it were. It would all be under an operation approved no less by herself. She knew that it could be the last operation for the agency she ever approves but if it went belly up she would not be alive to regret it.

Chapter 15. Resolute over Q2 0930, 29 September

“They’re warping in now Sir” hailed Crystal from the command centre.

“I’m on my way” replied Dave.

Dave joined Ivan and Chase as they too came into the command centre keen to see the arrival of the combined fleet. The holo was already filling up with a plethora of icons. Dave took his seat and asked “Is the Kiev here yet?”

“Yes Sir” replied Crystal and highlighted the Kiev’s icon with her pointer.

“Hail her for me and ask for Admiral Yomoto.”

A minute later Dave was speaking with Phil for the first time in over six weeks. “It’s good to hear your voice Sir” said Dave.

“And yours too Dave” acknowledged Phil. “I got your report two days ago. You’ve had a torrid time but a successful one by all accounts.”

“Yes we’ve prevailed but at a cost.”

“I know. Let’s talk face to face. Give me half an hour to get sorted here. I’ll have Jock liaise with your quartermasters for replenishment.”

“Sounds good Sir.”

Chapter 16. Kiev over Q2 0950, 29 September

Dave alighted from Whiskey 1 in the Kiev hangar and his eyes lit up as Rihan was there to greet him. Her eyes were scrutinising him as they walked to each other. They embraced not with the passion of newlyweds, which technically they still were, but with tenderness and compassion. Dave delighted in her scent. They parted so each could see the other.

Rihan could see that her husband had changed. There was a subdued nature about him now. She had read the reports and had been worried about his morale. She stroked his cheek gently with her hand before pulling it down. “Come on my darling” she beckoned as she put her arm through his and they walked side by side out of the hangar.

“I’ve so missed you” said Rihan leaning her head in towards him and giving him a big kiss on the cheek. This had the desired effect, bringing a big smile to Dave’s face. He leaned and whispered into her ear “Ditto!”

When they arrived at Phil’s office, Phil was standing ready to greet him. He held out his big paw and Dave clasped it strongly. Phil’s eyes were boring into Dave’s as they exchanged greetings. Phil nodded to Rihan and she said to Dave “I’ll leave you two for now but come and get me when you’re finished, right?” Dave nodded and the door closed leaving just the two of them.

“So how are you Dave? How’s the foot?” asked Phil.

“It’s on the mend Sir. I’m fit for operations” replied Dave.

“Physically yes, but as you say in your report your force has suffered significant losses.”

“That’s true Sir. Morale is OK but it took a big hit in that last battle, especially amongst the marines.”

Jim nodded. “I have replacements but I need to know if the cadre that is left is fit for offensive action.”

“I’d say the ship’s crew are fit for offensive action but my marines need time to recover and rebuild.”

“I’m not surprised by that. And what about you personally? How is your morale? Are you fit for offensive action?”

“I have to admit Sir that I was hoping for some down time before going back into the fray but I don’t see us getting any of that.”

“Well not if we are to comply with the Republican plan you conveyed. But I have some views on that. I want to share those with you now and I want you to give me your frank advice.”

“Sure.”

“What you don’t know is that in five days’ time we will be receiving further reinforcements, namely the Condor and Falcon stealth frigates, the Dominator stealth cap and the Audacity, the new stealth carrier I mentioned to you earlier. Along with your ships that will enable us to form a small stealth group. If you are up to it, I would like you to take command of it. But you need to be up to it Dave. We don’t have the time for me to assess you in that regard. I am relying on your own assessment here. Do you understand?”

Dave nodded and thought for a few moments. “Assuming I take command, we are going to need some time to work up these ships and work out SOPs (standard operating procedures). We’ve played catch up in this regard before and it could have cost us dearly.”

“I understand. That’s why I want to delay this commitment. We’ve discussed this plan at length here and the consensus is that it’s too big a venture to be mounted on the run. There’s just too much risk and it’s a risk I am not prepared to accept. What’s your view on that?”

“I agree Sir, but to be frank our rogan chums are not going to like a delay.”

“I can see that but their plan relies on our commitment, does it not?”

“Yes, they don’t have the force sufficient to do it on their own.”

“As I thought. So whether they like it or not they are going to have to wait. The question is how long. I need your advice on that.”

“Do these new ships come with a full crew?”

“Partial crews, we’re going to have to disband some of the fleet here to man them properly.”

“Well that’s not going to help. Off the top of my head I would say we need a month, two would be better.”

“Mmm” muttered Phil “I was hoping for two weeks.” Dave gave him an expression which said ‘really?’ “How about three, then? That will mean a slippage of one month to the original plan.”

“OK but until the new ships arrive I want time off for my existing crews.”

“Agreed. But before you take some leave I want you to get together with Alex to finalise the crew rosters. Alex has already made a draft roster. He knows what ships are being disbanded. You just need to work out who goes on which ship. With regard to the ship commanders, work up a list and then consult with me later today.”

“OK but I have one other requirement.”

“Yes” said Phil, drawing out the word.

“I want my wife to have the next five days off too.”

Phil cocked his head back before bringing it back down quickly. “From tomorrow. I need her today.”

“From tonight. I need her tonight” came back Dave and for the first time in the meeting he smiled warmly.

Phil nodded and with a smile replied “I am sure you do. OK then, we’re in agreement. Oh, one other thing, well actually two other things. First I’m not going to give you any grief over the loss of the Raptor but there will need to be a court-martial. I’ll convene that for next week. Ivan and Meg are going to need defence representation. Alex will handle that.”

“And the second matter?”

“Yes…Meg Songa…is she fit to command?”

“I think she deserves a second chance Sir.”

“That’s good enough for me. All right Dave that will do for now. Let’s see you and Alex at 1600. That should give us an hour to go over the rosters and then break for a beer. What do you reckon?”

“Sounds good.”

Dave teed up with Alex to meet after he had a coffee with Rihan. The two grabbed a table in the mess and Rihan waited for Dave to tell her all the goss but Dave was deep in thought. “Well?” asked Rihan finally. “Are you going to command the new stealth fleet?”

“Yeah” said Dave but his focus was elsewhere.

“We haven’t seen each other in ages and I can’t get a word out of you let alone your attention” said Rihan with a just a little annoyance.

“Sorry dear, there’s so much going on.” He then made a decision to give Rihan his entire focus. He smiled and looked into her beautiful green eyes. He took her hand in his and began stroking it gently.

“Now that’s more like it” she said with big smile. She leaned closer in to him and whispered “I can’t wait to get my arms around you.” She pecked him on his lips and then sat back.

“Well you won’t have to wait long. We’re both on leave as of tonight….till the new ships arrive.”

Rihan smiled “you’re actually useful.”

“In many ways” said Dave with a glint in his eye.

Rihan leaned in closer again and said “that’s the look I’ve been waiting for” and she kissed him.

They both sat back and took a sip of their coffee. Rihan was pleased to see Dave savouring his flat white. It was a familiar image she had of him full of contentment and good cheer. “Did I tell you how much I have missed you?” she asked. Dave smiled and took another sip.

“You’ll be needing a flag captain” she stated. This caught Dave completely off guard. “Well you will, won’t you and you’ll need someone who knows your ways, someone you can trust implicitly…”

“Yes” said Dave drawing out the word.

“Well it just so happens that my tour of duty here is up.” She almost smacked her lips with the last word. She then leant closer again and took Dave’s hand. “I know you wanted me back safe darling, but I would rather be with you. There’s nowhere safe here in rogan space. What do you reckon…together again?” Dave was still coming to terms when she added “and don’t worry Phil’s OK with it.”