Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (37 page)

“Is he indeed?” asked Dave letting go of her hand and leaning back into his chair. His face betrayed a mix of emotions. Part of it was smiling, part of it was amazed and the rest a little wary. He needed time to think this one through. They had been down this path before. “Last time you had all those nightmares, remember.”

“Yes but they’ve gone now. I’ve worked through all that.” She reached out and took his hand again. “I want to be together, no matter what.” Her eyes were locked onto his. They were pleading, pools of love that Dave could not argue with.

“OK” he said quietly and he stroked her cheek.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Dave asked “so who’s the new OPS officer at CHQ?”

“McGreedy. He finally got over his tropical disease. He arrives with the new ships.”

“He must be determined.”

“Must be.”

“Have you seen the plans for our new ship?”

Dave chuckled. “No, but I have a sneaking suspicion you’re going to show them to me, right?”

Rihan smiled. “The admiral’s suite is the piece de resistance.”

“Admiral’s suite?”

“Our suite” said Rihan with an official air. Then it occurred to her and she asked “You did get promoted didn’t you?” Dave shrugged his shoulders. “Oh Dave! Leave it with me.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Don’t be silly, you’d still be a Commander if it wasn’t for me.”

Dave just laughed.

“Hey Dave” hailed Alex “Are we still on?”

“Yes we are. I’ll be there in a moment” responded Dave. “Duty calls” he said to Rihan as he stood up from the table. “At least I know one position in the roster.”

Rihan shook her head with disappointed look “Two positions, fleet commander AND flag captain.”

“Yes, two positions. Where would I be without you?”

Inside Alex’s office the two commodores got stuck straight into the task of assigning crew. Alex showed him his preliminary assignments and explained how he had tried to maintain existing crews where possible. To that end he had decided to disband the Sydney and Washington frigates and assign their crews to the new stealth frigates. Similarly he had opted to disband the Aukland and assign its crew to the Dominator. The surviving crew from the Raptor would be assigned to the Audacity and topped up with the crew that ferried the craft here.

“That sounds pretty good to me Alex. The main concerns I have is the officer assignments.” Alex nodded. “I would like to give command of the Resolute to Ivan. He did a first rate job commanding it in this last battle. I have no dramas with Reina and Herb getting the Condor and Falcon. By all accounts Senna Briggs did an outstanding job over Polaris, so I’m fine with her commanding the Dominator. Rihan will be my flag captain I am told” said Dave with a smile. Alex smiled back.

“Now I need to find out about this new stealth carrier. Can I get a rundown before we make decisions about her manning?”

“Sure” said Alex. “I might get our resident expert in to brief you.” He hailed “Rihan can you please come in?”

Dave smiled “I should have known.”

Rihan entered and gave a very formal nod to both of them. “May I?” she asked Alex, who gladly let her run the controls on his terminal. She switched the display to the large wall mounted display and pulled up the schematics.

“Big isn’t it?” said Dave.

“Huge” said Rihan “it makes the Resolute look like a pup.” Pointing to the top surface she continued “arched top surface over a tri-hull. The centre hull contains all the usual command centre, accommodation, med, log, eng and services. On each of the outer hulls you have flight, ground and droid decks. The flight decks have launch rails and compartments for all fighters. We can launch the lot if need be all in one go.” She noted Dave nodding with approval. “Unlike the Resolute the fighters recover either from the front or rear into the landing channels on the inside of each of the outer hulls. They then proceed to the appropriate exit where they either go into one of the servicing bays or straight back out onto the rails.”

“Each of the outer hulls has capacity for one fighter, one bomber and one shuttle wing. All up the ship carries 96 lightnings, 96 marauders, 72 warthogs and 36 hippos.” She looked to Alex as she added “She should arrive with the entire 5th Flight Group led by…?”

“Commodore Toyah Larsen” answered Alex “She was until recently air commander on Packam. She saw action as a junior pilot and has been involved in a number of ops. She’s highly regarded by all who she’s served under.”

“OK, what about ground?” asked Dave.

“It was supposed to be the 3
^rd
Marine Bde, organised on the old estabs” said Rihan “but we’ve taken the liberty of reorganising and integrating the ground forces. The 3
^rd
Bde now comprises three integrated battalions – the 7
^th
, 8
^th
and 9th, each with one armoured, one infantry and one droid company.” Dave nodded. “There’s also the 3
^rd
Commando Company and the 12
^th
Support Battalion. The brigade commander is Commodore Gordon Gilbert…”

“Gilly…gee” interrupted Dave.

“You know him…” said Rihan. “Of course he’s ex special forces.”

“I served under him back in ’04. Well this will be interesting.”

“By all accounts he’s a true professional” added Alex.

“Oh he is that all right. No, it will be fine. Have they yet to reorg and integrate or has that already happened?”

“Already done” said Alex.

“Good. So do we have a Fleet HQ or do I piggyback off the Audacity’s team?”

“In theory you have separate staffs but right now you are probably going to have to do with a combined staff” said Alex.

Dave went silent while he pondered options here. Finally he asked “Is the command centre big enough to integrate space, fighter and ground ops?”

“Yeah the manning calls for an OPS team of six. I’ve got some candidates here for you.”

Dave scanned them briefly. “But none have had any experience with stealth ships?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “You already have everyone who has.”

“Mmm” sighed Dave. “I need Aubrey and Chase” He then looked at Rihan “do you agree?”

She had a perplexed expression. “She’s not going to like losing her command. But I agree she’s the best.”

“Slot her in. I’ll talk to her. And put Meg Songa in command of the Phantom. I’ll talk to her and Tola. I want Art as my Intel and Political officer. Sue can be ground ops. I want to pinch Val and Mary too. You can choose the rest” said Dave to Rihan.

“Oh goody.”

“It would be nice to have Cranky as well and Julian Smyth as our AI expert” added Dave.

Rihan rolled her eyes. She began assigning officers from the options list while Dave sat back content that he had the kernel to form a good team. Alex excused himself and said he’d be back in five. Rihan was still at it five minutes later when he came back in. She commented “there’s a lot isn’t there?”

“It’s a big ship” stated Alex.

“Yep” said Dave as he was studying the ships specs on his console. “Did you know this ship has six beamers?”

“Six big beamers. She also is armed with 48 close in beam defence systems” said Rihan matter of factly while still concentrating on her officer list.  “OK I think that does it.”

“Excellent” said Alex who cast an eye over the listings. “There are still some shortages. Leave it with me. Looks like I need to be a mean bastard again.”

“But you love it really, don’t you?” teased Rihan.

Alex looked back up from the terminal and smiled. “Guess I must!”

Dave checked the time and announced “Lunch anyone?”

“Now you’re talking partner” said Rihan.

“I need to get this underway” excused Alex. “If you can see the boss straight after lunch we can probably promulgate this this afternoon.”

“I’ll check with him” said Dave “but I want to speak with my people first. I should be able to get that done this afternoon.”

“OK.”

Dave caught up with Phil after lunch and they went through the assignments. He had no problems with them save for querying Aubrey’s posting. “She’s one of your best ship commanders” stated Phil.

“Yeah but I need a good ops officer, someone who I don’t have to teach stealth ops to. It has to be either Ivan or Aubrey. I believe Ivan to be the better commander.”

This surprised Phil. “Really?”

“Yep. He saved the day over Cheklin. I was impressed. BTW he deserves a medal for that. In fact I have a swag of recommendations” said Dave, pausing and then adding “too many of them are posthumous.”

Phil could see the emotion on Dave’s face. With a softer tone to his voice he said “Sure Dave. Submit them and I’ll see to it.”

“Thank you Sir.”

“OK, I agree to Aubrey’s appointment but I’m going to chicken out and leave the announcement to you.”

Dave gave a half smile. “The commander’s burden.”

“Yep, the commander’s burden.”

Chapter 17. Washington DC 1050, 29 September

Malissa read the casualty figures from the second battle for Checklin on the 22
^nd
. Her forehead was etched in anguish. “We may have won but…” she said out loud to herself, for she was alone in her office. She felt a tightness in her chest and found it hard to breath. She swallowed a little water and forced herself to take some deep breaths.

“It’s nowhere the casualty toll for Polaris” she told herself. ‘Small comfort to their families’ she thought. She stared at her hands and waited for the blood stains to appear. She shook her head and pulled her hands down from the desk. ‘Get a grip Malissa’ she barked to herself. ‘This is war…your war. Yes, you are responsible. But it is the right course of action. You are doing the right thing.’

In that moment she noticed that the date of this battle was the day before she had received news for the previous victory. ‘Oh god I was rejoicing when all these had died.’ She felt her eyes water as the guilt and emotion overwhelmed her toughness. A tear ran down her cheek, which she quickly dabbed.

“Your 11 o’clock is here” hailed her personal assistant.

“Hold them for a moment” she replied. She adjusted her posture, ensuring she had a straight back. She took in a deep breath. ‘You are the Chief Minister. Act like it!’ she scolded herself.

Chapter 18. Resolute over Q2 1500, 29 September

Dave had most of his senior subordinates waiting to see him for one reason or another. They had shuttled in on his request and were waiting in the officers’ mess till called. First up was Aubrey.

“Sir” she said as she entered his office and sat down on the easy chair opposite Dave. She saw Dave swallow hard. “Is there something wrong?” she asked.

“No, but I have some good and bad news for you. Which do you want first?”

A frown came over Aubrey’s face. “The bad.”

“I’m taking away your command…”

“But why” interrupted Aubrey “is this because…”

“Please Aubrey, it’s because I need to promote you to Captain and be the group ops officer.”

There was a pause while she took that in. “What group are we talking about?”

“The Audacity Group, it’s a new stealth group. Do you want to see the flagship?” Aubrey nodded and Dave showed her the schematics and briefed her on the composition of the new group. He ended by saying “I, we need to have someone well versed in stealth ops to plan our offensive. Much depends on this next operation…on you.”

“I see.” Aubrey sank back into her chair pondering. “Who’s your flag captain?”

“Rihan.”

“I’m in” said Aubrey with a smile.

He saw Ivan next. Ivan beat him to the punch and asked upfront about the pending court-martial. Dave briefed him on that but conveyed the Admiral’s comments which eased Ivan’s concerns.

“But that’s not why I’ve asked to see you” said Dave. “You did a wonderful job commanding the Resolute, while I was on the deck at Cheklin.” Ivan nodded. “I’ve recommended to the Admiral that you be appointed to command the Resolute effective immediately and he’s agreed.”

“You’re not kidding are you?” asked Ivan. Dave shook his head. “I wasn’t expecting this.” Dave nodded. “And you think I am up to it?” Dave nodded. “Well then…OK, thank you Sir. But what about you?”

Dave smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll still be your boss” said Dave and he went on to brief him about the changes. “By the way I’m going to pinch Chase, Val, Mary, Julian and Cranky from you.”

“Fair enough. But I’m going to miss Cranky the most.” They both laughed.

Next Dave asked Meg Songa to step in. She was decidedly nervous. Her ‘I’m so sure of myself’ demeanour was nowhere in sight. She expected the worst. Dave started by informing her about the court martial and he relayed the Admirals comments on that too. She seemed a little less anxious after hearing that but she knew there was more to come. “And?” she asked.

“I have put my neck out on the line for you and convinced the Admiral to give you a second chance at command. If I give you the Phantom you have to promise not to fuck it up. Tola Puchanski will be your XO and I will be briefing her shortly. She will have authority, from me, to report directly to me if you don’t do things right. Is that understood?”

Meg was overwhelmed. Previously she would have got all uppity at the suggestion that a subordinate could report on her but it was gratitude that overcame all other emotions. “Thanks you so much Sir. I won’t let you down. You can count on me.”

Tola was waiting outside when Meg exited. They had only met once before. Tola gave Meg a nod as she passed her and closed the door behind her at Dave’s request.

“Tola” began Dave “I have nothing but good reports on you from Captain Bellard.”

“Captain?” queried Tola.

“Yes she’s going to be leaving the Phantom. Meg Songa, who you just passed, will be your new commander. I have to ask you to do something delicate.”

“Sir?”

Dave went on to explain the situation and he finished by saying “So you see I have faith in LCmd Songa, but you need to be my eyes and ears and alert me if the need should arise.”