The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (26 page)

“
What are you all sitting there for?” Parks asked in sudden
anger. “At least a quarter of you should be at your departure
points, waiting for transports. Come on people! Suit up and get
moving! Now!”

The fliers jumped to their feet as ordered and made to leave,
whilst the commodore continued to read out names, departure points
and destinations. The
White Knights
had been assigned to
Griffin
and the vast squadron making
up the Initial Run, meaning they would be responsible for
protecting the bombers as they engaged the Imperial frigates, as
well as clearing the way for the boarding parties.

“
Right, let’s go people,” Estelle said, standing up and
preparing to lead the team out of the briefing room and prep for
departure.

“
You all right, man?” Dodds asked of Enrique. The man’s eyes
were reddened from where he had been vigorously rubbing
them.

“
Aw, mate, I feel like death warmed up…” Enrique
started.

“
You two - come here!”

Dodds
turned around to see Parks glaring straight at him. The delegation
over, Parks had turned his attention to a new issue: that of Dodds
and Enrique. He clenched his fist, as if grabbing them by their
jackets and pulling them towards him. Dodds had feared this from
the moment he had almost drifted off. Seated right before the
commodore, it looked as if he and Enrique’s various sick
expressions and attempts not to fall asleep had not gone
unnoticed.

Enrique
and Dodds stood themselves in front of Parks as requested, though
neither of them saluted.

Parks looked over the two men. “What seems to be the
diffic…” he started, before wrinkling his nose. “Are you
two
drunk
?” The
commodore did not need to finish the sentence, nor less ask the
question; the stench of alcohol emanating from the two men already
provided all the answers.

“
No, sir, we…” Dodds began, knowing that the very breath
leaving his mouth would make it all too clear that he was either
rather inebriated or suffering from a severe hangover.

“
Shut your mouth, Lieutenant!” Parks snarled. He looked over
at the men and women retreating out the briefing room, seeking a
quick solution to his new problem. “Lieutenant Chang!”

“
Sir,” the man Parks had called after turned around and
saluted.

“
You
’
re being reassigned. You and your
team will now be a part of the Initial Run. The
White Knights
will take over your
secondary cover duties.”

“
Yes, sir,” Chang
’
s face lit up. It was clear that he
was delighted that he would now be doing an important job, instead
of providing menial cover for the Confederation
’
s capital ships. Should everything
go well, then he and his team would be recognised for the essential
role they would play, and perhaps even rewarded for their hard work
after a successful operation.

Dodds
looked to Estelle, about to apologise, when Parks pushed past him,
getting to her first. She stood to attention as the commodore
approached.

“
Get your boys sobered up, de Winter!”
Parks glared, wagging a finger in her face. “And get to that
departure point
n
ow
!
I don
’
t want any more screw
ups!”

“
Yes, sir! Immediately, sir…” Estelle started, though Parks
was already marching past her and out the briefing room.

* * *

“
… pair of complete bloody idiots!” Estelle glared at
Enrique and Dodds as they hurried down the corridors to the
transport landing zones, helmets in hand, still fastening up their
flight suits. “Make sure you get into those damn shuttles!” she
added as the throng of people threatened to separate them from one
another.

Estelle was both bitter and broken.
For the second time in just a few weeks she had been busted
down, absolved of any responsibility, of any chance to prove
herself of her true worth. It was starting to become too much of a
regular occurrence for her.

The
cool, crisp air of the early morning hit her as she left the
housing block, along with the crowd. It was just past sunrise and
spotlights illuminated her path, aiding the dim natural light.
Ahead of her, she could see the multicoloured marking lights of
landing platforms, flickering in her view as they were obscured by
other people rushing in front of her. It was a clear morning and
the arc of lights dotted around the incomplete orbital ring could
be seen high in the sky. Not that this was the time to admire such
things.

As she
approached the landing zones, Estelle was greeted by a scene that
she had only seen in archived war footage: in the sky ahead of her,
several transport shuttles were accelerating upwards towards the
atmosphere, carrying their full complement of personnel. Pairs of
strong blue engine light could be seen higher up as the transports
attained the speeds necessary to achieve escape velocity, leaving
subtle trails of cyan as they went. A couple of dozen transport
craft rested on landing pads, hatches open, personnel being crammed
inside. Hovering in the sky above were more transports, waiting for
landing pads to become free, so they could touch down and pick up
more passengers. If the presentation had failed to impress upon
anyone the importance of the operation they were about to
undertake, then what Estelle was witnessing now would surely do the
trick.

She had
long since lost Dodds and Enrique, and looked around for them as
she drew closer to their designated landing zone. She then spotted
a big, dark-skinned man ahead of her, running to a transport as
people were called forward by one of the many air marshals present.
Relief washed over her as she recognised Chaz, and then Enrique and
Dodds, following just a short way behind him. The three, along with
several others, got into the transport, which was quick to seal its
doors and takeoff, another transport quick to take its
place.

With her boys well on their way, Estelle looked around for
Kelly. Where was she? Like herself, Kelly was barely taller than
average height and in amongst the taller men and women it was going
to be hard to spot her. Estelle felt herself being pushed forward
and glancing around, she found that Kelly was just behind her. The
woman was looking more than a little concerned as she was jostled
back and forth, and Estelle reached her hand back to hold on to
her. Not only to make sure her friend was okay, but to ensure that
her team made it onto
Griffin
without any problems. She could not afford yet
another black mark against her name. Even after the heart-to-heart
she’d had with Kelly the previous evening, Estelle found it hard
not to put her aspirations ahead of her friends, a fact that had
now been further compounded by Enrique and Dodds
’
irresponsible drinking.

Estelle took a firm hold of Kelly
’
s hand as the throng pushed her
forward. Ahead of her, a transport had filled its quota of
passengers and was setting off. Now at the front of the crowd,
Kelly and Estelle were next.

“
You all right, Kelly?” Estelle looked around and asked of her
friend. Kelly looked scared for some reason. “We do this all the
time. Just remain calm.” Estelle attempted to reassure her that the
shuttle ride was nothing to get concerned about.

“
This time it just feels more real,” Kelly said. “We’re not
going on patrol this time; we’re going on the
offensive.”

“
They have it fully planned out,” Estelle said, keeping an eye
on the transport that was descending from the sky. “The CSN always
makes the safety of those in service its top priority.”

“
Even before
Dragon
, Zackaria and
Rissard
?”

“
Even before
Dragon
, Zackaria and
Rissard.
” Estelle shook the follow-up
sentence from her head. There was always a first time.

The transport landed and an air marshal beckoned them
forward. Estelle lost her grip on Kelly
’
s hand as everyone surged forward.
Parks
’
speech
must have hit home with many.

“
No, only you guys!” the air marshal said, spreading his arms
out and trying to get a control of the crowd. “You lot head over to
that one. The rest of you get back. I only want twelve for this
one.”

Looking
around, Estelle discovered she had been separated from Kelly and
felt uncomfortable not knowing where everyone was. She tried to
rejoin the main group of waiting people.

“
Hey, where you going there?” the marshal stopped her from
leaving. “No time to go back now. In you get.”

The man
’
s
hand was on her back, pushing her on-board the transport. Now
inside, the hatch closed and locked, leaving Estelle to wonder if
Kelly had made it. She felt the engines engage and took up a
position on the bench, pulling down the familiar restraining
harness over her shoulders. The shuttle was smaller than the ones
she had grown used to over the past few weeks and held fewer
people. Space on
Griffin
would be at a premium, when compared to Spirit
Orbital. Estelle glanced around at the others occupying the
transport, at first not recognising any of the faces. She then did
a double take.

“
Andrea?” she asked in complete surprise.

The curly, blonde-haired member of the
Red Devils
looked over in the
direction of the voice and smiled.

“
Estelle!” Andrea said, eyes sparkling. “How have you been?”
She looked genuinely pleased to see her.

Estelle was stunned at how chipper Andrea was at such a time.
“I
’
ve been good.
Everything
’
s
going very well,” Estelle answered.

Andrea’s here? At Mandelah
? Since
when?
Estelle wondered to herself.
Does this mean that the
Red Devils
didn
’
t succeed in the evaluation,
either? Did it go to the other team?
She
forgot their name.

“
Are you based here?
I
’
ve not
seen you around,” Estelle asked.

“
No,” Andrea said, shaking her head, her
curly locks bumping against her face. “I
’
ve been continuing the training and
been posted in a number of places.”

That confirmed it. Andrea
’
s team had won. Estelle realised
her face was betraying her sense of jealousy. She decided not to
ask any more about how the training was going; about how Andrea was
getting on flying a starfighter that she should have been; about
how praise was being piled on her, for her great work.

She did
want to know one thing though: “So, what are you doing
here?”

“
Special operations,” Andrea replied with a knowingly
confident wink and a smile.

Estelle had heard enough. She sat back and closed her eyes,
waiting for the transport to arrive at it
’
s destination.

* * *

Dodds, Enrique and Chaz stood on the flight deck of
Griffin
, bunched up with
several other personnel and crew members, that had disembarked from
the transport shuttles. The deck of the carrier was massive,
spanning close to the entire width of the vessel itself. The
adjoining launch catapult ran almost a third of the
ship
’
s length,
the half-octagon-shaped tunnel lit at regular intervals as it
stretched off towards open space.

The
junior OOD instructed the new arrivals to await Parks. As the
numbers began to swell, the three men were joined by Estelle, and
then Kelly. Dodds witnessed a brief exchange between the two and
guessed that Estelle was busying herself keeping her team together
and focused. His eyes flickered over the gathering of personnel and
he noticed a tall woman with curly blonde hair being led away from
the main assembled group. Had he seen her somewhere before? His
eyes followed her for a moment, before he noticed Parks
approaching. The assembled group stood to attention and
saluted.

“
Welcome to the
CSN Griffin
, boys and girls,” Parks
addressed them as transports continued to arrive and unload their
passengers. “The ship you are standing on is currently acting as
the CSN
’
s
flagship, in
Dragon’
s
soon to be ended absence. This
is
my
ship and I
expect you to remember that at all times. You should feel both
honoured and privileged to have been given the opportunity to serve
aboard this vessel.”