Audacity (Warner's World Book 5)

by Dave O'Connor

  “We need time to recce that area first. This could be a trap” said Felis. “This isn’t a game” he added in earnest. “Come on then, we need to hurry.” He cast an eye across to Madge and Judy and flicked his head towards the outside where the light was fading fast. Madge nodded and moved out.

  Before he followed suit Felis turned to Evie “and when do we meet Melnar?”

  “He couldn’t meet tonight. Says he needs more time. We are to ring tomorrow.”

  “Hmm” said Felis now even more annoyed. “We cannot stay here tonight. It’s too dangerous. You should have woken me earlier.” He stormed out.

  Evie was still of two minds about Felis. She wasn’t about to take a backward step with him nor let him dictate the course of events. She took a last look inside, closed the door and jogged to catch up with the others.

  Chapter 6. Resolute to Q2 1830, 14 August

  Dave had had enough and pushed his dinner plate forward. He looked around the mess and was struck by one overwhelming observation and that was how tired everyone looked. He knew it wasn’t purely physical. No it was the emotional stress from the earlier battle, Kat, Chase and the whole bloody mess with Chen.

  This was not a good state at the best of times. It could prove fatal going into another battle and one that would involve close quarter fighting. ‘No it won’t do at all’ said Dave to himself. He got up and walked over to where Ivan was eating with Jasmin.

  “Excuse me Ivan” he said.

  Ivan beckoned him to join them but Dave remained standing. Instead he leant forward and said “I want to address everyone involved in the ground op in the G deck briefing room in say 30 minutes. I won’t need long.”

  “OK Sir I’ll see to it.”

  Half an hour later Dave stood up in the briefing room. It was jammed packed with nearly 200 marines, shuttle crew and fighter squadron personnel. Only half were lucky enough to have a seat. The rest were standing where they could. It was already quite warm within the big room.

  With this many bodies to dampen the sound it was as well Dave had a big voice. He took a big breath in and began.

  “By now you should all know what we are going to be doing. I’m here to make sure you know why we are doing it.” He pressed the control on the terminal to fire up the holo and activated Chase’s simulation from this morning. He used the laser wand to highlight the display.

  “What you see here is the Qwantum system we are in. A couple of weeks ago the Phantom came out of warp here very abruptly because of a gravity anomaly from this big gas giant Q4. That anomaly was caused by this.” He activated the feed from the Konkorda Pod. “That is the IRS Fustus. It has just launched a missile that will penetrate deep into Q4. Now the device carried aboard that missile is activated. It’s what we know as a Pulman Mass Exchanger. It converts energy into mass and that has increased the gravity of Q4. It’s getting worse. Here’s what we believe will happen.”

  He switched back to Chase’s simulation and stopped it just after Q3 collides with Q4. He could see that it had a big impact on those watching. “That’s not going to happen for about five years but within one year you won’t be able to warp into this system. There’s 4 billion rogan on Q2. They are going to be hard pressed to evacuate in time assuming they can get access to a spaceport and the biggest transport armada that has ever been seen.”

  “The Imperialist have done this to their people because down on Q2 the resistance is winning. The Imperialist still control the spaceport and are conducting operations in earnest against them. Our long term objective is to support the resistance and bring down the Imperialist. We need to show the resistance that we can be relied upon to support them in their hour of need.”

  “So that’s why you are going into action tonight.” Dave paused to let it sink in. Then he continued. “When we pull this off we will be sending a powerful signal to all rogan that the days of the Imperialists are numbered. More will join the Resistance and the end of this war will be closer.”

  “Earlier today we destroyed their ships. Now we are returning to deliver the body blow. Go in fast, go in hard. Come back alive.”

  Someone up the back yelled out “Hoorah!” in a deep voice but it wasn’t taken up by anyone else.

  “Oh and one other thing” said Dave. “We won’t be staying here long. We have to go help liberate the sleth home worlds. It seems we’re in demand” said Dave with a smile. That bought a few laughs but most faces were serious. Ivan stood up and began issuing martialling instructions. Dave left the room.

  Art caught up with him near the elevator. “Hey buddy” called out Art.

  Dave turned. “Oh Hi Art” he said.

  “Nice Gee-up there boss!”

  “It seemed the thing to do” said Dave. What little adrenalin had fired during his talk was now rapidly waning.

  “Are you all right Dave?” asked Art.

  “Yeah I’m OK. A little tired. This business with Chen has been a right royal pain in the arse.”

  Art nodded. He knew all about it after listening to Jim earlier.

  “Ah! He’ll probably get himself killed in the first rush. I wouldn’t worry.”

  “You’re right about the odds but if you think it’s bad now with all this political grief well it will get a whole lot worse.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Gee if my kid turned out like him I’d be grateful” said Art with one of his wicked grins.

  Dave laughed. “You’re incorrigible Art.”

  Art smiled at the compliment and then added “Oh don’t forget, you will let me know as soon as you make contact with any of these resistance fighters?” asked Art.

  “Sure Art. Keep safe and nothing stupid right?”

  “Don’t worry I’ve got my other boss looking after me” said Art with another grin.

  Dave laughed. “And you look after her too.”

  “All the time mate. I better go.”

  Dave made his way back up to the command centre. John had the watch and Crystal was on battle systems. He was in discussion with Jasmin about the P22 probe that will be launched on coming out of warp. Its route was displayed on the holo, which had been positioned and zoomed to show the city of Rollinium located at the south east of the predominant land mass. The route’s point of entry was over the south pole and it travelled above the atmosphere heading nor-northwest roughly in line with the eastern seaboard.

  On closer inspection Dave could see that it in fact it was composed of a number of short zigzag legs. The annotations next to each leg indicated the times at which it would use active sensors before reactivating cloak. Unlike larger vessels it could do so quickly and Jasmin was hoping this would give the probe some chance of survival.

  “It’s not going to work” said John to Jasmin.

  “Why not?” she asked a little indignantly.

  “It’s too predictable” responded John in a soft voice that he was using in an attempt to be less threatening to the recipient. He came over to her terminal. “May I?” he asked with a warm smile. She could see he was making an effort to be nice and it was partially successful. Reluctantly she handed over the controls to him.

  “If you select the route, then apply the Randomiser function like so and then set the min and max leg distance and the min and max activation duration like so, you’ll make it much harder for the bad guys.” He smiled at her rather than his usual grin. He did not want to appear cocky at her expense.

  Jasmin nodded. “I didn’t even know you could do that?” she said as John got back up and she sat back down.

  “Tricks of the trade” he said with a warm smile as he walked back to the far side of the holo. He busied himself with his pre warp out checklist unbeknown to the fact that Crsytal has been observing him intently. But it hadn’t escaped Dave who leant back in his chair with a wry smile.

  Then he remembered something. “Jasmin when you are finished there I need you.”

  “Of course Sir.”

  Dave rubbed his tired eyes and for the first time since
this morning wondered what Rihan would be doing right now. A smile appeared on his face as he did so.

  It was still there when Jasmin said “Yes Sir?”

  Dave turned to face her. “Work me up a signal to the Admiral for transmission once we deactivate the cloak. Tell him we are commencing ground ops to secure the spaceport etc and that we’ll report progress as and when we can. Forewarn him that we may need to return to Chelora to restock missiles.”

  “Very good Sir. I’ll have it to you shortly” she said.

  Dave glanced across to Chase. He had nothing more to do for now and so was sitting back in his chair. Dave checked the time. It was going on 2000 hours. Warp out was not for thirty minutes. “Coffee Chase?”

  It broke Chase’s reflections and he swung his chair around to face Dave. “Sure” he said, his voice still a little distant. Chase also checked the time. “We’ll have to hurry though” he added in a flat tone.

  Chase led the way to the coffee machine in the officers’ mess but was intercepted by Cranky Jack. “Let me Sir” he said to Chase. While Chase was surprised at such an offer, he nodded and gave Cranky a weak smile of thanks. To Dave, Cranky added “I’ll bring ‘em both over.”

  “Thanks Cranky” said Dave. “Any of that pie left?”

  “I believe there maybe two slices Sir. Leave it with me.”

  Chase was still very much focussed within or more correctly on Kat in the recovery ward. Dave wasn’t sure what to say. Everything he thought to say failed one of the four gates of speech, being either not true, not necessary, not required right now or not kind. So he opted just to sit there in silence with Chase. Chase didn’t seem perturbed by this state of affairs.

  Cranky delivered the coffees and pie. They were consumed in silence. Chase actually licked his lips at the end of the last mouthful of pie but he hadn’t really tasted anything. Just at that moment he became aware of his surroundings. He looked at Dave and smiled “thanks Sir. We better get back.”

  “You’re welcome Chase. Do you want to check in on Kat?”

  Chase shook his head and then added as he stood up “No she’s in good hands.” Part of him knew that if he did go and see her now he might not get back to the command centre.

  They had to wait for the elevator to come back up. When it opened Mary came out. “Oh Chase you’ll be pleased to know that Kat has settled very nicely.” Mary had the warmest of smiles.

  It cut through Chase’s demeanour. He smiled back as he passed her on his way into the elevator. “Thanks, that’s great. I’ll be back down later.”

  Chapter 7. Lewista 1900, 14 August

  For the first time since stepping foot on Cheklin, Felis wished he was wearing a suit. He could have used the zoom feature in the helmet’s visor to better make out the small craft parked in the centre of the field. It was a good 300m away and it was a small craft, one of the flash city hoppers that only corporations or the privileged could afford.

  He pulled out the small hand held thermal sight from his pack and scanned the entire area slowly. There were two in the hopper and one standing on the ground nearby. The tree line behind them looked clear. To the left the fallowed field was empty. The one on the right was yet to be harvested. The crop was two metres tall. ‘Anyone could be in there’ said Felis to himself. The crop was so dense that it blocked the thermal signatures after as little as a few metres in.

  He didn’t have time to clear it. He sensed Evie’s frustration. She was a couple of metres back taking cover behind the water tower. Felis glanced back to it and knew that he could get a good look from up there onto the top of that crop field. But again there was not enough time.

  “I will go first” he said to Evie in a low voice. He knew that Madge had come up and was now crouching low in the drainage furrow this side of the track. Felis knew that their pistols would be useless from this range. He didn’t like it but knew the only options were to go ahead or turn around. On reflection he knew there was only one option. He put the site back in his pack and paced towards the hopper.

  He got halfway and called out in rogan “It’s me, Draag.” The light blinded him temporarily. He was like the bunny in the spotlight and felt as vulnerable.

  “Hands high. Come forward slowly” sounded the male voice up ahead.” Felis obliged. At twenty paces out he could make out the dark shape of the fellow holding the light. There was a pistol in his other hand. “Stop there. Where’s Plentun?”

  “She will come forward once I am satisfied it is safe to do so” replied Felis.

  The left rear door of the hopper opened and out stepped a figure. With the light still blazing at him he could not make out who it was.

  “I am Meelanda Orocash” said a female voice. She stepped forward next to the male with the light. She held her own light above her head. Felis could see that she matched the image he had studied earlier. She had the bearing of an aristocrat. ‘A handsome lady’ thought Felis. But that counted for little at the moment.

  “Let me call her forward?” asked Felis.

  “Go ahead” said Meelanda.

  Felis withdrew his communicator from his pants and hailed Evie “Come forward.”

  “Stay here” said Evie to Madge in a low voice.

  At that moment Madge wondered as to what she would do if Felis and Evie were taken. They could be bundled into that craft and whisked away before she could cover the distance to be in effective range. She didn’t like it but like Felis felt there was little choice. “OK” she whispered back.

  Judy was on the other side of the water tower and was feeling just as powerless. She watched Evie step forward at a forthright pace as though she was marching to her destiny. She found that reassuring.

  Evie stopped next to Felis on his right and looked left to gauge his state. He was tense but that was to be expected. She turned to face the woman under the light. “Madam Orocash?” she said formally.

  “Please Evie, call me Meelanda. How can I help?”

  After half an hour of talking Meelanda’s minder whispered in her ear and she said “We need to go.”

  “We need a place to stay” said Evie.

  Meelanda nodded. “I have a place you could use but the trouble is there is not enough room in this hopper.”

  “Actually, there are four of us.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “As I mentioned we came here on a human ship and they have provided me with two bodyguards.”

  “That won’t work” said Meelanda. The tone of her voice saying ‘what were you thinking?’

  “Wait. Let me show you.” Evie hailed “Madge, Judy, come join us.”

  Madge and Judy came forward and when they entered the light Meelanda said “Well! That is amazing.”

  Evie smiled. “Let me introduce Madge and Judy. This is Meelanda Orocash. She is going to provide us with a place to stay.”

  “This is going to require two trips” said Meelanda. “I have to be somewhere else.” Turning to her minder she said “Stay here till we return. Look after them.” The minder nodded.

  Felis agreed to wait with Judy. Evie and Meelanda climbed into the back seats of the hopper. Madge hopped next to the pilot, the first fair headed rogan she had encountered. He gave her a quizzical look but he had too much to do to dwell or chat. Madge found the seat on the small size and only just managed to secure the harness around her.

  Madge looked back, saw that Evie and Meelanda were engrossed in their own talk. She picked up a few of the rogan words but it was all too fast for her to follow. So she eased back as best she could as the hopper took off. Its thrusters made short work of it. She was fascinated by the way the pilot flew the craft with just his hand moving over a transparent surface in front of him.

  The surface curved from the horizontal to the vertical, forming a crescent facing him, with the vertical part furthest away from the pilot. It showed a semitransparent 3D map display. The craft’s current position was marked along a route line. The pilot adjusted the route waypoints with a wave of on
e hand. He zoomed in the display so that the details of the city scape were more easily recognised. Madge could see that they were climbing to an altitude a few hundred metres above the top of the buildings, then flying straight towards the centre at this altitude.

  The pilot added another waypoint with the touch of his finger and the route line dived down into the city. With the dexterity that comes from much practice and a smart AI the route was adjusted to navigate around the building before reaching its destination. With a flick of his hand the display zoomed back out and the pilot levelled off from the climb.

  Madge estimated they must have been about 1,000m off the ground. From her vantage point she looked down through the windows to see a city full of light coming up fast. The hopper was probably only doing 200kph thought Madge but as they crossed into the urban terrain it seemed a lot faster.

  The pilot was hailing someone. She couldn’t make out what he was saying. All of a sudden she was distracted by the sight of the tall buildings ahead. What struck her was the beauty of the architecture. A favourite or at least a common design was the slender crescent. Many of the buildings were topped with large domes.

  She peered sideways as they passed one of these, not more than 200m below. It might have been night time but everything within the expanse of the dome was lit up like it was day. She could see figures moving among green vegetation and what she thought was a pool. As they whizzed past the image blurred into a strip of blended greens, blues and white. ‘So beautiful’ she thought.

  Her focus was disrupted when the hopper slowed and began its descent. Madge turned forward to see a series of hover lights marking an aerial ramp down into the city. Following a line of these hover lights, they dropped below the top of the nearby buildings. The pilot slowed even more. Up ahead was a row of three crescent shaped skyscrapers. Their shape reminded her of a hand of bananas positioned end on end and curving to the left. The space between the top and bottom of the crescent was delineated by three hover light aligned vertically. The hopper was level with the top one. It was probably no more than 300m away. Its light changed from a washed out yellow to a bright purple.