“Looks like you impressed the Commodore” said Meg.
Hec nodded and then added “You know he’s not the cold, hard martinet that he likes to convey.”
“Really?” questioned Meg. “I’m glad to hear that. We’re hosting him for dinner at 1900 – dress uniform and all.” Hec rolled his eyes. “You better check on the mess staff and get yourself cleaned up.”
Chapter 7. Phantom over Q2 1800, 2 September
Tola had just taken over the watch when Evie’s message came through. She saw that it went on for several pages. She quickly scanned it and realised that this was above her pay grade. She hailed Aubrey and a minute later she and Julian walked into the command centre.
Tola watched the Commodore reading the message and in particular his habit of pulling on his chin as he paused and pondered something. He did this several times oblivious of his observer. Finally he looked up from the terminal screen and said “I need to go to Cheklin.”
Aubrey had already considered this as she read through the message herself, but she had quickly discounted it as an option. “I can’t take the Phantom away Sir…or commit the Raptor or the Spectre. Our mission is to secure here and I need every one of our few missiles here.”
“Then it’s obvious” said Julian “transfer your missiles to the other ships. Two frigates with the same paltry supply of missiles are just as good a piquet as three. Don’t you agree?”
“Well…I suppose. But…”
“Good. Then I think we need to make preparations for warp now.” He tilted his head forward confirming that this was not really a request.
“All right Sir but I need time for the missile transfer and to hand over to Commander Brice.”
“Excellent” said Julian as he stood. “Don’t let me detain you.” He turned and walked out.
Tola turned to Aubrey who shrugged her shoulders and said “Rank obviously has its privileges. Get the Spectre on the line and have Martin do the transfer as quick as you can.”
“Yes Maam” said Tola with a smile.
Chapter 8. Qoniz, Cheklin 2205, 2 September
“Well that Slirinus came good tonight” announced Erkum to his fellow passengers aboard their hopper. Meelanda nodded.
“A pleasant change,” added Evie, “though if this keeps up I’m going to need to start doing some exercise”.
Erkum laughed. “Pretty good crowd too. What do you reckon 50,000?”
“Maybe more. They stretched all the way back down the concourse. What do you reckon?” asked Evie of Meelanda.
Meelanda’s focus was elsewhere. But she could see Evie looking at her. She eventually nodded. “One night without Security is not really enough.” She cast a look at Erkum but not even his aunt’s concerning look could dampen his buoyant mood.
“Well I think it’s a good start. May it continue” and he took a swig from his drink container.
“What’s in that?” asked Evie with a suspicious smile.
“Would you like some?” said Erkum in a conspiratorial voice.
Evie took the container and her swig confirmed her suspicions. “Very refreshing” she said with a grin and offered Meelanda the container.
Meelanda shook her head. She was deep in thought. ‘What if the humans were not prepared to fight under rogan colours?’ She had asked herself that same question several times now and she still did not have a good answer. Then another thought struck her ‘what if the rogan admiral won’t fight with the humans?’ It was all getting too much for a tired mind. ‘Rest is what I need’ she advised herself. With that she turned her head to the window and with her hand against the headrest supported her head and closed her eyes.
Evie looked to Erkum, who just shrugged his shoulders and leant forward and took the container. He then gulped a mouth full before exhaling “Haah.”
Evie shook her head in mock disapproval followed by a smile. “It’s nice to have things go right for a change!”
Chapter 9. IRS Guglin to Q2 1100 3 September
Admiral Hatzu Swenegil commanded the 3rd Rogan Imperial Fleet (RIF). His nic was ‘scrapper’ and unlike many monikers it was very apt. Born a second tier aristocrat he had to fight hard all his life to get ahead. There were no easy pathways to the top when first tier aristocrats clogged the upper ranks.
Yet he had prevailed and risen to one of the most senior commands in the fleet. He had achieved this by being tougher, more ruthless and more dogged than his compatriots. Once he set his sights on an objective he would not let go or give up till he had secured it. This had made him a favourite with the First Consul and that was why he had been assigned to the task of retaking Qwantum.
It was not that Qwantum was useful. Far from it. Now that it was on a downward spiral into oblivion its long term prospects of making a valuable contribution to the empire were non-existent. But, and it was a big but, it could not be allowed to serve as a base, even a temporary one, for the humans.
So his orders were to retake control of Qwantum, deny it to the humans and punish the Resistance there. Under no circumstances were any of the populous to be allowed to evacuate. They had chosen their side and now they must suffer the consequences. It was important after all that an example be set.
And so with these objectives in mind Hatzu pondered how he should best go about it. He lamented the fact that he had to leave behind his flagship, the carrier IRS Nonomon. It was in service. In fact the whole fleet had been in service and his crews were supposed to be enjoying a well-deserved rest. But that was before the First Consul called him directly and so now he had just five caps and five lights. The rest would rejoin him at Q2 in a month’s time or thereabouts.
All he knew from the last report sent by the two frigates he had sent earlier was that they were under attack from human stealth ships. It didn’t say how many nor of what class or size and so he had very little to go on. He had studied the database on these new human stealth ships – well, on the one they called the Resolute anyway. They were a formidable challenge but he had his engineers working on something he thought might even up the scales.
The trick was to detect them. Then he could use superior numbers and firepower to destroy them. From all accounts they were invisible to radar except at extremely close range but they could be detected by ladar under the right circumstances.
But Hatzu knew that to detect something at great distances with ladar was problematic at best. It took a long time for the ladar lasers to scan in all directions. The further out it scanned the more space that had to be scanned and the less likelihood of detection. His chief engineer, Commander Wiglenum Spoltus, had surprised him with his rather ingenious solution.
He had convinced him enough to try it and so Spoltus had been constructing the components of what he referred to as a ladar array. Now it was time to put it to the test. The fleet had come out of warp deep in the space. The probes carrying the modified ladar systems had been deployed. It had taken them three hours to get into position. Now was the moment of truth.
“I believe we are ready Sir” advised Wiglenum.
“Proceed” commanded Hatzu.
“Elanwul commence moving” instructed Wiglenum.
The frigate Elanwul was 100,000 kms (100K) away at a location they did not know. Its commander had been directed to stop all emissions and so was running without its active radar and all transmissions blocked.
Wiglenum looked to the holo. “Mmm…” he muttered. There was still no detection of the Elanwul. “Increase speed” he hailed. Still no detection. “Faster.” A detection icon appeared on the holo. “Ah ah!” exclaimed Wiglenum. Then the detection icon disappeared. It fired again a few seconds later. Wiglenum allowed the test to go on for a couple of minutes. “Stop” he hailed. He turned to Hatzu. “Well Sir it’s not perfect but it’s a good start. At least it gives an intermittent detection capability.”
“Well that’s a lot more than we had. Very good work. Can it be improved upon before we arrive?”
“Not with the resources
and facilities here Sir. But at a fleet base well I believe we can improve it.”
“Can we increase the range?”
“Not really sir. Well we could if we had a lot more probes. But as you extend the range you need more and more. Given our resources I think this is as good as we can expect for now. Also it takes hours as you saw just to position them all. It would take a lot more time for a bigger array.”
“I see” and Hatzu rubbed his chin as he thought. “It’s going to be useless on the attack but useful on the defence. OK very good. Bring all our probes back and get the Elanwul back into formation. I want to be back in warp as soon as possible.”
Chapter 10. Resolute to Q2, 0710 4 September
Crystal was on the walking machine in the gym when Dave entered. He nodded to her as he hopped on the adjacent exercise bike. As he peddled up into his usual cycle Crystal asked “what happens to John and the others in Rollinium if the enemy fleet is already there?”
“They will have to take their chances as best they can” said Dave. “Much will depend on whether the enemy comes with substantial ground units or not. But don’t worry, the Resistance will protect them. Besides they are all capable of looking after themselves.”
Crystal didn’t reply. She just kept thrusting her wiry arms forward and back with the levers as she paced out with her legs. Dave cast a look at her and thought to himself that she looked like one of those ronin warriors from Japan that he remembered reading about from his school days – right down to the black tights and her long black hair done up in a series of tight folds like a samurai. It then struck him that Wong was a Chinese name not a Japanese one.
They both continued with their exercise in silence. With a shake of his head Dave realised he was being an idiot. She obviously cared for John but he didn’t really know the status of their relationship. So he had to tread carefully. “You miss John?” he asked as casually as he could make it sound.
She pretended not to hear him and continued with her rhythm of motion. Dave looked across to her and could see a tear running down her face. He wanted to say something but was unsure. He often found it difficult in these situations and he wanted to avoid putting his foot in it. ‘Empathy - share something about yourself Dave’ he said to himself.
“I really miss Rihan” he said.
She hit the stop button on her walker, wiped her face with her towel and turned to face him. “But she’s not in real danger. Is she?”
Dave knew in an instant that he had muffed it. He stopped his bike. “I’m sorry Crystal. You’re right she’s not.”
“It should be me down there on Q2, not John” she said with her eyes welling up. “I was so selfish. I’ve always been so selfish. I’m going to hate myself if anything happens to him.” She used the towel again to wipe her eyes.
Dave stepped off the bike and put a hand on her shoulder. Six months ago she would have recoiled at such a gesture but right now she wanted to be held. She leaned her head into his chest and sobbed. She really sobbed for the first time in her adult life. Dave gave her a reassuring pat on the back but then just held her there.
She finally stopped and he dropped his arms. She reached for the towel and wiped her eyes. “Sorry” she said and began walking to the door. Just before she reached it she turned and added “Thanks.” Dave nodded as she left.
Chapter 11. Spectre over Q2 1600, 4 September
There was no denying it now. Both probes on the far side of the planet had relayed back the same detections. Sheldon looked at the icons appearing on the holo and his heart sank. There were five caps and five lights but no transports. That was something to be grateful for. It meant that, at the most, the enemy had two battalions of troops, maybe less.
Anita stood next to him having come into the command centre when she heard the news. With one hand on the back of his chair she leaned over to check some data on his screen. Seemingly satisfied she stood upright and said “they’ll be sending probes around. We need to signal the Resolute and Fleet asap.”
Sheldon nodded. Then he called out “Michael, report what’s happening here to Rollinium Control, the Resolute, Kiev and to the Phantom too.”
“Roger Sir” said Michael.
“Meg” he hailed.
“You seeing what I’m seeing” asked Meg.
“Five and five?”
“Yeah five and five. We staying or going?”
“We’ll stay but cloaked. We’ll wait till the Resolute arrives. We stick to the plan OK. No shooting unless it’s at their shuttles.”
“With that many ships even if we fire all the missiles we’ve got it’s unlikely we’ll get a hit on any shuttle.”
“True. OK we’ll hold our powder then till the Resolute arrive. But let’s redeploy 400K further back along Q2’s orbit. We’ll maintain that distance relative to the planet. That way we can keep them under observation no matter which side they end up on. Here I’m sending you your objective loc. Wait till the Resolute arrives and then we take her lead.”
“Agreed.”
“OK I’m just going to advise our friends below, then that will be my last transmission. Good luck.”
“You too.”
Chapter 12. Rollinium 1610, 4 September
John took the initial hail from Sheldon but put Sue on straight away. Sue took the news that the Spectre and Raptor would not fire till the Resolute arrived in her stride. She understood the logic of it. But it did mean that the only missile defence they had was her support droids and they only had a measly 48 missiles. She knew there would be no engaging the enemy ships. It would be pointless. But the enemy’s shuttles that was another matter.
Sheldon believed they would move around the planet to attack Rollinium directly, which meant they would have at best a couple of hours. They would need every minute so she wished Sheldon the best, terminated the call and then hailed Art who was currently in the city with the Resistance leaders.
The Resistance, to their credit, had taken advantage of the break from hostilities that they had enjoyed these last ten days to dig in around the spaceport. There was still rubble everywhere from the last attack but within it there were a series of fortified posts. After Art relayed the news to Rentra there was a flurry of activity around the spaceport and throughout the city.
John looked up at Sue from his chair in the control room. When she finished her call he said “They’ll beam us for sure. I reckon we’d stand a better chance across the other side.”
Sue pondered for a few moments. They had debated this very question at some length and the consensus had been that the basement here in the main terminal could withstand a beam attack. But now that it was more than likely she agreed with John. “OK sign off and let’s get going.”
Chapter 13. IRS Guglin over Q2, 1620, 4 September
Hatzu was under no delusion about the apparent absence of enemy craft. He suspected the enemy stealth craft were still here lying cloaked in the dark of space. But he hoped to shed some light on that and had opted to stay on the far side of Q2. His objective in terms of his first attack would be Rollinium but he would wait for the natural rotation of the planet to bring the city under him rather than go chasing after it. It would come within beam range in the middle of the wee morning hours.
In the meantime he was deploying his secret weapon. Well he knew it wasn’t a weapon per se but it would allow his weapons to target the enemy. He was laying a trap that he hoped would temp the enemy to make a run at him. It was diabolically simple. He would raze Rollinium with his beam weapons.
He had already dismissed the idea of an assault with his ground troops. He was only carrying two battalions worth and knew they would be insufficient to hold on against the Resistance forces. He lacked enough fighters to adequately support them. His roster said he had 31 effectives, which meant at best he could maintain one squadron on station and he’d rather use those for CAP.
He looked at the time again and saw that his ladar array would not be in position for almost three hours
. This was his most vulnerable time. He had pushed out his frigates to create a wide box. Within that his capital ships were arrayed in a relatively tight arrowhead ready for their bombardment tasks. The array when it completed would be the outer box.
Chapter 14. Spectre over Q2, 1800, 4 September
The Spectre had now gone to the far side of the planet, its passive sensors identified the enemy craft. They saw several probes being launched but thought this was standard practice for any fleet wishing to maintain detection around the planet.
Anita looked at the holo expecting to see more activity. But like the previous time she looked a minute ago, nothing had changed. “Looks like it’s going to be a tedious long night” she said to Sheldon. He nodded.
Chapter 15. Rollininium 0245, 5 September
The beam attack started like all beam attacks with a searing bright light. In this case it was five searing bright lights. Each cap fired its beam weapon in bursts of around 10 seconds. Where it anticipated hardened shelters, such as around the spaceport it increased the duration to up to 30 seconds. But the drain on power was immense and after ten minutes the attack stopped.
Ten thousand kilometres above the planet they were rewarded with a few bright lights from the many fires sparked by the attack. But down on the ground in the city of Rollinium it was horrific devastation. The downtown area of the city was ablaze with many towers destroyed.
The raised expressway that had once been the conduit for the imperialist attack on the spaceport was no longer raised in many sections. The industrial areas on either side which had already seen much fighting were once again engulfed in a mini firestorm.
Out of one of the bunkers recently build on the far side of the spaceport runway emerged a command droid occupied by Sue Chalker. Convinced that the bombardment had finished she quickly accelerated her droid to 15 kph and made her way across the runway in big giant strides. Through her thermal imaging she could see that the runway itself had a huge fissure cut through it. She leapt across in one bound and headed to the main building.
Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) Page 38