“So what specifically is our mission and are there any other forces under command?”
“OK, forgive me you two, I should have run through a proper orders session but it’s been a long day. The Situation. Last reports from Beta Phi are that they are under ground attack at Niku and don’t expect to hold the spaceport there much longer. Consider it lost by the time you arrive. There’s a resistance plan in your detailed orders. There are reportedly eight, I repeat eight enemy capital ships and a further eight lights.”
Dave and Rihan looked at each other nervously.
“I know, daunting isn’t it? Your mission is in two parts. First phase, recon and harass the enemy fleet over Beta Phi. Find out their strength and deployment and weaken them without losing your ships. Phase two, under the command of the Ark Royal Group defeat the enemy over and on Beta Phi and secure its space. Timings. You will warp away on the 13th. ETA Klaster on the 20th. Recon and Harass Beta Phi till the 30th. That’s when you will come under command of the Ark Royal Group.”
Phil hit a control on his console. “The detailed orders should be available to you now. Get some sleep, digest the details and be back here at 0900 ready and packed to go. A shuttle will take you to your assembly area and from there you will proceed by shuttle to your ship. Any questions? I hope there isn’t any because I want to go to bed” he said with a weak smile.
Dave looked at Rihan and then turned to the Admiral “No Sir not now. Will we get a chance to confer before we depart?”
“I’ll meet you at the assembly area tomorrow morning at 1100.”
“Good Sir. We’ll let you get some sleep.”
It was 2330 before Dave and Rihan got into bed. They were both tired but keyed up at the same time. They lay there on their backs each trying to think of all the things they would now have to do in such an incredibly short time.
“We’re going to have a lot of very pissed off people to deal with tomorrow” said Rihan.
“Yeah and Aubrey will be at the top of the list when she realises she hasn’t a frigate to command” said Dave.
“Oh Yeah…hadn’t thought about that. What are you going to do?”
“Ops Officer I think.”
“Then Chase will be pissed.”
“Yep.”
“So two pissed subordinates?”
“Got any better ideas?”
“No not really. The obvious other position is Battle Systems but then Crystal will be pissed off. Either way really.”
“Yeah but she’s getting too old for Battle Systems.”
“Oooh. I’ll let you explain that to her then.”
“Thanks” said Dave. “Enough! Let’s get some shut eye. We’re up at six.”
Chapter 4. Nova Vista 0900, 12 May
Dave and Rihan were directed by the duty officer to make their way to hangar 1 at the Fleet spaceport. They jumped aboard a shuttle vehicle that was plying a regular trade between the main office complex and the spaceport. Their kit was stored under. As they climbed up the steps, the driver asked them to move on down. The vehicle was virtually full and Dave recognised quite a number of the faces.
“Sir” called out Aubrey who was near the back. They shuffled past rows of seats, stepped over a number of packs and a motley assortment of items that people didn’t trust to the hold below.
“Hi Sir” said Warrant Officer 2nd Class (WO2) Emilio Shavez, Dave’s marine detachment commander on the Hermes. His dark olive skin and Hispanic features offset his bright smile.
“Hi Chief.”
“Make way back there for the Captain” he ordered and the marines began moving their kit off the floor.
“Thanks Chief.”
“No worries Sir. Howdy Maam. I hope the honeymoon went well?”
Rihan gave him a warm smile. “Perfect up until yesterday.”
“Exactly.”
Now that the walkway was clear they made their way back down to two seats at the back next to Aubrey. “Good morning Sir, Maam.”
“And a good morning to you Aubrey” said Dave.
“You’re looking good” said Rihan with a smile.
Aubrey gave her a big smile back. “Pure bliss. Pity it’s been cut short. You don’t look too bad yourself.”
“Thanks” said Rihan as she swivelled and sank back into the seat. Dave followed her just as the vehicle started to move off. The driver under direction from the transport martial pulled out of the bay onto the road and gunned the engines. Everyone was yanked back into their seats. One occupant, who was still standing, fell over and was still getting back up when the driver, crossed into the next lane and accelerated rapidly.
“Anyone would think there is a war on” said Dave and that brought a few chuckles from the troopers in the seat in front.
“So what’s the drum Sir” asked Aubrey.
“Let’s wait till we get to the facility Aubrey and I can brief all the officers together. Suffice to say that the shit has hit the fan and we are being committed ahead of schedule.”
“Any news on my new ship?”
“Yes but you’re not going to like it.”
That took the wind out of Aubrey’s sail. “What Sir, please?”
“It’s not ready, neither of them. You’ve been assigned to the Resolute.”
Aubrey was disappointed to say the least but she was a professional and she tried to regain her composure. “To what position Sir?”
“I want to discuss that with you when we get there Aubrey.” He looked into her eyes as reassuring as he could. “We’ll work it out together.”
“Right Sir.”
That killed off any further conversation and they sat in silence for the remainder of the journey. Thankfully at the speed the driver was going that was only another fifteen minutes.
The transport martial had them off the vehicle and on the move to the nearby Hangar 1. It was huge, capable of housing the largest Fleet cruiser. A series of luggage buggies transferred the kit from the hold to an area within the hangar where the loggies were sorting it into groups according to which accommodation area aboard the new ship it was destined for.
A logistics officer found out Dave and introduced himself. He advised Dave that they had lain on some temporary offices about half way down. There was also a very large briefing room there as well. He said that in 20 minutes a column of trucks would be arriving with all manner of stores that would be transferred onto the shuttle that would arrive here any minute. The shuttle would take all the stores, crew and marines to their new ship. He apologised but said he had three other groups to look after today. He gave Dave his call sign and said if he had any problems to give him a call.
By this stage his officers and senior NCOs were all gathered around waiting for their boss to tell them what to do. The rest of the crew and marines were sitting down on the tarmac exchanging accounts of their leave. Dave took it all in. He’d been here before. It was the usual ‘hurry up and wait’ for the troops while the officers worked out what the fuck they were doing.
“Buster” said Dave.
“Sir” said Sgt Buster Williams. Buster had sandy hair and blue eyes. You wouldn’t call him handsome but he had a warm smile when he chose to use it. He used to be a technology specialist until promoted to lead Bravo team from the Hermes Marine detachment. He was a wizened veteran.
“Stay here. There will be a stream of vehicles delivering a lot more people over the course of the morning. Direct all officers and senior NCOs up the briefing room and all troops here. Let the troops goof off till you here otherwise from me. But no one leaves the hangar. Post two guards at the front door. The Chief will brief you later. So you won’t miss out on anything.”
“You got it Sir.”
“You enthusiastic chaps better follow me then” Dave said with a smile. They made themselves at home in the biggest room. It had a conference table and some chairs.
“I’m going to wait till the next lot arrives before I do my briefing. In the meantime can we get some coffee organised
for everyone. I’ll take this opportunity to see some of you individually. Aubrey can we have a chat first.”
“Sure Sir.”
While Rihan got the others moving to setup the conference room, Dave and Aubrey found a smaller nearby office.
“I won’t beat around the bush with you Aubrey. I know you are disappointed. You were expecting your own command but now have to serve under me again.”
“Don’t assume that Sir. What have you got for me?”
“I would like you to be my Ops Officer.”
“Not Battle Systems?”
“No.”
“Getting too old, hey?”
Dave nodded.
“You’re right Sir. That’s the right call. What about Chase?”
“He’ll be your assistant. Don’t worry there will be plenty of work for both of you. Did I mention we have our own fighters?”
Aubrey’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Sure do, a whole squadron - Lightnings no less. If it all works, this ship will be the most powerful cap, short of a full carrier, in the fleet.”
“All right Sir I’m good.”
“Thank you Aubrey. I value your professionalism. I will do my best to get you your independent command once this op is over.”
Aubrey nodded.
Rihan knocked and poked her head around the corner. “The next group just arrived. Ivan, Crystal, Val and Chase are in it along with a swag of junior officers I’ve never met.”
“OK, start getting everyone into the conference room. But I want to see James and Parinya now.”
Sgt James Rao entered first with a nervous look on his face. He had no idea why Dave wanted to see him. He responded to Dave’s gesture and sat down in the chair opposite.
“According to this manning schedule the senior pilot of our new craft should be a 1st Lt” said Dave who then went quiet and stared at James for a response.
“Oh…” said James “who will that be then?”
“I was hoping it would be you.”
“Me, an officer?” responded James with a self-mocking expression.
“Yes. You’ll make a fine officer James.”
James shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“I’m sure of it, James and I am going to insist. If you want to fly this new craft you have to take a commission.”
“That means giving up a lot Sir. I’m at home in the Senior NCOs mess.”
Dave nodded. “So what’s it to be?”
“You’re not offering me a fair choice are you?”
Dave shook his head.
James swallowed hard. “You know Sir you can be mighty pig headed at times.” Dave simply nodded while keeping his serious ‘I’m not going to blink first’ expression.
“All right then, since I don’t have a real choice.”
Dave smiled. “Good decision 2nd Lt Rao. You’ll get your second pip next year.” James nodded, still with concern on his face.
Sgt Parinya Puket knocked and entered when she heard Dave say “Come in.”
“That’s all now James, you had better get into the briefing.”
“Right Sir” said James as he stood up. “Don’t worry” he said to Parinya as he passed her. I’ve got a fair idea what’s in store for you.”
Parinya looked even more puzzled as the door closed behind her and she took the seat. “What did he mean?” she asked.
“2nd Lt Rao is just adjusting” said Dave.
“Oh” said a surprised Parinya.
“Parinya I want you to head up the warthog flight. It’s a 1st Lt position. I need you commissioned forthwith. 2nd Lt to start, then your second pip in a year. Are you up for it?”
Parinya’s face lit up like a little girl at her birthday party. “Wow!”
“I take that’s a yes then?”
“Yeah it’s a yes. Thank you Sir.”
Rihan stuck her head back in the door and said “We’re ready now.”
“We’re on our way” responded Dave and then to Parinya he added “Congratulation 2nd Lt Puket.” He derived immense pleasure at the smile on Parinya’s face.
A minute later, in front of a crowd all crammed into the briefing room, Dave made some brief introductions, acknowledged that many of them were new and welcomed them to the crew. He then briefed them on the situation and advised them of their orders. There were mixed reactions. “Before I get it into the nitty gritty of tasking are there any questions about the mission?”
“So does this mean we won’t be going on a two year cruise after all?” asked Emilio.
“Who knows Chief? A lot is going to depend on this battle for Beta Phi” said Dave.
“And whether we survive it” added a voice from the right.
“And you are?” asked Dave.
“Sgt Frank Halliday Sir, electrical engineering.”
“You haven’t seen our new ship yet have you.”
“No Sir I haven’t, but gee 8 caps and 10 lights. That’s going to be tough Sir.”
“Yes it is. I’m not going to guild the lily here. But we won’t be taking them all on by ourselves. We’ll be part of the Ark Royal group.”
“That’s later Sir in Phase 2. It’s Phase 1 I’m worried about.”
Dave just nodded. He didn’t try and argue the fellow down. He left him some space and sure enough Frank piped up “Don’t get me wrong Sir I’m behind you all the way.”
“Thank you. We’re all going to have to commit to this and support each other. It’s going to be very dangerous. There is no doubt about that. If any of you want out, come and see me after this briefing. There will be no shame and no blame if you do.”
He paused for a moment. “Any other questions?”
“OK next order of business is tasking. I know a lot of you, but there are many here I don’t. I want to see each new officer right after this briefing. Commander Kabel, the XO, will see each new Senior NCO. Ivan can you work up a list and schedule for the officers and Chief can you do likewise for the senior NCOs.”
They both nodded and Dave called it to a close. Dave and Rihan were flat out over the next hour working through their respective lists. Dave knew it was ludicrous to be making assignments on the basis of a five minute chat and a perusal of their personnel record. He still had two officers to go when Ivan knocked to advise him that the fighter pilots had just arrived and there was a 1st Lt Tammy Jahir from the 30th Independent Marine Coy wanting to speak with him about arrangements for her marines.
At that moment the heavy lift Shuttle taxied up to the hangar and he could not hear anything while its engines were still on. It was 1100 already. He took a deep breath in. “OK thanks Ivan. Ask them to wait. I’ll be out directly.” He dismissed the subaltern in front of him and went to the room next door. He knocked loudly and then poked his head in.
“Rihan” he yelled over the noise of the engines. “Time to go.”
She nodded.
He turned around to Emilio and yelled “Get everyone and everything onto the Shuttle. The XO and I have a meeting with the Admiral”
The noise stopped mid-sentence and Dave smiled with a shake of his head. “Sorry Chief” he continued in a quieter voice.
“Right you are Sir. Leave it to me.”
“Oh one other thing” he said quietly into his ear. “Did anyone ask to opt out?”
“No Sir. No one.”
Dave just nodded. He could see Phil Yomoto getting out of a car at the hangar entrance. “Here’s the Admiral. Can you please bring him down here and into that office?”
“Sure Sir.”
Phil Yomoto looked around as Emilio led him to the office. He’d seen it all before too. It looked like shambles and chaos, and to a degree it was, but he knew that earnest people were at work trying to organise and expedite. Li Nahn gave him a wave as he passed. His pilots looked relaxed compared to everyone else. A group of about 50 were manhandling gear onto a flatbed truck. Other groups were being briefed by their NCOs in little clusters throughout the hangar. The
odd trooper ran, some sat and others milled about.
As he approached the offices a group of subalterns were scrutinising a list Rihan had drawn up for their assignments. He could tell some were pleased while others weren’t. He remembered a similar experience twenty years earlier when he was one of those less than happy with his assignment and he smiled. ‘Sometimes it’s the very thing you don’t want that delivers the best outcome’ he said to himself as he passed them.
He saw Rihan waiting at the door and nodded. He entered, sat down and they got straight to business. “Looking good Dave.” Dave gave him a knowing a smile and Phil smiled back. “So what do you need?”
“Where are we actually going in this shuttle?”
“A place called Tumos down in the desert. Its unofficial title is Deathly Hollows. It’s a big underground facility. Top Secret. It was purpose built for the construction of the stealth ships. Butros Alia is not far away.”
“So we warp out tomorrow for Klaster, RV with the Sydney and Washington and then conduct Phase 1?”
“Correct. The detailed orders didn’t have any contact details for our people on Beta Phi. We’re going to need these before we go.”
“Shit. Ok. Leave it with me.” Phil started making a note on his console. He had hit send to his PA before Dave got to his next point.
“Also Sir” said Rihan “there are no detailed logistic arrangements. We presume that we will be doing a series of raids during this first phase and we will need a resup for missiles and fuel during this first period.”
“Yeah I know. We’re working on that. Trouble is Beta Phi was the logistics hub for that sector after Klaster was clobbered.”
“Hasn’t Klaster been rebuilt yet?” asked Rihan.
“Your successor, Liz Adair, she’s good but it’s been a slow process. Right now Klaster can resup the two frigates but your ship uses new missiles – you’ll get briefed on these Torads later today. So there are none on Klaster now. We’re looking into establishing a daily shuttle run into Klaster. But we have to scrape up the shuttles first. We lost so many over Beta Phi.
“New missiles hey?” asked Dave.
“Yes they should give you an edge” said Phil.
“We’re going to need it” said Rihan.
Insurrection: Book 3 of Warner's World Page 5