by H. M. Clarke
“Search and rescue?” Joshua asked clearly confused. “Who?”
“Intelligence suggests that the man I am hunting has taken a ‘friend’ of mine. I have to get him back.”
“Friend?”
Katherine closed her eyes. Joshua had to know; 5- Daniel; is his brother. Then the realization finally hit her. They are brothers. Shit!
“Joshua, the Alliance has taken your brother Daniel. And I have to get him back.”
Joshua’s faced drained white. “They’ve taken him? How do you know? How can you know? Why are you going to rescue him?”
Katherine opened her eyes and looked up into Joshua’s again. “I was the officer who bought Daniel out of Yunga. And the Alliance tried to get me three years ago destroying my home colony in the process, and once Daniel was out from under the wing of Federation protection, they went out to get him too.” Katherine felt the rage building again inside of her but with a strong force of will she kept it contained.
“You’re the officer who destroyed Yunga?” Joshua’s disbelief flashed across his face, quickly followed by horror as Katherine’s words sunk in.
“You were the one who rescued my brother? He spoke of the officer who got him out, but he always referred to them as ‘72’.” Joshua rubbed hard at his face as he recovered from the shock.
“I was called subject 72, and he is subject 56. And it is because of your brother that I am here alive and sane. I owe him a debt that my life cannot repay. I owe it to him to get him back from those Alliance bastards.” Katherine breathed in deep to steady her nerves. “I only found out 56’s real name last night when I was told that the Alliance had him again. That was the reason I was walking down that street – and then I saw you after the fight and for a moment I thought you were 56…” Katherine took another steadying breath and forced the mantle of an ADF Officer to cover her again. “I think we should leave this subject for now, the GG’s private dining room isn’t the best place to discuss this.”
Joshua nodded his weary agreement.
“Come with me and I’ll take you on a tour of the AFV Adelaide. Afterwards we can talk some more.”
Chapter
Ten
The New Holland Federation House is a modern marvel in architecture, Katherine thought as she waited with Joshua in the entrance gardens for their cars to arrive. Not completely to her aesthetic tastes but Katherine could appreciate it. She had a soft spot for the Victorian architecture that still stood in the city of Adelaide. Those sandstone edifices were now dwarfed by the towering modern buildings that seem to grow ever higher as the decades passed by, but old North Terrace always caused a silent awe within her every time she saw it.
This Federation House reminded Katherine of the old Bicentennial Parliament House back in Canberra, Australia. That building now functioned as a museum and it was a building she had never been a big fan of. But it was a symbol of Australia and seeing it mirrored in this building caused Katherine to feel a flicker of pride.
A small security detail was arranged around them in the gardens. Joshua explained that the NHSIO had assigned a guard to him this morning when what was left of his family finally decided who would represent their people. Katherine knew damn well that what had happened last night was the real reason the uniforms were here.
“The drivers are taking their time,” Joshua muttered. Katherine nodded agreement. Joshua had been fairly quiet after their talk in the dining room. She had given him a lot to think about and Katherine did not have any idea where his thoughts would end up.
“Once we get back to the Adelaide, I’ll have my steward make us a decent pot of coffee and then I’ll give you the deluxe tour.”
“I’ll try and pay attention,” Joshua gave her a half smile.
“You’ll have to pay attention Joshua. I’ll be giving you a test straight afterwards.”
Joshua let out a bark of laughter, and his face relaxed back into the face she was attracted to last night.
“I wish we could have met under better circumstances Commander,” he said.
“Cut the Commander crap Josh. After what happened between us last night, I think you’ve earned the right to call me Katherine.”
The scream of a full throttled engine made Katherine look behind them. A car was racing along the entrance ring road towards them followed quickly by several others. Gunfire erupted from a window putting down two of Joshua’s security detail.
Katherine grabbed Joshua by the arm and sprinted towards the front entrance of Federation House, only slowing to scoop up a loose sidearm from one of the dead men. The driver saw them running and floored the accelerator; the passenger kept chasing them with a hail of bullets. As they neared the first tier of stairs, Katherine heard what remained of Joshua’s guards returning fire to the cars that had followed hard on the heels of this one. But the car chasing them was now too close.
Katherine pushed Joshua up the stairs and then quickly turned, her right arm snaking out and sprayed the front windshield with a short but concentrated burst of fire. She saw the plasglass discolor as it fractured and the car suddenly swerved to the right as if something heavy had caught at the wheel. The gunman on the passenger side was caught off guard and Katherine took him clean in the head. The car caught the edge of the stair at full speed and bucked up to roll on its side with a crash before sliding in a shriek of metal onto the manicured emerald lawns.
Gunfire flew from the cars behind and Katherine turned tail and leapt up the stairs. Joshua was crouched waiting at the top of the last tier and had managed to get hold of a pistol. Around them the NHSIO security from the front foyer was now positioned around the portico columns and returning fire to the attackers below. The defenders controlled the high ground and the people in those cars had no hope of getting them now.
So why were they still attacking?
Katherine dragged Josh away from the stairs back into the foyer as more security personnel streamed past them. No one spared them much of a glance but Katherine did not care. Something was not right. Inexperience (or stupidity), would be the only reason someone would even consider committing to a frontal assault on Federation House. The place was just too well protected.
“Are they Alliance Katherine?” Josh asked as she checked the magazine on her pistol. Thirty HC rounds remaining. Hopefully it would do.
“The Alliance isn’t this stupid,” she shouted over the sound of fresh gunfire. But I would bet a year’s pay that they are involved somehow. “Whoever they are; I think we should retreat back to my brother’s office. At least I can guarantee that we’ll be well defended there if anything untoward happens.”
Joshua nodded. Katherine then noted the ease with which he held his weapon. “You’ve had weapons training?”
“I served with the Alliance Infantry. Every citizen owes three years service.”
Katherine nodded impressed. Leading families were known for finding loopholes to stop their members from meeting their obligations. Nice to see the Val Myrans did not use it. “Then you can cover my back.”
Both entered the stairwell at a run; taking the lifts would have been risky if the power went; and climbed several flights before Katherine was sure they were on the right floor. As they climbed Katherine open a comm link to the Adelaide.
“Adelaide do you read me?” no one answered her and Katherine repeated herself another three times. “Come on damn you – somebody talk to me!” she half shouted as they reached the landing she wanted.
“Skipper?” A burst of static broke over the comm unit.
“Sue, is that you?” Abruptly the static disappeared and the musical voice of Susan Mayer came over the wire.
“-interference is shocking, like someone is jamming-”
“Sue, is Steve on the bridge?” Katherine cut across her.
“Yes Ma’am.”
There was a click and then Steven Tran’s voice came over the link.
“Skipper?”
“Steve, I want you and two squads to suit up
and get your arses over to Federation House ASAP. We are under heavy fire and I think the idiots outside will break off if they see some extra persuasion coming up behind them.”
There was a pause and then, “Yes Ma’am,” and the link went silent as Steve cut his connection. “Sue, has Tom returned to the ship?” Katherine asked hoping for an affirmative but knowing that not enough time had gone by since he had left from lunch.
“No ma’am”
“Katherine?” A new voice cut into the line.
“Richard? I thought you were taking shore leave – it doesn’t matter. We’ve got an incident here and I’m afraid that it might splash over to the Adelaide. Steve is bringing two squads here to me and I want whatever personnel remaining on board to protect the ship and the port in that order.”
“How bad is it Kath?” Richard asked.
“Ask me again in another hour, I might have an answer by then.” She cut the connection and turned to Joshua. She may be overreacting but there was something in her gut telling her that she was right. But first they both had to get back to John’s office.
“Ready?”
“Ready.” Joshua’s voice was firm and there was a look in his eyes that Katherine recognized, she had seen it enough times in her own crew when the situation was tight.
She palmed the stairwell door open and checked that the corridor was clear, then she and Joshua came out, pistols raised to line of sight. They moved down the empty corridors seeing nothing out of place except for the obvious signs of a hurried evacuation of office personnel.
“They wouldn’t be able to penetrate this far into the building?” Joshua flexed his fingers over the grip on his handgun.
“Not from the frontal assault, but I have a bad feel-”
Katherine stopped speaking as the clear sounds of gunfire echoed down the corridor ahead of them.
“Liam, what in Hell is going on?” John gasped as a NHSIO Officer fitted a flak jacket around him. Andrea’s aide was helping her do the same.
“It looks like one of the local militant groups has taken it into their heads to make a frontal assault.” Liam had just come back from checking the corridor guard posts. He now wore light body armor and held an assault rifle loosely in his hands.
“But why?”
“Some of the extremist groups don’t like the fact that there is suddenly a lot of Val Myrans on their doorstep – they just see them all as Alliance fifth columnists – as enemies of the Earth Federation.”
The Ambassador and the Governor General had been herded into his office suite when the attack began, along with what staff members were around. It was lucky that the attack happened during the lunch period otherwise there would have been a lot more people caught in the crossfire. John thought as he tugged at a strap on his vest to ease its constriction on his chest. Their security detachment had now barricaded them in the small conference room at the back of the suite that was encased by thick walls with a single, narrow, point of entry.
John tried not to show the relief he felt at Liam’s news. He had been afraid that the Alliance had sent their Black Ops team after them. But someone in the NHSIO must have dropped the ball if they had not heard a whisper of this through their network.
The muffled sound of gunfire penetrated into the protected room. It was a sound that Liam had not expected to hear. “Shit! How did they get this far in?” He turned and strode to the door as the guards outside began to overturn tables to offer better protection in case the attackers managed to get through the outer defenses. Liam slung the strap of his rifle over his shoulder as he came back into the room and grabbed one end of the conference room table. “Scott, help me tip this.”
Andrea Pritchard’s aide took the other end of the table and helped Liam heft it onto its side.
“Now I suggest you all get behind this table and stay there until I give the all clear-” Gunfire snarled louder from outside quickly followed by an explosion that made the whole room rattle and shake. Liam moved back to the door, talking quickly into his comm unit, occasionally holding a hand to his earpiece to try and get better sound over the gunfire.
There was more gunfire, quickly followed by screaming; it was coming closer now. John pushed Andrea down behind the table with Scott’s help and tried to restrain himself from praying.
“I hope Katherine and Joshua are okay,” Andrea whispered.
John’s eyes widened. Kath!
“Liam. Have you heard anything over the comm about my sister and the Val Myran Ambassador?”
Liam gave John a shake of the head as he spoke furiously into his comm unit.
“She’ll be fine and if the Val Myran is still with her, so will he be. After all, she survived Yunga.” Pritchard nodded but John knew he had only said it aloud to help allay his own misgivings than to settle hers.
The shooting outside was becoming louder and John ran a hand over the hard oak of the tilted tabletop, wondering if it would even be thick enough to stop a burst from a HC assault rifle. Then he heard shouts from the men stationed in the outer offices and more gunfire. Liam shouted to his men to barricade the doors and John poked his head above the table to see Liam slam the conference room door close and lock it. Loud bangs were heard as the heavy furniture not being used as cover in the room beyond was moved to block the door. John sank back down behind the table as Liam joined them, the sound of frantic talk and screams clearly heard buzzing from his earpiece.
“If anything happens just keep you heads down.” Liam reached to the small of his back and unclipped the pistol nestled there. He handed it to John. “Just in case,” was all he said as John took it. He then rested the assault rifle on the table’s edge and waited.
John looked at the pistol in his hand. He had not used one in a while; he had not needed to. As John clicked off the safety, he looked across the now shaking form of the Governor General at Scott who drew his own sidearm from its concealed holster and readied it. John then remembered that the GG’s aide was also her security chief. John gave silent thanks that his own aide was out of the building meeting with her opposite bureaucrats at the New Holland Parliament.
Both men gave each other a slight nod and then settled down to wait.
The room rattled again as something exploded in the rooms beyond quickly followed by rapid spurts of gunfire and shouting. The sound was muffled through the thick walls but it still sounded uncomfortably close. John saw Liam’s jaw clench as the sound from his earpiece suddenly fell quiet and it was at that moment that he realized there would be no rescue. The next thing coming through that door will bring their deaths.
Something detonated against the door, making the entire room shake; John saw the wood splinter around the heavy hinges. Whatever had been stacked against it was now gone and, frankly, John was surprised that the door was still standing. Both John and Scott bought their pistols up to line of sight and waited for the inevitable to happen. Liam just tightened his finger over the trigger as a trickle of sweat ran along his jaw.
A second blast hit the door and it shattered with a deafening crack sending splinters of wood flying all about the room. John turned as Liam grunted and saw the officer slump backwards unconscious, maybe dead; a shard of wood embedded in his shoulder and blood streaming from his head.
Shit!
John saw the grim expression on Scott’s face and turned back to the door as he heard movement outside. I’ll take a few of you bastards with me! John and Scott then began to shoot as the first figure to move towards the blasted doorway began to fire into the room.
Two figures fell in the doorway before John’s clip emptied. He dropped the now useless weapon and made a grab for Liam’s rifle while Scott fired his second; and last; magazine into the enemy outside; Andrea huddled against the table, but now held a large shard of door wood in her hands. The look on her face showed that she would not go down without a hard fight.
As soon as John’s hand clasped the rifle stock he swept up into a firing position. But abruptly no one was fi
ring back. There was gunfire coming from the rooms beyond and what was left of their attackers had turned to fire back at their rear.
Something bright flew into the room outside.
“Flash!” Scott shouted and both men ducked back behind the bullet mangled table as the flash grenade exploded, filling everything for a moment with blinding white light. John ducked back up, rifle ready. And saw two people come straight through the far opening, gunfire blared in rapid bursts and within moments the room outside was cleared.
“We’re in here!” John called out and one of the figures broke off and headed towards them while the other headed back out of the room following the fresh sound of gunfire.
“Who’s here?” A man’s voice asked.
“We have the Governor General, the Federation Ambassador, a wounded officer and myself,” Scott called out.
“Thank god.” The man stepped forward and John dropped his jaw in shock.
“Val Myra?”
“Ambassador Kirk.”
Joshua Val Myra did not look so out of place now. A rifle slung over a shoulder and a HC pistol sat comfortably in his hand. He was also smeared with blood.
“Where’s the Commander?” John snapped out of his shock.
“She’ll be back,” Joshua said as he settled down by the door, the rifle adjusted to come up ready at a moment’s notice. Scott took Liam’s rifle from John and took up position on the opposite side from Joshua. He then began rifling through the ammo packs on the dead bodies by the door, fishing out magazines and even a grenade. Andrea had scooted to Liam, tending his shoulder and his head wound; and trying to make him more comfortable.
“What is going on?” John looked over the table at Joshua.
“We’re under attack.”
That’s obvious! John thought. “I mean, do you know who it is?”
Joshua shrugged. “Katherine thinks they’re not Alliance; at least not directly connected to them. They are trying to kill us all the same, so at this point I don’t really care who they are, as long as we stop them.”