A Savage War Of Peace (Ark Royal Book 5)

by Christopher Nuttall

  “Aye, sir,” Gillian said.

  John tapped his console, sending Ambassador Richardson a brief update, then scrutinised the display as it started to fill with more and more icons. The Indians seemed to be the largest presence - they had sixteen ships orbiting the planet, five of them warships and one of them a heavy troop transport that had only just entered service. It was possible, John had to admit, that they’d scooped up a small army of researchers and stowed them onboard the transport, but it didn't seem likely. He had a feeling the Indians had brought a considerable number of troops to show that they had no intention of allowing anyone else to dictate to them. Beyond them, there were three American ships, one French ship and a number of others that had been chartered by various NGOs, religious organisations and the media.

  And there are several survey ships operating in the system, he thought, grimly. Looking for asteroids to mine, setting up a cloudscoop ... or what?

  His console chirped. Moments later, Joelle Richardson’s face appeared in the display.

  “Captain,” she said. “It appears we were beaten to the planet.”

  “That would appear to be the case,” John agreed. They were too far out to tell if the newcomers were sending shuttles to the surface or not, but he wouldn't have bet against it, not when whoever made a deal with the Vesy first would have an edge against everyone else. “There are at least three governments represented here, as well as a number of other interested parties.”

  “So I see,” the Ambassador said. “Can we get to Fort Knight without being intercepted?”

  John blinked. “I don’t believe that any of the powers represented here will try to keep us away from the planet,” he said. “But, at the same time, we cannot police the entire system and keep them from landing, if they haven’t done so already.”

  “I understand,” the Ambassador said. She paused, thinking hard. “With your permission, Captain, I would like to send signals to the other nationalities, requesting a conference to discuss a joint approach to Vesy.”

  “Granted,” John said. He had no grounds to deny the request, even if he’d wished to. “I should warn you, however, that our ability to enforce our position is very limited. Some of the nations represented here are our allies.”

  The Ambassador frowned, then cut the connection. Her face vanished from the display, which blinked back to showing the squadron following Warspite like ducks following their mother. John’s lips twitched at the mental image, then he looked at his first officer. Howard was looking as concerned as John felt. They’d sketched out contingency plans for discovering they weren't the first to return to Vesy, but it had been impossible to guess at just which way things would go. The presence of so many Indian ships was a nasty surprise.

  The Indians have always had a chip on their shoulder, John thought. He’d served with Indians, during the final months of the war, and they’d struck him as having something to prove. And they do have a colony in the same general direction. But what do they want from Vesy?

  “Inform Captain Hadfield and Lieutenant-Colonel Boone that the situation isn't what we hoped for,” he ordered, quietly. “We have yet to receive any updates from the surface.”

  “Aye, sir,” Howard said.

  John frowned, inwardly. The original plans would definitely have to be scrapped. He’d hoped to deploy 3 Para to Fort Knight, then allow the diplomats to make contact with the aliens in a single location where they could be protected. But now, with other governments, NGOs and religious factions running around, it would be impossible. If nothing else, they’d have to coordinate long enough to prevent accidental clashes between the different groups.

  “Captain,” Gillian said. “I just received a secure datapacket from Fort Knight.”

  “Transfer it to my console,” John ordered. He knew he should probably get some rest - it would be at least five hours before anything happened - but he couldn't bring himself to leave the bridge. “And then copy it to the Ambassador and Captain Hadfield.”

  He tapped his console, opening the datapacket. Percy Schneider had been in command of Fort Knight for far too long, given his extremely low rank, but at least he’d managed to get his motley crew through the wait unharmed. Fort Knight wasn't quite where he’d expected it to be, but as he read on, he saw why. The handful of engineers and prefabricated equipment the marines had been able to obtain from Pegasus hadn't been sufficient to transfer everything to the planned location.

  We muddled through, he thought, sourly. If they'd known they were going to be encountering aliens, he rather suspected the Admiralty would have doubled the supplies sent to Pegasus; instead, they’d had to strip one system of vital resources to maintain a base in another system. It had been sheer luck that the consequences hadn't been much worse. But the long-term effects might be unpleasant.

  The diplomatic section of the report pulled no punches. Thankfully, the Americans and French - and most of the NGOs - had agreed to operate from Fort Knight, but the Indians and a handful of NGOs had flatly refused to have anything to do with the British. Percy Schneider had monitored the Indian activities as best as he could, noting that they’d clearly started to establish a base four hundred kilometres from Fort Knight and, he assumed, make contact with the local aliens. But he knew nothing else about their plans.

  Shit, John thought. He cursed the diplomats under his breath. Would it really have been so politically incorrect to dispatch another warship or two to Vesy as soon as Warspite returned to Earth? We won’t be able to convince them to change their posture now.

  “Keep us on our current course,” he ordered, as he started to skim through the more detailed sections of the report. There was no point in trying to increase speed and get there sooner, not when there were so many problems. “Once we’re in orbit, the first teams can head down to Fort Knight.”

  He glanced at the timestamp on the report and frowned. Five days. Five days between the arrival of the Indians - and the others - and Warspite and her squadron. Five days. And if they’d left even a week earlier, they would have beaten everyone else easily.

  Captain Hadfield - he’d been promoted after Warspite’s return to Earth - popped up in John’s display. “Captain,” he said. “The situation is not optimal, but Wilson and I believe we can proceed with the planned landing.”

  “Understood,” John said. “However, it will need to be coordinated to avoid running into the other powers. I believe most of them will have brought their own guards too.”

  “Yes, sir,” Hadfield said. “We do have practice operating with the Americans and French.”

  “And the Indians have landed well away from Fort Knight,” John agreed. “Very well; prepare your troops for deployment once we enter orbit.”

  He sighed as the connection closed. Five hours to orbit and then ...? He had a feeling, somehow, that the ambassador and her staff were going to be earning their pay.

  ***

  “That’s the shuttle inbound, sir,” the operator said.

  “Thank you,” Percy said. “I’ll meet them at the shuttlepad.”

  He took one last look at the office he’d made for himself, then walked out the door and down towards the gates. He’d been relieved beyond measure when the next group of arrivals had proved to be a British squadron, then terrified when he’d been sent a private message informing him that Captain Hadfield and Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson Boone of 3 Para were on their way - and that the first order of business was a long chat with Percy about his conduct during the six months he’d been cut off from Earth. Somehow, Percy expected that it wouldn't be a pleasant conversation.

  But there will be mail, he reminded himself. It was a consolation, of sorts. Maybe not physical mail, but definitely recorded messages.

  The shuttlepad had been built by the Vesy to Percy’s specifications, he recalled, as he watched the shuttle land neatly in front of him. A line of Paras jumped out, weapons in hand, and surveyed the scene for possible threats. Percy couldn't help noticing that some of them
stared at the Vesy labourers, watching from a safe distance, as if they’d never quite believed in them, no matter how many visual images they’d seen. Five years after the war, it was still hard for some people to grasp the existence of one alien race, let alone a second. Percy and his men had grown used to the sight through long experience, but it would be a while before the Paras were truly used to the Vesy. He just hoped there weren't any unfortunate incidents before they learned how to survive on the alien world.

  Behind them, Captain Hadfield emerged from the shuttle, wearing light armour and carrying a rifle slung over his shoulder. His face was expressionless, but Percy couldn't help suspecting that he was privately annoyed as he examined the buildings just outside the walls. If Percy could see them as a problem, the far more experienced Hadfield would have no difficulty in doing the same. And Lieutenant-Colonel Boone had more experience than Percy’s entire section put together.

  And the Paras have always picked fights with us, he thought, feeling his heart sinking. Boone will happily remind the Captain about my failures for the rest of the deployment.

  “Corporal,” Hadfield said, as Percy saluted them both. “Show us the office.”

  “This way, sir,” Percy said.

  He led them through the gates, then into the small office. It looked cramped to them, he was sure; a single metal table, a pair of metal chairs and a small terminal perched on the table. But then, he hadn't spent much time in it; he’d needed to do too many things to allow himself to become shut away in the room. Maybe Boone would want a bigger office. The diplomats certainly would.

  “Corporal,” Hadfield said, once the door was closed. “Perhaps you would care to explain why you allowed the aliens to build their habitations so close to the walls?”

  Percy took a breath, placing firm controls on his temper. “I did not feel that attempting to convince them to build elsewhere would be workable, sir,” he said. “The last thing I wanted was to give offense to our hosts.”

  “Hosts who could turn nasty at any moment,” Hadfield pointed out, coldly. “Having their buildings so close to the wall would have allowed them to storm the fort before you could react.”

  “I had contingency plans, sir,” Percy said. “Mortars would have reduced the buildings to sawdust within seconds, if necessary.”

  Hadfield glowered at him. “You still took a dangerous risk.”

  “And why,” Boone said, speaking for the first time, “did you not establish a permanent settlement on an island, as per your orders? And why did you allow so many representatives from other nationalities to land at Fort Knight?”

  Percy controlled himself with an effort. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

  “Granted,” Hadfield said.

  “I had ten marines, a handful of former Russian prisoners, and a small number of engineers from Pegasus,” Percy said, flatly. “It was literally impossible to avoid enlisting alien help to build the fort, which required us to build it on the mainland, near our alien allies. I simply did not have the force to deal with them if they decided to attack us, perhaps because we insulted them in some way. The best I could have done, before your ships arrived, was die bravely. We would have made them pay a price for attacking us, sir, but the outcome would have been inevitable.”

  Boone smiled. “And so you decided to rewrite your orders?”

  “My orders called for me to set up a base and maintain friendly relations with the local aliens until the diplomats arrived, sir,” Percy said. “Setting up the base on an island, as planned, would have made it harder to maintain friendly relations. So too would have discouraging them from coming to visit us, or trying to hawk goods and supplies to the base. I believe I did the best I could, given the resources I had on hand.”

  He took a breath. “Furthermore, I did not have the resources to threaten the Indians or anyone else who wanted to land on Vesy,” he added. “I invited them to work through Fort Knight so we could keep an eye on what they were doing. Had I refused, they would simply have copied the Indians and landed somewhere away from the base. I would therefore have been unable to monitor their activities.”

  “I see, Corporal,” Boone said. “You feel you did the best you could, with the forces you had on hand.”

  “Yes, sir,” Percy said.

  Boone looked at Hadfield, who nodded.

  “I am inclined to agree,” Hadfield said. “But I’m afraid I have good news and bad news.”

  Percy had to fight down the urge to groan. He’d always hated the good news/bad news game, if only because his mother had been fond of it. The good news was never good, while the bad news was always horrific. Or so it had seemed at the time. As a mature adult, it struck him that he’d been a little brat more than a few times.

  “The good news is that you're promoted, effective immediately, to Second Lieutenant,” Hadfield said. “It's actually backdated six months, as you might expect, so you were paid the full wages. Not that it matters at the moment.”

  Percy nodded. There was literally nothing to spend his money on, either onboard ship or on Vesy. The money would remain in the bank on Earth until he returned home or died, in which case it would be forwarded to Penny. He didn't have any other biological relations left, as far as he knew. They’d certainly never found his mother’s body.

  And he’d been promoted! Someone must have approved of him ...

  “The bad news is that you will no longer be the commander of Fort Knight,” Hadfield continued, remorselessly. “Lieutenant-Colonel Boone will be replacing you, I’m afraid.”

  “Yes, sir,” Percy said. He'd expected as much. “Will we be returning to the ship?”

  “No, Lieutenant,” Boone said. “You and your men have been placed on the list of people to be sent home for leave, when the next ship departs Vesy, but for the moment your section will serve as a Quick Reaction Force. The experience you have garnered of operating on Vesy is too important to waste.”

  And we’ll be teaching the Paras what we know, Percy thought. They’ll need to learn fast.

  “It will be a welcome change, sir,” he said, instead. “However, I should warn you that the aliens are getting impatient. They want what they know we can give them - and they want it soon.”

  “Or they’ll go somewhere else,” Boone said. “I believe Ambassador Richardson will open communications with them as soon as she arrives, once we get some proper security set up here.”

  “And the spooks will want you to be debriefed,” Hadfield added. “You’re going to be rather busy, Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, sir,” Percy said. He would be busy ... but at least he wouldn't be out on a branch, feeling as though some bastard was planning to cut him off with a saw. “I look forward to it.”

  Hadfield gave him a look of pure mischievous evil. “And you should also send your sister a message,” he said. “I believe she’s planning to interview you.”

  Percy blinked. “How ...?”

  It struck him a moment later. “She’s on the ship?”

  “Embedded reporter,” Hadfield confirmed. “And really quite depressingly enthusiastic.”

  “Oh,” Percy said. The thought of Penny on Vesy ... he’d tried to be protective, but she’d stuck her head into the lion’s den anyway. “I’ll send her a message as soon as possible.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Joelle stepped through the hatch and closed her eyes, taking a long deep breath as she took her first step onto an alien world. Or another alien world, she reminded herself. Part of the reason she’d won the assignment was because she’d already visited an alien homeworld. She tasted pollen in the air, along with a warm humidity that startled her, and a scent that was oddly flavourful, like warm perfume. The wind shifted, blowing warm air against her bare face, then faded away again. It felt rather like a tropical day in the Maldives.

  Where diplomats meet to talk, then have fun, she recalled. The Maldives had been effectively depopulated during the Age of Unrest, when the capital city had been torn apart by r
ioting and then evacuated. I wonder how many of my fellows will make the same connection?

  She opened her eyes and stared at Fort Knight. It looked crude, like far too many military bases, and yet there was a certain charm to it that caught her attention. Perhaps it was the strange mixture of human and alien architecture, or perhaps it was because it was the sole major human settlement on the planet. Around it, beyond the walls, were dozens of other buildings, not all of them alien. The Americans and French had already started to occupy the barracks the Vesy had put together for them.

  “Ambassador?” Grace asked, from behind her. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m just admiring the scenery,” Joelle said, without looking around. There had been health warnings included in the briefing, one of which had covered the potential danger of pollen on human health. The medics were watching for the first signs of anything akin to hay fever or allergic reactions, although - so far - no one had shown any signs of more than mild sneezing when breathing the alien air. “It’s a very strange city.”