Belinea

by Andrew Mack

  Bird nodded, understanding. Kimmel looked directly at Tunsall and Trujillo and said, “Commander Devanoe is in charge until you get to Belinea.”

  Tunsall and Trujillo both nodded. Kimmel looked at Nick and said, “Your manifest says this is a cargo frigate for Admiral Flynn, bound to Belinea. Once you get there, leave them (nodding at the Ambassador) with the local BRG. Check-in with the Admiral, explain to him what happened. Tell him my orders are for you to take the Frigate back to Torsalli unless he has another mission for you. Understand?”

  Nick gave a quick salute and said, “Copy that, sir.”

  Kimmel returned the salute and walked down the ramp. He said, “Safe travels.”

  Kimmel got almost to the bottom before Nick said, “Captain…”

  Kimmel stopped and turned around. Nick continued, “Thank you, sir, this won’t happen again. Moving forward, I will not let my personal feelings affect my judgment to perform the duties of being your first officer.”

  Kimmel just chuckled and said, “I hope they do….”

  Nick paused and tilted his head, a little shocked by the answer. Kimmel waited a couple of seconds before he replied, “If I did not think you had the acumen to handle the job, you would not have it.”

  Kimmel turned around and started walking away. Never looking back, after a few steps, he said, “You are a good soldier, Devanoe.”

  Kimmel walked out of the site, leaving Nick to ponder what Kimmel had said. He briefly smiled before hitting the lever to lift the ramp door. It locked into place, as Nick and Trujillo walked to the bridge area. They slid into the cockpit chairs, Trujillo on the left, Nick on the right. Trujillo touched some spots on the screen while Trujillo fired up the engines and said into his intercom, “Tower, this is Frigate 1182. I have a flight plan for Belinea, request permission to take off.”

  There was a pause, and the Tower said, “Permission granted.”

  The Frigate roared to life and gently began to ascend into the sky. After a few minutes, they were in space. They hit the switches, and the ship was jumping into HyperExtension speed. After a few more minutes of gaining proper momentum, Trujillo said to Nick, “I got first shift. You and Tunsall take a break.”

  Nick replied, “You sure?”

  Trujillo nodded, and Nick unbuckled himself. Nick got up and walked back off the bridge towards the back. He noticed Tunsall lying down on a sofa next to Bird’s quarters. Alexis was looking at the Communications screen, then walked up to Nick. “How long before Mom gets her present?”

  Nick answered, “The AuFa has a C-Bar communication. So from here, maybe forty-five minutes?”

  Alexis said, “Alright. We should be fine in the meantime.”

  Nick replied, “I spent most of the flight piloting the Frigate to Hovron. I am going to try and get a few hour’s sleep. Alright?”

  Alexis nodded, and Nick went further back into the quarters to go lay down. Alexis went up front to see Trujillo. When she got there, he was already very comfortable in the chair. He glanced behind, almost sensing her presence. She said, “Hey…”

  Trujillo nodded and returned to looking at the screen. He replied, “Hey…”

  Alexis got right next to him, right behind his ear, and whispered, “You took out those two assholes on Molar….”

  Trujillo nodded and said, “And the Hendrix asshole….”

  Alexis smiled and continued, “And the Hendrix asshole…although I could have handled him on my own.”

  Trujillo slightly grinned and still looking at the screen in front of him, continued. “I am sure you could have.”

  Alexis said, “You didn’t miss….

  Trujillo continued. “No, I did not…”

  Alexis kissed him slowly on the cheek and said softly, “Thank you.”

  She pulled away, but Trujillo grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to sit on his lap. They looked at each other for a few seconds before Trujillo said, “You’re welcome.”

  Trujillo leaned in and kissed her. Alexis put her hand on the side of his face and kissed him back. After a few seconds, she pushed away and stood up. As she left the cockpit area, she said, “I will thank you properly later….”

  Trujillo asked, “What was that….”

  Alexis, still walking away, said, “Warmup.”

  Trujillo smiled and returned to flying the Frigate.

  Belinea 7.6

  Avola

  Bisi Provence

  Octavious was looking at his tablet, making calculations, and occasionally looking out the window. A colossal desert dust storm was raging below them. Syren was only looking at her tablet. Octavious asked, “The children….a prop to get me out?”

  Syren never looked up. “Yes and no. They are orphans. Quillisar Balerra and Sovinna jointly watch them from each of their Temples.”

  Octavious looked at the window. After a few seconds, he said, “It was risky….”

  Syren looked up. Staring at Octavious, she said, “I am not a military officer, Octavious. I do not plan attacks and escapes. It was the best I could come up with.”

  Octavious quietly whispered, “I cannot handle any more innocents dying because of me, Syren.”

  She looked at him and said, “You told me that was the price we paid.”

  He shook his head softly as Syren touched him on his thigh.

  The Transport flew for another minute, before slowing down and dropping altitude. The ship went through the dust storm and eventually made it to the side of a mountain. Octavious gave a small grin. He knew where they were. Where red rock, stone, and natural mountain were, two small doors broke apart from each other, wholly camouflaged at the base of the mountain. The opened doors revealed a small tunnel that the transport flew through. Through the tunnel and further inside the mountain, it revealed an enormous cavern of multiple ships. Fighters, transports, crates of ammunition, and Vait were everywhere. There were at least sixty people on the ground scurried about.

  As the transport landed on one of the pads, a group of about twenty Valmay soldiers were waiting. Octavious and Syren came down the ramp and were immediately greeted by Cortes and Porter, who saluted Octavious. Cortes said, “Welcome to Bisi Base, sir.”

  Octavious saluted and said, “Our supply warehouse and former base from long ago is our new home? Outstanding work crew. When did you get here?”

  Cortes replied, “I came in on a transport with five others about thirty minutes ago. Porter has a better understanding of what is going on.”

  Octavious looked at Porter, waiting for a status. The Fighter pilot replied, “All four of the C-112 transports, led by Rendon, exploded at Bosa. Prentein and Kuriss, on the base floor, survived the attack, as well as about seventy personnel. Gathering what they could, they back-tracked through the tunnels to the exit on the other side of the mountain, torching the rest of the base as they left. They waited until nightfall and made their escape here, making sure the AuFa did not follow them.”

  Octavious gave a small grin, proud of his team. “Good. What kind of supplies do we have, what is left?”

  Porter took another deep breath “The four Sirator’s we flew back in, plus the two that were being worked on here. We have three C-11 Transports, six AT-32’s, about a dozen Valkyries, fifty full ammunition crates, surface to air missiles, almost a thousand T4 Bombs, and eighteen full crates of Vait. We still have almost a hundred soldiers and another forty personnel. They keep coming in, those that escaped.”

  Octavious replied, “Alright. Any information on Kaya?”

  Porter looked at Cortes, before looking back at Octavious and said, “Nothing, sir.”

  Octavious said nothing. He started looking around before he muttered, “We are in a better position than I thought. Any status on AuFa and Majavkee movement? Have we been able to get out any patrols?”

  Porter said, “Their main concentration has bee
n snuffing us out of the Bosa Base, and your detour into the Cataco mines. Otherwise, they seem to be defense mode.”

  Sterling walked up to the three of them. He said, “I am sorry to interrupt, but the transport is going to take me back. I just wanted to say good-bye.”

  Octavious turned around and looked at Sterling. “I owe you my life. Please stay awhile. I would like to know more about your miners.”

  Sterling said, “Wish I could, but I just got an all-hands callback.”

  Octavious asked, “What does that mean?”

  Sterling said, “It means they bring back all the miners to load the transports for processing. They do it when they are ready to make a large Vait transaction. Like when a large AuFa transport is here for purchase.”

  Octavious thought for a second. Then quietly, he said, “They are pulling out all the Vait to take back to Belinea.”

  Porter asked, “Are they leaking it to set up another trap?”

  Octavious replied, “No, I saw on my tablet, the media, everyone assumes no one survived the caves. If we are no threat, it’s a perfect time to get the Vait out.”

  There was a pause until Octavious asked, “Sterling, if they lost all the C-112’s to transport the Vait, what would they use to get in on the ships above?”

  Sterling thought about it for a second and said, “The bulk of the loading will have to be at the mining centers on smaller transports, before taking it to the Processing Centers, likely Six and Two. It will take more time, but it can be done.”

  Octavious replied, “If we could steal the Vait, that would be a bigger bargaining chip, then me in getting Kaya back.”

  Porter asked, “You want to plan an attack?”

  Octavious paused for a second, before looking at Sterling. Putting his hand on his shoulder, he said, “No, a revolt…..”

  Cortes asked curiously, “A revolt, sir?”

  Octavious paused again as he was formulating the plan in his head. He continued, “We have two huge advantages that we didn’t have last time.”

  Porter asked, “What is that?”

  Octavious said, “This time, we will be laying the trap.”

  Cortes asked, “And what’s the second?”

  Octavious smiled and said, “They think I am dead.”

  Belinea 7.7

  Molar

  Populis Pointe

  Willits and Jones landed the D-21 Sirallo on a pad that was next to the crashed T-141. The T-141 was still smoking, with one of its engines charred black and in shambles. Jones turned to Willits and said, “What the hell happened?”

  The two came down the ramp, each with a hand on their side piece. They began inspecting the T-141 to try to determine what caused the explosion. Jones was looking at the still-smoking engine when he said, “This engine got hit by artillery….”

  Willits added, “But it was close to the ground, so it was either trying to land or take off.”

  Jones then said, “I am going to check inside…”

  A man had appeared from behind them and said, “You will not find anyone….”

  Willits and Jones immediately turned around with pistols drawn. Not recognizing the person, they kept their pistols up. The gentlemen mildly raised his hands and said, “I am the Dock Master. You know the people that were on this ship?”

  Willits responded, “Yeah, where are they?”

  The Dock Master walked up slowly and said, “Long gone. I sure would like to find them, though. I got to figure out how to get this burning hunk of shit off this pad. Who is going to pay for it?”

  Jones replied, “What happened?”

  The Dock Master replied, “A shootout, right here on my landing pad. I would have expected that from Hendrix, but not from your crew.”

  Jones asked, “Who is Hendrix?”

  The Dock Master continued, “Look, there ain’t a lot of law around here, Mister. Whatever kind we do have, Hendrix is one of the bosses. Or was.”

  Jones asked, “Was?”

  The Dock Master took his hands down as Willits and Jones dropped their weapons. “Got killed. Asked your group for a little toll for passing through, they shot’em all up. I had nine dead bodies out here after one of them got in one of those AuFa Fighters…”

  Willits and Jones turned to each other before Willits said, “They did what?”

  The Dock Master continued, “Well, Hendrix was holding the older fellow as collateral. Maybe they took it the wrong way. But there was no need for all that shit. It took me hours to get someone up here to clean up all the bodies.”

  Willits and Jones continued to look puzzled. Jones then asked, “And you don’t know where they went? Is there a commercial port you can fly out of?”

  The Dock Master just laughed and said, “Shit, you obviously ain’t ever been here. No commercial flights, you would have to hire one of the smuggler’s to get you out, not that you guys have that problem in that Sirallo you are on. Your crew left in one of those AuFa Frigates.”

  Willits, completely perplexed, asked, “An AuFa Frigate? With a full crew?”

  The Dock Master shook his head. “Couldn’t say. They were in and out of here right after this T-141 got shot down. Not often we see any AuFa craft here.”

  Jones and Willits just looked at each other. After a few seconds, Willits reached into his pocket and took out some coins. He walked over to the Dock Master, handed him the coins, and said, “My name is Willits. This is Jones. I am sure we will be back this way. This is for the trouble with the bodies. Can you also resupply the Sirallo.”

  The Dock Master counted the coins, which was more than enough. He tipped his cap and said, “What about this T-141?”

  Willits said, “Buy an engine for it and fix it. It won’t be cheap, but after that, you can paint it and sell it to one of these smugglers for a lot more. I promise the AuFa is not going to come looking for it.”

  Willits and Jones began walking back to the Sirallo. Standing outside, Jones reached into his pocket and pulled out his cigar-case. He opened it and took out two, one for each of them. Jones lit both as Willits and he took a few puffs. Jones said, “Any ideas?”

  Willits paused for a second, taking another puff, before he said, “Where do I start. An AuFa frigate? Half of me thinks they are dead. The other half thinks it was BRG related, and they were forced to go to Belinea without us.”

  Jones replied, “It could not have been Taz. We left Torsalli before he did, if he did. No way he made it here in that time.”

  Willits continued, “I would like to think the kids were forced to leave without us, but who the hell knows.”

  Jones took another puff. “What do you want to do?”

  Willits shrugged. Jones answered his own question. “We can’t go back to Torsalli. I’m sure the BRG is still looking for us. At some point, they will figure out its two BRG officers on that transport and not the Ambassador.”

  Willits held up his cigar and immediately said, “I got a plan for that.”

  Jones continued, “Good, because otherwise, that will probably involve putting us up against a wall to be shot. We could go back to Earth?”

  Willits chuckled again. “I am not convinced our boss doesn’t think we are some sort of spies or traitors. Until we convince him otherwise, that crazy Samurai might decapitate us.”

  Jones continued, “What about Alexis? You still think she is working with Kimakawa?”

  Willits took a puff and looked at Jones. After a pause, he said, “I think so, but I have no clue what she is telling him. I know Kimakawa is close to her mother, Annella.”

  Jones spun around quickly, “You mentioned that before, have we met her?”

  Willits nodded and replied, “That time in London a few years back, remember?”

  Jones nodded his head, took another puff, and said, “In the pub with the Belineans. We ended up ba
ck in Scotland and killed that bottle of Oban. She had that fucking dog, what was it?”

  Willits smiled. “It was an Australian Shepherd.”

  Jones snapped his fingers and said, “That’s right. It spent the entire night trying to hump my leg. That’s Alexis’ mother, huh?”

  Willits just said, “Yep.”

  Jones continued, “Seems like a pretty smart lady. I am sure she has figured out that whoever is trying to kill Bird is getting fed from inside his office.”

  Willits asked, “How would Annella know?”

  Jones countered, “Alexis, you idiot, not Annella.”

  Willits rolled his eyes and said, “Fuck off.”

  Jones replied, “Bite me.”

  A few more puffs, and they could see the Dock Master working on the Sirallo. Jones asked, “So where do you want to go?”

  Willits shook his head and said, “I want to go on vacation to Vandabri with Vi, but I have too much principle.”

  Jones replied, “For the DAG? Or Kimakawa? May I remind you he has served us up on a platter to get killed.”

  Willits half smiled and said, “Neither. For Trujillo and Tunsall.”

  Jones took a puff and groaned. He said, “Oh no….”

  Willits looked at him and said, “What?”

  Jones said, “Why did you have to bring those two into this discussion?”

  Willits answered, “Because we gave them a job, and they executed it. Shit, they took out some Molar Crime Boss and eight of his henchmen. It’s impressive. If they were a part of our crew, and I am not sure at this point they are not, would we leave them behind?”

  Jones took a puff and then quietly said, “I hate you sometimes…”

  Willits, talking through his cigar, said, “Principle…..we leave no man behind.”

  Jones asked, “Belinea?”

  Willits half-smiled and nodded in affirmative.

  Jones shook his head. They both turned around and started walking back to the Sirallo. He said, “You know they still got BRG officers on Belinea?”