Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (59 page)

“Thank you Veego” said Felis “for all of this.”

“It’s the least I can do. Come, Madam President is already aboard though she does look quite nervous. If I didn’t know better, I would say she is racked with fear.”

“What some of us love, others fear.”

“What the travel?”

“Yes I think so.”

“It won’t be that long. Just think, with a bit of luck, this business will all be done in a month.”

“Let’s hope so” said Felis. As they approached the elevators he added with some earnestness, “We need to stay united.”

“Yes…all of us. You did send that signal to Yomoto?”

“Yes, I urged him not to be diverted. But just when I think I know these humans they surprise you.”

“Indeed. We can’t afford more delay. The imperialist grow stronger by the day.”

As they rode up the elevator Veego remembered something. “Oh I almost forgot. We just received a report from Istridium. They’ve launched another effort to take Orina. They’ve identified a new brigade with walkers.”

Chapter 6. Whiskey 11 to Mexl 1545, 14 November

The four warthogs (light battle shuttle) launched into the blazing sunlight 30K above the sleth home world of Slenthsl. They were escorted by four lightnings as they descended to the planet. Another four lightnings and four marauders flew on a different tack to waypoint Alpha which was 10K above the ground forces objective. They would loiter there and be on call for immediate fire support should the need arise.

Inside the back cabin of Whiskey 11 Sgt Feris Borman, Nick Hope’s platoon sergeant shifted his wiry frame as he said “Hey this Mexl’s the same place as DZ Charlie.” He was referring to the location where they had conducted a target designation operation (op) two weeks earlier when they helped the sleth take back Slenthsl from the rogan.

“Why do you think we got the Guernsey?” asked Nick.

“And I thought it was because we were good lookin’” came back Feris with his tell-tale grin. As he did so he rubbed his hand over Nick’s recently cropped hair. It was part of an ongoing joke about Nick’s decision to cut his hair so short. “Hell there can’t be much left standing there after our strikes” added Feris.

“Probably not. But from these feeds” said Nick referring to the data feeds now streaming to his console on his lap “it looks like they’re holed up in the magazine, which is underground.”

“Well let’s pray we don’t have to ferret ‘em out.”

“I’m praying” said Nick with a smile.

“And I had you pegged for an atheist. Speaking of things unholy, any news from that wife of yours?” Feris regretted the question as soon as it had left his lips. Nick’s mood changed in an instant and he shook his head. “Sorry skipper, that was out of line” apologised Feris. Nick gave a slight nod but they continued on in silence.

For Nick it was just another reminder of the major pain in his life. He had a falling out with his wife, Lizzy, just before being assigned to the 3
^rd
Marine Bde. She had accused him of deserting her and despite his best efforts they parted on bad terms. He had been messaging her constantly ever since but so far had no response. His sister, Clare, had reported that Lizzy was seeing another man. But Nick did not want to believe it because he still loved her. It was an almost constant thorn in his spirit.

“Two minutes” announced the pilot.

Chapter 7. Mexl 1615, 14 November

Nick and his troops disembarked not 300m from the wreck of a rogan AFV on the southern side of the Mexl fighter base. “Never thought I’d see that again” said Nick.

“They do burn well” said Feris. The burnt out hull was in the middle of a circular burnt out patch of low scrub.

But it was the impact row of scorch marks made by the warthog pulse cannon that held Nick’s eye. He recalled how they had ran for their lives that night with the AFV closing in on them and then the appearance of Whiskey 3 and the railing sound of its automatic pulse cannon as it lit up the night over the top of their heads.

“Nick” called out Art, who was talking with a sleth half colonel. Nick made his way over and was introduced to Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Ebinu, commander of the 2
^nd
Bn, 8
^th
Sleth Bde. Ebinu briefed them on the layout of his forces which had essentially thrown a cordon around the base. He also explained how the rogan warriors were holed up in the underground magazine. When he pointed it out Nick recognised the caved in fighter bays that two weeks ago had their reinforced covers arching upwards. The whole area was cratered and Nick found it hard to believe that it wouldn’t be better to build a new base from scratch.

The entrance to the underground magazine was built into an artificial berm that had taken a direct hit from a javelin missile. It looked like a big monster had taken a bite out of the huge earthworks. “Those four figures you see are rogan” informed Ebinu as he looked down at Art. Art was 185cm tall but Ebinu being a sleth was still a good 25cm taller. “They are not shooting and neither are we. A frontal assault is out of the question.”

Ebinu moved his arm in a sweeping action. “We can easily clear the surface. But getting down to the magazine would cost me all my troops.”

Art nodded. He knew all too well how easy it was to defend a tunnel system with only a vertical access. Memories started flooding in of the battle for the Pulton tunnels on Klaster. Art forced his mind to dismiss the thoughts by asking a question. “So what happened here exactly?”

Ebinu shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure exactly. We arrived after the incident. As far as I know we had a construction group here trying to repair the base facilities. That’s their tractors over there, near all those bodies. They were attacked by this rogan force and 23 of them were captured and are now held hostage. I’ve seen a vid feed and they appear to be unharmed.”

“How many were in this construction group?”

“Don’t know for sure. Twenty three plus whatever bodies are lying out there.”

“So how are you communicating?”

“Channel 4235 on your communicator. We’ve been speaking with a Major Hescullim. She’s been…respectful but adamant about only surrendering to you.”

“Do we have an exact count of the rogan?”

“No, but Hescullim claims she has a full company. That would be 140. But she may be…exaggerating.”

“Do they know there are nukes down there?”

“I don’t know. They have not said anything and neither have I.”

“What about alternate access?” asked Nick.

“There was supposed to be one over there” and Ebinu pointed to an area that was now a huge crater. “We’ve tried to find it but it looks like that area took multiple hits and has caved in any access.”

“Have you run a terrain radar scan?” followed up Nick.

“We don’t have the equipment here to do that. Your warthogs do, don’t they?”

“Yes they do” said Art. “Has anyone done an electronic sweep of the surrounding area? If I was them I would want some sensors up top.”

“Can your shuttle do that too…while it’s up there anyway?” asked Ebinu.

“OK, leave that with me. Nick, deploy your guys here till that sweep is done.

“No problems” replied Nick.

Half an hour later and one pass from Whiskey 11 confirmed that the enemy did have three visual sensors setup at different locations around the base. Together they triangulated the main entrance. It also found the exact location of the alternate access and from the scans it looked they would be digging for some time before they could clear all the rubble from on top of it.

“OK so they definitely have eyes on us and we have no quick alternative access” summed up Art. “We’ll leave their sensors for now” said Art. “We don’t want to alarm them and I’d be alarmed if I was them and they went out.” Art paused while he pondered. “Guess it’s time to have a chat with our soon to be rogan chums.”

After an initial contact by communicator Art agreed to meet the rogan commander down in the magazine. When Ebinu insisted on coming along, Art said “That’s not going to work. She was quite explicit – just me.” Ebinu responded with a scowl. “If you don’t hear from me in twenty, then assume I am held hostage.” Art turned to Nick. “And you better let the boss know and call in the cavalry.”

Art handed Nick his rifle and pistol and armed only with his communicator walked towards the magazine entrance, hoping that the rogan soldiers on guard there had got the message not to shoot him.

He was led into the entrance area where a portable light tube struggled to illuminate the space. The rogan warrior escorting him muttered something about having to take the stairs. The elevator was obviously out of action.  The stairwell was completely dark and Art turned on his helmet light as did the rogan in front and behind him. The air was foul. ‘Air conditioning’s down’ he noted to himself. It took him a good five minutes to descend down the stairwell. It was built for sleth legs and each step was deep for Art and even deeper for the rogan escorting him.

At each level in the staircase Art noted the satchels and flechette devices that had been set. The magazine was obviously a long way down. They entered through a blast door into the magazine’s first level. Again portable light tubes provided meagre illumination, but enough to make out the automatic pulse gun manned by two rogan warriors aimed straight at the doorway.

He was led down the wide corridor and into an office where a rogan introduced herself as Major Etina Hescullim. Even in the dim light he could see that she had been wounded in her upper left arm. The hot seal bandage must have been applied late because her suit forearm was heavily stained with blood.

“Welcome Captain Simons” she said with no obvious sign of pain.

Five minutes later after hearing Etina’s account of what happened, Art asked “So you didn’t kill those sleth troopers up above?”

“Yes we did kill them, but only after they fired on us first. As I said, we came here to surrender. I had arranged this with Col Elinth, who promised to treat us fairly. They opened fire on us as we approached. I lost over twenty warriors in that engagement.”

“There are no dead rogan up there that I could see.”

“No, Ebinu ordered his troopers to dispose of them and has staged the area just for your consumption.”

“Seems like a lot of effort to go through. Why would he do that?”

“Perhaps this will convince you” said Etina and she hit the control on a console which projected vid footage onto the wall. “This was from one of our video sensors we had set up before we approached the rendezvous with the sleth.”

Art watched in silence. The footage of the engagement was convincing.

“Here, this one shows them clearing away the bodies.”

“So why had you set up this vid sensor before you approached them?”

“My company belongs to the 3
^rd
Bn of the Legnitus Brigade. This Brigade has committed some shameful acts. My company has not been part of them. I assure you of that. But I am not naïve enough to think that the sleth here who have suffered would not want revenge. That is why I only sent one platoon forward. When they were fired upon my remaining force engaged the enemy and yes we counter attacked towards the magazine and yes we did kill those sleth troopers out there. But we have not acted dishonourably. That’s why I will only surrender to you.”

Art let out a long breath. He knew now that this was not going to be a simply affair. “How many warriors do you now have?”

“One hundred and eleven.”

“We have no facilities to provide for that many prisoners on board our ships. You will have to be detained and processed here.”

“That’s not acceptable. We will be quietly slaughtered once you leave. Make no mistake about that.”

Art’s brain was working overtime to come up with a solution but a viable course of action didn’t present itself. There were somethings which he was sure of. He was not going to be party to massacre. He had to contact Dave and let him know the situation. He had to manage relations with the sleth. Ebinu had obviously lied to him but a falling out at this stage could jeopardise the sleth commitment to the war. ‘What a mess’ he said to himself.

Art looked around and then focussed back on Etina. “You can’t stay in here forever. The air is already stale and you have no power…”

Etina cut in with “then we will all go out with a big bang. Yes I do know that there are nuclear warheads down here and in fact we have several primed for use right now. If you don’t ensure our safe passage out of here and out of this system, then you will be responsible for the consequences.”

Art could see from her resolute stare that she meant it. “OK, I need to speak with my Admiral and see what can be done. But before I do that I want you to release at least half the hostages as a sign of good faith.”

“So it begins” said Etina with a smirk. “I will give you four of the hostages.”

“I’ll accept 12 and no less” said Art. Etina remained unmoved and kept staring at Art in anticipation of him cracking. “Either I get the 12 now and you keep open the only lifeline you have or you can blow yourself up. I don’t care and I don’t believe my Admiral will care if the sleth hostages are killed or not. But we do care about the integrity of the people we’re dealing with. Right now I need some proof of yours.” Art focussed on her eyes.

“All right Captain Simons, you can have your twelve hostages.” She picked up her communicator and set a timer on it for 1930. “And now you have just two hours to deliver us out of here. When this expires, this whole place goes up unless we are safe and away from here.” It was her turn to stare into Art’s eyes.

“I’m going to need more time than that.”

“No you don’t. You’re wasting it now.”

Ten minutes later, with the dusk descending, Art emerged from the magazine entrance with twelve hostages. By the time he reached Nick at Ebinu’s command position he had a concerned look on his face that caused the expression on Nick’s face to become concerned as well.

Ebinu too looked extremely wary. “What’s wrong” he asked Art. “Are the rest not coming?”