Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (9 page)

Meeka nodded. “We need that mass exchanger.”

“It’s a shame it’s come to this. You remember Meeka, how twenty years ago it was just one conquest after another.”

“Mmm…one victory after another.”

“Exactly. Now we are turning on ourselves. How has it come this?”

“We’ve grown soft. The politicians nowadays….”

“Quazor hasn’t gone soft Meeka. Quite the reverse.”

“Maybe. It doesn’t matter. The wolves are gathering…”

“Are we wolves now?”

Meeka smiled as he responded “We sure are my love. But we are the meanest and baddest in the pack. That is why we will prevail.”

Haina smiled back at him. “That’s what I love about you Meeka.”

Chapter 29.  Cornucopia to
Polaris  0815
, 12 September

“So” asked Merry “is your dad really the treasurer?”

Charles raised his eye brows and rocked his head back a little. “Yes, that is so.”

“Wow!”

“Where did you dig that up?”

“It’s on your file actually.”

“What you’ve gone through my file?”

“Necessary research you understand” she said with a slightly mischievous look.

“Yes, I see” said Charles drawing out the ‘Yes’.

“I deemed it in my interests to find out all I could about you.”

“In your interests?”

Merry was munching on her omelette. She took her time. Part of her wanted to just come out with it now, but she resisted that urge. “Purely professional interests you see.”

“Yes” said Charles, again drawing out the word.

“So what was that like?”

“What, my dad as the treasurer.”

“Yeah.”

“Pretty shit really. Don’t tell anyone I said that.”

Merry leaned over and placed her hand on his. “No I won’t.”

Charles nodded his thanks. “Look he was and is always so busy. Mother insisted we stay in Beijing but father spent most of his time in Washington. I got to see him some of the time on weekends and we would go away each year. But to be honest I hardly know him.” Charles looked at her brown eyes eager for some understanding and eager for an acknowledgment that she understood.

“Gee, that must have been tough. I always had my folks around.” She went silent as she pondered how she used to complain to her parents that they were always breathing down her neck. She was suddenly racked with guilt and it changed her expression.

“You all right?” asked Charles.

‘Sorry…I just realised what a pain I must have been to my parents.”

“Better that than a disappointment.”

“Is that what you think you are to your parents?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well you’re a war hero now” said Merry encouragingly.

“Hah!” exclaimed Charles “that’s the script, don’t you see?” Merry was confounded and she shook her head. “They wanted me to become the war hero. This whole farce is a charade orchestrated by them so I can be paraded on the political stage. I’m so sick of it.”

“What right down to you losing your ear?”

“No, I did that bit myself.”

“What, you shot yourself?”

“No!” said Charles. He was stung by the possibility that she could think him capable of doing that.

“What do you mean then” asked Merry now very keen to get to the bottom of this.

“They got me my posting to the Resolute. I volunteered for the assault on Rollinium. I probably should have been killed there. So many others died there. I got shot but was damm lucky to survive. That’s all.”

Merry could see that he was upset and she reached out with her hand and took his. “I see” she said softly. They stayed silent holding hands for quite a while. Finally Merry leaned over and said “Thank you” and she gave Charles a peck on his cheek. “I better get going. Same time tomorrow?”

Charles nodded.

Chapter 30. Neeblo, Cheklin 0900, 12 September

Felis Draag wore his new Admiral’s uniform like a pauper would wear a business suit. It had taken him twelve long years of service with the Imperial Rogan Fleet to make Commander and then another three as Commander under Admiral Soola. But that was before he shot the Admiral on the deck of the Imperial Rogan Ship (IRS) Kunter, an act that changed his life.

Now four months later he was an Admiral for the Resistance preparing for a showdown that he knew was coming with the Imperialists. He was struggling to come to terms with it all.

Inside an old abandoned factory complex they had setup a command centre in the abandoned industrial area of Neeblo, itself an abandoned city. Signage still proclaimed the wonders of the fighter aircraft that used to be made here. They had long been superseded and rather than retool it was deemed more expedient to build a new plant from scratch in a new industrial area within a new city for a new future.

Felis rubbed his face gingerly. The bruising from his beating at the hands of the ISS thugs was gone but its memory still lingered. It reminded him of his current situation and the deal they had struck with the ISS Director Angina Slirinus. He had been wary about doing the deal but realistically they had little choice.

So far Angina had been true to her word. The ISS had largely left them alone, allowing the Cheklin Resistance leader, his boss, Meelanda Orocash, a free reign to conduct her political rallies. They were getting bigger crowds at each city. It worried Felis. He would have preferred at least a charade. It would not go unnoticed. It was just a question of how long.

But Meelanda had been insistent on the rallies. Not only did it give her a platform to reach the public it enabled her to stitch up the organisational support she needed so they could eventually form an alternate government. As a result, volunteers were pouring in and it was his job to train and employ a good portion of these for security and defence purposes.

He glanced around the big underground area dominated by the large circular holo display and the terminals and workstations that surrounded it. The equipment was now working but it was the staff that worried him. Oh well Angina reckoned it would be a month before the shit hit the fan. He could do a lot in a month.

“Felis” hailed Evie Plentun, the Resistance leader he first encountered aboard the Resolute. Their relationship had initially been of necessity and it had been a difficult one. She had been very reluctant to trust him. But the events of the past month had changed all that. Now he was glad to hear her voice.

“Yes Evie” he responded “How did it go?”

“Biggest rally yet…over a hundred thousand. Meelanda’s exhausted. We’re going to return today.”

“Good.”

“I think so too” said Evie. There was a lightness in her tone that Felis liked a lot. The recent successes were having a beneficial effect on her thought Felis. “I’ll send you our flight plan” said Evie. “I have to go.”

Anyone else in the command centre looking at Felis would probably conclude that there was a certain lightness of expression on his face that had not been there a few moments ago.

Chapter 31. Resolute over Q2 0930, 12 September

It was now six days after the battle for Q2, in which significant portions of the principal city of Rollinium had been destroyed by the rogan attack. Work to setup a working spaceport at Rollinium was well underway. But as the Resolute loitered in geo some 33,000 kms (33K) above the planet, Dave was in his office on A deck.

He had a frustrated expression on his face when Ivan, entered and took a seat on the other side of Dave’s desk without any formalities. The younger man eyed the older one and asked “Still no news?”

“No” said Dave shaking his head.

“It’s not as though she can just signal us” proffered Ivan referring to Aubrey Bellard, who was ostensibly under Dave’s command.

“No” said Dave. The last message he had received was from Evie Plentun on the comms channel they had provided her before she and Felis were inserted into Checklin. It had simply said that the Phantom was remaining cloaked over Cheklin awaiting the outcome of the negotiations.

Even cloaked, Dave knew that the Phantom ran the risk of detection from enemy ladar – not likely but still possible. He also knew that if that occurred they would be in grave danger, especially with only two of their normal 100 missile loadout.

Dave understood the need for the mission but it put one of his prime assets and, in his view, his best subordinate commander and crew in grave danger.

“Damm it” said Dave “I’m going to recall her. It’s too big a risk.”

“I don’t think the Commodore’s going to be too pleased. He’ll probably just overrule you.”

“Well technically he can’t do that. He’s a political officer. I’m the senior operational officer here.”

“That may be, but who do you think Aubrey will obey – the senior ranked officer eyeballing her or the junior one over half a week’s warp away.”

“Mmm” said Dave. He strummed his fingers on the desk.

Ivan recognised the sure sign of frustration. He decided to change the topic of conversation to something more positive. “Our rogan chums down below are progressing well on the battle systems training. Crystal reckons they will be good to take over Rollinium Control by the end of the week.”

“That’s good” said Dave “and what about Sergeant (Derick) Blithe?”

“Crystal says he’s doing well too.”

“Mmm…” Dave was deep in thought.

“He’s going to need to be, isn’t he?” asked Ivan.

“Yeah he’s got big shoes to fill... I miss John” said Dave. “How’s Crystal bearing up?”

“Better…I think. Keeping her busy has helped.”

Dave nodded. “OK, you’ve convinced me.”

“What?”

“I won’t bother trying to recall Aubrey.”

Ivan smiled. Then he added “besides we still don’t have enough missiles here. We’d just be robbing Peter to pay Paul.” He was referring to the fact that on average their ships had only 67% of their normal allocation of missiles.

“True. But that’ll change when the main force arrives…” Dave checked his terminal screen and then added “In just 17 days.”

“Can’t come quick enough.”

Both men went silent as each pondered the same thought ‘would it remain quiet till then?’

Chapter 32. Slidwon 1430, 12 September

High up in the ISS ‘complex’ Deputy Director, Jebna Diljet, was hard at work. He reviewed the plan for the counter coup. It was the fifth time that day. Each of the previous times he had found cause to change some aspect. But he was satisfied now or so he thought. All that remained was for this last run though and then he would send it.

He knew he had to do it today if the instructions were to reach the recipients in time. In some cases they would not receive this plan for two weeks. Hence why it had to go out today. He would have preferred to run this past Angina but she was not here now and no amount of berating on his part was going to change that.

He knew that she trusted him. But did he trust himself to get the plethora of details right. The chime sounded on his terminal reminding him he had fifteen minutes to go before his next appointment. He double tapped the reminder and said “Ah yes, Torine!”

As he did so, his assistant rang through “Sir Agent Torine to see you.”

“What?’ he replied rhetorically “She’s early!”

“Yes Sir, shall I have her wait?”

“Oh no, send her in.”

Jebna recognised the tall athletic frame of Agent Torine as she entered. She was an impressively attractive female. He may be old enough to be her father but there was no denying what he saw before him.

He glanced down at his terminal and authorised the plan. He looked up at Torine and waved for her to take a seat. He then reviewed the recipient list one last time. He was happy with it. He glanced up to see his visitor. He saw the pistol in her hand fire. He felt the shock of the pulse charge shudder into his body. The shock was tremendous. But Jebna had spent a lifetime dealing with shocks of one ilk or another. His mind was honed through experience to recover from them quickly. It was trying to do so right now. His body on the other hand was shaking. He knew he was dying. He also knew he had been betrayed. In slow motion he could see Torine stand and raising her pistol for the coup de grace. He pushed his right hand forward, not to feebly ward off the next shot but to press the send on his plan. His finger touched the screen and the last sounds he heard were the acknowledging ping from his terminal followed by the pulse shot that would terminate his life.

The terminal pinged once more as Torine moved behind the desk to feel the absence of a pulse on Jebna’s neck. She glanced at the screen as Angina’s FLASH warning message appeared. She smiled. “Too late Director. You’re next.”

The siren heralded the opening of the door. Torine shot the assistant as he pushed through. The gun he was carrying fell to the floor with a thud. Torine bolted to the door, saw no one else was following and reached for her communicator.

“What are you waiting for?” she hailed. “Or do I have to do everything myself.” She terminated the call, stepped over the body, walked out through the lobby area and through the door to the rooftop where her hopper was waiting.

As it ascended she could see the FIA troops moving across from their vehicles towards the front entrance. The battle for the ‘complex’ had begun.

Ursoola Miokin was still trying to get a response from the Deputy Director’s assistant. Her head was throbbing from the siren. From her desk on the second floor above the main entrance she saw the armed figures storming to the front doors. “Seal the building” she hailed on the security wide channel. She had no idea what was going on but it would be on her head if any armed intruders breached the complex.

The blast doors closed in under two seconds propelled by the charges that were detonated by the front desk security team. But they were too late to save the two guards outside the front doors. They were cut down by pulse fire. The automatic pulse guns rose from out of the ground on their pedestals and began raking fire against the armed intruders, who quickly fell back, leaving two of their own motionless on the ground.

On the 27
^th
floor the head of communications Milus Olasso was only just getting his wits about him. He struggled to do up the holster. He had never been a field agent and had never had to fire a gun in anger. He hailed Jebna’s office but got no response. Then he hailed the assistant and got no response. He hailed security “Ursoola, what’s going on?”