The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (39 page)

“
I
’
m sorry you won
’
t get the official credit for this,
”
Willis said after a moment.

“
Official credit is exactly what I will get. I just won
’
t get the public credit, at least not for a while,
”
Vincent shrugged before taking a sip from his drink.
“
If that means that the next Rizr ship doesn
’
t know what it
’
s dealing with until it
’
s inside weapons range, I can live with that. I
’
m glad my crew is acknowledged. I just wish the Admiral hadn
’
t
…
ah never mind.
”

Willis glanced sidelong at her friend.

“
I
’
m not the Admiral
’
s spy you know,
”
she said.

“
I know Faithie,
”
he replied as he looked across the room.
“
It
’
s just
…
just
…”

“
What?
”

“
I don
’
t know. I just get a vibe Faithie. This squadron is just waiting for the day when the Rizr turn up in force.
”

“
That
’
s what we
’
re expecting,
”
Willis replied.

“
Yeah, but I get the feeling that when that day comes, most of you expect to lose.
”

“
You make it sound like we
’
ve given up, Vince,
”
she replied, before sipping from her drink.

“
I felt it the first day I arrived here. You probably haven
’
t noticed because it
’
s been gradual,
”
Vincent replied flatly.
“
Your Admiral doesn
’
t think he can win, and he
’
s trying to keep it to himself. He
’
s praying reinforcements turn up before the Rizr make their big move.
”

Willis didn
’
t reply. As he had done so often in the past, Vincent had seen the truth. Looking across the room to where Shibanova was talking to the commander of the
Onslaught
, she could see the Admiral suddenly looked like a very tired old man.

“
He
’
s not well,
”
Willis said quietly.
“
Six months ago there was an entire fleet here, now we
’
re trying to do the same job with four antiques and an armed merchantman. If they come at us in strength,
I
’
m
not sure we can win.
”

“
That
’
s not like you Faithie. Remember the Battle of Davisman at the academy?
”
Vincent replied.
“
That one which isn
’
t supposed to be winnable, more about degrees of losing.
”

Willis smiled at the memory - an early glory in a simulation commanding a small squadron. Although more than three-quarters of her force was destroyed, she
’
d stopped cold a larger force commanded by a full fleet captain. It had marked her for the promotion fast track.

“
Yeah. God, Captain Davisman was cheesed off!
”

“
Remember what you said. If the other side is probably going to win, then make it as painful as possible. The other side might not realise they
’
re winning.
”

“
Yeah I remember that.
”
Willis said but thought to herself,
Christ I was arrogant
.

“
We can beat
‘
em Faithie,
”
Vincent said.
“
It might sting a bit, but we can beat
‘
em.
”

___________________

2
nd
May 2067

The
Hood
and
Onslaught
coasted along, two hundred kilometres astern of a small slow boat halfway between Dryads Five and Four. They
’
d jumped in thirty minutes earlier and as usual scared the hell out of the intercepted transport. In another ninety minutes they
’
d be jumping away again. Half the crew were at action stations, ready for anything. Not that much was likely to happen. After
Deceiver
’
s
success Rizr activity in the system had nearly stopped. There had been two sightings at the edge of the system, but in neither case had the ship moved in any deeper.

It seemed Vincent
’
s success had scared them off. Either that or the sight of the frontier force periodically passing through had given them cause to rethink. Since her conversation with Vincent, Willis had been looking again at her own plans. If you were prepared to get hurt and badly, that opened a number of options. It wasn
’
t the only topic where options had been opened. Dryad was the first posting in years that she and Vincent had been assigned to the same solar system. Willis smiled to herself. There were definitely some pleasant options, especially since they were conveniently in the same rank grade.

There was a brief squeal of feedback from the intercom earpiece that made her wince, then Guinness
’
s voice came through.

“
Skipper, I need you to come down to centrifuge deck three, section seven.
”

“
What is it, Chief?
”

“
It
’
s the Admiral Ma
’
am, he
’
s had an accident. You
’
d better get down here quick. It
’
s serious.
”

Admiral Shibanova lay crumpled at the foot of the ladder, his blood staining the deck plating. The ship
’
s surgeon was already working on him when Willis arrived. Her first instinct was to rush over but she forced herself not to. What could be done, was being done. Instead she made her way over to Guinness. The engineer was standing against a bulkhead, his arms crossed.

“
What happened?
”
she demanded.
“
Did he slip?
”

“
He collapsed Skipper,
”
Guinness replied.
“
He was going up the ladder and then he just seemed to
…
to lose it. He fell before I could get to him. Hit the deck hard. I
’
m sorry skipper, I couldn
’
t move fast enough.
”

Willis didn
’
t reply and instead waited impatiently. A pair of ratings arrived with a stretcher and the Admiral was carefully moved. Willis couldn
’
t contain herself any further.

“
Doctor?
”

Hood’s
surgeon glanced towards her.

“
Ma
’
am, you
’
re going to have to walk and talk,
”
he replied as he hurried after the stretcher. Willis followed.
“
If you
’
re about to ask what I think you are, the answer is I don
’
t know. He has definitely broken his shoulder but I don
’
t know why he collapsed.
”

“
What can we do?
”

“
What you can do Ma
’
am, is get us back to Hawkings Base. They have proper medical facilities there. Then maybe we
’
ll know what we
’
re dealing with.
”

Willis, Admiral Kinnear and the rest of the senior officers of the Geriatrics waited in the lobby area of Hawkings Base
’
s medical block. There was a grim silence in the room, all conversation having petered out hours earlier. Finally the hatch opened and Chief Medical Officer came out.

“
So Emily?
”
Kinnear asked.

“
Well sir,
”
she replied as she pulled off her surgical gloves,
“
we
’
ve stabilised his condition.
”

“
What was it?
”
Willis asked.

“
A stroke Commander, at least to begin with. It wasn
’
t potentially the most serious one he could have had, but then he fell and hit his head and that
’
s caused bleeding inside the skull. We
’
ve managed to stop this, but as to how much damage his brain took, I can
’
t say.
”

“
Is he awake?
”
Commander Daler of the
Onslaught
asked.

“
No. We
’
re keeping him under for, well, for as long as we think we have to.
”
  The surgeon paused and looked directly at Willis.
“
He isn
’
t going to be fit to resume his duties in anything even resembling the foreseeable future.
”

Everyone in the room also looked at her.

“
Looks like you
’
re in command now Faith,
”
said Daler grimly.

Chapter Twelve

Arrivals

17
th
March 2067, Douglas Base

“
And then he started banging on about how just because they are on active service, standards were not going to slip. Not on his watch! Then he slipped!
”
Alice said

“
He didn’t go in as well?
”
Leah asked.

“
Not just into the mud, but into the mud on top of Private Coonan! Two seconds later the Captain came round the corner to find out what all the shouting was about. It was definitely the highlight of the week.
”

Leah Moir giggled and Alice was glad to see a bit of colour come to her cheeks.

“
Marine mud wrestling,
”
Leah said with a small smile.
“
Who says this place lacks entertainment?
”

Alice nodded in agreement.

“
Mind you, I got mired in a mud hole last week,
”
she added.
“
It took them twenty minutes to dig me out. Wasn’t so funny then!
”

“
I’m sure your marine boyfriend was there like a shot to help.
”
It was a gentle dig but Alice was glad to be on the receiving end of it. She dearly hoped that her friend was starting to return to her old self.

“
There
’
s nothing between us. Rob is a friend,
”
Alice replied

“
I think he wants to be a bit more than that.
”

“
Yeah well,
”
Alice started before she’d figured out how to answer the question.
“
It isn’t the right time for a relationship.
”

“
Yes, I know,
”
Leah replied. Her face had fallen and once again she seemed to be staring into space.

Alice mentally kicked herself for allowing the conversation to drift even within shouting distance of the war.