Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (19 page)

‘I certainly lust after him’ she admitted to herself. ‘But is this love?’ She reflected on her previous ventures and then thought ‘I don’t want to get burnt again. I’m done with that.’

She rolled over onto her right side curling up into the foetal position. Her left hand rubbed against her leg. ‘Oh fuck it. I need him’ she said to herself. She sat up grabbed her communicator and texted a message to him. ‘Do you want to see my tomatoes?’ and appended her room number. She smiled at her handiwork and hit send.

She started to have second thought about what she had just set in train when there was a knock at her door. She cursed herself for her own weakness but opened the door anyway. “Hi” she said.

“Hi” said Charles.

She saw his eyes scan her and only then realised that she was still in her PJs.

“Oh sorry Charles I should not have sent you that message.”

Charles smiled at her knowingly. “That’s OK, I think I understand.”

She came onto her toes and pecked him on the cheek. “Thanks” she said. She came back onto her heels and then said “Oh, you’re here now, do you want to see my tomatoes. There real. I wasn’t joshing you.”

“Sure” responded Charles. She ushered him in to her little suite. He entered her living space where she had a desk, a small two seater lounge and coffee table and over against the far wall a fairly large hydroponic unit. The artificial lights above it were currently turned off but Charles could see that they must really brighten up the place.

“Their massive” he said as he admired the plants climbing up the creeping poles.

“There not bad. I have to cut them back or they take over the place.” She walked over and put her hand around one of the tomatoes that looked like it was ready to be eaten. “Shall we?” she asked. “On toast?”

“Why not!”

Twenty minutes later, Charles wiped his lips. With a content smile he said “delicious.” He placed his plate down on the coffee table and cast an eye at the time on his communicator. “Aren’t you supposed to be on duty in a few minutes?”

“No. I have the next two days off.”

“Oh” he said and they both went quiet until a minute later when Charles said “I suppose I better be going. Thanks for the tomatoes.”

“Is there anything you would like to say to me Charles?”

“What do you mean?”

“About how you feel towards me?”

Charles felt his neck stiffen. He knew he was clamming up. He didn’t want to but the reaction was so ingrained. Merry could see his struggle etched on his face. Her ego would have been justified at being hurt by this seeming rejection, but Merry was better than that. She reached out her hand and took his. “It’s all right Charles. I know you care for me. I just wish you could say it.”

Her touch was sending a powerful signal to his brain. It was competing with another from a cold, cold place deep within. She reached with her other hand and gently stroked the side of his face, sending a shockwave through his being. It overwhelmed everything and tears began to run.

He gave a partial shake of his head as he looked into her eyes. He was in unchartered territory but he surrendered to the emotion anyway and began crying out loud. She took his head into her shoulder and stroked the back of his head as he sobbed.

He sobbed for some time but eventually stopped, content to be held in her arms. His breathing returned to normal and he regained some composure. “I do love you” he said softly.

A smile came over Merry’s face. She continued to stroke the back of his head. “And I love you.”

Chapter 2. Resolute over Q2, 1900, 16 September

Dave reread the message from Pious. The decision wasn’t any easier for the second reading. He showed it to Ivan who was sitting on the other side of Dave’s desk in his office.

“Wow” said Ivan. He looked at Dave, saw he was looking to him and then reread the message himself. He took his eyes off the console and said “Big call!”

“Well thanks for your contribution” said Dave. “What do you think?”

“Safe option is to stay here as ordered. But the Commodore is recommending you disobey those orders. He’s Johnny on the spot. We know his judgement’s good. I’d back it.”

Dave smiled approvingly. Ivan smiled in response but then added “Is leaving two frigates the right option though? I’d be inclined to leave the Maelstrom here. We would need to leave some fighter here anyway and she doesn’t have a full complement. She’s also a drag on our options – not being stealth.”

“My thoughts exactly” said Dave.

“The leaders down there are not going to be happy.”

“No they are not. Someone’s going to have to explain things to them. That’ll be down to me I suppose.”

“By all accounts Hec Shoebridge did a pretty good job last time.”

“Nah, bad news is best delivered from on high.”

Ivan chuckled. “I did offer an alternative.”

“Noted. Call a conference of ship captains and XOs. We need to get underway soon. Let’s aim for 2100.”

Chapter 3. Cornucopia to Polaris 0300, 17 September

Merry’s internal clock was all screwed up by her shift work. It told her that this was the time to be up and about - hence why her eyes were wide open. She patted the hand that draped over her midriff and glanced across at the dark shape that was Charles’ head. She smiled. Their lovemaking had been really sweet. They both had been tender and gentle.

But now she felt something else, something primal, and something more robust. She moved her hand down to her groin. He moaned a little at the disturbance. She began rubbing herself as she fantasised about making love with Charles again. With her other hand she stroked his thigh. He moaned and began to stir.

She pushed his hand that was on her midriff up to rub against her breast and let out her own pleasurable moan. This definitely woke Charles up. “What?” he asked in his half-awake state. She extended her hand down to his groin and began stimulating him to the point where Charles rolled onto his side, cocked his leg over her and began to hoist himself on top of her.

She grabbed him by the buttocks and clenched hard forcing him into her parting legs. “Oh” he said out loud.

“Give it to me” she begged. She began to laugh with sheer pleasure as he thrust into her. She pulled his buttocks tighter feeling him grind down on her mount venus. “More” she uttered. Charles was breathing heavily with the exertion. He had never made love with this degree of intensity before. The emotion overwhelmed again and he let out an “Oh yes…I love you…I love you.”

She felt him come and she surrendered to the pleasure herself. A wave of ecstasy swept over her. She stroked the back of his head and supported it as he rolled off of her. She laughed and said joyfully “now that was a good fuck!” Charles laughed briefly. A minute later though the little death claimed him. As he fell back into sleep, Merry never felt more alive.

Chapter 4. Lewista 1100, 17 September

“Must be half a million” shouted Erkum in an effort to communicate with Meelanda before she was to go forward to address the rally. They were on the same balcony of the Ripple building from where they had begun their political campaign. Meelanda had insisted it be here. This was where her father had paid the price for opposing the imperialists. It meant a lot to her.

Last time they had barely mustered ten thousand. Now as far as the eye could see there were people occupying every bit of space in the main concourse between the huge towers. There were huge banners playing on the walls of the towers, where once advertisements and propaganda played.

The MC was geeing up the crowd and soon a chant of “Twenty Four no more” began to overwhelm all the other sounds. It reached a crescendo as Meelanda took the stage. She raised her arms up and out and eventually the voices subsided.

“People of Lewista, people of this great world of Cheklin and people throughout the rogan territories I hereby declare that the 24
^th
Plenium is no more in control of this home world.” A huge cheer went up and Meelanda had to wait a minute before she could hear herself. “The imperialist flag flies no more over Cheklin.” Another cheer went up. “This is the beginning of a new era, a republican era. The 25
^th
Plenium has begun.”

There followed a string of speeches, including one by Evie about the forthcoming elections. As Evie stepped down after her speech she realised that she had never participated in an election in her entire life. It was hard for her to come to terms with what was happening. As she sat back down on one of the seats setup for the dignitaries, with the giant digital banners dominating the vertical space around her and the male voice of the latest speaker trying to speak over the dull roar of the huge crowd, Evie had to shake her head to comprehend it all.

‘Was it only six months ago I was running for my life on Soln?’ she asked herself. Now here she was riding a wave of epoch making change everyone had told her would be impossible to bring about.

In that moment she thought of her parents, for the first time in a long time. Her father was a first tier aristocrat, the seventh envoy to the 24
^th
Plenium. He would be in Slidwon, where the fighting was still raging. For years now she had raged against her father. He represented everything she wanted to bring down. But in this moment of triumph the fire fuelling her rage had died. Instead she felt anxious for his and her mother’s safety. ‘I need to go to Istridium’ she declared to herself.

She stood up and made her way to where Erkum was standing and cupping her hand spoke into his ear “I need to call Felis” and she pointed to the doors behind them. He nodded and she walked to the doorway where the guard opened it on Erkum’s hail. Once inside the old media centre, the noise level dropped dramatically but still it was quite loud. She went through to one of the old abandoned offices and shut the door. There was the musty smell of dust that probably had been there undisturbed for decades. ‘What stories these walls have heard?’ thought Evie. ‘I bet Meelanda will reopen this’ said Evie to herself with a smile.

She took out her communicator and hailed Felis. She told him she wanted to go to Istridium with Veego’s 2
^nd
RIF. He could tell by how she sounded that this was a conversation best done face to face.

“We need to talk this through together tonight. Please don’t mention anything about it to Meelanda till after then.”

“All right, but aren’t they leaving in the morning?”

“There’s time.”

“OK I’ll see if I can get back early.”

After hanging up her call she pondered for a moment. The dull sound of the rally outside could still be heard. ‘He thinks I’m being impulsive’ she said to herself. ‘Am I?’

“Evie” hailed Erkum.

“Yes” she replied.

“Are you all right? You need to get back out here.”

“Yes. I’m on my way.”

Chapter 5. Slidwon 1200, 17 September

Much had and was being said about the First Consul, Emilius Quazor. Much would be said about him in the future too for he had carved out a piece of history regardless of how things proceeded from here. But Emilius knew that the latest pundits were wrong. He was not down for the count by a long shot.

Emilius may not have been the most reflective individual but he had been more than just a survivor. For fifteen long years he had been the dominant figure on the rogan political stage. It was true that there had not been an uprising in the home worlds until now but that news, along with that from Admiral Titlun, as calamitous as it was, was still not sufficient to destroy his spirit.

He had got to the top of the pile because he was a fighter and he was determined to fight to stay on top. He had ordered Titlun along with the remnants of his 1
^st
RIF to return to Istridium. He had directed that the shipyards ramp up production. In conjunction with the measures now being taken to speed up the training programs at the various fleet academies he was confident he would be able to reconstitute not only the 1
^st
RIF but also a new 14
^th
RIF.

Ground troops were a problem. He had directed a new draft be undertaken to conscript enough for three new divisions on Istridium plus one each in the other home worlds. It would be at least three months before these forces would be ready. What he needed in the interim were some stopgap measures.

For some inexplicable reason the Endosian Division had gone missing in transit. It would not be the first time a group of ships had disappeared in warp only to reappear some weeks later. For all the claims of science they still were unable to guarantee fail safe warp routes. He cursed the timing of it all.

At least there was good news from his nephew. The renegade 33
^rd
Army Brigade (Bde) had commenced its breakout attempt. His nephew though was confident of crushing it. The ISS ‘complex’ was all but rubble now. It had gone on now for five days and the entire Kenrudim district had been flattened in the process.

At first Emilius had been furious but he soon came to appreciate his nephew’s approach. There were some distinct side benefits to the wanton destruction of the empire’s premier commercial district. The destruction of the towers also meant the demise of the wealth of many of the first tier family consortiums. While some of his supporters were affected the greater burden fell on his opponents. So in a warped perspective he was coming out relatively on top.

He looked at the signal one more time, then punched the commit button. The left end of his mouth twitched. ‘How easy it is to write off a realm!’ he thought. The message now in transit authorised the handover of all territories in the Fritwa sector. ‘It was a troubled undertaking anyway’ thought Emilius.

‘But now I can redeploy the 12
^th
and 13
^th
’ he said to himself, referring to the two fleets (12
^th
RIF and 13
^th
RIF) currently in the Fritwa sector. “Besides” he said out loud “once they have dealt with this rabble here they can always go back.” A wicked smile came over the First Consul’s face.