Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (43 page)

Dave pulled out of the kiss, dropped to his knees and swivelled the chair so she was facing him. As he did so, Rihan raised her leg over his torso. Dave parted the robe and dived in.

Chapter 40. Kiev over Q2 0720, 5 October

Phil was eating his breakfast in the mess when he was hailed by the watch officer. For a big man he moved quickly to the elevator and entered the command centre a minute later. “So whose are they then?” he asked.

“Likta Corporation. Do you want to speak with their commander…a Captain Enshider”

“Put him on.”

A few minutes later Phil terminated the call. “Well I’ll be” he said with a big smile on his face. He looked at the holo and shook his head in amazement at the 221 transports that had just warped in. These were all fast rogan transports.

“So Sir what did he mean by our share” asked the watch officer.

Phil’s communicator chimed. He checked the message just in. It was from his benefactor. Phil nodded to the watch officer “From Mr Likta” he advised. He read the message. “OK, we can use one third for our military purposes. The remainder must be devoted to the evacuation of Q2. Ooh we can expect more transports to arrive over the coming weeks. Shit! By month’s end we should have 1500. Bloody hell. That’s made my day!”

Phil was still sitting in his chair in the command centre pondering all he could do using these transports when he heard the watch officer startled upon hearing the hail from the Audacity. “Sorry Sir. Still can’t get used to these stealth ships” said the watch officer.

Phil chuckled. He was content to let the watch officer handle things. He leant back in his chair, looking as happy as a pig in mud. He had a big grin on his face. He caught the watch officer looking at him and Phil said “Christmas has come early.”

Phil looked down at the holo and could see a stream of shuttles beginning to ply their trade between the ships of his combined fleet. Phil knew all too well that this would be one of the busiest days for the personnel under his command. Ships were being disbanded, crews dispersed, transferred and assigned all over the place. Many would be struggling to come to terms with the new technologies they were being asked to manage. Many would be daunted, but like him, many would be delighted.

There was a sense of fulfilment steadily filling up every corner of Phil’s being. For so long now he had strived to bring about the martialling of this expeditionary fleet. Now it was all coming together. He knew that shortly he would be harassed by one thing or another. ‘There are always teething problems’ he said to himself. But right now he was going to savour this moment.

He leaned back and closed his eyes. There was a content smile on his face. It was so content that when Alex came in he swore he looked serene. “Excuse me Sir” said Alex.

“I’m not here” muttered Phil without opening his eyes. “Whatever it is, it can wait.”

Alex about-turned and walked out. A smile came over his face too. This was the happiest he had seen Phil in a long, long time.

Chapter 41. Whiskey 1 over Q2 0830, 5 October

There was a real buzz inside Whiskey 1 as it approached the Audacity. “Wow” said Parinya as they got close enough to see the new carrier. Both Dave and Rihan stepped up to move forward and take a peek. But Dave knew there was not enough room for both of them. So he sat back down and let Rihan enjoy the moment. It was her ship after all.

He could see a big smile appear on Rihan’s face as she craned over Parinya’s shoulder. “It’s huge, absolutely massive.”

A minute later they were lined up for the run in. Rihan was back in her seat. Dave gave her a pat on the top of her knee as though it would prevent her enthusiasm from bubbling out.

“Mine is definitely bigger than yours now Dave” she said with an ‘I told you so’ expression on her face.

“Point of order” said Dave as the shuttle entered the Audacity’s port inbound runway “I think you will find that all ships under an Admiral’s command are his ships. It’s been that way for millennia and I don’t see it changing any time soon.” He finished off with a smug smile on his face.

“Oh I think you will find that we have had female Admirals for centuries now. But the old misogynists, not mentioning any names around here, still insist on using the male pronoun.”

“Touché!” said Dave as the retros fired and they touched own on the deck.

They were greeted by a Captain Bill Praxton who gave them both a snappy salute. “Welcome to the audacity Sir, Maam” said Bill in his deeply timbered voice. “I am your new XO Maam” he added as he shook hands with Rihan and Dave.

Dave was struck immediately by the warmth of Bill’s smile. He had an easy manner with a deep cultivated voice that he knew would be a calming influence. He liked that. He was a tall man, taller than Dave. His short hair was going grey at the temples. It betrayed his otherwise youngish looks. Seeing his dark complexion next to Rihan’s fair complexion, made him think of the ebony and ivory keys of a piano.

“Let me show you to your quarters” said Bill. “We’ve got a bit of a hike I’m afraid. Oh and by the way” said Bill, taking out his communicator. “Your communicator should have a message waiting for you. Just OK it. It will install the ShipNav app.”

“Neat” said Rihan. “So this is where we are now?”

“That’s right and if you set your objective to your quarters…just say ‘Destination my quarters’… and there you go you’ve got your route all mapped out.”

“It says it’s going to take me ten minutes” said Rihan a little worried.

“That’s right Maam, by foot it will. Here” he said pointing to a control on her screen “set it to use the walkways and yes, there you now see it will take just five minutes. Shall we get going? Oh, your luggage will follow shortly.”

They hopped onto the walkway that whisked them along and out of the landing bays and to an elevator bay. “These flight decks are 400m long. We’ve got two sets of elevators bays” advised Bill “one midway forward, the other midway aft. That way you should never be more than 100m from an elevator.” They took an elevator up several levels and turned right on exiting the elevator to take another walkway over the bridge from the port hull to the centre hull. This came out on C deck. They then had to take another elevator up to B deck where their quarters were.

Finally they arrived at the Admiral’s suite. “Now Sir, Maam I have done my homework but I could be taking a liberty here. I have assumed you will be sharing this suite.”

“That’s right” said Rihan straight away. “Thank you.”

Bill seemed a little relieved that that was out of the way. “I have yet to assign the flag officer’s cabin. Perhaps you could let me know how you want to handle that.”

“Of course” said Rihan “We’ll let you know soon. Commodore Larsen’s on C deck and Commodore Gilbert’s on D deck, correct?”

“Yes that’s right Maam. Do you want me to show you around this deck or are you right for now. I do need to head back soon. We have a cast of hundreds arriving this morning. Oh and I have taken the liberty of drafting a schedule of activities for today and tomorrow, subject to your approval of course.” Bill tapped his communicator. “There you should have it now.”

Rihan took a quick look. She was pleasantly surprised. She flicked her finger and refreshed her memory on the list that she had prepared last night. It was very similar. The morning was devoted to ‘march-in’ just as she had on hers. “Well done” said Rihan. “I’m impressed.”

“I’m glad” said Bill with a smile. “I’ll leave you to it then.”

They entered the Admiral’s suite as Bill was being whisked away on the walkway. It was about twice the size of their spacious cabin on the Resolute. “It’s a cavern” said Dave “What are we going to do with all this space.”

Rihan shook her head. “Leave it to me. I want another desk in here for a start.” She scanned the space further. “I like the lounge area. We can have a meditation area just there.” She went straight to the bathroom and came out with a big smile. “It’ll do” she pronounced. She looked at the bed and asked “swap sides this time?”

Dave shook his head. “Nah, it’ll muck up all my moves.”

“Wouldn’t want that now” she replied. “Come on, let’s have a look around. Can’t do anything in here till our luggage arrives anyway.”

Outside in the main corridor Dave was looking at his ShipNav app trying to work out where the mess is. “Where’s the mess?” he asked.

“Which one?”

“We have more than one?”

“We have 384 officers on three decks. So we have three dining areas, three lounge areas, three café areas for light snacks, three bars plus three cinemas.”

“You’re not kidding are you?”

“No” said Rihan shaking her head. “Follow me darling. I won’t lead you astray.”

Dave was content to let Rihan be the navigator. Eventually he knew he would have to get a handle on the layout but right now it was a tad daunting. They found the café on their deck and an eager steward offered to make them a coffee.

While they waited Rihan asked “So what should we do with my cabin? Offer it to Art and Sue again?”

“Yeah, that may ruffle a few feathers.”

Rihan knew that Dave was alluding to their rank. Neither Art nor Sue were captains and on a ship with quite a few captains they ran the risk that one of those might take umbrage. “You could promote Art” she proffered.

“Mmm, I could, couldn’t I?”

“Glad we got that sorted” said Rihan as the steward placed down their coffees.

A few sips later and Art and Sue appeared. “So this is where you are hiding” said Art. There was an awkward moment of silence as Art was trying to formulate the words he wanted to say.

Sue grew impatient and started to say “We were just wondering…”

“Captain Simons I believe you are not dressed correctly” interjected Dave.

Art was completely taken off guard and he looked to Sue for help.

“He’s talking to you” said Sue.

“Gee, I don’t know what to say” said Art.

“I think that was obvious dear” said Sue and she gave him a nudge.

“Thanks Dave…I mean Sir” sputtered Art.

“You deserve it Art” said Dave. “Besides it gets us around a hurdle.”

Art looked confounded.

Sue rolled her eyes. “So we can have your room?” she asked Rihan.

Rihan smiled and nodded. “Like old times.”

There was now a steady stream of figures marching past the café heading to or from their cabins. One of these had a blond ponytail and answered to the name of Aubrey. There was a smile on her face and it wasn’t just because of her new badge of rank. She found the gang of four and joined them with a “morning tea time already?”

Dave nodded with a smile. He was so pleased to see Aubrey so happy. “Like your digs?” he asked.

“Nice to have a bigger bed. Shame there’s no one to fill it.” Aubrey looked at Sue. “You scored Rihan’s cabin didn’t you?”

“Well actually Captain Simons here did” said Sue with obvious delight in her voice.

“Congrats Art” said Aubrey. She turned to Dave “You know I wouldn’t have pulled rank on this.”

“I know but it’s a convenient excuse to promote the bugger.”

“High praise indeed” said Art feigning sincerity.

Chase and Crystal entered the area and joined in the banter. A few minutes later Dave raised his voice. “Since we’re all here. I want to let my planning staff” and he looked at Aubrey, Chase, Art and Sue “know that this afternoon, while Rihan and her new XO are putting the crew of this fantastic ship through its paces, we’ll be meeting…somewhere, to sort out how we’re going to fight this new group of ours.” Dave turned to Rihan “where is our space?”

Rihan shook her head and consulted her ShipNav. “Up on A deck there’s a Fleet briefing room aft of the central elevators. There, you should see it now.”

Dave looked at his communicator and said “Yeah, I see it…terrific honey!”

All the others looked on either in a confused state or amazed. “What did you just do?” asked Chase.

“ShipNav” said Rihan.

“It’s a new app. Check your communicator” added Dave.

They all went to their communicators and after a few minutes of “Oohs” and “Aahs” they all agreed it was a great app.

“Good, so there’s no excuse now” said Dave.

“And that goes for you too darling?” asked Rihan in a mocking manner.

Dave laughed and added “Hopefully!”

Chapter 42. Audacity over Q2 1400, 5 October

Rihan strode into the huge briefing room with Bill Praxton in tow. She nodded at those she knew in the seats, including Crystal, but for the most part these were strangers.

Bill Praxton watched her closely. He had heard so much about her. ‘Hell, who hadn’t’ he thought to himself. She and Warner were the stuff of legend now. They had won just about every battle they had fought. There was an undeniable air of confidence in the way she presented and with a quick scan of the faces in the room he could see that confidence elevating the mood of all present.

While there were a few rookies, most of the crew had been pulled from survivors of the battle for Polaris. Many had lost their ships but had managed to survive. Others had found out after the battle that their ship had suffered so much damage that it was not worth repairing. For them the wait for a new role had been full of mixed feelings.

Bill recalled how Alex had told him that he had done his best to scoop up the best of this pool and assign it to the Audacity. “It’s the number one priority” had been the directive from Yomoto. Bill knew some of them, but for him too most were ‘unknowns’ save for a note in a file or whatever he had heard or read about them in the media. He was intrigued how Rihan would handle that. Bill’s biggest worry as he contemplated the challenges ahead while in transit had been how to gel this many people into a cohesive fighting unit in such a short space of time.

“Ladies and gentlemen” began Rihan in an assured voice “you are the luckiest officers in the fleet. Make no bones about that. You have been assigned not only to the biggest and most powerful ship ever built, but to the group that will win this war.”

“I have it on good authority” she said with a wry smile “that Admiral Warner aims to win this in short order. We will be going direct to the enemy’s home world of Istridium. It’s the enemy’s seat of power and their biggest arsenal.”