Aneka Jansen 5: The Greatest Heights of Honour (28 page)

‘It’s easy when you can just download the files and run facial recognition.’

‘I have to rely on my brain for the last bit, but that’s where I got his name from.’

‘You’re going to end up leading the FSA. You know that, right?’

‘Eventually, maybe, if we live through this.’

‘Have some faith.’ Janine turned around and spoke aloud. ‘The Vertol’s overhead.’

‘They’re early,’ Truelove responded.

‘Yeah, well, Agent Torrence is flying it.’

Truelove grinned. ‘All right, let’s get them aboard. Prepare the ship for underwater operation; we’re diving as soon as our guests are through the hatch.’

FNf Delta Brigantia.

‘Frigate!’ Anderson snapped. ‘Port side, twenty degrees down…’

‘Got it!’ Grant’s voice came back over the intercom. He was a technician with a speciality in gunnery, but he was pretty useful at firing the things too.

In the port side console in front of Anderson, Hughes was timing his shots on the main gun and directing one of the three forward turrets. He had to work with their pilot, Shari Prentice, to get the main gun in line for firing since it was a fixed, forward-facing mount. She had to line up his shots and try to avoid getting hit at the same time and she was doing it with the skill of a woman who had, apparently, been born in a pilot’s chair.

Anderson let them work, keeping an overview of their environment with the help of Baron, their navigator and sensor operator. So far her crew was living up to its reputation, but they were barely engaged in the battle and there were a lot of ships out there who wanted them dead.

She saw the bright flash of a missile detonation as the keel turret took it out a few hundred kilometres away. Lots of Herosians wanted them dead, but they were going to live through this if it killed her.

LV-101 Argus.

Norden followed the flow of battle, his expression serious. He wondered whether Farmer was seeing the same thing he was, or whether the arrogant Jenlay was seeing only the Herosian losses.

In truth, he considered that unlikely. The superior technology of the Old Earth ships was proving highly effective and the losses were primarily in Herosian and Jenlay forces. Farmer had to be seeing that and, given the characterisation Norden had formed of the Jenlay Navy’s command, the result could go one of two ways. Farmer might get angry and try throwing his forces in harder. It seemed more likely that he would get scared and go on the defensive.

As the final stages of the Herosians’ initial battle strategy played out and their forces turned to create a shield around their gunships, just as Norden had predicted, he solidified his prediction of Farmer’s reaction. The formation was a battering ram to drive the gunships through to New Earth. Given the earlier estimations of their available ground forces, that meant they were coming for Farmer himself and while Norden was sure the Admiral would risk a few civilian lives, he would not risk his own.

Naval Command.

‘Get the troops in from the city,’ Farmer snapped. ‘I want a defensive formation set up on this island and the spaceport. Get the missile batteries online and start scanning for targets.’

‘Sir, they’re over an hour away at this pace,’ the Commander said.

‘Do it! All ships to defensive formations. I want full orbital coverage. Get that Old Earth battleship in position above us. Lighter craft to harry their rear, everything else form a barrier. We can’t let them get through.’

The Commander, whose name was Litia Henderson, turned back to her console and began issuing orders. In a window at the rear of the display now, she could just see part of an email she was writing whenever she had a spare moment. It was to her partner in Yorkbridge, only a few kilometres and an eternity away, who she was sure she was never going to see again. She estimated she had time to finish it, maybe another ninety minutes, but she wanted it done and sent in less. When those gunships got in range, she was quite sure she was going to die.

FNb Admiral Banfry.

‘New orders coming in, Captain,’ Leeforth said.

Ape looked down at a screen which had changed to show the new battle order. ‘Of course, now we’re on the defensive because he’s worked out they
might
get in range to shoot at
him.
Swing us around, full thrust for New Earth. I want as many batteries as possible on defensive fire so give us an oblique course. Engineering, I want a prediction on reaction mass usage.’

‘Think we can stop them getting through?’ Leeforth asked. It was apparent from her tone that she did not.

‘No. If we’re lucky we can thin them out some before they get there. Tell the squadron to run interference for us; most of them are better equipped for fast retreats than we are.’

Leeforth swallowed and turned back to her console. The main engines had already kicked in at full burn, but the battleship was not exactly a speedy vessel. The Captain was right: this was going to be a tough run.

Norden Forest.

Janna had insisted on seeing what was going on and refused to let Winter turn the displays in her ship off even though she sat there with a look of horror on her face as the battle’s progress unfolded in front of her.

‘So many lives,’ Janna whispered.

‘So far we don’t know the actual casualty level,’ Winter replied. ‘We’re looking at equipment disabled more than people hurt.’

‘But people
will
have been hurt,’ Janna countered.

‘Yes.’

‘Do you think it’s possible they’ll win? The Herosians?’

‘It’s a battle, Janna,’ Winter replied flatly, ‘just about anything is possible.’

Yorkbridge Mid-town.

The reports on the battle were not exactly detailed, or complete, but CFM was reporting as best it could, frequently citing the changing position as an excuse for the lack of information. Katelyn sat on the couch in the apartment she shared with Dillon, her partner, and watched it with a mixture of frustration and growing alarm.

‘This isn’t looking good,’ she said.

‘No,’ Dillon agreed. He was busy in the kitchen and she was not exactly sure why. She was not hungry and she could not see how he could eat under the circumstances.

‘It’s sketchy, but I get the impression the Herosians are closing in on the planet.’

‘No, they’re closing in on the city.’

‘What?!’

‘Stands to reason,’ the big man replied. ‘There’s not much on this rock worth attacking. They may hit the orbital station, but their main targets are going to be the spaceport and the city.’ He sounded too calm.

‘Oh.’

‘So get your ass off that seat, we’re leaving.’

‘What? Where are we going?’

‘Underground. The subway might not be safe, but it’ll be a lot safer than a tower block if they start bombing. Get that sleeping bag out of the second bedroom. We might be down there for a while.’

Feeling slightly dazed, Katelyn got up and headed for the bedroom door.

FNf Delta Brigantia.

The Brigantia swung hard around and, still moving in the direction its momentum was carrying it in, opened fire on the nearest gunship. Its turrets were engaging missiles and ships in all directions, but still the odd beam cut across her hull.

‘Damage report,’ Anderson requested.

Scotts, the chief engineer, responded almost immediately. ‘She’s holding together. We’ve got a coolant leak somewhere in the reactor. I’ve isolated it, shouldn’t be a problem. Hull is intact, but I’d appreciate it if Shari could dodge a few more of those graser beams.’

‘She’s doing the best she can. Keep her flying.’

‘Doing the best I can.’

Anderson allowed herself a small smile. ‘Did you hear that, Prentice? Scotts wants you to dodge more.’

Prentice’s voice sounded strained when she replied. ‘If he wants to come up here and see if he can do better…’

‘Pretty sure he can’t. Pretty sure no one can. You’re the best pilot in the Navy, and don’t you forget it.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Prentice replied, sending the ship into a tight spiral which avoided a particle beam and brought her in line for another shot from the main gun.

Herosian Flagship.

Sin’Doffis watched the progress of the battle in a holographic display not unlike the one Norden was using. The main difference between the two was that Norden knew who had built his tank; Sin’Doffis considered the thing something akin to magic, much as was the case with most of the Xinti battleship it was housed in. It worked, that was all he cared about.

What it showed was that they were taking losses, but those losses were within tolerance. The defending forces were not faring so well. Calculation suggested the Herosian fleet had inflicted twice as much damage as it had taken in the initial assault. As he had expected, the Jenlay had gone to a defensive posture after that and their proportional casualty rate had dropped, but they were still losing people and ships faster than his fleet was.

‘When will we have the gunships in artillery range?’ he asked of the Commander acting as his assistant.

‘A little over half of one hour, Admiral. We are taking losses, however. The Jenlay are specifically targeting those vessels.’

Sin’Doffis nodded. ‘Yes, and taking heavier casualties because of it. Tighten the defences around the core and accelerate. Plough through them.’

Naval Command.

‘This is not going fast enough,’ Farmer growled. ‘I want those gunships disabled.’

‘The Herosians have tightened their defensive grid,’ Henderson replied. ‘The frigates can’t get in without getting themselves blown to Hell. Missiles haven’t a chance of getting past the point defences.’

‘I don’t want excuses, I want results!’

Henderson turned and glared at the man. ‘They can’t perform miracles, Admiral, and they can’t fly
through
solid metal.’

‘You’re relieved, Commander,’ Farmer snapped. He looked at the nearest ranking officer. ‘You, take over the Commander’s position.’

Without a word, Henderson got to her feet and headed for the door of the operations room. Even if they court-martialled her she was going to be happier out of sight of the fool they had running the battle.

Yorkbridge Mid-town.

The subway station was full of people. The trains had been stopped, the lines shut down, and even the track space was occupied by people hiding from the coming Herosian invasion.

Dillon found a space a few yards down the tunnel, under part of the platform structure which extended down there for service personnel. He laid out their sleeping bag and sat on it beside Katelyn, his arm around her shoulders.

‘Do you think it’s safe down here?’ Katelyn asked. ‘I mean, it’s not
that
deep…’

‘It won’t stand a direct hit, but it’ll protect us if they hit other areas.’

‘You really think they’ll hit the city?’

‘I think they’ll hit the spaceport. The Navy has its command bunker there. I think they’ll use planetary bombardment weapons on it from orbit, like they did at Obati.’

‘Nukes?’

‘No need. They throw a big, heavy projectile from orbit. It’s got the force of a nuke without the fallout. They can roll in after and not have to clean up the mess.’

‘Oh.’

There was silence aside from the mutter of conversation at low volume. No one was saying anything loudly, as though the Herosians might hear them and drop a projectile on them.

‘I’m cold,’ Katelyn said after a few minutes.

There was a cold draft flowing down the tunnel. One of the reasons Dillon had moved out of the main station area was that the heat in there had been oppressive with so many Jenlay crammed together.

‘We’ll get into the bag,’ he said, ‘cuddle up.’

‘Yeah,’ Katelyn replied softly. ‘I could use a cuddle about now.’

FSA Submarine.

Truelove scanned the displays, finishing on a timer she had set up in one corner of a screen. It was the estimate of how long they had before the Herosians would be in range to start firing on the planet. There was not a lot of time left.

‘Agent Truelove?’ Pierce’s voice was calm, almost too calm, but then he was not anywhere likely to come under fire in the immediate future.

Truelove turned and stepped into the office. ‘Sir?’

‘Do we have backup systems in place in case of the loss of Naval Command?’

‘The Argus will take over. Their strategist, Norden, will take command of operations.’

Pierce frowned as though he had not been expecting that. ‘Under direction from here, of course.’

‘No, sir. This facility doesn’t have the bandwidth to run that kind of operation and, if you’ll pardon my candour, you are head of the FSA, not the Navy.’

There was a flicker of anger on his face, and then he was calm again. ‘Of course. Dismissed, Agent.’

Truelove turned and walked back to her displays.

‘Old soldier wanting his chance at glory?’ Janine’s voice said inside her mind.

‘Yeah, I think so. He didn’t like being told he wouldn’t get it.’

‘Elroy and I have your back, girl. Don’t worry about him.’

‘I’m more worried about what’s going on up there. This is getting bad. I don’t see how we can turn this around.’

‘Huh. About the best thing that could happen now
is
losing Naval Command. If anyone can pull our fat out of the fire, it’s Norden.’

‘Let’s hope so.’

BC-101 Hand of God.

‘Midsection batteries to point defence mode,’ Tasker ordered silently. ‘I want those bombs stopped.’

‘We’ve got nine gunships firing on the planet,’ her XO reported. ‘We can’t stop all of them.’

‘We stop what we can. Bring us around to line up the main gun.’

FNb Admiral Banfry.

‘All guns, open fire,’ Ape snapped, his eyes on the display showing the gunships moving into position. ‘Have the destroyers concentrate on point defence.’

‘That’s going to leave us open,’ Leeforth commented, even as her fingers shifted over the keyboard to issue the orders.

‘We can take a few hits; we need to halt those projectiles.’