Duty, Honour, Love
Chpater 51

Mark moved from house to house in the suburbs with his team. He was dressed in the dark green uniform of the Militia, Confederacy captain’s bars on the collar. The Chief’s idea not his he longed to be with Karasena but he had his duty and she hers. His task was to ensure everyone had evacuated to their shelters or had gone to the assembly points and then on to the underground mag-lev tunnels. That had been a surprise learning that the Erikino had dug tunnels for a mag-lev train then abandoned them. Mark walked up to the residence in front of him and pressed the door chime on the console panel. The residence was large and looked more like a bunker with narrow windows with closed shutters, a flat roof and a low stubby wall that enclosed the property. It was the same as the dozens he had visited so far. The layout for each house was slightly different but they all had the same external features. Each house had a storm shelter that could be accessed from the interior and according to what he had been told well stocked to wait out the winter storms.

Mark pressed the door chime again. A face appeared on the console screen beside the door. It was the face of an elderly Human woman.

“Militia here just checking you are safe and secure. And to warn you not to open the door to anyone not with the Militia or Security until this crisis is over?”

“I know you,” the woman stated. “You’re the one the works for Tremble’s the handsome man that is walking out with Captain Karasena.”

Mark was taken aback by the woman’s words. “That me,” he admitted.

“Then I’ll do what you ask. I’ve no problem with you,” the woman chuckled and the screen went blank.

Mark turned to the rest of his team a combination of Militia and Security. “On to the next one.” He was aware time was running out. His wasn’t the only team doing this. He was also aware that when the call came he’d have to abandon this task and race to his assigned defensive position.

He walked out to the street and onto the next home. Another team was doing the same on the opposite side of the road. His comms bleeped and he answered it.

“Stillway?” he said. He may have had the rank with the Militia but technically he was still a prisoner.

“Raiders inbound,” was all the voice on the other end of the comms said.

“Acknowledged,” he replied and signalled to his team. “Time to pull out.”

They saluted one of the surprises he’d got from his team. Not one of them resented him in charge. He suspected Dareia and Jane’s hands in that. That was another constant surprise that Jane was a telepath. He regretted the loss of his first officer but she was better off under Dareia’s tutelage.

It didn’t take him long to reach his assigned position a small shopping mall on the edge of Hawthorn. A ‘C’ shaped enclosed building with a small parking lot that fronted it. Quickly his Militia hurried to their positions as civilians filed into the tunnels underground. Mark was surprised at the efficiency of the operation he asked on of his Militia about it.

“This is going well?”

“Well we’ve had plenty of practice. The winter storms are a good way to practice. When the alarms sound you stop what you are doing and head for the shelters.” The Militiaman said. “We’ve been doing this so long that it’s second nature to us now. It’s the newcomers that have the problem and they’re the ones we have to rescue or bury.”

“The storms are that bad?”

“Not as bad as they used to be. We have the forest and the wall to thank for that they take the edge off the worst of it.” The man shrugged. “I wish that they would have decided to do this in the depths of a storm. All we’d have to do was wait in a shelter and just clear up the mess later.”

There wasn’t much more for Mark to say. The Militia waited until the stragglers were in before returning to their positions it was a waiting game.

Aboard the Orinoco Jaye sat in the weapon officer’s seat the tactical console alive with colour. She was in charge.

Well Danielle had passed over this command because as she said it. “I ain’t got the tolerance to play games. I’ve got to get shit done.”

Jaye stared at the screen and then to her controls she had at least three tactical nukes and the ones the Ezaran had built for them. Her only other weapon was the main gun totally useless unless a target wandered into its range. The chances of that were impossible to none. She was a realist and she’d have to fight with what she had. She knew even with the ship’s shields the ship was a sitting target but she wasn’t worried she’s signed up for this.

“Cain?” she commed

“Cain here,” Cain replied. “What’s up?”

“Enemies closing in on the planet.”

“Loading torps, tube one ship killer nuke, tube two the Ezaran special.”

Two flashing green lights appeared on her console. “Tubes loaded and green!” she told Cain. She commed the Confeds next. “Orinoco ready for action!”

“Weapons free!” the message came back.

“All hands we’re going weapons free!” Jaye shouted it was now up to her she had her orders.

Back at the base Dareia scanned the approaching ships. She leaned forward aware of Jane’s concern. “Quit worrying!” she said to Jane in mind speech. “I have enough worrying about you the base is protected by shield but you are not. Try to do as I taught you and shield your thoughts.”

“Sorry Dareia I couldn’t help myself.”

Dareia felt Jane withdraw leaving her to filter out the thoughts of those around her.

“ETA to planet?” she asked one of those with her.

“Fifteen minutes,” was the answer to her question.

Ino was on the terminal next to her looking tense in her armour her helmet at her feet.

Dareia could have taken it from her mind but she didn’t want the distraction it would put on her thoughts by reading it. She touched a symbol on her console giving her access to all outgoing comms. If the raiders were monitoring the planet’s comms they’d hear the message. “To incoming ships this is you last chance to leave or be destroyed. You have five minutes to comply otherwise you will be considered hostile and will be dealt with!” It was blunt and she knew it would be ignored. “So be it!” she said to herself. “Send the alert all forces to combat stations!” she ordered.

“Alert sent,” Ino replied.

It was time.

The lead raider ship edged into the atmosphere it had a makeshift railgun attached to the outer hull. The ship was a series of boxes most of it cargo space. Any weapons were welded to the hull in a haphazard way. The ship was capable of taking on traders but it was out of its league if it had to deal with anything larger than a patrol boat. The Fleet commander had tossed a dice and it this captain’s luck to fire the first shot. It was the commander’s idea to bombard the colony into submission before sending in his crews to mop up all resistance. An ambitious plan that wouldn’t have worked on any protected colony but Erikino had no such protection.

Jaye didn’t hesitate to fire as the first ship came with range. It was still far enough outside the atmosphere that the fallout from the torpedo wouldn’t effect those on the ground. The raider lined his ship up to attack but he never got that far. Before he could react his ship burst into a incandescent ball of flames. Jaye grinned like a maniac extremely pleased with her actions. One down, fourteen to go.