Officer of the Day, sir. A few minutes ago we started receiving an FTL transmission from Baden. They ’ re under fire sir, right now! ”
“ Who the hell is attacking them? ” Eulenburg demanded. “ Is the Third Fleet engaging? ”
“ Right now, sir, I just don’t know. Some of what we’re getting is garbled, ” Afful replied with a shake of his head.
“ Commander, sir! ” a petty officer rushed over with a computer pad in his hand. “ Sir we’ve decoded the latest transmission stream. ”
Afful snatched the pad out of the man’s hand.
“ Sir, it’s the Nameless, ” he said after a moment, “ they’re firing on the base! ”
“ Oh God! ” Chevalier muttered.
“ The Third Fleet? ” Eulenburg said quietly.
Afful swallowed hard before replying.
“ It’s been caught at mooring, sir. They’re taking losses. ”
Eulenburg glanced towards one of the displays at the centre of the chamber. It showed the Baden asteroid, viewed through the powerful telescope of one of the sky watch satellites. The base was built onto the side of the asteroid facing away from Landfall but everything looked serene, with the engine flare of a transport the only thing visible. But Baden was in the region of ten billion kilometres away from Landfall, making the image about nine hours old.
“ I’ve ordered the base onto alert, sir, ” Afful continued. “ Our defence missile batteries are starting to coming online sir, and space and atmospheric fighters are being fuelled and armed. The Hampton Roads star fort has been alerted. ”
“ Good, right … err …” Eulenburg paused as he tried to get his thoughts in order. It was all too sudden, too much to take in all at once, too many decisions and orders to be made and given.
“ Have we got hook up with the Chinese and Americans? ” Chevalier asked Afful as Eulenburg hesitated.
“ Err … I’m not sure, sir, ” the captain replied looking round.
“ I need you to confirm that now, ” Chevalier continued. “ If they aren’t already, they need to go on alert and bring their missile batteries online. ”
“ Yessir! ” Afful replied before dashing off.
Chevalier roughly grabbed Eulenburg’s arm, forcing him round.
“ Alfred, are you here! ” he demanded.
Eulenburg visibly shook himself.
“ Yes, yes. Erm … Right, Sebastian, I need your marines to get the civilian support staff down into the shelters. Erm … get the point defence lasers in position. ”
“ Yes sir, we’ll be securing the perimeter as well. ” Chevalier hesitated, clearly trying to decide whether his superior had recovered his composure.
“ I’ll be fine Sebastian, get the defences up. I need a conference hook up to the settlement governors. We have to get the whole planet onto alert. ”
___________________________
Alice sat down heavily on the metal steps, her muscles twanging painfully as she tried to massage the pain away. People continued to push past her, as they made their way down. She wasn’t sure how many steps there’d been. She’d started counting beneath her breath after about the twentieth and lost count somewhere around three hundred and fifty. The stairs were packed with people as far as she could see, both forward and backwards. Voices echoed eerily up and down the stairwell. Metal stairs surrounded by stone didn’t give the sound anywhere to go, so hundreds of footsteps and scores of voices merged into a near deafening white noise. Alice didn’t suffer from claustrophobia but here in a stairwell that seemed to go down forever, she was feeling uncomfortably constricted. Then a pair of hands grabbed her under her arms and heaved her back onto her feet. Her muscles screamed as weight was once again applied.
“ Up we get, ” a female petty officer said as they started moving downwards again. “ Can’t have you sitting there missy. It will get very messy if someone trips over you. ”
“ How far down are we going? ” Alice asked when she got a spare
“ Who the hell is attacking them? ” Eulenburg demanded. “ Is the Third Fleet engaging? ”
“ Right now, sir, I just don’t know. Some of what we’re getting is garbled, ” Afful replied with a shake of his head.
“ Commander, sir! ” a petty officer rushed over with a computer pad in his hand. “ Sir we’ve decoded the latest transmission stream. ”
Afful snatched the pad out of the man’s hand.
“ Sir, it’s the Nameless, ” he said after a moment, “ they’re firing on the base! ”
“ Oh God! ” Chevalier muttered.
“ The Third Fleet? ” Eulenburg said quietly.
Afful swallowed hard before replying.
“ It’s been caught at mooring, sir. They’re taking losses. ”
Eulenburg glanced towards one of the displays at the centre of the chamber. It showed the Baden asteroid, viewed through the powerful telescope of one of the sky watch satellites. The base was built onto the side of the asteroid facing away from Landfall but everything looked serene, with the engine flare of a transport the only thing visible. But Baden was in the region of ten billion kilometres away from Landfall, making the image about nine hours old.
“ I’ve ordered the base onto alert, sir, ” Afful continued. “ Our defence missile batteries are starting to coming online sir, and space and atmospheric fighters are being fuelled and armed. The Hampton Roads star fort has been alerted. ”
“ Good, right … err …” Eulenburg paused as he tried to get his thoughts in order. It was all too sudden, too much to take in all at once, too many decisions and orders to be made and given.
“ Have we got hook up with the Chinese and Americans? ” Chevalier asked Afful as Eulenburg hesitated.
“ Err … I’m not sure, sir, ” the captain replied looking round.
“ I need you to confirm that now, ” Chevalier continued. “ If they aren’t already, they need to go on alert and bring their missile batteries online. ”
“ Yessir! ” Afful replied before dashing off.
Chevalier roughly grabbed Eulenburg’s arm, forcing him round.
“ Alfred, are you here! ” he demanded.
Eulenburg visibly shook himself.
“ Yes, yes. Erm … Right, Sebastian, I need your marines to get the civilian support staff down into the shelters. Erm … get the point defence lasers in position. ”
“ Yes sir, we’ll be securing the perimeter as well. ” Chevalier hesitated, clearly trying to decide whether his superior had recovered his composure.
“ I’ll be fine Sebastian, get the defences up. I need a conference hook up to the settlement governors. We have to get the whole planet onto alert. ”
___________________________
Alice sat down heavily on the metal steps, her muscles twanging painfully as she tried to massage the pain away. People continued to push past her, as they made their way down. She wasn’t sure how many steps there’d been. She’d started counting beneath her breath after about the twentieth and lost count somewhere around three hundred and fifty. The stairs were packed with people as far as she could see, both forward and backwards. Voices echoed eerily up and down the stairwell. Metal stairs surrounded by stone didn’t give the sound anywhere to go, so hundreds of footsteps and scores of voices merged into a near deafening white noise. Alice didn’t suffer from claustrophobia but here in a stairwell that seemed to go down forever, she was feeling uncomfortably constricted. Then a pair of hands grabbed her under her arms and heaved her back onto her feet. Her muscles screamed as weight was once again applied.
“ Up we get, ” a female petty officer said as they started moving downwards again. “ Can’t have you sitting there missy. It will get very messy if someone trips over you. ”
“ How far down are we going? ” Alice asked when she got a spare
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