SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Twelve
The dirt wall had started becoming a metal case for the compound. With the works progressing further, Commander Broom had spared some security forces to expand the dirt wall past Darren’s grave, after the extra help was assigned, it took the security teams and workers only five hours to complete the temporary dirt wall. The only thing they did not finish, was the gate, they simply posted a team of four men to guard it, as well as the two squads to patrol atop the wall. Solomon sat above the metal gate of the main wall overlooking the works over at the grave yard, as diggers and workers set to work to make ready more deep holes in the ground for their occupants that awaited their final resting place. The sun had started to settle over the horizon, the bright light had been replaced with a deep red that echoed the blood of the previous battle spread over the sky, Solomon sat back in the slightly uncomfortable metal chair and put his feet up onto the now metal defence wall. Sipping from his hip flask a fine whiskey. The noise of the workers and machinery hummed into the distance, Solomon enjoyed the closest thing to quiet relaxation he had come across on this planet. The moment did not last long, as it was rudely interrupted by the heavy breathing and panting of Decius as he ground to a halt, falling to his knees from exhaustion, sweat dripping from his short hair. Solomon tilted his chair and smiled at the panting private at the base of the wall. Solomon invited Decius up with a wave. The two men shared the whiskey that Solomon provided in the sunset and they discussed the usual things of soldiers. Weapons, tactics, battles from the past, thoughts on future orders and women. Decius was withholding on the latter, Solomon had to divulge his experience with Lyra with a smile before Decius would open up about his new found feelings for no other than Sandra. Solomon was taken back by the news, and warned Decius of her father. “not that he’s a bad man or anything, pal. He’s your general... meaning, there will be a lot of eyes on you, waiting for you to mess up. ALOT of eyes.” Solomon let that sink in before adding playfully “including mine.”
The Gryph had visited Red Sector On many times in the two months Solomon had been planet-side. This was the first time he had the privilege of an invitation to the meeting. As Solomon entered the well ventilated meeting room he was shocked to see how lavishly decorated it was. Leather arm chairs spread across the room instead of metal fold away seats, a soft warm auburn rich carpet under foot, the walls panelled in dark oak and the ceiling provided much natural light with its glass top. Solomon was pleased to see two Gryph he knew already. Sykra and Carlo raised themselves from a very comfy looking arm chair eagerly to greet him. The meeting was under way once the greetings had been dealt with. Commander Broom was the only figure on his feet in the room once everybody present had taken their seats, hovering around the chairs, addressing many matters. Food supplies, Mare attacks, weapon sharing and such. It was near the end, when he came across Solomon’s chair and he stopped. “Solomon, I am sending you back to The Evergreen to help The Hopeful. The Judgement will be taking your place on Merriden IV as it is having... issues... with its navigational systems. Your personal items are as we speak being sent up to the Evergreen. Dismissed.” Solomon stood with a salute, and nodded to the Gryph visitors.
Solomon had barely got his blue and red jacket back on before Kyril had silently placed himself behind him. “Now, lad. Are you ready to go home?” he asked lightly with a smile “Eve misses you”, Solomon smiled at Kyril but did not speak, his mind wondering to why The Hopeful would need help. It was armed with a full ten companies of soldiers, plus teams of security and engineers.
The Evergreen had remained in low orbit whilst she refuelled herself with her energy source and food supplies, Solomon and Kyril stood at the coffee machine, silently appreciating the fact that Commander Sykes was no longer around to try banish the sacred and much adored substance. With a sigh, they both walked to their command consoles and the rest of the bridge crew emerged from the entrance corridor.
“Welcome back boys, it’s good to have you home again. I missed you.” came Eve’s soothing voice, Solomon laughed and began his checks.
The Judgement had taken it’s place in low orbit with what seemed like much difficulty and very slowly as The Evergreen made way, Captain Errol looked enviously at the slender blue ship as it went, jealous that they did not have to deal with Winslow, who had, thankfully started making a habit of disappearing for a day or two now and again, but unfortunately, he kept re-appearing. God, Errol hated that slimy man. The Judgement halted on the threshold of Low Orbit, it’s bulky grey steel looking hull glimmered in the now raising sun, peaking over the curve of the planet. Errol gave the order of dispatching his companies to the surface, assuming Winslow was already down there, hoping he was correct, as he had been gone for the best and quietest week of Errol’s life, he did not even consider asking for the good Advisor’s permission. The Bridge of The Judgement was very similar to that of The Evergreen, just different crew. The atmosphere had slackened greatly with Winslow’s absence. Errol often fancied to let his crew relax when the times were easy, as long as they pulled their acts together when it got hairy which they always did, but today, they were simply maintaining a stationary position, deploying their companies to the planet. “Captain, ninth company, tenth platoon is finally free, full company is now descending. Still no sign of the missing shuttle, we will keep an eye out. sir.” called a tactical officer from the rear of the brightly lit room. “Thank you, Ensign. Its probably in one of the service compartments and somebody’s just lost the paperwork, or better yet, perhaps Winslow stole it and crashed it in to the planet.” said Errol hopefully, turning his head as the heard the hissing of the entrance door opening. Errol was met with the steely condescending eyes of Winslow. Errol’s day had now been ruined. “Commander Errol. Report to me.” Said Winslow, Errol sat idly scrolling through with his command console at low level reports. He even went as far as to check the level of mustard in the kitchen stores monitor to ignore Winslow. “Commander!” called Winslow irritably, his fuse clearly short. Errol called over his shoulder vacantly “Captain.” Winslow retorted with a scoff but did not apologize.
The steel coloured bulky landing craft landed with a jolt as it touched down in Red Sector One, the soldiers emptied in an orderly fashion, lined in pairs, weapons slung over their shoulders, each carrying a box of rations or ammunition. Theo Richmond followed his Lieutenant, Jessica Jones, a well built, intimidating specimen of a woman. She had a face that resembled more of a dried leather mask than that of a human face. Badly weathered lines scarred her old features. The woman of fifty years was the most professional soldier Theo had ever had the grace of meeting. He was proud and thankful to serve under her. Theo was a young soldier, only promoted to the rank of Corporal only days before, he had long swept back blonde hair that always seemed to attract all the dirt in the all the worlds, it never held its blonde colour long when he was planet side. His face smooth and handsome except for a slightly hooked and crooked nose that had been broken many times in bar fights as a teenager before he signed up to the military. This planet had nothing to impress him with thus far. The ground was dry and cracked, only small patches of yellowy green grass dotted the fields surrounding the compound, he eyed the surrounding trees with much boredom once he was stationed upon the metal walls, the local map told of a village not far off into the east, he stared at the trees as if willing them to show him the settlement. His squad, Private Richard Henderson and Private Jack Blake sat cleaning their weapons and counting their bullets, helmets off and cast upon the floor untidily. They had not experienced the Mares that had previously attacked and felt much at ease as the breeze ran its fingers through their hair lovingly, casting them into a false sense of security.
As the sun began to show its beautiful face the next day, Theo was called to Jessica’s quarters, a room all to herself must be a privilege, Theo shared his room with Jack and Richard, yes it had its bonus of lack of loneliness, but the night had been hot and close, and Jack had the cafeteria’s curry... it did not agree with him. Not one bit. Theo was glad to be away from his deathly toxic stink. Jessica was signing papers on her desk for a plain clothed runner who saluted and disappeared quickly. Lieutenant Jones walked over to her chrome armour with its fresh red lines down the sides and finished polishing it, as Theo and his sergeant, Wilhelm stood, patiently waiting. “Gentlemen.” she said eventually, her voice was as rough as her face. “We have a mission! Yay for us! Apparently, there is a red killing machine creature that had killed a few of our boys and girls from The Evergreen, and base command here in Sector One. Well, they have apparently found the local nest, our orders are to seek and destroy. We move out at zero four hundred hours. Get your boys ready.” she said and returned to polishing her armour. Both corporals saluted and left.
Theo sat on his bunk, sharing a coffee with Jack, talking about the planet before they had to set out for their mission. They had met the Gryph only once, as they went through the checks when they first arrived, they had to be ready in two hours for their mission, the conversations with Jack were usually blunt and abrupt, always straight to the point. “Pale Bastards.” he commented with a scoff as they got off their bunks to grab their armour.
“What?” asked Theo
“Them Aliens. Pale bastards they are.”
Theo laughed, “Why would you just, randomly say that mate?”
“Well, they are. They’re pale, and I don’t like them, so they’re bastards.” he said as a matter of fact.
Theo shook his head, “You always amaze me, with your enormously resourceful diplomatic skills, please, run for planetary governor!” Both chuckled at the idea of Jack running the planet. With their armour on, weapons in hand, they set off, into the morning breeze. The sun had barely begun to shine. Rays of red bleeding out upon the rolling hills, the trodden sand under foot kicked up with the wind, bringing with it, the salty but sweet smell of the Red Sector food processors and local cookery buildings.
Commander Broom sat in a vacant room, the lights off, windows sealed, and his eyes closed. Clearly the re-assignment of ships and companies had taken its toll on the base commander. He could not help but ask himself: Why re-locate The Evergreen and The Judgement? Why not keep The Evergreen here, and send somebody else to help The Hopeful? The orders simply didn’t add up, but the orders came directly from Winslow, who had said in a lot of long words that did not make a lot of sense to Broom, convinced him to fulfil the order. Winslow stated that the orders came directly from The Emperor, apparently, so he had no choice. Broom did not trust Winslow.
Solomon sat in his command chair, with a broad smile upon his face, Kyril looked over him with a raised eyebrow. “What’s he so happy about?” asked the scrawny junior helmsmen over his shoulder, Solomon leaned forward and opened a travelling bag at his feet. Pulled out a large metal container, opened it with a deep sniff of its contents. Letting out a sound of pleasure he began chuckling. The smell quickly spread through the Bridge, a sweet, cinnamon smell, accompanied by a hint of ginger. “Cinnamon roll anyone?” asked Solomon as he took a large greedy bite out of one. Before boarding The Evergreen, he had bought a large supply of the pastries, to share of course.
The command bridge enjoyed their little treats that Solomon had supplied, the coffee machine humming away at the rear as people refilled their empty mugs, their foot steps softened by the thick blue carpets surrounding the flanks of the bridge, the slight beeps and clicks of the consoles as they fulfilled commands punched in by their human counterparts. “Gentlemen, we have successfully plotted the jump co-ordinates. We shall arrive five hours after we jump, estimated.” said Eve, disappearing as quickly as she appeared. Kyril sniffed the air a little and rubbed something out of his eye, “Well, then. Has everybody got their coffee and sweeties?” he asked with a broad smile. “Let’s jump.”
Solomon was home, leaving behind the malice of the observer, who watched the planet get closer to his window, rubbing his hands together gleefully as his plan slowly came into creation. His last challenge had been a difficult one, sending away the guest towards secret coordinates aboard one of the judgement shuttles. His friend had received his gift inside the shuttle with many thanks.
Errol slouched in his cabin, staring at a glowing screen, the information on there worried him, but did not surprise him. He had a traitor aboard, and he knew who. He collected his evidence and asked ships computer to keep an eye on the individual. “Apologies sir, but he does not appear to be aboard. I cannot locate him.” Errol blinked, how does he keep doing that? disappearing without a trace. He knew the missing shuttle was due to the traitor, but it had not returned, but the individual had, and he had no proof, all he had was an empty bay where the shuttle used to be kept. Every service bay had been checked for the shuttle, every engineer questioned who could have possibly come in contact with it. Nothing showed anywhere, it simply vanished. Errol suspected Winslow, but no solid evidence pointed directly at him. Just has he lost hope and his eyes drooped with exhaustion, he stumbled across a file hidden within many files. Blueprints. Errol searched them and found their Origin. These came from The Evergreen. A map of their Last Resort Weapon. This was bad. Errol knew it, but if he arrested Winslow and he was found not guilty, that would mean hell for Errol would surely follow and possibly that he was mistaken and the real traitor would have escaped. He downed another black coffee and rubbed his eyes again. “You sneaky bastard.” he murmured to himself as he got to his feet and shuffled to the coffee flask to pour himself a fresh cup of the black sleep fighting liquid.
A slender emerald craft circled around the four tall stone towers that joined together a square in thick reinforced stone battlements that formed walls. Many stone buildings had settled inside the safety of the walls, all dwarfed by the central structure that stood three stories tall. Governor Arden admired this building from his window as the craft circled again, knowing its true structure was underneath, he began thinking of the duties that required his attention in the subterranean levels of the building. The wind was soft and the weather acceptable as the ramp opened to allow the Gryph Planetary Governor to leave his vessel. “Governor Arden, sir, welcome back to Forgod.” said the Gryph officer as she approached the Planetary Governor. The grass crinkled beneath his steps, the grass was always kept short in the grounds of the fortress, short enough it bristled on everything that touched it, giving off a satisfying crinkle noise whenever applied pressure to. The main buildings entrance stood twice as high as it needed, and twice as wide. The great stone arch, clean of any moss and life that tried to grow upon it, looked old, but well cared for. Two heavy wooden tall slabs supported by metal joints and hinges acted as doors to the building. They opened without any complaint, which always amazed Arden considering their age. The open arch revealed a room constructed entirely of stone, Floor, walls and ceiling. A emerald carpet lay from the large wooden doors and continued into the large entrance hall that was lit with large lights embedded between the stone bricks.