Chapter 206: Chapter 206

"Why don't you take the right-hand seat?" Rebecca suggested as we boarded the Demeter's shuttle. "I'll button up the airlock while you're doing the pre-flight."

I grimaced as I looked from the pilot seat to the star-filled night sky out the windows, then suppressed a shudder. "Actually how about you take the controls while I seal the hatch? Last time I had to fly the shuttle you and my sister were both stuck in cryo pods. And you were dead."

The royal secretary nearly tripped over her own feet when she heard that. She'd just entered the shuttle behind me, and she looked back and forth between Rebecca and myself with her eyes wide in alarm. She started to address the princess, "What does she mean, you were..."

"No wait," Gwen cut herself off and shook her head. "I don't want to know. It's much better for my peace of mind if I don't know."

Rebecca smiled, "Good call."

"And sorry Amanda," she added as she gave me a quick hug on her way past me to the pilot seat. "I'll do the flying tonight."

I hugged her back, then before I sealed the shuttle's hatch I exchanged a hug with Sarah too. She'd followed us as far as the shuttle's hatch, but she'd be staying with the ship this evening.

"Good luck," she said as we held each other. "Let us know if you're going to stop for a quick battle on the way back."

I rolled my eyes, "We're not going into combat Sarah. This is just a general briefing, and maybe we'll do some planning or strategizing. No fighting though."

"I sincerely hope not," Gwen chimed in from one of the passenger seats in the back of the shuttle. "I'd very much like to keep her highness as far away from combat as possible."

"Agreed," I stated. Then I told Sarah, "Don't wait up for us. I have no idea how long this is going to take, but odds are we won't be back until morning."

"In that case..." the cute engineer pulled me closer so she could give me a kiss. Then she let go and moved back out of the way and said, "Safe flight you three. See you in the morning."

"Good night Sarah," Rebecca added, while I activated the controls to seal the hatch.

I watched through the little window in the door until I saw the Demeter's airlock seal up as well, then I finally moved to the co-pilot seat next to Rebecca. The boss already had all the shuttle's systems online and ready to go, and as soon as I strapped myself in she got us moving.

There was a faint clunk as the shuttle unlocked itself from the ship, then a shudder passed through the small craft as Rebecca angled the thrusters to pull us out away from the side of the Demeter. Finally she tilted the nose upwards and gradually throttled up so we smoothly accelerated away from Ganvis Station and into the night sky.

It was just about midnight, and I had a hard time believing only twenty-four hours had passed since we'd arrived in the middle of the worst bandit attack the little farming settlement had ever experienced. So much had happened since then it almost left my head spinning. Between my sister getting wounded, Ella Wheeler's death, Jaycee Wheeler nearly dying as well, then their trip through Jenny's Re/Gen pod followed immediately by Nyssa... It was a lot, and I'd barely had time to process even half of it.

And that wasn't even counting all the meetings, discussions, arguments, and comm traffic that followed. In fact all of that was still ongoing, hence our midnight departure.

After a solid hour of debate and discussion it was finally decided that the best place to hold the next meeting would be on the VDS Tullrohane. And since they were on capital city time, having a 'mid day' briefing meant 'wee hours of the morning' for us. Which is why we had to set out in the middle of the night, so we could get there on time.

At least the Tullrohane agreed to meet us part-way. She'd moved down into a lower orbit, and selected an orbital path that brought her close enough that we didn't have to spend half the night in the shuttle. It was still a long and fairly boring trip, but after roughly two and a half hours I finally spotted the huge cruiser in the distance ahead of us.

I took care of the communications, and after a brief exchange with Ensign Rowan we were given a vector that brought us right up alongside the huge cruiser then into one of her hangars. Rebecca gently set our shuttle down on the deck next to two other small craft that were there ahead of us. Then the hangar doors slid shut behind us, and by the time my girlfriend had the shuttle powered down the landing bay was fully pressurized so it was safe for us to unseal the hatch.

As we emerged a twenty-something year old man in a Vysalis navy uniform entered the landing bay and rushed over to greet us. He bowed to Rebecca as he said, "Welcome back aboard the VDS Tullrohane, your highness. I'm Able Rating Martin Boyle, I've been assigned to be your aide for the duration of your visit."

"And welcome to you as well Lady Magniveen," he added as he looked to the royal secretary. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novel-fire.ɴet

My girlfriend nodded to the young man then gestured towards me as she said, "This is Amanda Voss. She's the Demeter's first officer, navigator, and medic, as well as one of my girlfriends."

The young man bowed again to the princess before turning to salute me, "Miss Voss, welcome aboard the VDS Tullrohane."

"If you'll all follow me," he added before I had a chance to respond, "I'll take you to the mission briefing room. Captain Magoda has been expecting you."

Rebecca nodded, "Lead the way."

Boyle bowed one more time, then set off with the three of us trailing along behind him. We didn't get a tour, but what I saw of the cruiser's interior looked just as new and spotless as its exterior. We passed a handful of the ship's crew on our trek to the briefing room, and they were all well disciplined and their uniforms were spotless.

The 'mission briefing room' turned out to be a fairly large space in what felt like the middle of the ship. At the front of the room was a wide table with comfortable seating for a half dozen people, complete with glasses of water and datapads for note taking.

Those six seats faced out towards where the rest of the attendees would be sitting, and I counted a few dozen simple folding metal seats in the 'audience' area. And with enough people milling around to fill all of those seats I got the impression that ours was possibly the last shuttle to arrive.

Boyle led the three of us to the table at the front where a few people were waiting. I recognized two of them immediately, they were both representatives from the Deveronian government. One was dressed like a bureaucrat, while the other was General Myers, who we met earlier at Ganvis.

In addition to those two were a pair of middle-aged women in Vysalis uniforms, and going by all the insignia and ribbons on their chests I could only assume they were probably the cruiser's captain and first officer.

I also spotted a few familiar faces among the rest of the attendees. Lieutenant Maguine was there, along with Sergeant Curry. Tanya Nieves and her first officer Nassir Potier stood out since they weren't in uniform. The two were milling around talking with a few other Vysalis officers, but I couldn't see the Persephone's other two crew.

Then my attention was brought back to the VIPs as my girlfriend began some introductions, "Amanda this is Aileen Magoda, captain of the VDS Tullrohane. And that is Commander Una Magnel, the ship's executive officer."

"Aileen, Una," Rebecca continued, "This is Amanda Voss, first officer of the MV Demeter and one of my girlfriends."

We all exchanged some pleasantries, while our aide discreetly arranged for a seventh VIP chair to be placed at the front of the room next to the other six seats. Finally Captain Magoda suggested we should all sit down and get things started.

The Tullrohane's captain and XO took the chairs in the middle, with the two guys from Deveron-8 sitting to their left. Then Gwen ended up just to the right of Commander Magnel, with Rebecca next to her secretary. And I was seated on the far right beside my girlfriend. Once the seven of us were comfortable at the front of the room all the other attendees quickly got seated as well.

"Alright everyone knows why we're here," Captain Magoda kicked things off without any preamble, "Deveron-8 has a serious problem with bandit activity. Now that problem has a name and a face, and we know where to find him."

While Magoda was talking her XO tapped something on her datapad, and a holographic image appeared floating in the air sort of mid-way between us and everyone else. It depicted a stern-looking man in his late forties or early fifties, with short dark hair and a thin black moustache. He was dressed in a Deveronian military uniform, and the name 'General Sidex' appeared above him incase anyone hadn't figured it out by then.

The next hour or so dragged by slowly as everything we already knew was repeated, which led to some of the earlier arguments being regurgitated as well. General Myers brought up his idea of orbital bombardment again, and that was shot down just as fast as was the first time he mentioned it. Rebecca reminded everyone that Sidex was forcing conscripts to fight for him, and that his base was surrounded by and possibly staffed with innocent civilians, women and children, hostages and prisoners.

The princess went on to say that she didn't want to bring more needless deaths to the people of Deveron-8, her goal was to save them from that sort of fate. So as far as she was concerned, Sidex and his top men were the only real targets. They were to be taken alive if possible, but dead would be fine too. Unfortunately that couldn't be done from orbit, or even with air strikes. Capturing or getting confirmed kills on Sidex and his closest men was going to require troops on the ground, and everyone knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"Mounting an attack is well outside the scope of what I agreed to," Captain Magoda pointed out. She looked at Rebecca and asked, "Will her highness be making it a direct order, for the Tullrohane and her crew to participate in this action?"

My girlfriend shook her head, "No. I'm asking for help, but I won't demand it."

The captain nodded, "In that case I will not order my people to participate in this attack. But I won't stop them either, if they choose to volunteer. And I'm willing to lend assistance, in terms of both intel and materiel. Una?"

She gestured to her XO, who tapped out some more commands on her datapad. The holographic image of Sidex was replaced with a new hologram depicting the bandit stronghold and its surrounding area, while Commander Magnel began briefing everyone on the site.

"We've been running high-rez scans of Moorefield Station and its surroundings, and identified a number of strategically important targets. Most of them are located very close to what appear to be civilian assets, which we assume is intentional..."

The commander went on to point out a number of air defences designed to protect the site from aerial attack, a pair of power distribution buildings on opposite sides of the settlement that provided redundant electricity to everything. Finally she highlighted some weapons depots, barracks, and what appeared to be a large hardened bunker that was believed to be home to Sidex and the five men he trusted most.

According to intel those five men were a Colonel Scott Welch, Majors Douglas Coleman and Andrew Lewis, and Captains Grayson Hines and Thomas Soto. They'd all defected along with Sidex, and apparently were his closest and most trusted allies.

Despite losing six craft and seventy soldiers the previous day the bandits were estimated to still have as many as a hundred and fifty armed troops. The scans also identified another four gun-sleds and two more troop carrier grav-sleds in various locations around Sidex's headquarters. One thing they hadn't detected was any vessels capable of breaking atmosphere, so no shuttles and no ships. Which meant we didn't need to worry about any of the primary targets fleeing the planet.

The commander also pointed out a few of the civilian assets that were in close proximity to the military ones. Like food stores, livestock, and more disturbingly what appeared to be a school and either a small three-level apartment complex or possibly a prison.

"So we've got those two captured troop carriers at our disposal," Rebecca finally spoke up, "Although I'm sure the Vysalis landing craft are much higher quality. And ideally we'll want a couple heavy fighters providing close air support, so we can establish air superiority. But before we can risk bringing any of our forces near that place, we have to take out their air defences."

After a pause she made a decision. "I've got a two-man fighter on the Demeter. And I know some of you folks will raise a fuss if I'm part of the ground assault. So instead I'll stick to the air. I can fly in and pick off their defences, to clear a path for -"

"Absolutely not!" Gwen interrupted in a shocked voice. "Your highness you cannot risk your life on something so dangerous!"

I nodded in agreement, "She's right. They've got four of those batteries spread out around the settlement, there's no way you can take them all out before at least a couple of them get a fix on you."

My girlfriend took a deep breath like she was about to argue, when a familiar voice spoke up from the audience.

"Me and Pots will do it," Tanya Nieves volunteered. "If we can borrow one of the Tullrohane's heavy fighters, I'll fly while Pots handles the weapons. Going one-on-one with air defence batteries is a hell of a risk, but I've made a career out of stunt flying Vysalis military assets. Trust me ma'am, I know we can do this."

Rebecca seemed to think about that for a few seconds then nodded, "Alright Tan."

After that a comprehensive battle plan seemed to fall into place fairly quickly. The operation was set to begin in about twenty hours, which would put it at midnight local time for Moorefield Station. And for Ganvis, since they weren't that far apart.

Rebecca insisted on being part of the action, but she agreed to stick to more of a support role rather than leading the initial attack. She'd use the Demeter's fighter to provide air cover after Tanya and Pots took out all the air defences. And my girlfriend wouldn't be alone, a couple more volunteers from the Tullrohane would be there in a third heavy fighter.

Once the base's air defences were offline a pair of VDF troop carriers would set down. One of them would be full of Deveronian soldiers, the other would contain volunteers from the cruiser. Images of General Sidex and the other primary targets were distributed amongst everyone involved, so there'd be no doubt exactly who they were.

In all the briefing lasted a little over two hours, but eventually it seemed like the plans were just about complete. That's when I leaned a little closer to the princess and asked, "How are we going to handle the fighter? Will you be on flight controls and me on the weapons? Or the other way around? Either way I'm going to need a bit of time to get familiar with it."

Rebecca glanced at me then shook her head, "I'll be at the flight controls. And I'm going to ask Jenna to take the gunner's position. I want you to sit this one out Amanda. Along with Sarah, Cammie, and Jenny."

"Not an option," I stated firmly. "I'm not letting you do this alone."

She sighed, but it only took her a moment to come up with another option. "Then you'll be there as a medic. You can go in with the Vysalis volunteers, but you'll hang back with the other medical folks until you're needed. Take your medkit and commlink, but leave the guns behind."

I stared at her for a second or two as I thought about arguing, but in the end I decided to accept her decision. I'd never wanted to get into combat anyways, being a medic was my first calling after all. So it felt silly to demand I be allowed to join the fighting now.

"Alright Rebecca," I agreed quietly. "So we're both going to hang back and take support roles. That makes sense."

"Exactly," she replied.