The Road to Hell

Chapter 16

"Are we ready?" Desrequins asked.

"I think we are," Fitch confidently replied. "We have the manpower; we have the gear; we have the training."

Desrequins manipulated the controls on the smart table around which he, Rosana, and Fitch stood. The three were meeting in private to discuss the next step in the plan. "Good. That's why I called you here, because whether we're really prepared or not, this attack is moving forward. The HDLSS Foehammer begins its trial cruise from Arcturus in a week."

"All right then," Rosana said, "you've kept us in the dark all this time. What's your plan?"

Desrequins opened up a file on the smart table and a holographic scale model of an HDL ship appeared in front of them. "It's simple," he began. "The Foehammer is a brand new, top of the line dreadnaught, and there will be plenty of important members of Space Command present to see that it passes its final trial: the otherspace test. The test is always the same: a series of variable-length otherspace jumps along a set route." The display changed to show the Foehammer's trial circuit, complete with a mini-Foehammer flying it's pre-ordained path. When it reached a particular point, Desrequin pressed a button on the table and a miniature depiction of his ship appeared in front of the League ship. "What we're going to do is intercept the Foehammer while it's making its circuit. I had an interdiction field generator installed on my ship. We'll use it to trap them there while we take control of their ship."

"Right. Since it'll be on a test cruise, its defences will be that much weaker," Fitch said.

"And once we have control of the Foehammer?" Rosana said.

Desrequins smiled and showed them the final step of the plan on the table's screen. "We use their own weapon against them."

Rosana couldn't resist a smile. Desrequins wasn't her favourite person. He'd run away and left his friends and family, including her, to die. But he was making up for it now. She'd showed up to the White Sharks base unannounced because she didn't think Desrequins would be able to handle this task on his own. Evidently she'd underestimated him.

Fitch was impressed too, but then he'd never doubted Desrequins. However, there was still one thing on his mind. "Who can we trust to lead the boarding party? It has to be one of us. Someone willing to die for the cause without so much as blinking."

Desrequins already had the perfect candidate in mind. "Gavin Chan. You saw him in Sabarka, Liam. He will not falter."

"The man's ice cold. I can vouch for that."

"Great," Rosana said. "Then get him up here and fill him in. Other than us, he'll be the only one that knows the full plan. Tell your men our time is now, Desrequins. We strike in a week. Zeus is going to be very happy. This is just what we need to show the people that HDL isn't invincible. Zeus thinks that once we pull off this operation, the League will be demoralized. Civilians will wonder if the League really can protect them."

"And at the end of the day," Fitch said, picking up where Rosana left off, "it'll show the League who they're really fucking with."

#

The orders came in the form of an email the next day. As soon as he looked through it, he called his crew together for a meeting. "Desrequins is making his move," David began. "We're going to be hijacking a Devastator–class dreadnaught during its trial cruise. Our orders are to provide fighter cover for boarding crews and then disengage." He stopped and let it sink in.

It was Armin who broke the silence. "What do we do? I mean, obviously we're running out of time, and we still haven't found out where Zeus is."

"The first thing we should do is tell Admiral Coschek," Fisher said.