Alone in the Night (Avenger Book 2) by Richard Tongue

Author:Richard Tongue [Tongue, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

“We’re beginning to get some reports from the surface,” Singh reported. “Insurrections in every settlement. Some of the smaller ones have already declared for Free Atlantis, and there’s fighting in Plato City. The local power grid is running on auxiliary power, and the computer network is still down. That’s going to have some pretty major consequences if they don’t get things up and running soon.”

Nodding, Dixon added, “Losing all of their satellite constellations is just about as bad. They’ve managed a clean sweep. There’s nothing left. I suppose they can use Icarus as a relay for a while, but…”

“We can help with that, at least,” Crawford suggested. “We’re sitting on a collection of sensor drones, all of which have estimated operational lifespans of twelve months or higher. If we seed them in orbit, then they’ll at least provide some sort of atmospheric data for the meteorologists down there, and while they won’t be able to handle anything like the bandwidth of the original commsats…”

“Anything is better than nothing,” Corrigan said. “Make it happen. Have we heard anything from Lieutenant Carter?”

“Not a thing, sir,” Singh said. “I tracked all of the shuttles safely down to the surface, but I don’t even know which one she was on, and none of them are responding to my hails. To be fair, I suspect they’ve got more important things to do right now than provide a play-by-play.”

“True, but there’s a lot we might be able to do to help them if we just know what was happening down there.”

“Icarus still isn’t talking either,” Dixon said. “All I can get is some low rank communications technician telling me that everyone is tied up at the moment. Damn it all, we’re meant to be their allies, and…”

“Are we?” Corrigan asked. “I’m beginning to wonder about that.”

Looking up at his panel, Dixon added, “Todorova is asking for launch clearance, sir. She wants to go to the same landing site as Shuttle Seven. That’s a maximum-security installation used for political prisoners.”

“Maybe she’s got friends down there,” Novak suggested.

Corrigan frowned, then said, “If she does, it’d be the first trace of actual humanity I’ve observed from her.” He paused, then added, “Let her go. But make sure we get a good data feed from the shuttle, and I want a tap on her communications and sensors.”

“Oddly enough,” Dixon said, “I already arranged that.”

“Then let her run,” Corrigan ordered. “Don’t assume that she’ll give us any assistance whatsoever, though I figure Major Rojek will do everything he possibly can to keep us up to date.” He looked at the surface of the planet below, and said, “Singh, I want a full sensor sweep of Shuttle Seven and its target. Let’s see what’s going on down there.”

“Aye, sir,” the technician replied. “We’ll be in range in one minute. It’s on the far side of the planet right now, and I’ve got nothing to bounce off.”

“Sensor drones will be up in three minutes,” Crawford added. “It’s going to take pretty much our entire inventory, though.

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