Read Online Helfort's War Book 4: The Battle for Commitment Planet by Graham Sharp Paul - Free Book Online Page B

war drags on, we kill their spacers and marines in the thousands while they kill ours, and all the time we don’t even know if we can beat them. Truth is, if they get a second antimatter plant up and running, there’s a damn good chance they might beat us. Of course I can’t be sure, but I think there’s a good chance we can make a difference. I think it’s worth the terrible risks we will have to take. So, Kat, does that answer your question?”
    “Yes, it does,” Sedova said. “I understand there are no guarantees. I understand it’s the riskiest thing I’ve ever done, but I think it’s the right thing. More to the point, it’s better than taking
Redwood
into combat while the Hammers grind the rest of the fleet into the dirt before blowing us and our home planets to dust with their damn antimatter missiles.”
    Heads nodded, the response unanimous, underscored by a soft chorus of agreement.
    “No need to ask the rest of you, I know, but I want to be clear. Never mind the legalities. Are you all in because it is the right thing to do?”
    The answers came one after another. When the last of the nine had spoken, Michael sat back and shook his head. “Okay,that’s clear,” he said. “I guess it’s decision time for me. No surprises, team. I accept the offer. Let’s do it.”
    The conference room erupted in a storm of cheers. Michael waited patiently until things quieted down.
    “One question, though. The troops. How about them? It’s fine for us to sit here in furious agreement with each other, but what about them? Janos, you have the largest number of junior people. They want any part of this?”
    Kallewi grinned, a hungry, wolfish grin, a grin of feral anticipation. “Well, sir. We won’t know until we ask, but Sergeant Tchiang and I think we’ll have no shortage of takers. Marines are born to fight, after all. They don’t like this stalemate any more than we do. There will be a few who say no, all married with young families. Gavaskar, Park, Mortenson, Nikola, Barret.” Kallewi looked at Tchiang. “Have I missed anyone, Sergeant?”
    Tchiang shook his head. “No, sir. They’re the ones. I’d bet my pension that the rest will say yes. They hate deadlock, too.”
    “Thanks, Janos. Kat. What about your team?”
    “Don’t think any of mine will say no. Can’t be sure until we put the hard word on them, of course. Jackson, maybe. He’s a ‘by the book’ man. This might be too much for him.”
    “Jayla?”
    “I think all the
Redwood
s will say yes apart from Lomidze and Faris, sir. Both married, young kids. Don’t blame them. Renegade missions aren’t what they signed on for.”
    “So having the people to do this won’t be a problem,” Michael said, “but I have to insist on one thing. Nothing is said to Mother, and nothing to anyone outside this room. That way, when it comes to decision time, our people can see what we want to do, how we’ll do it, and what our chances of success are. That way, they can make what I think the lawyers call an informed decision. Agreed?”
    Again heads nodded in assent.
    “Fine,” Michael said. “That leaves the detailed planning. We know what we want to achieve. Now we need to work out how to do it. We have a lot to think about and not that much time to do it in. So here’s how we’ll do it. Jayla, you take …”
    * * *

    Michael sat back while the meeting broke up and waved Bienefelt to stay behind. He was still struggling to come to terms with the enormity of the crime they hoped to execute. He had checked; no one in Fed history had planned and executed anything quite so extreme. He smiled. It would be a long time before the name Michael Helfort faded into history, that much was for sure.
    Not that he was happy about what he was getting himself, not to mention the rest of the
Redwood
s, into. It would be dangerous, and success was far from assured. Even if they managed to rescue Anna, they needed to get away from the Hammers, then persuade the