Hello All! Thanks to my reviews, I'm putting this one up as fast as possible. Would love to have a beta-reader, by the way. This chapter's quickness in posting is probably partly thanks to my new muse-ic. Three Days' Grace has some good stuff. Now, onto the story... There should be a battle coming soon!
Chapter Ten: Good Times - They don't last.
Castle Swords, County Dublin, Ireland -
Two weeks had passed, and Honor found herself quite liking the people residing in the castle. They were all well-trained or experienced soldiers, but once they were off duty, the greater part of them shared an extremely dry sense of humor that she enjoyed quite a bit. Every day she had kept Mercedes up to speed on developments via the comm on the pinnace, and was considering asking her to bring herself, Rafe, and maybe Brigadier Angela Loughridge, Invictus' Marine detachment commander, down to meet these people.
Over the weeks, Harry and Hermione had questioned her about the future, and the history of the Star Empire - and then of its' navy. She told them of the starship Jason and a man named Edward Saganami. At which point, Echo quietly sat down with them, and listened intently to the story of the man who'd made the Royal Navy what it was. His expression had gone from indifferent, to curious, to awed at a man that wouldn' exist for centuries to come.
At the two week mark, however, things changed.
Hermione came rushing into the chamber off the mess hall that day, Harry and Honor deep in conversation while Echo wrote a letter, a box and some papers under her arm. Hermione stopped when she entered, breathing fast."Voldemort's found us!" she exclaimed. Harry and Echo looked at her, horror on their faces.
Harry stood."How?" he asked.
"He enlisted the help of that werewolf, what's-his-name... the one that changed Lupin. Well, that one. He waited until full moon then tracked our scent here, I think. But that doesn't matter. What does is that three companies of Death Eaters were spotted moving this direction, by Echo's scouts." she explained.
Echo and Harry looked at eachother, and then Honor cleared her throat."Excuse me, but, who is Voldemort?" she asked politely.
Harry turned to her."Only about the most vile, evil, twisted person on the face of the universe, Admiral." he said flatly.
He turned back to Hermione, and thought a moment."Just how long until they get here, do you think?" he asked her.
"Assuming our anti-apparition wards hold, it'll be a day or two before they're within sight of the castle." she said, before holding a hand to her ear, where a small black device like an earpiece was."The scouts are still following them, discreetly. They're reporting a dozen or so werewolves among the Death Eaters." Almost as an afterthought, she pulled the box from under her arm."Oh, and Doc Yate told me to give these to you two. They're like muggle earpieces, and they'll let us communicate long distance, but they don't require any sort of towers like muggle cellphones do. Just say who you want to connect to, and - ding! - you're connected.
Harry and Echo nodded, picking the earpieces out of the box, and fixing them into their ears. Echo tapped his and said "Lizzie", and then he was talking to her about the Death Eaters she and her scouts were seeing.
Harry tapped his to make sure it was working, and then smiled slightly."Hermione, please tell Doctor Yate I said thanks." he said.
Hermione nodded, turning, and leaving the room. Harry watched her go for a moment, before tapping his headset again. "Connect all" he said, and abruptly he could hear everyone.
"Everyone, can it!" he ordered into the earpiece. The voices abruptly cut off. Harry cleared his throat. "Looks like old Moldyshorts is headed our direction, or at least some of his Death Nibblers, at any rate. What say you all to us setting up a welcoming party they won't forget?" he asked, partly rhetorically. Enthusiastic cheers of approval flooded back at him through his earpiece, causing him to take it out until the noise died down. "I'll take that as an enthusiastic "Hell yes" then. Alright, everyone, draw gear and weapons. and ready up. We're going to use the Phoenix transports to drop right in on top of the Nibblers. Phoenix pilots, squad and platoon leaders as well, get to the briefing room, where," he said as Hermione came back,"Captain Granger will tell you the plan. Comanche pilots, report there as well. You'll be providing close-cover to the Phoenixes while they drop the ground troops in. Good luck to you all." he said, tapping the earpiece. Hermione cocked an eyebrow.
"I'm going to plan this assault of yours, am I?" she asked.
Harry smiled at her."Of course. Can't expect to plan a landslide victory once and not get put up to do it again, can you?" he asked, and Honor chuckled, shaking her head.
"No, you can't, Miss Granger. Trust me - I have too much experience with that myself." she told Hermione, who put on a pouting face for a moment, before grinning at the praise under their ribbing and rushing off to the Briefing Room, a far larger chamber on the other side of the castle that was partially underground, but brightly lit by torches and lightbulbs, with Honor and Harry hot on her heels. The three stood outside the door for a good ten minutes as the squad and platoon leaders got there, and then the pilots and the CAG - Angelina Johnson. She'd taken an immense liking to the Comanche ground-attack broomfighter, and her wingmates, like old times, were Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet. They and their two gunners - nine people total, three per ground-attack craft - had become a well-functioning machine, thanks to intense training. Harry wondered how that'd hold up in combat, but he suspected it would be rather well.
After everyone had arrived, Harry, Hermione, and Honor walked in, Hermione immediately going up to the whiteboard in the front of the room. She tapped her earpiece and listened a moment, before taking out a map of County Dublin, and making a mark on a spot with a pencil. She looked at the map a few moments, before standing straight, shoulders back, and clearing her throat. She had everyone's undivided attention.
"Now, as everyone here knows, the Death Eaters are approaching this position. That can't be allowed to happen, not right now. So, we're going to ambush them. I wish we could hide our aerial capabilities until later, when they might be better used as a surprise, but we don't have the time for anything else. Now, they're currently resting here," she said, passing around the map, so everyone could see where."and I'd like to hit them with their proverbial pants down. The plan's fairly straightforward - Phoenixes will approach and drop troops, while the Comanches provide cover fire, while our troops encircle the enemy and crush them. First platoon, you take the northern end, "she said, marking the spot on the map," while second takes the western," this too, she marked," and third takes southern," again, she marks it," and fourth takes the eastern. We'll box them in." she said, passing the map, finishing the briefing - and, unlike most times, this briefing truly was "brief". The leaders nodded, studied the map, drew their wands, and duplicated it to take to their men, before filing out the door to assemble their people. The pilots went to their rooms to grab their flightsuits and helmets, before heading for the hangar - carved out of the ground about sixty feet under the south wall of the castle, and well-supported and hidden.
Harry and Echo went to the armory, drawing their kit, and turned around, and were surprised to see Honor standing there.
She cleared her throat."Would you mind if I accompanied you?" she asked quietly. Harry was slightly taken aback, before nodding.
"We don't have any gear for you, but if you'll look over there, I'm sure there's at least a spare vest big enough for you to wear." he said, pointing to a rack of spare helmets and vests. Honor nodded in appreciation.
"Thank you. I'd like to observe your magic in combat, you see." she said, pulling a vest on.
"It's probably nothing special compared to some of the stuff you've seen, but it'll sure be a lightshow." Echo chimed in. Harry nodded in agreement.
Honor smiled."We'll see about that." she said, standing aside to let them walk by. The three of them were soon joined by Hermione, vested and helmeted, holding a rifle nearly as big as she was in her hands, looking more like a bolt-on attachment than the user of the weapon.
"Hermione, are you sure you can use that?" Harry asked. Hermione laughed.
"Harry, have you seen my firing range scores? On moving targets? I've gotten a 50 out of 50 every time." she replied to him." Trust me, I can use it." she finished.
Harry shrugged."Alright then." he said, not quite knowing what to expect now. Honor raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Hermione, before staggering slightly as Nimitz launched himself up onto her shoulder.
"Hello Stinker. I don't think you should come, Nimitz. I'm going to go watch their battle, but I've got the nastiest feeling I'll end up being shot at. I don't want you in anyone's crosshairs, either." she said softly to him as he arranged himself on her shoulder. She felt his amusement through their link, and upon her saying she was going to watch the battle, his determination to go with her, to protect his person, intensified. She sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue with him now, and felt his fresh amusement at her resignation.
The four of them - those walking, not the one riding - walked down the corridor, occasionally moving against the wall to let rushing soldiers go by, and followed them to the hangar, and they mounted up in the lead Phoenix of the squadron, as they watched the platoons - sixty men and women apiece - divide themselves up into their transports, and it got a little tight in the lead Phoenix as everyone squished into it, weapons ready, gear jingling. About two minutes later, they heard the broomjets spin up, the soft whoosh of air going past the vehicle as it started moving, and then the interior lights came on as the bay doors shut.
There was no chatter, even though everyone knew as well as everyone else that they were nervous, and wondering who they might not see come back at the end of it. But they were calmly confident as well- they knew that if they or anyone else they knew went down, ten Death Eaters would buy the farm in return.
The pilots were another matter. They blew off what steam they had by bantering back and forth among eachother, safe in the knowledge that at least they were stuck behind two inches of titanium, and were far less likely to die because of it.
About thirty minutes after they took off, the pilot's voice came over the intracom."Alright, boys and girls, check your gear and guns, because the Comanches have just started their attack, and the LZ will be hotter than hell when we land. Which, I should probably add, is in five minutes." she said, before clicking off. The red light near the doors came on, and depending on which side of the transport they were on, the soldiers turned to their left or right. Harry and Echo stood, flicking their weapons selection switch into the "on" position. Hermione loaded a conical steel round from her magazine into her gun, and flicked hers into the "on" position as well. Honor very quietly removed the tip of her right index finger, twitching the pulser built into her prosthetic arm to life. Nimitz bristled very slightly as the tenseness of people readying for combat washed over him, and his scimitar-like claws kneaded in and out of the padded shoulder of Honor's uniform.
The intracom crackled again, feeling too soon."Look alive people, we're setting down now! Go go go!" the pilot said, as the bay doors opened, letting in the sounds of a very pitched battle, the screaming of the Comanches' broomjets as they were pushed to max, the yells of curses, and the sizzle of returning wandgun fire. Harry and Echo jumped out just behind the squad in their transport - already hearing the thunderous cracks of Hermione's sniper rifle as she braced herself in the doorway, the rifle's wand Banishing the conical steel slugs, sending them ripping through the air at nearly Mach 2 - and found themselves straight in the middle of Hell.
A\N: So, what do you guys think of this chapter? I'm definitely liking it! And no, I've not found any other good Honorverse fics. Weber's scared off most of them. I'm just stubborn.
As always, reviews get these things out faster!