Chapter Fourteen: The Plan

The days at the Showgrounds morphed into weeks. New arrivals had made their way there, defence teams manned the walls, motion sensor air defence turrets were erected on the walls at intersections. The gates remained closed and no one could enter or leave without the permission of Lieutenant Williams or Jason. No airstrike had occurred yet, and they were sleeping under any shelter they could find; for Jason, Claire, Celeste and Sarah, that was a small, brick and tile, building near the main gate . Access to the military network had allowed Claire to continue her work, in turn allowing them to know many things; the Nexus were indeed more powerful than the Military, winning stunning victories on small numbers. But Jason wasn’t concerned with the Nexus. What concerned Jason now was the extent of information that had been stolen from the network by another source. Someone had been stealing information from the military for at least eight months before the Tallentiri invasion.

‘Jason, we have no idea why that information isn’t there. For all we know the military might have deleted it’ Claire said.

‘For eight months, Claire? Really? It has to be a spy. Maybe some of those are deletions, but certainly not eight months worth’ Jason said.

‘What’s going on know?’ Celeste asked.

‘Jason is convinced there’s a Nexus spy’ Claire answered.

‘Ok. Ignore the eight months. The Nexus knew exactly where the envelope was. They might of already known about it being my dad’s quarters, but they failed then because Celeste I got there first. By the second time, they knew exactly where it was, and who had it’ Jason replied.

‘Alright, let’s take some time out. First of all Jason, what you have is not proof. It’s a theory. So let’s not jump the gun. You asked Claire to look into the envelope and she did that’ Celeste said.

‘Yes but-‘

‘Bababababa, I’m not done. Claire, just because you don’t believe it, doesn’t mean that a spy doesn’t exist’ Celeste said.

‘Where do you sit then? Do you think there’s a spy?’ Claire asked.

‘I think we need to be open to the possibility of a spy. If it was just the eight months, then I might think that there wasn’t. But it’s not only what Jason said. The Nexus knew when we’d be running searches for survivors, and they were waiting for us when we left the Barracks. Someone had to of tipped them off. It’s too suspicious’ Celeste said.

‘So you think he’s right. What a surprise. You know, you’re not the first girl he’s slept with’ Claire said.

‘Hey! That’s a little uncalled for’ Jason said. ‘And she already knew that’ Jason added, sighing. All three were silent for a moment.

‘Celeste, can you leave Jason and I alone for a minute?’ Claire asked. Celeste looked at Jason.

‘It’s ok. Go’ he said. Celeste unwillingly left.

‘Right. You and I need to have a talk’ Jason said sternly.

‘Yeah, we do’ Claire replied.

‘Ok, first off. My sex life, not up for discussion,’ Jason said. ‘And even if it was, you did not need to bring it up then’ Jason said.

‘Does she know what number she is?’ Claire asked.

‘I thought I said this wasn’t up for discussion’ Jason said.

‘So that’s a no then’

‘I told her she wasn’t the first and that’s all she needs to know’ Jason retorted.

‘Wow. Is that that how you treated Jess’ Claire asked.

‘Your sister Jessica came on to me and you know it. Besides, you and I both know why you hate me and we are not doing this now’ Jason asked.

‘Either you tell her the truth, or I will’ Claire asked.

‘You will not breathe a word about that to Celeste’ Jason told her, before walking out of the room. As he walked out onto the main road, Celeste caught up to him.

‘Do you really there could be a spy?’ she asked.

‘Yes, I do. If we’re right we have to find them, fast’ Jason replied.

‘Can I help?’

‘Make friends with the civilians and have them come to me if they see or hear anything suspicious. There are a lot of people here. Some of them have to have heard something’ Jason told her.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Williams has called a meeting to discuss battle strategies and what we’re going to do next’ Jason said, and without another word he headed towards the main pavilion in the centre of the showgrounds.

‘Right on time Jason’ Williams said as Jason entered.

‘I’m getting good at that’ Jason replied with a weak smile, walking over to him. There was a map of everything within a ten kilometre radius on the table.

‘Ok. So the stores and houses near by have been picked clean. If we ration the food ad water properly we have about a month worth of food and water. But we have bigger problems. Scouts have reported what appears to be a Tallentiri construction site, and the latest satellite images show that the centre of Perth has been demolished. The colony head to the Perth Arena never made it. They were destroyed by Tallentiri forces guarding the city. The construction site is located here,’ he circled an area on the map. ‘about four clicks from here. We can’t do anything about Perth just yet, but we can stop this. We’ll coordinate an assault on the site from two directions. Jason, you’ll lead a strike force through the site. The rest of us will circle the area, stopping anything from getting out. Any questions’ Williams said.

‘Yeah how are the Tallentiri inside the site?’ Jason asked.

‘Thermals tell us that the site is lightly defended. They probably don’t know that we know about it’ Williams said. ‘Any other questions?’. Nobody else said anything.

‘Good. We strike in two days. Prepare yourselves however you can. Dismissed’ Williams said. Slowly the soldiers filed out, one by one.

‘Who’s in command while we’re gone?’ Jason asked, watching them.

‘That is upto you’ Williams said, laughing as he slapped Jason on the back walking away. Jason knew who he was going to put in command.