Chapter Seventeen: Vantage Point

The sight of a roof of a tent met Jason’s eyes as he awoke.

‘Oh good, you’re awake’ said Sergeant Carlisle who, Jason discovered, was watching him from the far corner.

‘Could be worse’ Jason replied, groaning as he sat up due to a stabbing pain across his stomach.

‘That’s true. You could’ Carlisle responded.

‘So what happened? The last thing I remember was hearing planes overhead-’ Jason began.

‘That was four days ago. It was an airstrike’ Carlisle told him.

‘I thought they didn’t want to kill us’

‘They didn’t, but once the Tallentiri collapsed the shield, they didn’t have a choice. We became their acceptable losses’ Carlisle replied.

‘How many did we lose?’ Jason asked, slowly pulling himself to his feet.

‘Ten. Eighty plus are missing and presumed captured, including Celeste’s sister Sarah and your accomplice Claire Stantone’ Carlisle told him. Jason’s head was spinning. He remembered Sarah being taken, but he thought Claire might’ve been safe.

‘Anything else I should know?’ Jason asked, carefully balancing his step.

‘Celeste has put herself in command as you did give her command before you stayed to defend the Showground’s, which no one blames you for losing; there was nothing you could’ve done. After the airstrike, those who survived came here, to the bush land near Sir Charles Gardiner. Subiaco Oval was also hit and destroyed. So far as we know, no one survived and no one has heard from Lieutenant Williams’ Carlisle replied. Jason nodded.

‘Alright, well I’m gonna take a walk’ Jason said as he left the tent.

There was a cool wind outside. The sea breeze had rolled in and sunset was approaching. The floor crunched underneath Jason’s feet as he walked. He looked at the people as he passed. Those with a camping background had set up campfires. Others were simply stared blankly through the trees, into the distance. Some even tried to smile at him as he passed. Finally, Jason noticed a group of people huddled together, out of the way. One of them, he noticed, was Celeste. Gradually he made his over and they stopped talking when a stick cracked under his foot. They turned and looked him. The people were a mixture of civilians and military. Suddenly, Celeste launched herself at him, knocking him down a bank behind him he hadn’t noticed.

‘You bastard!’ Celeste yelled as she lay into him, her punches connecting faster than his arms could block them. Eventually the people she was speaking with pulled her away.

‘Celeste, I need you to calm down’ Jason said. He immediately regretted saying that.

‘CALM DOWN!’ Celeste bellowed at him. ‘SARAH IS GONE BECAUSE OF YOU!’ she tried to launch herself at him again, but was held back. ‘Let me go!’ she yelled at the others.

‘Celeste, I need you to listen to me, ok? Can you do that?’ Jason said carefully.

‘Make it fast’ Celeste replied, malevolently.

‘There was nothing I could’ve done. I tried to reach her, to protect her. But the Tallentiri… they pushed me back before I could get close’

‘That doesn’t change the fact that Sarah could be dead, because you broke your promise!’ Celeste snapped back.

‘I tried to stop it, ok? I tried. I know I failed, but there is a possibility that Sarah is alive’ Jason said, standing up

‘A slim chance’

‘Yes. Look, I realise that I am the last person you probably want to talk to, but I really need to talk to you in private’ Jason told her.

‘Dismissed,’ she said to the people holding her. They slowly left. ‘You have five minutes. After that, I start screaming again’ she added.

‘The spy-’

‘Oh not this again’ Celeste began.

‘I thought you agreed with me’ Jason said.

‘Things change’ Celeste replied.

‘The spy is military,’ Jason continued. ‘Parts of that envelope make sense now. My dad figured out who the spy was. The spy inturn conspired to have him killed, so dad left me that information in his private quarters, which only military knew about. The spy tried to steal the information back, but we got there first. Stealing that envelope was as much about providing the Nexus with information as it was protecting his identity. Don’t you see? My dad wasn’t warning against the military. He was warning us of a Nexus plot. He knew this would happen’ Jason said. Celeste thought it over for a minute.

‘I’m not saying you are, but if you’re right-’

‘We can’t trust anyone. Any soldier could be the enemy’

‘That still isn’t proof. Its conjecture’ Celeste replied.

‘The airstrike is proof’

‘It’s still a theory, Jason. The Nexus called in the airstrike because they were overrun by the Tallentiri’ Celeste told him.

‘I’m right about this. And I’m gonna fix my broken promise’ Jason replied.

‘How?’ Celeste asked.

‘I’m going to bring her back. And I’m taking back command’ Jason told her sternly.

‘If you want to get yourself killed, go ahead. As for command, I don’t want it, it’s yours’ Celeste told him. Jason stood up.

‘You’re angry at me, I get that. If the situation was reversed I’d be pissed too. But I do not have a death wish, despite what you might think. There’s one thing we should do first’ Jason replied.

‘Keep moving?’

‘Ok, two things. Have you set up some kind of meeting place?’ Jason asked.

‘The main tent. It’s the largest one, you can’t miss it’ Celeste answered.

‘Alright, I want you to go there. I’ll be there in about five minutes’ Jason as he made his way back up the bank.

‘Jason’ Carlisle, who was approaching from the tents, said

‘Celeste gave me command. Bring twenty soldiers to the main tent. Celeste and I will be waiting there’ Jason told him.

‘Yes sir’ Carlisle said and he left to get the soldiers. Jason headed straight to the tent and waited with Celeste.

‘Right,’ Jason said as the soldiers entered the tent. ‘We have an advantage right now. No one’s looking for us. The Nexus thinks we’re dead and the rest of the military thinks we’re captured. They’ll know about the airstrike and what happened just prior to it. That doesn’t mean that Tallentiri aren’t in the area looking for us. So here’s what we’re going to do. Kings Park isn’t too far from here and provides a decent vantage point of Perth. As we know, from the intelligence we received from the last group of Civilians to arrive at the showgrounds, Perth is under Tallentiri control. Six of you will come with me and do a recon of the city, find out what they’re doing there. The rest of you will pack up this place and move towards Belmont. The racecourse there is large enough to hold several thousand people. Raid any food storages along the way’ Jason said.

‘What will you do afterwards?’ Carlisle asked.

‘We’ll make our way along the river. Once we know what’s going on in the Perth, we’ll know what to do’ Jason replied. Jason looked around the tent. The soldiers were of various ranks; ranging from Private to Sergeant Carlisle himself.

‘Any volunteers to go to King’s Park?’ Jason asked. No one answered. ‘Ok. One, two, three, four, five, six, you’re with me. The rest of you go help pack’ the soldiers that Jason picked reluctantly followed him out of the tent.

‘So how do we get there, sir?’ one of soldiers asked.

‘We’ll head North, through the bushes to the main road. Once there, we’ll head East and follow the road, should take us straight there. Did anyone recover my weapon?’ the soldiers shook their heads. Jason saw Carlisle exit the tent.

‘Carlisle!’ Jason shouted, running over to him. ‘I need your weapon’

‘Sir?’

‘That was an order, Sergeant’ Jason said.

‘Yes sir’ Carlisle said, handing his weapon over.

‘What is it?’

‘MT fourteen hundred Assault Rifle. Latest military issue,’ Carlisle replied. ‘It has a kick so keep the stock against your shoulder’

‘Thank you. Off you go’ Jason said. Carlisle rejoined his group of soldiers and Jason walked back in the direction of his and then into the bush.

King’s Park unfolded itself before them. The lush green grass made no noise under heels of the boots.

‘Alright. Fifteen minutes and then we follow the Swan River north. Understand?’ Jason asked.

‘Yes sir’ the soldiers replied.

‘We should split up sir. One group heads to the observation deck, the other to Memorial Wall. See the city two different heights and angles’ one the soldiers said.

‘You are?’

‘Captain Miles’ Miles replied.

‘Alright Captain. You take one group to Memorial Wall, I’ll take the other to the Observation deck’ Jason replied. Captain Miles took three of the soldiers with him and moved away from Jason. Jason took the remaining two soldiers with him to the wooden structure built out of the side of the hill, overlooking the city. One thing stood out immediately; a large collection of skyscrapers had been torn down in the city centre, but from their distance and altitude they couldn’t see much else.

‘Anybody got some spare coin?’ Jason asked. One of the soldiers handed over some gold coins.

‘That’s all I have’ he said.

‘Right, thank you’ Jason replied, pushing a coin into a pair of public binoculars mounted to the floor. When he looked at the city now, he could see things much smaller and closer up. Tallentiri were leading people up out of tunnels dug into the ground. He also noticed a large circle of scaffolding.

‘What do you see sir?’ a soldier asked.

‘Human prisoners being used as slaves. I think they’re building something’ Jason said.

‘A weapon?’

‘I don’t know’ Jason replied. The sound of gunfire drew Jason’s attention away. Captain Miles and his group were returning and firing on a large group of Tallentiri, who were advancing towards them.

‘Sir?’ a soldier asked.

‘There’s too many of them’ Jason replied.

‘So what do we do?’

‘We go down to the river’ and before they could ask any more questions, Jason flung himself over the railing and into the bushland below, using the low plants to disguise himself. Slowly the others joined him.

‘Stay perfectly still and quiet’ Jason whispered. The soldiers nodded. After a few minutes the Tallentiri left and there was no noise except for the wind blowing through the trees.

‘Now what do we do?’ Miles asked.

‘We move’ Jason said, picking himself up and started moving down the hillside.