by Chris Burton
“We will be sending back cloaked patrol vessels periodically. They will get close enough to Earth, collect any transmissions and then come back to the first comms site. They will then send their messages to us, encrypted obviously.”
“Isn’t that a bit over the top? There are no systems out here of any consequence. A strategically placed comms station would never be detected.”
“This comes from the top, Jean-Luc. They want to be absolutely certain that there is no connection. The Halo 7 is tasked with bringing up the rear of those ships on route to the Styros Cluster. We will also set up the comms sites and ensure all participating Alpha vessels are in front of us.”
“But there are still some behind us. Why are we looking to catch up with the main body now?”
“I would just feel more comfortable as part of a mass of ships; given our experiences in the last few days. The remaining ships should catch up with the main body in about three days. Then we will run half a light year behind.”
“Okay. There are also some Alpha ships on route back to Earth as part of the Kryl/Earth agreement scuttle process. I presume they will continue to return to Earth and we need to remain undetectable to them?”
“Yes.”
“That’s crazy. Those ships could join the contingency and bolster our capabilities.”
“But there absence could be detected. The Kryl would send a fleet out here for certain and the whole strategy could go belly up. With some notable exceptions, most of the ships in the Contingency Fleet are not identified under the Kryl/Earth Agreement.”
“Notable. Is the Halo 7 listed in the agreement?”
“Yes…which means we need to make damn sure we are not detected or we will have to return to Earth…that would be bad.”
“Yes, I agree Jonathan. Very bad indeed.”
Chapter Three
The President’s Office
On the outside, Earth’s Central Government presented a clean face. The ECG senior ministers and officials presented an air of calm; suggesting all was well and that the planets affairs were being managed.
On the inside, nothing could have been further from the truth. The true extent of the Earth/Kryl agreement was far more complex than the simple provision of human supplies for Kryl feeding. There were eighteen core sections which covered a multitude of different yet interconnecting areas. Together they provided that the ECG would continue to run the affairs of state, but under Kryl guidance. It was clear that ECG would administer the affairs of state under “Governance; of the Kryl.
“What do we have left that we still control?”
“Strictly speaking, Mister President, we now control nothing, but for appearances sake everything.”
“So, I am a damn puppet!”
“A little simplistic, but yes.”
Kate Jones was President Roslyn’s chief government aide. She was in her late thirties, petite, and gave the appearance to many as being out of her depth. In truth, she was the bedrock to all Roslyn’s major policy initiatives. She was also a good friend.
“Okay. I guess we should just try to continue as normal and wait until The Kryl governor decides to intervene. Where are we on the HSL?” The Human Sacrifice list made Roslyn feel uncomfortable. He preferred to use the short form.
“The list is complete and messages have been delivered.”
“And the Collecting stations are all ready? What about the policing?”
“All in place. To be honest, I don’t see how we are going to enforce this; if our own security forces are unanimously against the whole thing. There is complete uproar against this strategy worldwide. We need to put a lid on it, before it gets out of control.”
“What choice do we have? If we refuse to comply, the Kryl will march in and carry out a massacre. We would be back at war and the Kryl have threatened to finish us off.”
“Have you asked yourself the question. “How long would it take the Kryl to kill a hundred million of our citizens?” People would rather fight than give in and with this stitch up of an agreement with the Kryl; they are making a mockery of us and you!”
“You have fairly strong feelings about this then?”
Jones was used to Roslyn’s sarcasm. She ignored him and continued.
“If you allow this organized massacre to take place, you will have civil war. You need to recognize this Tom and stop the “Collection” process now. Surely we can still amass considerable forces. What’s happened to Koenig? Have he and his other Alpha cronies gone to ground?”
“In a manner of speaking.” Roslyn had not briefed his aide on the whereabouts of Alpha’s secret bunker.”Look Kate…I am human and believe it or not I am over sixty and I could therefore be caught up in this. We have no choice but to continue. Once this first round is over, we will have three months to sort this out, before the next one comes up. Please arrange for the heads of security to come and see me. This is going to happen whether we like it or not.”
Chapter Four
Sorgan
The Tathos ship continued to track the three Alpha Cruisers deep into the cosmos. As they journeyed further from Earth; two things became clear. Firstly the commanders of these Alpha vessels had no intention of returning to Earth and secondly, none of these vessels were on the listing provided by Earth Central Government. Two questions therefore arose; where were they going and why were they not on the list?
Sorgan was deep in thought. Three ships alone could do little damage to the Kryl; but if there were more this might be a problem. His ship was more than capable of destroying all three, but this would achieve nothing…better to wait and see where they were planning to go.
Although Alpha had in the end laid down their arms relatively quickly once the battle had reached Earth itself, the humans had shown a resilience and cunning which was unusual for such a primitive and one dimensional species. Sorgan quickly learned not to trust them.
“We have looked at their trajectory. There are no systems of any consequence in the immediate area. It looks like their journey will be a long one, my Commander.”
“Then we must look closer and if we find nothing then we will continue to follow.”
“The Kronan will not want us to waste time on this, my commander. We should take them out now and return to local space.”
“Enough, you incredulous drone. I do not report to the Kronan and I care not what he wants. I answer to the Queen and you answer only to me…or do you want to spend the next millennia cargoing supplies between our fleets.”
This spat was not unusual. In truth, Sorgan enjoyed and valued the input from his first officer.
“We are very close my commander. Their detection systems could pick us up at such close range. Can I suggest we pull back?”
“They will not detect us with their conventional scanners and they have no cause to use other methods when they are not actively looking for us. I want to stay close.”
* * * *
At the same time on the Alpha Cruiser Pantheon, The ships comms officer was staring very closely at his main schematics screen. There is definitely something amiss here, he thought.
“Commander, I am picking up an unusual distortion ten thousand meters to port. It is not clear, but there is definitely something there.”
Commander Wesley Smith was typical of senior officers of his age. He was sharp and focused and was constantly on the look out for anything unusual. He was certainly not going to discourage the young officer’s investigations, but he did question whether the anomaly was of concern; now that the scan harmonics were adapted to ensure they picked up Kryl technology.
“Have you run an AP sweep?”
“Yes. I have used the AP analyzer. It shows a minor distortion between the visible areas in front of these two stars. The program confirms what I can see with the naked eye. There is definitel
y a distortion. Should we run a barium sweep?”
Maybe his comms officer was on to something?
“Very well, but confine to a limited area. If there is something there, we don’t want them to know we are on to them.”
“Running sweep now…analyzing results…”
“Commander, there is a Kryl ship ten thousand meters behind us!”
“Why did the standard scans not pick her up? Are the scanners running correctly?”
“Yes, commander. This ship is different. Her harmonics are all over the place. She is very angular. Not like any Kryl ship I have ever seen.”
Smith pondered his next move for a moment, before standing and gesturing towards his ready room. “Number One, lets discuss. Bridge Commander, you have the con.”
* * * *
The two executive officers stood at the window of the Pantheon’s Ready Room. It was little more than a closet. A small desk, two chairs aside, but with a viewing window running down one side and a glass partition between the command bridge and the ready room.
Repeat Barium scans now allowed the ships systems to generate a partial schematic of the Kryl vessel, which glowed blue in front of them from the desk’s integrated holo display screen.
“Okay, we can’t see her…but she can see us. There are three of us. We could take her on. What do you think?”
“Either brave, stupid or somewhere in between. We are no longer at war with them officially, but we can’t allow them to follow us. I don’t see what choice we have…we would be firing at a target, we can’t see.”
Lieutenant Commander Claudette Benoir knew her Commander well. Sometimes a bit too well, but this was time for some straight talking and she knew he would appreciate her honesty.
“Yes, Claudette, but we cannot allow them to follow us long enough for us to join with the main fleet. I think we should take a stand now. Do you agree?”
“Yes, Wesley.”
“What do we know about this ship so far?”
“She’s big. About twice the size of a conventional Kryl cruiser. She is angular,, no part of the ship conforms to a specific shape and there are no flowing lines. She is also made of a composite dark alloy, similar to those used by the Sentinels. There is obviously no sign of the trademark red mist emitting from the underside. Overall she is physically stealthy and no amount of battering her shields will change her cloaking capability. One important point arising from our periodic barium sweeps. Her exhaust manifold and stellar cathode tubes are not angular, but they are hidden by cloaking shields, giving them a similar appearance to the rest of the ship. If we target these, the shielding may give way and we will have a visible point of reference.”
“But we need to see her to target her. We will need to coordinate the barium sweeps between the three cruisers, to ensure the best data is available. We will be fighting them in a simulated virtual environment. We also need to ensure that power reserves are not weakened by the drain from the sweeps. This will be difficult and dangerous…Very well. We will coordinate with the other execs before we advise the crew.”
Wesley Smith briefed the commanding officers of the two other Alpha Cruisers under his command and the two Pantheon executive officers returned to the bridge and assumed their command positions, before the CO spoke.
“Ship wide. This is Commander Smith. We will shortly be turning about and assuming battle status. A Kryl ship has come into our wake, but remains comparatively undetectable and is certainly not visible to the naked eye. Our instructions are simple, we must prevent the Kryl from becoming aware of the contingency fleet’s existence and we therefore have no choice now to engage her. Comms will now be restricted to internal.”
“Helm, turn us about. Weaponries, shields up. XO, take us to battle stations.”
“Number One, keep those sweeps coming, but keep an eye on the shield reserves. Do we have a location fix?”
The response came from the Weaponry station.”Yes, inputting coordinates now. Changing main screen to virtual display.”
“Excellent. Now she will know we can see her. Will she take us on?”
Just seconds passed before the answer. A huge plasma flare briefly igniting the shields skin, before dissipating.
“Fire everything we’ve got!”
“The Peking’s XO is suggesting Jump Ships, Commander.”
“Too tight and we can’t see the enemy. Tell them to use conventional artillery, plasma and Teutonic’s.”
Smith was addressing his Comms Officer. Now it was the Weaponry Officer’s turn to speak out.
“Commander, over fifty percent of our plasma discharges are off target. We are deploying our weapons in the wrong areas. I am reworking the virtual display, but the software can’t keep up.”
It was Lieutenant Commander Benoir’s turn to respond.”We need to increase the frequency of the barium sweeps. Have we tried reducing the yield?”
“No, Number One. A reduced yield will reduce our capability to see. How are the shields?”
“Weakening…we have to do something else, Wesley. We won’t last long like this.”
“Can we adapt the spread of the plasma cannons, by opening up the capillary shoots a little more?”
The Weaponry Officer was quick to respond. Yes, Commander. Only the front four tubes port and starboard are adaptable though. I’ll send teams down to make the changes.”
“In the meantime, Wesley we need to do more. Perhaps if we could just launch a squadron of Rapiers. Their response time for weapons fire will be instantaneous. They can follow the lines in where the explosions occur. It has got to be worth a go…shields down below fifty percent.”
Smith took a brief moment to reflect, before the action started again.
“Commander, the Peking’s shielding is a critical level. She is requesting permission to pull back.”
“Agreed.”
“CAG, coordinate with the other CAG’s and launch one squadron of Rapiers each. Number One, we must be making some kind of impact on the Kryl ship?”
“Maybe sir, maybe…but we have no way of telling.”
* * * *
Sorgan smiled. The battle was going well. Alpha could not see them and even if they could, their weaponry would not penetrate the Tathos ships shields. One of the three Alpha vessels had lost shielding.
“Force our advantage home. Target their drive systems and their command decks.”
* * * *
Minutes later The Peking disintegrated, together with three hundred and fifty serving crew and officers.
The second cruiser, Hermes was also in trouble and Commander Smith had just given the order to receive Evacs from the slowly dying cruiser.
The Pantheon was still operational. She was a B class battle cruiser in disguise and her stronger bulkheads and enhanced shielding meant she would always hold out the longest. But even the Pantheon was struggling.
“Wesley, we no longer have a coherent fix on the enemy…I suggest we consider a retreat.”
“Thank you Claudette. I am aware. Channel a maximum strength barium sweep through the frontal plasma arrays and prepare a Teutonic missile with battlefield class subspace charges. The sweep will reveal the Kryl ship and the missile will destroy her.”
“And probably us in the process, at this distance, always assuming the radiation from the sweep does not kill us all first.”
“We have no choice…”
A huge explosion sent Smith and his fellow bridge crew to the floor. The Kryl ship just taken out the main weapons bank. Now they were under a sustained attack.
“Take evasive action…pull us up and engage with secondary plasma banks.”
Another huge explosion, followed by three more and it was all over.
As Smith pulled himself to his feet, he realized it was hopeless. The shi
p was listing to port, smoke and fire billowed from every deck and the shields and weapons capability had been deleted. Carnage lay around him, two of his subordinate bridge crew blown to bits.
Lieutenant Commander Benoir pulled herself up as the comm.link on Smiths workstation buzzed. It was engineering.
“All drives are down. I repeat all drives are down and we are venting plasma from the main drive. We need to isolate the stellar plasma core, before she implodes and takes the ship with her.”
Smith looked dazed. It was Benoir who answered.
“Do it, Chief. Shut it down and isolate the auxiliary drives. We need those back on-line and the geometrics too. We are listing to port.”
“The Kryl ship?”
The Comms station officer could hardly believe his eyes and he struggled to get the words out. “Gone. At least she is no longer firing at us.”
* * * *
Finally, Wesley Smith spoke. Realization set in, but they were still alive and if the Kryl ship had gone, they had a chance.
“Get me damage reports and a medic team up to the bridge immediately. Prioritize these blazes and get them under control and make sure the medic center are up and running. Number One, we need to assess our options.”
Smith moved to the rear of the bridge and away from the other bridge crew.
“Doesn’t look too good ,does it?”
“No, but we are still here. Let’s just work rationally through what we have got and then decide what we should do. I guess the first problem is our location.”
“Agreed. With no shields or weaponry, we won’t last long standing still. We need the auxiliary drives back on and a course to set. Lets go about our business quietly and efficiently Claudette. We know things are bad, but we don’t need everyone to know that.”
* * * *
One hour later, the two executive officers sat at a desk in a make shift ready room just outside the main control bridge.
“All damage reports are in. The ships main infrastructure and bulkheads appear safe and damage crew’s report all fires are now out. There are three large holes in the fuselage, two aft, and one starboard. All drives remain off-line, with the stellar drive core isolated. The chief is working on the ion drive, with no estimate yet of when we can expect it back on-line.”
