The Kryl Queen

by Chris Burton

  Both the CO and XO entered the bridge five minutes later and Jake moved back to the comms position. He had been monitoring the scans directly from the command console and just transferred the data back to his comms station, when he noticed the anomaly. He double-checked the data before speaking.

  “Sir. There is a spacial distortion aft at twenty-seven point five degrees, about two thousand meters below us. The size suggests potentially a cloaked Kryl cruiser.”

  Commander Huber was always ready to rubbish anything Jake had to say.

  “That is highly unlikely. There is nothing in this region of space. The anomaly, if it exists is obviously a gaseous exchange. Not unusual in nebula of this kind.”

  Jake ignored the XO. It was a good job Jacques was on the bridge too.”

  “I think you should attach more credibility to Mister Carter’s assertions, Bernhard. He is not usually wrong. What does it look like, Jake?”

  Jake highlighted the distortion area on his work pad and then lifted the illustration onto the central hologram display.

  “I think it may be the illusive Kryl cruiser.”

  “That’s way too big for a cruiser, Mister Carter. The shape suggests the anomaly is not Kryl in origin. I still think it’s a gaseous cloud.”

  Jake pointed to the edges of the distortion.”Yes, it’s bigger than a Kryl cruiser, but look here. These harsh edges suggest this could be Malchian in origin. This could be a Malchian cruiser. If it is, we could be in trouble.”

  Jacques stayed silent, but Huber continued to disagree with Jake’s synopsis.”That is a great big “if”. We are looking at the outline shape of something which coincidentally could look like a Kryl vessel at some angles. To suggest it is a Malchian Arrow is just extending your hypothesis to the ridiculous.”

  Jake was cross now. Huber continued to belittle him in front of the CO.

  “Commander Huber. This is not just a malformed shape. These are clear lines. This is a cloaked Kryl ship and we need to take this matter seriously.”

  Commander Jacques was ready to speak.”I’ve seen enough. Jake prepare a barium sweep and deploy once you have picked up the anomaly’s coordinates again. XO; take us to condition yellow, shields up.”

  Huber looked bemused, but acted quickly once he realized the CO was staring at him.

  * * * *

  The Tathos ship followed Jake Carter and his Patrol ship all the way back to the chasing contingency fleet. Having determined which vessel Carter was delivered to, they continued to follow the Halo 7 , without detection to the Rymanian Abyss.

  It did not take Sorgan long to determine why the Alpha cruiser had come to this region of space.

  “They are mining Quescom. Clearly they have identified our weakness. This ship must not be allowed to leave the system. We will destroy her here.”

  Sorgan knew this strategy was a risk, but he had no choice, he could not allow the Quescom to leave the Abyss. A bold decision given that Jake Carter was aboard. Trieste would be unhappy, if Carter was not allowed to fulfill his destiny.

  “Let us show ourselves to them, before we destroy them. Remove cloaking systems and bring us around to face them.”

  * * * *

  “Oh, my God. Look at the size of it and it is coming right at us. Take evasive action.”

  “Delay that order. Mister Huber; let’s not get too excited. Yes, she is bigger than us, but she needs to be. The Halo punches well above her weight. Take us to condition red. Shields up and CAG make ready for immediate dispatch. Number One, Join me in the ready room. Bridge Commander, you have the con.”

  The executive officers left the bridge, leaving Jake staring directly at the enemy. This would be a tough one.

  Commander Jacques and his XO rejoined the bridge less than a minute later and the CO retook the con.

  “Gentlemen.” Jacques was addressing the whole bridge crew now. “Let’s work out a way to bring this Kryl ship down. Mister Carter, what would you suggest?”

  Jake looked surprised but realized he was calling on him to suggest a battle strategy.

  “We need to reduce any advantage they may have over us, sir. Perhaps we should enter one of the gaseous clouds. Most weapons will be ineffective in there. We could enter…she would then follow and we can then exit again immediately. We could target her command deck as she exits the cloud.”

  “That is an excellent idea. Don’t you agree Mister Huber?”

  Huber’s face looked ashen. He was out of his depth but tried to keep a brave face on the proceedings. He wasn’t going to allow Jake Carter credit for anything.

  “We should launch all our Jump Ships and run parallel to the Kryl cruiser and take out their main weapon banks. I think we should deploy everything we have got. Taking us into the cloud stinks of cowardice…but we are surely jumping the gun. We are not at war with the Kryl. We should make contact and introduce ourselves. We could say we were undertaking scientific research.”

  “Thank you, Number One. I don’t think this ship looks remotely scientific. From what we know of this Kryl ship already, they feel the war is very much still on. Let’s launch twenty Rapiers and five Sabres and deploy as the XO suggests. Mister Carter, we will hold off your cloud maneuver until we have an insight into their strategy.”

  “The Kryl ship just launched fighters. They are Malchian Arrows.”

  “CAG launch Jump ships. Shields to maximum. The battle starts here.”

  * * * *

  Thirty-five minutes later, the Halo 7 and the Tathos ship were engaged in a brutal battle. The Halo’s shields were still intact, but the continuous bombardment of plasma fire from both the Tathos ship and the Malchian Arrows was beginning to take its toll.

  In the main hanger bay, the ships CAG, Lieutenant Obeya Temsouri was worried. Over a third of her Rapiers were lost already and both the main launch tubes were blocked by exploding debris from the failed landing attempt of a Sabre 4. If the Sabres were losing, things looked very bleak. To make matters worse, she just lost both her CAG support officers, who somehow conspired to be in the same place, when the tail of a Rapier had been ripped off as the Jump Ship reentered the bay, out of control and at high velocity. She needed help now.

  “Bridge, this is the CAG. We are in trouble down here. I need CAG support staff now.”

  The XO answered. What do you need Obeya? We need everyone in place on the bridge. I will see if…”

  Jake Carter interrupted. “Sir. I am not needed at the moment. We can float the comms station. I am CAG qualified.”

  Commander Huber seemed pleased to finally remove Jake Carter from the bridge.

  “Okay, Mister Carter. Go. Try to get those Sabres to impact on these bloody Malchian Arrows. They are a nightmare!”

  Jake left his station and headed directly to the hanger bay. He sprinted down the corridor, but slowed as he realized how bad the situation already become. He entered the bay, just as Obeya was returning to her CAG station.

  “Hi, Jake…thanks. I need you to get that Rapier cleared off the access tube. We have damaged ships out there and we can only launch from tube Number One. Are you authorized to fly?” She added as an afterthought.

  “Yes. But I am not sure the XO will want me out there. I can check.”

  “No, I will. Concentrate on the clear up.”

  * * * *

  Back on the bridge, things were looking worse. It was beginning to look like Jake Carter’s strategy was a good one. Jean-Luc Jacques had seen it all before. It was clear his XO had not.

  “Number One. Are you okay? I need you to keep those Jump Ships running.”

  Commander Huber tried to maintain a steely expression. “Perhaps we should consider alternative weaponry, Jean-Luc?”

  “Like what?”

  “Subspace charges, nuclear…”

 
“Are you kidding? They would take out the radiation clouds and us at the same time. The result would be catastrophic. Please pull yourself together, Mister Huber. We have some very brave people dying out there.”

  Jacques had made his mind up…but he needed someone on the bridge who actually knew what they were doing. Jake Carter’s gaseous cloud initiative was the only way forward.

  “CAG. Send Jake Carter back to me. I need him up here.”

  “I can’t Jean-Luc. He has just taken a Sabre out.”

  * * * *

  Jake was surprised when the XO granted permission for him to fly. The shift transfer policy in place during non-combat operations meant that half the ships jump pilots took the night shift. This, coupled with injuries, non-combat status, and pilots lost today in combat meant it was inevitable for the reserve pilots to be called upon. However, the CO had promised the outgoing CO, Jonathan Hoskins to keep Jake on board the Halo. Why then had the XO agreed to contradict this instruction?

  He did not dwell too long on why. It was a case of taking advantage of the situation. Piloting a Sabre into combat was why he had qualified and for a whole variety of reasons, he was prevented from doing this until now. It wasn’t a case of wanting to change his current role. He was more than satisfied with how his career had progressed in such a short period of time. It was just, he had this gap in his resume that said, Jump Pilot, no combat experience. Now, he could change this…and then when it was done, he could return to bridge command.

  The Sabre Four was just as he remembered. It was all consuming, molded to the very fabric of his skin, with the interactive link to his cerebral cortex allowing seamless intuitive command, akin to the movement of a limb, or the blinking of an eye. This coupled with the extraordinary movement capabilities of this ship, meant there was nothing on Earth that could do this and nothing in the galaxy that could quite match it. He pulled the Sabre sharply away from the Halo 7 as soon as the Jump ship exited the launch shoot. He could see a distant fracas involving several Rapiers and a Malchian Arrow and Jake set his sight on taking the Sabre straight through the middle.

  As he drew close, it was clear that there was more than one Arrow. They were hunting in packs and already they had inflicted damage on both Rapiers. The Rapier 7’s were good and there was no better ship for the delivery of pin point weapons fire, but they lacked the poise and grace of the Sabre, a true interceptor, a dog fighter.

  Jake came in fast, unseen and delivered his first salvo of plasma fire directly into the path of the lead Malchian arrow as he passed through. He was disappointed that the direct hit scored little damage but it had at least drawn the Arrow away from the Rapiers, both increasing the odds of their success against the second Arrow and giving Jake the opportunity to take on a Malchian one to one.

  The Kryl fighter was on his tail and Jake forced a series of tight maneuvers to shake her loose. But she would not budge. The black tear shaped, otherwise featureless fighter was difficult to detect in the darkness of space. He saw her clearly when she passed in front of the gaseous cloud, but then she would fade again. Under normal circumstances, he would have ditched his visor controls and switched on the targeting program, but in a Sabre, the Weapons computer was a back up program. The seamless link between man and machine was what gave this ship the edge.

  The Arrow was getting closer. She was looking to establish a weapons lock and Jake needed to take evasive action. He paused; every single maneuver running though his mind, as he tried to decide which strategy was the best. In the end, it was simple; fire your directional thrusters one way, but force the Sabre to go the other. The weapons lock would pick up on the thrusters as would the Malchian Pilot…who took the bait.

  It worked and he was some how behind the Arrow. He saw her now. He was close enough to touch her. Jake selected his frontal plasma cannon and forced the Jump Ship downwards at maximum thrust away from the Arrow as he fired. The resultant plasma burst caught the drive manifold at the rear of the Arrow, where its protection was least. The perfect target shot and seconds later, the Arrow exploded.

  Jake breathed a sigh of relief. That maneuver was not his own. It was perfected by his best friend Steve Costello. He wondered whether Steve had used it against the Malchians before he was lost on combat. Then his thoughts turned to Carla, before he was quickly brought back to reality as a Rapier sped past, followed loosely by the second Arrow. Jake was on his tail immediately; but this time he opted for weapons lock. He switched on his targeting computer and drew closer, so close he saw the glowing red eyes of the Malchian pilot as he pulled slightly to one side and then used his side plasma array to deliver point blank and devastating damage to the Arrow. He pulled away now and waited as the Malchian pilot realized he was in trouble. The Rapier was out of danger and Jake watched as the second arrow exploded.

  Job done. He fired up his comm.link to speak to the Rapier pilot, but there was no response. Terrific! No way to contact anyone. Standard protocol meant without a comm.link, he was required to return to base, unless he was actively involved in a skirmish, in which case he should assist and then extradite himself from the battle as soon as possible. This was one of those rules, which was subject to interpretation. Jake turned his Sabre around and headed back towards the main Jump Ship skirmish where five Malchian Arrows were currently engaging ten Rapiers. If he got too close, he would be involved and then he would have to assist.

  * * * *

  “Get Jake Carter back on board as soon as possible. For now Commander Huber, I make all the decisions. When you know your way around a battlefield, I may give you back some of your responsibility.”

  Jean-Luc Jacques knew that the appointment of Bernhard Huber as is XO was a bad decision. Things were not looking good and he needed someone with experience to support him. Half of his Jump Ships were already destroyed, the shields were depleting rapidly, his bridge commander and Jonathan Hoskins protégé was on an uncontactable Jump Ship, contrary to specific orders and his XO was next to useless. The only option now was to try to make the gaseous cloud and make the Tathos ship follow them in.

  Chapter Forty-One

  The Impassioned Speech

  He had made a few speeches in his time, but none so important as this one and as always the delivery and content of the final words was so important. These would be the words the senators remembered as they left the chamber this morning and if there was any chance of saving his position.

  “There are many of you in this house, who have had the good fortune to hold office in government. You will know that frequently there are issues at stake which cannot be disclosed in this forum. This is and remains the case today. I am not at liberty to disclose matters of state, which if I did, would give credibility to my stance. But I will say one thing to you. Treat it as postulating if you wish, but in time you will see that it is not. There will be no further HSL lists.”

  Roslyn waited a few moments while the significance of his last sentence was taken in. He knew the Kryl would be listening and they would want to know why he said it. The answer would be simple enough. He was trying to preserve his political existence and while obviously the HSL lists would continue, right now the senate members did not need to know this.

  “I have returned this government to a working condition and over the next few weeks, we will deliver as we have always done. Then, when the emergency powers period is over, the members of this house will have the power to make judgment over me. By then you may have some understanding of why I have made this speech today and by then I trust you will allow me and my government the opportunity to complete our task and finish our term.”

  Roslyn sat down and smiled.

  This was a political speech filled with contradictions and hidden meanings. One which would probably make no difference as by the time the emergency powers ceased; it was unlikely the contingency fleet would have arrived. Perhaps he was just putting off the inevit
able; but as a seasoned politician, he knew better than to say you never say never. This was a waiting game.

  The speaker rose and closed the session and the senate members began to file out of the chamber. The whispering had already started.

  * * * *

  “What did you mean by saying there would be no further HSL lists?”

  Safrec’s scheduled meeting with Roslyn started. He had obviously been briefed on the content of Roslyn’s senate statement and he was clearly not happy. Curiously, the Kronan’s chosen attire seemed to reflect his mood. Today, he wore dark clothing, which within the half-light of Roslyn’s oak clad presidential office, the Kryl’s archetypal red eyes and pallid and featureless face, made him look more sinister than ever.

  “This is politics, Safrec. I have to say the right things to keep people on my side. I am, as you know fighting for my survival as President.”

  “You have re-engaged those members of your cabinet who have resigned. My understanding is no one can compel you to call an election. You should therefore not call one. You must be stronger.”

  “It does not work like that. I am duty bound as part of our democratic process to call an election if I am forced to do so, by the Senate.”

  “That will not happen. You will remain in office.”

  “I don’t have your confidence, Safrec.”

  “You misunderstand me. I don’t want anyone else leading your government. You will remain in office.”

  Roslyn now understood what the Kronan meant. Could he remain in office? Was it to his advantage to do so?”

  “If they ask me to call an election and I refuse, or you insist that I remain in office—it will no longer be democratic and I will be seen as a puppet president.”

  “I do not care. You will remain in office, until I decide to remove you, or our agreement is dead President Roslyn and so are you. Now, I want to talk about Alpha and what they are planning. I have been very patient with you. Now you will tell me what you know.”