by Chris Burton
Jake took a few moments to digest the scene in front of him. He had seen it many times before, but he never grew tired of seeing it. He came here for some time to himself, but once again found himself enchanted by the spectacle that surrounded them. He wondered briefly about his father and the advanced stellar speed drives, his organization had been working on.
The results of their long term project should be finished soon…not withstanding the Kryl’s intervention. Did the project still exit or had it been shelved? Had his father been put at risk; was he even still alive? Then he thought about his mother. Was she safe? Then inevitably thoughts turned to Carla. He knew she would be in the thick of it. Not just because of her position, but because of her nature. She would have wanted to be involved. She was probably putting herself at risk. His thought process was brought to an abrupt halt by a pat on the back. It was Maria.
“Hiya, Jake. What you doing up here?”
Oh, God. Perfect timing…just as I start to think about Carla. I don’t need this right now!
“Me! This is my ship. Why are you here?”
“Do I sense animosity, Jake? The Admiral is here talking to Commander Jacques. I came up here for the same reason as you did. I still see the Halo as my ship.”
“If you know why I am here…why did you ask?”
Jake sensed his bitter responses were hitting home. Perhaps her intentions were genuine.
“I am sorry, Maria. You just caught me at a bad moment. I guess we are all thinking of home.”
“Yes, we are and it won’t be long now. Look, I can see you need time, so I will make myself scarce. Hoskins told me, he could be a few hours, so I am heading for the mess. If you feel like joining me; I’ll be there for the next few hours.”
Jake forced a smile and Maria left. He did not feel compelled to respond. Her heart was in the right place…it was just why it was there that bothered him. Yet, he just needed to exercise some control. She was good fun to be with and a few hours with Maria would take some of the tedium and stress away. But he had to make it clear to her that their friendship was plutonic.
* * * *
“I hope you are in a better mood? Have you eaten? The fish is good.”
Jake sat down beside her, having grabbed a soda from the automated vending facility.
“If it were real fish, I might be compelled to eat it. I ate at lunch, so I’ll just have a snack for now. I am sorry about earlier. I am worried about my parents, what is about to happen and…Carla. Look Maria, I feel it is important for me to make my situation clear.”
“You have already done that, Jake,” Maria interrupted. “I know where I stand…it does not mean I will give up. Okay, I accept that right now, we are friends, but we can help each other through this. I miss my family too! Let’s skip wine and have some beers. I could do with drowning my sorrows.”
Jake shrugged and was about to speak, when Maria shook her head.
“You don’t need to say it, Jake. We both need to let go a bit that is all.
* * * *
Admiral Martin saw them now. They had been tracking the chasing Kryl fleet for nearly an hour, but now they were just visible at high magnitude and within Teutonic range. He already decided he would hold off a unilateral strike. He would wait for them to attack and then hit them with the highest powered weapon available. He would not have to wait much longer.
“Admiral, the Kryl have just launched fighters.”
“How many?”
“Thousands, sir. This will be a bloodbath.”
He had explored his conscience. He knew if he struck here in the close proximity of the nebula, there would be many human lives lost as well as Kryl. But the science was proven. The sub-space charges at their highest yield would destroy the vast majority of the Kryl fleet.
“Shall I give the order to launch our Jump Ships, sir?”
“No. We wait.”
Admiral Martin and Jonathan Hoskins had agreed between them, that they could give the command code to atomize the sub–space charges without the approval of a second senior officer. This was done for precisely this reason. The Tiger missiles from which the charges would be dispatched were already loaded in the launch bays. The new process involved entering the code which automatically charged the sub-space charges and in effect turned them from inert to the most explosive and powerful weapon in the known galaxy. Martin had already configured the coding into his command chair and now he waited.
Ten Tiger missiles would be deployed, directly from the Viceroy’s starboard launch bay. Nothing would reach them before they ignited. It was just about timing.
“Admiral, the Kryl fleet have closed to within one hundred thousand meters. We are in their range. We should fire…”
This was what he had been waiting for. Martin flipped the access panel on his command chair, revealing the access code and launch button. He took one final deep breath and pressed the button.
“Fleet wide comm.link.”
“Open, sir.”
“This is Admiral Martin. I have just launched ten high yield subspace charges into the free space between the Kryl fleet and our own. This planned strategy will destroy the Kryl fleet. It is likely we will experience some casualties and I suggest you divert all power now to your starboard shields. The missiles should explode in approximately one minute twenty seconds.”
Martin closed the comm.link and stood without comment, despite several groans and shouts from within the bridge area. He headed for the starboard observation lounge; which stood just off the main bridge. From here, he would witness the Kryl’s destruction.
Forty-five seconds later, all ten tiger missiles exploded.
* * * *
Safrec saw the missiles coming from his sanctuary window. He had no way of knowing the destructive capabilities of ordinary Alpha missiles and he turned a blind eye.
“Take us to the mid-fleet for protection and prepare all weaponry.” He was about to continue, but his breathe was taken from under him as suddenly his ship was forced sideways into two other cruisers and then backwards at high velocity towards the rear of the fleet by the massive explosion. It took Safrec a few moments to realize what happened, but when he recovered from his fall, sufficient to stand, he moved back towards the viewing window. He looked out in horror. His fleet was decimated. Alpha had used subspace charges once again.
* * * *
The black void evolved moments after the explosion. Now the dust and debris had cleared, Martin saw what remained of the enemy fleet. Seventy-five percent were destroyed. He looked back at his own fleet to see how many of his own ships had gone. It was not immediately clear.
As Martin headed back into the command bridge, the scene was panic-stricken. He walked to his command chair and calmly sat down. Then, he raised his head.
“Update.”
The reply was not immediate as his senior aide was still in a heated conversation with one of the main fleet supply officers.
“Admiral…up to ten cruisers and fifteen supply ships lost. There are many others with severe to fatal damage. We have fared badly.”
“The Kryl fleet fared much worse. We need to force home our advantage. Launch one thousand Rapiers and one hundred Sabres immediately and charge up the PBA on all capable and starboard leading vessels.”
“Sir, we have lost twenty-five ships. The Kryl still have the advantage and most of our ships have been incapacitated. We don’t have a thousand Rapiers available.” The aide was trying not to panic. He could not believe what the Admiral just done.
“I want calm on this bridge. The job is seventy-five percent done. Now we finish them off.”
Chapter Sixty–One
Alpha Command Headquarters
The underground bunker at Alpha’s command headquarters, three hundred meters below the main command building was n
ot as safe as the Arizona desert command bunker, which Koenig had called his home for so many months; but at least from here, he could communicate with the outside world and more importantly beyond it. He just received word that Admiral Martin had engaged the Kryl fleet, but more importantly a coded message which indicated that a separate task force had so far managed to evade the Kryl and was on target to reach Earth in just two weeks.
He knew better than to express too much elation. It was good news, but the Kryl would be looking for the second fleet and still had significant resources at their disposal. Now was the time to crew and engage those ships available on the ground. Plans had been afoot for many months; but he would first have to get by Admiral Yamoto, who was proving more significant an obstacle to remove than he had hoped.
The lift to the surface took him to a small access door in the rear of a filing room. The door was disguised as a pair of integrated filing cabinets. Koenig was wearing the uniform of a mid ranking staff officer, but his biometric identification allowed him to clear security, right up to the guard post just before the Commander in Chiefs office suite.
“Major Phillips. What is the purpose of your enquiry with the Admiral?”
“Check my biometrics. The Admiral will see me.”
“You are not on our schedule for today and the Admiral is very busy. Please make an appointment at the front office and assuming you do indeed clear security, he will see you. I suspect it will be a few days though.”
“Not good enough, Sergeant. You will speak to the Admiral and tell him to personally identify me. I can assure you he will agree immediately.”
“No. I am sorry, sir; I cannot do that…as I say, there are procedures in place which must be adhered to.”
Koenig sighed. He wanted to keep his identity from entering Alpha’s public records; but he had no choice, he needed to see Yamoto now.
“Security ID and voice recognition sensors. Please confirm rank and status.”
“ID confirmed as Admiral Koenig, former CIC Alpha.”
He turned back to the sergeant. “I believe you now have my correct identification. I presume I now have clearance and you will allow me to pass.”
The sergeant looked skeptical, but on looking closer at the man’s face. He now recognized Koenig. “Yes, of course. I am sorry, sir. I did not recognize you.”
The security guard allowed Koenig to pass and he entered the chief aide’s reception area. Madeleine Portias recognized him immediately.
“Is he free Madeleine?”
“Admiral…I’ll check if he is available.”
No need. Koenig marched passed the aide’s desk and pushed open the CIC’s office doors. Madeleine followed in behind him. “I am sorry, sir. He just pushed through.”
“No problem, Madeleine. I have been expecting him.”
The two Admirals waited until Madeleine left the office and then they both sat down on one of the office’s substantial easy chairs.
“I see that you have made yourself at home in my office.”
“That is because it is my office now, Tom. I presume you are going to come in here and demand back your CIC status. It is not going to happen I am afraid. I am the CIC.”
“A role which you agreed to take, until I came back. I am here now, you can stand down and I will resume my role.”
“A lot has happened since then Tom. I recognize your rank, but you are and will remain subservient to me as your CIC. You may challenge my authority with the Admiralty using the established channels, but I doubt they will be seeking a change back to you right now, particularly because we are now officially under the control of the Kryl military, who will I am sure want to talk to you. Unless of course you feel for now it is better you continue to operate in the background.”
“I am not happy about this Yamoto…but there are bigger issues at stake. The radiation fleet is just two weeks away from Earth. We need to engage the few operational ships we have under my command and re-crew and launch the mothballed fleet. I believe we should have about sixty ships in total. There should be plenty of crew.”
“That is good news about the radiation task force. I am afraid there is little we can do at this end. I will engage the operational ships, when we have greater certainty that the task force will actually reach us. Only two are currently in the planetary domain, the rest are serving the colonies. As for the mothballed ships; the Kryl have supervised their status and most have been stripped down. There are certainly few weapons available.”
“Rubbish. I have been monitoring the mothballed fleet’s progress from Arizona and have ensured each vessel is rather ably more equipped and ready than the official records show. We do have sixty ships available and even those on far reaching colonial duty can be here; if we summon them now. These ships are absolutely critical come the day when the radiation is released.”
“What about weapons and crew?”
“We have stockpiled over ten thousand Teutonics and there should be five hundred plus Jump Ships available too. The plasma arrays have not been decommissioned as officially advised; accept in two or three circumstances where the Kryl’s prying eyes have delved too deeply. I have a full crew compliment available for each ship.”
“How do you propose we launch these ships without arousing suspicion?”
“We must commence the process in the background. We will not actually launch until the first radiation shells are fired…but we must be ready. We must recall the operational ships now. Every one of them must be available to us on the day. The numbers are critical. I presume there are also some SED Jump Ships available?”
“Yes, but only about five hundred, three hundred of which are operational, the others are in various states of repair. However SED is no longer actively engaging with the Kryl. There is an unofficial truce in place, which is being led by President Roslyn. I believe he is seeking a new diplomatic route.”
“Roslyn is stalling. He is aware of what is going on with the contingency fleet because I have kept him up-to-date.”
“Very well, assuming what you are saying is correct, I will sanction their deployment and I will order the return of the operational vessels. I presume you will continue to keep your head down for the next two weeks?”
“Yes…it might be an idea to have a chat with your security guard. He is now aware of who I am. I don’t want word to spread to far as yet. I think a challenge to your leadership at this time would be counterproductive but be aware that when we are victorious I shall ask the Admiralty to reappoint me. I will not go through the election channels; I have not been removed from office.”
“Oh, I am aware, Admiral Koenig. Please don’t think I will just stand aside. I will not, though I will keep your return between us for the time being.”
Koenig acknowledged Yamoto’s comment by bowing and raising his head slowly. He left without further comment; ignoring observed protocol that the CIC should be saluted on greeting and leaving. He headed back through the building to the concealed lift and within five minutes he was back on the secure bunker level. He needed to activate the Special Forces unit, who were tasked with the re-launch of the mothballed cruisers. A glance at his watch told him it was time for lunch and he headed back to his small apartment. He was greeted by the toddling activities of his mistresses” son and a smiling Sarah Hoskins.
Chapter Sixty–Two
The Sub-Space Aftermath
An hour after the sub-space charge, Admiral Martin was digging his fleet in, preparing for the long battle. He had pulled the remaining one hundred and ten cruisers in a tight ring around the Viceroy and the now depleted support vessels and had launched over fifteen hundred Jump Ships into the affray.
It was clear the Kryl still had the advantage, but they had yet to make any impact on the large scale deployment of Rapiers and Sabres. All of this was playing into Admiral Martin’s hands and ha
d started to plan his next offensive. This time it would be small scale, but designed to pick off the lead Kryl cruisers one by one.
* * * *
Safrec was still stunned. His huge armada was reduced to a fraction of its former might. With less than two hundred cruisers, their advantage over Alpha was dwindling. To make matters worse his commanders were in disarray and lacked direction. He was the Kronan and he needed to put this right now. There may not be another chance. In any Kryl fleet, the most powerful weapon available was seldom used; the Kronan himself. He had been a reluctant protagonist of using his own powers against his enemies, but now he had no choice.
He closed his mind off to all that surrounded him and searched the cosmos, seeking a target. He discarded several, before he found what he was looking for. He had mapped into the NAVCOM and main computer mainframe for the Viceroy. While the fleet’s flagship was contained within the midst of Alpha’s tightly linked fleet, he could still do a great deal with what he had. He turned his attention first to weaponry. He seized control of the thirteen hundred separate plasma banks. Then he found what he was looking for; Alpha’s most powerful conventional weapon the PBA. It was still powering up, but once he had control, he would select the weapons optimum target. Next, he gained control over the shield systems. He could now deactivate them completely. He moved to the environmental controls and rebalanced the nitrogen and oxygen levels within the breathable air. Later he could stop the oxygen supply completely. Finally, he gained access to the NAVCOM itself. In each case, he didn’t allow the changes to take effect. He would wait until he assumed complete control and then, he would wreck havoc.
