by Chris Burton
He turned his attention to the other vessels. He knew he could not control them all. He just needed to pick carefully, to ensure the maximum effect. When he took control of ten more battle cruisers, the task was complete. Yet he found himself wanting more, electing to seek out and identify those vessels which carried the radiation charges. All around him the battle continued with neither side gaining any particular advantage. Safrec searched every ship, but found nothing.
So, where did they hide the radiation?
The answer became obvious as soon as his last thought ended. The radiation was not here. Alpha had split the fleet…but when? Safrec felt his blood boiling. He lost three-quarters of his fleet and yet their reason for attacking in the first place was not there. More importantly, this meant the radiation ships were still on route for Earth and the Queen’s ship!
He was very angry now, but he would not show it. Bizarrely he felt more powerful than ever and realized he could harness the anger to take control over a larger number of Alpha’s ships. He realized he needed to make a quick impact here, destroy the majority of this fleet and then move out in search of the radiation fleet…before they got too far ahead.
Safrec continued his mind control and seized the vital systems aboard another fifteen ships, before he felt his mind could do no more. Now, all he had to do was activate the controls he had put in place and allow momentum to take over. Compounded by his cruisers attacking Alpha’s fleet and Alpha attacking and destroying its own ships from within the middle of their fleet; this would be a bloodbath. This made Safrec feel good. He needed to exercise his immense power.
He activated the controls and waited.
* * * *
The first sign that anything was amiss occurred within the command bridge of the Viceroy, when the attending shield specialist realized the shields just gone down and they were indiscriminately firing at other Alpha vessels.
“Shut down the Plasma banks and get those shields back up.”
“No response Admiral. The weapons are still on-line.”
“The bloody Kryl have taken control of our ships. Take evasive action, get us out of here, we need distance between us.”
“No response, Admiral…we seem to have lost control of the whole ship.”
Martin watched in horror as virtually every ship that surrounded the Viceroy was either firing at it, or the surrounding vessels…and with no shields the result was total devastation.
“Admiral, the fleet cannot break out, a second line of ships has reported no navigational control. We are all too close; this is going to destroy us all.”
Martin wasn’t listening. He just recognized the Kryl’s ultimate objective. Alpha’s entire fleet was moving slowly towards the subspace void.
* * * *
Safrec watched as Alpha’s fleet slowly destroyed itself. His strategy was working, but he needed to keep his concentration and his anger; without it, his control would fail and Alpha would seize back control of their own vessels. His commanders were playing their part and were targeting the outer vessels and preventing them from pulling out of the mass group, which was just a few kilometers from the subspace void and total destruction. He reminded himself why he was so angry. He needed to harness the energy from his mind to kill all of them. If he failed, the battle would continue and he would not be able to begin the search for the radiation fleet. But even now, he was growing tired. Could he hold on long enough to bring this battle to a satisfactory conclusion?
As it happened it did not matter as the momentum to force all but a few outer ships into the dark matter of the subspace void was in place. Safrec’s control faded away, but it was too late and Admiral Martin and his fleet’s destiny was decided.
* * * *
“It’s no good, sir. It’s too late. We are going in!”
Admiral Martin stood by his command chair and watched in horror as the void drew nearer. Soon it would be all over and he and his fleet would cease to exist. Something clicked in his mind. He forced himself away from the spectacle and opened a fleet wide comm.link.
“The Kryl’s control has gone. If you have any power left and you can pull away, you must do so now. The fleet is lost. Save yourselves and head for Earth…” His words petered off as realization began to sink in. Again he fought back against his the turmoil in his head. There was one thing left to do.
Martin opened another comm.link. A direct message this time to the Radiation Task Force. They needed to know that they were on their own.
“Admiral Hoskins. All is lost. The fleet has been destroyed and we all about to die.” He glanced up at the command room’s viewing screen. There were just seconds left.
“Get to Earth and deliver your payload. Send the Kryl back to hell.”
The message was delivered with seconds to spare. The Viceroy and over a hundred Alpha vessels slipped into the void and were gone forever.
Chapter Sixty-Three
The Constellation of Cygnus
Deneb was a blue-white supergiant star in the constellation of Cygnus. An inconspicuous star system, some eleven light years from Earth, but it was here that Admiral Hoskins had elected to hold out, adjacent to the largest of the planetary objects that formed the backdrop of the system. From here, the task force could launch an assault on the orbiting Kryl Fleet and Earth within fourteen hours of leaving the system. But Hoskins was playing it cautiously; his next proposed run was from here to the Barnard’s Star system, cutting the distance to Earth in half, but creeping from one destination to the next; the intent to pass from system to system without any detection from outside.
When the task force split from the main fleet, they had left the nebula some one hundred and fifty thousand kilometers north of the point where the main fleet and the Kryl had exited. Hoskins had immediately ordered a return to maximum SD velocity on a heading directly to Earth. Forty-eight hours later, he had deliberately adjusted his course and headed towards Andromeda for a further three days before reestablishing an Earth bound heading. That was two weeks ago and up until now, they had enjoyed the freedom of free space without contact with any other vessel, Kryl or otherwise.
Now, in space terms, they were close to their destination and to some of the busiest space-ways in the galaxy. It was highly unlikely they would remain undetected between here and Earth and while Hoskins accepted this, his intent was to avoid the Kryl at all costs. The next jump was the critical one. They would travel in free space for up to six hours, without protection from other systems and it was here, that the quest to reach Earth could be won or lost. After the next point and virtually all the way to Earth, there were a series of short hops between protective systems, nebulas and other space anomaly. The task force could get within a thirty minute strike of Earth and evade detection, as long as they could clear this next part of their journey unscathed.
Hoskins had called a meeting with his two chief advisors.
“Okay…so far so good, but this next one is tough. I suggest we send out ten to fifteen Rapiers to act as our eyes and ears.”
“We need to decide what to do, if we do meet the Kryl. We have no where to run for cover. I would still prefer for us to take a longer route around the Hasien Nebulae; that would afford us protection for twenty-four hours with just a short ninety-minute hop across through space to the Barnard Star. We have already added to our journey time; what difference would a few hours make?”
“I know but that would be a difficult and dangerous part of the galaxy to navigate. We have to remember our cargo. Also that short hop would take us to within a few parsecs of the main route to Earth. We would be detected for sure.”
“I am not sure.”
It was Tom Montgomery” turn to speak now. The Accura CO was the risk taker in the Quorum and if he was against the long thru-space option, then it was clear the risks were high.
“We could lose ev
erything, rather than potentially one or maybe two ships if things went badly wrong. Perhaps we should reconsider splitting the fleet. I could take the Accura and half the ships directly to Barnard, leaving the Halo 7 to lead the rest along the Hasien Nebulae. We could then rejoin at Barnard.”
Hoskins valued the input of both of his inner sanctum, but today, he had made up his mind.
“No, gentlemen. I have wrestled with this in my mind for most of the last two weeks. We take the thru-space route directly to Barnard, tomorrow morning. We will send out Rapier teams in advance starting right now, to search as much of the region as possible and we go hell for leather across open space until we reach Barnard. If we do encounter the Kryl, then we take a stand and fight…simple as that.”
No one else seemed compelled to comment and Hoskins quickly moved on. He was aware of the risk they were taking, but options were limited and the longer the journey, the more likely they would be caught.
“I want to discuss deployment again briefly. Tim, the plan was to put the Accura and five cruisers into high orbit to protect those cruisers who are delivering their payload directly to Earth. Have you spoken to the executive officers of the cruisers concerned?”
“Yes, Jonathan. They are all up to speed. I want to flood the area with Jump ships, with a high proportion of Sabres to provide additional cover…have you decided whether you will birth with us, or with Jean-Luc?”
Hoskins looked at the Halo 7’s CO, as he responded.”I will join the Halo, where the main battle will be, but I may jump ship once the initial payload has been delivered. We can fire the Teutonic’s from ten thousand meters out. If we come in at high sub-light velocity, the missiles will reach their targets before the Kryl realize…I have looked at the possible concentration. It is highly likely the Kryl will have heavily populated the region around the Queen’s ship. Over half our missiles should be targeted here.”
“We mustn’t waste our missiles on the Malchian cruisers, whose crew will not be affected by the radiation. Someone will need to take care of them though…assuming we don’t meet them before we arrive.”
“Yes, Jean-Luc; I agree we will need to attack the Malchian Arrows with a high influx of Sabres; meaning you will not have the concentration of Sabres you are looking for, Tim. Is that okay?”
“Yes, we will just have to use a few more Rapiers instead. I am happy with the plan, Jonathan.”
“Good. Jean-Luc?”
“Yes…good to go…but I am still not particularly happy with our route to Barnard…just thought you should know that.”
“I do Jean-Luc; I do…all right, that will do for now. Jean-Luc, can you send Jake Carter over to me? I need to have a chat with him about the Queen’s visions. He has an important part to play in all of this.”
“I’ll send him over straight away.”
All three commanders were in unison. Whatever the Queen had in store for Jake Carter was clearly important. They all just wished they knew what part it would be.
* * * *
“Hi, Jake. Come in, take a seat.”
Jake Carter joined Admiral Hoskins in his state room and was curious to know why the Admiral requested him. He hoped it had nothing to do with Maria.
“I wanted to speak to you before we get back to Earth and I wanted there to be an understanding between us of exactly how you should respond given a variety of different circumstances.”
“As I have said all along…” he continued. “Assuming the Queen’s prophecy is correct the part that you will play in the events of the next few days will be significant.”
“It is difficult to drawer any conclusions as to what will happen…in that sense I don’t know how I can prepare for it, sir.”
“Let’s skip the “sir”, shall we? I know we have no idea about what will happen, but on two previous occasions, your actions have helped either directly or indirectly see the removal of Winterburn and Morvalt. My instinct tells me that Safrec will be there or thereabouts too…and if anybody is going to force you to leave the ship as before, it will be Safrec. You need to be very wary of him.”
“I am…but I am more wary of the Queen and also whether Carla will play a part again. She always seems to be in the thick of it.”
“Yes, and in her capacity as a diplomat; she could well be again. If this plays out as I hope…you will join the Queen following our victory and she and Safrec will be in a very much weaker state.”
“I hope so…but it still doesn’t answer why I will be there in the first place. I don’t think I will be responsible for either her death or Safrec’s. That would have been foretold, unless Safrec is holding back. I have to consider the likelihood that I might die.”
“Of course…and I very much hope that you will be okay. As I am now heading up the contingency fleet, you need to know you have my full support and authorization to proceed to the Queen’s ship as and when contact is made…if indeed it is or when you are compelled to attend. Just a courtesy, but I think it is an important one.”
“Yes, thank you. It is appreciated. Er, if there is nothing else. Can I ask how Lieutenant Temsouri is?”
“Of course. She is well on the road to full recovery and champing at the bit to become involved, but of course she can’t—for now anyway. She speaks of you often.”
“Good to hear. It will be nice to have her back in the CAG driving seat.”
They chatted for a further few minutes about Obeya, before the Admiral stood and Jake realized his time was up. He saluted and left the Admiral’s state rooms, heading back towards his shuttle. It really was getting close now. He would see the Queen again soon, but what did she have in store for him?
* * * *
Two hours after Jake Carter returned to the Halo 7, he was at the con, when the ships scanners first detected the approach of a number of other vessels. Jake hit the panic button and raised the ship and by association the fleets status to “condition blue”, before reducing back to base alert status when it became clear what the other ships were. Admiral Shenke and ten cruisers appeared from nowhere and had come to join them.
* * * *
“So, where in the hell have you been for the last nine months? You couldn’t have hidden from the Kryl for so long, surely.”
“We have. We have been here or in the Cygnus corridor for the entire time. On several occasions one of our ships tried to venture back towards Earth; they have either been destroyed or come back “running with their tails between their legs”.”
“We started off with eighteen cruisers,” he continued. With seven support ships; basically every vessel that headed away from the fleet and Earth in this general direction. We all ended up together. Now, we are just ten cruisers. We lost six ships and discarded the rest along the way. We are fully operational and have a full compliment of weapons, crew and Jump Ships. We are a mini-fleet and we are good to go.”
“So, how did you find us?”
“Well, you didn’t exactly creep along, Jonathan. To be honest, we anticipated this corridor might be used as a way back to Earth. Obvious to us, but not so much to the Kryl. So, tell me about the fleet. What has happened to the rest of it and how exactly are you planning to take out a hundred million Kryl with just seventy-five ships.”
Hoskins explained the radiation plan to Shenke as they walked from the hanger bay to the command deck. As they walked, Hoskins observed his colleague, who in theory was the ranking officer. There was something not quite right about him. Had he lost the edge? In his prime, Shenke was the supreme tactician and would compliment any fleet. He doubted whether many would listen to Shenke now.
“So, your experience suggests we should avoid the thru-space route between here and Barnard Star? Do you think the Hasien Nebulae route is a better one?”
“No, this is the most direct and the best route. You now have a fleet of eighty-five ships, wi
th thirty-five ships of the line including the Accura and the Halo 7. That makes for quite a formidable fleet. It is likely you will encounter the local Kryl fleet, who are maybe one hundred strong. They will lose. Then, you move on to Barnard and you are virtually home and dry.”
“By then the main Kryl fleet will have been alerted.”
“You’ll be only six or seven hours from your destination. You are going to meet them sooner rather than later. I think we can hold off the advances of a large Kryl fleet at high velocity…and that is the critical aspect here. You will be coming in towards Earth at speeds of up to half a million kilometers per hour. Fast by anyone’s standards.”
“You are mixing “you” and “we”. I presume you intend to join us and of course you are the ranking officer.”
“What and stand on your toes in your hour of glory? No Jonathan. This was always going to be your job, you have prepared for it and I have not. I will integrate my fleet into yours and assume second in command. I will return to my ship and prepare my ships to join your fleet.”
As Shenke left, Hoskins felt pleased his command structure would remain intact, but there was still something unusual about Shenke’s behavior. Maybe , he just been out of the loop for too long, maybe he lost the edge. If so, was Hoskins himself foolhardy in leading the whole fleet into the path of a sizeable Kryl fleet, assuming they were there. Did he already made the decision to follow this route and Shenke’s additional vessels would help? The plan would stay then. They just had to hope it all went off as anticipated.
* * * *
At 9:00 a.m. sharp the next day, the Radiation Task force moved out. They were still lead by the Halo 7, with the Accura tucked in behind, with both Admirals on board. On the Halo 7’s bridge, the two executive officers sat side-by-side. Jake Carter had the comms station. The fleet divided the large thru space area between the two constellations into six sections and each was patrolled by Two Rapiers, One Sabre, and a Patrol ship. This gave them scanning depth and would allow a minimum of thirty minutes lead time before an attack or time to maneuver out of range. Everyone on board every ship in the fleet knew this was the most dangerous part of their journey.
