Alpha One: The Kronan

by Chris Burton

  “Yes. How is Obeya?”

  “She is fine, but the hanger deck is a bloody mess. I am sorry Jean-Luc; I should have kept my cool.”

  “We have all been through a lot, Jonathan. We just need to get home.”

  Hoskins walked back to his command chair and pursed his hands together as he sat down.

  “Probes show no activity, Sir. They could have plugged their drive leak.”

  “Unlikely. She is not in this sector. Okay, set a course for Earth at maximum auxiliary drive thrust. Shields to maximum. Let’s try again.”

  The Halo 7 edged forward. From here, they were five hours from home, but with little protection. If they made it, it would be a close run thing.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Crisis Conference

  Koenig called a one to one with Roslyn, and once again, they agreed to meet at Roslyn’s mountain lake side retreat in Switzerland. They sat on the terrace and a service droid had just served them coffee.

  “What a disaster!”

  “It is not over yet, Mister President, but it is looking bleak.

  “I need your reassurances that SED and the shields will hold.”

  “I can only tell you, that everything is ready. The shields are at one hundred percent and all SED forces are at condition blue, but I can’t tell you how they will fare against the Kryl.”

  “Then I think we need to consider the implications of failure. Do we negotiate and to what degree?”

  “I am not against discussion. But negotiation suggests surrender and we are not anything like close to giving up. I suggest we send the senate team in again, but this time, we need the details.”

  “The fact remains, that the Kryl could break through our defenses in a matter of days. I don’t believe we should be shy about coming forward.”

  “Then, I think we will beg to differ my friend. I cannot agree to our negotiating terms. The senate team will have to follow a more reserved stance at this stage.”

  “Nonetheless I think we need to ask the senate to go in under a collective agreement between us that they further discussions and determine what options would hypothetically be available to us.”

  “Very well. I will contact Harrington. In the meantime, we need to make sure government continues, if there is infrastructure breakdown. I presume you have mechanisms in place to preserve continuity of administration?”

  “Of course, but I will not accept marshal law. We will be able to govern and communicate from our deep-bunker evacuation facility. We will be virtually undetectable.”

  “I have seen the schematics. Alpha has similar facilities already staffed and these will assume military command if appropriate.”

  “And your Contingency Fleet’s advances will be governed by them.”

  “Yes.”

  “I was hoping for a bit more detail?”

  “In what respect?”

  “We are close to the point, where you and I may not talk again. If this all fouls up, then the contingency could be the human race’s last chance. My position requires that I am made aware of these plans.”

  “I am sorry Mister President, but that will remain confidential. Only a few people within Alpha have clearance for this information. It is better that way.”

  “Hmm...okay, I will let it drop for now. Your shuttle is waiting and I fear I must get underway shortly. Until next time?”

  “Until next time.”

  Koenig boarded his shuttle, which departed immediately and headed back across Europe and over the Atlantic. The western coast of America was in view within a few minutes, and the shuttle touched down at the Admiralty headquarters on the edge of San Francisco Bay less than ten minutes after Roslyn, and Koenig had ended their discussions.

  Koenig had already spoken to Lieutenant Colonel Harrington, who having verified with the President’s office, was en route to a new rendezvous with the Kryl’s diplomatic team.

  Koenig headed straight to his office for a comm. link with Admiral Shenke, where it became quite clear that the fleet’s participation in the battle reached an unsatisfactory conclusion.

  He sat alone in his office and wondered how much longer his own position would be tenable. Was this selfish of him? He had worked hard to get where he was and he was not about to budge. All the while his contingency fleet existed, he had something to govern and right now it would be a long time before they would be called into action.

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Negotiations

  Harrington could only take who was available and at this short notice, Lieutenant Carla Stevenson, was the only candidate. She was eager to come; her enthusiasm was infectious. Actually, she was infectious and he wanted her.

  The senate shuttle docked with the Kryl cruiser at 2200 hours and Harrington and Carla were again led to the round room, where the Mutan, Kravos, was waiting.

  “I am disappointed that it has taken so long for you to return.”

  “I apologize for the delay. My people have been considering your demands.”

  “Are they ready to accept them?”

  “Not exactly. However I have made progress, in so much as I now have consensus between the two parties, I represent.”

  “Which helps how exactly?”

  “Any movement which comes from today’s meeting will be easier to relay to my superiors and I should be in a position to disclose at least an unofficial response today. I should stress that we are seeking more detail and compromise on your part and of course, these discussions are based on a hypothetical situation, which would require us to negotiate.”

  “I have already given you the detail you need. Accept my demands or all your people die!”

  “Yes, but if we do accept your demands, how many people will die?”

  “That is the first good question you have asked Colonel Harrington. Our objective is to perpetuate your species, not to kill it off.”

  “By perpetuate...the overall number of people, the worldwide population would have to stay the same. Deaths would have to be balanced by births.”

  “Does that surprise you? For your own livestock, you maintain stock to keep the supply going.”

  “That’s barbaric!” Carla spoke up for the first time.

  “Why? We consume the brainwave activity. It is clean and painless.”

  Carla held back her anger and allowed Harrington to pursue further.

  “So, how many would you need per year?”

  “Now, that is a good question?”

  “And fairly critical!”

  “Why? Not when you consider the alternative.”

  “That is contradictory. You have constantly maintained that you need us for your food supply. Just because you don’t get agreement from us, does not mean that you will not feed from us.”

  Kravos smiled, for the first time this evening, revealing his graying and rotten teeth.

  “It is better to have an understanding. You are an intelligent species, who would be best maintained by continuing your lives, much as they are now.”

  Harrington sensed he was onto something now.

  “So, you are talking about a quota?”

  “Define quota?”

  “A percentage, an allocation, a proportion.”

  “Yes, to sustain our people and maintain your population levels.”

  “So, how many? We have a population on Earth of over twenty-five billion, with a death rate of about two percent against a birth rate of one point two-five percent. That means the population is currently growing by about one hundred and eighty million per year. If we sustain the current birth rate and assume deaths from natural and other causes will remain the same, then you would be looking at one hundred and eighty million per year to feed from.”

  Kravos smiled again. “Our requirements would be higher.”

  “How much higher?”

  “That would need to be defined.”

  “When? If we are trying to negotiate, hypothetically, we need figures now.”

  “I think that
is enough for now. You have a greater understanding of our intent. I suggest you take what you know and speak to your president and his admirals. Using your Earth time, we should meet here again in twenty-four hours.”

  * * * *

  Carla was exasperated.

  “Oh, my God. I can’t believe you just had that conversation. We surely can’t be considering agreeing for the Kryl to murder so many of our people. One death is too much surely.”

  “Of course it is. Please believe me. This is not me. I am simply trying to gain an understanding of what they want so we can minimize the impact and present their demands to the authorities. It is not for us to make decisions or moral judgments. I am just as appalled by the prospect as you are.”

  “You and I are at the forefront of this. If it comes down to it, the deaths of millions of our people will fall on our shoulders, irrespective of whether we authorized it or not!”

  “We are not the decision makers. We are the messengers. Do you want out? I will certainly understand if you do?”

  “No! Let’s just be careful. Let the Kryl make their proposals rather than us putting words in their mouths—that way we take away some of the moral responsibility.”

  “I am trying to gain his confidence and get Kravos to open up. Today we learned far more than any of our previous visits. I am hoping this will be a catalyst to a fuller disclosure tomorrow.”

  “Are you going to report back?”

  “Yes, right now. Do you want to sit in?”

  “Yes, please!” Carla suddenly sounded enthusiastic again—excited by the prospect of being involved in a conversation with the President and Alpha’s CIC.

  Harrington set up a three way secure comm. link with a complex algorithm security coding to make it difficult for the Kryl to intercept. The respective administration staff for both Koenig and Roslyn opened the comm. link and established the live feeds. The link was open.

  “Harrington. What news do you have for us?”

  “Mister President. Kravos opened up a bit today. They are looking for continuity of our species but with a quota of persons per year to be sacrificed. With the very rough figures we discussed, it is likely they will want in excess of the population growth surplus per year.”

  “How many people is that?” Koenig was in uncertain territory but Harrington’s update grabbed his attention.

  “Certainly in excess of a hundred and eighty million people per year. To be honest we are still scratching at the surface. We are due to go back to him in twenty–four hours where we will look for a much fuller disclosure of their intent.”

  “What about governance? Would we continue to control ourselves?”

  “We did not discuss that Admiral. The Kryl stopped us before we had the chance to pursue this further. They did allude to us continuing our lives much as they are now.”

  “They will go ahead with this irrespective of whether we agree or not. It is in our best interests to reach an agreement which allows our species to continue with potentially some form of self-governance.”

  “Yes, Mister President. This war is not lost yet—not by a long shot. I will not agree to negotiations. These should be discussions only!”

  “Gentlemen.” Harrington sensed the need for a little diplomacy.

  “I assume I still have consensus to continue our discussions. They will remain as just that until I have something concrete to submit or you instruct me to act in a different way.”

  The President replied calmly. “I believe I can speak for the Admiral on this still. For now, continue as you are but try to get as much detail as possible without compromising our position. Do you have anything to add Admiral?”

  Koenig said nothing.

  “Very well Lieutenant Colonel. I suggest we close for now and await your update tomorrow night.

  The comm. link terminated and Harrington sighed.

  “This does not get any easier, does it Carla? Let’s get some supper and then rest. I think we must be at our best tomorrow.”

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  The Kryl Arrive

  The Queen’s fleet arrived in the solar system and slowed to sub-light-speed for the remainder of their journey. The Commanders wasted no time in dispatching individual attack fleets to Titan and Venus. A fleet of Malchian Arrows just launched heading directly to Mars. The Major Colonies would all fall, before Earth was taken.

  * * * *

  Elsewhere, within the Kuiper Belt, the main fleet continued its disassembling of Shenke’s remaining hoard. Both of the admiral’s flagships had taken heavy plasma fire, but the Illustrious was faring the worst. Her weakened shields were at the point of collapse and Admiral Rodriguez was struggling.

  “Shields down on the stern, Admiral. We are taking damage already.”

  “Take us about and give us some clearance. How many jumps ships do we have in reserve?”

  “Fifty-two, Sir. Most are out.”

  “Launch them all.”

  One last desperate attempt... Rodriguez was resigned to his fate but he would go down fighting.

  “Shields down across the ship, Sir. We have no protection.”

  Plasma fire impacted on every section of the Illustrious. There was nothing further they could do and Rodriguez had little choice.

  “Commence evacuation; skeleton bridge crew only.”

  He watched as all but three of his bridge crew left their posts and rushed towards the main corridor and the escape pods. It was all pointless, he thought. Pretty soon, the whole fleet will be the same and where will the pods go to then? He did not fancy their chances, but he knew that this would be his last voyage. He had no intention of leaving the bridge. He needed to be sure his ship inflicted as much damage to the Kryl ships as possible.

  Within minutes, the relentless firepower of the Kryl fleet had done its worst. The Illustrious exploded and split almost perfectly into two gigantic burning hulks, separating briefly before colliding. The resultant explosion destroyed two other Alpha Cruisers, but Rodriguez no longer cared. Life was now over for him.

  Shenke watched in disbelief as the Illustrious broke up in front of him. His fleet had no structure now and he knew even this battle was lost. It was time to salvage as many ships as possible and the only way to achieve that was to break up the fleet.

  “Open fleet wide comm. link.”

  “It won’t be secure, Sir.”

  “No matter...”

  “All ships break out, repeat break out. You are on your own now.”

  He wanted to tell them to head for home but that was counterproductive. The further they spread, the less likely that the Kryl would follow.

  Now, he had to get back to Alpha One as quickly as possible. The Viceroy still had stellar drive capability, but they needed to get away from the rapidly breaking up fleet as quickly as possible.

  “Take us out, heading deep space, beyond the Oort cloud. Then re-heading Alpha One at Maximum thrust. Engage.”

  The Kryl fleet lost much of its cohesion as the commanders tried to respond to the mass fragmentation of their enemy’s fleet. The Viceroy was allowed to break free from the midst of the fracas and gathered momentum, without incident. Shenke gave the order to jump to light-speed thirty seconds later and The Viceroy was on its way home.

  The Kryl fleet briefly lacked direction as it became clear that there was no one left to fight. Gradually, they began to reshape and the Kryl commander ordered the fleet to commence its run in to Earth.

  * * * *

  The Queen’s fleet closed to within ten million kilometers of Earth and the commander ordered the fleet to reshape to a single horizontal formation. Now, they would wait for the other fleet to join them and then they would commence the invasion.

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Home at Last

  “Incoming Kryl vessel to port, Sir. It is not Morvalt’s ship.”

  “Shields to maximum. Engineering give me a little bit more.”

  The auxiliary drive was running at sixty percent power, b
ut they were still two and half hours from Earth’s shields.

  “Comms, Any traffic noise?”

  Jake Carter replied. “Nothing as yet, Sir.”

  “Keep an eye out Mister Carter.”

  “Incoming plasma fire...shields holding.”

  “Thanks Number One. We should be able to hold off a normal Kryl Cruiser, but I don’t want to risk it. I’ll be in my ready room.

  Jake, two minutes of your time please.”

  Jake followed Hoskins into the ready room and declined the offer of a chair.

  “I have released you, because you are the best barometer to determine if Morvalt is near. The moment you detect him and before you get the chance to escape, I will have you back in the detention cell. This way, we get the heads up quickly and we can respond accordingly. Hopefully, we will be inside Earth’s defense shields before he turns up and by then, I suspect it will be too late.”

  “You have to understand that I have no control whatsoever, when I am under his influence. I am aware of my surroundings and what people are saying, but I cannot reply personally.

  It is difficult to explain. Now, I feel no contact with him, but when he is there, the power to compel me to act is enormous. I feel I should apologize.”

  “Not necessary Jake. Get yourself back to your station and keep a watching brief. We should be home in just over two hours.”

  Hoskins and Jake returned to their stations

  “Status?”

  “The Kryl cruiser is following us, at a respectful distance. I suspect he is relaying our position to Morvalt.”

  * * * *

  “Jake are you okay?”

  Jake was silent, without expression and staring into nothingness.

  “Morvalt is back!

  Security, escort Lieutenant Carter back to his detention cell. Be wary, he will probably try to escape.

  Number One, get that station covered and see if you can get the stellar drive up faster.”

  Jake obligingly allowed his hands to be restrained and was led by two security guards, with a third in support through the bridge exit doors into the main corridor. Morvalt had full control of him now, but Jake remained calm. He had half the ship to walk before they arrived at the detention section. He could never overcome all three guards but he did not have to. He already disabled the security protocols in the detention cell. All he had to do was wait for them to leave and then he could walk straight out.