Alpha One

by Chris Burton

  Around the same time, Winterburn became a priest of the Betanica Sect, and taught the beliefs of the Sect to like-minded Titans. He allowed himself to deviate from the standard teachings of the Sect and to preach the words of his own church, the Collective. Quickly he began recruiting his disciples.

  Over the following years, Nexus moved towards the exploration and development of wormholes and other deep space transportation links. The Collective grew to protect the things Nexus supported. Winterburn established two organizations which ‘poles’ apart. No one made the connection between the two and only Winterburn knew the true reason for their joint establishment.

  It was, perhaps, the man’s flamboyance which allowed him to develop such an elaborate and complicated deception. He wasn’t compelled to achieve his aims in any specific way; it was sheer confidence which allowed him to achieve these objectives in the manner he chose. This way, he covered all the bases. He could represent himself as being a man of conscience who could and should have the right to be there to help prevent the wormholes opening, and on the other hand, through Nexus, had no constraints of conscience. It was a commercial organization, governed by profit. Winterburn had created the conflict to bring about Alpha and ECG’s involvement, and on The Collective side the enrollment of the thousands of followers who would ultimately be so crucial to his objectives.

  * * * *

  The Kryl were a dying civilization. With no planet of their own, they travelled from one galaxy to the next in the vast Queen’s Ships. From here, they dispatched invading armies to consume entire civilizations. They were dying because they had nowhere left to feed. They dispatched a ‘finder’ through the fissure to seek out new feeding grounds. The finder located the Milky Way, with the potential for a vast and almost endless supply of food. They could not widen the fissure from their own galaxy. They needed to send an ‘organizer’ to achieve this.

  Winterburn was tasked first, to facilitate the opening of the fissure, and second, to provide a supply of food for the starving advance army to feed on when they first entered the galaxy. The gathering Collective was that supply of food.

  Part Three

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  The Blue Wormhole

  The High Priestess knew time was short; she must stop the Nexus ship before it was too late. Her commanders plotted the flight of the missile from their current position behind the Alpha blockade.

  The target was the Nexus sonic pulse ship itself. The low yield, Earth-sourced atomic missile needed to detonate within two hundred fifty meters of the Nexus ship. They calculated an explosion at this range would be sufficient to knock out the sonar pulse, and stop the wormhole from being created; the wormhole would then simply collapse in on itself and would revert to a gaseous mass.

  To be successful, the High Priestess needed a sizable diversion. She elected to target the Alpha flagship, which given its sheer size and perceived lack of threat was left unprotected as Alpha spread its resources over a large area.

  Shenke stared in disbelief when he realized the Sect was attacking his ship. Her shields were on low intensity and the initial impact from the Sect’s mother ship’s laser cannons was considerable. Two lower decks were ripped apart on the starboard side and. with no immediate prospect of shield protection, the laser pulse continued to cause heavy damage in the aft section of the ship. Shenke responded by turning the ship one hundred eighty degrees and brought the full shield protection on line. He then ordered the launch of two squadrons of jump ships, targeting the Sect’s Mother Ship.

  The High Priestess knew she had done her bidding. She would stand and wait for Alpha’s inevitable response. She ordered the ships shields to be lowered. She didn’t have to wait for long.

  Two teutonic missiles were delivered with pinpoint accuracy, immediately destroying both the Sect ship’s drive and her weaponry capability. The High Priestess knew her ship was done for: further jump ship attacks peppered the ship’s unprotected outer hull. She survived long enough to witness the final stages of her own missile attack on the Nexus Ship.

  The missile reached its intended target before it was spotted by an Alpha lookout scouting the area around the Nexus ship, on watch for just such an attack. Her quick action saved the Nexus ship, as she broadcast the information to the nearest jump ship; the jump ship pilot responded immediately by firing several rounds of free-detonating chaff into the path of the incoming missile. The chaff did its job, and the atomic missile, exploded nearly a kilometer out of range for the Nexus ship.

  * * * *

  A nervous Dr. Cameron witnessed the attack on the Admiral Shenke’s ship and the failed attack on the Nexus Sonic Pulse ship. He knew the pulse was required to be broadcast for perhaps another two minutes before the second wormhole’s opening was assured.. He glanced over at the AUSWAS ship to see how she fared, as the void—and then the wormhole—started to take hold. She held her ground but he watched her deploy full reverse thrust. Some of the smaller private vessels were not so fortunate; their power drives were inadequate. One by one they were pulled inexorably towards the wormhole.

  Finally the wait ended. After nearly three minutes of sonic pulse application, the second wormhole opened. Phase two was complete. They must sit and wait for the third phase to commence.

  The anticipation was palpable. Cameron’s team waited silently, not knowing how long it would take or exactly what would happen. They constantly checked and rechecked their data screens for evidence that the process started. Cameron dispatched his second wormhole investigation team through the wormhole. One could be forgiven for not jumping up and down in anticipation of that event or that of the first wormhole. They were waiting for something bigger, much bigger.

  * * * *

  It had all gone silent. The Sect and the Sentinel Patrol craft ceased all action. The vortex for the mature second wormhole was under control and there was no further pulling on the AUSWAS ship and its surrounding vessels. Everyone waited.

  The first sign that something was changing came from the area between the two open wormholes. The unseen fissure expanded and a sudden burst of bright light blasted through the crack in the space fabric. It was still small, but the light was intense and drew everyone’s attention directly to it.

  It was definitely growing. The first discernable sign of something more significant occurred about thirty minutes later when a flurry of blue gas emitted from the fissure. This gathered in orbit around the fissure.

  From where Cameron and his team stood looking, the phenomenon was a bright ball of light surrounded by a blue gaseous membrane. It was still small, perhaps only five hundred meters across, but it began to assume life. It turned slowly at first, then faster and more violently until it assumed a more aggressive stance.

  It spilled contents from its belly, while at the same time consuming elements from both of its bigger brothers— the wormholes on either side of it. The blue wormhole was about two thousand meters across and doubled in size every minute. Several vortices formed in the middle of the fissure. These quickly became one, and then it began to pull.

  The AUSWAS ship was only about fifty kilometers from the blue wormhole. Cameron noticed she was pulling maximum thrust to stop from being pulled forward.. The smaller ships behind were being pulled slowly towards the fissure. Another minute or so passed before the AUSWAS ship began to turn to face the eye of the perfectly-formed blue wormhole. Then, suddenly, the AUSWAS’s resistance was gone. She turned off her main drive and was pulled forward into the abyss. Some of the smaller ships ahead of her moved directly into the mouth of the oscillating vortex. Then they were gone.

  The blue wormhole consumed everything in its path. Both the AUSWAS ship and the Halo 7 were dragged into its midst. The AUSWAS ship shot forward into the vortex.

  Hoskins didn’t know how to respond. He was tasked with staying with the AUSWAS ship, but not to be consumed by the hole. He knew if he stayed, he would be sucked in, and yet he stood almost transfixed as he and his crew watched the sp
ectacle ahead of them. It was almost as if they—and not the ship—were being guided into the hole.

  Suddenly it was too late. The Halo 7’s engines could no longer sustain their current status and she was dragged forward. Hoskins ordered full reverse thrust, but the ship’s engines were powerless to prevent the relentless slide towards the hole. The Halo 7, together with hundreds of smaller vessels, was quickly absorbed into the vortex and then, just as suddenly, she was gone.

  Cameron stood in disbelief. He witnessed the sheer magnificence, the creation of an immensely powerful vortex: a mystery of space which man helped to create, but for which they had little understanding. Then, before his eyes, hundreds of space craft were consumed into its belly, including the Halo 7 and the AUSWAS ship. He had no idea where they went, if they survived, or whether this were a gateway to a distant galaxy. All he knew was that his task was done: he had opened the two wormholes to create something bigger in size and stature.

  It threatened the remaining ships at the edge of the danger zone and the planetary objects beyond. The new phenomenon was still in its infancy, and yet it threatened to become the most powerful thing in the galaxy. Cameron ordered his ships to give way further, and stood almost ten thousand kilometers from the wormholes, in front of the smaller of the two normal wormholes. From here they were safe and could begin to observe the night’s sky, awash with blue and the galaxy’s latest star attraction.

  Chapter Fifty

  The Message

  Admiral Shenke sat on one of the relaxation chairs in his state room. He listened to the communication from Professor Nigel Winterburn for the umpteenth time, and still couldn’t believe what he heard. Winterburn gave a detailed explanation of his subterfuge, who he was, and why he went to such extraordinary lengths to achieve his objectives.

  If what he said was to be believed, Winterburn deceived Alpha into providing an open door to the Galaxy for his people, the Kryl, and if that weren’t bad enough, the Kryl were about to use the Galaxy as their new feeding ground.

  Shenke remained cynical. At this stage it was pure conjecture, but there were some alarming aspects to the whole situation which supported Winterburn’s assertions. For a start, why did so many private vessels follow Winterburn through the blue wormhole? Winterburn’s connection to Nexus had been verified, and the Sect had preached for hundreds of years about the danger of opening the two wormholes together.

  Now was hardly the time for reflection. He needed to keep this thing local. He must ensure Winterburn’s message didn’t get out. Which wouldn’t be easy; for starters, Winterburn broadcast across multiple channel links. That meant some of his crew, many of the journalists, Cameron and the other Nexus scientists and any else who could receive the transmission this far out in deep space heard his message. It would be difficult to keep a lid on this.

  Shenke ordered a transmission blocker to be set up as soon as the message was first broadcast. This was powerful enough to stop anyone broadcasting to outside the Tri-Star region for the foreseeable future. It also collated together any transmissions sent and bounced them back to Shenke’s command center where the transmission data could be analyzed and blocked or released depending on the content. This was not exactly unusual in a war zone. Right now it was critical.

  Cameron was in contact and demanded a meeting at the highest level to discuss the options available. Shenke put him off initially, but needed Cameron on his side so he agreed to a meeting later that evening.

  He needed to turn his attention to the potential military threat posed by the Kryl. He must keep Alpha’s options open by exploring all eventualities, with the obvious solution being to render the blue wormhole defunct and prevent the Kryl from entering the Galaxy in the first place. There was the matter of the Halo 7 and the other vessels which accompanied the AUSWAS ship into the void. If he must destroy the hole, their escape route back to this galaxy would be gone.

  Shenke’ s lead advisor, Commander Chris Willis, had served aboard the Illustrious under Admiral Shenke’s command for the past five years and, before that, the two men’s careers intertwined as they each rose through the ranks. Willis supervised the repairs to the ship following the Sect’s unprovoked attack. He entered the Admiral’s state rooms with confirmation that all essential repairs were completed and the ship was once again in full battle readiness.

  “So, what do we do Chris—your expert opinion, please?”

  “I think we should engage the assistance of the Sect. After all, they want the damn hole closed, too. We need to speak to the Admiralty bench and possibly Admiral Rose too. He must be near to victory with the Sentinels.”

  “I have not heard from Rose for a few days. Send a jump ship out of the communication jamming area and get a status update from Rose’s fleet. We also need to communicate with Earth. I will draft a coded message to Koenig, and we will need to send an Eagle back to Alpha One. We need the bench’s input—and fast. Have we heard from the Sect at all?”

  “Not so far as I am aware. We do need to tread carefully, though: they may be on our side for this one, but they do have some pretty strange practices. Do you want me to open a line of communication?”

  “Yes, please. I also need you to speak to the media representatives in the fleet and request that they comply with the communications ban. Give them something to work with, but point out the consequences of not complying.”

  Shenke continued, “I am due to meet with Cameron this evening. I am hoping he will have a quick solution to getting the wormholes closed. Then perhaps we can forget the whole thing and pretend Winterburn and his cronies never existed.”

  “Let’s hope so. We can’t forget Commander Hoskins though. He needs time to get out, if only for us to determine whether any of this is true.”

  “Chris. I am certainly not going to forget Hoskins. The hole cannot stay open indefinitely. Assuming we can close the hole, I will give him twenty four hours to get back out.”

  * * * *

  Doctor Cameron stood in the Admiral’s anteroom observing the artwork on the inner walls and the views from the large observation window, which showed the three stars and their close-knit planetary network. The system was compact, and this region of space could well have made a wonderful tourist spot. He doubted whether that would now be the case.

  “Ah, Dr. Cameron, come in please.” Shenke ushered Cameron into his state room and offered him a glass of chilled water.

  “Thank you, Admiral,” said Cameron nervously. He was not comfortable in these surroundings, but he realized the importance of this meeting and wanted to quickly get started. “I presume you want to talk about closing the wormholes?”

  “Yes, but there are other issues which we need to address first. I have put a block on all comm links for the foreseeable future. It is imperative the events of the last twelve hours, and in particular the contents of Winterburn’s message, don’t become common knowledge on Earth. I will be making direct contact with both Alpha Command and ECG. We don’t want anyone else to know about this.”

  “I understand, Admiral. Please be aware that, despite appearances, the Botanic and most of the support craft are non-military. I cannot compel them to do anything. I presume you will prevent anyone from leaving the system?”

  “Yes, we will. Please ensure you pass this on to your crew; not the Alpha contingent, they will be briefed separately. If we could turn towards the closure of the hole. I presume this can be achieved and, if so, how?”

  “I have my team working in this at the moment. In theory we can reverse by using a different oscillating pulse. We need time to determine exactly what the parameters are. What concerns me is whether we have enough time. How long will it be before the Kryl come through the void?”

  “You need not worry about the potential threat from the Kryl, if there is one. We will deal with any threat as it happens. I assure you we have every possible weapon available and at our disposal. In the meantime, we need the holes closed up A.S.A.P. I can deploy significant resources fr
om Alpha to assist you too. Please do make use of their considerable expertise. I am sure you will find their help beneficial.”

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Nothing But Silence

  Steve let Jake sleep on well beyond his allotted shift change. Not out of any form of compassion, but simply because he enjoyed the experience and he was not ready to hand over the controls. Piloting a craft, even a yacht and not a jump ship through deep space was what he dreamed of, even as a small child. He was fulfilling his dreams.

  Steve piloted the Yacht for ten hours before he felt tired. Fortunately, Jake woke.

  They had entered the Tri-Star system a few moments earlier, and both stared transfixed at the sight ahead of them. The ‘sky’ turned a deep shade of blue and stretched across the whole region surrounding all three stars and their respective planetary systems. It was breathtaking and yet unexpected. Jake had seen holographic displays of the system in his stellar classes, but he certainly didn’t recollect there being any blue tint in the holograms.

  “This is not right,” He announced. “The system is highlighted as being spectacular because of the proximity of the stars and their systems, not the color. We may be too late. Is the blue tint caused by the blue wormhole?”

  “I don’t know, but that’s not the only weird thing. There is no comm traffic. The frequencies are all silent. That can mean there is nothing in the system to make a noise, or Alpha imposed a block. Either way, this doesn’t look good.”

  “Should I send a comm flare?” Jake asked with concern. Were they too late to help Carla?