Alpha One

by Chris Burton

  Roslyn was not about to admit to this. True to form, he went back on the offensive, armed with an acknowledgement Alpha regretted its actions.

  “I assumed opening one hole would have been more than sufficient for your ego and then perhaps you could have opened the other later once the original wormhole dissipated.”

  “We all have our crosses to bear, Roslyn. I presume you contacted me for a reason?”

  “How worried should we be about the threat from the Kryl?”

  Koenig paused briefly as if he was looking to find a way out of what he needed to say.

  “In short, we don’t yet know. We assume the Kryl force we are fighting is an advance fleet and that a much larger force will be on its way in due course. Certainly, from reports received right up until this evening, things don’t look good. We have over three hundred fifty ships of the line under Shenke’s control. They are joined by the fleet from the Ionian System. Losses are already mounting and not a shot has been fired from their mother ship. Put simply, we need to find a way to close the blue wormhole.”

  “Do you have resources working on that?”

  “Yes, considerable resources. We also have the Nexus company and Dr. Cameron—who is, I understand, a leading expert in the field—working on this directly. Not easy within a battlefield environment, but once we find a way, we can take action immediately.”

  “You will keep me updated on developments?”

  “I presume you will continue to facilitate your funding line and you will back off from your political offensive against Alpha.”

  “Very well, Admiral, I will back off. I think we need to work together on this.”

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Winterburn’s Escape

  Within minutes of releasing Winterburn, eight of his Kryl drones were also released. They arrived unopposed in one of the smaller cargo bays on the lower hangar deck. There, primed and readied for takeoff, sat an Eagle Transport shuttle. Unlike the main hangars, it was quiet and all they needed to do was load up and take off. Winterburn was in no hurry. He waited for the Kryl mini-fleet to wreak havoc, then they would slip away unnoticed, and he would be back en route to the Queen’s ship.

  * * * *

  Hoskins was in his ready room watching his viewing screen. The Kryl fleet were in formation and had closed to within ten thousand meters. They were within his firing range, but his priority was to get the ship to the wormhole fissure as quickly as possible—but this was not his only problem. Winterburn was free, somewhere on the ship, together with a number of his compatriots, including Carla and Joely Stevenson. Winterburn used his powers to corrupt the two sisters first, and then his crew, in order to gain his freedom. Where he was, was anyone’s guess, but clearly his objective was to seek out a vessel and leave the ship.

  Realistically he headed for one of four smaller hangar/cargo bays where his intention was to take a shuttle or an Eagle. Hoskins ordered Major De Vere to despatch troopers to each of the four cargo bays. He awaited De Vere’s report. He sent Enson Carter to join De Vere armed with a hypercannon. Carter could be of use in some way to free Carla Stevenson from Winterburn’s grip.

  He had no idea whether his strategy would work. The Kryl could presumably take control of De Vere, his troopers and Carter, allowing them to free the ship without a fight. Hoskins may have to destroy the escapee’s ship to prevent them from fleeing further.

  His thought processes were interrupted by Commander Jacques entering the ready room.

  “Jonathan, the Kryl have commenced an attack. They are targeting our stellar drive.”

  Hoskins leapt to his feet and headed for the bridge.

  “Give me maximum power, everything we’ve got.”

  “Should we launch jump ships?” asked Jacques.

  “Negative. We are nearing the fissure. If we commit to a battle, we could lose everything.”

  “With respect, sir, it’s a bit late for that.”

  “Aft shields down to thirty percent.”

  “One more hit, sir, and we will lose our shields; then they can take out our stellar drive at will.”

  Hoskins admitted defeat, “Take the SD off line, bring us around and raise frontal shields to maximum. Mister Jacques, make ready with the plasma cannons and PBA, and ask the CAG to launch ten jump ships immediately.”

  There were twenty-five Kryl ships in total, with twenty single-seater fighters, a battle cruiser and support vessels. The Kryl fighters broke their formation and swarmed the Halo 7, buffeting the whole ship with plasma weaponry and laser cannons. The Rapiers launched from the main cargo bay were in the thick of it immediately. The two Sabres stood back and waited for the Kryl to come to them, the idea being that they would pick the Kryl fighters off one by one as they came into range; this was standard defensive strategy.

  Hoskins knew what he was doing, but was conscious that, somehow, he needed to turn this into an offensive against the Kryl. The solution came to Hoskins immediately. He would launch an attack on the battle cruiser with Sabres and teutonic missiles both, directly from the Halo 7’s torpedo tubes and the Sabres. To seize the initiative, he must take out the hub. He spoke to his CAG directly.

  “Lieutenant Temsouri, I need you to launch three more Sabres. Pair them off with the two already in situ for an attack on the Kryl Battle Cruiser.” Hoskins felt confident in his attack strategy, but he needed more. “Launch fifteen more Rapiers: five to cover the Sabres and the remainder to support the current jump ship initiative.”

  “That leaves us three jump ships left, including Enson Carter’s Sabre 4.We will also have only one pilot. I have two in the medical center and Mister Carter is currently not on the hangar deck.”

  “I am planning this to be over quickly, Lieutenant. Proceed with my orders.”

  The battle continued with only modest success on either side. The Sabre attack on the Kryl Battle Cruiser proved ineffective but Hoskins elected to continue the strategy, relying on the probability that Alpha’s attacks caused unseen damage to the cruiser’s defensive shields. The Halo 7’s shields continued to hold, but their strength was gradually weakening.

  * * * *

  Winterburn watched the battle unfold and waited for the critical point in number of vessels in the direct vicinity of the Halo 7 before he called for his crew to board the Eagle.

  De Vere positioned himself and ten of his marines on the far side of the bay, reasoning this was the most likely cargo bay as it was the nearest to the holding cells. As the Kryls headed for the Eagle, he ordered his marines to open fire with their hypercannons.

  Three Kryl were killed immediately, but De Vere’s offensive was short-lived. Winterburn and his drones telepathically penetrated the Troopers brains, and one by one they fell to the floor, their brain stimulus consumed. De Vere and Jake witnessed the brief exchange from their vantage point at the next exit shaft. Fortunately, they were outside the Kryls’ killing range.

  The remaining Kryl and Winterburn, with Carla and Joely, hastily entered the Eagle and power-locked the vessel’s bulkhead doors. Jake leapt up from his hiding place, realizing what was happening; but it was too late. Winterburn smiled as he recognized Jake’s face through the port window. Their time would come again. The Eagle launched immediately. All Jake could do was stand and watch in dismay as the Eagle accelerated and departed the Halo 7 via the exit shaft. Winterburn had Carla, and there was no way he could get to her.

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Cameron’s Solution

  Cameron nearly gave up. They had simulated the use of every type of weapon in Alpha’s considerable arsenal and plowed the ship’s reference databases for option after option after option. The Alpha technicians were helpful, but concluded there simply was no way to close the blue wormhole.

  He stood observing the battle from the Botanic. He knew there must be a solution. The question is did he have enough time?

  The ferocity of the fighting increased in the last hour. The Kryl continued to pummel the Alpha ships of the l
ine, and gaps appeared in the fleet’s defenses. The jump ships fared little better, and only the Sect divisions held their own. Alpha needed more ships.

  Just as it looked hopeless, Admiral Haines; fleet arrived. Haines immediately drove his forces directly into the middle of the Kryl armada, causing the balance of power to shift back in Alpha’s favor.

  * * * *

  Cameron immediately felt better. The arrival of the large Ionian Fleet could bring an end to this battle, but it was just the beginning. How long would it be before the next Kryl fleet arrived, and how would a continually-diminishing Alpha Fleet deal with that threat as it grew? He realized that giving up was not an option. They must have missed something. There simply must be a way to close the wormholes. With renewed vigor, Cameron reviewed every possibility they looked at right from the start. If they covered every possibility, then the answer must lie in the methods they already had looked at. They must have done something wrong.

  Cameron locked himself away in his laboratory with no technicians to assist him. This was all about him and he worked best this way. He looked first at the conventional methodologies. Using the pulse resonator always had seemed a likely possibility, but at what frequency?

  After nearly two hours constantly reconfiguring his simulator, Cameron decided he would leave this particular option and come back to it later. He would try something else. He stood up and walked to the viewing window once again. From here, he saw the whole battle. He was safe behind the lines of the combined Alpha Fleet, but still saw the constant barrage of heavy weaponry lighting the sky in hues of red, orange and purple, with flashes of red and green laser and plasma streams projecting through the clouds of smoke and flames. Cameron decided he would look at Alpha’s weapons once again.

  Teutonic missiles didn’t have the yield. Atomic weapons would simply engulf the void and dissipate. Neither the plasma nor laser cannons made any impact. That left the PBA, which was theoretically the best prospect. Once again, the yield was the problem. There was too much power. He looked at a combination of the weapons Alpha had at their disposal, but the conflicting forces of each tended to cancel each other out. Positives and negatives like opposing forces in an electric current. This was going nowhere. Then, suddenly, he realized what they had missed.

  The subspace weaponry was considered and ignored because the wisdom was that a positive force was required to impact on the wormhole. A negative force would simply do nothing, or would it? Cameron considered the theory of subspace and then the advancement to antimatter converters and stellar speed drive systems. The antimatter converters worked by smashing matter and antimatter together in a confined space to cause a power surge which, in turn, created the propulsion. It was efficient and immensely powerful. What if both matter and antimatter weapons were used in conjunction with each other? This was basic stuff, but his head was clouded by so many different issues. Was this the right track? In theory, the right mix, contained within the wormhole, could create a huge positive power surge.

  He scratched his head and looked at the evidence again. Was this a possibility and, if so, how had they not considered this? Was the answer to the problem to use a combination of all Alpha’s conventional weapons and an appropriate yield of subspace charges? Cameron started to enter his hypothesis to his computer. He was onto something here.

  “Ah, Admiral Shenke. I think we may have a solution to the closing of the blue wormhole.”

  Shenke was resting in his state room. He had not slept for 24 hours and tiredness briefly caught up with him. Shenke suddenly became interested.

  “What is the solution?”

  Cameron went onto explain his theory and the detailed the findings of his computer simulations. The bottom line was that it should work, providing sufficient—and in balance—yields of both matter and antimatter forces are deployed.

  “Have you verified this with Alpha’s scientists?”

  “Yes, we have worked though my hypothesis and the simulations this morning. They are in agreement. The problem is: will we have sufficient quantities of both matter and antimatter charges?”

  “So what is the answer? If we are going to run short of conventional weapons then we will have to look at finding a way to end this battle. Thank you, Dr. Cameron, you may have saved us all. I will consult with my colleagues and will report back to you shortly. I presume this will all take time to set up?”

  “Yes, Admiral, we will need time. Let’s hope we will have enough.”

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Halo 7 – Race Against Time

  De Vere was a tough nut to crack, but losing every one of his groups in such a fashion was difficult to comprehend.

  Jake paid his respects and left De Vere and his investigation team quietly. He didn’t really know where he was going, but walked along the passageway which gently sloped upwards from the rear of the ship towards the front. Carla was lost to him once again. Why had he not stayed with her ,or insisted she and Joely be allowed to stay with him under his protection? It was too late. The Eagle had gone and he was left to try to comprehend what life would be without Carla. He couldn’t, and why did he have to? Surely there was still another chance. He had a Sabre 4, for God’s sake. He could catch up with the Eagle in no time, disable her and rescue Carla and Joely. He could put a bullet in the back of Winterburn’s head for good measure.

  He found himself heading towards the main hangar bay, partly because it was the part of the ship where he was based but also because the Sabre 4 was housed there. He didn’t really have a plan and would look at his options when he got there. As he rounded the corner into the CAG command area, he was surprised to see Commander Hoskins standing talking to his CAG and gesturing towards Jake’s Sabre 4.

  “Enson Carter, please join us. I have just received Major De Vere’s report. Witnessing the loss of all those troopers must have been unpleasant.”

  “Yes, sir, although seeing Carla and her sister being taken by Winterburn again is equally distressing. I was hoping...”

  Jake was interrupted by Hoskins, “You were hoping to take the Sabre 4 and carry out a daring mission to rescue your girlfriend plus bring back Winterburn and his crew with you. To what end? Do you really feel that you—on your own—could take out Winterburn and all his fellow Kryls armed with a hypercannon and a couple of stun grenades?”

  “I don’t know, sir. I am still trying to comprehend what happened. Surely you don’t want Winterburn to get away.”

  “No, I don’t. You are right. We will need to deal with the Eagle and prevent it from getting away. By deal with I mean destroy. I am going to ask you to come to terms with this as quickly as you can, Jake. Carla and her sister are as good as dead. We need to act quickly to take the pain she would ultimately experience away from her. I need you to pilot the Sabre 4 and destroy Winterburn’s Eagle.”

  “Sir, there is enough room in the cabin for up to four troopers. It would be a tight fit but we could dock and take out the other Kryl one by one. Then I can bring the Eagle around and return to the Halo 7.”

  “I cannot allow that, Jake. Having Winterburn alive would be useful, but not imperative; making sure he and his men don’t get back to their fleet is. We are short on ships and pilots. At present all we have is you. Your orders are to seek out and destroy the Eagle. Is that clear?”

  “Commander, sir. Can we have a go? Perhaps Lieutenant Temsouri could join me and we can board the ship together. Surely they are still of some value to you?”

  The Halo 7 was under constant barrage. The threat from the mini-Kryl fleet was considerable and yet Hoskins initiative began to pay off.

  Hoskins knew this was the last chance. He must persuade Jake Carter, and if he was not willing to move then the alternative was to take the Eagle out with a teutonic missile.

  Hoskins sighed. Not for the first time today, he was heavily influenced by his crew. He knew he could not send Jake alone. Perhaps sending Obeya with Carter would be a better combination.

  “Very well, L
ieutenant Temsouri and Enson Carter. Please go about your business. I am giving you one chance to be successful. If you are unable to board, take out or capture Winterburn you must use the Sabre to destroy the Eagle. If you can bring back your friends that will be a personal bonus for you.”

  Obeya started to protest, but Hoskins would have none of it. “We don’t need you on the hangar deck right now, Lieutenant. Get the job done, get back here and by then we will have finished off these bastards and we can get ourselves home.”

  Jake took control when they first launched the Sabre 4. Obeya assumed command and familiarized herself with the new variant’s controls. Jake could tell she was impressed, but he could also tell she was good, very good.

  “You’re not totally human are you?” he asked Obeya.

  “Is that a problem for you?”

  “No. Your control and response times are remarkable.”

  Changing the subject, Jake looked at Obeya and said “Lieutenant, I really do need to rescue Carla and her sister. I don’t know why, but I’m immune to Winterburn’s powers. I probably stand a better chance than most of being successful.”

  “What makes you think that you are immune?”

  “Something he once said, and just a general feeling I have. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to mention it in front of Hoskins, he doesn’t seem to be the most tolerant of commanders.”

  Obeya let it go. “As Commander Hoskins said, Enson, we only get one chance. If we get in close enough to dock and you can access the Eagle, your primary objective is to capture or kill Winterburn. I won’t wait around if I feel our objective is in jeopardy.”

  Jake acknowledged Obeya’s comments. They sat in silence as they continued their pursuit, a job made much easier by the Eagle’s lack of stellar drive capability and range. Once they determined which direction the Eagle was heading and the NAVCOM determined a fixed position, it was an easy task for the Sabre, at SD velocity, to catch the Eagle.

  “There she is in front of us, Carter. You’d better get suited up and prepare the docking clamps.”