OMEGA Allegiance

by Stephen Arseneault

  Go grinned. "You sound like you've been doing that for a long time."

  I smiled as I shook my head. "I spent countless hours wondering what I would say before a defining thought came into my mind. I had to ask myself what my wife would say to me if I was this crew and she the Emperor. With that thought in mind, it wasn't difficult to craft a speech. She would have been tough and to the point. I only had to say what I thought she might have said."

  As our fleet came near SS241 I opened a comm channel to Layda. "You are on your own for at least the next few months. I have placed you and Jallis in charge of the Talisans in my absence. They have been instructed to take instruction from both of you. In the event that one or both of you are unable to give instruction, command will be passed on to the person or persons that you designate. You should each pick out a trusted staff member and inform the Talisans of that pick. I will remain Emperor until they have proof of my death, but the two of you should be able to direct them to do whatever it is you need."

  Layda replied, "Just make sure you come back. We need you here because we're going to be straightening this place out for years to come."

  I smiled. "You can count on my return. If we're able to rescue Joni, I will still have my exile sentence to carry out, unless of course I receive a pardon. If that were to happen I would make a move out here as well. As you say, there is too much that needs to be done."

  A comm call came in from Garrett.

  I switched channels. "Garrett, we are on our way. Has Jontik managed to gather any intel?"

  Garrett nodded. "We know which building she is in. And get this, a Human, fitting her description, with a Human dog, is one of the people calling the shots. She's alive, Knog, alive and running things by the sound of it!"

  I stood and began to pace the deck of the Garmon's bridge. "That is great news, Garrett! If she's in a position of authority, we have a much better chance of getting her out of there. We may even be able to perform a touch and go extraction as you had alluded to earlier."

  Garrett grinned. "I have several locations picked out already and have been running scenarios through my computer's nav simulator. There's a destroyer in orbit, but I think we can get in and out before it has a shot at us. I'm certain the Jess is faster, if we make orbit before it catches us."

  I pulled up the latest data sets as they came across the comm. "And what of Jontik? Has he been allowed into the general population? Will he want to come with us or remain there with his people?"

  Garrett replied, "Jontik is a wildcard at the moment. I made the offer to him, but I don't think he has made up his mind. If we can't get him in close to her, a rescue of both might not be doable. If it came down to that, I think Jontik would gladly remain with his people."

  I pulled up a nav diagram of our expected route. "We'll be passing within comm range of SS211 in five days. If you have anything new, pass it along at that time. Otherwise, we will be out of contact until then. Please don't take any action if you have time to wait for our arrival. We should be there in just over a month."

  When the comm closed I felt apprehensive. We were close to a rescue, and yet we remained nearly a quarter of a galaxy away. Would Joni still be there by the time we arrived? Would Garrett make a move because a window of opportunity was open? Or would some other event impede the progress of our fleet? The Theta sector seemed like an eternity away.

  Go said, "You need to trust that things are going to work out. You've done all you can to ensure it thus far. Joni Salton is lucky to have such good friends."

  I laid my hand on Go's shoulder and squeezed. "You just keep being that little voice in my head and all will be fine. Thank you for all you have done."

  I turned my attention back to the task of training the fleet of ships I commanded. I began to run scenarios through a simulator on my holo-display. My first encounter with a simulated enemy did not go well. I had just over a month to align my actions with the suggested strategies and tactics. I excelled at planning, but commanding a fleet required immediate decisions, and actions centered around current events. There was no good substitute for raw experience. I hoped there would be no enemy to engage once we arrived in Theta.

  Chapter 5

  Go said, "We've attempted that maneuver four times now. It just doesn't work. It's taking too long for those flanking ships to come around."

  I replied, "I thought that one held promise. The extra time allows the enemy to adjust their defenses. Perhaps we should push that to the back of the training regimen or strike it all together."

  Go nodded. "I say we can it. We have two other maneuvers that are working against an oncoming column of ships. The Block and Dash gives the best outcome every time we run it."

  I pulled up the nav screen. "We should be in range of SS211 in a few minutes. I'm eager to hear how things are progressing with Garrett. If Jontik was able to make contact with Joni, I am curious as to her reaction."

  Go leaned in on the side of my chair. "How could she not be happy about it?"

  "For one, she craves adventure," I said.

  "That, and if she's made friends with the Adicans, she won't want to abandon them when they are about to be sent off to war. She has a big heart when it comes to those in need. That can be a blessing or a curse depending on the circumstance."

  The Talisan manning the comm station raised an alert. "We have an incoming channel from Garrett Rourke, sir."

  I gestured with my hand. "Patch him through."

  "Garrett, any news?"

  "Nothing has changed," Garrett replied. "Jontik hasn't been able to get close enough to pass a message to her. He gives me statuses almost hourly, but our communication is only one way. It seems the Adicans have their hierarchies that prevent him from entering the half of the building she is in. He's attempted befriending those who are the gatekeepers, even tried a few bribes. To date, those attempts haven't been effective. I can tell, though, he won't give up anytime soon. He is ecstatic about being back among his people."

  "Has he made contact with anyone he knows?"

  Garrett shook his head. "No, he thinks they may be on the other side of the compound. We got lucky with them placing him in the same building."

  I frowned. "There's no way to get her a message?"

  Garrett shrugged. "He's tried, the guards just won't pass it along. They say the brass is too busy and has asked to not be bothered."

  I crossed my arms. "What are they doing that takes all their time?"

  Garrett paused and held up his hands as if to say he didn't know. "I guess they are preparing for war. He mentioned there was some type of simulation training that would be coming once they passed through the portal to Andromeda. Maybe there is some preparation for that. Or maybe they are trying to get themselves organized into fighting groups. These are civilian populations, and other than their day-long revolution, none of them have ever been in a fight.

  "There are a few things I didn't tell you before that I should have. Before sending Jontik down, I made the assumption that Contonal was observing AMP Standard Time. That may or may not have been a bad assumption. What I needed was a time or set of times where I could be ready to attempt an extraction. If they are on Earth standard time, they have been keeping everyone indoors starting at 10pm every night. I told him I would be available at midnight for an hour every night. That allows me to also check the shipyards, the portal and the surrounding area in general."

  I replied, "And if they aren't on AST? Is there a time relative to the planet that you are able to make use of?"

  Garrett nodded. "Contonal has twenty-nine hour days. I picked sunrise. I have a timer display running that keeps me informed of when the next possible occurrence is. I just make sure I am ready if the signal is given."

  I gave him a quizzical gaze. "I thought your comms were only one-way?"

  "Well, that's the other thing I didn't tell you," Garrett said. "One of the devices I gave Jontik can also receive a signal. If he sets that off, I have eight minutes to land in th
at compound for a pickup. I figured it would take the crew on that destroyer in orbit at least that long to determine there was a signal coming up from the planet. If everything works as planned, they will see the Jess leaving the atmosphere before they lock in on his location.

  "Sorry I didn't relay this information earlier. I wasn't sure if you would agree to sending him down there without having something more concrete in hand. I tried to cover as many bases as I could, I just didn't want to wait any longer with the possibility of her being taken through that gate sitting on the horizon. I should have run it by you first."

  I shook my head. "Don't apologize. I might have done the same. We both want her out of there. While I have you on here, I just wanted to remind you that we will be offline for two weeks until we pass near SS79. After that, another week to the Babbage IV colony, followed by a three day break before we hit Theta. If you feel you have to go in before we get there, don't hesitate to do so. If that happens and you are gone when we arrive, we'll try to meet up with you near Babbage IV."

  Garrett replied, "I think we are losing ... channel. Will follow prior..."

  The comm channel closed.

  I turned to face Go. "Looks like we have two weeks to practice before we know anything else."

  I pushed our training regimen to the max. The Talisan were my subjects. They took orders as given and offered no complaints in return. As had been alluded to before, they were the perfect army. Go pushed his teams of engineers equally as hard. A number of system breakdowns occurred but our progress did not slow. I was beginning to have respect for my crews as they followed orders precisely, even adapting to unexpected situations as they arose. I couldn't have been happier with our progress.

  As we passed SS79, Garrett reported no change in our mission. A second destroyer had taken up orbit around Contonal for several days before eventually moving on. Jontik remained restricted from the half of the building that Joni occupied. The guards let no one through, and any conversations with them had been limited in scope.

  As we passed from comm range near SS79, Go put his hand on my shoulder. "At least we are two weeks closer than last time. Only ten more days to Theta."

  I sat in my captain's chair with my elbow on the arm pad and my big jaw planted on my fist. "I find it strange they have not left the building on Contonal during that time. Jontik says they are doing simulation training daily, as well as having instructors parading through there non-stop, giving all kinds of instruction on how to conduct themselves during combat situations. There is much for them to learn. I just wish some of that was mixed with outdoor exercise of some sort."

  Go replied, "They may still be trying to decide who does what. There would have to be some level of decision making into who will be squad leaders or officers or even pilots. It has to be a big mess trying to get organized for war when none of them have experience at it. Just look at what we are doing here. Some of the Talisans we had as officers clearly couldn't handle it. We've had to make a lot of command changes ourselves, and that's with a handful of people as compared to a whole population."

  I looked up at the young Human standing beside me. "How old are you in standard years?"

  Go puffed out his chest. "Nineteen!"

  I nodded. "Those observations, very well put. I hadn't thought of what it must be like to organize and coordinate an entire population that has no real concept of what fighting a war means. I guess I've been so consumed with our own issues that the Adican's plight just hadn't occurred to me. Those are wise observations coming from a nineteen-year-old."

  Go shook his head. "Well, you don't have to be a ... err, well, hmm. I think I need to shut up before I say something stupid. So, thank you I guess."

  I laughed. "Don't worry, you would have a hard time insulting me, I know that's not what's in your heart. Getting back to our problems, our big question now is: how do we get Joni Salton to come out of those buildings?"

  For the next two weeks we worked over the Joni situation in fine detail. The information we had to date was not enough to draw up plans for getting the Adicans outside. As the training of our Talisan fleet continued, we once again came into range of a comm link to Garrett.

  After several minutes of attempts at contact, Go began to shake his head. "I'm worried. We are easily within comm range. I wonder if they found him or maybe shut down his channel through the portals."

  I replied, "Let's hope not. I don't—"

  The comm chimed as Garrett spoke: "Hey, sorry about the delay. I only have a few seconds. The transports showed up yesterday. I didn't have an opportunity to extract either Joni or Jontik. We are about ten hours from the portal gate. I'm sure they are taking us through. I have the Jess piggybacked to one of the transports. If they go through before you get here, I'll be going with them. If I were you, I would head straight to the gate coordinates. You're about three and a half days from it."

  I winced at the thought of leaving our galaxy. "Could you possibly disable the transport she is on?"

  Garrett shook his head. "I couldn't get a good enough look while they were loading to tell which one that would be. There are five transports that collected Adicans from that building. The fleet has fifty-six transports and two dozen destroyers. I took a big risk coming in here to piggyback, as they are flying in a fairly tight formation."

  I turned to Go. "Set a course to the portal gate."

  Go replied, "Already set. We should be there in about seventy-eight standard hours."

  I let out a long sigh. "Garrett, when you get within comm range of that portal gate, give us a call. I want every piece of data you have on the fleet you are with and that gate. Even if they are taking you through, keep broadcasting. If you go through, we will have to follow."

  Garrett nodded. "Will do. I'm transmitting all the data I have on the fleet so far. We're moving away from Contonal at a high rate now. Comm will be out in a few seconds. Knog, be careful. Joni and I will both likely need your help to get back home."

  With that broadcast, the comm crackled and went silent. Garrett and Joni were on the way to the portal gate. I clenched my fist in frustration. I had come within three days of being able to rescue Joni Salton. She was soon to be a full galaxy away.

  Go began to bang away at the keys on the comm console. "We have another problem!"

  "What is it?"

  Go passed an image of an incoming comm signal to my holo-display. "We're receiving a hail from Babbage. They want us to identify ourselves. I picked up a transmission of some sort about fifteen minutes ago from a source I couldn't identify. It looks like Babbage might have a few listening outposts set up in this area."

  I nodded. "Probably looking for stray ships so they can steer them away from the shipyards."

  Go turned his chair towards me. "Should we answer? If we don't, they might send ships our way."

  I thought for a moment. "No. Remain silent. Our new course will take us away from the shipyards. If they got a fix on our direction they will be looking for us heading to Contonal. Space is a big place, they are not likely to bump into us without an exact fix on our location."

  Go sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Well, if I was them, and I saw an entire fleet traversing my space, I would send out everything I could to try to find them."

  I replied, "Have you seen any new transponders come online around Babbage? If they thought we were a fleet, we would have picked up on it. Keep an eye out for anything unusual just in case. In the meantime, we'll cut back on our training exercises. Have the other ships move into a tight formation and have everyone thoroughly check their passive scans for signs of other ships."

  Go turned back to his console. "Just picked up the transponders of four ships leaving Babbage and heading in this general direction."

  I pulled up the nav display. "They won't catch us. We're as fast as any New Alliance ship out there."

  After several minutes of observation Go said, "I think you're right. They are heading for our old trajectory."

  W
e continued away from the Babbage IV colony without further incident. Two days later we passed within comm range of Contonal. A comm hail came in from Garrett.

  I connected the comm channel. "Have you reached the portal?"

  Garrett replied, "We have. All ships are at a stop. Four new destroyers have joined the fleet. We are holding steady and I can only guess that is because they have more on the way. The ships that joined us look to be identical to the damaged one we saw come through before. If that's all the armor they are putting on those, well, I would hate to be a crewman going into battle with that. Your twelve-ship Talisan fleet could easily stand up to this one."

  I looked at the mini nav display in front of me. "We have another eighteen hours before we reach your location. Have you learned anything more about the portal gate?"

  Garrett nodded. "That I have. It looks like they took it off of a planet somewhere. It has rock still attached to some sections of the power structure. You know how those gates were made to be tamper-proof? Well, I think they figured out a way around that. They uprooted the whole gate complex from wherever it had been and moved it out here. That had to have been one huge undertaking. This gate is bigger than the galaxy gate on Alpha Prime. Who knows where they found it.

  "And the power structure looks more like it's a series of those structures that have been cobbled together. I guess if you want to open a portal of that size to another galaxy, you have to feed it a tremendous amount of power."

  I flipped through the data Garrett was supplying. "Have you seen any ships dock with the gate structure?"

  Garrett replied, "Only one. See this outlined area? It was a small shuttle type craft and it disappeared into there. I'm guessing there's a landing bay in there. I can't confirm from where I'm at.

  "I've also been attempting to break into the systems on that gate. They appear to be very isolated. The best I've been able to do is hack into the mess hall. I can tell you what they are serving in there for lunch today, but that's about all."