Alpha Fleet (Rebel Fleet Series Book 3)

by B. V. Larson

  Ursahn headed back to her own ship after that, and I relayed the good news to Admiral Vega. At least, I thought it was mostly good news.

  “So you surrendered to them without authority?” he demanded.

  “Would you rather I fought thirty warships, sir?” I asked.

  I was discussing the matter from my office chamber. No one was there other than myself and the holographic image of Vega superimposed on the couch. My sym had starting doing that lately, working on my nervous system directly in order to facilitate communications and other functions.

  “You could have checked in with us first, Blake. I know you—you like to do as you please. But I must remind you that you’re driving around a trillion-dollar starship. It’s a one-of-a-kind right now, and I don’t want it broken.”

  “I got that, Admiral, but surely you’d agree that some level of autonomy is required in space. I’m nearly a light-minute away from Earth now. If you don’t trust my judgment, have me removed from command.”

  Vega’s next response was a bit slow in coming back, and I began to worry that he was going to say something that started with, “as a matter of fact, Blake…” but he didn’t.

  “You’ve got operational control,” he said. “But I need a live-stream coming from your ship.”

  “It won’t be live, sir,” I pointed out.

  “I’ll take whatever I can get. As to the current political situation, you can offer your vessel to serve under Ursahn. That way, if Fex does fire on you she’ll have no choice but to take it as an attack on her entire fleet.”

  Nodding appreciatively, I agreed and signed off. A few minutes later, I found myself on the bridge. I promised Ursahn I would serve as part of her task force for as long as her fleet was in Earth’s home system.

  Two days passed during which I drilled my crew. We got to fly in formation with Ursahn’s battle group, a first for most of them. Devilfish was classified as a light cruiser—a step up in my mind—and placed at an outside point of their football-shaped formation. We were a screen, essentially, for the more important ships in the center of the fleet.

  That was fine with me. We’d flown solo for quite a while, and it felt good to be part of a real fleet again.

  It was at the end of the third day when everything changed.

  We were drilling just past the orbit of the Moon when I got an urgent message from Ursahn. My own crew was on-duty, so I opened the channel personally.

  “What is it, Captain?” I asked.

  “Blake, you’re falling behind.”

  “What…? Dalton, look alive!”

  He was pondering our maps, and he sat bolt upright. “The fleet has shifted course—they’re heading toward the outer planets.”

  “What’s going on, Ursahn?” I asked.

  “Ah yes… you’re not fully integrated with the command structure of my battle group… in any case, we’re heading out to your sixth planet.”

  “Saturn? What’s going on out there?”

  “We’ve picked up a disturbance. A rift has opened.”

  “So far out?”

  “Fex is nothing if not cautious,” she pointed out. “On the other hand, if it’s the Imperials, they might be worried we’ll fight to defend Earth.”

  I hesitated. My breathing had stopped.

  Despite this, I managed to utter my next question without sounding panicked. “Ursahn,” I said, “if it comes down to that—will your task force fight on Earth’s behalf?”

  She answered immediately, and without reservation. “Absolutely. Your ship is part of this fleet now. Your planet, therefore, is under our protection.”

  “Good to know…” I said, daring to relax a little.

  =57=

  Once we were tracking properly with our new sister ships, we swung around to the new course as a group and accelerated. I urgently gestured for Chang’s attention.

  “Captain?”

  “Wake up Hagen—get him up here. Then connect me with Vega. I need to report this—I promised I would.”

  Vega beat my man to it. I’d forgotten that we’d set up a live feed on our bridge. A continuous channel transmitted our every word and action.

  “Glad to see you’re living up to your commitments, Blake,” he said a few minutes later. He sounded as if he’d been dragged from bed.

  Checking, I saw it had to be about four a.m. down there, and surmised he’d been sleeping very near the ops center.

  “Glad to see you’re observing us closely, sir,” I said.

  “You’re following Ursahn’s orders without checking with me first?” he asked.

  “That’s correct. There isn’t time—”

  “It’s all right. Your maneuvers are pre-approved.”

  My eyebrows performed an up-down motion of surprise. “So… I’m preapproved to fire at will?”

  “Never in Earth’s home space! Not unless there’s no choice other than losing your ship. What I’m saying is that if Devilfish is about to go into combat at Saturn with these new visitors, please let us know.”

  “Will do, Admiral. Blake out.”

  I dared to smile at his alarmed tone. I’d been messing with him slightly—I knew the rules of engagement we’d hammered out. I had orders to operate as part of Ursahn’s fleet, but not to start any wars without explicit approval.

  We sailed through the void for several hours after that. It took approximately half my normal watch to reach Jupiter, accelerating hard all the way. After that, we coasted toward Saturn.

  The enemy—if it was an enemy—hadn’t been idle. They were coming toward us on a collision course. They finally contacted Ursahn, and I was allowed to listen in.

  “Ursa Task Force,” a familiar voice said. “This is Admiral Fex. You’re off-station and off-target. Earth appears to be quiet—did they surrender without a fight?”

  “Not exactly, Admiral,” Ursahn admitted. “We’ve discussed the situation with them. They were not responsible for the attack on our colony ship. They were also not responsible for transporting the Imperial phase-ships that committed the war crime.”

  There was a long delay, as our ships were still pretty far apart. The distance from Jupiter to Saturn was almost as great as the distance between Jupiter and the Sun.

  “You’re suppositions are not helpful,” Fex answered, “and worse, they’re false. Resume your original task: subjugate the armed forces of Earth. That’s an order, Rebel Fleet Admiral Fex, out.”

  There followed several long minutes of sweating on my bridge after that. Fex wasn’t messing around. He didn’t seem to know my ship was among the group he was talking to—and I could only imagine what he’d say when he found out about that.

  “We have to do something, Captain,” Samson said to me. “Ursahn might turn on us.”

  “That’s right sir,” Dalton said, speaking in a low tone as if the other ships around us might hear. “I can plot an emergency escape course.”

  “What good would that do?” I asked him. “They’d rake our stern in a second.”

  “At least let me prime our shields and conserve some power, sir,” Samson asked.

  “Go ahead. Use Abrams’ coil for the rift drive.”

  Dalton worked his boards, and so did the rest of the crew. I knew Dalton was devising an escape route despite my comments. I couldn’t fault him for that. Maybe he’d prove to be the wisest man in the end.

  Commander Hagen arrived on the deck a minute later.

  “Still no word from Ursahn, sir?” he asked, straightening his uniform.

  His eyes were red-rimmed, but he looked awake enough to me. Panic had a way of doing that to a man.

  “Not yet, but I’m certain she’ll contact us soon.”

  “Sir,” Chang said, “I’ve detected a channel under the others—Ursahn’s flagship is communicating with the approaching fleet directly.”

  “Can you tap into that?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Access has been denied.”

  Sweating a little in my cha
ir, I squirmed for a moment. Mostly, I tried not to look nervous—it was a difficult task.

  Ursahn wasn’t the treacherous type. In fact, I felt could trust her more than most humans. But that didn’t mean she was entirely on our side. She could be talked into a wrong-headed course of action, convinced she was doing something honorable. It was quite possible she’d apologize to me profusely in the next minute or two before turning all her guns on us.

  It was all a matter of whether Fex could fast-talk her better than I could. After waiting one more minute, I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Chang, open a direct channel with Ursahn. Tell her it’s urgent.”

  Chang worked his board for less than two seconds before he shook his head. He must have been ready for my request.

  “We’re getting the flagship’s busy signal, sir. We’ve been told to standby.”

  “Break formation,” Hagen said suddenly. “That’s my advice, sir. They’ll take a few minutes to react to that. We can get some distance, and either jump out or—”

  “Or what? Fight to the death against overwhelming odds? I didn’t like that option the first time it was offered. I still don’t like it. Besides, breaking formation might give them the excuse they’ve been waiting for—proof that we’re diabolical primates after all.”

  I spun around to find all my crewmen staring at me nervously. “Dalton, steady as she goes. Mia, keep our gun ports closed and cycled down.”

  She reluctantly removed her hands from her controls and crossed her arms in disappointment.

  Time ticked by. It was only about three more minutes before someone talked to us—but it seemed like a lifetime.

  “Sir,” Chang said, with his board beeping at him, “I’ve got incoming orders from Earth Command.”

  My jaw jutted out in irritation. More interference from the ground. I could foresee the future for all Earth starship captains at that moment—if there were to be any in the future—they’d all feel irritated by the distant over-the-shoulder armchair commanders back home.

  Historically, ship captains had enjoyed a very wide latitude in past centuries. A commander in the eighteen hundreds, for example, could do as he liked on the high seas. He might have to answer to a review board months later, but in the moment, he was all-powerful.

  Radio had ended those freedoms after the Second World War, effectively allowing the Pentagon and others to directly control every action of their ships, even half-way around the globe.

  Now, in the era of fleets in space, it was a mixed bag. Earth could interfere effectively, but only if we were close enough to our home planet. We were just about at the limits of our tether today, as we were more than a light-hour out.

  “Blake,” Admiral Vega’s message said, “we’ve been monitoring your situation, and we’ve been examining that approaching force. Admiral Fex has seventy-seven vessels in his group. He’s got nearly twice your firepower—that’s assuming Ursahn’s ships measure up as equivalent in battle. We’ve tried to contact both Ursahn and Fex directly, but they’re ignoring us. How to proceed is up to you. Earth stands with you regardless. Godspeed, Vega out.”

  After listening to that encrypted audio message, I felt humbled. I’d expected fussy restrictions, demands for reassurance and hampering rules of engagement—what I’d gotten was almost worse, in a way.

  It was all on me. I was in full command, and they’d taken off my leash. As the round trip for any messages between my ship and Earth was nearly a two hour cycle this far out, it was the only choice that made sense. No one could micromanage a warship at this distance.

  Sucking in a deep breath and surveying the situation and my crew, I sat up straight in my chair.

  “What are we going to do, sir?” Dalton asked, still talking in a whisper.

  Who knew? Maybe he was right… maybe they could hear us.

  “Steady-on, Dalton. Maintain formation. Samson, is that coil charged?”

  “Half-way.”

  “Keep building it up—gently. We might need to divert the power in any number of ways.”

  =58=

  It was Admiral Fex himself who finally contacted me to let me in on what was happening. He did it with a full holo-vid of his upper torso and head, and I relayed the imagery in all his glory into the middle of the command deck.

  Like an imposing ghost, the lanky figure’s upper half regarded us sternly. He was bigger than life and yet insubstantial in appearance.

  “Captain Blake,” he began in serious tone, “this situation is entirely your fault. I would expect you to feel ashamed—but I doubt you have the capacity.”

  “Welcome aboard, Admiral,” I responded in a cheery tone. “I’m pleased you could visit us. This is a great day. Earth’s forces have rejoined the Rebel Fleet in unison with your own, and I know that together we’ll stop the Imperial encroachment—”

  “What are you blathering about?” he demanded suddenly. “You’re not a member of the Rebel Fleet—perhaps you were once in the distant past, as a minimal participant—but not today. In fact, no Rebel Fleet exists as of this date. It was disbanded years ago.”

  “That’s all true, sir—the part about the past, I mean. But today events have moved in unexpected directions. Today, we face challenges we must all admit to. The Imperials are killing Kher again and—”

  “Killing with your collusion!” Fex interrupted again. “I won’t listen to any further weaseling. If you’re too shameless to confess, I’ll spell it out for you. This renegade ship of yours rescued a squadron of Imperial pirates. You transported them to safety, and then did their bidding afterward. I’m of the opinion that you were in league with them from the beginning, and that you still are right now.”

  “Sir, that’s a devastating charge,” I said. “What proof do you have?”

  “Proof? Your own testimony is good enough for me. I’ve reviewed the recorded conversations you’ve had with Ursahn, and the so-called ‘evidence’ you presented to her to absolve yourself. It’s all nonsense.”

  “Now, hold on, sir—”

  “No, you hold on. A colony vessel was destroyed. Phase-ships did it. They were transported to the site and back to safety again by your ship. I wouldn’t even be surprised, after we sift through your ashes, that Earthers built the phase-ships themselves and pretended they were of Imperial origin.”

  I glanced around at my officers, but I got no support there. They looked dumbstruck—even Dalton. Bluffing it through seemed like my only option, so I went with that.

  “I have a solution, Fex,” I said, deliberately dropping his rank. “Let’s take this to Secretary Shug. He knows all the parties well, and he’ll—”

  “That’s not going to happen. I’m in command here—and unfortunately, you’ve forced my hand. I’m only contacting you now in a final effort to make you see reason.”

  “Uh… about what, sir?”

  “Surrender your ship! Surrender your planet! You’ll be treated as well as any penal colony in the galaxy, I assure you.”

  “What’s the alternative, Admiral?”

  “There is none. Absolute destruction is the only other option. It sickens me to be forced to carry out this sentence, but only because Ursahn has refused to follow my orders. Possibly, her ships will even go so far as to return fire when we target your pathetic vessel. I would implore you to refuse her aid. Step aside from her formation and take your punishment like the proud, two-legged beast that you are. It’s the right thing to do, Blake.”

  For a few seconds, I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even think properly.

  This was it. This was big. Fex’s fleet was going to try to take us out. Would Ursahn really start a battle with Fex? Would she risk losing all her planet’s ships in order to save Earth?

  I wasn’t absolutely sure, but I figured for our sake it was worth the gamble. After all, Fex might be bluffing as well.

  Slowly, I shook my head. “I’m really sorry it had to go this way, Fex,” I said in the most earnest tones I could muster. “I was
wrong about you. Alpha Fleet will be in position shortly, and when you begin firing I won’t be able to stop them. The carnage will be terrific.”

  Fex squinted at me. “Alpha Fleet? What are you talking about?”

  “The worst thing is,” I continued, “I assured the Alpha Fleet commanders you wouldn’t push this charade so far.”

  “Blake, have you lost your senses as well as your decency? Speak plainly, like an intelligent ape.”

  “Certainly Admiral. You see, Earth’s primary fleet is maneuvering in local space right now.”

  “I see a single ship. You speak of phantoms.”

  “Just like the phantoms that chased you out of Earth’s orbit the last time you came here to our system. You are aware we have nearly two hundred phase-capable vessels, right? Devilfish is a cruiser and she’s my command, and a fine vessel she is, but she’s a recent advancement. We churned out a lot of phase-ships first for local defense.”

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “Really? But isn’t that what you just accused us of doing?”

  Fex leaned forward, and his leering face almost seemed to protrude into my bridge with me. It was a disturbing image to behold.

  “You’re so full of excrement, Blake,” he said. “Sometimes, I wish I’d expunged you and your disgusting crew the moment I saw you. I made a mistake that day—I permitted a weed to flourish.”

  “And now the weed has become a tree,” I said, blinking mildly at him. “Listen, forget about Alpha Fleet. I’m probably going to be reprimanded for even bringing it up and losing our element of surprise.”

  “Shut up,” he said. “Phase-ships don’t have the range or the power to come out this far from your homeworld.”

  “Ah-ha!” I said, slapping my console. “Now I know why you appeared so far out from Earth. You didn’t want to tangle with them again. Well, don’t let the fact we’ve got a light cruiser with a working star drive worry you… Fex, you’re absolutely right. Space around you is not teeming with phase-ships. You’re all alone out here, and you’ve got the upper hand.”