The Alliance in Peril

by Peter Lewis Atkinson

  We had arrived at the port on Earth and the first thing to strike everyone was the cold. My family all hate the cold. Before we left for our residence, we needed to go shopping. Coats and warm clothing was one thing we needed, as I know the children would all want to wander around our smallholding and the temperature was low, around minus three centigrade on the day we arrived. It was not expected to improve much during our stay.

  Alenna said, “Lumi start taking the family to our residence. Some of us will need to do the shopping. Jake, Rachael, Jenna, River, you will accompany me.” Alenna then asked me, “Jake, what other things will we need?”

  I replied, “Lots of things, such as food, presents for Christmas Day. You know how much the children got excited over that, and don’t forget we need a tree and various decorations.”

  Alenna replied, “How much should we spend?”

  I just said, “We should spend as much as necessary. We need to make use of the money we hold on Earth, so let’s blow a considerable amount on celebrating Christmas festivities while we can.”

  How much did we buy? Well, we needed three taxis to take everything to the port. Rachael was in one by herself, the reason being it was piled high with food and various tasty delights such as chocolate cakes. As the taxi drivers were so accommodating I gave each a generous tip, after all, it was Christmas. Lumi was waiting for us on our return to the port, so after loading everything on board the shuttle, we set off towards our residence.

  Lumi said, “By the way, the builder has completed the task of combining two rooms into one. The decorators have also done a splendid job. Oh, and we have new carpets throughout. I will not say anything about the kitchen, as I wish you to see it for yourself.”

  Although it was not the way cooking is done on Alkarr, but as it was Earth, we purposely had a kitchen planned in an olde world farmhouse tradition. The kitchen was one of the first rooms we wanted to see. It was amazing; they had fitted a large range. This was in antique green and although it was powered by electricity, it looked the part. All the cupboards were finished in medium oak and as this kitchen was large, it had enough room for two huge tables, enough to seat my entire family, but only just. I was impressed with the workmanship throughout. Was this down to who we were, or was it the norm for these contractors? They did come highly recommended so I guess it was their usual high standards. We had arrived four days before Christmas Day, so had plenty of time to prepare.

  John Roberts had been busy and the barn was full of hay. I met up with him and he brought me up to date. He said, “I have leased four of the stable boxes and have sown some winter wheat in the six-acre field. I would like to plant potatoes in another field during the spring if that is ok with you?”

  I replied, “Do it. How about other crops?”

  John said, “We could grow others, but some crops we will have to forgo, as they are prone to pests, unless sprayed, and I know you are against that.”

  I replied, “You could try a mix of different crops in one of the small fields and see how each performed and yes, you are right, I do not want any chemicals used on them.”

  Quite a number of my daughters had taken a fondness to liking horses. A number of the girls had wrapped up warm in their new cosy puffer jackets which had hoods and all were wearing mitts. They did look slightly strange all of them dressed this way, peering out from their hoods. With Misty and Jett in command, they went to the stables hoping to get up-close to a horse or pony. John’s two daughters were there and as Misty and Jett had already met them, they quickly re-established their friendship. Also, there were three other girls who now stabled their ponies in our stable block. One was the friend of John’s daughters and my daughters soon got on well with her. The two other girls were different, not wanting any contact at all. They were very snooty and my daughters were told in an unpleasant way, not to touch their ponies when they tried to. You know the type, well-spoilt brats that got everything they wanted from daddy. My daughters soon distanced themselves from them.

  While the daughters were out enjoying themselves Alenna had all the adults doing tasks, from setting up the Christmas tree and decorations to wrapping up presents. River had to be dragged away from the TV, as usual. She was so addictive to television. River would watch TV twenty-four hours a day if she could. Christmas dinner was to be a repeat of our first family Christmas together, only this time we had more treats. I was a little concerned that not only my daughters but the adults might eat too much and in doing so would overindulge and be sick. Though I cannot dictate how much the adults eat, I will do my best to limit how much the children eat. In the large recreational room now stood a Christmas tree, decorated beautifully and we also had decorations hanging from the ceiling. This room had a most stunning fireplace. I wanted a traditional fire to be lit and burning by the time the children were allowed to enter on Christmas morning. Luckily stacked in an outbuilding was a pile of now well-seasoned logs. I made a pile of these logs near to the fire, in an alcove that had been constructed to store them.

  Alenna commented, “What is that pile of logs for?” She looked closer and spotted a spider sitting on a log. She almost screamed with horror.

  In response, I said, “It’s only a house spider, it won’t hurt you look,” I scooped it up, opened a window and dropped it out on to the ground below.

  Alenna still concerned replied, “It could have bitten you, why would you pick it up like that?”

  I laughed and said, “Don’t you know, house spiders can’t hurt you. They may look scary. If you find any around the residence, I will be more than willing to remove them for you, so don’t worry.”

  Alenna still not wholly convinced said, “Anyway what are those logs for?”

  I smiled and replied, “They are to burn in this spectacular fireplace. Trust me you will be amazed when you see it lit.”

  Alenna’s last words were, “Just don’t burn our residence down, will you?”

  I just muttered under my breath, “I will try not to.”

  My sister had erected a wooden clothes horse. With this, we had one purpose in mind and that was not to hang clothes on it. It was there for the younger children to hang a Christmas stocking each. There was not enough room to hang them along the fireplace, besides I wanted to light the fire. This hanging of stockings was performed on Christmas Eve.

  I said to my younger children, “Don’t forget to leave a drink and a mince pie for Santa, and some carrots for his reindeer.” I looked at my older daughters who were sniggering. I whispered to them, “Please play along with the illusion, it’s so magical to them. Don’t spoil it by telling them there is no real Santa. You will feel the wrath of me if you spoil it for them.

  Misty whispered, “I wish that we could have celebrated Christmas this way when I was young. I will not spoil it for my younger sisters and the twins.”

  I hugged Misty and then said, “I should have done this before when you were young. Sorry, you missed out on the magic of Santa, but I am sure you will still enjoy Christmas.”

  Misty just said, “I love you dad.” Which brought a tear to my eye.

  Christmas day soon arrived. I had got up early to light the fire. We had the most splendid Christmas, the best Christmas we could ever have, but all good things must end and soon it was over, and the time at or residence seemed to pass so fast. I wanted to stay and so did my sister, but for my wives, their thoughts had turned to Alkarr and their mothers’ and their family. So it was time to say goodbye to Earth once more.

  Over the next month or two things started to become quite anxious. You never knew what to expect to find at your destination. Will all be well, or would there have been a skirmish with the Silka? It was like a phoney war. We heard the odd rumours that there had been incidents, but nothing positive to show. That wa
s until we had an urgent summons. It was critical that we proceed to Calzinder in haste. Calzinder had a population of around two million settlers. A mix of mining and farming took place there. It was a bustling sort of settlement but with the feeling of a frontier world. We had to evacuate the planet. Up to now, the alliance had been holding back on larger settlements, until now that was. The Silka had attacked the planet but had soon withdrawn. The alliance could not hold back on informing the population any longer, and we were told the full story regarding the Silka. There had been two small battles so far, which the alliance battlecruisers had repelled. The Silka were now trying a new tactic and would bombard a city or larger settlement then make a run for it, hoping to distract the alliance so they can then resurface and do the same to another planet. The alliance couldn’t have their battlecruisers everywhere at the same time, they didn’t have enough ships. The alliance also confirmed the following which I already had assumed: The Silka had improved their star-drive capability to such a degree that they were now able to reach any destination they chose. Although fortunately, they had not yet matched the performance of alliance star-drives. At the moment it still took the Silka roughly three times longer to reach their destination than my cargo freighter. That at least meant if we knew where they were going we could get to that destination well before they did. Every able civilian ship was used to evacuate the planet and it did not stop there. We had also to evacuate five more. It took us and the other ships almost three months to do this. The Alliance military had commandeered all small ships which had both star-drive and illusion fields. This included the small diplomatic craft. They were using their stealthy capabilities to watch and track the movements of the Silka.

  It was now about time those Silka ships, the ones with the primitive star-drive, were expected to reach Earth. I was concerned, the Earth could be battling these right now, I had no way of knowing. We had a few days to spend on Alkarr, we had not had a break for a long time.

  I was in the garden with a number of my wives when River rushed up to us in an alarming way. She shouted to us, “There has just been an announcement on the news, The Silka were heading our way in force, this fleet is estimated to consist of sixty plus ships. They will reach us in just over two weeks. What are we going to do?”

  Alenna, also very worried, replied, “I don’t know what we should do. I know, I will call up Lara to see if she knows anything.” This Alenna did, but Lara had only just heard also and was no wiser of what to do. Alenna then said the only obvious thing she could, “We will need to stay watching the news for any updates.”

  There was widespread panic, even though the authorities tried to calm the situation down. Then came the order to evacuate the moon.

  Perri burst into tears, and said, “Where is my family going to live? Every vacant residence on Alkarr is taken by refugees.” Alenna could not think where due to the stress and tension of the situation. She was not thinking at all straight.

  I knew where they could stay so I said, “Perri don’t worry, it’s obvious where they can live. They can stay on our old cargo ship. We won’t need to use it right now.”

  Perri was relieved, but like Alenna she was under pressure and had not thought of the old ship. She then asked me, “Jake, can you collect my family and bring them to Alkarr on our new ship?”

  I replied, “Of course I will. You will need to make arrangements with them, so let them know we will be collecting them all.” Perri got on her pid to sort out the arrangements.

  In the meantime, I wanted to go on the male-only forum, to find out more about the two battles. What I found out had me somewhat worried. Evacuating the moon was another clue in the plot, the full extent of which would become clear very soon. Only three of us went to the moon, Perri came along with me as expected, plus the addition of Yarkeli as I could not get any of the others to help. They were all so concerned and had gone or were going to their mother’s house. Lidier was unwilling for her family to leave their home on the moon, but the evacuation was mandatory, so she had very reluctantly agreed to leave. We not only transported Lidier’s house but five other houses as well. We could not accommodate housing them. The duty to re-house them was down to the agency involved in finding accommodation for refugees. Perri helped her mother move into our old cargo ship. Hopefully, it should only be a temporary measure. I had to help as well, as there wasn’t another wife available to chaperone me back to our residence. Yarkeli would not be expected to help or chaperone me, so I could not ask her. It was late by the time Perri was ready to leave so we could then return to our residence.

  It wasn’t until the next day when I found out what I already had assumed. The news gave details that there would be just six battlecruisers assigned to protect Alkarr along with a dozen or so smaller craft. That was not enough!!!

  I called up Lara and said, “Is it true only six battlecruisers have been assigned to defend Alkarr?”

  Lara replied, “Yes, six, I do know why. The Silka are expected to attack a number of the other alliance member’s home worlds and major settlements at the very same time, although not in such numbers. They still have to protect themselves, so it’s tying up the battlecruisers. Alkarr has been given six, this is more than any other member.”

  I said to Lara in a very concerned way, “You know that six will not stop the Silka. They have numbers on their side. They are using more advanced ships now. It took two battlecruisers to repel just five of these new type of craft and they only just managed to, sustaining some damage in the process.”

  Lara said, “Six is not enough, what is going to happen to us?” She then burst into tears.

  I tried to calm her down, saying, “I have an idea, I will need to go to Earth and see if they can help in any way.” Lara was still sobbing when I finished the communication.

  Urgency was now the priority, I had just two weeks before the Silka were expected to show up at Alkarr. If I could get the rest of the family back we could leave today.

  Some were very reluctant to return from their mother, but I was determined and said, “If you don’t, you may regret it.”

  I did not want to leave anybody behind and I intended to bring Lara with us also, just in case the worst happened. After discussing the situation with Alenna, she ordered them all to return to our residence forthwith. I had no idea what I would find when reaching Earth. Surely with all those new battlecruisers they would have outnumbered the Silka around four to one. I expected to see either a battle still ongoing or one finished. I wondered how many battlecruisers Earth might still have undamaged when we arrived. I was hoping most of them. I didn’t what to considerer the worst scenario, that there would be none left to help. I kept that thought to myself.

  What I found on reaching Earth was not what I had imagined. The first thing I encountered was a debris field that was spreading out around the planet. My ship was being struck every now and again as I passed through it. This was scary, and the sound of hitting objects rattled throughout the freighter. I just hoped our hull held up.

  We were soon challenged, and a stern voice said, “This is the Ganymede, identify yourself!”

  I at once replied, as I did not wish to be fired on, “This is the Albion Princes, Captain Jake in command. If you don’t mind me asking, what has happened?”

  The reply was now friendly, “Captain Jake, I am Captain Donald Jones. It’s good to hear from you. Please proceed but be very cautious. We are experiencing problems due to a battle with the Silka. Watch out for debris in orbit around Earth.”

  I asked, “How did the battle go and did you lose many of your ships?”

  I was expecting him to tell me that they had lost quite a number, but what he said was surprising, “We have lost none at all, not even the slightest damage has been sustained to any of our fleet during the battle. We got them by
total surprise, and the debris field is the result.”

  This was a big surprise indeed, but this debris field would cause major problems when it spread out to encompass the whole of the orbit. As we passed over the dark side we could already observe many streaks of light, as some of this debris was now falling towards Earth. It then burned up in the atmosphere if lucky, or if it struck the planet, hopefully, it did not cause any loss of life. Landing and seeing the Prime Minister was now urgent and after calling him, he agreed to make time to see me. I had to pitch my planned request to him or even grovel if necessary, although I would feel very uneasy doing that.

  I went to Downing Street to the meeting with Alenna and Jenna. After greetings, the first thing the Prime Minister asked was, “Well Jake, what’s so urgent that you wish to talk about?”

  I was going to put my cards on the table and give him the full facts. I replied, “It’s like this, Alkarr faces a great unprecedented danger. In just a week’s time, a massive Silka invasion force of over sixty ships will arrive at Alkarr. The thing is, there aren’t enough alliance battlecruisers to see off this invasion. I have not yet informed you about the advances the Silka have made, not only star-drive enhancements but also weapons. I fear that the six against sixty will be no match. There are a number of smaller craft helping, but adding them all together they would not equal the firepower of a single battlecruiser. The Silka will, without doubt, prevail in the battle. Billions of lives are at risk! I would not normally ask, but this is critical. Please, could you and the other nations who have battlecruisers spare a few to go to Alkarr and help see off this invasion?”

  The Prime Minister replied, “It does sound serious, I will confer with the Presidents’ and Prime Ministers of those countries that have built battlecruisers to see how we can help. I can’t say what they might do. Please be assured I will fight your corner. After all, you went out of your way to assist Earth in its deepest need. I will contact you later today with hopefully our collective decision.”