by Chris Burton
Roslyn felt the piercing of his mind. The Kronan entered and his subconscious thoughts were free for Safrec to penetrate. He tried to keep his mind clear. How the hell would he tell the senate that he had to remain in office?
“Do not fight it. I will just delve deeper and your pain will be greater. Tell me what you know…and I will help the senate understand why you must remain as president.”
The pain was getting stronger now. He felt Safrec’s own thoughts clawing and scratching away at his mind. He felt like his head would explode.
“All right. All right.” He exhaled slowly. “I will tell you what I know…Alpha are not here anymore. They have a fleet waiting a long way from here until they have built up sufficient resources to return and attack.”
“You are lying. I know that Alpha are here and remain hidden while they develop a weapon which they can use against us. They will then tell your fleet who will prepare the weapon and then they will attack. We know this already. Tell me something about the weapon.”
Roslyn realized Safrec was trying to draw specific issues into his conscious mind. He knew very little about what Alpha had as a weapon. He knew it involved radiation, but not what type and how it would be delivered.
Safrec did not let go. He was squeezing the life out of him. Surely that was not the plan. The pain became too strong and Roslyn fainted.
When he awoke, Safrec was standing over him. His huge frame casting a shadow over the couch on where Roslyn now lay. Two medical aides ensured that the President of ECG returned to good health quickly.
“I could have pushed you much further Thomas or I could have killed you in an instant. It was important for you to understand that I am in control…not you.”
Safrec arched his body and brought his face to within inches of Roslyn before he continued.
“You will arrange for me to address the senate to advise them that you will stay in office. In the meantime you will make contact with Alpha and determine their precise battle plans. When next we meet, I expect you to furnish me with everything you know…voluntarily.”
The Kronan continued his close stance and smiled, revealing his graying putrid teeth. Roslyn tried to hold back the nausea, but the stench was too great and he vomited. Safrec stood upright and waited for the Roslyn to recover before speaking again.
“Don’t let me down Thomas. You have no idea how powerful I am. You have no idea what I can do to you and your people if you let me down…until next time.”
The Kronan and his aides left the Presidents office. He still lay slumped on the couch ten minutes later, when his own chief aide, Kate Jones entered the office. She ran to his side immediately, not knowing whether he was alive or dead. She seemed relieved when he opened his eyes.
“What happened, Tom? Are you okay? Why are you lying down?”
“I am contemplating our future .”
He sat up and looked around. “Can you verify our secure status?”
Kate accessed her comm.link and ran a security scan, before opening the huge double doors and checking all was okay, in the suite of offices that lay outside. Content they were free from preying eyes and ears. She sat down next to the President on the couch.
“We are secure.”
“Good.” Roslyn was calm now. He was left in a state of panic when the Kryl Governor had left his office. He knew now what must be done.
“Safrec is going to advise the senate that I will remain in office indefinitely. In the mean time, we need to come up with a convincing cover story to persuade him that an Alpha attack will take a different form from the actual one they are taking…it needs to be so convincing that I actually believe it myself. Safrec entered my mind today and nearly killed me. I must volunteer the information and hope he does not probe my mind too deeply and realize my deception. I don’t know how we are going to do this but we will somehow. Nothing must get in the way of Alpha and their actual attack strategy.”
Kate Jones said nothing. She understood the consequences if this went wrong. Her life was in danger, but what choice did she have?
Chapter Forty-Two
The Gaseous Cloud
“Take us in Number One.”
Thirty seconds later, the limping Alpha Battle Cruiser entered the gaseous cloud and immediately half the ships essential systems went off-line. The main battle shields failed within a few minutes and all but the central plasma cannons seized up.
“We are falling apart Commander. We cannot fight the Kryl in here. They will tear us apart.”
“And themselves in the process. The plan is simple Number One. We arch and then head straight out as soon as we see them enter. Let’s hope they enter in the same area.”
“They should. It was the clearest point of access in thousands of clicks. Okay, but when we get out it will take a while for our secondary plasma banks to come back.”
“Yes, it will; but they will exit without shields and we will still have our main weapons banks and partial shielding back up. Mister Carter’s plan looks a good one.”
“Let’s hope he makes it back so we can tell him.”
* * * *
Jake Carter pulled the ship away from the explosion, the eighth Jump Ship destroyed since he had rejoined the main Rapier Group. There were only seven Rapiers left and with half the Sabres downed only Jake’s Sabre remained to combat the persistent and increasingly dominant Malchian Arrows.
To make matters worse, The Halo 7 now left the theatre, albeit engulfed within the gaseous nebula. Yes, this was his plan, but not if it left him and his compatriots to fend for themselves. Now though the Kryl Cruiser followed the Halo in to the cloud and Jake’s outline plan appeared to be working. All the Halo had to do was bring herself sharply out and take advantage of her online weapons systems against the Kryl cruiser when the enemy ship exited the gaseous cloud.
In the meantime, the remaining Jump Ships would have to fend for themselves. Jake assumed the lead as five Rapiers regrouped behind him. Ahead lay three Malchian Arrows. The opposing forces approached each other at maximum thrust.
“Rapier Group—assume basic victor formation. Let’s go straight at them and try to pick one off.” Jake’s Sabre now had comms. He had re-routed the comms relay to his personal comms receiver.
On the face of it, this was a dangerous strategy—especially with his ship out in front. But this is what he wanted now. He surprised himself, with how easily he slotted into command and how straightforward a process it was to ascend to a leader of men. It had been instinctive and felt right.
The lead arrow fired first and immediately took out the left frontal plasma banks on Jake’s Sabre. Jake responded in kind, but his weaponry failed to impact.
The two opposing forces came together and the formations of both sides broke up as the individual skirmishes came to the fore. Jake’s Sabre now passed beyond the battle and as he brought the Jump Ship around, he saw that already the Malchian arrows had gained the initiative. Two of the Rapiers were in trouble. He had to act quickly and picked out the Malchian arrow to the right of the battle area. This ship was engaged in a one-to-one with a badly damaged Rapier. Half of her starboard wing assembly was blown away. Somehow, the pilot managed to keep this in check while he continued to attack the Kryl ship. This was Jake’s first target. He brought the Sabre in fast, using his interactive headset to control her as he engaged the enemy directly using his right wing frontal plasma bank. The Malchian was caught off-guard and the Rapier pilot took full advantage as Jake’s Sabre swept past. The Malchian pilot took the full force of the Rapier’s plasma discharge directly into the cockpit, which flared briefly before the canopy hood was forced off and the unconscious Kryl was dragged out of his ship and into the cosmos.
As Jake witnessed the demise of the Malchian. He realized he now was the target as two more Malchian Arrows swept into to join the battle. To make m
atters worse two of the Rapiers engaged in a dog fight with one of the original Arrows collided. The lead Rapier took the full force of the impact and exploded. The second was caught in the blaze and damaged beyond repair, she spun out of control.
Two more Malchians joined the fracas as Jake fought to keep control of his Sabre as the pursuing Kryl fighter peppered his ship with plasma bursts, before pulling off and engaging a fresh target. His Sabre was badly damaged now. It was time to consider his options. If he went back in, it was almost certain death; his ship had only limited shield power left. Yet he could still make an impact. The decision was taken out of his hand as the Jump Ships main drive stuttered and went off-line. With only maneuvering thrusters available and no shielding; he was a sitting duck. His only choice to wait for the inevitable or hope that when the Halo 7 reappeared from the gaseous cloud he could some how get his ship back on board.
He did not have to wait long.
The Halo 7 exited the gaseous cloud just twenty kilometers from Jake’s stricken Jump Ship. Slowly out at first, she gathered momentum. He watched the blue haze appear around the rear of the ships as the shields re-engaged. Their main weaponry banks would soon be on-line. The Halo 7 arched for a second time as she drew back towards the gaseous cloud and now she waited.
Just as Jake had envisaged, The Kryl cruiser exited the gaseous cloud, crawling and without shields. The Halo 7 took full advantage and in the sixty seconds that followed, major damage was inflicted. The Tathos ships shields came up quickly once power was restored, but she was already in trouble.
Jake recognized his current position would put him in great danger. He needed to get close to the Halo 7’s aft launch bay and hope she stayed stationery long enough to allow him to bring the Sabre in on thrusters. The Kryl cruiser had restored power to her shields and her weapons banks were back on-line. It would not be long before she or the Halo 7 moved to seek tactical advantage. It was far more likely this battle would continue with both ships under power.
Most of the Sabre’s automated systems were off-line meaning he would have to manually calculate the correct intermix for the thruster drive and the correct coordinates to bring his ship toward the Halo 7. Under normal circumstances this would have been second nature, but Jake was still surrounded by enemy fighters and his maneuvers could well draw attention to his plight. A single plasma burst could finish him off. He needed to act quickly and decisively. In one single movement Jake pulled the ship onto the right track and started to edge forward.
The Halo 7 had drifted from its original position. As Jake picked up speed, it was clear she was making ready to move. He checked his comms device. His earlier re-routing would still work. He needed to get a message to the CAG. He opened a comm.link.
“CAG. I am incoming on thrusters with zero power and shielding. Can you see me? I need your aft bay to pick me up, before you disappear out of site.”
The Sabre was within ten kilometers of the Halo. Still outside the theoretical tractor beam capabilities.
“Jake. We will have you, but you need to get within eight clicks. I’ll update the bridge…we may have to leave you for a while.” Obeya Temsouri’s instantly recognizable voice was reassuring to a degree, but he did not like the idea of being stuck out on his own.
“I will bring her closer. Thanks CAG.”
Jake knew better than to expect that the ships commanders would stop the battle just to get one Jump Ship on board and the communication with the Halo would already have drawn attention to his position. He noticed several Kryl fighters less than a thousand meters to one side. For now they were otherwise engaged. Okay, let’s get closer.
* * * *
The tractor beam engaged just minutes before the Halo 7 commanders gave the order to move. The Kryl Cruiser had started to edge forward. The plan to pass the Alpha cruiser along the port side and target their main shield generators. The Halo 7’s commanders would not let that happen, they were keen themselves to get behind the Kryl cruiser. The Sabre was quite literally being pulled along behind the Halo 7, like a collapsed water skier, completely out of control and with nothing to do but pray.
The tractor beam was doing its job and slowly the Sabre drew closer to the ships aft hanger bay. They were within one kilometer. Jake felt the tractor beam pull him to starboard as the CAG tried to move the Jump Ship out of the way of the Kryl cruiser who was successful in bringing herself along the port side of the Halo 7. Again, the CAG compensated as the Halo 7 lurched upward to avoid a potential collision with the Kryl cruiser as the two ships drew along side each other.
At this range the Kryl cruisers weaponry will be telling, thought Jake. And If I don’t get on board quickly I will be caught in the crossfire. He looked toward the Halo 7, judging the distance between him and comparative safety was less than two hundred meters. He would soon be drawn within the protection of the Halo 7’s shields. But this created its own problem as the aft section of the ships shields would automatically go offline to allow the Jump Ship safe passage through. Given the Kryl ships current position, this was a problem, but by now there was little anyone on the Halo 7 could do about it.
The Halo 7’s shields dipped and the tractor beam pulled Jake’s Jump Ship in. Seconds later the shields re-engaged without any significant Kryl plasma fire getting through. Within thirty seconds the Sabre had landed and Jake exited the cockpit.
* * * *
“Lieutenant Commander Carter is back on board, sir. We still have six Jump Ships in situ.”
“Thanks Number One. They will have to battle it out themselves for the time being. We are not out of this yet, but the Kryl cruiser’s frontal shields are failing. We need to get in front of her again. Helm, pull us around to starboard, tight as you can. Number One, how are our shields?”
“20/45/55 and 35. We need to use a diagonal attack approach, using our main plasma banks and showing our stronger side.”
“Thanks, Number One.” Commander Jacques was pleased. His first officer was finally thinking like a battleship commander. The numbers he sited were the percentage shield strengths clockwise from port to starboard. If they showed their starboard side when they attacked, the chances are the shields would hold.
“It’s working, sir.” The stand in bridge commander currently had the con.”We should be in a position to fire in twenty seconds.”
“Weapons. Let them have everything we’ve got. Is the PBA back on-line yet?”
“Yes…just…”
“Engage at the half-way point, Mister Lancaster. We will pull across her front from starboard to port. Then we accelerate out of it and arch again.”
“In range, sir.”
“Fire!”
Tactically this was a textbook maneuver and now the Halo 7 had the edge. However, the problems were not yet over.
* * * *
On board the Tathos ship, Sorgan was seething. He knew the Alpha commanders had tactically outwitted him and his ship was in jeopardy. He would not let his ship be taken and it was clear Alpha’s intentions in the area related to the extraction of radiation as a weapon to use against the Kryl. His priorities now changed. The Tathos ship needed to return to Earth to alert the Kryl Queen of the impending danger.
He gave the command immediately, the Tathos ship’s star drive was still online and within seconds of receiving the command the drive was engaged and the Tathos ship was gone. The three remaining Malchian Arrows would now have to fend for themselves.
* * * *
“She’s gone, sir.”
Commander Jacques looked quizzically at his Comms Officer.
“Gone as in cloaked or departed?”
“Departed, sir. He cloaking systems were off-line and her star drive ignited just prior to their leaving. She has gone.”
“And left their remaining fighters. Do we take them in or let them have it?”
�
�We take them out Number One. We can’t afford to have Malchians on board, they are too dangerous. How many Jump Ships do we have left out there?”
“Seven including one Sabre. Jake Carter could go out again.”
“No. Jake Carter will remain on board. Send five more Rapiers to finish them off.”
Jacques was annoyed. The Kryl cruiser had been there for the taking. Their commander obviously had other ideas. But they could be back; they needed to keep everyone alert.
Five minutes later and the dog fight between Kryl and Rapier continued. But now only one Malchian Arrow survived. He had just taken out his second Rapier in this latest exchange and was chasing a fourth damaged Rapier down as it sped towards safety and the main hanger bay.
The Rapier pilot barely had control but the bay was in site as he lined up the Jump ship for a fast access and landing. He realized that the Arrow pilot had no intention of letting go. Did he intend to follow him in?
“CAG…the arrow is still in pursuit. She may be preparing to enter the ship. She could cause havoc in there before we take her down.”
“We are ready for him. Just get yourself down and let us worry about the arrow.”
The pilot double clicked to acknowledge and set the Rapier’s controls for final approach. The Jump ship entered the access tube at one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour and slowed to a stop ten seconds later as the harmonics of the access tube slowed the ship to a perfect stop. As the Rapier put down, the Malchian Arrow entered the hanger deck at high velocity. Somehow the pilot managed to maintain control as he used his plasma cannons to pepper all sections of the hanger bay, pivoting on a single access, using his thruster controls to maneuver. The Arrow threat was removed seconds later as two marines targeted their smart rifles, deploying plasma pulses directly into the thrusters manifold. The Arrow reared up as the pilot fought to re-establish control, but in such a confined space it was impossible. The Kryl fighter crashed into the roof of the hanger bay and came down hard into the inner wall, destroying several sections of bulkhead as it fell to the ground ablaze.