by Chris Burton
“What amuses you Roslyn?”
Roslyn decided to exploit this tactic. He knew he would not be able to deviate from the main topic of conversation for long; but at least he could frustrate him.
“I was just reflecting on your remarkable accent. Your understanding of our language is astounding.”
“Irrelevant! You have destroyed the relationship between us and placed all humans in grave danger. You must seek to quickly repair the damage you have done, rather than try to divert my attention by complimenting my language prowess. The agreement is dead. How are you going to resolve this?”
Roslyn quickly realized his tactic was not working. His intention had always been to deal with this matter straight on and now was the time.
“Safrec. I am sorry you don’t recognize a compliment when you see one. As people we are always keen to find the good in others. But we cannot find anything good in the Kryl…and the agreement is a reflection of this. I am sorry, Safrec; we will no longer comply with the agreement and my people will remove you from Earth and the outlying colonies—by force if necessary.”
“You fool. What makes you think your limited resources are any match for ours? We will crush you and kill you all.”
“I don’t have to know Safrec and I don’t have to explain either. I just believe…”
He felt the tightening in his neck as soon as he had finished his sentence. Safrec has decided the conversational part of our meeting is over. He felt like his neck was about to snap. Then he felt the probing, the deep probing inside his mind and he felt powerless to defend himself. This was not about the pain. He knew that his every thought, sub consciously or otherwise was the Kronan’s to take. His resistance was over.
* * * *
Roslyn passed out again and now lay slumped over a chair. Safrec sat in front of him on his throne. The human would wake shortly and Safrec would tell him exactly what would happen now. He had delved deep into the humans mind; sensing there was no further resistance he now had a more complete understanding of exactly what Alpha was planning and he knew his people were at great risk. He would do everything in his power to prevent their plans from coming to fruition and that would start with persuading Roslyn to reinstate the agreement. He was stirring now. Good it was time to seize the initiative.
“I am pleased to see you have survived the experience Thomas. Your mind is unharmed. You will feel well again in a few moments.”
Roslyn sat up and shook his head as if he trying to remove an invading parasite from inside his head. He sighed and then turned his attention towards the Kryl commander.
“Okay. So, you have what you needed to know. It does not change anything. I have told you my people will not accept your rule again.”
“Not good enough! You have one day to change your stance on this. If you persist we will take our share of your people indiscriminately.”
“I have told you already, I have no choice. I still believe the agreement is the best option, but not if my people tell me no. I do want to maintain our status quo. Can we have a little longer than twenty-four hours?”
“No! You will get your people back under control or I will do it for you. You don’t want that to happen President Roslyn. Many humans will die…take him back to Earth.”
As the Kronan barked out his final order, two drones appeared from the shadows and led the silent Roslyn away.
Safrec waited until the human was gone. He smiled again. He was back in charge and his stance would win through. Now, he must speak to his Queen.
* * * *
The Queen sat patiently as the Kronan took the long walk towards the center of her Sanctuary and her throne. As he drew nearer, he saw someone was with her. It was the human Carla Stevenson. What was she doing here?
“What are you going to do about the agreement Safrec? This is a disaster?”
“My Queen. I will not discuss matters of state with the human here. She needs to leave now.”
“Relax Safrec. Carla is not here in an official capacity, although I am sure she will be keen to know what you have to say.”
“Then broadcast it to President Roslyn. My Queen, I must insist she leaves or I will.”
“You will not overstep your mark, my Kronan. I wanted her to meet you that is all. Do you have a message for the ECG President that Carla can relay?”
Safrec could not believe he was having this conversation. Trieste had clearly lost control and was using this human now as her confident…or was she here for some other reason? The Queen seemed in good health. Was she using Carla’s brain stimuli as relief? He looked closer at Carla and felt her draw to him. He could have her right here in front of the Queen. He saw now why Navalion wanted her by his side.”
“My Queen. I have already spoken to Roslyn and I have given him one day to reinstate the agreement. You could reaffirm your support of my actions to your confident and she can advise Roslyn accordingly.”
The Queen stared at Safrec. She was clearly not happy for Carla to be referred to as her confident.
“Carla is not my confident. She is here in a diplomatic capacity and assuming your actions are warranted, she will know they have my support. Carla thank you for your time today. As always it has been beneficial. Please reinforce to President Roslyn our wish to continue the Earth/Kryl relationship in a friendly way. These skirmishes on Earth will be dealt with and then we can move on.”
Carla coughed and looked a little uncertain as to what she should do now. A gesture from the Queen, moving her arm towards the sanctuary exit was sufficient to engage her.
“Thank you, Trieste. It has been a pleasure and I am pleased to meet you, Safrec. I assure you that I will reinforce your stance to the President.”
Carla stepped away, but paused as Safrec stared at her. He was probing her mind.
Good he saw she was powerless to resist him. That could be useful. Of course she was the mate of Jake Carter. A good lure to bring the killer of Navalion to the Queen’s ship. He saw she was troubled…another human was the object of her affection…no it just been sex. It was curious why her having a second partner should be a problem to Carter. And finally as he drove to the very depths of her mind, he saw the ultimate truth. The Queen was slowly absorbing her. The cosy relationship between them was just a ploy. Trieste was consuming the human after all. He withdrew, smiled, and allowed the human to exit. He waited until she was out of earshot before he spoke.
“So, you have been consuming her after all.”
“Yes, but I will not harm her…it is enough to keep me going between your visits.”
“Are you acknowledging me as your mate?”
“Yes…but not as my chosen one and only until Sorgan arrives home. In any case you will depart with the fleet shortly to join him.”
“Yes, my Queen. I will take you this evening—before I leave for the fleet. Will you take a human in full sacrifice to provide you with relief while I am away?”
“Yes…but not Carla. Sorgan is bringing me a suitable human. Enough of this, my health is not relevant here. What are you doing to get the agreement reinstated? This is critical to our survival.”
Sorgan again, thought Safrec. I will deal with him my own way. The Queen will never see him again.
“As I have told you, my Queen; the ECG have one day. If they don’t comply then we will take the one hundred and fifty million ourselves. We have been here before. The humans will comply when they realize just how little choice they have.”
Chapter Fifty–Four
The Journey Home
Two weeks after departing from the Rymanian Abyss, the Radiation Task force was struggling to make progress. For the third time in ten days, the fleet was forced to slow to sub stellar velocity, because one of the radiation carriers was in trouble.
John Arnold had expected this. The Antirillium Radiation
was extremely volatile and encasing it within a metal charge shell and subjecting it to high velocity at anything other than a very specific low temperature range; there were going to be problems. How these would manifest was uncertain, but now it was clear. Half the cruisers in the Alpha specialist task force had their main storage hold on the lower decks to the aft of the ship and most were within a hundred meters of the main stellar drive. Friction and latent heat alone would have an immediate effect on the cabin temperature and as the ships stellar drive warmed up, so did the deck temperature. The storage holds were cooled, but could not sustain the low temperature levels required indefinitely. The problem was exacerbated by the natural heat emanating from the radiation shells themselves.
Arnold tried to minimize the impact this had on the fleet’s progress by adjusting the automated coolers and bringing in portable freeze systems and applying them at various positions throughout the storage rooms. But the balance was the problem, it was virtually impossible to sustain the correct temperature in all parts of the hold.
He had just arrived on the Romany. A small C class cruiser, which had seen its best days, but was still amongst the most agile ships of the line in the contingency fleet. This was the first time there had been a problem aboard the Romany, whose twin cargo store’s sat either side of the main drive systems. Their chief engineer had done a good job until now, maintaining the correct environmental balance in the storage chambers, but the temperature in both now climbed 0.05 degrees above the prescribed maximum temperature limit. He was left with little option but to advise his CO to disengage the stellar drive. The Chief Engineer joined Arnold as he entered the first storage chamber.
“What’s the ambient temperature in Store One now?”
“Two hundred and eighty seven point two degrees Kelvin.”
“Okay…that is within the boundaries. What was your peak temperature?”
“Three hundred and one. We had rebound temperatures in excess of three hundred and ten…that is way too warm.”
“What have you done to rectify?”
“Six portable freezers in each store and we are pumping cold air in constantly…at the expense of other areas of the ship which are suffering of course.”
“Why have you split the charges up into two stores? Surely if you keep them in one store, you can deploy all the freezers in one place.”
“Yes, I’d thought of that, but the CO wants the risk spread.”
“Why? If just one charge explodes it will take out the whole ship, not just the other charges in one store room. I have not got time for this and nor have you. Tell the CO, the charges need to be moved to one store. Then all you need to do is keep that cold.”
“Er, okay…might be better if you spoke to him.”
“No! Just tell him and if the obstacle remains then I will speak to him. I take it you have things back under control now?”
“Yes…once I have permission to move the charges and we have the ambient temperature down to two hundred and seventy three, we are good to go.”
“Good then; I will rejoin my ship. Don’t let even your spiked temperatures get above three hundred chief. Any more problems let me know.”
John Arnold left the store and headed back towards his shuttle. He did not need this. The bloody CO’s were causing all the problems by not thinking things through and not taking the advice he gave them. The delays were down to them.
* * * *
The fleet restarted its journey three hours later. Already they were nearly a day behind and their scheduled rendezvous with the main fleet was in jeopardy. Hoskins was considering his options. It was important to get the Radiation task force to Earth as quickly as possible, but not if it risked the lives of the crew or indeed the volume of charges deployable. The risks were heightened, now it was likely that the Malchian Cruiser had returned to the main Kryl fleet. The longer they took to travel the huge distance back to Earth, the more likely they would encounter fierce resistance when they got there. So, what should he do? He could split the task force and allow those ships unaffected by the overheating issues to travel ahead, but the best protection was safety in numbers. How many times would the fleet have to slow down before it reached Earth? To a greater or lesser degree the solution to these imponderables was taken out of his hands.
“Sir…the Romany is in trouble. Their stellar drive is overheating.”
“Have they disengaged the stellar drive?”
“Yes…”
“Has this affected the temperature of the storage rooms?”
“Not confirmed. Two cruisers have pulled back to assist her. We can arrange a third.”
“No. Bring those two cruisers back to us. The Romany must remain in isolation to protect the rest of the fleet. Set me up a direct comm.link with their CO.”
This was altogether another problem. The Romany was an older ship and her drive was exhausted. They were jeopardizing the entire mission by placing radiation shells in storage on ships where the mechanics were in question.
“Link open, sir.”
“Commander Tyrell. Are the charges safe?”
“No. Not yet. We have managed to avoid a superheat episode but it is pretty warm down there. I see you have pulled the other ships away from us. A damage limitation exercise Admiral?”
“I am just being prudent Commander. We need to get those charges cooled and safely off the Romany.”
“To where, sir? All the cruisers have their maximum yield of charges. The dangers of moving these things around cannot be overstated and then from a deployment perspective the charges will be in the wrong place.”
“We will take delivery of all your charges here on board the Halo 7. We have ample storage space, away from the drive mechanisms. Get the charges stabilized and prepare a shuttle to move them.”
“Okay, Jonathan…but we must be careful.”
The Romany’s CO was unable to complete his sentence. The Alpha cruisers stellar drive core just imploded.
“She’s gone, sir.” The fleet command officer shook his head in disbelief. “The explosion vaporized her!”
Hoskins” expression remained impassive.
“What’s the status of the other two cruisers?”
“They appear undamaged, sir…I have a comm.link from the CO of the Belmont.”
“Open.”
“Admiral…we are in trouble now as well. The explosion knocked out our drive systems and our stores our overheating. We need to expel the charges into free-space.”
“No…we cannot loose any more charges. Do what you can Commander, but don’t expel the charges.”
* * * *
Aboard the Belmont, the bridge was in turmoil. The ambient temperature in the main storage room was over three hundred degrees Kelvin and rising.
“Sir…we must eject the charges. If they get much hotter, the gas surrounding them will explode. We have no choice.”
The Commander was in his own private hell, but he did not show it, presenting instead a stoic, featureless expression. He needed to calm the situation.
“Have we forecast a peak temperature in the store rooms?”
“It will rise above three hundred and twenty-five Kelvin, sir. That is way to hot?”
“We cannot expel the charges. We need to remain calm and wait for the temperature to peak and then subside. In the meantime we need to flood the environmental systems with as much cool air as we can muster. Divert all air flow and shut down non crew areas of the ship. This is a waiting game.”
* * * *
Back aboard the Halo 7, Jonathan Hoskins was joined by John Arnold on the command bridge. The science supremo’s face was ashen. He was not accustomed to loss of life and on such a large scale. He tried to maintain his decorum.
“This could go either way, Admiral. How many people are there aboard the Be
lmont?”
“Over three hundred and fifty…but that is a subjective number Mister Arnold. The charges need to remain intact to save the lives of millions of people. I know it sounds cold, but the charges are what need to be preserved here.”
“I know…I just find it hard to believe I have witnessed the deaths of hundreds of people aboard the Romany too. Okay, do we have a direct link to the Belmont?”
A voice from the comm.link responded, it was the Belmont’s CO. “We can hear you. Mister Arnold. I guess there is nothing more we can do. We just have to be patient. The temperature in the store room just passed three hundred and twenty. It should peak out soon.”
“We will remain with you, Commander…if not actually physically; you can be sure we are there in spirit.”
“That is very reassuring Mister Arnold. I will keep the link open.”
* * * *
Inside the main storage room, the temperature had indeed peaked and was cooling. The radiation shells lay side-by-side along the front wall of the room, the furthest point from the ships drives systems, but over three meters away from the nearest environmental access vent. Inside the shell nearest the far wall, the gaseous membrane, which surrounded the radiation started to fuse with the shell’s outer wall. Seconds later, the gas began to diffuse through the wall and into contact with the oxygen rich storage room. The resultant spark ignited three of the shells instantaneously. The resultant explosion ripped a hole in the aft and side of the Belmont, before a huge fire ball engulfed the whole ship. Seconds later the Alpha Battle Cruiser was ripped apart. The Antirillium Gas took its second victim.
Hoskins and his command crew stared in horror as they realized what happened. John Arnold collapsed into the command chair behind him. Then there was silence.
* * * *
“I don’t care Jean-Luc. We cannot lose another charge, ship or its crew. We have no choice now to split the fleet. The unaffected vessels will continue at SD6 and will rendezvous with the main fleet as planned. The other vessels will continue at their own pace and will join us when they catch up…and yes, I need you and the Halo 7 to lead the second fleet.”