by Chris Burton
“He slept on the couch Jake. We were revising late last night and I told him to stay.”
“I thought...”
“Now is not the time to discuss this Jake. We can talk later. I am going in late today, as I want to be by your side, when you are released. There are no issues here. Let’s just get you out and then I can give you a big hug. I have missed you.”
“I have missed you too. I’ll see you a little later.”
Jake hung up. He was not happy. Carla and he had discussed how best to help Steve get back on track and with Jake away at the TG, Carla was Steve’s best chance to get through graduation. Carla suggested that maybe she should let Steve think that they still stood a chance, post graduation. Jake objected but she reassured him that she would allow nothing to happen and that she would only be acting this way, to give Steve something to aim for. Once they graduated, Steve would be free from what he saw as the unnatural encumbrance of the academy, free to pursue his dream of piloting a Jump Ship as a career. He would be able to take rejection much better, especially as he could well be posted on the other side of the galaxy within a few weeks. The policy was working; Steve was back on track and would be ready for his finals, something almost unthinkable a few weeks ago.
Somehow, Jake doubted it would be easy for Steve to let go, once they graduated and still in the back of his mind, was the nagging doubt that Carla, despite her assertions to the contrary, could one day go back to Steve.
Jake’s thought process was interrupted, by the arrival of his parents.
* * * *
His parent’s daily visit was restricted to twenty minutes and Jake was then left on his own once again to ponder the situation with Carla and Steve before the medic arrived for what Jake hoped would be the termination of the stasis process.
The medic studied the various monitors for a few minutes, before speaking.
“I am switching off the stasis chamber now. You will feel the gel drain quite quickly and then a sudden numbness, which will clear within a few minutes as your body adapts to its change in surroundings. You have made very good progress Mister Carter. The healing process is complete and you will be up walking again by this afternoon.”
“That soon? I have been stuck in this chamber for five days. I don’t think I can just stand up and start jumping up and down!”
“Of course not, although you should be walking perfectly normally. The adaptive muscle therapy will kick in automatically, once the gel drains. We do not hang about these days, Mister Carter. We need the chamber to pass on to the next patient and some technicians will be here within an hour to collect it and to restore your apartment to its original state. I am signing you off now.”
* * * *
Once again, Jake was left on his own. He felt the muscle therapy begin to massage and manipulate his joints, although there was no perceivable movement. He did feel numb but it was diminishing. By the time, his medical droid next attended with his lunch, the muscle stimulation process was complete.
“You should be able to stand.”
Jake felt anxious but he saw that the droid believed he was ready. He sat up and to his surprise, he found he could move both his arms and legs with comparative ease. He stood briefly before immediately sitting down again. He felt a little dizzy.
“You will feel a little unsteady for a few minutes. I suggest you take your lunch in the armchair. You should try to walk to it now.”
The rather metallic, almost nasal voice of the droid was typically matter-of-fact. Jake stood again. Slowly and gingerly, he walked from the chamber to the chair, which stood on the other side of the room, facing his workstation and the window.
The droid brought his lunch to him and then proceeded to disconnect the stasis chamber.
Carla arrived a few minutes later and was overjoyed to see that Jake was out of the chamber and was sitting up. She leaned over, kissed him, and then sat down next to him.
“If I had known you would be out already, I would have been here earlier. I wanted to be there for you when you were released from the tank.”
“It all happened rather fast...sorry.”
“That’s okay. The most important thing is that you are up and about. Have you tried to walk yet?”
“Only from the chamber to the chair. Feels okay...a bit weird though.”
“It’s bound to. You were off your feet for about ten days and it was a nasty accident. Your mother has told me that she wants you walking properly this afternoon.”
“Typical doctor! She’d have me climbing a mountain this afternoon!”
“Yes, probably. Let’s not get carried away. We can try walking in a bit. Right now, I want to talk to you about this Steve thing. We need to make sure we have our stories right. He is bound to be here soon.”
Here we go, thought Jake. What exactly was she going to tell him?
“I didn’t know he was coming today?”
“Of course he is. He’s supposed to be your best friend Jake. Even with us being together, that’s still something you want to preserve isn’t it?”
“Yes, but not if it gets in the way of you and me. This is precious time Carla. In a few weeks time, we could be separated by light years of space and God knows when we will see each other again.”
“I doubt, whether they will allow you to fly for a while yet. You may be able to walk, but according to your mother, your motor functions and muscle control will require some fairly intensive therapy before you can climb back into a cockpit.”
“This is my mother, who would do anything to stop me from flying. This accident was exactly the kind of ammunition she and my father need. They would have me stuck on a flight deck for sure. Anyway, we could still be based in different parts of the galaxy, even if I am grounded. Who knows—I could be in Cirrus 9 and you and Steve could both be based on Alpha Two. That would kind of screw up our plans.”
“Not unless Steve signs up for SED, which is unlikely. You know as well as I do that all three of us are likely to be separated.”
“So what does Steve think about his relationship with you? Does he think it is back on? How far have you gone to make him feel ‘positive’ about things?”
“I am not sure I like what you are inferring. Let’s be clear, we agreed that I would send Steve some weak signals, just to give him the impression there was hope for him and me in the future. He has grasped this quite well and has kept his distance. He isn’t asking about you and me now anyway.”
This made Jake angry.
“Goddamn it Carla. We should not have to hide our feelings for each other. We should be able to go out in public so everyone can see that we are now together. If it does not come out soon, no-one will ever know. Especially if I get blown to bits six weeks out of graduation!”
“Don’t talk like that! I know this is frustrating. I love you Jake and I want us to be together but Steve is important to me too. Only platonically, but he is important. We were together for a long time and I want to, we need to give him the best chance of graduating with half decent grades so he doesn’t get posted to a cannon fodder JS squadron and straight into the Kryl line of fire.”
“Best advice my father ever gave me, was don’t fall in love in the academy. Light years of space do not make for good relationships and then there’s Joanne. Losing her, shows us both exactly what can happen, especially in war time.”
“Jo was unlucky, but you and she had fallen in and out of love, before she was killed. I miss her too, so does Steve.”
Joanne Black was Jake’s ex-girlfriend. She graduated as a Jump Ship Pilot, one year ahead of Jake, but was killed a few months ago during an exchange with the Sentinels. Jake still mourned her loss. They remained close after they had split and he still could not believe she was gone. He tried to put thoughts of Jo out of his mind and returned to the matter at hand.
“So, we just continue as we are then.”
“Yes, we have too. Steve knows not to try anything on. We just need to get you back into the academy
now, so you can complete your catch up and then we can get down to revision cramming.”
“Just three weeks to go!”
“Yes. Apart from you and me, nothing else is as important. For you, me and Steve.”
Chapter Eighteen
The War Room
“So what’s happened to the probes then?”
Admiral Koenig was in conference with his ‘inner cabinet’ and he was growing impatient with the distinct lack of coherent intelligence that his fleet was providing him. Currently he was arguing with Admiral Clarke, who was used to his Commander in Chief’s outbursts and was trying to take a conciliatory tone.
“None of them have come back. But that does not prove anything...it’s pretty volatile in there.”
“Or hostile at the other end. Have we tried sending a manned vessel through?”
“No. Not yet anyway. Admiral Haines is playing it carefully.”
“Not good enough! We cannot afford to wait any longer. We need to know whether the Kryl are gathering at the other side before we commit to the biggest single fleet movement in Alpha’s history.”
“I’ll see if I can get them to push this along ASAP.”
“Make sure you do. Okay. Let’s move onto other things. As you know, Roslyn called me yesterday evening. He has asked Alpha to assume immediate responsibility for Earth’s shield defense system and SED. Remarkable I know, but this is only temporary. What with someone rubbing Roslyn up the wrong way and the media attacking him ‘like a dog with a bone’, this was probably an easier decision than might have been.”
“Because if it goes wrong. It will be down to us.”
Admiral Kohn was quiet for most of the meeting, but the sudden increase in responsibility that was likely to fall on his shoulders woke him up. He knew what was coming, both the shields and SED, would now fall under his remit.
“No it won’t Kohn. Let us be quite clear, especially in our statement to the media that we are taking on two rather sick animals here. The shield situation is hopeless and we need to resource immediately. I am giving this to you as you might expect.”
“Okay...and SED?”
“No. SED will stay with me for the time being. I want to gain a full understanding of exactly where the problems lie. If its resources then we are in trouble, with so little time...I presume you have the up-to-date shield info already?”
“Yes and No. The information I have received contradicts what our inside sources are saying. The official reports are definitely understating the problem. The weakest shield section is apparently at sixty-five percent. Whereas, our reports were showing these sections at below thirty-five. Either way, these are way off the mark and the problem seems to be widespread. Forty-eight of the one hundred and ten sections are apparently below fifty percent strength.”
“You need to get in there and start to throw your weight around.”
Koenig then turned to Admiral Clarke. “We need to quickly identify our experts in the field and get them back to Earth ASAP. I’ll leave that with you.”
“That’s fine, I have already made a list and the majority are already en-route back to Alpha One. I will update Admiral Kohn with the latest Intel this afternoon.”
“Good. Now let us turn to fleet numbers. Am I correct in assuming that we can muster over two hundred ships of the line? “
Admiral Clarke responded again. Information was his forte and he was glad for once to present slightly better news than his CIC would be expecting.
“Over two hundred and fifty, with nearly a hundred in the reserve fleet. We seem to be on top of this, what with support from the Sentinels and the Sect and anything else we can glean from The Allied Planet Federation, we should be able to gather a pretty significant defensive fleet.”
“I am not so sure that either the Sentinels or the Sect have actually agreed anything and the APF will send us nothing. The additional fleet numbers are encouraging. How many vessels remain in dock for repairs?”
“About seventy-five—at varying stages. I presume that we intend to buffer the reserve fleet and send them to the Styros Cluster?”
“Yes. They will form the backbone of the contingency fleet. How long before all of the remaining ships in dock are ready?”
“About five weeks for all to be clear. The contingency fleet. Surely it would be better to amass a greater number in the first instance, rather than bring them into combat after the main event?”
“You know perfectly well that the contingency is there for continuity of our species and not as a means to continue any fight we have with the Kryl. They would stay hidden in the Styros Cluster, potentially for many months and would only be brought into play, once the perceived threat from the Kryl fleet has diminished. I foresee that potentially one hundred and fifty ships of the line would form the contingency, with maybe two hundred and seventy-five, plus new build vessels in the main fleet.”
“That is fewer than we had in the first Kryl battle.”
“Then, we need to build our replacements faster.”
“Capacity on new build is being restricted by repairs to current stock. Once the ship building yards are clear, they can increase capacity. That is up to around ten C class ships per month.”
“Which may all come a little late. No, we have to assume that we will have operationally between two hundred and fifty and two hundred and seventy-five ships of the line and build our defensive and offensive capability on those numbers. Gentlemen, I think, that is enough for now. Any other points to raise before we close?”
Admiral Clarke stood and approached the window, before turning towards his colleagues.
“I wanted to briefly discuss SED. I know that you want to keep hold of this for the moment, but I am hearing about some interesting new developments from our laboratories at the Cyber Defense Corporation.”
“Combat Droids? They are too unreliable and not exactly relevant to where we are now.”
“Actually they could be. There are still some 250,000 droids in storage and with their new operating system, the reliability issues have been quashed.”
“I thought all the droids were destroyed.”
“Apparently only about ten percent were actually decommissioned. The remainders are in air-dried storage at SED Exeter, in the UK—minus their defunct operating systems.”
“So, what makes the new operating system any better? How can we be sure they won’t turn on us as soon as they are powered up?”
“We would need proof, certainly. My point is that if they do work, they would be immune from any indirect control from the Kryl. They could be a formidable defense.”
“That’s a good point. Okay, find out some more and we will discuss in detail later this week. In the meantime, I suggest we close. We have a lot to consider and if our fears become reality, precious little time to do it.”
Chapter Nineteen
Word from the Fleet
So, the fleet is ready. In the Kryl galaxy, they had amassed along the Fifth Corridor, within site of the fissure, but undetectable. The Humans’ probes would be ineffective.
Morvalt’s ship was invisible. With full cloaking, he was able to push his ship right through the middle of Alpha’s Fleet and came to rest within sight of the wormhole. Now we will wait.
* * * *
Lieutenant Samos stood and looked through the window of his cell. He saw that the Kryl ship in which he was incarcerated was surrounded by hundreds of Alpha vessels. Surely, Alpha could see them? It was clear that they were in the Tri-star System and that they were expecting the Kryl fleet to appear through the blue haze, which emanated from the growing fissure between the wormholes.
If they could not see the Kryl ship, then he hoped it would stay that way. It would not be good, if two hundred plasma cannons and a plethora of Teutonic missiles suddenly rained down on them. That could be very bad. Yet this presented an opportunity. If he could somehow get out of his cell, kitted up, and off the ship, he could drift toward the Alpha fleet and safety. Risky, difficul
t, but the first prospect of freedom, he had seen for weeks. He suddenly had renewed hope. It was not much, but it was something to cling on to.
* * * *
Morvalt was growing impatient. We have waited far too long. It is time for the Queen to command her fleet to enter the wormhole. We have assembled a huge fleet and we will quickly extinguish Alpha’s pathetic response. This galaxy is our new feeding ground and when the fleet arrives, we are here to stay.
Chapter Twenty
The Final Week
Jake was able to attend classes, just two days after he exited the stasis chamber. Remarkably, after such a serious accident, he had made a full recovery, albeit that after a long period of inactivity, his muscles had degraded and he was in the midst of a suite of physiotherapy sessions to assist his recovery process.
He joined Carla outside her apartment block and, after a cursory glance to check all was clear, they embraced and kissed, before commencing their walk towards Steve’s apartment and the academy.
“How does it feel this morning?”
“My knee is a bit tight, when I walk, but I can’t really complain. I was able to exercise last night, but I gave it a miss this morning.”
“Probably best. When’s your next physio?”
“Five o’clock p.m. Oh, oh. Here comes Steve and he looks a little vexed!”
As Steve neared, they stopped walking and Steve approached Carla, turning his back to Jake.
“I thought you were meeting me this morning at twenty past?”
Carla looked surprised. “Err, when did we arrange that?”
“Last night, when I left. I know it was late but you can’t have forgotten.”
“Steve, I was not with you last night! What are you on about?”
Now it was Steve’s turn to look confused. “Did you spend the night with Jake then?”
Oh, God. Here we go again, thought Jake. “Don’t be ridiculous Steve. Carla was at home studying, as was I. Where were you? It sounds like you were on something, or maybe you still are, because you’re not making any sense!”