THE ALLIANCE IN PERIL ( The Chronicles of Jake Book--3 )
Copyright © 2017 by Author. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.
Author: Peter Lewis Atkinson.
e-mail: [email protected]
United Kingdom.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1 - The Aftermath.
Chapter 2 - Another Incident.
Chapter 3 - Rumours & Speculation.
Chapter 4 - Business as Usual.
Chapter 5 - A Very Big Gift.
Chapter 6 - The Long Journey
Chapter 7 - Déjà vu.
Chapter 8 - The New Residence.
Chapter 9 - Everything Happens So Fast.
Epilogue.
Footnote by Misty.
Thank You & Acknowledgement.
The Alliance in Peril
By Peter Lewis Atkinson
The Chronicles of Jake Trilogy.
‘The Alliance in Peril’ is a continuation story. It is strongly recommended that you first read, ‘My Return to Planet Earth.’ Followed by, ‘The Invasion Begins’ before embarking on this book.
Chapter 1 - The Aftermath.
Chapter 2 - Another Incident.
Chapter 3 - Rumours & Speculation.
Chapter 4 - Business as Usual.
Chapter 5 - A Very Big Gift.
Chapter 6 - The Long Journey.
Chapter 7 - Déjà vu.
Chapter 8 - The New Residence.
Chapter 9 - Everything Happens So Fast.
Chapter 1
The Aftermath
As you may recall, I was in the middle of a battle. It was the first alien invasion of Earth and I was left with a difficult decision to make. I could disobey Alenna and assist Pooky and the other frigates in their attempt to repel and destroy the enemy ships. Or I could rescue Captain Porridy before her ship entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up. They would have had no hope of survival. Also, I was somewhat concerned as to where the other mothership had gone, but for now that was not the pressing concern. I had made my decision: it was the only choice I could make. I would disobey Alenna! Pooky was family and as such, she was my foremost concern. After all, there were five on her ship, just as Captain Porridy’s. To add to that, there were the crews on the other frigates to think about as well. The majority outweighed the minority. Then something happened that made me change my mind, just like the cavalry on an old western arriving in the nick of time. There was a barrage of fire from both beam and a plasma cannon that seemed to come out of nowhere destroying a number of the Silka craft. It turned out to be that gunship which the US now owned. Now the tide had turned and Earth had the upper hand. I left them to it and headed towards Captain Porridy’s frigate to attempt my daring plan to rescue her and the crew.
“What are you doing?” asked Alenna in a worried way.
I replied, “We are the only hope for Captain Porridy and her crew. I am going to attempt to scoop them up before they enter the atmosphere. I want all of you to strap yourselves into your seats as I am going to turn off the internal gravity.”
This was not going to be easy. I had to get our ship in front of them, open the cargo bay doors and at the same time match their speed. By the time I had accomplished this task we were fast approaching Earth’s outer atmosphere. Using the rear cameras I lined up our cargo ship and slowed by just a couple of mph; this allowed Captains Porridy’s frigate to drift into our cargo bay. As soon as it was far enough in, I closed the doors. The problem now was that it was not strapped down; any fast manoeuvre would send it slamming into the bulkheads. First I informed Captain Porridy that she and her crew should brace themselves, as I was about to increase the gravity within the ship way past what we would be used to. This I hoped would sort of act like glue and help prevent the frigate moving too fast. It would scrape on the floor but as the floor was already damaged by that mining rig I wasn’t so concerned about it. We were now starting to get some buffering from the outer atmosphere. I slowly increased the gravity within the ship, at the same time spinning up the pods to slow us down.
Alenna said, “What are you doing now? I can hardly move.”
I replied, “Sorry, I know you are feeling very uncomfortable, I hope I can return the gravity to normal soon.”
We were slowing, but not fast enough. I had to take a chance as the friction of the air on the hull was heating the external surface fast. I had to slow us down, so I spun the antigravity pods even faster. As I did I watched the monitor displaying Captain Porridy’s frigate, it started to scrape along the cargo bay floor before coming to rest against the bulkhead. Now I could pull us back into orbit. I had saved Captain Porridy and her crew. One problem dealt with. I was now eager to resume my surveillance of the battle. In the time that it had taken to rescue Captain Porridy, the gunship and the remaining frigates had prevailed in repelling the Silka craft. We had five out of the remaining Earth frigates severely damaged. They would not be able to return to Earth under their own power. They would now require rescuing: another job for me. But first, I needed to make sure the frigate we already had in the cargo bay was secure. This job was left to Captain Porridy and her crew. In the meantime, we called up Pooky so her mother could talk with her. Yarkeli was so relieved that her daughter was now safe. I spent the next few hours returning the five damaged frigates to Earth. They all ended up where I had delivered them to in the first place, at the military base in the UK. Some may be beyond repair, at least all the crews survived. Pooky was glad that Lucy was safe. The crews of the eight frigates destroyed by the Silka mothership were not so lucky. This included Pooky’s sparring partner, Vicky Vomit. Pooky was more upset over his death than she admitted to. Now, the burning question: where has the remaining Silka mothership gone?
I spoke to Captain Porridy, “Do you have any clues as to where that mothership has disappeared?”
The captain replied, “Yes I do. As we were forced to retire from the battle due to the damage we had sustained, we were left to observe everything that was happening. We believe it must have had a secondary bridge from where it attempted to star-drive, but then, it did not get very far. We last observed it going behind Venus, and assume it is still there.”
I asked further of the captain, “Earth is not in a position to launch an attack, and we can’t ignore it, so what can be done?”
The captain then said, “We need to return to Lusiana to replace my frigate and stock up on the singularity torpedoes. In the meantime, we just hope that mothership does not return.”
Arrangements were made for Pooky and her crew along with their frigate, to be on temporary loan to Earth, while the rest of us returned to Lusiana. Yarkeli was also allowed to stay on Earth and she was given accommodation along with Pooky’s crew at the military base where they were to be stationed. Yarkeli would be their cook and housekeeper.
Before we left Earth I had been asked to attend a meeting. At this meeting were a number of scientists along with the top commanders in charge of Earth’s defences. The meeting could only be described as a de-briefing as they wanted to know everything that I had observed and done. They were very intrigued by why I was not targeted.
I was asked, “How come you were not even shot at, even once?”
I replied, “They did not know I was there. I believe my ship could not be detected by the Silka. First, I had the illusion generator on. Second, my cargo freighter is impervious to radar detection and three, I was stationary and so had zero heat signature. They came straight towards me without any shields; they were sitting ducks. I took my chance and fired at them.”
Now one of the commanding officers asked Captain Porridy, with Pooky translating for her, “Why is it that a civilian craft is built in a way that it could not be detected and the military ones could?”
Captain Porridy shrugged her shoulders and replied, “I am not sure, other than military ships have shields so can’t have an illusion field as well. It could also be that we had not considered stationary ships not emitting a heat signature. I will be giving my own report to the alliance defence league when I return to Lusiana.”
There were discussions about the remaining Silka mothership, but no solution was forthcoming at this time. They could only consolidate what defences they had left for the time being. Now I had to leave Earth and go to Lusiana. Alenna and the wives would normally be relieved at leaving a tense situation behind, but they were worried about Pooky and Yarkeli being left on Earth. As we were about to leave orbit I asked Jenna to make a note of the orbit of Venus and to make sure she knew where it would be over the next month at any given time.
On the journey back to Lusiana I asked Captain Porridy, “Captain, Earth has nuclear weapons. What use can they be in defeating the Silka?”
Captain Porridy replied, “None unless you can get them close or onto their ships without being seen. The Silka can destroy them with beam weapons long before they could get within range.”
I now said, “If they could not be detected approaching, would they not be a viable weapon?”
Captain Porridy thought for a moment before saying, “Probably, but their shields would need to be down. I have no doubt that a nuclear warhead would vaporise most of the Silka ship in that circumstance.”
I had an idea on how to deliver a nuclear warhead right down their throat. I would need to take a slight diversion on our return trip to Earth, stopping off at the planet Dregg. After arriving at Lusiana, a ground crew arrived to work out how they could remove the frigate from our hold; this was to take several hours. They jacked up the frigate before strapping a number of special hover-lifts underneath. Finally, they could remove it from my hold. I looked at my hold floor; it now had even more deep grooves in it. I just sighed and shook my head. I could do nothing about it so walked away. I now returned to the bridge and waited for the replacement shuttle to arrive. In the meantime, Alenna had left a message for Minty and the rest of the family that we were all safe. As there was always at least one ship leaving to go to Alkarr nearly every day, Minty should receive Alenna’s message in just a few days. Alenna was to also leave details of the next cargo runs for Minty to undertake and that we were again returning to Earth. The new frigate had arrived. Captain Porridy hovered it into our cargo bay, before securely strapping it down. We were ready to leave.
I said to Alenna, “We need to divert to Dregg on our return, as I wish to have a meeting with Zitter Bobeck.”
Alenna replied, “What do you want with her? I don’t really trust Zitter; she gives me the creeps.”
I looked at Alenna in an astonishing way, before saying, “You surprise me Alenna, you seem to give everyone else the benefit of the doubt. What makes you feel so uncomfortable in her presence?”
Alenna in a vague way said, “I am not quite sure. There is something about her that I just can’t put my finger on.”
I just laughed and said, “Poppycock, she is a little shifty, that I admit, but that is the way she is. She is not all bad. I have no problem dealing with her.”
Alenna just said, “You can deal with her then Jake, as I do not want to.”
I replied, “Fine, no problem.”
We were now on course for the planet Dregg. I had asked Captain Porridy if she and her crew would kindly remain in the hologram room until after we departed Dregg. I did not want Zitter to know I had military personnel on board. It might spook her. We called up Zitter on arrival. Jenna again did the translation.
Zitter answered, “Hello, who are you?”
I replied, “It is Jake.”
Zitter a little surprised said, “Jake, I did not expect to hear from you again so soon. If you are after military craft, I don’t have any. My supply seems to have dried up for now.”
I quickly replied, “No it is not the military craft that I am after this time. You had some old battered shuttles last time we met, do you still have any of these left?”
Zitter now answered in an enthusiastic way, “Yes I do. How many are you after?”
I replied, “One or two at the most.”
Zitter in a slightly disappointed way replied, “Just one or two, ok.”
I now said, “Should I meet you on the planet Drillder, as before?”
Zitter laughed before saying, “You will be wasting your time going there. I have now moved their location to here. Sending you the coordinates of where to land, now.” Zitter continued with some verbal directions. “You will see a dirt track between two large boulders. I am at the end, a short walk away. See you soon.” With that, the connection was terminated.
I now turned to Alenna and asked her, “Are you coming or is it just Jenna and me going?”
Alenna replied, “I am coming as well, but you will be conducting any business done.”
To that, I replied, “Ok, let’s go.”
I flew the ship to the surface of Dregg, landing at the coordinates given. In the distance, I could see that monument where we met Zitter for the first time. Jenna pointed at the track between the two boulders. We then made our way along this track. We reached a bend and could see a fence at the end. We soon reached this fence. It was about eight feet high and had been made from dismantled old spacecraft in a very higgledy-piggledy way. There was a large pair of gates, one of which was ajar. Pinned to the gates was a large sign. Jenna scanned the sign with her pid for translation, as it had been written in Dregg.
The sign read, ‘Bobeck recycling, top credit paid for all metals.’ We peered around the gate and lo and behold it turned out that Zitter’s main business was in scrap metal, the very same business as Lidier. The three of us went in. There were two Dregg unloading from a vehicle. The Dregg, unlike Alkarrens, do use vehicles that run on roads powered by electricity which is generated by a small fusion reactor. One stopped what she was doing to greet us. Jenna asked for Zitter in Zeln. The Dregg could not speak Zeln, so Jenna just kept repeating Zitter’s name. The Dregg then waved us towards a building that had its large doors open. We could see some bright flashes of light coming from inside. We went up to the doors and could see this Dregg welding. We waited until she had removed her face mask before we could draw her attention. It was Zitter; she first smiled at us before coming over to make her greeting. Surrounding her were all these abstract sculptures. Zitter had a hobby, making art from scrap metal.
Zitter said, “Hello Jake my favourite human.” That was somewhat ironic as I was the only human she had ever met, so that also made me her least favourite as well.
“And hello to you Zitter,” I now asked Zitter about the shuttles, “What condition are these Shuttles in?”
Zitter now replied, “I will show you, follow me.” We followed Zitter past piles of metals. Iron and steel made up the bulk, but there was also aluminium, copper, zilton and various others. We then passed two cargo ships. Work had already started on their dismantling.
I asked Zitter, “What happened to them?”
Zitter replied pointing at each one in turn, “That ship was only thirty-five years old, there was a serious fire that went undetected for some time. This one here landed too hard and buckled all its undercarriage stanchions. Due to its age, it was scrapped.”
At the end, there were nine Shuttles that looked in various states of neglect. Some were very old and were not equipped with illusion field generators, which left just four to choose from.
“Zitter, can we see this one first?” I asked, pointing towards what looked the most modern.
Zitter opened the door before ushering us in. She attempted to power up the ship but could not get anything to work.
I said, “Let me look.” It soon became clear that this ship had a problem in that its energy banks had been drained of any remaining power. So I said, “Let’s see another.”
This next one was more promising, though it was quite smelly inside. Zitter had brought both fusion reactors online and had spun up the pods before indicating to me to try it out. I sat in the pilot’s seat and lifted off before taking us for a short spin. I engaged the illusion generator and that worked fine. As all thrusters worked I decided that this ship would be adequate for my needs. I turned to look at Alenna and Jenna. They were both sitting there holding their nose. After landing, they were first to exit.
Right Zitter, how much are you asking?
Zitter looking right at me said, “Thirty-five thousand credits.”
I nodded and said, “Ok.”
Zitter somewhat surprised replied, “What no haggle, I was looking forward to a haggle with you.”
I smiled at her and said, “It’s a fair price, no haggle needed.”
Zitter now asked me, “Do you want another? I am willing to let an extra one go for thirty-thousand credits.”
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