Alpha One: The Kronan (12 page)

Roberto Samos was in a quandary. Something was different. The ship had powered down and all was quiet. Had the ship been abandoned and if so, was life support still functioning?

The containment field had gone and he was free to move to the lock down room that ran along the side of each of the cells. This was the free space that the Kryl guards gave him access to several times a day, for exercise. There were still the power locks to deal with, but would they still be operating?

He started to think more clearly now. He needed to gain access to his comm. device. His comm. pad, uniform and other personal possessions were stored in a compartment at the end of the lock down room. He saw the guards store each of his crew’s equipment and personal effects there on the first day of their incarceration. Could they still be there
?

The compartment was locked, but Samos was able to force the lock to break and the door opened.

Oh, my God
. He thought,
it is all still here.
The uniforms and personal effects of each of his now long dead colleagues. He reflected briefly, but quickly cast aside his sadness and sifted through the apparel, searching for a comm. pad. Moments later, he had his prize. It was powered down, but still had sufficient reserves.

Now to establish his bearings and gain access to the main part of the ship. The detention section of the ship was his home for so long but he knew the other parts of the ship well. His visits to Morvalt in his Sanctuary and to various other parts of the ship had become part of his daily life.

The door to the lock down room was shut, but as expected offline. He positioned himself to the left of the door and attempted to pull the door back into its recess. It was heavy, but it began to move. The hydraulic system on the door prevented a quick escape, with the momentum to force the door back into its closed state the natural predisposition. Gradually, Samos was able to force the door past its half-way point and then the door opened freely, the hydraulics having moved to create an open rather than a closed state. He was free to move around the ship.

Samos headed for the upper deck. He needed to gain access to a window or external viewer, to determine what other ships lay around him. He was not sure at this point, what he would do. He just knew he had to keep going. He saw that the ship was in a sleep mode as the corridor was partially lit.
Good. It looks like life support is still functioning.
He headed for the Sanctuary and to the viewing window he had gazed through with his captor on many occasions. As he approached the window, it was clear his escape from the ship would not be easy. Literally hundreds of Kryl vessels surrounded the ship.
I am in the middle of the goddamn Kryl fleet!

Samos tried to remain calm. He looked more closely and realized the ship was quite close to the outer perimeter of the fleet.
That was a positive
. He looked again and strained his eyes. Was that Alpha’s fleet sitting out there beyond the extremities of the Kryl fleet? His eyes adjusted and
yes, Alpha was here.
Somehow he had to make contact with them and get them to come and get him. Easy...but not, because he could not just send an unsecure message to Alpha from the middle of the Kryl fleet. His communication would be traced and all manner of Kryl would suddenly descend on him. He could send a message to one of the outer communication portals, with the hope it would bounce back to Alpha. But this could take too long and would again be traceable by the Kryl, albeit that they would not have immediate visibility to its starting point.

In the end, the simplest of solutions were often the best ones. He would send a short-range binary coded message. This was a basic programmer’s language adapted for battlefield usage. It was loosely based on Morse code, but allowed for a greater level of detail. He had never used it in practice, but it was required learning in the academies and right now, that stance made perfect sense. It needed to be a one-off and one-way secure message that advised his status, his position, and critically that he had valuable Intel. Without the Intel, he doubted Alpha would risk sending a team in to rescue him. To be clear, he did have a lot to tell and he was valuable. He just needed to convince Alpha.

Samos activated his comm. pad and opened a message page. He carefully drafted his message in words, before translating to code and then set out the message for relaying. The process was long-winded and arduous, but he would only get one chance. It was critical that Alpha received it, decoded it and they did not respond. A response back to the point of origin would almost certainly alert the Kryl to his existence. How long he had before the Kryl realized he was still on board this ship was anyone’s guess. He tried not to think about it and concentrated on the matter in hand. Finally, the message was complete and Samos powered up the comm. link facility on his comm. pad. He drew breath and then pressed the send button.

* * * *

“Non-standard encrypted short-range binary message coming in, Sir. Encryption verified. It is coming from within the Kryl fleet.”

“Binary? Let’s have the message up on screen.” Commander Piper was the Fleet Operations Coordinator.

Stop. SOS. Trapped aboard Kryl Cruiser. Lieutenant Samos, commander and sole survivor of Alpha patrol AV7. No Kryl on board and ship is offline. Position 54 mark 302 mark 15. Important Intel. Urgent recovery required. Important do not respond to message. Stop

“Location is here, Sir.” The comms specialist pointed to a representation of a cluster of Kryl vessels on the holographic grid display in front of him.

“Give me some background. What do we know of the patrol vessel?”

“AV7 lost some weeks ago in the Jandas System, Sir. She was reported destroyed by a Kryl Cruiser.”

“Looks like they took Lieutenant Samos on board. Arrange for the Recovery CAG to look at this one. If he has been on-board a Kryl cruiser, his Intel may well be very useful.”

* * * *

The recovery team consisted of four Rapiers and one Sabre. The Sabre was the Recovery vessel and the plan was for the team to merge into the current fracas and then disengage ahead of the coordinates given, to penetrate the outer rim of the Kryl fleet. Two Rapiers were downed already but the Sabre located the target vessel and entered the mass of the Kryl fleet. She took heavy fire. With only limited protection, this would be a tough recovery.

“Kryl cruiser located. I am assuming final preparation for set down in the cruisers landing bay. It looks like the shields are still down.”

* * * *

Samos was overwhelmed with relief as he strapped himself into the Sabre’s copilot seat.

“This is going to be tricky Lieutenant. I am afraid your ordeal is not over yet!”

The Sabre launched and hovered within the landing bay. The Sabre pilot was seeking a clear path away from the Kryl ship and the fleet and was waiting for support. After thirty seconds, the pilot knew he had to make a move.

“Looks like we are on our own. My support units have all been downed. Prepare yourself for a rough ride!”

The Sabre 4 lurched out from the protection of the cruisers landing bay and received oncoming fire from two different directions almost immediately before a Rapier appeared from above to take out the nearest threat.

“Sorry guys. I was hiding over the front wing of the cruiser in silent mode. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The two Jump Ships cleared the remaining Kryl vessels and accelerated out into free space. They were clear but immediately surrounded by three Kryl fighters.

“I’ll take two up. You take the other down.”

The Rapier pilot in open space felt the odds were now back in his favor and quickly managed to take both Kryl fighters out while the Sabre was still engaging the third. The remaining Kryl fighter disintegrated as the Sabre made a further pass. They were clear and free to return to the Viceroy.

Samos was silent. His long incarceration was finally over.

“I am sorry Thomas, I just don’t agree with you on this occasion. We need you in the most active position, which means here, in the Tri-star System. You should join the main fleet when the Kryl have moved on.”

Thomas Shenke and Maurice Haines were in Shenke’s Stateroom, aboard the Viceroy. They were meeting to discuss final operational maneuvers and moved onto the structural command situation.

“There is little point me commanding less than fifty ships. We should both move with the main fleet and appoint one of the high ranking commanders to control the residual fleet in this system.”

Haines took his time to respond.

“Did you have anyone in mind?”

“Jonathan Hoskins has a good ship and experience with the Kryl. He is ideal. However, we cannot push him into a position of commanding a small fleet, if the Kryl do not take the bait and follow us out of the system. This brings me back to our earlier discussion about staggering the transfer of ships from one point to another.”

“The Kryl will not want to stay in this system any longer than they have to. We are seeing signs that they are finalizing their formation and we should do the same. We should commence a wide spread advance to our new coordinates within the hour. I will back off from operational command, as I have stated already, but we need these structural lines defined first and indeed now.”

“Do you agree with Hoskins as commander of the residual fleet?”

“He is a little inexperienced. What about Reece or Yusuf? They are both experienced five star commanders?”

“I agree, but neither has any combat experience with the Kryl and Reece is a Yes Man. Jonathan Hoskins maybe four star, but he is a good strategist. Maybe we should consider a field commission to five stars?”

“You seem to have made your mind up already. Very well, I will agree to Hoskins and to his commission, but with Reece as second in command. We may yet need the influence of a ‘yes man’ that we can rely on especially if it comes down to the deployment of sub space charges. We must start to move out within the hour so I suggest you move on this quickly.”

“All ships are ready for redeployment. We can start moving in about twenty minutes. I presume that you will stay aboard the Viceroy for the time being?”

“Yes. If that’s okay.”

“Of course Admiral Haines. You are always welcome.”

* * * *

“Thanks for responding so quickly Jonathan. I am appointing you Commander of the residual fleet which will remain in this system to deal with the remaining Kryl ships. I am giving you a field commission to five star Commander. Well done, you have earned it.”

Hoskins was pleased but a little uneasy. This could go very badly.

“Thank you, Sir. That is good news. Are we absolutely convinced that the Kryl will follow you
en masse
? This could be a bit of a poisoned chalice?”

“No we are not and I will be monitoring the situation. Commander Reece will assume second in command and if you need to make any difficult decisions, you should use his experience. I presume that the sub-space charges were loaded aboard the Halo 7”

“Yes. Don’t worry, Sir. I don’t intend to play the hero on this one. We will play it safe and join you just as soon as the clean up exercise is completed.”

* * * *

The main fleet began its redeployment at 0900 hours, Thursday morning. Admiral Haines and Admiral Shenke stood at the observation window of Shenke’s stateroom and waited. How soon would the Kryl respond?

Admirals Koenig and Clark were in Koenig’s office, ahead of today’s Admiralty Bench. They had just finished preparing and turned to other matters.

“Perhaps we should turn our attention to the latest Intel. I gather this Samos chap was in a pretty bad shape when we recovered him.”

“Yes, hardly surprising when you consider what he has been subjected to. The loss of his ship, his crew and his dignity and always under the constant threat that the Kronan could have ended it all in a flash.”

“So what have we learned?”

“Quite a lot actually. The new Kronan is known as Morvalt. He is apparently closer in line to the Kryl Queen, than Winterburn was and is therefore supposedly more powerful. To that end, we know that he or more likely they have the capability to manipulate the electronics of our ships remotely; which is a matter of some concern.”

“The Queen resides on the mother ship and presides over the entire fleet. Presumably she is more powerful still.”

“Yes, doesn’t bear thinking about does it?”

“What about their weaknesses?”

“That’s the curious thing. Samos says Morvalt is concerned about the Kryl’s weaknesses. Unfortunately he did not spell out what they were but it is clear they have an issue of some kind.”

“Interesting. Has the debriefing been completed?”

“No, no yet. It may take a while, as Samos is still weak after his ordeal. It may take a few days to get everything out in the open. I will present a full report, once the process is finished.”

“So in the meantime, we target Morvalt and the Queen and more specifically the Mother ship and we look to expand on our Intel. We need a few dead ones to work on, I guess.”

“Yes, our scientists were unable to detect anything of significance from their pathology investigations on the Kryl recovered so far, but I am told they were in a pretty bad shape. I am sure we will have some cleaner specimens soon. As for our overall strategy—certainly, we need to target the mother ship but we do need to find Morvalt. Clearly he is very dangerous but also critical to our intelligence.”

“Very well. Keep up the good work and keep me updated.”

“Yes of course, Admiral and good luck this afternoon at the bench. I will be there to support you of course, as will Jonas. It should be an interesting session.”

* * * *

Admiral Koenig opened the Admiralty Bench session with a brief summary of the latest developments on the Kryl front. He then invited Admirals Clarke and Kohn to fill in the details, before summarizing.

“As you can see ladies and gentlemen, while there is still a great deal of ambiguity on how this will pan out, we have in place everything to ensure a robust and appropriate defense. Offensively, we will continue to pursue our Jump Ship strategy. This remains an area where we can exert a certain amount of control.”

Koenig sat down. This was a polished and informative performance. He hoped it would not illicit any strong feelings from his opponents on the ‘other side’ of the bench.

Admiral Naiger was the first senior bench member to respond.

“On behalf of the bench, I would like to extend my thanks to our CIC and his support team for their presentation.

It is immediately clear that we are hopelessly outnumbered in this second Kryl skirmish and that our defense will not be enduring. There is a certain inevitability to this. To that end, I would like to ask the CIC a number of pertinent questions.

Firstly, can he advise what plans, if any, were made if the enemy decides to split their fleet into say ten fleets of a thousand vessels each? It seems highly plausible the Kryl will not enter into a battle on mass, when they lost the last battle on that basis. Secondly, can the CIC advise whether any diplomatic channels were extended to the Kryl and in what form these have taken? And finally, to what extent President Roslyn has been consulted on our strategy to date?”

This last question surprised Koenig. Naiger was a known separatist and he would not usually refer to any ECG connection. He was also concerned that Naiger, usually a supporter of Koenig’s, should take such a negative stance against him. These were difficult times, he reassured himself. Naiger has a right to sound off, just like everyone else. He would fall into line.

“I will answer the Admirals questions in order. Clearly, we do not yet know how the Kryl will deploy their vessels but I assure you that we have explored all possibilities. We cannot realistically split our fleet without losing integrity. I must stress that this does not in itself present a major problem as our Jump Ships can be deployed against smaller Kryl fleets to a greater effect. If they split into smaller groups, we can assume they will target other planets, or stations and I am confident the defensive capabilities in all major Alpha and APF domains will hold. With regard to diplomatic channels, we have extended the usual courtesy and contact invitations to the Kryl continuously since their arrival. I should reinforce the point that greater diplomatic efforts will come from the ECG and the APF. My discussions with President Roslyn continue to take the form of an informative update, rather than anything else. This is usually something you would support Admiral Naiger.”

Naiger stood up. Clearly, he was far from finished.

“We have to assume that eventually we may lose. Alpha needs to be involved in any discussions with the Kryl at the outset to ensure that we can influence other parties, as we would see fit. We cannot leave these matters to the ECG and the APF. I have some further questions if the bench will permit?”

Koenig shuffled on his seat uncomfortably. This did not look good. If the bench were prepared to allow a member to stand for an extended duration, it suggested a planned assault on his leadership. He prepared himself. He was going to have to be at his best.

“Thank you. We have already discussed at some length about whether Admiral’s Haines and Shenke are those best equipped to command the fleet. Indeed, it seems from what our CIC has said that Admiral Shenke is the tactical commander. Need I remind everyone, that Shenke was a Rear Admiral, just six weeks ago? How can he possibly be the best tactician with so little experience? We all know who should be in command out there, but our CIC cannot be in two places at once!

I am also deeply concerned about the proliferation of tactical sub space weaponry in the fleet and whether appropriate authorities were put in place for their deployment. I know that others are concerned here. Certainly, we need further assurances in this area. Finally what can the CIC tell us about the contingency fleet, its numbers, it location. Specifically, I am one of those who fail to see the logic of deploying a large chunk of armed forces outside of the theatre of war. If we are at the brink of Armageddon, then we need ALL available forces now.

These are all significant issues. Together they are critically important. We have a CIC, who is in my belief, out of his depth, who would far better be suited as the Fleet Commander. I regret that having been a supporter of our CIC for many months, I can no longer stand by and allow his tenure to go unchallenged. I therefore, regrettably propose a motion of no confidence in our CIC and invite other bench members to support me.”

There was silence in the auditorium as the members took in what Naiger had proposed. Admiral Koenig stood up

“I believe that I have the right of reply, before the motion is put forward for support. Admiral Naiger has raised some pertinent and relevant issues, which I am happy to address to clear up any ambiguity. Again, I will deal with the points as they were raised.

Admiral Haines is the senior commander and will remain so. I will repeat my assertion that Admiral Shenke’ s experience of fighting the Kryl in the last battle makes him the best commander to head up our offensive, tactical and defensive capability. He is doing so, under the watchful brief of Admiral Haines and of course, this bench and me. This is the best solution and they have my complete confidence.

On the subject of sub space weaponry. Of course, this is contentious. Of course, there are concerns about where we might be forced to deploy these weapons and to what yield is obviously critical too. However...”

Koenig paused. He was an expert orator and he knew how to empower his audience.

“However, these weapons could well decide this war. If indeed, there is a war. Yes, I have increased the volume in operation and yes, we do have maximum yield capability. But, be under no illusion, their usage is prohibited unless authorized by a senior commander, by a properly constituted coded formula. Senior command will only give their authorization, if it becomes battle critical. There will not be a repeat of the mistakes made against the Sentinel’s.”

He paused again and drew breathe. The contingency fleet was perhaps his most controversial policy. He needed to ram this one home!

“The Contingency Fleet is critically important. We cannot know whether we will survive any battle with the Kryl and whether Earth’s defense shields will hold. If we fail and the shields fail, all that could be left to protect or salvage the human race would be our contingency fleet. The rationale is therefore undisputable.

I cannot possibly divulge the make-up or location of the contingency. It is bad enough to know of its existence. In the event of the unthinkable and a bench member is subjected to interrogation, the fact that they know so little will protect the contingency and allow it to do the job that it was set up to do. Nobody in this room or outside the contingency fleet knows where they are and how many there are of them. That is the way it has to stay.”

Koenig paused again. This was it. This would be his impassioned plea for continuity and for his own salvation.

“Mister Naiger. I am very disappointed that I no longer have your support but it is of no real surprise given your beliefs on certain issues. I am sure the opposing, or should I suggest conspiring, members of this bench were able to convert you to their cause, relatively easily. And who better to represent them in a stand against me, than someone who purported to be a previous supporter of mine.”

Koenig laughed and then continued.

“As soon as I sit down, your proposal will be seconded. Again, as part of this conspiracy to replace me. The impact, to impress upon the members that many, perhaps even a majority of members now stand against me. But I am sure they don’t. I believe that good-minded members will accept my judgment and that to challenge or worse still change the CIC at such a critical stage would not just be detrimental, but would have a catastrophic impact on our battle preparations. If members seek to remove me from office, because they falsely believe that I would somehow be a better Fleet commander. Let me assure them, I will not stand for that role. I am your CIC or I am no one.”

Koenig sat down. To his surprise, several claps and whoops from the auditorium applauded him. The commotion died down quickly, but the impact was enormous. Admiral Kline, a keen member of Koenig’s opposition, stood and seconded the proposal and then there was silence. Golden silence as far as Koenig was concerned. There was no clamoring for support and it was immediately clear that the Chair would have to intervene. Admiral Yamoto stood and shook his head.

“My job is to preserve order in this auditorium and the integrity of the members our institution and the position of the CIC. Because of the response to our CIC’s speech, I feel compelled to set aside the no-confidence proposal. Now is not the time for in fighting. It is the time to come together. I would like a show of hands to reflect support of my proposal. All those in favor...”

Yamoto glanced around the auditorium. It was clear his proposal met with broad support. “Very well. The no-confidence motion is set aside. I suggest we break for a short while and return in an hour.”

Koenig remained impassive. He had secured a majority and would live to fight another day. For how much longer he did not know.