Alpha One: The Kronan (21 page)

Winterburn struck again and Jake lunged the knife forward but missed. This time he had the Kryl’s hands around his throat; he would not let go. He was finding it difficult to breathe and could fight no more, as the knife dropped to the floor. He found himself going down, down, down.

Jake awoke with a start, sweating profusely...
yet another nightmare.

They were happening more frequently now. Ever since Hoskins had revealed his conspiracy theory, they had returned, but they were becoming increasingly real and disturbing. Sometimes twice, three and once even four times in one night, they were interspersed with a different, but also reoccurring dream, which made no sense to him. Not so much a nightmare, but a vision of a place, unrecognizable and a cloaked figure, who beckoned him to come to them. Bizarrely, they always occurred in sequence. First, he would have the nightmare and then he would wake in a cold sweat, sit up or perhaps even get up, before he settled down to sleep again. Then the second dream would come.

Tonight, Jake stood up and headed towards his washroom where he splashed water on his face before consuming half a tumbler of water. He was awake now, his automated lighting system creating a half light, suggesting it was still early and that he should try to get some more sleep.

The battle enraged outside with increasing ferocity and yet the Halo 7 remained untouched. Jake could not help but think that this, his presence, together with Commander Jacques, his nightmare and visions were somehow all connected.
What if they were? He found himself analyzing his vision again. Who was it that was beckoning him? Was it a Kryl?

He was too tired to question this any further and he returned to his bed, pausing briefly to smile at the photo of Carla, he had by his bed.
She was so beautiful
, he thought.
What the hell am I doing out here?

Then the vision came...
but this was different. He was awake and could feel his senses being pulled together by the cloaked figure. This time he could see him. It was a Kryl and they were in some kind of chamber, perhaps a church of some kind.

The vision ended and Jake sighed deeply.
That wasn’t right at all.

He must have fallen asleep very quickly after that last thought, as he was awoken not by his nightmare or his vision, but his alarm.

Jake took a long shower and tried to force the dreams from his mind, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. He dressed quickly and took some coffee, before leaving his quarters and heading not to the bridge but to the medical station. He was too early for his shift and he wanted these damn nightmares to end.

The medic was not entirely unsympathetic. She could see that Jake was tired.

“Okay, I am going to give you a dream suppressant. That will stop your dreaming, meaning a weaker sleep than normal, but probably more enduring. If the dreams persist after this, come and see me and we will carry out a more detailed investigation.”

Jake thanked the medic and headed towards the bridge.

“You’re late Lieutenant Hoskins!”

Jake glanced at his watch and blushed

“I am sorry, Sir. I have just come back from the medic.”

“Save it. We can ill afford excuses for lateness in this environment. Take your station.”

“Aye, Sir.”

Jake was embarrassed. Obviously, this lack of sleep affected him more than he thought. He was in for a rough shift.

* * * *

The shift seemed to go on forever. A further glance at his watch confirmed only an hour had passed. He looked up and saw Commander Jacques staring at him.

“Okay Mister Carter. Let’s have a little chat?”

Jacques beckoned him to the ready room and offered him a chair, which he declined.

“You are obviously preoccupied Jake. I noticed you have glanced at your watch several times this morning. Anything I can help you with?”

“I am sorry, Sir. I have not been sleeping that well.”

“Apart from the obvious, what is on your mind in particular?

Jake explained his dreams and his concerns following Commander Hoskins disclosure of his theory to him. Jacques was a good listener and allowed Jake to complete his story before commenting.

“So, do you think there is anything in the CO’s theory?”

“I don’t know, Sir. There is no question that these dreams or visions are becoming clearer. I get the impression someone is trying to contact me.”

“Like Winterburn and his flock?”

“Yes...and no. I guess the nightmares are not surprising. I have them periodically anyway and there are more of them, probably because of the environment. As for the visions, I guess this could be a way of contacting me. We know they have the capability, but I don’t feel compelled to act and wouldn’t know how to anyway.”

“Okay, the skipper is on shift in a few hours. We’ll have a chat about it later. In the meantime, try to keep your mind on the task.”

Jake thanked the first officer and returned to his station to continue his shift. It did not get an easier, but he resisted the urge to keep checking his watch and concentrated as best he could on monitoring the vast array of comm. messages.

* * * *

Jonathan Hoskins entered the bridge an hour later and went straight to his ready room, where Commander Jacques joined him. Five minutes later, the XO asked Jake to join them.

“Thanks Jake, Please take a seat. Commander Jacques has updated me on your nightmares. Obviously, I appreciate this is making things difficult for you, but it does tend to compound my theory. Your visions of the Kryl beckoning you are particularly interesting.”

“Yes, I agree, Sir. But I don’t see at the moment that there is anything further I can add to this.”

“If the Kryl or perhaps the new Kronan is trying to contact you, then it seems sensible that we allow him to continue. There is the possibility that you could lead us to him. I want you to go back to your quarters and rest for the next twelve hours, without the dream suppressors and with your permission I will ask the medics to switch on the dream image translators.”

“I am not sure I can sleep on demand, Sir. It’s kind of difficult if you are being watched.”

“For now, just rest and try to keep an open mind. You will not notice the image translators, it is just a case of them being switched on within your quarters. The medical team will record the images and the XO, the medics and I will review them.”

“Okay, Sir. I would rather be trying to keep busy though. I feel I should be involved if I can.”

“You are, believe me. We will keep this to ourselves though for the time being.”

Jake left the ready room and the bridge and headed back to his quarters.

* * * *

Surprisingly he fell asleep quickly, fatigue catching up with him. He slept for eight hours, but was awoken several times by his nightmare and his increasingly clear visions. He knew now, who beckoned him. It was Morvalt. He knew that the Kronan was somewhere in the Kryl fleet that surrounded them.

Right now, he felt like he had slept sufficiently. He showered, dressed, and headed to the officers mess for some food. The visions continued as he walked. He felt strangely removed from his ship and his crew, almost as if he was being pulled to the Kronan. After eating, he did a thirty-minute workout at the gym and then returned to his quarters, where he showered again, dressed, and headed back to the bridge.

Commander Hoskins was back on shift and involved in a heavy debate with his XO. Jake elected not to disturb him and returned to his station to succeed the on shift Comms Officer, who no doubt badly needed some rest himself.

The visions kept on coming, but Jake managed to keep them at bay. He was summoned to the ready room about half way through the shift.

“Hi Jake. The image translators indicate that you have slept well. I trust that is the case?”

“Yes, Sir, although the visions keep on coming.”

“Well, I can tell you that they revealed nothing other than your sleep patterns and that means effectively that these visions are not dreams. Are they any stronger, do you have any further detail?”

Jake updated the commander, who paused for a short while before he responded.

“I am going to show you something which is highly confidential. It is part of a body of intelligence provided recently, which reflects the experiences of an Alpha officer’s period of captivity aboard a Kryl ship. Take a look and let me know what you think.”

They watched as first Lieutenant Samos described the Kronan’s sanctuary and his detailed physical attributes and then as a startlingly detailed holographic image portrayed Samos’s thoughts into images of the Sanctuary and Morvalt himself.

When the image scene finished, Hoskins paused the Holographic display

“Is this the scene and the Kryl that you have in your visions?”

“Yes...without question.”

“Then, I need you to find a way to locate him.”

Twenty-five cruisers, including the Halo 7 were now under Jonathan Hoskins’s command and the Commanding Officer and XO of each sat around a conference table aboard the Halo 7.

The hastily prepared meeting was called by Hoskins to discuss the deployment of sub-space weapons. Hoskins wasted no time and as soon as the last pair of executive officers took their seats; he stood

“Thank you for joining me today. I know your time is precious and everyone is up against it so I will keep this brief. Your ships have all been placed under my command to undertake a very specific task in this battle. We were given standing orders to deploy and discharge low yield sub-space weapons against the Kryl fleet.”

He waited for the backlash but everyone was too stunned to respond at present. Relieved, he continued.

“The maximum yield will be type 14 charges and these will all be deployed by Jump Ship and tiger missiles. We have standing authority to deploy on my command against weakened sections of the Kryl fleet.”

“You have got to be kidding me! We are in Alpha Centauri for Christ sake. What about the environmental issues and the very likely loss of life on our sides? This is preposterous!”

The XO of one of the smaller cruisers in the mini-task force stood up, following his outburst.

Hoskins expected this and was prepared.

“Sit down Mister Sorenson. We are at war and in danger of losing. If we lose, we will not be concerned about the environmental backlash and in any case, the yields are very small and will not be deployed in close proximity to each other or our fleet.”

“I am sorry, Sir, but I cannot support this.”

“Oh, sit down Sorenson. Typical bloody environmentalist! What are you doing in Alpha, if your conscience gets in the way of life and death decisions?”

The voice from the back was drowned out by shouts and rants from all sides. Hoskins stepped in once again.

“Gentlemen, Ladies, please! Clearly, this is a contentious issue and I respect the ideological substance behind Commander Sorenson’s objection. However, this is going to happen, the order has already been given and anybody who feels that they cannot be part of this, should leave now.”

Sorenson stood up and looked first at Hoskins and then Commander Frances, his CO.

“I am sorry, Sir,” he addressed both Hoskins and his CO. “But this is one step to far.”

“Commander Frances. I suggest you take Mister Sorenson outside and discuss the implications of this with him. Is there anybody else who wishes to leave? I am about to discuss a more detailed battle strategy.

No one else moved and Hoskins addressed Sorenson again.

“Commander Sorenson. You will not discuss the subject matter or content of this meeting with anyone. Is that clear?”

Sorenson nodded, saluted and left, with Frances at his heal.

“Okay, let’s move on. I should stress I expected a hard time on this one. The deployment of sub-space weapons was never going to be easy on anyone’s conscience.

Hoskins went on to detail the strategy, which would lead to target sections of the Kryl fleet being made available for attack.

“Okay. Now you need to go back to your ships and await delivery of the charges. These will be supplied via Eagle and support craft. Each ship’s allocation will depend on their launch capability, but the minimum number of charges will be eighty per ship. You can proceed with installation to the Tigers straight away. I will provide release codes to the CO and XO of each ship. Any questions?”

“When can we expect the charges and do we know when we are likely to deploy the first charges? Also, I am little apprehensive about exactly how we are going to be sure when safe to deploy is actually safe. Alpha ships of the line and Jump Ships will come in and out of the firing range persistently. There is no such thing as a safe deployment.”

“All good points Alex. The charges will be supplied from a variety of sources, but the process has started already. Expect first delivery within the hour but note that as this is need to know. You will have to preserve your security protocols, including delivery, storage and of course, code processing. This new offensive phase has started already—we will deploy within a few hours. As for when is safe? You are right; you can never be certain but I am afraid this will be down to each CO and XO’s judgment. As always, there will be losses. Our job is to keep these to a minimum.”

“Does anyone actually think this is going to work?”

“Once the first batch of warheads is deployed, it will be free for all. Every crew member will know what we are doing. There are going to be protests?”

“I would expect each of you to contain any issues within your ships. Okay, time is of the essence. Get back to your ships and let’s make this work!”

* * * *

Well, that could have been worse,
thought Hoskins as he returned to his ready room.

Commander Jacques joined him straight away.

“We have received some incoming fire Jonathan. Not targeted directly, but our frontal shields are running below tolerance.”

“Must have been a hell of a hit. I didn’t feel anything?”

“I’m surprised. It seems the new strategy has started. Are we in the right position to commence our part?”

“No...we will move out in the next hour or so. How long until our shields are back up?”

“Ten minutes maximum. How did they take it?”

“Badly as expected. We had one walk out, Commander Sorenson, XO for the Gemini 8. He has stepped down and Frances’s weaponry officer is acting up.”

“So we are good to go. Have you spoken to the Sentinel Commander yet?”

“That’s my next job. Can you start to coordinate the movement of our ships to the grid position we discussed and then get Obeya up here? It’s time we looked at our own sub-space deployment.”

“Will do. If this doesn’t work, have you considered an exit strategy for the Halo?”

“No, Number One. I think we may be stuck here for the duration.”

“All ships report, charges are uploaded and ready for deployment.”

“Excellent. Let’s have a look at the left flank. Just there, look there are about a hundred Kryl vessels disconnected from the main flank. The area looks clear. This looks like a target, Number One.”

“Lots of Jump Ship activity in the area. That will give us good coverage. We should launch maybe four charges?”

“Better make it five.”

“CAG respond. Hi Obeya, coordinate with ships, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and launch one Rapier from each into grid sector 3.9.2. We have Jump Ship coverage, so good to launch ETA three minutes.”

“Confirmed, Commander. Ships launching in one minute.”

Hoskins waited anxiously as the seconds ticked by.

“All Rapiers deployed. Missile target in range in forty-five seconds. Require confirmation to deploy.”

“Comms. Clear Jump Ships from grid vector now.”

Jake Carter dispatched the pre-prepared warning message and awaited acknowledgement.

“All Jump Ships acknowledged and clearing. Target area clear.”

“CAG. Confirmation to proceed. Launch tigers.”

The missiles deployed seconds later and all the Jump Ships pulled out of the target grid successfully. The five tiger missiles exploded within their given grid variation and eighty-seven Kryl Cruisers were vaporized simultaneously. There were no Alpha vessels caught in the grid variation area.

“I think you can call that an unprecedented success!” Hoskins allowed a smile to come across his face. What do you think Number One?”

“Wow, there is a small void developing, presumably because the charges were released in the same area. Impressive though and with no losses, that is a real coup for us.”

“We need to monitor the void. My understanding is that it will dissipate quickly, because of the size. If not then we will need to create an automated divert on all NAVCOM’s.”

“Sir, the Kryl have diverted about two hundred ships to our coordinates.”

“Thank you Mister Carter. CAG, launch full defensive JS capability.”

The Kryl reacted as suspected and targeted the mini-task force. Hoskins recalled over two hundred and fifty Jump Ships back to their respective hangar bays prior to launching the first sub-space attack. These ships now formed the mini-fleets defensive Jump Ship capability.

“We won’t be able to launch new missiles with these Kryl ships targeting us specifically.”

“No, but we can go around them and attack the diverted fleet from the other side with SS charges. They are playing into our hands.

* * * *

“Comms, any discord noted on any of our ships?”

Jake monitored internal communications on all twenty-five mini- fleet vessels.

“There are minor protests on some ships, Sir. No mutinies to speak of.”

“Good. Keep one eye on it, but don’t lose sight of the fleet wide and enemy comms.”

“Number One, let’s have a look at the Kryl’s diverted fleet. Is there enough room for an attack from behind them?”

The two executive officers approached the Holoboard and started to discuss the next attack.

“Sir, Admiral Shenke, ship to ship, priority one.”

“Thank you, Mister Carter. I will take in my ready room. Keep looking Number One.”

Hoskins was right where he wanted to be. Now, suddenly it looked as if they did have a chance.

“Mister Hoskins. Your SS deployment was first class. Do you have the situation under control with the break off fleet? Are they targeting you?”

“Yes, they are targeting us. We are planning to use to our advantage. How are things in the main battle?” Hoskins wanted to deflect the fact that the Halo 7 had still not been hit by a targeted weapon.

“Not good. The Kryl have decided to open up their big guns. The Mother ship is firing some kind of high intensity discharge weapon. Not plasma, but stronger, it is smashing our Jump Ships to pieces.”

“Has the Mother ship been freed up? Maybe we could target...”

“Let’s not get carried away. The Mother ship remains fundamentally protected and firing SS charges into such a large column could be counterproductive. Stick to the agreed strategy for the time being. Rodriguez is dealing with the Jump Ships and I will handle the Mother ship.”