Alpha One: The Kronan (25 page)

The Queen’s fleet arrived in the solar system and slowed to sub-light-speed for the remainder of their journey. The Commanders wasted no time in dispatching individual attack fleets to Titan and Venus. A fleet of Malchian Arrows just launched heading directly to Mars. The Major Colonies would all fall, before Earth was taken.

* * * *

Elsewhere, within the Kuiper Belt, the main fleet continued its disassembling of Shenke’s remaining hoard. Both of the admiral’s flagships had taken heavy plasma fire, but the Illustrious was faring the worst. Her weakened shields were at the point of collapse and Admiral Rodriguez was struggling.

“Shields down on the stern, Admiral. We are taking damage already.”

“Take us about and give us some clearance. How many jumps ships do we have in reserve?”

“Fifty-two, Sir. Most are out.”

“Launch them all.”

One last desperate attempt...
Rodriguez was resigned to his fate but he would go down fighting.

“Shields down across the ship, Sir. We have no protection.”

Plasma fire impacted on every section of the Illustrious. There was nothing further they could do and Rodriguez had little choice.

“Commence evacuation; skeleton bridge crew only.”

He watched as all but three of his bridge crew left their posts and rushed towards the main corridor and the escape pods.
It was all pointless,
he thought. Pretty soon, the whole fleet will be the same and where will the pods go to then? He did not fancy their chances, but he knew that this would be his last voyage. He had no intention of leaving the bridge. He needed to be sure his ship inflicted as much damage to the Kryl ships as possible.

Within minutes, the relentless firepower of the Kryl fleet had done its worst. The Illustrious exploded and split almost perfectly into two gigantic burning hulks, separating briefly before colliding. The resultant explosion destroyed two other Alpha Cruisers, but Rodriguez no longer cared. Life was now over for him.

Shenke watched in disbelief as the Illustrious broke up in front of him. His fleet had no structure now and he knew even this battle was lost. It was time to salvage as many ships as possible and the only way to achieve that was to break up the fleet.

“Open fleet wide comm. link.”

“It won’t be secure, Sir.”

“No matter...”

“All ships break out, repeat break out. You are on your own now.”

He wanted to tell them to head for home but that was counterproductive. The further they spread, the less likely that the Kryl would follow.

Now, he had to get back to Alpha One as quickly as possible. The Viceroy still had stellar drive capability, but they needed to get away from the rapidly breaking up fleet as quickly as possible.

“Take us out, heading deep space, beyond the Oort cloud. Then re-heading Alpha One at Maximum thrust. Engage.”

The Kryl fleet lost much of its cohesion as the commanders tried to respond to the mass fragmentation of their enemy’s fleet. The Viceroy was allowed to break free from the midst of the fracas and gathered momentum, without incident. Shenke gave the order to jump to light-speed thirty seconds later and The Viceroy was on its way home.

The Kryl fleet briefly lacked direction as it became clear that there was no one left to fight. Gradually, they began to reshape and the Kryl commander ordered the fleet to commence its run in to Earth.

* * * *

The Queen’s fleet closed to within ten million kilometers of Earth and the commander ordered the fleet to reshape to a single horizontal formation. Now, they would wait for the other fleet to join them and then they would commence the invasion.

“Incoming Kryl vessel to port, Sir. It is not Morvalt’s ship.”

“Shields to maximum. Engineering give me a little bit more.”

The auxiliary drive was running at sixty percent power, but they were still two and half hours from Earth’s shields.

“Comms, Any traffic noise?”

Jake Carter replied. “Nothing as yet, Sir.”

“Keep an eye out Mister Carter.”

“Incoming plasma fire...shields holding.”

“Thanks Number One. We should be able to hold off a normal Kryl Cruiser, but I don’t want to risk it. I’ll be in my ready room.

Jake, two minutes of your time please.”

Jake followed Hoskins into the ready room and declined the offer of a chair.

“I have released you, because you are the best barometer to determine if Morvalt is near. The moment you detect him and before you get the chance to escape, I will have you back in the detention cell. This way, we get the heads up quickly and we can respond accordingly. Hopefully, we will be inside Earth’s defense shields before he turns up and by then, I suspect it will be too late.”

“You have to understand that I have no control whatsoever, when I am under his influence. I am aware of my surroundings and what people are saying, but I cannot reply personally.

It is difficult to explain. Now, I feel no contact with him, but when he is there, the power to compel me to act is enormous. I feel I should apologize.”

“Not necessary Jake. Get yourself back to your station and keep a watching brief. We should be home in just over two hours.”

Hoskins and Jake returned to their stations

“Status?”

“The Kryl cruiser is following us, at a respectful distance. I suspect he is relaying our position to Morvalt.”

* * * *

“Jake are you okay?”

Jake was silent, without expression and staring into nothingness.

“Morvalt is back!

Security, escort Lieutenant Carter back to his detention cell. Be wary, he will probably try to escape.

Number One, get that station covered and see if you can get the stellar drive up faster.”

Jake obligingly allowed his hands to be restrained and was led by two security guards, with a third in support through the bridge exit doors into the main corridor. Morvalt had full control of him now, but Jake remained calm. He had half the ship to walk before they arrived at the detention section. He could never overcome all three guards but he did not have to. He already disabled the security protocols in the detention cell. All he had to do was wait for them to leave and then he could walk straight out.

* * * *

“They are not trying anything, Number One. What are they planning?”

“They obviously still want Jake off the ship. Perhaps we should just let them have him?”

“No! His presence is protecting us. We have no stellar drive and no Jump Ships and there are two cruisers out there. We have already seem how powerful Morvalt’s ship is. From our point of view, the longer he leaves this, the better it will be. We are close to Earth and the stellar drive will soon be on-line. We wait.”

* * * *

The two guards had left and the third was now at his station, which was twenty meters to the left of the cell. Jake was able to leave the cell as planned and he waited patiently. He could see the guard. There was no way to get past him via the section corridor; this was anticipated. He had prepared a set of magnets which he removed from a non-essential system from a side panel of his workstation. One magnet either side of his security tag would disable it but he had to wait until he started moving.

He planned to access the small conduit, which ran along the section roof line and from there he could join the main service tube and access almost every part of the ship. First, he had to disconnect the security protocols for the conduit access, which without the access code was difficult. However, Jake already had one, courtesy of a schematic diagram he viewed while at his station.

He became aware of Morvalt ten minutes before Hoskins realized he was under the Kryl’s control again. Morvalt planted the suggestion that Jake plan for his escape and he had done just that, including his method of departure from the Halo 7. Now, he accessed the conduit control port and entered the key code. The conduit hatch clip released and Jake pulled himself up into the tube, before closing the hatch behind him.
So far, so good.

He used the two magnets to disable his security tag and crawled slowly through the cramped access tube, making way to the main service tunnel. He moved faster. He had no idea how long it would be before his security tag deactivation would be picked up and he needed to be off the ship quickly. If Hoskins got the stellar drive online, then this would all be over.

The Halo 7, like most of Alpha’s ships had a complex grid of interconnecting service tubes, all leading to a main service tunnel, this was the only part of the service grid tall enough to allow a person to stand. Jake reached the main tunnel, and removed his shoes, to reduce noise from his movements and ran down the main spine to the rear of the ship. The tunnel would take him directly to the rear most section of the ship and to the smaller rear hanger bay, that housed the Eagle shuttles. This was his planned means of escape.

* * * *

“How long to stellar capability?”

“Five minutes. We won’t be able to head straight for Earth, even with a small jump, we will just have to hit and hope again.”

“Sir, rear hanger bay doors have just been activated!”

“Carter, get a team down there. He is trying to take a shuttle!”

Jake powered up the shuttle and quickly carried out a truncated pre-flight. He knew he had to be quick—the algorithmic blocking code on the security doors would not stop them for long.

Finally, he was ready but as the shuttle lifted off, the bay doors began to close.
This is it; no choice now.
He forced both hands down on the thruster control and Eagle shot forward and through the bay door with only a few meters to spare. He was free but not for long.

“Shuttle launched, Sir. We could not close the door in time!”

“Tractor beam!”

“Locking on, Sir. We have him. He is trying to pull away.”

“He will burn out his main drive but it may take a while. Stellar drive, Number One?”

“Two minutes...but we have a bigger problem. Morvalt’s cruiser just de-cloaked astern. She is targeting the tractor beam array.”

“Transfer shield power and return fire.”

The second Kryl vessel pummeled her plasma weaponry on the port side.

“Stellar drive on-line.”

“We now have stellar capability Jonathan. I suggest we let Carter go. He is no longer in a position to protect us.”

Hoskins pondered his next move. He did not want Jake to be taken but it looked inevitable. Once they had him, both cruisers would target the Halo 7 in a different way. Their intent would be to destroy them. What choice did he have?

Jonathan, we need to act now!”

“Release tractor beam and engage stellar drive. Helm, take us out!”

Twelve thousand Jump Ships prepared to launch to take on the might of the Kryl fleet. The pilots had prepared for a long time, now their day had come.

Lieutenant Steve Costello stood beside his Rapier 7 waiting for the second phase of Jump Ships to be called to launch. In just minutes, he would be in the air. He was not frightened, more impassive and nonchalant. He wanted this, he needed this, and this is what he was born to do.

The signal indicated it was time to board and Steve jumped from the foot plate, across the wing to the cockpit in two strides and was in his seat seconds later, already booting up and commencing his pre-flight. This morning’s impassioned speech from Wing Commander Charland was typically gun hoe and Steve was more than ready.

Two minutes later, two hundred Rapier Jump Ships from Charland’s battle group launched from Alpha Two and stared into the face of the Kryl fleet.

Come on..let me at the little bastards
.

The signal to engage was held off until all twelve thousand vessels were in the air. This was planned and coordinated in finite detail to ensure all the Jump Ships were off-world and ready to engage as quickly as possible. The strategy was to flood the Kryl fleet with a huge mass of Jump Ships.

Within ten minutes, the whole fleet was in the air and the signal came from SED fleet command. “Engage and Destroy.”

Steve needed no encouragement as he forced his Rapier forward
.
In this fight, there were no squadrons, no groupings, just him and his wing man and he did not intend to stick too closely to him.

“Green group. Keep with your wing and coordinate your attack and defensive moves together.” Charland’s voice on the intercom, serving as both a reminder to his battle group and a contradiction to Steve’s strategy.

They were in amongst the Kryl fighters and the battle commenced. Steve’s wing man, Lieutenant Charlie Pearce, wasted no time in taking out a stray Kryl fighter who fell mistakenly within his target lock. Steve took up the pace and targeted three more fighters, but was forced off course instantly as two more crossed his flight path, briefly sending his Rapier into a flat spin. Recovering, he reengaged and locked onto the nearest fighter, but again, the Rapier was forced off target by another Kryl fighter sending the Jump Ship spinning in the opposite direction.

Steve was right in the thick of it and there was no room to move. He needed to fly into some space if he was to make an impact.

“Losing you Green four. I have two Kryl on my tail.”

Charlie Pearce was way off his wing. “I can’t help you, Charlie. I am too far out. I will swing round and try to counter, but you need to get out of that missile lock.”

It was too late. Charlie Pearce, second year postgraduate, and his Rapier were spread in bits across the cosmos.

“Green Four, you have lost your wing man. Bring yourself back to lock-down coordinates and pick up another.”

“Will do.”

Steve had no intention of heading back into the thick of the battle. He was looking for the edges of the skirmish, where he could move, engage and destroy his enemy.
Charlie had been unlucky, but this was a numbers game and you made your own luck.

That’s better. I can see the enemy now
.

He targeted two Kryl fighters who had just pulled back and were heading back into the throng. They were too close together.
Big mistake
, thought Steve as he dispatched two tigers straight between them, without obtaining lock. The missiles collided, exploded, and took out both Kryl ships.

“Yoo Hooo,” shouted Steve. Now he was in this battle.

Over the next thirty minutes, Steve was in his element. He knew his strengths and his enemies’ weaknesses. He exploited every one of them—destroying eight more Kryl fighters before his supply of tiger missiles ran out. He still had plasma cannons and his power cells were only half exhausted. Three more obliterated fighters later, his Rapier took its first plasma hit from the enemy. The damage seemed cosmetic, but the Jump Ships protective skin had been breached and harmful radiation leaked into the cockpit.

“Green Four. What are you doing out here. I redirected you to the lock-down coordinates. Have you been hit?”

“Just a scratch, Sir, although the skin has been breached. I got forced out here, en route to the lock-down. To be honest, Sir, I have had rich pickings.”

“It’s more than just a scratch if you have radiation venting into the cockpit. That’s it for you Green four—get yourself home.”

Steve sighed. “Will do, Sir.”

Steve pulled back on the throttle and adjusted his system dynamics, to bring control of his ship back to his visor control system. He was going home.

* * * *

“Bloody disgraceful flying Lieutenant. You deliberately avoided your wing man, leaving him vulnerable and he was taken out. Then you have the audacity to tell me you were forced out on route to the lock-down when the schematics show you never even attempted to adjust your course.”

“I took out thirteen Kryl fighters, Sir.”

“Am I supposed to be impressed? If you salvaged some of your missiles, you could still be out there. Some of our pilots have fifteen-twenty kills plus today and they were in the thick of it.”

“I felt I was more use on the edges of the battle, Sir. Close quarter flying is not my forte.”

“Not good enough Lieutenant Costello . Now with radiation sickness, you are grounded until the morning. Get some rest and when you get back out there, you will conform. Is that clear?”

* * * *

The first ten hours of SED’s involvement in the Kryl war had been difficult. The mass deployment of Jump Ships was partially successful but there were too many losses. For now the invasion was put off, but for how much longer?

Once the Jump Ship’s defensive ring was removed, all that remained to protect Earth was her shields and with the main Kryl fleet and vast majority of the Malchian Arrows still intact, the shields would come under pressure shortly. The Kryl’s commanders waited patiently. Alpha’s long resistance was virtually over.