Alpha One: The Kronan (27 page)

Jake was taken from the hanger deck to a small holding cell.

He did not know how long he had been there—only that he had slept. Now awake, he waited.

When the doors to the cell were opened, Jake was ushered outside and escorted once again by three Kryl drones. Two elevators and half a kilometer of corridor later, the drones and their charge arrived at the Queen’s Sanctuary. All three Kryl stood to one side and gestured for Jake to enter. He stepped forward nervously and entered the cavernous hall. They did not follow and the entrance doors shut behind him.

It was dark, but he could still see enough to walk in front of him. Some hundred meters distant there was a faint light source. Jake had no comprehension of why he was here or what he should do. He just kept walking.

As he drew nearer, it became lighter. He saw a single light directed to a large throne-like chair.
Is this the throne room
? He continued forward nervously.
Getting out of this room is going to be difficult enough, let alone find the Eagle.
Several minutes later, he arrived at what he presumed was the center of the room and was suddenly bathed in light. The Queen stepped forward out of the darkness, beyond the chair.

“Jake Carter. Thank you for coming.”

“Why am I here?”

“Is that the way you would address the leaders of Earth? Does my presence not warrant at least a less perfunctory greeting?”

Jake was astonished by the clarity and fluency of her voice and suddenly felt the magnitude of her presence. This Kryl presided over the deaths of thousands of his people. He felt hatred.

“I presume I am talking to the Queen?”

She laughed, revealing the characteristic graying mouth and teeth.

“Such bravery in my presence. I suppose I should expect nothing less from the conqueror of Navalion. You are here because I want to see you with my own eyes.”

“What do you intend to do with me?”

The Queen stepped forward further. He smelled her now. Strangely, he was aroused by her presence. Jake tried to hide it but she smiled, Did she sense Jake’s hormonal rush?

She laughed again. “It would never work Mister Carter, although the prospect does excite me.” She licked her lips.

“Why did you kill Navalion?”

The sudden change of direction took Jake by surprise.
From temptress to interrogator in a split second.
He stuttered his reply. “I presume you mean Winterburn. I did not plan to kill him.”

“Did he tell you that you were to be his killer?”

“Yes.”

“So you obliged him.”

“No! He attacked me and I defended myself. If I hadn’t killed him, he would have killed me!”

“How many of my people have you killed ?”

Exasperated, Jake paused before replying. “I don’t know—ten maybe fifteen directly. Not many. Not nearly as many as you.”

His sentence petered off towards the end. He could not believe he actually said that. Fortunately, the Queen did not rise to the bait.

“We are here for a purpose and your people will die in order to achieve this.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“No.”

“What will happen to me then?”

“You are free to leave now. You must find your own way.”

“Why did you bring me all this way—just to ask me a few questions?”

“I wanted to see you with my own eyes. We will meet again Mister Carter but not for a long time.”

What did that mean?
Then he stopped himself, when he realized why he was here.

“Am I your killer too?”

No response.

“Is that why you needed to see me? If I am due to kill you, why don’t you just kill me now?”

“Goodbye . One day we will meet again and all your questions will be answered.” The Queen turned and walked off into the darkness, leaving Jake standing in disbelief.
Surely, he could not the Queen’s killer too.

He stood transfixed for a few moments before reality checked and he realized this could be his only chance to get off the ship. Quite how he was going to achieve it was another matter. Jake reached into his tunic and pulled out a small battery charged flashlight. To his relief it worked but it lacked penetration. He still did not know which way to go.

He stepped forward into the darkness. In the distance, a light source appeared. He looked around and noticed more than one. There were twenty or thirty surrounding him. Were these exits or were there Kryl guards summoned to take him? He reached into his tunic again and pulled out a small blaster gun. Its power cells were full, but the ops light was off, telling him in an instant it would not work.
Some kind of blocking device,
he thought as he pushed the gun back inside his tunic and reached down instead to his lower trouser pocket for his hunter’s knife.

He headed back the way he came, toward what he presumed was the point where he entered the hall. As he drew closer, and to his relief, he saw this light source was merely a means to exit the hall.

He thought more clearly now. He tried to keep track of the various changes in direction on his journey from the hanger bay to his current location. The truth was he had no idea which direction the elevators took him. He needed to find a point of reference which would lead him back to the hanger bay. Even then, assuming he managed to get back to his ship, he had to launch and fly through the vast array of Kryl ships before he found the exit point of the Queen’s ship.

It seemed an impossible task and yet he was guided in part, by what the Queen said. If he were to meet her again at some part in the future, then surely—if her prediction is correct—he would make it through this. It wasn’t much and the task ahead of him remained daunting but he kept going.

Jake reached the exit point to the Queen’s Sanctuary, pocketed his flashlight, and clasped his hunter’s knife. He was about to enter the corridors of the Queen’s ship. From now on, his future was no longer in his own hands.

Squadron Leader Figuera is a delight for sore eyes
, thought Steve as she entered the small briefing room and introduced herself. His perceptions changed very quickly when she opened her mouth.

“I don’t have time for wasters here. This is a simple pre-flight briefing. You will fly in your allocated pairs and take out as many Malchian Arrows as you can. Once your tigers and fifty percent of either your plasma cannon or power reserves are used up, you should return immediately—with your wing man. Rota is 4-4-4, although it is unlikely you will actually achieve four hours in combat at any point in time. You are all flying Sabre 4’s. These are the pride and joy of SED. Don’t break them. That’s it—get out there!”

Ten seconds later, she was gone and a rush of dialogue replaced her banal auditory tone.

The pilots were ushered out of the rear briefing room door shortly afterwards and they entered the hanger bay.

One hundred and eighty Sabre 4’s took flight less than five minutes later and headed directly to the rear of the ensuing battle. It was time to engage the Malchian Arrows.

Flight Lieutenant’s Costello and Baines paired up with their call signs Sabre Blue 7 and 8. They headed out in search of their first targets.

It had been a while since Steve piloted the Sabre 4, but his first experience had not been a one-off. It truly was an exhilarating experience. If anything could defeat the Arrows, then this machine surely could.

Unfortunately, there were not enough of Sabre 4’s in circulation. Had they been bountiful, the result of the war could have been very different. As it was, over two thousand were shipped out from the Sabre factory and only about three hundred remained.

Steve assumed the wing position first. The more experienced Baines took the Sabres in high and then down towards their first Arrow, establishing weapons lock at his first attempt.

The Malchian pilot was alerted to the impending danger and quickly identified a narrow passage between two Kryl cruisers as his means of escape. Both Sabres followed the Arrow through the gap between the cruisers. Steve had to back off for fear of careering into the side of one of the cruisers. This gave the Arrow an advantage as the three ships entered free space. He quickly assumed an attacking posture with Steve firmly in his targets. To make matters worse, Baines was forced wide between a third cruiser and was effectively out of range.

Steve was not concerned. He sent the Sabre into a series of maximum G curves with swift acceleration out of each. There was no way the Arrow could keep up. Within a few minutes, he had re-established Alpha’s advantage and looked for his own weapons lock. Baines was nowhere to be seen and there wasn’t time to go searching. He had his man in range and he would not lose him.

The Malchian Pilot wouldn’t allow a Sabre weapons computer to lock on twice. He sent his ship through a series of tight turns to try to destabilize the Alpha ship. But Steve would not let go. The exchange continued for several more minutes before he decided enough was enough.

He took the weapons computer offline, brought up the manual visor controls, and the Tiger System online, targeted on his head up display, and fired. The missile exploded less than two meters from the Kryl fighter and the ship disintegrated.
Kill Number One,
thought Steve as he pulled up to avoid collision and immediately sought out his travelling companion.

Baines was back with his own Arrow to deal with. Just as he managed to avoid a weapons lock for a second time, two more Arrows joined the chase. Steve pulled in behind them and held on as best he could. He needed to use maximum thrust to keep up.

At the other end of the procession, the lead Arrow obtained multiple locks on Baines’ Sabre.

“Christ Costello, where are you? He has multiple locks!”

“I am right behind you. You need to slow this down so we can all catch up. I can’t help you from back here!”

Baines pulled up on his stick. The Sabre decelerated quickly, allowing the three chasing vessels to move closer but the lead Arrow still had lock.

“It’s no use. I can’t shift him! I am heading for the Kryl fleet.”

There was no need. Steve manually fired a salvo of three tigers in a hit-and-miss attempt to dislodge the Arrows in front of him. All three missed the Kryl vessels, but the act was sufficient to dislodge the lead Arrow from his lock. It gave Baines the opportunity to sneak between two Kryl cruisers and to comparative safety.

Now the pressure turned back on Steve. The three Arrows regrouped and quickly doubled back. He was their intended target. Steve checked his wing for Baines but he was nowhere to be seen.

The Malchian Arrow achieved lock seconds later. This time it did not let go. The laser cannons peppered the rear of Steve’s Sabre, but the plasma beam did the most damage. The weapons discharge split the exhaust manifold in two with several shards of super heated metal permeating the Jump Ships Stellar drive core.

Now the Sabre was a time bomb waiting to go off and there was nothing Steve could do. He was acutely aware of how bad his situation was but not just going to give up. He continued his seemingly unending series of twists and turns until all three Arrows were taken off the pace, and he was free. His problems were far from over—the tear in his main drive core was getting bigger. Instinctively he pointed his ship back towards Alpha Two and away from the battle. He throttled forward for a few moments before disengaging both drives and relying on thrusters for forward momentum. He gave himself a chance to think. As things stood, his Sabre would not make it back home, which meant ejection as the only option. However, the chances of surviving a high-speed ejection with drive plasma leaking out to all corners were not good.
Almost impossible,
he thought.
If I die while ejecting,my death would be in vain. Is there another option?

He looked around. Could he eject the core? No, the rupture was too big and the explosion required to detach the core would ignite the plasma. He sat quietly for a few moments as he pondered his next move. Should he eject or die, or do something a little bit Costelloesque? He smiled—he knew what he had to do. This was exactly what his father and grandfather would have expected of him. He turned his ship back towards the Kryl fleet and re-engaged his auxiliary drive. It was time to make a difference.

* * * *

Baines released himself from his latest skirmish with the Kryl and was looking for his partner. He didn’t have to look far. Just ahead of him, a Sabre moved purposefully towards the Kryl fleet but something was wrong.

“Hi Stevo, I’m back. Looks like you are venting something. Perhaps heading directly into the Kryl fleet is not a good idea right now.”

No response.

“Are you there buddy?”

“Of course, I am here. I am venting my main drive core. This is it. I have no choice but to go for the big climax.”

“Christ. Why don’t you eject? I can get close enough to pick you up!”

“Then we will both be blown to bits. The core plasma will ignite as soon as I hit the canopy release button. I can’t take her home so there’s only one choice. You need to pull back. There will be one hell of an explosion.”

“This is ridiculous. We can get a temporary shield round your core and then you can eject.”

“There isn’t time. I have made my mind up. Thanks for your concern but you need to back off now. I am shutting down my comms station. I would head for home, if I were you. Go and get the battle won for us. This will be my contribution.”

The comm. link went dead. Baines realized all he could do was watch his partner head directly into the Kryl fleet.

* * * *

Steve was calm now. He was close enough to the nearest cruiser to ensure if they did try to take him out, the resultant explosion would destroy the cruiser too. All he had to do was to draw in a little closer. He engaged his maneuvering thrusters as soon as he reached the narrow tunnel between the two Kryl cruisers. Now he had to sit and wait for the critical moment when ejecting would cause the worst possible damage.

A minute passed and then two. Waiting for his own death was not as easy as he hoped. He thought of his father and his grandfather, neither of whom he had known. They would be proud of him and then his mother, who would be devastated by his loss. As would Carla; they were not together, but you never forget your first love and she would have loved him again. Jake might shed a tear or two. They were close, before Jake took her from him. Then he thought of himself and the selfless act he was about to perform. Could this be enough to kick-start the battle back into Alpha’s favor? It was good that Baines was witnessing his final act—his final act of bravery would be savored forever in Alpha’s history.

The time was now looming. The two cruisers started drifting closer to each other. The gap was less than twenty meters.
This is it, crunch time.

Steve drew what he anticipated would be his last breath as his hand hovered over the canopy release button.
It’s now or never,
his final rational thought as he hesitated briefly before pressing the button.

The canopy and ejector release mechanism involved the mixing of two small quantities of explosive component on both sides of the canopy and the ejector seat. Steve felt the whoosh of the canopy as it launched into free space and his own chair as he lifted briefly before the core plasma ignited. The resultant explosion was enormous and, as predicted, both Kryl cruisers were ripped apart.

* * * *

Baines watched in horror as realization struck.
Steve released his canopy and now he is dead.

Baines reflected briefly before realizing his position placed him in imminent danger. He quickly pulled the Sabre back and out of harm’s way, setting a heading back to Alpha Two. He had lost his partner, but his partner was a hero. It was important that Alpha understood the significance of Steve Costello’s last act.