The Alpha Choice (2 page)

21 years ago

The Gallsor system

Ω

The Te’an spy ship AG 693, settling within the debris cloud of a massive planet in the Gallsor system, transmitted its message to Te'ath. Now the two occupants simply had to wait.

Three days later, Commander Jaron of the cruiser, Starseeker, received his orders. He was to take his squadron to the Gallsor system and, if the intelligence contained in his orders was confirmed, carry out a pre-emptive strike on the Balg home world. He summoned his two fellow commanders to a conference, and retired to his ready room.

Jaron had no sooner settled in, than Bakir, commander of Plasma Trail, and Denaa, commanding Nebula, joined him to review the data; if they all agreed it was unreliable, the operation would be aborted. The three men had known each other since childhood. Bakir was the most reactive, and quick tempered of the group, Denaa the most amenable, while Jaron had always been the most measured. Between them, they had managed to avoid destruction at the hands of the Balg despite, on several occasions, being outgunned and out manoeuvred. The war, already six years old, and the first in which the three men had personal involvement, was not going well.

Jaron looked at his old friends. ‘Well, it seems clear-cut, only three lightly armed transport ships in the system, no planetary defences.’

Denaa responded. ‘Their warships must all be out on engagement.’

‘We’ll never have better chance than this,’ added Bakir. ‘As for the intelligence? Agrion’s gut is sound,’ he paused before adding. ‘I don’t know Liron, but Agrion doesn’t suffer fools, and I can't imagine the Agency screwing up.’
 

Jaron nodded, but mentally put a question mark against Agrion. Bakir was a good man to have in a fight, but not a good judge of character; he would have preferred it had his friend considered Agrion too cautious. ‘Liron was three years below us at the Academy. I've only met her once, and she seemed pretty level headed.’

‘For an Agency drone…’ added Denaa, with a smile that was shared by his friends. Generally, there was no love lost between the military and the Agency, who scrutinised the academies with hawk-like attention, before creaming off those who would fit into their grey, soulless world. ‘Still,’ added Jaron, ‘it doesn’t seem right, the Balg leaving their home world undefended, they never leave anything to chance.’
 

The others nodded. None of them had any knowledge of the Balg suffering defeat, correction, none of them knew very much about the Balg at all, not even what they looked like. Ordinarily, the Te were unmatched in their conflicts with other races. Battles were usually short and for them, sweet, but the Balg were something else. They did not wage war, they simply defended themselves.

The attitudes of each of the three men to the Balg strategy differed. Bakir could not understand the mindset of a race thinking along defensive lines, he was a true Te’an warrior, and saw no problem with victory at any cost. Denaa was more utilitarian, choosing not to look beyond the battle at hand, not because he was a fool, he simply believed deeper issues to be the preserve of the Supreme Council. Jaron was prudent, taking a more holistic approach to tactical planning than either of his colleagues. He, like Bakir, was unable to fathom the intentions of the Balg but, unlike his friend, he wanted to. ‘Starseeker will go in first. I want the two of you staggered behind me, so we don’t present a clear target. I can’t get rid of the feeling that it’s all just a little too easy, and I want us covered.’
 

‘So we proceed?’ asked Denaa.

‘Yes,’ Jaron answered, ‘but with caution; Command told me we’re all there is!’
 

Denaa’s eyes widened.

‘By the time they could divert more ships, the opportunity would be gone,’ Jaron added.

Bakir looked unconvinced.

‘You have a problem with this, Bakir?’ asked Jaron.

‘I agree, we’ve got to act now, but to creep in and hope they don’t spot us?’ He shook his head. ‘I propose we stay in weft, until just short of the planet, then hit them with everything we've got. If we’re too cautious, too slow, it gives them a chance to get ships back here.’

‘If it's a trap and we’re too far in, what then?’ asked Jaron. Without waiting for an answer, he continued. ‘We have nine thousand crew members, between us. We can't risk their lives.’

‘It's worth it, if we deliver a killer blow,’ Bakir replied.

Both men looked at Denaa who, without hesitation, said. ‘Jaron’s right, easy does it and if we meet anything we aren’t expecting, get out fast.’

Bakir appeared less than pleased, but said nothing.

Denaa added. ‘We need to pick up the intrepid duo before we go in, I’ll do that.’

Jaron nodded. Thirty minutes later, he was alone in his ready room and had just received confirmation, the others were ready to proceed. Walking on to the bridge he gave the order to exit the Weft.

The three warships appeared at points well short of the spy ship’s temporary home. The first few seconds after leaving the Weft were when a ship was at its most vulnerable. The field enabling travel through weft space took a few seconds to dissipate, during which time it was not possible to erect defensive shields. Usually, this did not cause a problem as it was possible, while still in the Weft, to scan some distance beyond the exit point.

As soon as shields were in place, Jaron gave the order to advance. Starseeker pulled ahead, followed by the others in a staggered, flank formation. Nebula, immediately aft and to port of Starseeker, had already sent rendezvous coordinates to the spy ship. No sooner had the message been acknowledged, than the tiny ship left her hiding place within the debris cloud.

Scans showed the presence of the two man spy ship and, much further afield, the three Balg transport ships.
So far, so good,
thought Jaron.

Starseeker and Plasma Trail swept past the tiny ship. The distance between them and Nebula increasing, as she slowed to rendezvous with the spy ship. All scans confirmed the four ships were completely alone. As Nebula deactivated her shields to allow the smaller ship to dock, the spy ship flared out of existence. Reyat, Starseeker’s tactical officer, checked for the information he knew his commander would demand, and shook his head. ‘Sir, I can’t tell where that came from.’

In answer, six Balg warships appeared. It was as though a cosmic hand had whipped away a huge black cloth. The Balg opened fire immediately upon both Nebula and Plasma Trail. In the moments before Nebula could erect shields, it took heavy damage to its weapons systems.

Because Starseeker was ahead of the others, it was beyond the initial onslaught. Jaron took one glance at the tactical holosphere with its reams of data; figuring out how the Balg appeared out of nowhere would have to wait until another day, if there was to be another day! Two of the Balg ships turned to bring their larger, front mounted weapons to bear upon the flagship. Jaron guessed he had fifteen-seconds, and gave an order to Reyat, that no one else could overhear.

Every pair of eyes on the bridge regarded the commander with horror. Most were unaware of what he intended to do, but they all knew he had deactivated defensive shields. Jaron ignored them, his eyes locked on tactical. ‘Now?’

Reyat did not need to be told twice. The seconds ticked away as the Balg ships continued to turn. Just as the enemy was coming into position, the tactical officer nodded.
 

‘Execute!’ the commander barked.

Starseeker was in weft space, and safe. Jaron strode over to the tactical console indicating that his XO, Practaa, was to follow. The two of them looked at the holosphere as Reyat stepped back, maintaining a respectful distance. Science was not Jaron’s strong suit, but tactically he could hold his own with most. He called up a scenario and looked at his tactical officer. ‘Well?’

Reyat scrutinised the hastily constructed plan and became agitated. ‘I don’t know, there isn’t enough time, although…’ for a few precious seconds he stared at the data, ‘…yes!’

‘Do it!’ Jaron replied. His XO said nothing.

Ω

Back at Gallsor, Jaron’s old friends did not have time to consider their superior’s hasty retreat. All six Balg ships were now concentrating their fire upon the remaining Te’an cruisers.

Nebula and Plasma Trail had turned to outrun the enemy, diverting what little power remained, to the failing rear shields. All the while their shields were up they could neither launch the escape pods, nor erect a weft field. It never occurred to Bakir that Jaron had been right to be cautious because, even with his caution, they were still finished.
 

Ω

Jaron paced up and down, looking at the holosphere and watching for the change he needed. ‘The scans?’ The data was displayed, and he simply shook his head,
who would have thought it?
He looked hard at his tactical officer. ‘How reliable is this?’

‘I can’t be precise, sir,’ the younger officer was clearly nervous.

‘We don’t have the time Reyat, just give me your best estimate of our chances.’

The tactical officer took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly before answering. ‘Based upon the limited scans, I would say…no better than thirty percent!’

The only visible sign of Jaron’s turmoil was him clenching his fists. ‘How long do we need?’

Reyat responded, without hesitation. ‘Ninety-seconds, sir.’

‘How long do they have?’

‘Half that.’

‘Then we go in thirty-seconds!’

Reyat was shocked. ‘But, sir, we won't have time to erect shields.’
 

Jaron permitted himself a grim smile. ‘I don’t think that’s going to make so much difference, do you?’

The tactical officer shook his head.

The three weapons officers had all tapped into Reyat’s data, ready as they would ever be.

Ω

Nebula’s shields had given out completely when Starseeker appeared between her, and the Balg ships. Just as the Weft field collapsed, the flagship fired on all enemy ships. At the same time a single command was received on the bridges of the besieged Te’an ships. ‘Leave!’
 

Plasma Trail dropped shields and began to erect a weft field; Nebula had no shields to drop.

The Balg were taken by surprise, and the time it took for them to open fire upon the newly returned Te’an flagship, gave her the precious seconds she needed to erect shields. At the same time her sister ships entered the Weft, and she was alone.

The second part of Jaron’s plan was activated. Starseeker powered between two of the Balg ships, targeting the weakest part of their shields. Both their respective starboard and port shield emitters were disabled; he then ordered his weapons officers to stop firing.

‘Sir?’ the most senior of the three asked.

‘You heard me, cease fire.’

The XO approached his commander and spoke in a voice that could not be overheard. ‘Now what?’

‘We wait.’

Practaa knew better than to ask Jaron what he was waiting for.

None of the seven ships moved.

If it was possible for the silence of space to be even blacker, then they had achieved exactly that.

That silence was echoed on the bridge of Starseeker.

Jaron had taken the biggest risk of his life. He counted on the Balg only acting in self-defence, knowing that he could only, at best, disable two of their ships. He also knew that they were so close together, he could use their unwillingness to accidentally hit each other, to his advantage. If he failed to disable any of the ships it was over.
 

Now that the first part of his plan had worked, he had taken his crew into totally unknown territory.
 

He could significantly damage, if not destroy, two of the ships, but the remaining Balg would make short work of Starseeker. Alternatively, the Balg could withdraw, and no one else would die. The only flaw in his logic…they had already destroyed the spy ship. He could only hope that three thousand lives, plus the lives on the two Balg ships would give them pause for thought, but even that might not be necessary, if his theory was correct.

Minutes stretched into hours, as Jaron watched for a sign his plan had worked. In all that time his bridge crew waited, they were unable to do anything else. That wait would be echoed throughout the ship. Then, as quickly as they had appeared, all six Balg ships were gone.

Knowing it was pointless, he ordered a scan of the area. As he expected, there was no trace of the Balg. Satisfied they were alone, he sat in his command chair looking around at his officers. They were waiting for the order to return home, but there was something else he had to do. Turning to his XO he issued the command. ‘Have Reyat complete his scans for the remains of our spy ship. Bring him to me, and let no one know what he finds.’

Practaa nodded his compliance.

Jaron retired to his ready room and waited, and wondered. Perhaps he was looking for a mystery where there was none,
but,
he thought,
by rights, we shouldn’t be alive, so we’ve nothing to lose.
Soon he would know.

A few minutes later, the XO entered with the young tactical officer in his wake. Reyat looked uncomfortable as Jaron called up the results of the scan on his own holosphere. After double-checking, he swivelled his chair until he was facing the young officer. ‘Ensure this information goes no further. Now you may return to your station.’

Reyat nodded, before leaving the ready room.

Jaron looked at his XO, who answered the unspoken question. ‘It makes no sense.’

‘I’d agree with you, if it was the only strange thing that had happened today.’
 

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I haven't decided, yet,’ he looked back at the hologram, signalling he wanted the room to himself.

Alone in his ready room, Jaron looked again at the results of the scan, and recalled everything that had happened since they entered the Gallsor system.
 

Several minutes later, he walked on to the bridge and addressed his navigation officer. ‘I think it’s time we went home, Mr Ciurat.’

21 years ago