The Alpha Choice (36 page)

‘There was probably a tacit understanding, between him and at least one other, that he would speak out while all bridge officers were present. I wouldn’t expect a display of empathy from his fellow officers?’

Darl shook his head.

‘Then any sympathisers remained in the shadows.’

He smiled, grimly.

She continued. ‘Either, all the bridge officers were innocent, simply too intimidated by you to say anything, or one, possibly some, shared his views and thought discretion to be a better gambit. More likely,’ Darl’s eyes were bright with anticipation, ‘there was a mixture of both. Either extreme you could readily resolve, albeit you would have preferred sycophancy, to sweeping rebellion,’ she waited for confirmation, but Darl said nothing. ‘You have to assume there’s at least one among them sharing his views and potentially, very dangerous. Perhaps they were as shocked by the outburst as you, but if they’re as clever as you suspect, they knew what was about to happen. They may have even engineered the outburst, making one sacrifice to assuage any suspicions you had concerning the loyalty of those who remained.’

Darl chose this moment to comment. ‘I agree. He’s been used as a dupe, and from our checks probably an innocent one, in the hope I’ll consider the threat gone.’

‘They’ll be on their guard, won’t assume anything, and be watching for any sign you remain suspicious,’ she had to compose herself, as she felt herself being swept away, and it was imperative her response was measured and rational. Darl seemed to sense this, and waited.

For his part, Gorn largely agreed with her analysis, but saw a fundamental flaw in her logic, which he hoped was deliberate, and also unseen by Darl.

Trang continued. ‘You want to be seen as falling for their ruse, and as you don’t know who you can trust, you need to bring in two outsiders who will hopefully see what you’ve missed, or has been kept from you.’

Darl was visibly impressed. ‘Precisely, but I sense you have a question?’

‘Yes, while I’m honoured you should think fit to confide in me…us,’ she corrected herself, without so much as a glance in Gorn’s direction, ‘how do you know you can trust us?’

‘Oh, don’t worry yourself Lieutenant Trang, I’ve had you both thoroughly checked out,’ he paused, but not, Gorn was sure, for dramatic effect. When he spoke again it was with a tinge of regret. ‘Of all my officers, other than Kirion - who would be spotted in a flash, if he snooped around - you two are the only ones I can absolutely trust.’
 

At this, Trang did look at Gorn. Her face had not softened, but it no longer showed any trace of anger. Beyond that, he had no idea what she was thinking. He imagined his own face must have been the exact opposite of Trang’s, he was completely confused.
Narol must have known this was a possibility, why did she withhold it from me?
He thought.

Seeing the look in Darl’s face, he knew the commander had misread the signs, thinking it was genuine surprise at the sheer randomness of it all. Gorn widened his eyes, to exaggerate the effect.

Trang spoke again. ‘You have the reputation of leaving the nurturing of young officers to your XO. Won’t it look strange if we are seen to spend an inordinate amount of time with you?’

‘Indeed it will,’ Darl replied, ‘which is why you won’t physically contact me, unless another officer is present. I have preloaded a direct, untraceable link between each of your private consoles, and mine. You’re not to discuss this through any means other than the consoles, that way neither of you will be compromised.’

Darl looked directly at Gorn, and Trang turned her head to follow her commander’s gaze. The pressure on Gorn to speak was immense. ‘You want us to spy on our fellow officers. What did you find in our personnel records that led you to believe we were willing to do that?’

‘Absolutely nothing, in fact I am dubious as to whether you, Gorn, are capable of subterfuge, your face betrays your feelings.’ Gorn thought,
if only you knew how wrong you are
. Darl continued. ‘I’ve found nothing to suggest the two of you are anything other than loyal, and that’s the most I can hope for. As to spying, I’m not asking you to actively look for evidence, but rather, let me know if anything comes to your attention. A subtle distinction I agree, but an important one.’

Before he had a chance to say anything, Trang answered. ‘Agreed.’

Darl seemed to take it for granted that she was speaking for them both, as he failed to look at Gorn for confirmation. In the minds of both Darl and Trang there was a pecking order beyond rank, and Gorn was last in line.

‘Good,’ replied Darl.

‘When you leave this room, you’ll be asked to repeat what was said between us. Tell whoever asks, that I was reassuring you about stepping into your predecessors’ shoes. They’ll conclude you’re both favourites and make them less inclined to be open with you, but at least their suspicions will be deflected.’

Neither of the young officers replied.

‘No one is above suspicion, no one, is that understood?’

They both nodded, without saying a word.

‘Oh, I almost forgot. I need the identities of those who quiz you.’

Ω

Narol went straight from Darl’s buffet, to the recreation room. She stood, for a few moments at one of the myriad drinks dispensers and, having discarded the empty cup, made her way to the nearest teleport. Approaching the station, she noted an innocuous nod of the head from one of her confederates - the only safe means of communication.

No-one would notice the imperceptible smile on the face of the Archeology Liaison Officer, as she stepped onto the teleport platform.
Causing a malfunction while we were with Darl, clever boy.
She was not in the least surprised Gorn had found the evidence so quickly. Her confidence in her nephew was not misplaced, after all.

Ω

Gorn followed Trang out of the conference room, needing to clear his mind. He halted and focussed on the elegant simplicity of the bridge, a circular room no more than sixty metres in diameter with a clear domed roof, controlling a ship over three kilometres in length. Applying his mind to factual matters, which had nothing to do with conspiracies or espionage, produced the immediate desired, rationalising effect.

Trang, on the other hand, moved straight to her station and, true to her instructions, ignored Gorn. To any casual observers there was nothing to suggest Darl had discussed anything, with the two young officers, that might be contrary to their own interests. Yet, despite only junior staff being on duty, almost all the senior officers, with the exception of Zan, were still present on the bridge.
 

So our absence has provoked more than a little interest,
thought
Gorn. That interest, however, was short lived, most likely brought about by the sight of the commander exiting the conference room, and taking his place at the command console. At his appearance, his senior officers, other than Gorn and Trang, vanished as quickly as nocturnal quarls exposed to sudden light.

Gorn, without looking at his commander, moved to his station, already occupied by one of his junior relief officers; the man was twelve years his senior, but gave no indication that he harboured any ill will. Ordinarily, the other man’s thoughts would not remotely concern Gorn, but in his current situation, he had to be alert to anything that might endanger him, or his plans. The man gave a genuine smile as he made way for the new science officer.

It was protocol that, before leaving the bridge, all officers were required to satisfy themselves they were aware of any developments relevant to their post. The station console would recognise them, and provide updates on all matters, even those relating to other stations if they impinged on its own functions. Allowing for the possibility of information gaps left by the console, all data relating to the bridge was available for perusal. Usually, no two officers assigned to a station would be present on the bridge at the same time. To cover rare incidents, such as the present one, the console would project a personal hologram directly in front of the approaching officer as soon as he, or she was within one and a half metres of the console, so as not to interfere with the officer at station.
 

Gorn satisfied himself that nothing needed his attention, and decided to return to his quarters. He nodded a brief acknowledgment to his relief, while a quick glance at Trang’s station showed she had already left.

Back in his cabin, he went straight to his bed and sat down. A lot had happened since boarding ship, and he needed time to consider how it affected the plans already forming in his mind. Once again, his thoughts began with Trang. Her analysis of the situation was impeccable, and that troubled him because, as an outsider unencumbered with the detritus cluttering Darl’s mind, he would expect her to postulate Gorn’s predecessor was sacrificed to make way for another, who would be above reproach, whose credentials were impeccable, Gorn himself.
 

He stood up, and thought,
am I making this more complicated than it needs to be?
Yes, it was possible Trang might be suspicious, but nothing more. It would be a mistake to ignore it altogether, and so he wove it into his line of reasoning, just to be satisfied he had it covered. Accepting she might have deliberately left that part of her analysis out, the question now presenting itself was,
why
?
 
As Darl himself believed, there were others on board conspiring to sabotage the mission.
So,
he pondered,
is she a rebel, an agent, or an innocent?
 
Reaching a conclusion was surprisingly easy:
She isn't here to help me, Narol wouldn't risk that; she can’t be an agent, they’re not ready for deployment until twenty-four. That leaves her being an ‘innocent.’ She’s aggravating and infuriating, but still an innocent.
 

In the midst of all the confusion, there was one vestige of certainty. He was completely out of his depth. Maybe, he was being paranoid. He had yet to work out how he would achieve the almost impossible task given to him by Narol, and now he was allowing himself to be distracted by problems that did not even exist. Smart he may be, but his lack of experience with people was telling,
where is Zaran, when I need him?
 

He asked his console for updates, and was informed there was a message from Genir. The hologram showed his friend, flanked by boisterous roommates, inviting him to join them for a couple of hours. Gorn could think of innumerable things he should do, but decided to go anyway. He needed a short time away from intrigue, and his loyal, less complex friend was the perfect antidote.

Ω

The meeting with his friend was all it promised to be. The two of them, accompanied by Genir’s roommates, also dart pilots who seemed incapable of doing anything without Genir’s approval, went to the recreation centre where, as Gorn should have known, they met up with six very attractive girls all of whom were particularly interested in the reluctant zagball hero but, unsurprisingly, not remotely interested in Genir’s detailed explanation, in as loud a voice as he could reasonably employ, of how the two of them outmanoeuvred their opponents.
 

The roommates soon disappeared when it became clear that the magnetism of the zagball hero was non transferable. Gorn found the whole experience empty and, much to his surprise, most relaxing.

Three hours later, he carefully disentangled himself from three of the girls, the others had grudgingly reported for duty an hour earlier. Genir was enjoying the sight of his awkward friend attempting to fend off the attentions of his adoring fans. He was perfectly happy for Gorn to be the centre of attention, particularly as he had contact details for all six girls, which would come in handy when they finally realised their first choice was not coming out to play.

He almost felt sorry for his friend. Anyone else could be forgiven, thinking Gorn incapable of enjoying the company of girls, but he knew his friend better than that. Genir was convinced that one day Gorn would be hit by the thunderbolt, and become what he was destined to be, a one woman man. Until that day dawned Genir was more than happy to console the women who threw themselves at the unyielding wall that was his friend.
 

Gorn had said his goodbyes, managing not to make any promises he had no intention of keeping, and was about to leave when his friend took him to one side, out of earshot of anyone else in the centre. For once, Genir looked serious. ‘How are you doing?’

‘I’m fine,’ replied Gorn. ‘It’s just that a lot’s happened recently, and I’m taking a little longer to adjust than I thought, but I’ll get there,’ his face took on a resigned look, before he walked away.

Genir did not believe this, for a moment. He knew his friend to be capable of dealing with anything. There was something else Gorn was choosing to keep to himself, and that was fine with Genir, when he was ready, Gorn would tell him.

‘Don’t be a stranger,’ he called after his friend.

Gorn kept walking to the transporter, and raised his right hand in acknowledgement. Genir watched as the reluctant zagball star came to the first transporter post, stopped and looked back. Just before he teleported, Genir could see something in his friend’s face, belying his earlier reassurance, as if he wanted to say something, then he was gone. For a few more moments Genir forgot about being the amiable buffoon everyone believed him to be then, adopting his usual dazzling smile, he turned back to three disconsolate girls.
 

Ω

Contact with Narol, when it came, was a surprise. Three days after Gorn’s meeting with Darl and Trang, he was called into Darl’s ready room and saw, standing before him, a red faced commander and a coolly furious Narol.

‘Gorn!’ barked Darl. ‘You may have met at the buffet, this is Narol.’ A glance over to the woman at his side, showed an arching of her eyebrows evincing an even higher level of anger. Darl had evidently seen the same look, and quickly attempted to correct himself. ‘What I meant to say…’

‘Archaeology Liaison Officer, Narol,’ his aunt interrupted the commander looking, as she did so, at Gorn. ‘But
you
may call me Narol.’