The Alpha Choice (37 page)

Gorn mistakenly thought Darl’s face was unable to show any deeper shade of red than he had witnessed moments before. ‘Narol and I have had a difference of opinion concerning your suitability, to act as liaison during this voyage.’

‘Perhaps, Commander,’ Narol ventured, ‘we could all be seated to discuss this?’ At which point, she sat on the nearest chair, leaving the two men to either remain standing and look foolish, or sit. They chose the latter.

‘There’s no way to put this delicately,’ Narol continued. ‘The commander has informed me you are to be my new science liaison officer, and I have made it known to him that I don’t believe you have the experience to assist me in my work. We have signalled the Admiralty, and are awaiting their final determination on the matter.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Gorn replied, looking from one to the other. ‘I really don’t know what either of you are talking about.’

Narol turned towards Darl, her anger now barely controlled. ‘You haven’t told the boy?’

‘I didn’t think it would be a problem,’ the commander was finding it difficult to control his frustration. Narol simply stared at him. ‘Clearly, it was!’ he erupted.

Narol turned towards her nephew. When she spoke, her voice took on an altogether more reasonable tone.
 

‘What do you know of our mission?’

‘Only what I’ve been told,’ he lied.

Narol turned to Darl. ‘Will you tell him, or shall I?’

The commander simply shrugged, and Narol took that as acquiescence. ‘This mission, despite what you might have been led to believe, is one of conquest…’

‘But rule…’ Gorn tried to add.

Narol waved her hand. ‘Not our concern. Higher powers have decided it won’t apply,’ she could see Gorn was about to interrupt, and shook her head. ‘There’s no point in asking how, or why, it just is; they are matters that don’t need to concern us.’

At this point Darl stepped in. ‘I trust I needn’t remind you that everything you’re hearing must remain within these walls. We don’t want rumours and gossip spreading through the ship. All I’ll say, is that it’s a delicate situation,’ as an afterthought he added. ‘That includes Lieutenant Trang,’ clearly remembering her reference to non-emergent species, during the post buffet conference.

‘I understand.’ Gorn replied. Darl appeared satisfied.

Narol continued. ‘The commander’s orders are: once we have seized the target planet, hopefully without struggle, we are to extricate all objects of value within a month. There’s no precedent for such a short timeframe, and I’m not privy to the reasons behind such haste.

‘These matters are usually dealt with by other ships not,’ she looked again at Darl, ‘by ships of the line. My duties don’t include grubbing about to see whose pockets we can pick, but it seems we must all learn to be flexible. I’ve been informed by my superiors that
sweepers
will not be involved in this mission, and so I must coordinate the data from all the departments tasked with examining objects of interest. I have the final say in determining which of the objects will be returning with us to Te'ath.’

Now Gorn understood why Narol was able to speak with authority on what Darl did and the nature of Te'an acquisition, she had been part of it,
she’s served with Darl on a sweeper
.
Her duties might not include grubbing about now, but there was a time when they did.

‘Normally,’ Narol continued, ‘this task takes several months, post conquest. My involvement would be on Te'ath and restricted to cataloguing cultural objects. However, there is apparently a need, in the current circumstances, to sift through their scientific accomplishments. I suggested we wait, until our return to Te'ath before detailed analysis, but was instructed that their science needs to be evaluated on the spot, as it were. That task ordinarily falls to the science officer, and until recently we had a very experienced officer,’ she looked at Darl to see if he had anything to add, he simply stared at her. ‘The sterilisation of the planet is not to be delayed beyond our departure from Telluria, and for reasons that should be obvious, we can’t return to a planet after the wholesale destruction of the host race, and the consequential collateral damage.’

None of this was a surprise to Gorn, and only confirmed what he already knew. Unlike previous conquests, where sweepers took their time to evaluate what was of value, the Council had decided that the inhabitants of Telluria were to be summarily destroyed, and Eclipse was effectively a sweeper. What Narol had achieved was to induct him into a tight group who knew Eclipse’s true purpose. This would bring him closer to Darl, allaying his suspicions even further.
But why,
he thought,
is she objecting to me acting as liaison?
 

Narol was continuing as though she had said nothing worthy of note. ‘It will be the task of the logistics officer to ensure the safe passage of those items. The science officer - you, if the commander has his way - will have sole responsibility to assess their value, although I cannot, for the life of me, see what use we would have for their backward science.’

‘And that,’ interjected Darl, ‘is why you aren’t the science officer.’

She pressed on, ignoring Darl's interruption. ‘For reasons, that escape me, the commander thought I would be happy with a wholly inexperienced officer acting as my science liaison.’

Narol paused, momentarily, as though weighing her words carefully. ‘I’m sorry, but you simply won’t do. Notwithstanding your undoubted talents, you lack the necessary experience. I’ve requested that you be replaced with a more experienced officer, albeit one with less innate brilliance.’

At this, final pronouncement, she sat back in her chair, visibly relieved at having unburdened herself of a task she found unpleasant.

Gorn, mentally kicked himself for being so dense, Narol’s scheme was brilliant.

‘Perhaps,’ he began, looking at Darl, ‘it would be better…’
 
before he could complete the sentence, the commander’s personal console flashed.

‘Aha, a response!’ Darl exclaimed. ‘Shall I take it in private Narol, or shall we just play it now?’

‘Don’t be foolish, Darl, the sooner we all know, the better.’

With that, the commander instructed the console to play the message.

A minute later it was a self satisfied Darl who was doing his utmost not to appear triumphant, or perhaps a little less than his utmost.

Narol was gracious in defeat, and even forced herself to smile. ‘Clearly, the Council has decided, age notwithstanding, that you are the right person for the job.’ She stood and took hold of Gorn’s forearm, which he reciprocated. ‘I look forward to working with you, young man.’

Darl was clearly enjoying her discomfort, and Gorn was sure this was only one of many historic battles most of which, from the look on the commander’s face, were probably won by Narol. Darl failed to realise she had won again, manipulating him into doing what she could not, ensuring ample opportunities for the conspirators to meet.

Narol moved quickly on from her
disappointment
, and got down to practicalities. She informed Darl that her assistants would carry out most of the actual liaison, as she was already fully occupied, and for that same reason could not spare the time to meet with Gorn more than once a week.
 

Darl could sense her dragging some consolation from the jaws of defeat, and in the spirit of magnanimity, agreed. After all, it sweetened the victory so long awaited, to graciously allow his foe some little respite; not only did she have to live with her defeat, she was indebted to the victor. He knew she would hate that, almost as much as her defeat.

Others might have considered his reaction extreme, and not a little malicious.
Let them,
he thought,
they haven’t had to put up with this insufferable woman for nine years
.
How is it, on a ship this size I can’t avoid her?
 
He looked at Narol, his face now a picture of serenity, before she made her excuses, and left.

Ω

As she left Darl’s ready room, Narol was content. Everything had gone as planned, as she knew it would. Gorn’s part in the deception was impressive, his initial surprise completely genuine. She had thought it wise not to pre warn the boy, he might try to play act, creating suspicion in the mind of Darl who, despite his bizarre behaviour, was nobody’s fool. She was particularly impressed by the speed of her Nephew’s uptake.

Gorn was proving to be a valuable asset and, for the briefest of moments, a flicker of regret raced across her mind, then it was gone, banished never to return. Whatever the outcome of this mission, she and the Vanguard would survive. If Gorn failed, she would wait for the next opportunity, one she most likely would not live to see but, like all her predecessors, she was patient.

Unpleasant though it was to contemplate, she needed to set in motion the steps to be taken once Gorn had completed his mission. Her agent/assassin would leave a trail of breadcrumbs to a single, inevitable conclusion: the sabotage was the action of a brilliant, but deranged young man who blamed his father, a hero of the military, for the death of his poor, equally deranged mother. There would be no follow up.

Ω

Darl had always thought Narol to be a beautiful woman and, in the early years, had made his feelings known in a less than discreet manner. She had made it clear, in her equally forthright way, how she viewed the prospect as only slightly more appealing than having all of her internal organs drawn out through her throat, while still conscious.
 

He resigned himself, it was her loss, but why did she always go out of her way to make life difficult for him? He had to fight tooth and nail for everything, where their interests crossed, and to make matters worse, she was always professional and courteous, knowing it would make him even angrier.
 

One thing though, this latest business with young Gorn, he had never seen her that irascible before. Maybe he was pushing her too hard. He mentally shrugged,
what of it
?

Gorn was dismissed and, once alone, Darl chortled.
When will the wretched woman learn?
She’ll have to get up early in the morning to get the better of me!
He permitted himself one last, lingering moment of smugness, before turning his mind to the deadly serious matter of the traitor/traitors on board. He had a very good feeling about Gorn and Trang, they would lead him to his quarry.

Ω

Gorn returned to his quarters, amazed at the skill demonstrated by his aunt. In one deft movement she had played Darl so completely, he could never suspect there was anything untoward in their weekly meetings.

How long she had been building up to this moment, he could only wonder. While he had nothing but admiration for her abilities, the fact she had chosen not to inform him in advance, suggested a mind wholly committed to one task only. Everything, and everyone else, was of no consequence, unless there was a direct bearing on that one task, the mission.
 

It would be wise to bear this in mind during his dealings with her. He thought about the fate of his predecessor, did he fall, or was he pushed?

Ω

In the following days and weeks, countless exercises and manoeuvres hinted at an up and coming battle with a foe, at least the match of Eclipse, not to mention her two sister ships Quasar and Horizon, who had joined her for exercises before leaving for a special, and rather peculiar escort duty. Once that was done, the three ships would again rendezvous, in the Tellurian system

Gorn wondered, more than once, what the reaction would be to the news that they were about to wage war on a planet yet to develop crude nuclear fusion. Three of the most powerful warships in the known universe – discounting the embarrassment at Gallsor – were soon to take on the might of a race, which had only achieved manned flight to their moon. When he allowed his mind to drift along these lines, he was reminded that in the event of him succeeding in his task, such thoughts would be otiose.

He found some comfort reflecting in this way, because the alternative, wondering how many on board knew the true nature of the expedition, was frightening. Of course, Darl had imposed an embargo on the information, but things have a habit of getting out and about, even on a ship the size of Eclipse. It was no great leap from that realisation, to surmising how all Te'ans might react if they knew.

On a brighter note, Kirion pleasantly surprised him. He expected the XO to be something of a martinet, a common perception refuted by the facts. While a sense of duty ran through the man like the age rings in a tree, he was engaging and light hearted. His interests ranged from poetry and music, through to zagball. It came as a surprise to Gorn when he learned of fellow spectators asking Kirion to calm his more extreme outbursts of enthusiasm, during the Fleet match. Over the weeks following his induction, the two men formed a firm friendship.
 

In his reports to Darl, Gorn could find no hint of dissension within the crew, although he did remark during one conversation that, as most people only wanted to talk to him about zagball, any disenchantment was unlikely to surface.
 

When he told Kirion of his difficulty in striking up conversations about anything other than a ball game, his senior officer sympathised. Only once did Trang enter their conversations, it was when the two of them were analysing data from the latest exercise, which necessitated Eclipse avoiding a flanking manoeuvre by Horizon and Quasar. The results were not as expected, and the two of them needed to discover where the failure lay.
 

Their commander had insisted upon the exercise being carried out manually. In action, all manoeuvres were executed by the ship’s computers, but to prepare for the unlikely event of failed systems, it was required that crews hone their skills unaided. In reality, the unlikely event was an unheard of event, no records existed of such a thing ever happening. Most commanders ignored the requirement, but Darl, feeling his crew had a reputation to uphold, gave them the tactics and coordinates himself.