The Alpha Choice (7 page)

Jaron retrieved the baton from his wife. ‘For you to make any sense of what follows, I need to fill in some background. To say we were defending ourselves from a belligerent foe, is wrong…’

‘But…’ Genir’s question was halted, when his father held up his hand.

’The Balg, during the war, never ventured beyond their local star cluster. They did not begin Hostilities.’

As Genir looked at his friend, open mouthed, Gorn was engrossed, his mind already racing ahead,
if we started that war, what else have we done?

‘By the time of the Gallsor incident, the Navy knew we couldn't defeat the Balg in open conflict…’
 

‘But,’ Genir managed to say, ‘the enemy ships were destroyed!’

Jaron shook his head. ‘That didn’t happen,’ he paused again, almost as though giving them a chance to withdraw, to say they wanted him to stop, but they were fascinated. ‘There’s a good reason you both should know the truth. As with all the best stories, there’s a modicum of truth in the populist version that you know,’ he was looking at the folio case, still in his son’s hands. ‘As you can see, I was the commander of one of the ships, the other two commanders were good friends of ours,’ he glanced at Ciarra and Cyrar. ‘One of them was a man neither of you know, Denaa, who commanded Plasma Trail. The commander of Nebula was…’ he now looked straight at Gorn, ‘Bakir, your father
.
’

Gorn was dumfounded. A look at his mother elicited no comment, there was no need, her eyes confirmed the truth of what he had heard.

Jaron waited a few moments, until satisfied both boys were ready to hear what else he had to say. When they visibly began to relax, he told them everything that transpired at Gallsor, up to the point when the Balg ships left Starseeker alone.
 

By the end of the story, Genir was totally confused. Throughout the tale his father had moved from hero, to coward, then back to hero again. His confusion was less about what his father was, he
was
a hero, but why he had not been told earlier. But Gorn’s mind was hastily rewiring everything he had been taught about his people, and their struggles.
 

Jaron spoke again. ‘What you're about to hear is known only to some of my crew, and not all of it is known to the Supreme Council. Not even Bakir, or Denaa know the whole story,’ the silence from the two mothers was their implicit approval that he continue. ‘Before we returned to the battle, I had my tactical officer carry out a brief scan, which led me to rethink what was happening. I’d hoped, unrealistically, that someone might have escaped the spy ship before it was destroyed. The results weren’t what I expected.

‘After the Balg left, and we were totally alone, I gave the order to carry out an exhaustive examination of the area. Other than trace residue along the spy ship’s route from the debris cloud, there was nothing, not even subatomic residue. Why was that? If the ship had been destroyed, surely there would be something left behind? I had no answers, only more questions, and in particular, how I got the drop on the Balg? Nothing made any sense to me, least of all why I chose not to destroy them, when I had the chance…’

‘Perhaps, sir,’ suggested Gorn, ‘you never had a chance to destroy them.’

Jaron smiled. ‘I’ve had plenty of time to think that through, and came to the conclusion, a long time ago, that destroying them was never an option, I was just allowed to think it was, especially as they could fire without showing themselves to us. The truth is, we never stood a chance that day.’

‘But,’ ventured Gorn, ‘you thought you did, so why didn’t you try to destroy them?’
 

‘Every time I ask myself that very question - and it’s a lot - I get the same answer:
it didn’t seem right
. We had won the encounter, we had outfought them and I had nothing to prove. The rest of my squadron were given the chance to escape, and the Balg were powerless to harm us, or so I thought. Had they been destroyed in the heat of battle, I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but that heat dissipates quickly. The initial scan kept coming back to me, it was only thirty percent complete, and couldn’t justify what I did in the eyes of my superiors, but all I could think was,
what if?

‘I could tell, when I appeared before the Council, that some of them wanted me court-martialled, and they were probably right. It was a time of war between our two races, and my decision could have resulted in the death of other Te’ans at the hands of those I let live. While the Council had the facts, I kept my theories to myself.

‘Unfortunately, for the Council, word had got out about the return of Plasma Trail and Nebula. So, by the time we arrived, even without knowing the facts, the multitude had created a heroic scenario. All they needed were some facts to support it, and a name to pin it to. The Council were afraid that if I was court-martialled it would polarise the populace. You have to understand, we were living through a time when the war wasn’t popular; too many resources were being used against an enemy as tough and resolute as us, with military technology superior to ours.

‘I’m straying from the point of the story. I couldn't say, I had a grand plan for peace between our races, because I didn’t, it just happened. The Council was in a quandary, the only answer to their problem was to decorate me. But that distinction would be a closely guarded secret, outside of my crew, the upper echelons of the Navy and the Council itself. I was to retire from the service in anonymity, and the truth would remain hidden. The public would get the story they wanted, but those who still needed to identify the
hero
, were left wanting. My crew were fiercely loyal to me, and would say nothing. Each of them took retirement, they were overdue anyway, and in these circumstances it was made especially lucrative. I still see some of them.’

‘What about my father?’ asked Gorn.

‘Initially, things seemed fine with Bakir. As I told you, we were friends and had been since before we attended the Academy. At that time there were six of us who were inseparable…’

‘I know two are you and mum, and another two, Gorn’s parents. The fifth would be D…,’ he frowned.
 

‘Denaa,’ his father helpfully added.

‘Yes, Denaa, but who was the sixth?’

‘Your coach, Zaran,’ the look on the faces of both boys was of mute astonishment, there seemed to be no end to the surprises. ‘Gorn’s father and I were school friends with Zaran and Denaa…I can't quite remember when the girls joined our little group.’ If Genir and Gorn had been less engrossed, and looked over to their mothers, they would have seen two less than pleased women.
 

Jaron continued. ‘Everyone thought Zaran would go into the military as he excelled at everything. Instead, he chose an academic career, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Then, as now, the talk of most young boys was of the military and doing heroic things, making our families proud. Not Zaran, it wasn’t so much that he was anti military, he was just more interested in philosophy, science and zagball, of course.

‘Your father,’ he said, looking at Gorn, ‘was a very light hearted and generous person in those days, and three of us advanced first, through the Academy then the Navy, side by side. As is often the case, when young men go their separate ways, Zaran and I lost touch with each other. It’s only since the two of you took up zagball that we’ve become reacquainted. Sometimes, when we talk, it’s as though we never left school.

‘The rest of us remained true and firm friends throughout our time in the service, but Gallsor changed everything. After our debriefing, upon our return to Te-ath, we three commanders met in secret to talk over what happened out there. We had been forbidden to talk of the incident, but ignored the edict, after all, we were there.

‘It soon became clear to me, that your father blamed himself for the loss of the spy ship. He ignored the fact that I was squadron leader and if anyone should have seen through the Balg subterfuge, it was me. The truth is, no one could have anticipated what happened. We were trained, as you will be, to rely totally upon intelligence provided by the Agency. On that day, we were told sweeps had detected no enemy within striking distance, and nothing we had previously encountered prepared us for the existence of cloaking technology to that level of sophistication.

‘Despite my reassurances, Bakir continued to blame himself, saying that if he had been more cautious, things might have turned out differently,’ Gorn was about to delve further, but the firm, yet not unkind look in Jaron’s eyes would brook no further questions, on that matter.
   

‘During the year following Gallsor, we saw less of your father. I think he felt awkward and, because we saw less of him, we saw less of your mother. Eventually, we lost all contact with your family,’ the two mothers looked at each other, tightly gripping each other’s hands. Jaron smiled weakly, ‘but when, by chance, the two of you met up at school our families were reunited, at least in part. I’d hoped we would see your father again, but I clearly underestimated how devastated he was. Your mother, now that was a different matter,’ he turned to Cyrar and smiled warmly at her, ‘she will now be a regular visitor while the two of you are gone.’

Returning his attention to the young men, he leaned forward in his chair. ‘You must wonder why I’m telling you these things. After all, you're both only fifteen, why is any of this important?’ He gave them no chance to reply. ‘Your time at the Academy will pass very quickly and before you know it, you’ll be posted. Each of you needs to know there’s at least one person he can absolutely trust, depend on and who shares this information,’ the looks he was getting from both boys made it clear they just wanted him to say what the
information
was. ‘I think we were all wrong about what unfolded out there. It’s important that you know this, because one day you will come up against the Balg, and what I am about to tell you may help.’

’The war is over, Dad.’

‘I know,’ Jaron nodded, ‘so let’s just call it a feeling. After all the fuss had died down, and I was retired from the Navy, I had time on my hands, time to think about what had happened…and what didn’t happen, that should. I went over it all, analysed every minute detail, and came to the conclusion that most of it just didn’t make sense. First, we had never before, and have never since won an action against these Balg, or whoever they are. Second, they completely out manoeuvred us. We had developed a crude cloaking technology, but nothing like what we witnessed out there. By the ancestors, they managed to hide six warships!’

He looked beyond the little group, as if into a time and a place only he could see, and remained like this for a few seconds before refocussing. ‘Third, the spy ship. There should’ve been a trace, however small. I replayed the incident, again and again in my mind, until I was satisfied there was only one possible explanation. We didn't find any anything, because there was nothing to find.’

The boys appeared confused, and so he came right out with it. ‘The spy ship wasn’t destroyed, it was moved, teleported away from the battle, far enough to be outside the range of our scanners, or into one of their ships.’
 

Gorn spoke up. ‘Sir, I thought teleportation to that level was impossible?’

‘Not impossible, Gorn, we simply haven't been able to achieve that level of teleportation, the Balg have! Finally, there’s the minor matter of me returning to the battle, and disabling two Balg warships. Not only did these beings have superior firepower, they used superior strategy. Isn’t it likely, when I took my ship out of the battle area, they would anticipate the possibility of my return? Instead, I took them completely by surprise, disabling the shield emitters not of not one ship mark you, but two!’

Looking at each of them, he made up his mind, they were ready for the final part.

‘I don't believe we disabled their shield emitters. They were always operational. The Balg ships could have destroyed us all at any time of their choosing, but they didn't, why not?’

Without waiting for a reply to his rhetorical question, he continued. ‘They wanted to see how we would react to a situation where we, seemingly had the upper hand. What would we do when they were defenceless? Knowing they had just destroyed a small, unarmed spy ship, would we destroy them in turn?’

‘I knew your father better than any other officer, Gorn, and I had a pretty good idea how Denaa would have reacted in the same situation. I know that if it had been anyone other than me, they would have opened fire, and the Balg would have destroyed us all. Did they know I wouldn't try to finish them, and if they did, how did they know?
 

‘So why’s this important? Not because I did the right thing, it was probably sheer chance that it was my ship faking a withdrawal. Because, if I’m wrong about that, it suggests the Balg are toying with us. Not only are they our superior in weapons and technology, they know us, each of us and we won’t be finished with them until they decide we’re finished. That’s how I know you
will
come across them, I’ve no idea when, but what you know might save you.’

Gorn asked the obvious question. ‘If you're right, and the spy ship wasn’t destroyed, what happened to it and where are the two spies?’

Jaron nodded slightly. ‘That worries me more than anything else that day. I do know they haven't been heard of since, but I don't think they’re dead. Why would the Balg want to take them? I’ve no idea. I couldn't mention any of this to the Supreme Council, or any of my colleagues, because it isn’t what they wanted to hear and, as time passed, it seemed less relevant. I even began to doubt my theories, but as this day approached, it all came flooding back to me, and the need to pass the information on to the pair of you, became critical.’

Before sitting back, he added one last thing. ‘When I asked you to keep everything I told you, to yourselves, there was a very good reason. It would be dangerous for us all if the truth became known. Do you understand?’

The boys slowly nodded, and this seemed to satisfy him.

Gorn’s surprise at this latest revelation had quickly subsided. All that he had been told, explained much of his upbringing, and his father’s moods, but he sensed there was something else Jaron was not telling him. In time he would find out what it was. Of more interest to him now, was Jaron’s theory. The war his people had been fighting was against blood thirsty, barbaric monsters, or so everyone was led to believe. He had no reason to doubt Jaron, so why had he and all his contemporaries been taught something so fundamentally wrong.
If,
he thought,
the Balg are as powerful as Jaron is suggesting
,
why didn’t they
make incursions into our space? Why did they never invade Te-ath itself?
Now was not the right time to press the point. Jaron was an intelligent man who would have analysed the incident from every angle, and his logic was unassailable. He must have asked himself these very questions, yet was not prepared to voice them.
Considering all he’s told us this evening, he has to have a very good reason
, Gorn concluded.