The Alpha Choice (33 page)

Every room on the ship had at least one similar post, all of which could transmit as well as receive the teleportation patterns of the subject. Use of these personal stations was restricted to embarkation and disembarkation, by the occupant - others could only use them on invitation - while movement around the ship utilised the plethora of posts in the public areas.

He took a moment to look around his quarters, which were just as the schematics revealed. Being a bridge officer certainly had its advantages, it was more than three times the size of the room he shared with two other junior officers, on Meteor. To have such space assigned to one person, on a ship where space was at a premium was, he thought, a misuse of a scarce resource. However, any natural urge to make this an issue by, for example, requesting more modest accommodation, would displease Darl, something he had to avoid, at all costs.
 

Where his previous quarters were purely functional, there were facilities here that went far beyond utility. While all rooms were equipped with a console, it seemed that not all were equal. A cursory examination told him he could alter the appearance of the room to suit his desires - again, totally superfluous to his needs. Just as unnecessary, was the ability to transform one whole wall into a view screen that accurately displayed the space outside the part of the ship where he was quartered. He called up the image, it was impressive, so impressive he left it in place.

The console informed him he had three hours, before attending a meeting of all bridge officers. With nothing to unpack, he decided to rest before beginning the work he knew must be done. Lying on his bed he gazed at the vista of space spread out before, and arching over him into the ceiling. Feeling surprisingly relaxed, he allowed his mind to wander freely. One face came back again, and again to haunt him, the troubled face of the stranger on the shuttle.

After thirty minutes, he was at his console, memorising essential data, and instigating the routines he had designed over the last six days. Within another hour, he was satisfied that everything Narol had told him, was true. He set up the flash disruption to all communications systems for a time when he would be safely beyond suspicion,
two and a half hours should do it,
he thought.

He stepped away from one of the bridge transporters, precisely one and a half hours later.
 

Ω

Darl’s Soiree

Gorn was escorted to a large room and was immediately struck by how out of place it seemed, on a ship of the line. The walls were dappled cream marble, with a floor to match. Set at intervals, all around the room, were alcoves in a contrasting darker marble, each containing - mounted on a polished black granite plinth - a priceless work of art, not from conquered worlds, but Te’ath itself; precious relics of their own history, reaching back to a time of empire, where great art and terrible cruelty lived side by side.

In the centre of the room was a long table of rosewood with matching chairs, completing a set that must have been unimaginably costly. Knowing the man, Gorn could only guess what strings he must have pulled, and what favours he would have called in, to possess such treasures. He could appreciate the beauty of everything in the room, but seen together it was all just too much, not unlike the owner.
 

The table only had two unoccupied seats: one at its head, which he took to be the commander’s; that left the remaining chair for him. He thought it likely Darl would appear once everyone was in place, and could appreciate his entrance. A swift look around the gathering, showed all the senior bridge staff as well as civilian heads of every department - he had committed to memory every fact the ship’s database held on them - including Narol.

No sooner had he got to his allotted place, than his new commander, clad in full dress uniform, made his entrance. Gorn had to accept that the man looked every inch the master of one of the most powerful ships in the fleet. Moving slowly to the head of the table, Darl looked at each of his officers, in turn. For their part, all had risen from their seats, except for Gorn, who was still standing.

Having arrived at his destination, the host beamed at everyone, taking time to revel in the thought that this was his ship and most of these people, his bridge staff who, with the latest additions, could lay claim to being the best in the fleet, not unlike his zagball team. His smile achieved the impossible, becoming even brighter as he sated his appetite for theatre. No one moved or spoke, most of them knew the consequences of breaking Darl’s idyll. On this occasion, the wait for their commander to become replete, was mercifully short. Lowering himself into his seat, with as much ceremony as the act would permit, gave the signal for everyone to follow suit.

Gorn would have taken a more leisurely look around the table at his fellow wunderkind, but for the attentions of the young woman from the shuttle, who was looking straight at him. The three hours rest certainly had a restorative effect; she no longer looked preoccupied, or troubled, but clear eyed and focused. She was appraising him, and there was no doubt, her interest was anything but sexual. The look was dispassionate, without being cold or hard.

He was, unexpectedly, enthralled at the possibility she might know more about him than she should. Perhaps he ought have been more concerned, she might prove dangerous. Had his aunt a backup plan that excluded him? If that was the case, then this young woman would certainly have been instructed to keep a low profile. Narol was no fool, and would know that any hint of her involving a third party, would lose his support. By the same token, it was unlikely his mystery woman would be a member of the Agency, which again would rely upon stealth. Whatever the reason for her singular interest in him, he was satisfied it had nothing to do with his mission,
maybe I was wrong and it is about zagball. Did she want my position, I wonder? If she did, and thinks zagball got me the post, it would explain
…

His reverie was broken by Darl’s bass tones. ‘Welcome
home
,’ again, his eyes positively shone with pride. ‘Of course, there are two of us for whom this is their new home,’ he turned the beam of his gaze upon the young woman opposite Gorn, and smiled indulgently. She stood, bowing her head in acknowledgement. Darl waited until she sat down, before continuing, ‘I introduce our new navigation officer, Lieutenant Trang. She replaces our dear Lieutenant Dron who, as most of you know, has been sequestered to the long range exploratory vessel, Delta. I’m sure we have found his match in Trang,’ his smile had become a little forced. Everyone, other than Trang and Gorn, knew he had fought tooth and nail to keep Dron, but Delta was given the highest priority, her commander to be refused, nothing. Evidently, a top class navigation officer was especially crucial to a mystery mission that not even Darl, with all his contacts and influence, could uncover.

Gorn anticipated that everyone in the room would know of his connection to Gallsor, and wondered whether the commander would drive the point home. Darl continued. ‘All of you will have seen our new science officer, Lieutenant Gorn, stake his claim to be the greatest zagball player ever to grace a cuboid. It’s no little thanks to him that we hold the trophy in recognition of our historic victory over Fleet.’ Turning to the young officer, he placed his right arm across his chest in the time-honoured salutation of the Navy. All the non-civilians, including Trang and Zan, stood and did likewise.

Darl smiled at the tall, heavily muscled man with ebony skin and hawklike eyes. ‘To tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Zan, I extend my gratitude for a job well done in tackling the role of science officer, almost as well as he tackles in the cuboid,’ he paused for the obligatory laughter; Darl was a man you needed to keep sweet, and acknowledging his attempts at humour was one way to stay on his good side. The only ones not to laugh were Gorn, Trang and Zan himself. Perhaps Zan thought it unnecessary to keep the commander sweet, while Trang was too new to know any better, and Gorn? Gorn never laughed.

Seemingly oblivious, to the poor manners of his new recruits and tactical officer, Darl addressed the position of science officer. ‘I persuaded our zagball star that his place is with us, here on the bridge. Each of you will know from his bio that his genius is not restricted to the cuboid,’ true to his word, he said nothing about Gorn’s heritage.

The new science officer stood and looked at each of the people at the table, leaving Trang until last and, for a prolonged moment, held eyes that betrayed nothing.
 

Having introduced his new trophies, Darl spoke a command to no one in particular. ‘Enter!’ A dozen figures entered the room, each bearing a tray of either food, or drink. Humanoid, but not Te’an, they were Nopa, each little more than a metre in height, and of slim build. So far as Gorn could tell, as they wore only short tunics, the Nopa were completely without body hair. Searching the uniformly fine, androgynous, faces he met only blank expressions, with eyes devoid of any intelligence. He had heard of them, but never before seen them. Official Te’an records stated they were enslaved by a belligerent species, the Drakk, and went on to describe how the Te had defeated the enslavers in a war lasting little over a year. The slaves, or to be more accurate, the ones left alive by their masters - in squalor, and unable to communicate - were liberated. Following complete psychological evaluation, it was determined that they were of extremely low intelligence, and generally capable of only menial domestic tasks, save for one singular skill which no one was able to satisfactorily explain.

All Te’ans had food replicators, yet there were those amongst them who chose to cook and create dishes from scratch. Some turned this into a profession, not unlike great chefs of any civilisation. However, it was very quickly discovered that every one of the Nopa had a remarkable gastronomic skill, far beyond the capacity of any Te’an chef.
 

This information, while not generally known, swept like wildfire through the upper echelons of the Navy, before reaching the ears of the great and powerful on Te’ath. Soon, ships of the line commanders sequestered all Nopa, with the influential houses of Te’ath, and the chambers of the Council itself, ensuring they were not to be left out. Darl had bent his will to obtain a dozen of the Nopa, not because he needed twelve, but to demonstrate the extent of his power and the reach of his influence.

It was generally believed, by the civilian populace, that the emancipation of slaves was an obligation consequent upon the magnificent success achieved by the military. They had no idea of the use to which the ‘liberated’ slaves were being put.
 

Gorn discovered, from his exploration of the ship’s data banks, that only the latter part of the official version was true. The attention of his people was drawn to the Drakk, not because of their land - arid landscapes, intermittently punctuated by small seas, with colonies no more appealing - but because of their technology and, in particular, the ability to enter the Weft instantly. He found the truth of how the Nopa came under Te’an dominion fascinating. The Drakk worlds were peaceful, and populated by two completely different species, the Nopa and the Drakk, highly advanced bipedal lizards, only ever seen in holo-image.
 

They were guileless about their background, and their link to the Nopa. Via holo communications, they explained that having moved, peacefully, between the stars for millennia, they had never encountered a hostile species capable of interstellar travel. Astute questioning by Te'an diplomats ascertained that the Drakk were not possessed of any weaponry. They had, six thousand years earlier, discovered the Nopa, sole inhabitants of the single planetary survivor of a dwarf star system. The tiny system was only three light years from a supernova, and the Nopa home world would soon be swept up in the resulting, and rapidly approaching, twenty-one thousand degree remnant. While Drakk ships, being scientific explorer class, were limited in size and ill equipped to transport the imperilled inhabitants, the numbers that needed saving were thankfully, quite small, so all Nopa were rescued.
 

In accordance with typical Te’an invasion tactics, the fleet arrived simultaneously at the Drakk home world, and their three colonies. Much to their surprise, they found the worlds deserted, save for the Nopa. The little folk were busily preparing food for the Te'an visitors, and it was presumed the Drakk had not countermanded the instruction. They showed no sign of alarm at the approach of the Te. Indeed, they gave no indication they noticed the newcomers at all.
 

Perhaps the biggest surprise came when the technology of the Drakk was examined. All totally inert! Every effort to examine machinery, including ships not used in the exodus, came up blank, it was impossible to discover how anything worked. Almost as big a surprise? There were more than enough ships to evacuate all of the Nopa, yet the Drakk abandoned them!

Once it was established the planet was safe, the commander of the expedition, Tranaar, landed to take charge of ground operations. His arrival was opportune for the Nopa, as the shock troop commander was about to order their eradication. The sight of the nondescript hominids consumed with their tasks, oblivious to their fate, amused Tranaar, and as a platoon of troopers prepared to open fire, he raised a hand and walked over to one of the tables. Leaning over, he took a morsel and the rest became history.

A more important question began to form, not only in his mind, but also in the minds of those who needed to know, the Council,
where had the Drakk gone?
There were no energy signatures, or any other clues to help answer the question, and it was a question that needed answering because, if the Drakk could disappear without trace, they could reappear just as quickly. After several days of endless debates the Council made its decisions. The easiest was the threat level, it was negligible, if the Drakk could inflict harm, they would not have fled. The more complex issue surrounded the fate of the Drakk worlds. The Council was split over destruction or preservation, with the latter prevailing, but only just. It was agreed that the potential to be uncovered was so great, teams would be left to discover the key.