The Alpha Choice (74 page)

Gorn helped Trang to her feet. Both of them unaware of the alarm that was sounding. Trang looked up at Gorn and said, in a subdued voice. ‘Thank you.’

‘I should be the one thanking you,’ he looked at the wreckage. ‘We need to talk.’

‘I know, but not here and not now. When we’re asked, it was an accident and nothing more.’

Gorn was finding it difficult to comprehend what he had just witnessed, it made no sense. He brought his attention back to their current predicament. ‘There will be images and sensor readings for this area. They’ll know it wasn’t an accident.’

‘There won’t be any record of what he was planning.’ Seeing the doubt expressed in his face she reassured him. ‘You must trust me, for now. An accident?’ He nodded.

As expected, an emergency team arrived within minutes, closely followed by Darl. He was flanked by heavily armed shock troops; unlike other commanders in the fleet, he eschewed the use of marines for guard detail. The commander was visibly concerned for the safety of both his young charges, and went straight over to them.
 

After a cursory examination, the medical officer assured him neither Trang, nor Gorn were injured, but they needed rest. ‘Within twenty-four hours, they will undergo a psychological reaction, to what they have witnessed.’ Darl nodded, to indicate he heard and understood, but as soon as the physician moved off to collect his equipment, he took them aside and asked, in a hushed voice. ‘Can either of you shed any light on this?’

The two young officers looked at each other before Gorn quietly replied. ‘I think we need to speak to you sir, alone.’
 

Darl needed no further explanation. ‘Come with me.’ The medical officer was about to speak, but the commander waved him away, and motioned the guards to accompany them.
 

It was clear to Darl that, after the intervention of the Custodians, he could take no chances, and while it was highly improbable they would be responsible for what had just happened, the incident with Genir meant he was now functioning on high alert; anything out of the ordinary would be treated with the utmost suspicion. At the moment he had no reason to believe the vaporising teleport was anything other than a hostile act. Before leaving the scene, with his two young officers, he spoke briefly to the investigator in charge of determining the cause of the incident, giving the order that, throughout the ship, all teleports and lifts were to be shut down; walking and access tubes were the only permitted methods of travel.

Eventually, with guards stationed outside, the three of them were inside the commander’s ready room, the place of their last meeting so many weeks before. Darl motioned both of his young charges to be seated.
 

When they had been offered, and politely refused, refreshment, Gorn began his tale. He told Darl how, following the intervention of the Custodians, he was carrying out his orders by instigating a sweep of the ship’s systems. He looked at Trang and hesitated. ‘Carry on Gorn,’ his commander ordered, ‘after what the two of you have been through I think it’s appropriate to take Trang into your confidence.’

Gorn added that he intensified the search after the incident with Genir, concerned that the Custodians may have infiltrated more than Genir’s ship. He told Darl of how he came across a disruption of certain fields set up on Telluria. The source of the disruption was within the ship.

He recounted his approach to Kirion, and described how the older man had followed the trace, discovering instructions hidden within carrier waves to Telluria, and finding the link to the Avatar and through it, Garnoth. Finally, he told how Kirion suggested they take the information directly to the commander so as to circumvent the communications systems the Avatar had been monitoring. He stumbled over his words as he recalled the accident.

‘Why were you there Trang?’

‘Gorn had contacted me, about an hour before, and asked that I meet him here. I was on my way to the teleport, but when the XO saw me arrive he suggested I return to my quarters as I couldn’t add anything, sir.’

He looked at his science officer. ‘Why did you ask Trang to meet you here, before you met with the XO?’

Gorn did not have to exert himself to answer this question. ‘You tasked us, sir, with finding evidence of rebel involvement, and I thought you would want both of us present when you gave further orders. I didn’t tell Trang first, as I thought it better to pass the information to the XO, to see what he made of it. Whatever he found - and I didn’t think it would be this - I was sure he would want you to know, and you would want Trang here. Was I wrong, sir?’

Darl sat back in his chair, allowing everything he had heard to sink in. ‘No Gorn, you did just what I would expect…poor Kirion, a fine officer…a good friend…Garnoth. The man brought his bloody machine on board to discover the traitor!’ It seemed to Gorn and Trang that he wanted to say more, but was obviously searching his brain for some way of rationalising the monstrous reality confronting him. One of the four Agency heads, tasked with rooting out and destroying the rebellion, was responsible for bringing their entire race to the brink of extinction.

The console flashed and Darl, after reading what was in the projection, left the room without saying anything. The two conspirators looked at one another, each appearing to the other to be the quintessence of calm. Nothing was said, by either of them.

Darl reappeared minutes later and sat back down at his desk. ‘Sorry about that, I received a message that the investigator was able to give me a preliminary finding on the cause of the incident. I didn’t want him to know you were here.’ There was a trace of relief in his face as he said, ‘at least Garnoth wasn’t responsible for Kirion’s death. Apparently, it was pure coincidence that he died on his way to me.’
 

Gorn relaxed. The official version would have Kirion discovering Garnoth's treachery, and Kirion could neither confirm nor deny it. The records would show he was on his way to see the commander at the time of his death, and an examination of his console would provide the evidence that it was the XO, who followed the trail.’

The commander continued. ‘The death of Kirion was an unfortunate accident. The final report is likely to confirm the initial findings,’ and as though to comfort Gorn, he added, ‘you did right in going to Kirion first, to have him follow the thread. Not even I would have expected the irregularity you found to lead where it did. Whatever the malfunction, it seems to have affected the sound on the surveillance equipment, we can see that the three of you met up, but not what you said,’ at this point his brows became furrowed, ‘what you didn’t tell me was that Kirion was less than pleased at your intervention, Trang. Even though we can only see the side of his face, it’s obvious he was annoyed.’

Trang looked abashed. ‘Considering what happened, I didn’t think I was doing justice to his memory by mentioning it…’

‘Mention what?’ asked Darl.
 

‘He thought it wasn’t my place to be involved. I’m sure he simply wanted to get to you with the evidence he had uncovered, and didn’t want to delay things by talking to me in a corridor, and I can see his point, sir.’

‘Very generous of you, Trang. Very well, in the circumstances, I don’t think it takes us any further to look into his behaviour, especially as we have more important things to deal with.’ To both of them, he said. ‘I want the two of you to return to your quarters. You’ve witnessed something quite shocking. There are procedures to deal with this kind of thing. You’ll each be seen by trained counsellors within the next twenty four hours. They’ll consider whether the trauma you’ve suffered is enough to warrant a brain wipe for the time period involved…’

They both spoke at the same time, protesting that they were fine, but he interrupted. ‘That’s no more than I would expect from two such fine young officers, but I’m bound by protocol. I’ve no doubt I’ll get a clean bill of health for you both, but until then you’re confined to quarters. That way you won't get embarrassing questions from your colleagues and friends.’

Seeing the looks on their faces he relented a little. ‘You can visit each other, as it’s a long time to be alone, unless you count the counsellors, and I certainly wouldn’t,’ he allowed himself a strained smile.
 

They smiled innocently in return, then thanked him and left the ready room. Each looked straight ahead as they passed the guards, and took separate routes to their quarters. Back in his room, it was thirty minutes before Gorn received an incoming communication from Trang.

He had taken steps, in the minutes after he had returned, to ensure any conversation with Trang was not monitored, a fact he neglected to tell her when the call came through. The image showed a crystal clear three-dimensional image of the woman who had just saved his life. ‘What took you so long?’ he asked.

‘I assume this communication is being shielded?’ she responded, in a surprisingly matter of fact tone.

‘Considering what we’ve just been through, isn’t that a dangerous assumption to make.’
 

‘If you hadn’t taken steps,’ she responded, ‘you wouldn’t have replied, but I have to say, I would have been sorely disappointed if you weren’t smart enough to set up a simple cloaking routine, at a moments notice.’

I hope I’m not that transparent to anyone else,
he thought. ‘Fine, you have my and only my attention, but now that Kirion is dead who are you concerned about?’ He was, of course, aware of the danger posed by Garnoth, and had noticed the recent arrival of his senior agent, Tala, giving him an additional reason to be concerned. However, it now dawned on him, from the near miss he had just experienced, that there were things going on of which he knew nothing. If there were other dangers, he needed to know what they were.

‘I’ll tell you who concerns me, when I come to your quarters,’ Trang answered. ‘One other thing, even though the commander has sanctioned contact, I don’t want anyone to know of our meeting.’

‘But you said yourself, Darl doesn't have a problem with it?’ Gorn had the uneasy feeling there was a lot he needed to learn.

‘I have my own reasons, and I’ll explain when I see you.’

Gorn nodded.

‘Make sure the ship’s sensors are fooled into ignoring my movements, and any scans show me to be in my quarters, indisposed, I’ll leave the details to you! Expect me in fifteen minutes. Oh, by the way, I know who the rebel is!’

Ω

Tala found herself wandering along a ship’s corridor. Looking around, there was no one, no one at all. She had just been in the ’signing’ room and found it impossible to believe that Garnoth had not reported the arrival of the Custodian. The corridor should have been full of people hurrying to their posts,
where is Beron?
Approaching a communal console, she asked for confirmation of her whereabouts. The unit scanned the questioner and, satisfied with her identity, confirmed her expectations, she was on board Eclipse. Further enquiries revealed that Beron was not present on the ship.

She noticed the current ship’s time displayed. ‘Using ship’s time, when did I leave Telluria?’ The information flashed up before her.
That isn’t possible
,
where have I been?
‘Why is the ship not on alert?’ The reply, that only she could hear, was reassuring, ‘The ship is not on alert, as there is no imminent danger.’ The answer to her next question was less reassuring. ‘You arrived on this ship six minutes ago.’ She desperately searched her memories for an answer, and found none.
 

The console asked: ‘Would you like to speak to Commander Darl, or Agency head, Garnoth?’ Tala chose Garnoth and was, a moment later, looking at the image of her mentor. This was not the Avatar, she did not believe the machine capable of portraying a look of such barely controlled fury. Her superior curtly ordered her to his quarters, immediately.
 

Arriving at the nearest teleport station, she found it was not working. An inquiry of the intelligence behind the apparatus confirmed that, for safety purposes, all teleports would be offline until further notice. Unhappy with the response, she requested details as befitted her rank within the Agency, and was politely refused. Several minutes later, using directions obtained from a console generated holo image, she was standing outside the doors to Garnoth’s quarters, and remained there for what seemed an age, but was hardly more than thirty-seconds, before the door slid open and she stepped inside.

The Agency head was sitting in a large armchair, dwarfing his frame. Without asking permission, she sat opposite him on a smaller occasional chair. Garnoth leaned forward and asked, tersely. ‘What went wrong Tala, you were supposed to control Beron…and where have you been?’

All fear of her mentor fell away.
Perhaps,
she told herself,
if he’s still looking for the answer to his first question, he isn’t the force he was twenty-four hours ago.
‘I warned you about Beron. The Supreme Council will not accept as an excuse, that you placed an inexperienced agent in charge of someone so unsuited to the task, familial pressure notwithstanding. I take it you have no idea where he is?’ The spymaster’s silence spoke volumes. ‘Even his father will seek to distance himself from this mess, by saying that if you had any misgivings about his son you should have aired them before the mission began.’
 

Garnoth repeated his second question. ‘Where have you been?’

Tala shook her head, ‘I don’t know.’

‘Really?’ It was the first time she had seen him incredulous. ‘Why would the Custodians keep you for twenty-four hours?’ Again, she could only shake her head. ‘What is the last thing you remember before arriving on the ship?’

‘Being in the signing room when the Custodian appeared, no time elapsed between then, and finding myself on Eclipse, minutes ago.’

‘Interesting,’ was his only reply, before turning his attention to the Avatar. ‘Can you shed any light on this?’

’No, only to confirm Tala’s arrival.’

She kept her eyes on her mentor and summoning every iota of self-control, smiled.