Alpha One - Chris Burton [123]
All he needed to do was to lose altitude at the wrong time and he would be caught in the blue wormhole vortex and be pulled through. It was as simple as that. He pulled himself tighter towards the Leader, as he tried to bluff himself into believing he would not try it, but he already had made up his mind. He needed to find Carla, and he might not get another chance.
The squadron flew past the first and smallest wormhole and headed towards the blue wormhole. This was it, it was now or never. He pulled himself in tight deliberately, and then suddenly, as if he were a rookie who realized he was too close, pulled away in an exaggerated fashion at exactly the wrong point. He made it look as if he briefly lost control, just long enough for the blue wormhole to pull him into its vortex. It may have looked slightly blatant, but a good pilot would always try to fly face-on to a phenomenon of this type, before pulling out of the curve at maximum thrust.
Then it had him. The vortex was pulling the Sabre 4 and there was nothing he could do. He made it look as if he tried to reverse thrust and managed to open a channel to the group leader but it was too late. Jake Carter’s Sabre, Blue 7, entered the blue wormhole.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Alpha One
The encrypted message was broadcast by the Eagle as soon as it cleared the comm block imposed by Admiral Shenke’s fleet. It was a Priority One message, marked ‘For your eyes only’ for the urgent attention of Admiral Koenig. It was received at Alpha One communications, who then delivered the unopened message to Alpha One HQ and directly into the hands of Admiral Koenig. Such communications were not unusual, although direct comm link was more commonplace. Encrypted messages of this type were, by their nature, deemed both critical and urgent, and Koenig was appreciative of this. His desktop decoder quickly downloaded the message and began deciphering it. When completed, he entered his password and re-scanned his genetic imprint for final verification. The message content was then made available to Admiral Koenig.
“Gentlemen, I think we need to be careful that the contents of this message don’t leak from these four walls. This is a grave matter and could potentially be devastating. We need to determine the full extent of the threat, and then act decisively.”
Admiral Koenig invited his inner cabinet to an urgent meeting to discuss the content of the message from Admiral Shenke.
He played the message in its entirety first, and then opened the meeting for discussion. It was Admiral Kohn who offered his opinion first.
“We have to be clear about the extent of the threat and we won’t know until the Kryl pass through the blue wormhole. That may never happen. We do have a fairly considerable force in situ with Admiral Shenke’s fleet. He is highly regarded and dependable. In addition, Admiral Rose should shortly be available as the conflict in the Ionian system draws to a close. If we ask Rose to take his fleet to the Tri-Star system, we will have a formidable force in place. Whatever the Kryl send through, I am sure they won’t break through Alpha’s defenses in the region.”
“That is, if you don’t mind me saying my friend, naive.” This time Admiral Clarke addressed the Quorum. “We have no idea about the capability of the Kryl or what form a ‘potential food source’ would take. It is possible they may have no interest in us at all. I do agree we should deploy Rose and his fleet to the area immediately. Surely the Sentinels’ reason for fighting us in the first place has just been made obsolete. They cannot defend something when it is too late. That battle should be over.”
“Well it isn’t. The Sentinels are still fighting, and it looks as if they will to the last man.” Koenig was cross that his closest colleagues had not come