Alpha One: The Kronan Read Free Page A

and in this case could have resulted in a very different outcome. You will be allowed to return to the academy to complete your finals, with the caveat that your progress will be monitored closely by your tutor, especially in terms of catching up on academic work that you have missed. Your tutor will be empowered to remove you from the academy without recourse to the disciplinary panel or me, if you step out of line. You will need to work very hard to get back on track, but assuming you keep within the rules and you work hard, you will still graduate with a high nine grade. I am also releasing a restriction placed on you as TG runner-up. You will be allowed to compete in the Alpha TG finals next month.”
    Jake forced back the smile. The relief was palpable.
    “Thank you, Sir. I am very grateful. I will not let you down.”
    “See that you don’t Mister Carter. This is a final warning but I still expect very big things from you.”
    Jake left the Chancellor office in an ebullient mood. He was back in the academy and the TG and all was well.

Chapter Five
The Mauritius

    The journey to the Jandas system was faster than anticipated and within seven days, the Alpha Battle Cruiser powered down its stellar drive and began the search for the missing Alpha vessels and the Kryl Cruiser.
    Commander Ted Buchanan was old school, nearing retirement, but had lost none of his ‘edge’. He was well-respected within senior Alpha ranks and most were surprised he had not been promoted to Admiral. Most rationalized his failure was his lack of good fortune. His vessels were always in the wrong place at the right time. Being overshadowed by his colleague’s successes became a contentious issue for Ted over the years and early retirement was his preferred option. He had so many other things he could be doing.
    “Anything yet?”
    “Nothing Commander. The two patrol ships and the Alpha cruiser should all be showing on our short range scanners, but there is nothing.”
    Wisdom taught Ted Buchanan that ‘nothing’ quite often meant something.
    “Let’s theorize. The Kryl vessel has laid a trap and taken the Alpha vessels alongside. They are trying to drawer us in so they can attack us at close quarters.”
    His first officer, Shen Knui was a Cartholodite—a half-human, half-reptilian female from a system on the edge of Alpha’s expansive domain. TheCartholidite’s were loaners and took no interest in intergalactic politics. They were members of the Allied Planet Federation (APF), but played no active part. Shen Knui had come to Earth when she had reached maturity as she was intrigued, by what the Cartholidite’s sarcastically referred to as the Center of the Universe. Her intrigue became fascination and she elected to stay, enrolling to Alpha and quickly establishing herself as a worthy officer, post graduation.
    “I’ll run a barium scan. If they are trying to block our scanners that should show something.”
    “Okay, Commander Shen Knui. Be aware though.”
    Two hours later and with no sign of either the Alpha or Kryl vessels: the two commanders met again in Buchanan’s ready room.
    “Shall I widen our scan range? The B-scan revealed nothing obvious.”
    “No. There is something here. I can sense it. Let’s have a manual view of the B-scan results. We are looking for fractional changes, yes, but if there is some kind of pattern?”
    “There, look three small peaks, a gap and then another three. They are very small, but look—another batch of three. Let’s go in a little closer, get the B-scanner to analyze these fields at a closer range and ramp up security a little, discretely, just in case they are watching us too.”
    The barium scanner began its new sweep of the more defined coordinates, before they analyzed again a few minutes later.
    “Yes look. The pattern is more obvious. There is no other logical explanation to this. I think we need to show our intent. Set up an isotope calibration field within the aft plasma