Samson peered through one of the barge’s viewports. There was a serious amount of naval hardware on display. The Third Fleet was a full battlegroup, capable of conducting full scale combat operations on an independent basis. If you wanted to invade a Core System, this was the preferred tool to use.
The barge was granted priority permission to land, and the adjutant whisked Samson through the Warspite’s corridors and to the admiral’s stateroom as soon as they were on board. The space, sights, and sounds of a large ship of the line felt strange after so long on smaller vessels. The adjutant brought him to a door with the admiral’s nameplate on it. He knocked, then straightened his uniform as he waited.
Samson wondered if he should do the same, but as the uniform he wore didn’t fit him all that well, he didn’t think it would make much difference. A clipped voice commanded them to enter, and once again the adjutant led the way.
It took a moment to survey Admiral Khaimov’s stateroom after he was shown in. It was sparsely decorated and well ordered. The man himself was not as imposing as his name suggested. Short and slight with receding grey hair, he looked more like an academic than the commanding admiral of a fleet. However, his reputation preceded him. He was the man who had put down the Piraeus insurgency and was considered the fighting admiral of the Navy. When the Navy wanted to take the gloves off, this was the man they sent.
‘Sit, Lieutenant,’ Khaimov said, gesturing to a seat without looking up from the screen he was reading. As Samson sat, Khaimov leaned back, straightened his tunic and laced his fingers over his stomach. He gave Samson a curious look, and an awkward silence persisted for a moment before he spoke again.
‘Quite a situation we find ourselves in here, isn’t it?’
‘It’s… unprecedented,’ Samson said.
‘Indeed. I can’t say I ever expected to see the Alpha Protocol activated. Not in my lifetime, anyway. The galaxy has, in one fell swoop, become a very different place. The Admiralty and the Senate are trying to work out if it will draw humanity into an ever-closer bond, or if it will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and splits the Union down to its constituent federations. What do you think?’
Samson floundered. The state of the Union was a pretty profound question, and not something he’d given much thought since finishing his political science classes at the Naval Academy.
‘I think it’s such an unexpected development, it’s impossible to know how people will react.’
Khaimov chuckled. ‘Good answer. I always like an officer who doesn’t pretend to know things he doesn’t. You might think it an off-the-wall question, but it’s pretty relevant for our current situation. It looks like we’re facing a war out here, the scale of which is impossible to predict. Added to that is the fact that there’re all sorts of mysteries too. Ones that might unlock some of the secrets of the universe. Cherries that are just too tempting to ignore.
‘So, does the Union send its whole fleet out here to make damn sure we win, and get the whole cherry bowl to ourselves, or do we hold some of it back to keep an eye on the troublemakers at home?’
Samson wasn’t sure if Khaimov expected an answer, but given his reaction to Samson’s previous answer, he was inclined to keep his mouth shut. This was a question well above his pay grade, and to express his opinion was about as useful as standing up and farting in the admiral’s face.
‘Well, it will impact on what we do out here,’ Khaimov said, ‘but as you say, we’ll just have to wait and see how everyone reacts.’
‘Difficult decisions,’ Samson said.
‘So, to matters about which you do have knowledge. Aliens.’ He chuckled. ‘I really can’t believe I’m saying that out loud. I’ve read your logs, but wanted to hear it all from the horse’s mouth, as it were. I’m a little bit different to some flag officers in that I like to hear my subordinates’ opinions. You were the officer on scene, so give me the facts, then give me your thoughts.’
‘There’s not much to add, sir. With the loss of the Sidewinder, we didn’t have much to work with. We got a look at the city, but not enough to give any worthwhile findings.’
‘That must have been something,’ Khaimov said. ‘I have to admit I’m jealous of you. First man to set foot in an alien civilisation. Really something. But continue, please.’
‘Well, it looked advanced—more advanced than us, but that’s just an opinion. I got a look around the inside of the crashed alien ship, and the intact scout ship.’
‘Which you used to destroy the hostile warship?’
‘Correct, sir. Although I only found out about having destroyed it when I woke up. I’m unaware of the finer details.’
‘Talk about improvising. A shame to use it and lose it in that way, but the crashed vessel is still in situ?’
‘I believe so, sir. And then there’s the schematics for the alien Nexus agitator that Kingston Smith was able to make operational on his ship.’
‘As if it couldn’t get any stranger. Arthur Kingsley riding to the rescue. I’m curious to see how long he can last before he breaks the law again. Anyway, our tech people are already pulling that data apart, and I’ve dispatched a company of Marines to secure the crash site.
‘So, you felt adopting a hostile stance to the aliens was the most appropriate approach?’
‘It attacked the Sidewinder without provocation,’ Samson said, feeling his indignation
