The Alpha Protocol: Alpha Protocol Book 1 by Duncan Hamilton (read more books .txt) 📕

he had felt in his dash to eject the alien artefact, Samson had given it a try. Any doubts he may have had about how unfit he’d let himself become were well and truly banished.

The Peterson’s personnel were already waiting inside the airlock by the time Samson got there.

‘I’m sorry there was no one to formally greet you,’ Samson said. ‘We’re pretty short-handed. I’m Acting Lieutenant Commander Jack Samson.’

‘Captain Bill Wright,’ said an athletic man with a thick head of salt-and-pepper hair. ‘These are Lieutenants Jones, Cooper, and Singh.’

Samson saluted. ‘Welcome aboard, Captain Wright, Lieutenants. Feel free to take some downtime if you want. Otherwise, we can go to the briefing room and I’ll bring you up to speed.’

‘I think we’re all eager to hear first-hand what’s going on,’ Wright said.

Samson nodded and led them to the briefing room. He gave a short presentation on all the sensor data they had accumulated, then talked them through his personal experience and his visit to the ruins on Dobson. He did his best not to colour the information with his personal thoughts and feelings; it was better to give as raw an account of what he had seen as he could, and allow them to make up their own minds.

When Samson finished, Captain Wright leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. As Samson stood at the head of the meeting table, the time seemed to drag on for an eternity. He waited to discover if he was to be believed, or called a lunatic.

‘First things first,’ Wright said. ‘I think it would be foolhardy to return to the Oculus system before the Nautilus arrives. She’s only a couple of days behind us, and I’ll be mighty glad of the extra firepower if we find trouble. That ruin’s been out there a long time; I don’t think another few days is going to make a whole lot of difference.’

‘The appearance of this alien vessel may put a different time frame on things,’ Samson said. ‘As I said in my briefing, they seem particularly interested in any artefacts from the ruin.’

‘Perhaps,’ Wright said. ‘I have some thoughts on that, and I’m concerned that humanity may have disturbed a site that’s important to these beings. Brought this whole thing on ourselves. However, judging by your briefing, the Peterson and the Bounty won’t be enough to face it down alone. Having the Nautilus here when we encounter the enemy puts us in a stronger position. As commendable a job as you’ve done rigging the Bounty for naval duty, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. We’ll continue to use her as a support vessel for the Peterson and Nautilus until the Third Fleet arrives. She can be decommissioned after that, and the crew reassigned.’

Samson found the remark surprisingly offensive. He hadn’t realised how attached to the little ship he had become—no doubt down to it being his first command. Nonetheless, it was not far from the truth. The Bounty would never be fit for proper naval service, and under any other circumstance would never have seen it. As saddening a thought as it was, considering the sterling service she had given, she was destined for the scrappers.

‘I’ll be happier still when Admiral Khaimov arrives with his squadron,’ Wright said. ‘But Pandora’s Box has been opened, and the realities of the situation may demand that we take more risks than I’d otherwise like. We need to be ready to seize any opportunities that come our way. They may not be offered up a second time.’

‘Understood, sir,’ Samson said.

‘You’ve done an exemplary job, Samson, and that won’t go unnoticed. Transmitting the sensor data the way you did was quick and selfless thinking in perilous circumstances. Don’t be surprised if you hear more about that in due course.’

‘Thank you, sir.’ It had been quite some time since any aspect of Samson’s performance had been commended.

‘I understand you’ve had some problems with your crew.’

Samson had made cursory mention of what had happened in his official report. His personal reports contained the finer details, but with everything else that had happened, it had gotten obscured by the maelstrom. This was the moment he had felt so certain of. Now that he was faced with it, the prospect of ending two men’s careers, and probably sending Harper to the firing squad, was far more daunting, and that certainty was harder to find.

He took a deep breath. ‘There was a disagreement as to how we should proceed in the immediate aftermath of the Sidewinder’s destruction. I had to confine Lieutenant Harper, Engineer’s Mate Vachon, and Rating Kushnir to quarters for insubordination.’

‘That’s your entire naval crew,’ Wright said. ‘That sounds a lot like mutiny to me.’

Samson hesitated. He was torn between anger at what Harper had done and the realisation that if he agreed with Wright, she would be executed. He had known many men and women—officers driven by conscience—who’d met their ends in front of the firing squad after the Fifth Fleet mutiny.

There was self-interest at play here too. If he condemned the Bounty’s crew to court martial, he would be removed from her command, and reassigned right away. He didn’t much like the idea of that.

‘I… The matter has been dealt with to my satisfaction,’ Samson said.

Wright looked at him through narrowed eyes. ‘Very good. Moving on, then. The first question that I want your thoughts on,’ Wright said, ‘is what connection there is between this mystery alien ship and the ruins on Oculus 414-B. Have you seen anything to connect them?’

‘I can only speculate, sir,’ Samson said, ‘but to my mind they’re not the same species. Those ruins are old, millennia perhaps, and the construction suggests a pretty high level of tech. Significantly in advance of our own, I suspect. This hostile alien ship seems more advanced than anything we have, but not by a whole lot. That ancient civilisation would have had to stagnate completely, and possibly regress, for their tech not to be