The Alpha Choice (76 page)

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The image of Trang was gone, and Gorn’s mind began to ramble.
I’ve been careful, and hardly spoken to her
.
What’ve I missed
,
how could she possibly know, and why isn’t she going straight to Darl?
He took a mental step back, and collected his thoughts. If she intended him any harm she would have let Kirion kill him, so it was likely he had an ally who knew a lot more about this business than he did.
Maybe I’ll be a lot wiser in a few minutes
.
 

He had been so sure he was alone, but he was wrong. It had never occurred to him that he had a protector, even his aunt made it clear he was on his own. More worrying to him was the realisation that he had not considered the possibility of enemies beyond the Agency. His judgement was more fallible than he thought, and admitting that the business with Kirion came as a shock, was an understatement, he had completely misread the man. Where did this leave him? Was Kirion acting alone, or did he leave others to take his place, and why did he try to kill him? Hopefully, Trang would provide the answers.
 

Pulling himself out of his reverie, he thought:
I haven't time for this
,
Trang is only three minutes walk from here, she’ll have to walk with the teleport stations locked down. By walking, she increases the chances of being seen, but most of the crew will be pre occupied with the ‘accident.’ That gives me less than twelve minutes before she starts out, and so only twelve minutes to fool the ship into thinking she’s still in her quarters, re-routing any communications though to here.
 

He just hoped no one would want to contact her in the three minutes she was between quarters. Then an idea came to him,
I’ll have her console confirm that she is in her cleansing chamber for that time…she did say indisposed
, he thought.

Right on cue, she was outside his quarters, and he wasted no time in letting her in. As the door slid shut behind her, Trang moved beyond him towards the centre of the room, as though to do so would make what she had to say more private, but he ushered her over to the eating area, where they both sat.

Gorn looked across to the lovely young woman just across from him,
how could she possibly have gotten herself bound up in this madness?
he thought. In his time on Eclipse he had seen a number of expressions on that face, ranging from fear and confusion, to anger and humour, but now her countenance was resolute. She was in command of the situation, and he guessed the word ‘surprise’ would be inadequate to describe how he was about to react to her news.

‘First things first, I know you sabotaged the Tellurian mission,’
no surprise there,
he thought, she had already hinted as much, ‘and I knew what your objective was before you came on board,’ that did come as a surprise. ‘My father is Denaa,’ she waited for his response, but none came. ‘For one of the finest minds on Te'ath, you can be remarkably dense. Your father, your true father Zaran had three close friends: Jaron, Bakir your adoptive father and Denaa, my father.’

It then struck him why, other than the obvious fact of his association with Gallsor, the name had not meant anything more to him. ‘I remember my father mentioning a close friend by that name, but he wasn’t interested in marrying as…’

Trang completed his sentence for him ‘He liked the girls too much to settle down with just one?’

Discussing matters like this were never a comfortable topic for Gorn, and particularly not now. She noticed his discomfort, and released him. ‘Don’t concern yourself, he never really changed. He and my mother were never married, but my father and I are still very close, and that’s why I’m here now. You know that Zaran kept in close contact with Jaron, but what you don’t know is that they both remained close to my father. When you decided to accept Narol’s offer, your father contacted Jaron and my father. They knew that I had refused a commission from Darl.’

‘They persuaded you to accept it?’

She nodded.

‘Surely, you couldn’t have any idea what you were getting into?’

‘Gorn, you can be very naïve. Three of the friends became commanders in the fleet. Jaron was appointed a Squadron leader and had the choice of the two ships he would have under his command. You didn’t think it was coincidence that Jaron and your adoptive father were together at Gallsor, did you?’

‘Jaron didn’t tell me how they came to be together in the same operation.’ It seemed to Gorn there was a lot he had not been told.

‘After the Supreme Council covered up what happened at Gallsor, my father decided that if I pursued a career in the military, he would tell me everything and keep me informed of what might affect me. Neither he, nor Jaron would trust the Supreme Council, or the military again,’ here she paused.

‘What’s wrong, why have you stopped?’ Gorn asked.

‘The next part is personal, and to be frank, I’m not sure how you’ll take it.’

‘Well, let’s find out.’

‘The three of them agreed they couldn’t trust Bakir…’

‘Is that all? I’m not hanging on to some blissful childhood memories. In fact, the revelation about Bakir came as a relief. For the first time I realised I wasn't to blame for everything.’
 

‘I didn't know. I wasn’t told much about your history.’

‘It seems you had more than enough to learn without messing it up with that.’

Trang smiled, but Gorn still sensed a little awkwardness. ‘It wasn’t until some years after Gallsor that your father told the others about your aunt and your mother, and how they were involved with the rebellion - and before you ask, I’ve no idea how he knew. You can imagine how that made things even more complex. Actions by Narol’s group could have incalculable consequences for all of us…’

‘Why wasn’t I told any of this?’ Gorn interrupted.

‘In the first place, who would tell you? You didn’t know who Zaran really was, and even if a way had been found to let you know, no one would tell you while your mother was alive.’

‘Why not?’

‘They had no way of knowing what she would have done to you, or the rest of us.’

‘You didn’t know my mother,’ he felt the anger well up inside him, ‘she would never do anything to harm me.’

Trang would not be diverted. ‘They couldn’t take the risk, you have no idea what the rebellion are capable of…’

‘Not the murder of a son,’ he would not, and could not accept that possibility.

‘Then what about the murder of a nephew?’

Still preoccupied with protesting the innocence of his mother, it was a moment before Trang’s last question uprooted him. It became blindingly obvious what she had been leading up to. His aunt, Narol, had tried to have him killed, but why? She could not have asked more of him…

Trang could see the inner turmoil reflected in his face. ‘Your father, after your last meeting with him, met with your aunt. He was left with the suspicion that Narol would seek to have you killed, once your mission was completed, so preventing the identity of her group becoming known. She couldn’t risk you leaking details of her involvement. The existence of the rebellion is cloaked in myth and mystery, and it suits them to have everyone think they’re a figment of someone’s over active imagination. They prefer to remain within the shadows. Kirion was clearly a sleeper placed in a position of influence, in the hope that the day would come when he could help the cause. Over the years, there must have been thousands like him, living a lie their entire lives. Most of them would never have got the call, and we’ll probably never know who they were.’

Gorn’s mind had cleared, and now the initial shock of realisation having passed, he wanted to know everything. ‘How did you know she was using Kirion? She could have done it herself.’

‘I’ll answer your second question first. She was too close to you. Not that Darl would have thought that, she had fooled him completely. No, she knew that when our fathers and Jaron heard of the
accident
they would consider it too much of a coincidence. There would have been a bloodbath. For her to act, personally, she would need to take out Jaron, and the others simultaneously. They are resourceful men and, even if only one of them survived, they have it within them to bring down her organisation. It was much easier to use a pawn. There would have been questions but no evidence; they would be devastated, yet powerless to act. Unlike you, I’d been forewarned about your aunt, but was forbidden to tell you…’

‘Why?’

‘We might have been wrong, and the only person able to frustrate the invasion was you. Telling you may well have had the effect of you withdrawing altogether, and that was something we couldn’t risk.’

‘I got the distinct impression my father was less than happy with the idea of me being involved in the first place.’

‘That’s the father in him! In principle, the three of them agree with the fundamental aims of the rebellion.’

‘What about you?’

‘I’ve known about the political landscape for quite a few years…the real landscape. My father is a little like someone we both know, lightweight on the surface but multifaceted underneath,’ she did not elaborate on the identity of the comparator. ‘I share their views, and agreed that we couldn’t risk you being knocked off track.’
 

Gorn needed something clarifying, something at odds with the calm and collected girl in front of him. ‘When I saw you on board the shuttle you seemed to be upset, and later I thought you were angry with me, someone you’d never even met before, why?’

‘Shortly before embarkation, my father had told me that whoever was tasked with killing you was most likely a sleeper, but also a fanatic. If he, or she failed at the first attempt they would keep on trying until you were dead. My way was made clear to me. I had to ensure that the assassin died, and in circumstances that would suggest an accident. The only person who would suspect otherwise would be Narol, and the message to her would be loud and clear:
we know who and what you are, back off!

‘Of course I was upset, I've never killed anyone in my life, but if I wasn’t prepared to act, you would die. You would think that choosing the death of a killer, rather than someone who was going to save billions of lives would have made it easier, well it didn’t, because I wasn’t just choosing his death, I
was
his death! So yes, I blamed you, because if you hadn’t agreed to be a bloody hero, I wouldn’t have been put in that position.’

Gorn looked straight at her. ‘I’m sorry, I wish I could have helped.’

‘I know you do. I soon rationalised it and can tell you,’ a hint of a smile appeared on her face, ‘I would have felt an awful lot worse if I’d failed. Now,’ she continued, ‘the identity of the assassin. The candidates were surprisingly few, it needed to be someone with regular access to you. I had to look into personal, as well as professional relationships.’

‘Genir, you thought he was capable of this? He’s my oldest friend, it couldn’t have been him. I could have told you…’

‘Told me what? That he was always there for you, and you trusted him with your life? Perfect cover if he was the assassin.’

He shook his head, but she continued. ‘Jaron specifically asked that I check out his son. When I protested, he insisted.
‘No one is above suspicion,’
he said,’ she smiled. ‘Something of an enigma, your friend, at first sight only interested in Zagball and girls, a simple case of what you see is what you get. But from what I’ve been hearing, he’s a lot more complex than that and anyway, he’s in the clear.’

Gorn was pensive. ‘You're absolutely right, in the last few months he’s surprised me, in more ways than one,’ he smiled, and the look on Trang’s face caused the smile to disappear as swiftly as it had appeared. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I’ve never seen you smile, and from what I was told, no one has!’

‘Really,’ he looked genuinely surprised, ‘I don’t smile? I had no idea,’ he shook his head.

Then they both laughed and, for as long as it lasted, forgot about the nightmare they had been thrust into, but all too soon the two young officers sobered and Trang returned to the task in hand. ‘How did I know it was Kirion? Like to guess?’

’Not really.’

‘I watched everyone’s movements, and noticed that at the commander’s soiree, when we were all required to mingle, Narol and Kirion appeared to avoid each other.’

‘She also ignored me, but then she wasn’t the only one.’

Ignoring his last pointed comment, she answered. ‘Exactly, and it was because she studiously avoided the two of you, that I was able to work it out. I knew she wouldn’t approach you, on any pretext, it was a risk she wasn’t prepared to take but twice they passed close by, and didn’t even acknowledge each other.’
 

‘I didn’t see that.’

‘Because you weren't looking for anything strange, you trusted her completely and the only other person there with suspicions, was Darl.’

‘Darl?’

‘Yes, our commander, but they weren’t aimed at anyone in particular. Didn’t you wonder why he left the room? It was to see how everyone interacted.’

‘I thought it was because of a communications malfunction I’d arranged.’

Trang shook her head. ‘Coincidence.’

‘If Darl was watching everyone, why didn’t he spot Narol avoiding me?’ Gorn asked.

‘He most likely did, and that’s where she surpassed herself. There’s always been edginess between them. Narol played on that, especially when she heard that Darl wanted her to work with you.’
 

Gorn looked puzzled. ‘But that didn’t crop up until later.’

‘Wrong! Narol and Darl had been arguing over that for some time before you met with them. It was part of her plan to build up the resentment over your appointment, so that he would think nothing of her ignoring you, the man she was being forced to work with. You have to hand it to her, she certainly plans ahead.’

Gorn was picking up Trang’s line of thought. ‘And he wouldn’t think anything of her ignoring Kirion, because he was second in command, and a snub of him was a snub of Darl,’ he was on a roll, ‘but as you knew the animosity towards me was feigned, she could have spoken to Kirion without alerting Darl.’