The Solarian Celebration: Book 3 of the Alliance Conflict Read Online Free PDF Page B

these.”
    He led her back into her bedroom, inserted the cube into the corresponding slot on the monitor, and started one of the movies.  He struggled, but managed to watch the first scene with her.  Well, he was basically watching her, not the movie.  As soon as he was certain that she would watch it to completion, he left and returned to his workstation.
    Jack reviewed Ella’s conversation.  She hadn’t revealed much.  The return response wasn’t enlightening either.  Even the beings on the ship called the rescuers marines.  Perhaps they had simply added the word to their vocabulary.
    Jack reviewed the computer’s response to Ella’s unwitting query.  These results, however, were intriguing.  The computer sent the name, rank, function, and origin number of everyone currently aboard.  It also gave the date when each crew member was stationed on the ship.  Jack parsed the origin numbers by race – the list included three Advranki, one Altian, and 64 Solarians.
    Jack was stunned at the last number.  He now realized how the Navy had kept the presence of the humans a secret.  They had given them Solarian visas.  He doubted there were 64 Solarians in the entire Alliance Navy. 
    Further, their names were clearly human, not Solarian.  Jack now understood why Ella wasn’t initially curious about humans.  According to the ship’s logs, she was on board when the first 20 pilots entered.  She must have interacted with them before their secret mission to the Spindle Station.
    The list showed that the humans filled the roles of fighter pilots, engineers, and maintenance crew members.  It also showed 5 members with the designation of marine.
    Jack theorized that the Alliance Navy probably kidnapped a group of humans and were testing them to determine what roles they could perform.  He assumed that the 64 on the Sunflower were only ones the Alliance had because the hyperspace lane was closed.
    Wait a minute.
    Jack double checked the dates of the humans’ embarkation.  Clearly there were two groups, one of 20 and one of 50.  Both dates were later than the hyperspace lane’s closure date.  One was shortly after the closure and closely corresponded to Lorano’s trip to Earth. 
    However, the second date was months later.  That meant that someone had been to Earth well after the Conron – Earth hyperspace lane was corrupted.
    A few months ago, Jack had discussed the matter at length with the Altian scientist Lorano.  Lorano had been trapped on Earth during a research mission and had calculated a new hyperspace route that supposedly bypassed the debris.  Further, Lorano had hidden the route by changing the last two numbers after confirming them in the navigational computer system.
    After the conversation, Jack tried to simulate the corrected route to Earth and found that it didn’t work.  Lorano had more than likely made another adjustment to the route that he didn’t mention to Jack.
    Jack smiled.  He knew that the Hiriculan Ambassador Bline would pay handsomely for this information, especially since he now possessed tangible evidence to support it.

Chapter 3
     
    “They are coming through now Senators,” said Admiral Wertak.
    Admiral Wertak was the commander of the 18 ship Alliance fleet in Conron and was stationed on the battleship Sentry .  The Conron fleet was sitting about 10 minutes from the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane. 
    The Navy had increased the size of this fleet from 7 ships immediately after the battle of Influenla.  Conron had suddenly gone from a backwater post to the front line of a military deterrent and Admiral Wertak was still adjusting to his fleet’s new role.
    The Sunflower was the first ship to appear.  It exited from hyperspace with a speed of .12 light and immediately began slowing to rendezvous with the Conron fleet.  Two minutes later the Dandelion appeared, followed two minutes later by the Guardian .  The rest of the 14 ship fleet appeared over the course of