OMEGA Allegiance by Stephen Arseneault

stalled. It's been a war of attrition for almost three years now. Everything we've tried to liberate on that planet since the initial raids have failed."
    I drew a long breath. "That doesn't sound at all like what we—what I—have been told by Harden Salton himself. I was told that outside forces had invaded Andromeda and we were there trying to bail out the Dullex family because no one else would."
    The Captain frowned. "I suppose it's possible that's what happened. Maybe these planets were taken and resettled by this new force and we are just taking them back. I don't know."
    After many hours of deep discussion, Go interrupted our conversation. "We are three hours out from the portal gate, Mr. Beutcher."
    I nodded. "Thank you, Go. Well, Captain, if you can give us any insight into that gate's operation, I would be happy to leave you there if you can help us get through it. That of course only applies if Joni Salton has been taken through. If not, I'll want your input on how to disable the gate until we can grab her."
    Jack Carson offered a half smile. "I risked my life for that alien ship you are carrying. If you dump me and my team at the portal gate with that ship, I'll tell you all I know."
    I thought for a moment. "That would be a fair trade. If you help us get Joni Salton out of there, I will personally take you and that ship to the shipyards."
    The Captain nodded. "I can live with that. I can tell you what I know, but you have to keep in mind that the information I have is five years old. I was an admiral's aide when I first came through. He managed a walkthrough of the portal control room before we went through. If was five decks down from the top of the structure. Two decks below that is a docking bay that can handle smaller, shuttle-size ships. They had a small garrison of troops to defend it, but other than a few guards, the garrison was located on a destroyer parked outside.
    "If you can take control of that gate, I think opening the portal may be as simple as pressing a button. If you can get control of that room, you can have that gate open in about thirty seconds. I think it stays open for about three minutes, unless something has changed since I last went through."
    I gestured away with my hand. "And what of the other side of the portal? Is there a gate there to come back as well?"
    The Captain shook his head. "One way sweep. If you want to come back through you have to be waiting there when the portal opens. And get this, the location is adjustable from the control room, so there is no guarantee that they will open the portal in the same place twice. But they do send transports back, so I would guess it probably doesn't change."
    I leaned back in my chair. "Well, let's just hope they haven't gone through, Mr. Carson. That would not leave us many options."

Chapter 7

    The Talisan Lieutenant I had assigned to oversee the enemy vessel came over the comm. "Sir, we managed to open the ship. If you're interested in seeing inside, we are in cargo hold three. Otherwise, we will begin documenting the ship's systems."
    I looked at an eager Jack Carson as I replied, "Hold it open, Lieutenant. We'll be right there!"
    The fifteen meter long, silvery ship looked like a near perfect, and otherwise featureless, teardrop. The Talisan engineers had managed to open a hatch by reverse engineering a beacon signal the craft was emitting. The hatch had opened to a horrid smell; the pilot was not there.
    The Captain waved his hand with a grimace on his face. "Aw, that's a horrible stench! When we caught the ship, the pilot jettisoned himself into space. One of our gunners blasted him before we could bring him on board. We're probably lucky he didn't set off a self-destruct before he got out."
    The Talisan Lieutenant spoke as he pointed to a display of the alien's vital signs. "Still showing a flatline, Sir. The environmental systems are offline. The layout of this health monitor is not unlike our own, although the language is