Read The Trafalgar Gambit (Ark Royal) for Free Online Page B

nodded.  “You have another appointment, Admiral,” he said.  He rose to his feet, signalling the end of the meeting.  “The King wishes to speak with you – both of you.”
     
    Ted winced, feeling Janelle’s sudden apprehension.  Some bastard in the crew – and Ted intended to keelhaul the blighter when he figured out who – had leaked the news of her relationship with Prince Henry to the media.  And some other bastard in the media had spread it far and wide, perhaps calculating the British public needed a diversion after the alien attack had devastated large parts of the country.  It was thoroughly absurd, all the more so with millions dead and millions more lost without trace, but the media had still tried to lay siege to Ark Royal anyway.  The only explanation that made at least some sense was that the reporters were trying to pretend that everything was normal.
     
    Idiots , he thought, as the room rapidly emptied.  Nothing will ever be normal again .
     
    “Yes, Prime Minister,” he said.  It wasn't as if they could decline an invitation from the King, no matter how much his young aide would have preferred to avoid it.  “It will be our pleasure.”
     
    The Prime Minister smiled tiredly, perhaps recognising the lie.  “Good luck, Admiral,” he said.  His voice was utterly tired, tired and depressed.  He’d been in charge during the greatest disaster to hit Britain, ever.  No matter how many decisions he made, the ultimate resolution wouldn't come from his office.  “We need to end this, as quickly as possible.  Whatever we have to do ...”
     
    Ted nodded, understanding the Prime Minister’s dilemma.  Peace with the aliens would come at a price, of that he was sure.  And the aliens – or Faction One, at least – had never shown any interest in talking .  Biological warheads might be the only way to force the aliens to the peace table ... or at least ensure that humanity remained alive to mourn the genocide that had been wrought in its name.  He knew that to be true ...
     
    But he didn't like it.  And he hoped he never would.

Chapter Four
     
    One of the curses of being born into the Royal Family, Prince Henry had decided long ago, was that one was expected to visit other countries and pretend to like them.  It wasn't so bad when visiting a modern country like America or France, but a less-developed or traditionalist country could be an uncomfortable place to visit.  He still had nightmares about the water houses in Malaysia, where there had been no air conditioning, or the tents in Southern Arabia where his staff had been strictly segregated by sex.  And complaining hadn't been allowed, no matter how uncomfortable or unpleasant it became.  It had been one of the many things he’d hated about his life.
     
    But he had to admit it was also good practice for being an alien prisoner.
     
    He lay naked on the uncomfortable bed, staring up at the transparent canopy.  Outside, thousands of brightly-coloured fish swam through the water, showing no fear of the aliens or – for that matter – the human in the cell.  And it was a cell, he knew, even if there were no locked doors or handcuffs.  The only exit involved swimming through murky water and somehow getting up to the surface before he drowned.  Henry knew he was a good swimmer, but he would never be as good as the aliens.  They drew oxygen directly from the water through their gills.
     
    The cell wasn't exactly uncomfortable, although the aliens didn't seem to understand what humans needed to survive and prosper.  They hadn't provided him with any clothes, either out of a misplaced paranoia over what he would do with them or through a simple lack of awareness that humans needed clothes.  The aliens never wore clothes, as far as he could tell, at least outside combat situations.  Given their biology, it was quite likely they had never developed any form of nudity taboo.  Henry had rapidly grown used to being naked