Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 2 - Maveen Offer (23 page)

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The Aurora Discovery quietly patrolled up to the edge of the Zeewyk channel, then turned south east again on another slow patrol of the eastern approaches to the Abrolhos islands. To the south and east the two Anzac frigates had been joined by several fast patrol boats in ensuring the quarantine of the islands. Steve was sitting in his command chair and quietly talking on his satellite phone to Ian Ridge in Perth.

‘Sir the Traders are apparently concerned about a few Voorde eggs they found and are again sweeping their ship. I think the risk is minimal so far as in no live Voorde drones have been detected. The abilities of the Traders and the landing location would negate nearly all the risks in my opinion. Note that we still have to keep the media and general public off the islands.’

Steve listened to the deep and calm voice of the prime minister as he responded to Steve’s analysis of the situation.

‘That is well and good Steve, though there is now a rising note of concern, even hysteria about the Voorde. A vocal group of people state that we should just nuke them and argue about it all later. Fortunately the Chinese and Russians are fixed on getting their hands on superior technology, and the Americans have been largely won over to a peaceful resolution.’

Steve was relieved to hear that further military action against the aliens was unlikely as the Australian prime minister continued to speak.

‘Now onto other matters, your appointment to control the science mission has generated some resentment amongst the Chinese and Russians. Although they do both support your appointment over placing an academic in command. The good news is that you have a lot of support from the ASEAN countries, in part due to the RAN’s humanitarian aid efforts over the last ten years.’

Steve was already well aware of this resentment from following earlier media reports and ventured a reply.

‘Douglas and I have a short list of names we would like to add to expand the science mission. We will only add another dozen people to the mission, and we have selected two Indian, three European, three Russian and four Chinese scientists. These people represent the best in their fields and we would both stifle the political objections and get the best possible technical people we can obtain.’

Steve then read out the list of names to the prime minister, who listed them down and gave a polite laugh over the phone as he again spoke.

‘Well I have a similar list here and we have five of those people already in Australia. We can have them over to your ship first thing tomorrow.’

Ian then read out the five names to Steve, who made a mental note to update Douglas as soon as the phone call was finished.

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat viewed the collection of dead Voorde eggs and larvae with real relief. No adult Voorde had been uncovered either dead or alive, and the collection of eggs and larvae showed evidence of disease and blight even before they died. The island based parties had not uncovered anything either as they had scoured with high pressure sea water the light coloured rocks that made up the island. A light stain coloured the ocean around the small island as the water hoses had washed the light soil away, and in places the footing on the island was now treacherous. The Trader captain considered the time of day and made a decision.

‘We will summon the humans again in the morning, as the day is already getting late. We will take advantage of their absence and press on with our repair and refuel efforts without any further interruptions.’

The Trader teams dispersed to carry out their ongoing work, with several Traders gingerly raking up the dead Voorde eggs and larva for disposal into the ocean. As the Voorde eggs and larva encountered the full action of the sea water they seemed to shrivel and fall apart before the eyes of the crew. Captain Narindestat noted that his crew avoided wading into the sea water if at all possible. He then turned to regard Lieutenant Garendestat and Emeria as they approached. He gave his son and his new daughter in-law a polite smile, things had improved in this regard he decided as he listened to Garendestat.

‘Captain, the new tattoos appear to be comfortable, and do not fade or smear like the human makeup. I recommend we all paint back in our tattoos this evening, though I will have to forewarn Steve and his team. We have ample supplies of the gold and silver paint, and we are just concentrating on the neck and cheek tattoo areas at this stage.’

Emeria then confirmed what the captain’s brief visit to the sick bay this morning had already told him.

‘The worst cases of infections are steadily improving and some of the lesser afflicted crew are already back on duty. Hopefully we should be clear of disease within two or three days.’

After he excused the two younger Traders, Narindestat looked over at the distant human ship and he watched the ship turn back down towards them again. He had been impressed with Garendestat’s earlier brief overview of their abilities in running a ship, which was a distinct ability of a sentient race as opposed to their technical level. To the captain’s mind a race was either suited to life amongst the stars in ships or they were not, and the humans seemed to be as well qualified as any race he had yet seen.

On the subject of his son, Captain Narindestat was very satisfied, as he had performed his duties with both excellence and diligence. Most notably he was delighted in both his son’s survival and subsequent marriage to Emeria. The Trader crew were also delighted and polite congratulations had followed the new couple around the small island all morning. Although all knew that due to custom that the official ceremony would await the safety of deep space.

The captain was also happy that Garendestat had figured out independently the importance of the Maveen. But this now led to his two main concerns that he reviewed silently to himself as he continued to watch the human ship.

So just when would the Maveen decide to make a re-appearance? And could they be counted to both uphold their end of the deal and not make an unexpected change to the whole process that could strand his ship on the planet?

                                                            ***

Steve had spent a considerable amount of time during the afternoon scanning with his binoculars Middle island and the Trader ship to establish what was actually occurring. From what he could see the Traders had completed their frantic scouring of the ship and the island with high pressure water hoses. He noted that the aliens had now gone back to addressing their repairs and refuelling requirements.

Steve also noted that that two of the Maveen probes had returned and sat silently amongst the larger sneak ships crowding the southern end of the island. The northern side of the island still was given over to probable repair efforts on the two damaged sneak ships. But several different shaped smaller items now crowded the light rocky surface around the two ships. Even as Steve watched, several Traders led by the captain himself left one damaged sneak ship and wandered over to look over the smaller items for several minutes. Next the group of Traders moved along to examine the second damaged ship.

A crew member on watch walked over with a radio wireless headset and a quizzical look on his face.

‘Captain, we have a Trader on the radio for you and I think it is the one you rescued, Garendestat or something.’

Steve thanked the crew member who quietly returned to his assigned station on the port side of the bridge. Steve spoke discretely into the handset, even if the handset radio was not especially high powered.

‘Garendestat, I hope you have sorted out your problem earlier today and we can resume our meetings tomorrow.’

The ruse was not lost on Garendestat in his reply.

‘Steve, we have only success to report and we can indeed resume our meetings tomorrow. I will keep this message short, as we have improved on your medical team’s assistance. Do not be surprised to see everything as it should be tomorrow. I will see you then Steve.’

The almost terse radio message concerned Steve for only a moment, and he reflected that the Trader use of English had certainly improved over the last two days. Steve replayed the brief conversation in his head, and acting on a hunch he again turned his binoculars onto Middle island.

After several minutes of now especially observing the Traders, a slight smile and a fixed look came into his eyes. Steve looked again at the ramp of the Trader ship were several Traders were sitting with no cloaks in full sunlight, before leaving the bridge to find the mission team and quietly share his new discovery.

                                                            ***

Professor Elysius gave a deep formal bow to the Cephrit station master, and wondered yet again what would bring the Cephrit this far from home. The large insectiod leisurely strode down the rear ramp of the small Cephrit landing shuttle. To either side of the male Cephrit stood two towering female Cephrit marines that cradled their nasty looking laser rifles. The marines casually studied the few Barus academics that had followed the Barus professor to the landing field. The station master gave a soft chirr to the marine guards who promptly shouldered their rifles, walked clear of the landing shuttle, and quietly began observing the bush surrounding the landing field. The Cephrit returned the professor’s bow and chirred again in his soft voice.

‘Professor Elysius, thank you so much for welcoming me here today. Please ignore my guards as they are so protective during our extended journey. I need to speak with you urgently and privately please on an important matter.’

After several more minutes the station master and the professor were standing alone in the research tent holding the massive Dradfer sculpture. The Cephrit marines and the junior Barus researchers remained outside well out of earshot. The station master stood still for a moment and looked around the descriptive sculpture before speaking again softly.

‘So this is the fate of the former Dradfer colony. Of course the official research will need to be buried in the deepest parts of your institute for many years, possibly forever. Now have you found any biological inconsistencies yet on this planet?’

Professor Elysius answered in the negative, and then listened in stunned silence as the Cephrit gave him additional information about the Trader ship he had sent Gindane to track down. He was appalled about the presence of a Voorde infestation on the Trader ship as well as the Trader’s rationale for heading for Earth.

‘Station master, this is a risky solution they attempt as they could extinguish a fertile haven world.’

The Cephrit reassured him that the solution should work and that the Traders were mindful of the planet’s status. He then briefed the professor about the task that Omerio was given to find a strange Tilmud ship, and then mentioned that an earlier world that the Trader ship had landed on had been deliberately contaminated with the Voorde. The professor put together the whole situation from the Station master quickly enough from the information he had been given.

‘So you are expecting to see Omerio in this part of space after he tracks down this ship?

The station master gave a soft chirr of satisfaction, as always the speed of thought of the Barus was especially useful.

‘Yes Professor and I have a Cephrit fleet nearby that we can use if we are quick enough to find the ship. However we may see ourselves fighting the Tilmud sooner rather than later as there have been several unfortunate incidents.’

The professor looked at the Cephrit, who he felt was telling him a bit too much information, before he replied.

‘Well I have not seen Omerio recently. Now as to the Barus, I do have some influence and I am sure Omerio has even more. However we both are unlikely to sway a Barus fleet away from apprehending the Traders to support your efforts against the Tilmud.’

Professor Elysius considered the now silent and still Cephrit and then the unknown script down one side of the sculpture before continuing.

‘However we are certainly sympathetic even if officially we cannot help you. Now I would like to know if you have seen anything like this script on the side of our unofficial sculpture.’

The Cephrit station master quietly viewed the script and gave off a series of anxious clicks. He then told the Barus professor all that the Cephrit knew of the tragic events of so long ago. After the Cephrit left to return to his ship in orbit around the planet, the Barus professor quietly contemplated the sculpture with a mix of awe and horror.

                                                            ***

Chapter 12

Steve drove the first runabout onto the beach, and a team member stepped off the boat into the ankle deep water to steady the hull as Steve cut the engine. He noted with that all six Maveen probes were now present on the island to one side of the sneak ships, and that a faint blue light connected them all to one another.

The second runabout followed onto the narrow coral strewn beach and a dozen science team members from both boats sloshed ashore. The remaining team members in three smaller inflatable boats followed the first members ashore. In moments all stood under the shade of an awning the Traders had set up near the rear ramp of the main ship.

Rebecca noted the reappearance of the Trader tattoos under their white cloaks and gave Steve a wry grin. For their part the Traders seemed calm and focussed compared to their rushing around of the previous day. Samantha looked at what Rebecca was seeing and then spoke discretely to Steve.

‘You were right about the tattoos.’

After several minutes of introductions were made, the humans all turned as Captain Narindestat turned to Steve and spoke clearly.

‘You have brought two dozen scientists with you today. We trust you will not increase your numbers further tomorrow, otherwise our discussions will become unwieldy.’