Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 3 - New Shores (26 page)

‘My dear marine you must tell me at length about those decorations over several glasses of fine Barus wine. Now if you wish you may state your terms as your devotion and bravery are being rewarded.’

The young marine was grateful for the chivalry the Station master treated her with, as he did not have to say or offer her anything when he mated with her later. She was quick on the uptake though, and wasted no time in her reply.

‘Station master, after so much death today I would be especially honored to carry the new lives you will give me. After my nursery duties, I would go to the duty you deem me most suitable to serve our race.’

The Station master looked at his new mate and appreciated her short but forthright comment as he spoke again.

‘Well said and you have tact and intelligence to go with bravery. I think we can do better than sending you back to general duty. When you choose to return you will join marine Special Forces where you will be deployed more prudently than the general forces.’

The two Cephrit spent the evening together drinking, and long after the rigorous mating, the young marine moved to another room to be available if the Station master summoned her again. The marine rested before she slept and she knew that of course she now carried new life. Over day she stayed with the Station master she never felt happier, then her aroma changed and he wished her well before he left for the bridge.

The female marine quickly cleaned his lavish quarters and left for her own smaller room before he returned. She was now relieved of duty by custom and spent the rest of the return journey as a valued civilian and mother to be, relaxing during the day and dining at night as an honored guest of both officers and marines.

                                                            ***

Admiral Biruldesec was in a livid mood, and had just ripped the throat out from an ensign. The junior officer had made the fatal mistake of looking him in the eye as he had given a series of orders during the last stages of the battle with the Cephrit cruisers. His carefully laid plans had been based on the assumption that the Cephrit would fight it out to the bitter end and not flee, but the tactic of rapid course changes by the bigger ships had been difficult to counter. He had then continued to rave fiercely about the cowardice and incompetence of several frigate captains as his bridge crew wisely kept their heads down.

‘I am surrounded by weaklings and imbeciles. When I want my ships to attack they should attack until I tell them to withdraw. I will have to space several commanders to get my point across no doubt.’

Indeed after the battle Admiral Biruldesec had sent around selected officers and marines to board frigates and fifteen commanders had been summarily executed by spacing. The killings had increased the delay in leaving the battle field, but the admiral wanted discipline at a high level in his fleet.

After two days he was still trying to get his damaged fleet together so they could leave this system in case the Cephrit returned in greater force and attacked his frigates. He knew that his huge fleet had been on the verge of an important victory when the enemy ships had used the sudden course changes to slip the noose of Tilmud ships he had neatly placed around them. The one thing he was happy about was that his forces had cornered the Cephrit central cruisers and killed their superior officer, an elderly Fleet master he had wanted to kill for many years.

However they had destroyed well less than half the ships they expected to destroy, a measly twelve cruisers in exchange for twenty five light cruisers and fifty three frigates. Admiral Biruldesec had hoped that his forces would have destroyed more, but he now knew that he would have to consider deploying his reduced numbers of ships in defensive formations. Another frigate was denoted as destroyed as the crew abandoned ship after setting explosive charges, and he knew that losses would climb after he gave the order he had been postponing for hours.

‘All frigates that cannot leave by hyper drive in two hours will set explosive charges and abandon ship. The other frigates will move to the exit points and we will return to our star base.’

After two hours several smaller explosions occurred as the crippled frigates were destroyed. Admiral Biruldesec was in no mood to count ships again and the order was given for the battered but massive fleet to leave. The frigates were soon surrounded by fields of light as they vanished into hyper space.

                                                            ***

Douglas Stoneham stood with Dan Edwards on the bridge of the Aurora Discovery as the ship increased speed after clearing the last Maveen gateway to the colony. Ahead of them HMAS Melbourne had first sped away, before the ship turned east to join the waiting selection of nearby ships. After a few minutes, the Aurora Discovery followed the Melbourne east as the two men stepped out onto the bridge wing to regard HMAS Sydney now clearing the gateway behind them.

Even as the Sydney cleared the gateway more Maveen ships flooded through the opening for several minutes. Finally the stream of Maveen ceased, and as HMAS Sydney also turned east the strange gateway went opaque and slowly vanished. Both men quietly watched the space the gateway had occupied for several moments before Dan ventured a comment.

‘Well that is that then, and I hope Earth survives for our colony to make contact in a few centuries. Now Steve has left concise instructions and we had best be getting them implemented immediately.’

Douglas again considered what Steve had asked him to do earlier, and despite being an academic adverse to political process, he could see the logic of his instructions too well.

‘A lot of folks are not going to like what we will be telling then Dan, but we cannot make the same mistakes of the past. I think we should get both naval commanders behind us before we do anything.’

By habit Dan reached for his satellite phone before he realized that it would not work. John Robertson now walked over and handed him a radio and in moments he was speaking to Jane Walker.

                                                            ***

Admiral Baredio strode his command deck with impatience as the bridge crew quietly monitored their consoles. Like many adult Barus the admiral rubbed the fur his arms and shoulders by habit as he paced backwards and forwards. The Barus fleet had been forced to slow early by the layout of the human system, as there was a respectable asteroid field in front of them. By convention and law they also had avoided active scans of the system due to the haven world status of Earth. The navigation officer rechecked his sensor data and nervously interrupted the admiral’s thoughts.

‘Sir, the asteroids are clustered in two sections either side of the fifth planet, the one the humans call Jupiter. We can slip around the closest cluster at moderate speed, but it will add three hours to our arrival.’

The admiral looked at the hologram of the navigational data to ensure that the navigation officer’s evaluation was correct. If anything it was optimistic and the fleet still ran the risk of hitting an asteroid. He conveyed his brusque annoyance as he gave modified orders.

‘Lieutenant, you have not allowed enough separation for the wing groups of the fleet in the current formation. Please give the orders but the squadron will have to proceed in one section of four ships at a time to the orbit of the fourth planet. Afterwards I want to see you research chapter twenty, navigation hazards, in the fleet operations manual before you submit a modified course suggestion for revision.’

The fleet altered formation to pass through the asteroid belt, and the chastened lieutenant quietly went about his research task, as Admiral Baredio continued to think as he paced his command deck. Omerio was now talking to Gindane via a video call between each of their rooms.

Before she had called him, he had spent many hours again trying to learn the human language of English with some success. They were careful what they talked about as they had no idea if their communications were being recorded, though Omerio thought it would be unlikely this would occur as the admiral was still his uncle. Gindane looked and sounded brittle after their earlier confrontation with the admiral. But her mind was certainly intact as she considered what Omerio had just told her.

‘Well Omerio, I can say I am not impressed just being left here by the Admiral until he needs us again. I know his world is law during a legal intervention or war, but he still is being heavy handed about the whole process.’

Omerio could only agree as he listed through his mind the observations that had led to them being confined to their quarters. However he had looked at their combined reports again and something else had caught his attention as he asked Gindane a question.

‘Now with the initial report of your ship you mentioned the separate nations of the Earth. However after I look at the attempted attack on your research ship I noted that only the three most powerful nations were listed as attackers. However the admiral wants to interdict the whole planet if necessary despite their early contact and haven world status?’

Gindane looked at her own copies of the relevant reports as she considered Omerio’s question for several minutes. Omerio wanted to continue onwards with his logic, but he had too much respect for his intended mate. She was not short of her gratitude as she eventually replied and gave him that soft smile he so liked.

‘Thank you as I had to check the answer to your question thoroughly and I really appreciate your support and patience with me. The admiral has looked at the previous data, and is considering the humans as a unified species that is potentially hostile given their earlier attack on my ship. Yet their own news broadcasts highlight the outrage of the other human nations at the actions of the most powerful nations, especially the actions of the United States of America.’

Omerio and Gindane now went through the human news reports and Omerio found that he was starting to understand the English language better as they progressed. He had the seed of an idea in his mind and Gindane listened avidly, before she added a couple of ideas of her own. Back on the bridge of the Barus cruiser, the tactical officer stiffened as his post before he reported to the admiral

‘Sir the first lead cruisers have detected the hyper drive section from the Trader ship. It is in a transfer orbit between the Earth and the Moon and will shortly be at its closest approach to the planet.’

Admiral Baredio stopped pacing the deck and quietly considered the updated tactical display for several moments. He was both relieved that his fleet had arrived in time, but also careful in how he next wanted to proceed. He decided that he would establish the obvious and he asked for a video channel to be relayed from his ship to the Trader drive section.

‘Admiral Baredio of the Barus cruiser squadron to Trader drive section. We are approaching your position shortly and we order you in accordance with Zronte edicts to surrender to the jurisdiction of our fleet over your presence in a haven system.’

The admiral waited patiently as the message was transmitted over the long distance, and a reasonable time had elapsed before he turned to his communications officer.

‘Repeat my surrender order every ten minutes. We have to adhere to the edicts concisely ourselves during this whole process.’

The admiral now took to his command chair again, and considered the lack of response with disquiet, as the Traders were not a species that quietly ignored demands placed on them. He again accessed previous battle reports of conflicts with Traders and the hard facts from these battles did little to allay his fears.

Lieutenant Damofestat considered the order from the Barus Admiral with only a small amount of concern. His orders from the Captain had been specific even if he could not detect the launch of the main ship yet. He knew that the opening moves in a tense final situation had been initiated by the Barus admiral, and he addressed the crew standing nervously at their stations in the small bridge of the drive section.

‘The Barus Admiral has made this order based on speculation and we are not obliged to obey him. Indeed he is required under edicts to make this order. But we as an independent race are under no obligation to obey. Now you each have your orders and we will be fine if we carry them out correctly.’

Jumeria gave him a nervous smile from her console as he made the conscious effort to appear relaxed as he went about his duties. Inside he was feeling real turmoil as he realised that the plan could easily fail now that the Barus fleet had arrived. They really needed the Illuria in orbit with them as soon as possible.

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat had spent over an hour with Garendestat attempting to get the Trader and the Maveen shields to coexist together successfully. Every time they thought they had a valid shield configuration, the shields either clashed when the power was increased, or gaps were apparent that rendered the whole ship vulnerable to attack. In exasperation the Captain now spoke to the Maveen Earth probe who had insisted on interrupting him every five minutes.

‘Earth probe, please drop all shields on all your ships this time. Yes I know that this is against your protocols, but I insist you do this so we can leave.’

Narindestat waited until Garendestat verified that the Maveen shields were now inactive before he consulted the shields listed around the docking pylons. Steve was seated nearby and had not been idle during the wait, for he now was speaking with Ian Ridge again on Rat Island.

‘Sir, the Traders have a last minute problem with shields that they are working on. So have you had a response yet to my suggestion?’

Ian was not long in replying as he had already the relevant answer.

‘Well the replies from the Chinese and the Russians have not arrived, and even if they agreed I think they would not tell me anyway. The US president is also not saying much though he is very angry at the Barus for arriving at our world in force. He thinks that they are not listening to us in any way shape or form, and that this will need to be redressed.’