Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 1 - Purple Blood (3 page)

Jim gave Tony a relieved grin and an overview, as he enabled the fail-safes on the take off components of his control yoke.

‘The telemetry will tell the story anyway, but the new ship gave no trouble at all during take off at least. I really think this time we have finally finished with the stacks of rocket boosters we have been using for over one hundred years.”

Tony continued to look out of the cockpit as he replied.

‘Well it is not before time as our reliable access to space has really been letting us down for many years and the rocket stacks are the main problem. At least this time we might keep up with what the World Space Agency wants launched.’

The two men did not talk further apart from system checks as they readied to dock at the massive WSA dockyard. As they approached the dockyard, they could see several lunar and interplanetary ships docked and being readied for further missions. Behind the dockyard, a flight of corvettes conducted another patrol sweep of the dockyard orbit before heading out to high orbit again.

The busy scene was completed by a view the two pilots could see of the moon, her face now a forest of lights as they picked out the main space fleet training university. The two men soon had their docking authorization and returned their attention to the job at hand, as the Intrepid began her maiden docking maneuver.

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2110AD Barede Colony

The Maveen Earth probe considered the scene unfolding in front of him with quiet but polite interest. The funeral for Steve Greene, the founding governor of the Barede colony, had been impressive apparently by human standards and the probe had been the only one of his race to attend.

The Maveen would soon be seeking to remove themselves from every day human interaction, for as previous bitter experience had shown them, the biological races either became too dependant or eventually attracted the unwelcome attentions of the Zronte themselves. He paid particular attention when Garendestat gave a fitting eulogy, as Garendestat’s father Narindestat was still away on yet another patrol of the several nearby star systems.

As far as the Maveen probe was concerned the Traders, despite their occasional protests, could continue to explore and patrol the surrounding star systems and train the humans in modern technology for many years yet. The Earth lead probe also again reviewed the old report from the now repaired Dradfer lead probe that he had spent many years attempting to verify.

The Dradfer lead probe had been the sole survivor of the Dradfer mission and had fled with a beacon, eventually arriving on Earth and finding the ancient queen and her infant daughters forty thousand years ago. The Maveen did not use active scans in haven systems like Earth, the then well hidden; damaged and hibernating ancient queen had not been detected during the first Maveen visit sixty thousand years ago.

The Earth probe was also concerned that the Dradfer probe had overlooked something, but at this stage it could not identify what that omission could be.

The Maveen Earth probe gave a soft series of sonic calls as Samantha Greene, Steve’s widow, was slowly wheeled over to him in her wheel chair. The probe reflected on the injustice of the universe, were decent life forms either had a fleeting existence or like the Maveen clung to the periphery of the galaxy, whilst long-lived and merciless biological races ruled the rest of the galaxy. Samantha looked up at the massive and now silent Maveen Probe and spoke in a frail and soft voice.

‘Earth probe, thank you for coming to Steve’s funeral today, you must know he held you in high regard as we all do.’

Samantha fell silent and one of her daughters rested a caring hand on her shoulder as the Maveen probe softly replied in his metallic voice.

‘Governor Greene was a great man, and to borrow a human term I considered him a friend. His legacy and your legacy are this world and the second chance it represents for your race. I hope that he can rest well in that knowledge.’

Samantha gave him a softly whispered thank you and was wheeled away, as Garendestat stood still for several moments and eyed the Earth probe before speaking.

‘Earth probe, that was a passable attempt at biological empathy and I am impressed with your efforts. So do you have any further updates for us on when we will be permitted to leave the colony to their own endeavors?’

The Maveen probe did not even give a buzz of annoyance as it replied.

‘Garendestat, your races’ work here is impressive but far from complete. I will advise you when the time for the Traders to leave arises.’

The Maveen did not await a reply and slowly lifted off using his thrusters into the afternoon sky. He set a course for a smaller offshore island his race was using as a meeting point, and the probe considered his own work at the colony was completed now for the time being. He was still seeking to answer a specific question, and he needed to speak at length with the sector delegate and the Dradfer probe at the Hydros interstellar marshalling point.

So how had both the ancient queen and the then Stone Age humans survived what had occurred in nearby space forty thousand years ago?

                                                                     ***

2110AD Jerecab space

Commodore Baunrus stroked the long whiskers on his muzzle in contemplation as he viewed the latest intelligence reports with optimism. He continued his contemplation as he absent-mindedly brushed his long rudder-like tail free of the toxic green dander that covered the otherwise brown and grey fur on his otter-like body.

For the reports continued to state what most Jerecab starship captains had known for many years. The Cephrit-Tilmud war had seriously depleted the number of ships that either side could field in this part of the Carinae sector. Quietly the commodore was hoping that the Cephrit would eventually flatten the Tilmud, as the evil-tempered and vicious Tilmud were both genuine competitors and located closer to the Red Jerecab than the milder natured Cephrit. One of the lieutenants from naval intelligence now raised his fleet sash and gave a careful bow. The commodore raised a fur covered paw in assent and the lieutenant began to speak.

‘Most honorable Commodore, the best indication we have on fleet losses over the last sixty years is that the Tilmud fleet is down to twenty percent and the Cephrit fleet is at fifty percent of the pre-war levels. We predict a comfortable Cephrit victory in another thirty years or so. The rebuilding time for both fleets is close to one hundred years, with the Cephrit fleet becoming the most dangerous at that time.’

Commodore Baunrus looked over the data with satisfaction as he raised eyes around the room and the junior officers, and ensured that they paid him full deference by making each of them bow in turn. He calmly spoke and the assembled officers were careful to take notes and to offer valued questions, never criticisms, of the Commodore’s orders.

                                                                     ***

Twenty light years from the Eta Carinae binary system, 7500 light years from Earth

Flag Captain Stiderio slowly paced the dozen strides it took to reach one side of his cruiser’s bridge and turned to repeat the effort. Like all Barus, he was three metres tall and covered in dense brown fur, which he absently rubbed on his shoulders in a habit shared by all in his race. He had erect ears and a domed skull that was fronted by a smaller cat-like muzzle devoid of whiskers.

Stiderio was an avid academic, despite being in the military, and he had read with considerable interest all about the new race of humans that the Barus Institute had worked on recently. Stiderio paused for a moment as he wondered how his fleet colleagues, Gindane and Omerio and their ships, were fairing in their own important assignments.

The Barus senior officer bared pointed teeth as he continued to think, and his large brown eyes more than hinted at intelligence and compassion, as well as the concern he was now feeling. Now he was wishing his small research fleet was elsewhere, even the remote solar system of the humans, and the reason was plainly drawn on the main view screen at the front of the cruiser’s bridge.

The screen showed the converging course of the two massive stars that formed the Eta Carina system or as the Barus had named it long ago, the White Demon system. The combined heft of the binary star system was over two hundred times the mass of his home star Bar, or over one hundred sixty solar masses, as the humans referred to their own distant star.

Stiderio knew that years earlier the orbits of the two white demon stars had been assessed as being highly unstable due to the mass frequently ejected by the larger star. The previous survey he led ten years earlier had watched from several light years away as the smaller companion star had lost considerable orbital momentum at the outermost point of its eccentric orbit. The senior captain now reviewed aloud several key sentences in the earlier survey report.

‘The change had been caused by the star plowing heavily into the innermost accretion ring around the binary pair of stars. The impact of the star had caused huge rents to be torn into the accretion ring, and an enormous flare of blue light had erupted as the star quickly gathered up masses of hydrogen and helium.’

Stiderio knew however that the brief brightening of the star system ten years ago was nothing compared to what appeared to be happening now. He stopped pacing as he thought through the information he had just received, and then curtly interrogated the nearby navigation officer.

‘We have lost the last six probes sent into the systems adjacent to the white demon system? So is there any information from the other sensor probes we deployed earlier? In addition, are the static gravity wave detectors still functional? Finally do we have any information from the last probe that survived?’

The lieutenant answered crisply, for he had his own theories on what was happening, which now appeared to be borne out.

‘Captain, the last series of probes has been confirmed as having been destroyed. The last reports show that two stars appeared to have merged just over three years ago and earlier than our standard predictions due to the associated accretion rings in the system. The last information we have shows the two stars merging after the smaller star is struck by a large mass ejection from Demon Prime. The combined star then started to contract even as its rotation slowed dramatically. There is further information from the last probe that I am now accessing…’

Captain Stiderio had several months earlier again been given command of the dangerous research mission to monitor the massive star system, and mission had become a maze of logistical and technical problems. Stiderio was therefore grateful for the expertise of the capable lieutenant, as the younger officer had stuck to his own opinions and they now appeared to have been correct.

The monitoring mission had been quiet up to recently, almost boring, until a series of urgent alarms told the researchers that their probes were failing to return. The Barus all knew that their probes could not enter the system directly, as the massive Eta Carinae system blazed with the light of five million stars even before any stellar explosion. Therefore, the Barus fleet had then spent weeks using remotely controlled probes to locate a number of suitable hyper jump points within three light years of their target.

Stiderio watched as new data from the long-range sensor probe appeared on the screen, and noted the massive gravity wave that their large static detectors had relayed to the last surviving probe before they had been destroyed. He looked through the latest simulation created from the new data, and noted how the star contracted heavily as the pair instability effect took hold.

The stellar merger had boosted the gamma radiation output from the star and this in turn was driving an increased production of electron and positron pairs that caused the star to contract even further. Finally, the star exploded in a truly staggering runaway nuclear fusion explosion without leaving a black hole or neutron star. Stiderio now noted with fear the massive polar jets of gamma radiation created by the dying star.

The lieutenant continued to speak at length as the captain studied the data further.

‘Captain, as you can see, the combined star contracted as it lost spin and therefore satisfied all conditions for mass and slow rotation needed for a pair instability supernova. I suspect the earlier merger directly contributed to the explosion, as it appears to have accelerated the collapse and the start of the pair instability process by driving up the production of gamma rays. Unfortunately, the merger also knocked the rotational axis over at the same time and the poles were pointed at inhabited space when the star finally exploded. I am certain that relativistic jets of gamma radiation are now heading towards both the primary Barus and Vorinne systems.’

Stiderio cursed loudly in low Barus across the bridge as the projected course of the northern jet took in most of the Barus systems eight hundred light years way. He also noted that southern jet would reach the Vorinne central systems in the opposite direction within fifteen hundred years.

The mood of the crew on the bridge became very somber and silent as the flag captain looked and found no flaws in the data and subsequent conclusions. Stiderio now knew that the tremendous radiation pressure of the combined star had fought and lost a battle with the mass of the star, well before it could stabilize by another series of mass ejections. He then studied the predicted power of the radiation jets and went still in shock as he confirmed that many of his race’s colony worlds would have to be abandoned.

Stiderio realized grimly that the human term of ‘hyper nova’ was entirely accurate in this new situation. He then kept any further displays of emotion to himself as he regained discipline on his bridge by giving a series of orders.

‘Lieutenant, well done and a commendation will be attached to your records. We will monitor other probes at a greater distance from the explosion as we verify the power of the explosion and the direction of the radiation jets. We will of course withdraw well before any shock wave reaches us….’