Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 1 - Purple Blood (6 page)

The pilot was about to report when the nearest cruiser released a powerful active scan directed right at his scout ship. The cloak around the scout ship could not withstand such an onslaught and failed with seconds of the scan reaching his ship.

The Barus pilot now fearfully identified his vassal status and designation, but all four Zronte cruisers opened fire even as he launched his standby message probe. He had only enough time for a brief attempt at evasive action, and to also think that something decidedly odd was occurring here. The Barus scout ship raced away but weapons fire from the Zronte cruisers blew the small ship to vapor in seconds.

On the deck of his lead ship, Lord Temeroth unhurriedly accessed the fleet protocols for the Barus vassal race and sent a coded signal to the rapidly accelerating Barus probe. A brief flash of light denoted the self-destruction of the probe, before Temeroth sent a message of reassurance to his Fenshilla allies.

‘The vassal interloper has been destroyed and we will review your progress when I arrive at your pirate base.’

The four Zronte cruisers turned as one and leisurely made their way towards the secret base and the eternal calm of deep space returned to the outskirts of the remote star system.

                                                                     ***

Barus Science Institute on Barus IV

Gindane walked out from the closed-door meeting after it had finished and sought the research institute’s restaurant. The meeting had dragged on for an indeterminate period before it concluded and she knew that the result was already decided beforehand. The Barus Research Institute would still not risk the wrath of either the Zronte or the Vorinne by publicizing their research efforts at the former Dradfer colonies.

Gindane sat still at her table for several minutes after her lunch and attempted to relax, as she was lecturing two classes much later in the afternoon. She was aware of a muted buzz around her that fell silent as a tall Barus male in a white sleeveless fleet uniform stopped some distance from her table and gave her a respectful bow. Gindane decided that it was fifteen years too long, as she now stood and returned the officer’s bow with an elegant one of her own before speaking.

‘Commander Omerio, it is so long since we have last talked, please join me.’

Omerio placed his cap under a brown arm to signify he was off duty and joined her at the table with a nervous smile.

Gindane absent-mindedly rubbed the long brown fur on her arms and answered with a small sweet smile of her own as she spoke again.

‘I trust you have already eaten, if not the Fladfin salad is recommended. Now what brings you back into my university again my friend?’

Omerio gave her a brief smile of gratitude and took up her offer on the salad as he replied.

‘It is so nice to see you again Gindane. I could do with a change from fleet rations as I have been running a training course off world.’

As Omerio’s late lunch quickly arrived and he started to eat, Gindane gave him a brief run down on what she was doing, namely teaching and keeping a low profile.

‘So Omerio, your uncle’s commendations at least allowed me to return to the institute in good standing. I needed his help, as a couple of the more dogmatic senior academics have no time for me over the tragedy at Earth. However, events elsewhere are now taking the attention of the academy from more mundane matters.’

Gindane knew that the best way to open up Omerio was slowly, and well after he finished his lunch, she was aware of two things that really mattered to her.

Omerio still had not found a life mate due to a hectic naval career once he had resumed his commission. In addition, he was no longer flying a small ship by himself around a hostile galaxy. Omerio then moved on to the reason for his visit.

‘The Cephrit Tilmud war, even if it has now nearly finished, has resulted in a change in the balance of power. The Jerecab now are the strongest race in the vicinity of Earth and they have already driven Tilmud ships from the Posient bulge further isolating the Tilmud. Our naval intelligence tells of a huge increase in the size of their fleet over the last few decades.’

Gindane’s happy mood evaporated as her naval training came to the fore and she evaluated the locations of the star systems in her analytical mind. She also remembered that thirty years previously, a visiting Jerecab delegation had been interested in her reports of Earth and she now relayed this information to Omerio.

‘Omerio, the Jerecab who came here were most interesting in the human world as they are an aquatic species as we both know. The seventy percent seawater statistic had them enthralled, as did the pictures of the beautiful planet. The Jerecab also wanted estimates we had on their military abilities as well.’

Omerio gave a start of concern as he replied.

‘Now it is all starting to make sense as the Jerecab also appear to be moving into the former Dradfer colonies not far from Earth in real haste. I also think they are taking advantage of the recent war to grab whole sections of the sector.’

Omerio now quietly waited for Gindane to speak, and she looked around the filling restaurant as she replied.

‘Omerio, the human world has not been surveyed for nearly one hundred years. The senior administrators at the institute decommissioned our ships and curtailed all our research over fears of what the Dradfer findings would mean. The Demon Eye supernova is not helping things as fleet command is scouting for new worlds. The recent war does not help with access to the humans either as you say. We need to speak with Professor Elysius immediately about our concerns. I do hope the institute does not continue to block our efforts.’

Gindane decided that their meal together could now wait, and stood and asked Omerio to follow her as they left to find the professor.

                                                                     ***

Chapter 1

2200 AD Earth

Seliandre raced at high speed deep underwater with two of her sisters, as they streaked over to the mid-ocean ridge and onward towards one of their underwater production facilities. The ancient females had awoken for the third time since the Maveen and Traders had left their world one hundred and fifty years earlier. Seliandre flexed her silicon based body and so formed a slimmer shape that allowed her to pull ahead of her two youngest sisters, Cliade and Armuen. Seliandre rejoiced in the freedom of the ocean depths, and her sisters gave muted subsonic calls of protest as she powered away from them.

Queen Angwene suppressed any irritation at the actions of three of her daughters, for other events had come to her attention and the daughters had been asleep for a long time. Her oldest daughters, Seliandre and Gementer, were previously the only ones ready for space flight, but this was before the latest problem with Gementer had been discovered.

The queen also knew that Cliade and definitely Armuen would benefit from further years of training, especially in warfare and space operations. The youngest two of her daughters were nearly a thousand years younger in turn than the next youngest pair of daughters, Helisphan and Isphara. The middle two daughters rested nearby quietly studying the spy link leading into the human internet system.

Fortunately her two oldest daughters were separated by nearly one thousand years in age themselves. Her eldest daughter, Gementer still lay sleeping, and the queen made two questions and a lament towards Maveen probe three.

‘So these new hull fissures only occurred in the last few years of our sleep? And Gementer did not wake at any stage? Surely after she has been ready for space so long this is a tragedy…’

The black hulled probe replied as he shone his powerful lights along the large flank of the sleeping ancient they were all now worried about. The metallic voice of the probe was distinct to Angwene’s softer tones as the Maveen interpreted the questions and answered tersely.

‘No majesty, your daughter gave no warning that this latest transition would occur. We know so little of your race now and I suspect the extended periods of dormancy at these depths may have contributed to Gementer’s condition.’

The ancient queen suppressed both her concern for her daughter and any outrage for the probe’s direct comments. She now considered the combined inventory she had available to her and made further alterations by switching a nearby and dormant shields facility across to now producing large hull reinforcements. The queen knew that the changes in her eldest daughter’s body were a surprise, but still consistent with acceptable permutations of the genotype of her race.

However the queen also knew that these changes in her eldest daughter put a finite time limit on how long the ancients could stay on the planet. Despite her new fears, she considered this limit was probably a blessing, as the humans had continued to make further impressive technological strides according to the Maveen probe’s latest reports. Angwene also was well aware that her daughters would need to find mates before too long or their lives would be tragically short.

Seliandre, Armuen and Cliade had since returned, and picking up their mother’s mood they now remained silent at the edge of the facility. The queen knew that her younger daughters all viewed their older sister’s new condition with both love and concern, and this touched her deeply. She moved slowly across to them to speak softly and reassure them that everything would be fine. Seliandre kept still and said nothing, even as her two youngest sisters silently crowded close to their mother for several minutes for reassurance.

After a series of soft sub sonic calls had reassured Cliade and Armuen, Seliandre found another activity to interest them as her mother turned her attention back to Gementer. The queen quickly evaluated and abandoned the option to flee the planet as soon as Gementer awoke, for Armuen was still too young especially to be taken off world and involved in any battles that could occur. She continued to watch her sleeping eldest daughter with barely suppressed panic, and began working through and abandoning possible solutions to this new scenario.

                                                                     ***

The frigate sized airship powered into the upper atmosphere of Neptune and the pilot, a young Sspol named Greppun, carefully scanned the controls and monitor screens in front of him. He was enjoying the exhilaration of the flight and being freed from further menial work at the colony. The pilot had been chosen because he was small for an adolescent Sspol male and also as he had particularly well developed manual skills. The Sspol were inveterate bargainers amongst themselves, and Greppun had cajoled the colony leader into assigning him a cadetship aboard one of their heavy cruisers in return for his piloting the airship.

The colony had monitored the progress of the humans for hundreds of years even as they sought to preserve the old secrets of the solar system. The senior captain had sent Greppun on his mission with specific tasks to complete, as the hydrogen breathing Sspol was particular about their presence in the home system of the human race. Greppun looked at his short range sensors and noting the dense pocket of atmosphere in front of him, the young Sspol instructed the small onboard fusion reactor to release a fraction more heat into the hydrogen gas envelope surrounding his airship.

The airship continued to rise and Greppun then checked that the cloaking mechanism was still functioning, as he cautiously shifted his multi tonne body in the centre of the cramped pressure vessel of the airship to try and get more comfortable. He then opened the sensor bay, filled with an impressive array of sensors and telescopes onboard, the array targeted the third planet in the solar system for several hours as the airship flew around Neptune at high altitude.

Greppun formed a question to himself as he looked over the initial sensor reports with mixed feeling. For the technological and space faring abilities of the humans had improved markedly over the last one hundred and fifty years.

‘So why did the Traders have to arrive on Earth and force us to leave here prematurely? Undoubtedly it was for the best interests of the humans themselves, and no doubt those that are still hidden on that world…’

He also thought as he used his thrusters to avoid a thermal that could take him into the destructive winds higher in the stratosphere. Greppun tried to relax even as he kept careful watch, as the dangerous upper atmosphere of Neptune was something he respected utterly. Fortunately their powerful heavy cruisers were built to survive such winds and would merely ride with them when they launched for space.

‘Providing father can get to the bottom of the main power conduit problem on the fifth cruiser….’

Greppun considered as he verified the telescope tracking systems he had placed in the sensor bay was still working correctly.

A navigation buzzer came on and he immediately shut down the remote observations even as the airship angled down back into the lower atmosphere. After several more hours he was overhead from the floating main landing platform with the massive hot hydrogen envelopes holding the entire colony well below the lowest of the overhead cloud layers. He knew that the inversion layers in the clouds would stop detection of the colony, even if the colony platform was several kilometres across, unless a vassal race painted the solar system with an active scan. He also hoped, perhaps foolishly, that when the cruisers left Neptune that the automated sentinels would be able to keep the platform intact for a later return by the colonists.

Greppun now made careful preparations to land well to one side of the massive frames holding the nearly complete hulls of five Sspol heavy cruisers. After he landed and exited the pressure vessel, the engineers moved in with quiet precision and began stripping down the airship’s envelope, sensor pod and jury rigged thrusters for stowage in one of the cruisers. He carefully removed the specialised controls he had crafted for the telescopes, so that he could store those items in a special location for later use in another project he had in mind.