Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace (25 page)

The Fenshilla commandant sat back to now consider his damaged ships again with distaste. He was already missing their earlier faster travel with the more powerful type two hyper drive modules, and so he ensured that these now disabled modules remained with his cruisers and were not simply jettisoned. The commandant was hopeful that at a later stage he could have these components repaired and use them for later conquests.

The commandant would start with the two larger factions of Fenshilla that regarded his own Black Claw faction as brigands and terrorists. He knew that he could hide and copy these ships over many years and then launch two attacks in quick succession when he was ready to act. The other races would then face a revitalised Fenshilla empire and they would begin capturing many worlds. He knew that even the capture of the ‘Fountain of life’ with all its biological riches was possible, despite the so-called edicts of the Zronte. He called up an ancient picture of the fountain and noted the outsize moon, before calling up a similar picture of the human home world and its moon.

The Fenshilla was hoping that his faction would finally discover a suitable biological weapon for use on the Zronte, and he knew that the biology of the humans would be a good starting point. The commandant understood that his race’s aggression towards the humans was founded in their own ancient past and mythology, for ecological war was their strength. He knew that the ancient significance of the Fountain was obviously forgotten by the other races and he would take advantage of their oversight. The thought of later using the combined might of all three Fenshilla factions on the other galactic races filled him with savage lust, and he addressed this by having one of the female slaves sent to his quarters for his later pleasure.

                                                                     ***

Grant Stoneham watched the view screen as the Maveen probe headed back to his ship for yet another discussion. The controlling nature of the Maveen was starting to grate on him, though he admitted to himself that the probe usually had a valid point. The small convoy of human ships had taken several hyper jumps towards an area of space identified as near the western or up spin border of the Carinae sector of the galaxy.

Grant knew that they were still in the outer arm of the galaxy, as his ships had actually moved further out again after earlier meeting more Maveen ships at the Arranen system. He was aware that six gate ships with their full complements of attached ships accompanied the Emerald Sky and her six tankers. Gayle and Olav look over at him for several seconds as the Maveen Dradfer probe halted in outer space nearby and started to give more orders.

‘Captain Stoneham, I will take my gate ship ahead with me and we will check out the next system before the rest of the ships arrive there. I will then accompany you down to the surface of the third planet to meet the Huopheen. You will ensure that your tankers all remain in orbit and that your own ship is fully fuelled for a rapid departure if necessary.’

Grant looked over at his two business partners and tried to ignore their puzzled looks as the fleet arrived at the next hyper jump location. So far the Maveen had taken their time moving slowly into the uncharted territory, and their unusually cautious behaviour troubled the humans. The humans had then waited for several hours as the Maveen explored the home of the unknown Huopheen, before a message probe signalled they could proceed.

Several hours later, Grant placed the Emerald Sky in an entry trajectory for the planet they had named Huopheen three, and sat back to confer with his two partners again.

‘The Huopheen cannot be vassals or independents as there is no space going civilisation. Yet there are several large heat sources in the oceans of this planet.’

Grant’s fiancée Gayle listened quietly, as he knew she did when seeking more information, with Olav eventually responding without taking his own eyes of his scanning console.

‘The oceans are shallow compared to Barede let alone Earth and the deepest point looks to be only eight hundred metres deep. The ocean of this world covers nearly ninety percent of this world and it appears to be a trifle warm by our standards. The island we are landing on is in the mid-latitudes so it should be pleasant enough. We will need sun glasses and UV protection as the ozone levels are much lower than on our worlds.’

Grant returned his attention to getting his massive delta winged freighter down to the planet in one piece. He extended the Emerald Sky’s shields forward and out and the ship began to decelerate heavily as it entered the upper atmosphere. After fifteen minutes they were approaching the largest island in a group and Grant was reassured by the flat layout of their destination.

The Maveen Dradfer probe was airborne several hundred metres from the beach and was shining a blue laser on their designated landing spot. Grant circled the Maveen probe at three thousand metres to bleed off more speed before he activated the landing cycle. The Emerald Sky slowly lost altitude under her powerful thrusters as he orientated the ship and slowly reduced power. Three more minutes and the ship settled with a shudder onto her massive landing struts and they were down.

The bridge crew now shut down the ship’s engines and checked for any damage, as the voice of the Maveen probe came onto the bridge.

‘The Huopheen will be here shortly and I advise only one of you to only come forward after I speak with them first. I recommend that you speak Trader to them at the earliest possible moment for they revere the Traders. They will later trade with you and they have a preference for metals they can use as weapons.’

Grant was soon covering his overalls in a thin white cloak, and then picked up a wide hat, gloves and sun glasses as he waited at the foot of his ship’s lowered landing ramp. The glare of the local star overhead was almost painful, even with his sun glasses, as he watched the Maveen probe at the water’s edge two hundred metres away. He looked on nervously as several massive forms now surfaced from the ocean and approached the probe.

Grant looked at his first Huopheen and he could see that it was a fully aquatic life form that resembled an enormous crab. But he noted that the Huopheen had ten legs not eight and they also had front claws. The back of the Huopheen looked like a scorpion with the long tail, but it was terminated in a large club rather than a poisonous stinger. The Barede merchant decided that this new race looked truly formidable. The metallic voice of the Maveen probe sounded in his earpiece and Grant nervously moved down to the beach.

Tomil squatted by reflex to cover his breathing holes with water as he watched the strange space craft and listened to the words of the holy one. The Maveen had appeared a day ago seeking an audience and the clan chief, Tomil’s father, had sent him along with an honour guard. His father had given him this task to perform as he was their best academic and he spoke the ancient Trader language.

The Huopheen all worshipped the Maveen and revered the long absent Traders to the extent that differing interpretations of their wisdom still led to wars between the clans.

Tomil watched as the first human he had ever seen walked forward and bowed, before slowly speaking Trader language to him and his honour guard.

‘Greetings to the Huopheen, I am Captain Grant Stoneham, a merchant of the Barede Federation. We are friends and protégés of the Traders and we come as friends of the Huopheen. We do trade like the Traders and offer only fairness and wise counsel in our dealings.’

Grant waited for several moments, as the Huopheen took in his message, before it replied after giving a curious short bow after placing its large front claws onto the sand.

‘Greetings Grant of the Barede Federation, I am Envoy Tomil, and we are relieved that you do not come amongst us with advanced weapons on our holy world. We seek to trade again with the star races, and to learnt wisdom and obtain technology. We do seek strong metals as our world is metal poor.’

Grant took in the deadly nature of Tomil’s guard as he gave the careful reply he had rehearsed earlier.

‘Envoy Tomil, we will not promote bloodshed amongst your race by supplying metal to one clan at the expense of another. We are a peaceful people and we recommend that your race set aside any differences.’

Tomil was not expecting this reply and he asked a guarded question of his own.

‘You claim to be friends of the Traders, yet when is the last time you met one and what was the reason?’

Grant took some time to step through his last meeting with Captain Narindestat a few weeks earlier. Tomil listened patiently before he seized upon Grant’s explanation.

‘You state that the Traders are likely to follow you out to this world at a later stage assuming they first survive a mission elsewhere? I must pass this news onto my father and we will keep watch for their arrival. We will also send messengers to other clans with the news and guarantee their safe passage to speak with you. I will return at a later stage with my guards.’

Grant had then gone back to his ship after the Huopheen returned to the ocean. He had lifted the ramp and met with both Gayle and Olav in the hold of his ship. The captain spoke out as he allocated several pallets of stainless steel and titanium rods.

‘The Huopheen are potentially warlike and they are divided, we will only offer enough metal to interest them at this stage. After we leave will place a message probe in orbit for the Resuria to find when she arrives.’

The next morning the Huopheen returned in larger numbers, and Grant noted that there were several envoys present whilst their guards stayed in deeper water. He put the Maveen probe to good use for a change by getting him to carry the pallets of metals down to the beach.

The other Huopheen envoys slowly came forward and Grant held his ground as further introductions were made. So he got to meet Brimel, a female, Trifor, a male and Privel, a male, all of other rival Huopheen clans. Grant repeated his earlier instructions about wanting to avoid bloodshed amongst the Huopheen and the envoys settled back to consider his words.

Brimel, an envoy that had kept well clear of Tomil, now asked her own questions.

‘Tomil is not the only academic amongst us and we seek clarification on your words for we all distrust the treacherous vassals and despise the Tilmud especially. Do you offer personal freedoms amongst your own race? Has your race enslaved or conquered another race? Does your race conserve the planets that you live on to preserve life? Finally what is the nature of your journey to our world?’

Grant felt relief at the questions and he summoned Gayle to join him, as he sat on a pallet to talk at length to the Huopheen envoys. Gayle slowly walked down and sat next to him after giving bows of respect to the envoys.

‘Gayle is my intended mate and carries our first child. She is a historian also and can correct me if I am in error when I speak….’

Both Brimel and Tomil felt awe and respect as they took in the long story of the founding of the Barede colonies. The history of the humans was indeed tightly linked to both the Traders and the Maveen. The fact that an unguarded breeding female was present as an equal was also something that impressed the envoys. Gayle would interrupt Grant with further information from time to time, and he took her contributions with both humour and gratitude. The human story of the old battle near Earth with the Barus, narrowly won by presenting a unified front, was impressive and the lesson was not lost on the Huopheen.

Grant then moved onto explaining how his mission had come about.

‘….so the Maveen with typical directness, told the Traders that their own mission into the inner galaxy was finally permitted, after do little for over one hundred and fifty years. The Maveen then wanted us to undertake this mission urgently, before bringing forward our departure at the last possible moment….’

Grant stopped speaking as he realised that the four envoys were rocking back and forwards on their multiple legs, and that a rapid series of rasps and clicks were coming from them. The Maveen probe then made a matter of fact statement to reassure Grant.

‘The Huopheen are laughing at your description of my race, though I do not understand why this is so….’

Grant felt relief as he took in the news before he hit a pair of punch lines.

‘A typical Maveen probe response in stating the obvious before it then falls silent for extended periods. We also respect and revere them of course, but we are not enslaved or beholden to the eternal helpers in any manner.’

The Maveen Dradfer probe now felt put about by the two junior races and silently rose on thrusters to withdraw several hundred metres. The probe evaluated that the mission was still running acceptable parameters as Grant spoke again.

‘Maveen are often also not around when thinking or after being put about by lesser races they are friends with…’

The Maveen probe considered it would never understand the humour of biological races as he watched the Huopheen continue to rock about in laughter on their armoured legs.

Tomil kept silent for a long period after the humans had returned to their ship for the night. Brimel now walked over but stopped several metres away as dictated by protocol for clan envoys. The two other envoys watched the female envoy with guarded interest as she spoke.

‘The humans are both wise and gentle, and so they are similar in many respects to the Traders. They are no weaklings despite their puny bodies and I feel they can be trusted. Their words state that our clans should be as one and I agree with their logic.’

Tomil replied at length after giving a deep bow of respect by placing his claws on the beach.

‘I now offer only peace and understanding from my clan in accordance with the wisdom of the three star races. I believe that a treaty between our four clans would be the start of a new beginning for the Huopheen.’

Trifor and Privel kept silent as they looked at each other warily, but Brimel was quick on the uptake and gave her own answer.

‘I also now only offer the peace and understanding of my clan towards the other clans. I agree that a treaty between us is both wise and welcome, and my advice to my father will state this belief.’