Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace (27 page)

‘Six, no eight, wait I have ten very large Maveen ships uncloaking in front of us, and there is a swarm of smaller Maveen ships also present. I am sending non aggression and ceasefire clauses, including our false status as Silver Guards ships….’

The adjutant ordered all his ships to reverse course and uncloak, as his messages raced towards the dark menace of the Maveen fighting ships. He was not hopeful of fooling the Maveen, as one ship replied in a harsh metallic voice speaking his own language.

‘We are not fooled by imposters who are actually pirates and brigands Fenshilla. Your attacks on the Traders and the humans have been reported to us. The Black Claw brigade now forfeits their neutral status with us and you will be destroyed.’

The adjutant was screaming in fear and panic as the Maveen ships began their attack. His begging for mercy went unheeded as his ships made a futile attempt to flee. The tactical officer was in turn screaming and crying in panic as he made his last reports.

‘Sir the Maveen ships are their battle cruisers powered by anti matter reactors and ship killer lasers. Any three blasts from their main weapons will destroy our ships within moments.’

The adjutant watched in horror as intense beams of light erupted from the Maveen ships and struck the first of his own heavy cruisers. Another beam of light then struck the lead ship and he watched as the beam cleaved the ship diagonally. A series of smaller explosions erupted as smaller generators on the ship erupted, before yet another Maveen light beam hit the cruiser’s hyper drive module. The anti matter containment promptly failed for the module’s reactor and a massive explosion fragmented the lead cruiser.

The Fenshilla were attempting to fight back even as they fled, and the adjutant watched in disbelief as their attacks merely bounced off the Maveen shields. He placed a final order as the Maveen attacked again.

‘All ships to launch all missiles now as a last effort to escape…’

Another of his cruisers came under attack and it was soon destroyed, even as a swarm of missiles left the doomed ship. The adjutant watched as a storm of point defence fire erupted from the smaller Maveen ships surrounding their larger battle cruisers. He was then aware of his own ship coming under attack and a lieutenant shouting that the very first Maveen blast had taken down their shields. Suddenly he felt an intense blast of heat and radiation for a brief moment, as his cruiser was blown into a mini sun by the Maveen battle cruisers.

Captain Narindestat watched solemnly as the last Fenshilla cruiser blew apart in the hopelessly one sided battle. The Maveen sector delegate was signalling him from nearby and he wasted no time in stating his own observations to the probe.

‘I was hoping to capture them and bargain for the freedom of the humans, and this is something you should have considered when you attacked. Also your attack could bring the attention of the Zronte battle lord to this area of space…’

The probe kept silent as the Trader captain repeated his earlier observations, before he deflected the captain’s views by briefly asking for a detailed report of what had actually occurred. The sector delegate listened in silence as Narindestat informed him that several human ships had been attacked by the Fenshilla and their crews had been captured. The senior Maveen probe responded to the Trader in what he hoped was a diplomatic manner as he gave orders via a blue laser to a nearby gate ship.

‘Captain Narindestat, the capture of the humans by the opportunistic Fenshilla is regrettable. We will have to devise a way of assisting both independent races and junior vassals to address this new threat. But now we are journeying to a remote part of the outer galaxy and the Sspol cruiser is coming with us back to the Arranen system. You will have assistance to repair your ship as we travel, and note that further combat is highly unlikely.’

Narindestat busied his crew with further repairs to his ship as the coalition of galactic races moved across the star system. At a suitable location, several gate ships undocked their probes before forming a large hyper gate. Three larger Maveen ships entered first followed by both the Trader and the Sspol ships. The remaining Maveen battle cruisers followed next before the hyper gate shut down.

The Maveen gate ships unhooked from each other and a smaller hyper gate powered by a single gate ship formed. The gate ships and their probes streamed through in an orderly procession before the second gate way closed down. The remaining gate ship now set a course for the solar system, home of the human race.

The Maveen Earth probe, designated contact for the human race, remained docked on the gate ship with his junior probes. The gate ship, herself a veteran of the last Earth visit with him, now asked the Earth probe a brief question.

‘So if everything is going to plan for probe three, designation ancient protector, he should be in the outskirts of the solar system in his advanced sled?’

The Earth probe gave a brief answer as he evaluated the urgent mission the sector delegate had just assigned to him.

‘Our new actions are to enhance the original plan; for we had measures already in place just to receive probe three’s reports. Now we have to get information back to probe three and so to Queen Angwene.’

The gate ship now remained silent as she raced across the remote star system. The Maveen ships all had advanced tactical simulation capabilities as part of their software builds, and the gate ship knew that the new and unexpected parts of their mission were potentially deadly.

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Chapter 13

Gindane stood quietly on the bridge of the Rupane as the Barus research fleet entered the solar system. She noted that the several human transports accompanying them had also emerged unscathed from hyper space. The captain spoke firmly at her junior officers across her bridge as she looked at the navigation charts.

‘Remember that no active scans are permitted in the human system and we will adhere to the edicts. We will transmit the standard non aggression and neutrality clauses, despite our nominal allied status with the humans. All ships are to maintain formation and we will head further in system to the orbit of Mars.’

Gindane repeated the last order in English for the benefit of the human ships, before she calculated a navigation time for arrival at Earth. The Barus captain was once again impressed by the scale of the solar system, especially with the presence of two ice giants and two gas giants in the outer parts of the system. She knew that this factor aided the humans in the defence of their world.

After four hours, the mixed fleet of Barus and human ships arrived in deep space just outside the orbit of Saturn. Gindane left her research fleet with orders to maintain position as she ordered the Rupane to follow the human ships towards Earth. Another two hours went past and Gindane, mindful of her last visit to Earth, ordered her ship to halt once the cruiser reached the orbit of Mars. The Rupane had just completed the heavy deceleration manoeuvre, when the view screen in front of Gindane activated.

‘This is Captain Emma Stone of Earth defence base two, attention Barus ship; you are to remain outside the orbit of Mars as per our earlier agreement. Note that we have just been in discussions with the commanders of the transports you escorted home, and we thank you for your assistance.’

Gindane waited to ensure that the human captain had finished speaking before she replied cautiously.

‘I am Captain Gindane, the Barus researcher who was last present in your star system one hundred and fifty years ago. I remember our earlier agreement and I will remain at a distance from your home world. My research fleet is waiting further out in space, but note that my ships are not capable of defeating the Jerecab armada. Our forces are roughly equivalent to six of your destroyers so we do not add much to your own abilities. Your Admiral Mary Neilson has won several skirmishes with the Jerecab and her ships should arrive within five days. Unfortunately the Jerecab armada is still largely intact and they will arrive here within seven days.’

Gindane avoided mentioning Omerio’s cruiser squadron for now as he might well not arrive at the solar system in time. The Barus captain patiently waited for the distant human captain to speak again, though she felt some disquiet as she remembered their earlier journeys to Earth. She knew that two incidents, first the tragic pandemic, and ten years later the one sided battle with the humans and Traders, could still be a factor in any relationships with the humans.

Emma Stone began to speak again as she received the message after several minutes and Gindane felt relief as she took in her words.

‘Captain Gindane, we thank you for coming to our assistance in our defence of our planet. We have just reviewed our own instructions sent ahead by Admiral Neilson. Please understand that we do not have your own species’ long life spans, so our first tragic interactions are now ancient history by our standards. But note you must remain well away from Earth unless you are instructed to defend our home world directly. Admiral Neilson’s instructions are quite clear in this matter as you would expect. We are now also prepared to share limited combat data with you as per the admiral’s instructions.’

Gindane was soon quickly scanning several screens of military data from the Earth defence base. The communications line between them was later disconnected and Gindane again went over what they had just received. One of her researchers placed his own data tablet in front of her and Gindane took note of his summary. The section regarding the moon took her interest, she stood to nervously pace her bridge as the importance of the intelligence hit home, and she summarised the researcher’s findings.

‘So the humans have been industrious in their defence preparations, even to the extent of building new and larger ships on the moon. Now this could mean that they break their haven status even if they are successful in driving off the Jerecab.’

Gindane then called up a commercial television frequency, much like her last visit one hundred and fifty years ago. The Barus research captain sat back in stunned silence, as she learnt that a Maveen long range scout probe had arrived several days earlier on the human home world.

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Captain Emma Stone looked over at Robert Seville as the professor went through one of her lieutenant’s reports. She was now quietly optimistic of their chances after speaking with Gindane, though she knew that Robert, in his usual meticulous manner was not as convinced.

Emma remembered wistfully that this same manner had grated on her at times when they had dated five years ago. They had rekindled their relationship occasionally when he came up from Earth periodically. However, their deployment into space had ended all that despite their separate command chains, and nowadays Robert was strictly business with her.

The Maveen probe had followed Robert into space three long days ago and now stood off from her base in space nearby. Emma watched critically as Robert now spoke to the Maveen scout probe at length.

‘The Barus maintain that well over forty Jerecab ships have been destroyed by the efforts of our fleet at the former colonies. Surely this is significant and we now have a fighting chance? Also we have lost only five of our ships and we have built several more destroyers before we factor our other defences into the equation. Finally can you speak with the Barus captain and establish if any other galactic races are coming to our aid?’

The Maveen probe remained silent for several minutes and Robert suppressed the urge to get flustered with the alien, as he was now well aware of the obdurate nature of the strange mechanical race. He was idly hoping that a squadron of Maveen fighting ships would arrive, for he now knew of their power after an extended period questioning the probe earlier. Robert’s hopes were dashed with the probe’s curt metallic reply.

‘Professor Seville, the Maveen cannot intervene and if other galactic races were coming to your species aid then they would already be here. There is still a faint possibility of the Cephrit arriving, however they are still most likely at the former Dradfer colonies.’

Emma kept herself busy by reading yet another status report of the moon’s defences, as Robert made a general observation out of pique after the Maveen broke off the connection.

‘The Maveen still labours the point about adherence to edicts, yet we understand that the vassals could destroy him in quick order if they arrive here in force. I cannot see why our new and larger ship classes are a concern.’

Emma now looked over data tablet detailing the outstanding work needed on the new cruisers before she replied.

‘Well the Traders stated long ago that we should not build any single fighting ship or cruiser approaching fifty thousand tonnes. The situation is not unlike the long forgotten Washington naval treaties so long ago. However the risk of losing our haven status is a very dangerous proposition if we survive the Jerecab. Possibly we can highlight they are not full cruisers as they lack advanced scanning technology and hyper drive capacity.’

Robert now gave her a warm smile that reminded her that he had always respected her intelligence. The aliens still remained silent at this point and Emma now spoke quietly to Robert.

‘We are still reviewing the data from Admiral Neilson, but my initial assessment is that we need these cruisers operational. The galactic races make an argument that we could later lose out because of these new ships. However we have to use all our resources based on the size of the armada listed in the admiral’s reports.’

Robert gave her another warm smile as he replied equally as quietly.

‘We are in a catch 22 situation for sure with our defences and I fear we will have to take their advice. The new crews of the cruisers are also only partly trained as well. The moon now holds other surprises we have prepared and hopefully that will tip the balance. Finally we can state we are adhering to the edicts and hope this is enough…’