Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action (31 page)

Gindane was aware that the second envoy was looking at just her for a moment before the Vorinne spoke again.

‘Finally Gindane, your role with instructing the humans remains in place but the breeding ban I imposed earlier is now lifted. I also trust that the illness is not permanent and that you can have offspring at a later stage. You are both now excused as I wish to speak with the Cephrit, and of course you will have a formal meal with us tomorrow. No doubt Lord Malang’troh will want further exhaustive details of the battle at Earth.’

Omerio and Gindane offered profuse thanks and full bows of respect as they stood and left the large room. Omerio noted that both the senior Vorinne seemed embarrassed to mention Gindane’s earlier punishment, for it was widely seen as being harsh.

The two of them arrived at Gindane’s quarters and she promptly pulled Omerio inside, closed the door, and started sobbing as she drove herself into his arms. As they were not yet married, both settled for a long cuddle on a sofa. Besides, they already knew from other ill crewmembers that their recent illnesses had crippled their already hobbled reproductive instincts. The Barus couple remained silent and still as they enjoyed each other’s close company and finally began to relax.

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The fleet master had quietly instructed both the station master and the assault leader to remain silent as they watched the relieved pair of Barus exit the meeting room. To one side the three Tilmud crouched submissively and silently against a wall, and they lowered their red eyes as he gazed across at them for a moment.

Lord Malang’troh picked up the fleet master’s glare at the Tilmud and curtly dismissed the three junior vassals as well. The three Tilmud officers fled with ill-concealed relief, as Lady Thatak’siema regarded the three Cephrit and spoke genially to both chide and lecture them.

‘Often suspicions arise due to the distant location of this star base and the remote location of the work performed, especially by officers like Omerio. The premise by your junior officer that Omerio is colluding with the forbidden Kariqua race is unproven and highly unlikely. The living ships are now increasing rare, even the smaller males, but with no females around for many thousands of light years I do not feel threatened by them. The Dradfer were not spotted at any stage, and only the presence of the foul Fenshilla at the former Dradfer colonies supports the contention that gene meddlers were involved. The Traders made an effort to allay our fears and later protect the humans before they fled….’

The fleet master accepted the good natured rebuke, as the Vorinne had also shown little further interest in the Traders, and no doubt accepted his own heavily edited report on meeting them. He patiently listened further as the Vorinne second envoy continued her good-natured ribbing of the Cephrit. No doubt, the second envoy also relished breaking the dimly comprehended plans of a certain fortunately distant Zronte battle lord.

‘The Sspol provided information that the Maveen expressly did not want us to see, and this act illustrates that those two races remain in conflict. The Maveen fighting ships are well outside our areas of control and obligingly destroyed those Fenshilla ships for us. Your junior fleet master sees plots that do not actually exist outside his mind, but we applaud his diligence. We are happy with the explanations and we see no need to seek further information from the humans. The humans are already displaying suitable attributes for consideration as a junior vassal race….’

The fleet master noted the resigned chirrs of his companions as the second envoy continued her long lecture. After the four Vorinne later left for their quarters, the assault leader and the station master spoke with him at length in a separate and unmonitored smaller room near their own quarters. The three Cephrit were all reassured by the findings of the second envoy and they began the next stages of their own hidden plans.

Several hours later a small and non-descript Cephrit mining ship left the star base and headed towards the secret meeting point with the Maveen. The Quixxe family onboard remained fearful and hidden in the hold, as the small ship slowly flew past the massive and oblivious Vorinne cruisers guarding the star base.

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Epilogue

Mary Neilson strode into the crowded meeting room at the lunar academy and her eyes were on the recent arrivals to the moon from Tau Ceti. The admiral had earlier briefly welcomed the defenders of the colony, before asking them all to head off into the meeting room, as she then gathered up further people she needed to speak to today. Mary glanced around the room and her thoughts were briefly taken back to the long ago meeting on Sanctuary moon colony at Tau Ceti. She grimly remembered for a moment the losses of Thomas, John, and the crews of their two destroyers, the first to die.

Mary noted the distinctive grey and black uniforms of the Barede people that had arrived with Mark Hammond and Joel Everson, and she decided she would speak to them again as soon as possible. To one side she also noted that Colonel Mark Patton was speaking easily with Dave Edmonds, the miner rescued by the Sspol. As she returned the salutes of Mark and Joel, a lieutenant called the customary ‘Admiral on the bridge’, for the academy was rated as a training ship. The call left the ruling council looking lost, before most of them gave Mary polite nods of respect and a few of them, including her husband Mark, politely greeted her.

Mary had spent last night in Mark’s arms and afterwards they had talked at length about the council’s concerns before they both drifted off to fitful sleep. She now coolly appraised the other people in the room, and knew that she had to keep the ruling council away from the Barede military and the various engineers standing formally at the sides of the room. The admiral sought to reassure the whole gathering, even as she noted that no seats existed for the engineers and the Barede military personnel were looking rather lost and unsure.

‘Good morning everyone, now this meeting is under military authority at the academy, and while the ruling council are welcome, I insist that the Barede military officers and engineers present be fully debriefed first on fleet matters by military intelligence in the gymnasium. However I will ask that Colonel Patton and Dave Edmonds stay and talk to the ruling council, as they are not involved in fleet operations.’

The Barede officers trailed the engineers; as Robert and Emma led them all off towards the gymnasium. Mary turned her attention to the ruling council who had remained silent, though Chancellor Hans Schmidt looked like he was ready to explode.

‘Admiral Neilson, we would like to thank all concerned personally for their efforts in defending Earth. Also we would like to speak with the Barede officers as we have so many questions after one hundred and fifty years. Finally I insist that your husband Mark be excused from our deliberations as he has a perceived conflict of interest in the eyes of many of the ruling council.’

Mary smoothly replied as she critically looked over the ruling council.

‘Chancellor Schmidt, there will be plenty of time to welcome our cousins to their new home, but for now there is the question of pressing military matters to address. I understand fully your concerns and we will only keep them under wraps for a few days. The accounts of Colonel Patton and Dave Edmonds should keep you busy enough for the moment. Finally my husband’s role in your council is an internal matter between yourselves, and for the record I have no objection to your decision on this matter.’

Mary smiled warmly at the other council members and Mark took a back seat for the remainder of the meeting as an observer. She managed to excuse herself after an hour after a lieutenant came into the meeting by prior order and whispered a message to her. Mark grinned in good humour and Chancellor Schmidt spluttered in indignation, as she quickly left the room.

Mary strode quickly into the gymnasium and spotted her most important guests all talking quietly together. She approached offered Lieutenant Rick Green and his team, of the Barede Special Forces brigade, a full bow of gratitude and respect. Robert Seville had a diagram up on his data tablet, and as the admiral joined them, the respected engineer spoke softly.

‘Admiral, gentlemen, the reports from Joel and Rick state the combat performance of the Fenshilla ships against the Trader battle cruiser. We also now have a good idea of the combat performance of the Barus fleet cruisers. All these ships are fusion class cruisers, and of course we are not permitted to own even this class of ships. I now understand that the Maveen, the Vorinne and the Zronte also have access to anti-matter class reactors…’

Mary took in the importance of his statement, for she knew that only the Maveen were notional allies of Earth. Her attention was now taken by Rick Greene as he opened up his own strange looking Barede data tablet in reply.

‘The Trader wings as we call them are being heavily upgraded and this is the list of modifications that our allies are performing on them. You will notice that they are replacing six large fusion reactors with four smaller anti-matter reactors, similar to the ones they use in their separate advanced hyper drive sections. The battle cruiser increases her strength markedly with these further upgrades, so that her strength matches that of any fighting ship, except possibly the largest Maveen and Zronte fighting ships. Needless to say this information is not for public consumption and…’

Mary was thankful that the ruling council was spinning their wheels elsewhere, even if she valued and respected her husband’s own work. She looked at the new ship designs and realised that a dangerous decision awaited her over the coming weeks or sooner, and she was conscious of the regard of the fighting men around her as she spoke firmly but quietly.

‘So we need a way of building up our defences in a two tier manner. The first tier is conventional by the edicts and is on public display. The second is a covert and dangerous approach, and we build the best technology we can and attempt to hide it here from the vassals. It has to be hidden in the solar system as their active scanning technology will preclude any attempts at hiding equipment out at our new colonies.’

Mary then noted the quiet manner in which Rick looked away and promised herself that she would have a one on one conversation with him later. Mark Hammond looked at the designs of the alien ships and he knew he had an inkling of an idea as Rick and Joel glanced at him in support. He pointed out something on Rick’s data tablet and Robert eyed him critically as he quietly spoke.

‘What if we build large civilian ships along the scale of these ships and we attempt to hide them in plain sight. The ships will operate as large freighters and mining ships and they….’

Mary Neilson listened quietly for several minutes and agreed with most of what she had heard. She impressed upon the men the need for secrecy, even as Joel waved off a junior engineer that was watching them from several metres away. Now satisfied that all was going well she circled the gymnasium briefly to congratulate and encourage the other engineers and crew talking in a series of small groups. The admiral noted the same lieutenant she had used earlier hovering nearby, and she smiled conspiratorially as she excused herself and followed him back to meet with the ruling council.

Mary strode back into the meeting room after an absence of little over an hour and she noted that the ruling council was now far more subdued. Chancellor Schmidt glared at her furiously as her administration officers spoke with several other chancellors. Mark crossed to her and she was updated quickly on what had occurred.

‘Mary, the motion to remove you of command only got two votes and was overturned. The motion to censure you on your command decisions is still being considered but will also likely fail. The lack of access to your field commanders is also a very sore point with the politicians. Finally there is disagreement on who has authority over the Jerecab frigate wreckage in Indonesia.’

Mary was having none of it, especially as the council appeared to be ignoring any advice from the alien races. She called for everyone’s attention, and after several seconds they all turned around to quietly regard her, as she first took a deep breath and then spoke forcefully.

‘Ladies and gentlemen I draw your attention to one of the most pertinent quotes from the Cephrit fleet master, whereupon he states that the lack of unified command is potentially lethal under guidance of the edicts. Now based on the preeminent domain of the edicts in space, the choice of command has to be military for the time being. Civilian authorities can suggest policy, budgets and suitable officers of course, but the decisions made on space matters will remain mine and that of my successors.’

Chancellor Schmidt went off in outrage and forcefully rebutted her.

‘Admiral Neilson, your victory has gone to your head and we reject the imposition of martial law by you in space! The free rights of western nations in particular do not lend themselves well to these types of impositions….’

Mary could see that the German chancellor was getting wound up, and she gave him no chance to continue as she spoke again at length.

‘The role of the ruling council is to smooth the way, to provide political and executive cover for our civilian and military efforts in space, so your roles do not change. Split rule and appeasement in space will only confuse and anger the galactic races. For example, look how we lost two of our best officers and two of our best ships due to the fixed views of the council of negotiating with the Jerecab. We should specify that no civilian access is permitted in space unless they adhere to the guidelines the military imposes to protect us all. We cannot have privately controlled space ship running off in all directions and interacting with the alien races. You are correct, chancellor, about the imposition of martial law in space and it will be necessary for the foreseeable future.’