The Celaran Probe (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 7)

by Michael McCloskey

  “Telisa?”

  “Your call, Cilreth,” Telisa said.

  “You know me. You recruited me. I can optimize this,” Marcant said.

  “I’ll give you offensive and propulsion systems,” Cilreth said. “I’ll keep control of our defense.”

  Cilreth gave him the access he needed. Achaius went to it under Marcant’s new link authorization. The lights dimmed and the artificial gravity disappeared. His crash tube lit up and beckoned his link.

  “You will notice nonessential systems dropping off,” Marcant said, simply to assuage the PIT team. He did not want to explain to them that Achaius would be conducting the battle on their behalf. They did not trust Marcant yet, Achaius, even less so, those that even knew about the AI. “Everyone shelter in your quarters or the central lounge. I’m going to cut some of the safety features elsewhere to save energy.”

  “Survival is not enough, it is imperative we support the Celarans in this fight,” Telisa said.

  “We don’t command much firepower,” Marcant said.

  “Imperative, Marcant,” Telisa maintained.

  “Closing the range,” Marcant said. Marcant told Achaius to comply.

  “We’ve selected this target on the flank,” Marcant said as Achaius worked. “This Vovokan ship has great speed and energy reserves, so we’ll use that to our advantage. We should be able to snipe something and back off again before they can coordinate against us.”

  “Hurry. The Rattler is taking a beating. It won’t be here to draw fire away from us for long,” Magnus said.

  “Agreed,” Marcant said, though he did not really think much about it. Achaius already had the ship on an attack vector. The closer they approached, the less time each side had to react to incoming energy beams and ordinance. As Marcant watched, they closed to less than half a light minute apart.

  Achaius directed the Iridar to launch an alpha strike at their chosen target. The energy reserves dropped quickly. Within seconds, the energy weapons had been fired. The Iridar released drones and counter-drones. Marcant would not know the results for many more seconds.

  Are we going to die?

  “Maybe yes,” Adair said. It could read his thoughts with high accuracy. “There are too many factors out of our control here. We should have stayed home.”

  “We have a good chance of success,” Achaius maintained.

  The Iridar veered away unscathed. A small group of objects launched from the Destroyers behind and started to close on them. The tactical did not show Marcant what the objects were, meaning even Achaius probably did not know, but they were self-guided and accelerating. Marcant assumed they were missiles or attack drones. Whatever they were, he knew he did not want them to close with the Iridar.

  “We’ve drawn their ire. I think our defenses will be up to it, though,” Marcant said. The Iridar started to fire at its pursuers.

  “Are those missiles or drones or what?” Telisa asked.

  Before Marcant could answer, a message came in.

  “This is the Midway. We’re disengaging with heavy damage,” Admiral Sager announced. “Iridar, can you lend us point defense?”

  “Marcant, protect the Midway!” Telisa ordered.

  “We may best look to our own survival—” Marcant started.

  “Do it. The Midway!” Telisa insisted.

  “Very well,” Marcant said. The Iridar altered course to take up a vector trailing the Midway. Closing with Midway made Iridar take a course that let the pursuing Destroyer weapons edge closer.

  Achaius altered course again. Instead of closing on the Midway, they were now headed closer to the objects locked on to the Space Force ship. The Iridar started to shoot at Destroyer objects headed for Midway. They managed to destroy half of them in one large energy weapon salvo, but the remaining ones changed course for the Iridar.

  The only good thing Marcant saw now was that they also neared the Rattler.

  “If we can’t handle these missiles, how can we handle ours AND theirs?” Cilreth asked.

  “Everyone’s a back seat driver,” Achaius said to Marcant.

  “The Celarans have rallied,” Magnus said. “If we die, they can’t say Terrans never did them a favor.”

  “You’re hoping Shiny’s battleship can protect us?” Telisa asked.

  “No, it’s almost dead. In fact—” Marcant was cut off as the Rattler started to break up before them in a series of massive explosions. Matter from the ship shot outwards in an expanding envelope of debris. Achaius headed straight for the calamity.

  “We’re dead,” Magnus said.

  They headed into the field of debris. Instead of firing rearward at their pursuers, the Iridar started to fire forward to shatter objects large enough to destroy it before they struck. The Iridar made it through the wavefront without damage. The pursuing Destroyer weapons lit up behind them as they locked on to pieces of the Rattler and detonated.

  “Good job,” Telisa said. “I’m impressed.”

  “That was amazing, many thanks,” sent Sager.

  Marcant basked in the praise in Achaius’s place. “You hear that? They love us,” Marcant said to his AIs.

  “This large enemy ship has targeted us. We don’t have anything that can stop its energy weapons,” Achaius said. It pointed out a route through the Iridar in Marcant’s PV.

  “This ship has an escape pod,” Adair said to Marcant. “It’s time to use it.”

  Marcant struggled for a moment.

  Surely I should act to preserve myself?

  A new object appeared on the tactical. At first Marcant saw it as the beginning of a massive launch by the Destroyer ship. Then, it changed from gray to blue on the screen. A pane opened for it.

  “A Celaran ship just became visible at point blank range to that Destroyer ship!” Cilreth said. By the time she had completed her sentence, a flower of energy grew to envelop the area of space the Destroyer ship had occupied.

  “I think they got it,” Marcant said. “Yes, they did. And they’re still alive!”

  “Midway, turn around. We need to group up with that ship and clean up the enemy.”

  “Understood,” Admiral Sager replied.

  Wow. That admiral hops to it when Telisa gives an order. Even with his ship burning around him.

  Marcant brought the Iridar to a course parallel to the Celaran ship. The Midway limped along behind, unable to match their acceleration. The blue Celaran ship on the tactical did nothing for a moment, then it adjusted course, slowly coming around to engage the last cluster of three Destroyer ships.

  The Destroyers all decided to fire on the Celaran ship. Its shields coruscated, then it started to veer away.

  “They’re killing the Celarans! Quick, do something!” Telisa ordered. A part of Marcant knew her urgings were almost useless, yet he did not blame her for saying it. He had almost yelled the same thing himself.

  Iridar charged forward and expended its energy weapons on the biggest Destroyer of the three. The ship took the hit but did not explode.

  Damn, now we’re in trouble again!

  The Iridar changed course crazily to avoid incoming energy bursts. Behind them, the Midway finally fired. At the vast distances, everything was so slow. Marcant counted the seconds, waiting to see the result. After fifteen seconds, the weakened ship of the enemy blossomed into light and debris.

  “We’re doing it! We’re winning!” Telisa said.

  The surviving Destroyers did not break off. The two small ships tried to fire on the Midway, but they were clearly shooting on generated energy. They had no stored energy left to throw into it. The Celaran vessel closed on one of the enemy and finished them off. Iridar tried to do the same, but it was also out of energy. Achaius launched ten drones at the Destroyer ship, then dropped energy to the gravity spinner to recharge. The enemy ship tried to evade the drones, but it had nothing left. After a twenty second chase, the lead drone caught up to the enemy and destroyed it.

  “That’s it. We’ve done it,” Sio
bhan exalted.

  “They’ll be our friends now, surely?” Cilreth said.

  “I’m returning power to all ship’s systems,” Marcant said.

  “Cthulhu’s minions,” Cilreth breathed. She did not sound happy.

  “What is it?” Telisa asked.

  Cilreth did not respond. Caden solemnly answered for her. “Check the crew vitals.”

  “Someone died!” Jason exclaimed.

  Marcant did not believe him at first. He checked the ship. Everyone showed up on the crew status viewpane except... Imanol.

  “Imanol is not in his quarters,” Marcant said slowly.

  “In the port armory,” Cilreth said. “My attendants found him. I’m sorry... he’s very dead.”

  “How could it have happened? That’s near the center of the ship. We weren’t hit, were we?” Caden asked.

  “He wasn’t in his quarters,” Marcant repeated. As soon as he said it, he realized exactly what had happened. Marcant had blocked communication with Imanol in anger after the last argument. When he had warned everyone to shelter in their quarters or the central lounge, Imanol had not received the warning.

  I killed Imanol.

  Attendants flew around the room, scanning the remains. The feed was available. Marcant made himself look. Imanol had been crushed during the veer off from their first pass at the Destroyers. The ship had run low on energy and allowed the gravity spinner to eddy into parts of the ship that were not supposed to be occupied. It had either been a lack of acceleration compensation from their energetic maneuver, or a violent eddy of the spinner that had killed Imanol.

  It was... most efficient to use every joule of energy only where it was needed. All our lives were on the line.

  Marcant felt an odd emotion run through him. He had been so angry at Imanol just a short time ago. Now the man was dead.

  “And they’ll think you did it on purpose,” Adair said.

  “This could be a problem,” Achaius agreed. They both sounded as somber as he had ever heard them.

  Of course Adair and Achaius were right. The PIT team would suspect it was no accident. Marcant left his quarters and marched to the armory incarnate.

  When he got there, he saw Telisa and Cilreth standing at the door, looking over the carnage. Imanol’s bones were still recognizable, though the rib cage had crumpled. Marcant felt dizzy for a moment.

  Telisa did not shed tears, but her face showed pain. Caden showed up, followed by Siobhan. Siobhan gasped and made a pathetic noise.

  “Clean this up,” Telisa ordered. Her voice was firm.

  Marcant waited for an accusation. He saw Caden make the realization. Caden turned away from the gore to look at Marcant.

  Might as well bite the bullet.

  “I did not do this on purpose,” Marcant said. “I offer a truth check.”

  “Passing a truth check would be child’s play for a man like you,” Caden said.

  “Enough!” Telisa snapped. “Marcant saved us. I’ll worry about whether or not Imanol was murdered. The rest of you, focus on the Celarans. Some of them survived. We need to meet them face to face and learn to communicate.”

  “Iridar, this is Midway. Captain Relachik, are you there?”

  “We are, minus one casualty,” Telisa responded.

  “We lost many more,” Sager replied. “My assessment of our condition is grim. At least we’ve stabilized the situation here.”

  “We will assist you with repairs,” Telisa said.

  “Thank you. What’s after that?” Sager asked.

  “Next, we meet our allies,” Telisa said.

  Chapter 29

  “Do we really want to meet them face to face?” Caden asked. Everyone sat in a large lounge, trying to gather themselves after the battle and the loss of their companion. Awful suspicions about Marcant ran through Siobhan’s mind, but she trusted Telisa to figure out what had happened. In the meantime, the Celarans were only a few thousand kilometers away.

  “That’s the only way,” Telisa said. “We can’t interface with their systems, remember? A virtual meeting is impossible. That is, unless you and Siobhan made the necessary critical breakthroughs on Celaran technology during the battle.”

  Caden and Siobhan traded sullen looks.

  We couldn’t figure it out. Maybe Marcant can, if he didn’t kill Imanol, Siobhan thought.

  “Okay, then. Cilreth has us on a gentle rendezvous course with the largest Celaran ship that survived the battle. Midway is keeping its distance.”

  “Wait a minute. Didn’t the—” Jason started.

  “The Earth ambassador was among their many casualties,” Telisa said. “It’s up to us now.”

  “How long until we meet that ship?” Caden asked.

  “Less than an hour. Clean yourselves. Sterilize, more like. I want no odors. Be careful with lights and lasers, we believe they communicate with light. No weapons.”

  “So we’re just going to walk over there and say hi?” Marcant asked. “I knew this was dangerous, but I hoped for more... calculated risks.”

  “This is the least risky thing I’ll ever ask you to do,” Telisa said. “We went into a Celaran complex and their security machines never seriously harmed us. The same happened with the probe ship. They let Blackvines live in peace inside their space habitat. Can you imagine what would happen to an alien trespassing on a Space Force base?”

  “The Space Force would shoot first,” Caden said.

  “Everything has pointed to the Celarans being peaceful. We just fought a battle on their side. The risk is low, people.”

  That shut everyone up. Despite the speech, Telisa’s nerves were frazzled by the loss of Imanol. Siobhan could see it. Still, that didn’t shake her confidence in Telisa. It just meant that Telisa really cared.

  “Everyone is just contemplating their mortality again, seeing Imanol die like that,” Caden sent Siobhan privately.

  “Understood. But it’s time to step up. This is a momentous occasion,” Siobhan told him.

  “We’re going to make contact with the Celarans,” Telisa said. “We’ll cement a friendship that will last a long time. Then we’ll have an ally against the Destroyers, and... against Shiny, if it comes to that.”

  “What if one of them is a Trilisk?” Siobhan asked.

  Telisa stared at Siobhan for a moment.

  “Cilreth, get ready to scan them for traces of Trilisk activity,” Telisa said. “If we find evidence that one of them is a Trilisk, we’ll act ignorant of that fact and slowly go back to Iridar after trading a few gifts. Did I mention the gifts yet?”

  “How do we know they like gifts?” Jason said.

  “We don’t. But, they might help us understand each other. They can analyze our tech and we might get some more of theirs to look at. Anything that might help us communicate.”

  “How will we connect to their ship? Do we know we can breathe their air?” Jason asked.

  “This ship is flexible. It can already connect to both Vovokan and Terran ships and habitats. If I know the Celarans, their airlock connections will be even more flexible... they’re the supreme re-users, remember? Everything they make does like five things. Expect something similar to what we found on the probe. As for the air, we’ve already been to two planets they put colonies on. I think we’ll be fine, and if not, we can use the Veer suits’ masks.”

  Siobhan left the group to get ready for the rendezvous.

  No weapons, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a trick up my sleeve, just in case.

  Siobhan put on her stealth suit. She realized that trapped inside an alien spaceship, it might not be enough, but it calmed her nerves.

  Telisa is right. They’re peaceful.

  Soon the call came for everyone to assemble. Telisa sent out a message indicating the lock they would use. Everyone showed up quickly except Cilreth, which did not surprise Siobhan. No doubt Cilreth would mind the ship during the meeting.

  “Just so you know, I’m sharing a feed with the Midway,�
� Telisa sent out on the team channel. “Move slowly. No one so much as twitch. We know their machines are very tolerant, and they probably are too, but I don’t want to make them nervous,” Telisa said.

  Their machines might escalate to violence a lot faster with real Celarans to protect, Siobhan thought. She realized her pulse was elevated.

  Siobhan watched a video feed from outside the Iridar as they sidled up to the alien ship. As different as the Celarans were, they shared the concept of an airlock with the Terrans. It was hexagonal in shape, but the Iridar would be able to make an airtight seal against the other hull around the lock.

  A Vovokan attendant hovered at the door, ready to leave the Iridar first.

  “The seal is ready,” Cilreth reported. Telisa told the airlock to open. Siobhan held Caden’s hand for a moment, then she released it so she could be ready for anything. The attendant entered the lock and let the door cycle behind it.

  “I’m going to give them plenty of time to decide it’s harmless,” Telisa said.

  The attendant floated in the tunnel between the ships for a couple of minutes. Siobhan started to feel impatient to go over and take a look herself.

  Caden and I would already be in there. I suppose that’s why Telisa is in charge.

  Caden traded a look with Siobhan that meant he knew exactly what she was thinking. She smiled back at him.

  At last the Celaran hatch opened. A small disk-shaped machine came out of their ship. It was smaller than the attendant. Unlike the slow-moving, hovering attendant, the disk flew about playfully.

  “Ah, we’ll let that in now,” Telisa said. Everyone backed up against the wall in the corridor to make room for the Celaran machine to fly in and look around. The Iridar’s lock opened to let the machine inside. Siobhan watched the feed from the attendant as it entered the Celaran ship at almost the same moment.

  The Celaran’s flying scout came into the Iridar and hovered before Telisa. Their leader stood erect and allowed the tiny machine to get a good look. Siobhan used her combat skills to divide her attention between the little flying machine and the video feed from their own attendant. The things she saw from the attendant quickly became much more interesting.