Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 1 - Alien Flight

by David Buck

  ‘The sentient population on this planet has exploded, and with research to older ecological data, there are signs the planet’s ecosystem is struggling under the load. The Zronte may only have one simple and drastic course of action, repugnant as it may be…’

  She trailed off her comment, and the bridge crew now exchanged anxious glances with each other as they stood at their consoles around her.

  The commander noted that the latest data was still being analyzed for the technical and biological parameters of this new race by her crew. Gindane then continued her recommendations to be sent back to Professor Elysius, with the research fleet one hundred light years away.

  ‘Technically these humans have made amazing progress over the last two hundred years; however they are war-like, rapacious and not united. I can only foresee trouble for them if they are allowed out into interstellar space.’

  Gindane now ensured that copies of the data and her analysis would be also sent back to the Galactic Research Institute on her home world, before she added a further comment.

  ‘The ecosystem on Earth is badly stressed, but not yet fatally damaged, so they will probably be given time yet to resolve their problems. I cannot see any other reason for us to intervene yet.’

  The diversity of this planet amazed the researcher and her crew, with the biologists venturing the opinion that they could spend the balance of their two thousand year life spans exploring this world. Gindane considered her briefing notes further as she viewed the more detailed information about the planet Earth, and specifically these so-called humans, being provided by a few cloaked probes now in orbit around the planet.

  ‘Given the parameters of our research mission I am heading further into the Sol system, but I will not orbit the target world or make contact with the inhabitants as in accordance with the Zronte edicts on biological haven worlds.’

  Now satisfied that the formal edict acknowledgement for the report was completed, the Barus researcher electronically signed the report. She watched quietly as the communications officer launched the message drone, together with the encrypted report and her recommendations to the Barus Institute. The drone sped away to interstellar space, and it would make a series of hyper drive jumps back to where Professor Elysius was coordinating the exploration of ancient ruins scattered through-out several now deserted systems.

  Gindane settled into her command chair, before picking up yet another data tablet to peruse the contents further and issue extra commands to her crew.

  ‘Pilot, take the ship in to a trailing orbit behind the fourth planet, the one the humans call Mars. Engineering, please ready a series of six bio-probes, we need to identify specifics of Earth biology, especially of the humans, on this planet as a part of our mission.’

  Elsewhere on the destroyer, an aged Barus senior engineer called Wanerio had been reading of the exciting discoveries of the planet that they now surveyed. Several parameters about the human race got his attention, and he considered the latest orders from his commander quietly and with real dismay. The engineer had quickly barred his section door, before setting frantically to work on the half dozen sleek long cylinders of the bio probes stacked neatly on the main engineering table.

  Wanerio now reached into his personal cabinet and took out a locked folder, before removing two dozen different colored alloy vials from the folder. A revered Jerecab acolyte had approached Wanerio many years ago; once it was well known that the engineer was selected for the research mission to this part of the sector. The covert meeting in the shadows of a Barus space dock was something he thought better to comment about to anyone. The acolyte had been quite specific about certain parameters on any new races discovered.

  On each bio probe Wanerio opened the aero shells used for high speed atmospheric entry to a planet, and inserted four different colored vials into each probe. The probes had several small equipment slots that held the vials nicely, and they would be silently deployed once the probes shed their aero shells upon successfully entering the planet’s atmosphere. The technician considered the barrenness of his own life, and remembered the righteous justification the revered one had offered to him as he accepted the folder.

  ‘Remember the fate of many young races; remember the fate of your own race and others in servitude to the heretics. Better to die than live as servants let alone livestock, remember the message of the Life Chapter matriarch.’

  Wanerio quickly hid the locked folder again in his personal cabinet. He then replaced the aero shells and seals, before checking the operating parameters on the bio probes. There was a knock on his door, which he opened to admit his two young junior engineers. Both female junior engineers quietly entered the room and eyed with interest the six bio probes resting on the table. He now gave each of his students a kindly smile, discretely eyed their plain brown arms by habit, ‘Hopefully my actions today will benefit these young females one day, but for me it is too late…’ he thought to himself. After quickly looking over the probes again, Wanerio offered instructions to his protégés.

  ‘I have just checked to my satisfaction the cruise parameters whilst the both of you were at lunch. Now please help me carefully load these probes into the lifting slings. Commander Gindane will be most upset if one of the probes fails in its assigned mission.’

  The three Barus smoothly loaded in turn each of the six bio probes into their storage trays adjacent to their launching tubes. The engineering team then raised and loaded each of the bio probes into their respective launching tubes. The status lights on the six launch tubes turned green as the tubes were sealed and the technician reported the command complete status to Commander Gindane.

  On the bridge of the research ship, Gindane was reviewing the navigation data being used by the ship’s pilot. The research destroyer was accelerating again and had begun trailing the planet Mars. As the ship turned again and slowed dramatically to take up station, the pilot released the bio probes. Gindane nodded in satisfaction as the six stealthy bio probes fired their small engines and streaked towards Earth. The research commander further explained her decision to the bridge crew as she noted that the fast probes would arrive in only a few hours.

  ‘We have to give the inhabitants of this planet every opportunity, and at this stage we can only do that by learning as much about them as we can...’

  ***

  January 2040 – Perth, Western Australia

  Lieutenant Steve Greene, Navigation officer, HMAS Sydney, Australian Navy, woke up and reaching over to press the answer button on his mobile phone. Steve groaned as he looked at both the 2am time stamp and the recall message, even as the home phone began to ring. Noting the high priority of the message, he acted on a hunch and accessed the internet for recent international news events on his wireless tablet PC. As the information was loading he turned to his phone and acknowledged the SMS message.

  The young officer scrambled to his wardrobe, grabbed his kit bag, and laid out his uniform on the bed. His father Paul Greene, a former petty officer in the Australian navy, now knocked and entered his room. Paul was already dressed and he held a hot cup of coffee and the home phone handset.

  After Steve spoke on the phone, both men briefly watched the urgent news bulletins on the tablet PC. They both watched in disbelief the reports that showed the US secretary of state responding with fervent denials. Steve was using his electric shaver as they watched the next screen shots that highlighted Russian, Indian and Chinese forces had mobilized.

  Steve drank half his coffee before dressing quickly, as his father went off to speak with Steve’s mother Shirley. Shirley was in her dressing gown, and checking that none of Steve’s uniforms remained in the laundry. She then stood by the front door to await her youngest son. After another five minutes, Steve was ready packed his kit bag and tablet PC. The two men then had briefly reassured and taken their leave of the lady of the house, before getting into their electric car and driving off into a warm January night.

  Both the Greene men talked qu
ietly, as they made the fifteen minute journey from Warnboro to the foot of the causeway to Garden Island. As they drove down to the entrance, a steady stream of private electric cars followed them into the car park in front of the gates. Several dozen men and a few women in both civilian and naval clothes got out of their cars.

  A navy bus now made the short shuttle journey across the Garden Island causeway to pick up the crew members. Steve quickly shook hands with his fathers, before Steve doffed his duffle bag and boarded the mini bus to take a seat near the front. Paul Greene briefly considered the extra activity around the causeway, before again entering his electric car and setting off for the short journey back home.

  As the mini bus crested the rise of the causeway, Steve suppressed an exclamation as the HMAS Stirling base came fully into view. The Navy crew members took on a buzz of speculation between themselves that Steve chose to ignore. The navy dockyard showed a hive of activity under flood lights not usually lit. Steve closely noted all the activity around the three littoral frigates docked in the berths across from the two replenishment ships, and the modern and large aircraft carrier that dwarfed everything else in the base.

  ***

  The six stealthy bio probes, already diverging from one another, reached the Earth’s atmosphere over Asia at high speed,. The probe’s aero shells rapidly heated to an incandescent white glow as they quickly decelerated. With the probes eventually cooling to below a cherry red color, the aero shells were jettisoned. As their aero shells peeled away from the probes, the smuggled alloy vials briefly tumbled in the slipstream of the probes before they deployed small fins. After several minutes of falling, the pressure sensors activated and the vials began releasing their contents into the Earth’s atmosphere.

  The early warning systems of both the Russian and Chinese defense forces briefly went on high alert, and several fighters were launched to investigate reports of bright lights at night from several locations. An extensive ground search revealed only a series of curved carbon panels, and both the Russian and Chinese authorities considered to these panels part of a US spacecraft. After the denials of the US military, they then hid the panels in their most secret bases for analysis. Officially the sightings were evaluated as a meteor swarm that failed to result in a ground impact.

  In the coming weeks these panels would lead to acrid denunciations of the US government on the use of biological weapons that the US military fervently denied. The US military and NASA succeeded in proving that the aero shell parts was not manufactured by any known supplier that they knew about. Later an unknown probe would be hauled from a trawling net and successfully mated to a set of the unknown panels. As the world changed beyond recognition, the world leaders privately and soberly considered the implications of the discovery of these unknown and strange objects.

  ***

  The third generation ANZAC frigate HMAS Sydney had urgently embarked crew and sailed from the Garden Island at 4am. Two other advanced frigates, The HMAS Melbourne and the HMAS Perth had sailed in company with HMAS Sydney, and had similarly scrambled to urgently recall as many crew members back on board before sailing.

  On the bridge of the Sydney, Lieutenant Greene plotted, then verified the rendezvous point fifty kilometers north-west of Rottnest Island. The North Mole light house showed on the starboard beam three kilometers distant in the pre-dawn calm as the frigate altered course to the north-west. The young lieutenant now turned and spoke to Commander Bruce Stone. The middle aged commanding officer of the Sydney was seated a few meters away in the command chair.

  ‘Sir, I recommend we alter course five degrees to starboard in eight minute’s time. Then if we increase speed to twenty knots we will reach the rendezvous point at 0600 hours.’

  The senior fleet commander briefly considered an urgent telecommunications message the ship had just received, before crisply replying to his navigation officer.

  ‘Thank you lieutenant the course change is approved.’

  The commander turned to his executive officer, Lieutenant Commander John Peters.

  ‘XO, please set a quick briefing in fifteen minutes time for all officers in the ward room.’

  The officers entered the ward room, two decks below and ten meters from the rear of the bridge. They all felt the slight increase in the turbine electric hum of ship that indicated that it had just changed course and increased speed. The commanding officer remained standing in the ward room as his officers filed in and the door was closed. Commander Stone informed his officers that a state of emergency was being declared after several supposedly US space vehicles had earlier broken up over eastern and southern Asia.

  Apparently there had been outbreaks of fatal illnesses in the populations of countries in these areas, and the Indian, Chinese and Russian armed forces had been placed on red alert, even as bitter accusations had been leveled at the US government. In response to these alerts the armed forces of the USA had been placed on high alert, and their allies had quickly followed suit. With the brief overview of latest political tensions completed, the captain of HMAS Sydney turned to each of his officers in turn.

  ‘XO, can you list any missing crew for us and the two other frigates? We have to ensure that we have no shortfalls in crew expertise.’

  The ever efficient executive officer replied that the ship had sailed minus several crew members.

  ‘Commander, we are down two petty officers and five able seamen, and I am awaiting crew numbers from the two other frigates. The section chiefs on our ship had already informed me that they had sorted the matter out between themselves. Smith, Baines and Everson have been changed across to other duties as we undocked.’

  The captain acknowledged the response from his second in command before moving on with the briefing and additional orders for his other officers.

  ‘Thank you John. Lieutenant Greene, I want you to now chart a patrol loop that takes us one hundred kilometers up the West Coast, but keeps our offshore distance within fifty kilometers from the coast. We are taking up a defensive posture well inside our own territorial waters to protect the greater Perth metropolitan area. Now bear in mind that we should see both the Adelaide and the Darwin in two days time. They are returning from the north-west to replenish and refuel from the supply ships at the rendezvous point.’

  The captain of the ship paused over his notes before his attention turned to Lieutenant Jane Walker, the ships electronics officer.

  ‘Lieutenant Walker, you can expect some further messages from the balance of the fleet at Garden Island. All five submarines are due to sail at noon, and both supply ships and HMAS Australia are due to sail by 4pm this afternoon.

  All officers exchanged quick looks at each other, especially about the carrier going to sea as well, as the captain continued his briefing and briefly reassured his officers.

  ‘Yes, I know that once the Adelaide and the Darwin reach us we will have the full resources of the Western fleet deployed with five frigates and the carrier. Now remember that we are trained for just this possibility in mind, no matter the cause.’

  Lieutenant Commander Stone now turned to Lieutenant Bill Roberts, the ship’s weapons officer. Bill was held in widespread respect by the crew for his considerable expertise in the Australian Navy.

  ‘Gunny, please sound yellow alert after this briefing, and we will close up the ship for combined threats from submarines and aircraft.’

  As the officers left the briefing, Commander Stone reviewed the messages in his folder further, and wondered how this whole situation would end up. Even if the potential for hostilities was dealt with, the captain of HMAS Sydney was sure that this emergency was only just beginning. The experienced officer knew that serious enforcement and humanitarian issues was certain to arise for many years.

  ***

  Gindane bleakly considered the reports coming from the bio-probes now hidden on the surface of Earth. Initially the reports had consisted of population estimates that closely supported that of the researchers. However after
several weeks, the reports from all the probes had shown a marked decline in the human population, especially in the more populous zones of the major continent of Asia. The research commander had later contacted Professor Elysius, her immediate superior, both to report details of this disaster and the unexplained death of Wanerio after his locker was searched.

  The professor had sent a reply by message probe stating that the research vessel was to remain in position to monitor the situation further. The orders also stated that the dead senior technician was to be frozen and his property was to be secured for later investigation. The Barus professor had then sent an encrypted copy of the research commander’s report to the nearest Barus base requesting advice and further assistance.

  Gindane had received her reply with the instructions, and she changed the focus of her crew’s mission to attempt to discover what was actually occurring on the home of the humans. The engineering chief had stepped up monitoring of human communications channels, even as the Barus scientists attempted to further learn the main human language. An ominous sign that the situation on the planet was becoming dire was that several television channels had gone off the air. The researchers felt that this was possibly due to both deaths and rioting in the affected major population centers.

  With the dire reports coming in from human television stations and the probe reports, the Barus research commander increased the priority of direct information about the humans. The rear hatches on the bio probes, now hidden across the world, retracted and dispatched several tissue sample micro-probes. The miniature probes had then discretely sampled both humans and the planetary environment. The results indicated that the pathogens already prevalent on the planet were an extreme risk to many galactic species. The information also indicated that a change in pathogen nature was resulting in massive numbers of dead humans.