by David Buck
The key point had been that the only Dradfer colonies were known through the scarce remaining official records and the recent Barus research. The records appeared to be indirect records of the Dradfer race; the actual records from the Zronte, Tilmud and Vorinne no longer existed. Only references from the Deltas Vass temple libraries offered any other information despite years of searching. There was no reference of the Dradfer anywhere in galactic resources prior to the colonies being settled, no mention of their origin or home world.
So who were the Dradfer really?
And why was all record of their existence removed from galactic records tens of thousand of years ago?
***
Chapter 11
Captain Narindestat looked over the latest reports with real annoyance as this planet could turn out to be a death trap after just four days underwater. He evaluated the mediocre amount of fuel they have refined so far as being well under what was needed to leave the planet’s atmosphere. The fuel creation scheme was not working too well at all due to the salts in the seawater. For every three hours of fuel refining, the engineers had to spend an hour dissipating the build up of dangerous chlorine gas and cleaning rare metals off the refining screens.
Sure the Illuria had powerful ion drive engines for flight in space, but the captain needed to use the aero spike engines to get enough velocity for the ship to clear the planet’s atmosphere. The sneak ships each had their own drives and carried enough fuel to only allow one attempt to leave the planet. After that the main ship would have to land, find some way of refueling itself and the frigate sized sneak ships and try again.
Captain Narindestat also knew that it could prove futile hoping that the humans would not take exception to the Trader presence on their world. The captain was now more concerned about the humans, as at least two of the sneak ships had detected human sensor probes launched from aircraft that had over flown his location. He had no way of knowing the performance of these sensor probes, so all he could do was to keep the Trader ships on high alert. Fortunately all the sneak ships now could cloak after running repairs were made to the one sneak ship that damaged its cloaking system during the landing.
Another problem he had was that the Illuria had appeared to have sunk several meters into the ocean floor sediment, almost up to the underside of the ship itself. Narindestat had ordered a quick test under thrusters only, and the ship had remained well held by the ocean sediments. He noted the strain gauges on the main landing skids indicating that more lateral force could see the skids distort.
The design of the ship mean that the bottom of the skids formed part of the hull, and the captain was not in a position to leave them behind. He knew that if the skids were buckled enough then it could slow the ship in the atmosphere when launching into space. Fortunately the smaller front and rear column skids, used to stop the ship toppling forward or backwards, were not affected and had already been retracted. Captain Narindestat had the engineers working on the problem with the two main skids when they were not fixing the fuel refining equipment.
The earlier report from Emeria concerning alien pathology could yet be the most lethal problem. The Voorde has already been dying when they had attacked the bridge, and hopefully the Voorde he had now trapped would soon die also. The galactic races gave a great deal of thought to their diseases decimating a haven world, but not really any thought about a native pathogen of a haven world like Earth infecting an alien species.
Emeria was treating daily several Trader crew members for respiratory problems, also a few of the crew that had been immersed in sea water were complaining of pain in their glimmer tattoos. The golden ornate tattoos on the face and shoulders of the crew were a right of passage, a form of contraception, and a protection from serious disease for the Traders. The crew was worried about the illnesses, especially as their tattoos that had been part of their space birthright for thousands of years of their recorded history.
The captain though about the pathology problem further as he headed down to the airlocks on the sides of the landing gear sections. He stationed his ever present guards nearby, and switched on a powerful external light to study the extended landing gear. Perhaps some lateral thinking would help with all his problems.
***
Omerio studied the latest trace of the most recent star system his ship had entered with disbelief. The strange ship he had searched for previously had recently passed through this system in company with three Tilmud frigates. Omerio knew that he had to get to Earth or at least the professor’s research fleet as soon as possible. But something about the four ships now got the young Barus traders’ attention.
The course direction from the Tilmud star base that the ship had provisioned at to the present system he was in was easily understood. Less so did Omerio understand their latest fixed course and objective, so where were they going?
Omerio calculated the probable destination by extending the course on his star map, and promptly forgot all idea of joining the professor or Gindane quickly. Calmly he altered his course to follow the Tilmud ships as he thought about what they could be doing. He then checked the ship’s cloak was operating correctly and verified yet again the course. As his ship sped towards the new hyper drive point, Omerio opened a new report folder on the ship computer and urgently dictated his new observations into the folder. The voice recognition software in the computer began the voice to character translation as he also entered the new sensor data into the report.
He verified that the course he had selected would leave him well out of the system and had selected the hyper drive command. The four Tilmud ships he was tracking had skirted two small Cephrit colonies to get to this area of space. Somehow Omerio thought that it was unlikely the Cephrit would know of these ships.
***
Admiral Johnston sat in the command chair on the bridge of the aircraft carrier and yet again considered the reports from the P8 Poseidon aircraft. The reports had indicated strange readings from what appeared to be several large, moving objects, possibly space ships, under several hundred meters of ocean. There was no trace of the larger object, unless it was on the sea floor two kilometers below on the underwater Naturaliste plateau itself. The large moving objects were only faintly detectable, mostly as a thickening of a water inversion layer they disturbed in their passing.
The admiral had pulled rank and had taken the US 5th fleet to sea two days ago. Easy enough as the intercept of the objects needed to be done immediately and the regular admiral, a good friend, had gone to his daughter’s wedding last week. The decision by Unified Command in Hawaii had also been even easier to be made, as the US 7th fleet was currently in the middle of the Pacific Ocean nearly twice as far away as the US 5th fleet.
Admiral Johnston looked out the bridge over the mid-afternoon ocean, ahead and on either side of the enormous aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, two sixteen thousand ton Zumwalt cruisers, the USS Long Beach and the USS Seattle pushed through the moderate seas effortlessly with their tumble home hulls.
Further ahead and flanking the cruisers and aircraft carrier, six destroyers and ten frigates scanned above and below the ocean for both visual and electronic threats. The fleet did not stop there, two attack submarines raced ahead of the fleet and overhead flew flights of F35 aircraft. The rear of the fleet was brought up by three replenishment ships and the USS America, an older but still capable amphibious assault ship. The US Navy had also requisitioned two deep water recovery ships from the oil and gas industry to sail to the target location from the Philippines.
Admiral Johnston had been in urgent discussions with the Pentagon earlier, and he was tasked with securing the alien ships if possible. The American military were concerned about the intentions of the alien ships, with orders to use lethal force if they were evaluated to pose a deadly threat to mankind. The incidental association of the strange panels found earlier world wide and the global pandemic had heavily influenced the orders he had received.
The admiral
considered his orders privately with concern, secure else destroy was a zero sum in his view. Hopefully Unified Command in Hawaii would come to their senses and consider less aggressive alternatives. Despite his private concerns, admiral Johnston quietly went about his preparations for dealing with this situation in two days time.
***
Steve inspected the supposedly new generator in pieces in the front hold of the Lotus Marai, then looked over at Dan sweating away as he lent against the side of the hold.
‘Dan we need to put into Geraldton for a few days, and then we can make proper repairs to this generator. We have done all we can do here. We will lose our reserve generating capacity on the Lotus Marai if we lost another generator.’
Dan wiped his brow and nodded in reply as he spoke.
‘We have been at this thing for hours and it needs a specialist. If it is not working we could end up with a very expensive and very dead fish cargo.’
The two venture partners gave instructions for two other crew members to secure the parts of the generator from movement, and then scaled the hold ladder to the deck of the Lotus Marai. Steve got on to his two way radio and instructed John to take the ship into Geraldton for the three days needed for the generator repairs. He then strode towards the runabout with Dan and commented.
‘No point in going back to Perth and John can handle the repairs, as fortunately we don’t have to replace it this time around. I was going to suggest we take the Aurora Discovery out to the Abrolhos for a few days?’
Dan nodded his agreement and the two men took the runabout back to the Aurora Discovery.
On board the ship, Samantha came down the deck and was further advised of the problem, and always the optimist she replied.
‘Well I am glad it broke while we had no fish loaded. Now we could all do with a break, and a short trip to the islands would do wonders.’
As the ship sailed towards the Abrolhos Islands to moor on the eastern side of the Pelseart group overnight, Steve checked the media channels for any updates of the strange objects in the eastern Indian Ocean. The only new news was that the US Navy had dispatched a fleet to the location where the objects had entered the water. The two other news items Steve that read about was that a media scrum had descended on Western Australia expecting to find a story, and also that the world leaders have called an urgent summit in the White House in Washington in two days time. The reason for the summit was not forthcoming, and Steve with all his military experience thought that omission to be telling.
Steve organized the rosters of his crew personally so that they each received several hours of recreational time. He was just finishing the last roster when his satellite phone rang. Douglas Stoneham had called him to advise further on the panels he was still inspecting at Fleet West, at HMAS Stirling naval base on Garden Island. The two men chatted informally after Douglas verified a few of Steve’s earlier observations about the strange panels. Steve now felt that Douglas was seeking advice about something and he politely asked him to get to the point.
‘Well Steve as you know the RAN has sent two frigates to the target location just outside your territorial waters. The US Navy is sending their 5th fleet and they will be there within two days. I have heard that they expect the two Australian ships to keep back to observe as our fleet sorts out this situation. But they could easily be dragged into the encounter.’
Steve immediately knew the answer to that concern.
‘Douglas, our own ships would be unlikely to be under US fleet command during the intercept of those objects. I cannot see our politicians allowing that without a mandate existing already. I think they will be still inside our territorial waters observing from a distance.’
Douglas could now see the point and continued on again.
‘Basically our foreign policy in the US has been badly shaken since the pandemic. I am concerned that the US admiral could do something foolish if this is indeed a true first contact scenario.’
Steve thought about his reply for a moment and again answered.
‘Well your navy, like our RAN, is very strong on protocols and mission objectives. I guess the real concern is the objectives that the fleet admiral has been given and how he reacts in a totally new situation like this one. Now apparently the world leaders are meeting after the fleet reaches the target location. So that could mean that the navy objectives could change. Obviously we would want to avoid another pandemic situation.’
The two men, one a former navy commander and the other a respected scientist continued to talk for several further minutes. Steve had Douglas’s number, and they agreed that they would speak again if any additional developments came to light. As the Aurora Discovery sailed west into the afternoon sun, Steve sat quietly in his command chair and considered the information he had available.
After the ship was hove too and dinner was organized, Steve brought Samantha up to date on both the panels and the phone call from Douglas. Samantha had then insisted that Dan and Rebecca be also informed about this news.
Steve first got guarantees of confidentiality from them by letting them know he could face charges if he broke certain guidelines associated with his former career. As the two couples sat and ate their meal, the surprised looks that Steve got from Dan and Rebecca told him a lot as he discussed the findings on the strange panels, with the most telling comment coming from Dan.
‘So those panels are definitely not of this world.’
Steve nodded somberly and continued.
‘Now Douglas, who usually has good contacts in the US Navy, is unsure what exactly this approaching fleet is up to, mind you I am not exactly sure they know themselves either.’
The discussion over dinner continued, and both Dan and Rebecca had recovered enough to offer some comments of their own.
Dan ventured his observations first.
‘Steve, the popular press is now saying that there is one large ship that landed in a manner reminiscent of the old space shuttles, as it washed off speed by gliding in a specific way in our atmosphere. Plus it was followed down by several other smaller ships. Steve, these are star ships from an alien race of unknown capacity, surely it is folly for the US Navy to seek them out?’
Steve replaced his glass on the table and thought carefully for a few moments before he replied.
‘Dan, I agree with you, the alien ship commander seeing that fleet coming towards his ship is going to be very defensive. If shooting starts I can see this ending one of two ways, either the alien ships are destroyed or taken over, or the greater part of the US 5th fleet being destroyed.’
The conversation continued to the why of the alien ship landing with the smaller ships. Rebecca now chipped in with a simple but compelling viewpoint.
‘Steve, I think they are in trouble for some reason with their big ship, and they are trying to both fix the ship and avoid contact with humans.’
After dinner, Steve rang Douglas Stoneham and passed over these concerns, and found the US scientist agreed with him. Steve then rang and left a message for the commander of HMAS Sydney, Commander Jane Walker, who had taken command of the Sydney six months after Steve had been promoted commander of HMAS Perth. From what Steve could tell Jane was also the senior officer on the two frigates. The navy satellite phone was as always set to take messages only, and after ten minutes Jane rang Steve back.
‘Steve nice to see you recently at Fleet West and it was good to see you are doing well post RAN. How can I help you this evening? You no doubt have heard of the news of these strange objects?’
Steve read between the lines and quickly sketched out what he had surmised from the panel inquiry and speaking with Douglas earlier. Jane was keen to hear about the enquiry and Douglas’s views, promising to keep the information off the record for the moment. Steve took a breath and spoke about the situation further.
‘Well Jane we are not even sure that the pandemic is associated with any aliens, let alone the ones the US 5th fleet is trying to interdict.’
Steve paused for a reply and Jane reassured him with her answer.
‘Steve you are probably giving the best advice I have heard since we left port. I would feel better if you were out here with us for sure. I have the gist of it down as follows, a US fleet interdicting cornered alien ships with superior technical design, an unknown offensive capability, and a possibly desperate crew. I am speaking to the US Admiral tomorrow morning by satellite phone, and if you don’t mind I will be passing these concerns off as my own.’
Steve passed on his agreement to that idea and requested that she keep her head down. Jane laughed and caught his meaning.
‘Steve, we will be well back in a defensive posture in our waters and seeing what happens.’
The former commander and current commander briefly passed on best wishes for each others spouses before bringing the phone conversation to an end. Later as Samantha slept beside him, Steve lay quietly in bed for several minutes and considered the day’s events. He fervently hoped that the situation down south would be resolved peacefully.
***
Captain Narindestat sat bolt upright in his command chair and console, and considered the news from one of his sneak ships with real alarm. The ship had detected a fleet of human surface ships heading towards their location, and they would be here inside a day. He knew that the masking properties of the oceans also limited the performance of the sensors on the sneak ships. He was also aware that if the humans cornered the Illuria on the seabed then the Traders could be forced to fight.
The Trader captain now considered the earlier information he had on the general capabilities of the humans. Fortunately the records from the Cephrit station master had included a rundown on the human political and regional structures on their planet. He quickly decided that the fleet belonged to the United States of America, the most powerful country. The recent Barus scientific research of Earth politics had at least been thorough in that regard considered the captain.
