Eric Olafson: Space Pirate

by Vanessa Ravencroft

I responded, “Let us be glad they do not have that tech.” I, too, was impressed and just a little frightened by what such technology could mean if it became more commonly available.

  Elfi turned. “Captain, I am getting hundreds of distress calls from the Golden Market where the Barracuda was last reported!”

  I said, “Har-Hi, get back in as fast as you can.”

  Narth and Shea went over to help Elfi, and I simply leaned back. They would give me an answer as soon as they could.

  Sure enough, they had sorted it out fast, and Elfi said, “We got 375 distress calls, all coming from Golden Market Seven, 129 light years from here and near the Ballard Nebula Expanse where Unclaimed Space and Free Space merge; 207 of the calls came from civilian and commercial ships with Union transponder codes. The rest come from non-Union contacts and Golden Market Seven itself.”

  Shea looked up from readout and said, “While there is a lot of confusion there, the common theme of the calls is that they were attacked by thousands of little balls that can’t be destroyed. From the description of the balls, it looks as if they have translocator weaponry.”

  I acknowledged and said, “Shea, give me a short rundown on these Golden Markets.”

  She answered right away, “There are eighty known Golden Markets in the galaxy, all operated by the Golden Ones. The Golden and the Blue are relatives to the Kermac and came from the original home world Koken. There is not all that much known about the Golden; for example, their true tech level, their psionic abilities, and how many there are. The Golden Ones keep themselves strictly neutral in all conflicts, but they did initiate the last cease-fire agreement between the Big Four by asking the Blue to intermediate. It is not known if they have a home system, as no planetary system we know of is identified as being theirs. They do have a sizeable fleet and not just merchant ships. Their technology is considerably higher developed than Kermac. The Fleet Bureau of External Threat assessment classifies the Golden as a potential Class III opponent if it would come to a conflict between them and us.”

  That made them pretty dangerous. The Nul and the Kermac also were classified as Class III and only the Y’All exceeded that with Class II. Thankfully, the Union had never faced an opposing force that was deemed as a Class I opponent.

  Shea continued, “Classified PSI Corps reports claim that they have only sporadic and weak psionic powers that usually manifest as telepathy, but they are immune to most forms of psionic attacks and immune to telepaths.

  “These markets are usually hollowed-out moons or asteroids of considerable size with bazaars inside where every commodity can be sold or purchased, except slaves. The Golden Ones do not accept or promote slave trade, at least at none of the known markets. Market 7 is the closest to Union Space and is drifting toward our space and should cross the border in four thousand years.”

  Har-Hi came back on the bridge and Hans said, “Intel reports indicate that Solder Fontanet and Oliver Whelan, the two officers we are currently trying to apprehend, were seen in the vicinity of that market only seventy-two hours ago.”

  I said, “Elfi, get me a direct link to the admiral.”

  “Link requested, Captain. Secure communications solid.” She raised her hand with two fingers showing, then one and finally her fist, indicating the seconds until the connection was made.

  “Put him on.”

  McElligott’s sleepy face appeared. He was obviously in his bedroom and in his PJs. He rubbed his eyes and grunted with a dry voice, “Oh, it’s Captain Olafson. Just left the nest and already a call? Ran into a planet or lost something?”

  I told him about the distress calls and the report about Translocator usage. Before he could answer, he got another call and made a sign with his hand to stand by. I heard a voice giving him a similar report. After he acknowledged the other person, he told me, “Since it is unclaimed space, switch your appearance to Union. Pick something common, don’t expose the Tigershark’s true appearance, and investigate. I am sending a battlegroup but you’re the closest unit.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  The screen went dark and Har-Hi, who had, of course, heard every word said, “Mr. Narth, do we have a Janus Program for that?”

  My hooded friend turned to his Janus device and said, “Aye, sir. We got a Phobos Class Destroyer on file.”

  I nodded. “Activate it.” To Krabbel, I said, “Plot us a course to that market.”

  To our helmsman, I said, “Shaka, drop out of Quasi, a light year away from the asteroid.”

  Chapter 15: Minis

  “Five minutes to Quasi-Drop!” Har-Hi said.

  “Sound battle stations. Load all cannons. Stand by on sharp shooters!”

  This was the very first time I’d called battle stations on my own ship for real. My command seat moved back, the integrated Auto-Dresser put me into a Battlesuit and the Direct Command Dome lowered, giving me an unobstructed view of space, all around the ship. Sensor data was linked to the visual read out. The same happened to every duty station. The range of our weapons was shown around my new view in faint color spheres. Every door and dividing lock in the entire ship closed, creating thousands of little compartments, almost like the cells of a living being. In case of a hull breach, catastrophic pressure and air loss would not affect the entire ship.

  We dropped out of quasi-space and our sensors picked up the asteroid immediately, as well as hundreds of damaged and destroyed ships. The asteroid was under a flickering shield, and our long-range sensors showed the energy signatures of antimatter impacts inside the shields. As far as we knew, only translocator weapons could do that. Our sensors also picked up the aggressors. Fifty ball-shaped objects, each about ten meters in diameter.

  The blue science symbol flashed, and I acknowledged with an eye blink. Shea reported, “Sensor analysis in progress. Alien objects are of no known configuration; their weaponry is similar to Translocator technology and their shields are equal to our most advanced TransDim Shields. They are much smaller in size, but also much more efficient. Material analysis incomplete due to shield interference.”

  I blinked at the report icon to acknowledge and asked, “Are those robots or automated drones?”

  Narth’s symbol blinked and he said, “I am sensing sixty to seventy individual minds in each of these spheres. TransDim shields interfere with psionics and I can’t sense details.”

  “Elfi, hail the bazaar!”

  “You’re on, Captain!”

  “This is Captain… Jane Smith of the... the USS Enigma, calling Golden Bazaar. We are here in response to the distress calls. We can only assist Union nationals and not engage the enemy in your sphere of influence unless you are clearly requesting us to do so.”

  “This is Sobody Merchant Eldest of the Golden. I am the highest authority here, and I beg you to assist us. We’ve lost over sixty ships, and we have already sustained heavy damage and cannot survive another attack wave of these balls! Our own fleet is on its way but is too far out to make it in time. We contacted Union Administration for help!”

  Elfi interrupted, “Correct. I am receiving confirming orders on the Fleet Channel. All Union ships are permitted to engage enemies of the Golden Ones.”

  “All right, open all known communication channels and hail the aliens!”

  “All channels are open, Captain!”

  “This is Captain Jane Smith of the United Stars Starship Enigma, hailing alien hostile forces. You are to cease all hostile activities and stand down from further fighting. I am willing to open communications and discuss the reasons for these hostilities. Any further weapon activity against Union nationals and allied assets will force me to open fire!”

  “Captain, sensor analysis indicates they have receivers capable of hearing us, but they just destroyed another Golden ship, ignoring us!”

  “Mao, get their attention. Target lead sphere and fire! Shaka, get us closer for main battery range.”

  One of the alien spheres suddenly vanished, replaced by a bright ball of expanding energ
y as Mao’s well-aimed sniper round exploded. That did get their attention and the rest of forty-nine spheres turned into an attack formation toward us!

  “Shaka, reverse course and keep distance!”

  Har-Hi said with a calm voice, “Receiving enemy fire. Equivalent of fifteen gram AM loads. Our shields are effective neutralizing, receiving fifty shots a second. Shields at sixty-nine percent.”

  “Mao, target another and fire!”

  This time, Mao missed! The spheres began a wild dance, flying in a fast and erratic pattern. He missed two more times.

  “Mao, forget that precision shooting. Main battery authorized one exo load and aim somewhere before them!”

  A new mini-sun bloomed suddenly into the darkness of space. Ten of the spheres could not evade and flew right into the plasma ball.

  The rest of the spheres slowed down and stopped firing.

  “Captain, we are being hailed by the aliens!”

  In all the seriousness of the situation, Har-Hi chuckled. “When you say hello the Terran way you usually do get cooperation!”

  “Put them on, Elfi. Shea, stand by for detail analysis and Lingu support.”

  A part of the projected space around me was replaced by the main viewer and a fully human-looking gray-bearded man in a blue uniform, somehow very Terran looking in a very old-fashioned way complete with white cover and black duckbill.

  He spoke, but I did not understand most of it, just every tenth word sounded familiar.

  Elfi chimed in, “I don’t believe it. He speaks English, ancient Pre-Astro English! One moment, adjusting translator.”

  I said, “Please repeat; our systems are now adjusted to your language.”

  “I am Admiral Jordan Rutherford of the New Worlds Commonwealth. We just analyzed one of your language transmissions. It was in English! Please repeat where you come from!”

  “As I said, I am Captain Jane Smith of the United Stars Spaceship Enigma. We represent the United Stars of the Galaxy.”

  A text message of Shea appeared inside my view field and it read, No Union member on file with ships like that or called New World Commonwealth. Weapon analysis complete. Enemy weapons are similar to Translocators but not the same. Materials used in construction do not conform to Union materials or any other known species.

  A second man appeared on the screen. He, too, wore a dark blue uniform but looked younger. “Captain Smith. Did you ever hear about a planet named Earth?”

  “My helmsman is a native of Terra, Region Africa. Terra used to be called Earth.”

  “Oh, the Lord be praised! Earth still exists then?”

  “I assure you, Earth is fine, but before we continue discussing Earth, can we agree on ceasing hostilities for the time being? Then I think you need to explain why you attacked in the first place!”

  The white-bearded admiral nodded. “Of course, we will stand down at once. We would suggest a direct meeting to discuss all this in person.”

  Narth sent a mental message in my head. “I can sense they are genuinely interested in extensive information exchange and what is most peculiar, I can sense utmost euphoria since the word Earth has been transmitted!”

  “All right, Admiral, how we are we going to meet? Are you at some remote location we should approach?”

  “No, we are indeed inside our ships!”

  Hans muttered, “How crowded must it be in those little things?”

  “I am going to lower our shields, Admiral, and open one of my hangar doors. I give you my word that your flag of truce is accepted and you are free to leave at any point. However, if you decide to use the opportunity to fire while we lower shields, I can assure you we will find enough time to retaliate.”

  “We won’t get anywhere without trust. I accept your word, and you have mine.”

  “Hans, get a Team of Ultras down to Hangar One, just in case.”

  “On my way!”

  I was standing next to Hans and TheOther and felt quite safe and small at the same time as I looked through the transparent part of the docking bay door. The alien ship had just set down, and it appeared almost like an intricate and very detailed model of a space ship. It was round but had ISAH pod-like engine blocks at the lower end. It had small viewports and gun turrets and landing gear. I signaled Hans to open the door, and I walked toward the alien vessel. A port opened on it and a fifty-centimeter open hover platform floated toward me. On it were four men, none taller than maybe ten centimeters.

  The floating thing stopped at nose height before me, and I recognized one of the little men as the white-bearded admiral!

  “Ship, be so kind and place a field microphone before our guests and amplify.”

  “At once, Captain; microphone is in place.”

  A barely visible form field energy microphone floated before them, and I could hear the admiral loud and clear, “I can see our size did surprise you.” Then he glanced toward Hans and the Y’All and said, “As your size surprises us!”

  “I’ll have a conference table brought in and refreshments so we can commence these talks in a civilized manner.”

  The dark-haired younger man behind the admiral said, “Do you by any chance have real Terran coffee?” That earned him a stern gaze from his senior officer, but I assured him coffee would be on its way.

  A table was placed, and Cirruit had small chairs and glasses manufactured in no time.

  A field screen was placed in such a way that the small men looked normal size to me, and we also looked proportionally small to him.

  I sat down and said, “It might be best you begin from the start, Admiral. As we cannot explain your existence.”

  “I might as well do that. Our story begins during the Second Exodus or the first migration of humans into space after the Sarans revealed themselves to Terra. Do you still have contact with them?”

  I gestured to Elfi. “The Saran Empire is part of the United Stars, and my Communications Officer is a Saran Princess.”

  “Wonderful! Wonderful news!” He scratched his beard. “I better continue with my story then. Our ancestors were among the first ten Settler Arches leaving Earth. Ours was the Shenandoah. During the trans light acceleration phase, the Shenandoah was hit by something and our drive malfunctioned. We did not end up at the intended target, a Garden around Cigny Alpha, but inside a strange thick nebula that further damaged our ship. We had to land at the only place we could find that was even remotely suitable. We found a stark world with a bad atmosphere and too close to a radiation-spewing sun. Our forefathers went deep underground and carved out a living under very difficult conditions and hardships. None of our ancestors knew how far we were from Earth. An idea was hatched by a brilliant genetic engineer, who was part of the original crew. In order to make the supplies last longer, he proposed to change our genetic code so we would become smaller. The changes were made and every generation became a little shorter. However, life was extremely harsh and science and research were not on our agenda for centuries. The genetic knowledge was lost, and we kept on shrinking until we reached this size about two thousand years ago.

  “When life improved and we once again had the resources for science, we basically had to start from scratch. Much of the knowledge was still in the libraries, but few understood, so we developed our own technology and built a thriving society onto four planets within the New World System. All our culture and civilization was based on our new size, and we never felt we needed to reverse the genetic alteration. Since our system was inside a dense matter nebula with intensive energetic storms, we had no contact with other civilizations and felt quite safe, but we expanded to other worlds and our newest colony is on the very fringes of that nebula. We noticed the large aliens occupying that asteroid slowly moving toward our colony. We know that due to our size we were at a disadvantage against full-size aliens. Once we were discovered, we feared war and conquest. Our first contact unit was attacked and destroyed by unknown aliens, and we decided to defend ourselves by destroying the asteroid and it
s inhabitants.”

  He finished his long explanation and found us listening with open mouths.

  He opened his arms. “Please, tell us about Earth and Terra and your magnificent ship, and your immense weapons and terrific shields!”

  Shea told them a brief history of the last three thousand years and closed with the words, “…so we responded to the distress call of the Golden Market. May I express how truly amazed I am to find that you developed Translocator technology all on your own.”

  He bowed proudly. “One of our greatest scientists was a direct descendant of Dr. Isah and at least as brilliant.”

  Dr. Isah was a legendary multi-discipline scientist from the early history; he invented an incredible amount of technology including the ISAH drive and the Terran Faster than Light Direct Energy Cannons. Isah was often referred to as the greatest genius of human history.

  The man next to the admiral said, “If we would apply for membership, then this Union of yours would protect us and that nebula of ours would become Union territory, isn’t that so?”

  I nodded. “To the last man and ship. It is no empty boast, as you heard examples of our commitment in my Science Officer’s monolog on our history.”

  “We can’t speak for our government, of course,” the admiral said. “Please let us contact our government, and we will relay their answer as soon as possible.”

  His adjutant sighed deeply and held up his coffee cup, “We have an original sample of Terran Coffee in our Earth Museum. Of course, we have a replicated product, but the real thing is so incredible it alone would be enough reason to join!”

  “I’ll make sure my supply chief gets you an ample supply right away.”

  “And real Earth potatoes, too? Just one will be enough!”

  Again, the admiral glared at his adjutant and said to me, “Please excuse him. To us, Earth is our religion. It is a mystical place of our far-gone ancestors, and we kept as much alive as we could. It was the very motor of our determination to not give up.

  “The crews of my ships are, quite frankly speaking, going crazy since they heard you are from Earth. The good men we lost in the battle are forgotten.”