The Star Traders: The Star Traders Series Volume One

by Gary W. Feather

  "Still no life signs," Fiona said. "I'm getting hints of nuclear residue."

  "It will reach us in one hour and twenty minutes," Janet said.

  "I want counter missiles and lasers ready to fire," Alberta said.

  "Ready, Captain," Tiffany Williams said at the weapons/tactical station.

  "Agatha, inform the spacestation we've been fired upon by the unknown vessel," Alberta said.

  Agatha Gee acknowledge verbally and with a nod. Alberta looked at one of her screens showing the missile was much closer. It also showed the vessel and Guinevere's speeds. It was the usual waiting game spaceships got into when one fired a missile at another spaceship. Space was huge. The distances were hard for planet-bound humans to understand even space-born humans like Alberta had trouble with the thought. The mathematics behind it were easy. It was wrapping your mind around it that gave you headaches.

  "I'm getting an audio only hail now from the unknown vessel," Agatha said.

  "Okay, Agatha," Alberta said. "Let's hear it."

  "I took someone from you and returned her to you. Is that trade?" The voice spoke in an accent Alberta remembered. Alberta felt her palms sweating and her heart beating in her brain. Suddenly she felt Janet pulling on her pant leg.

  "Please sit down, Alberta," Janet whispered.

  Alberta suddenly realized she had stood up and wasn't sure how long she had stood there. Some of the bridge crew were staring at her, but turned away as their captain sat down. Relax, you fool. Calm down! They're watching you. Lesson one on being a captain: a captain must never look weak in front of her crew. Mother drilled that into me since I was able to stand on my own two feet, and I can't break with it now. Alberta wished her sweat glands would stop working.

  "I recognize the sound of their voice," she whispered to Janet. "Sounds just like a Lorkiizan speaking English."

  "You're sure, you've no doubt?" Janet whispered back.

  "Yes. Absolutely," Alberta replied.

  "The missile exploded!"

  "Range?" Janet calmly asked the sensor chief.

  "Ninety thousand kilometers,” came the reply.

  "Not close enough to cause damage," Alberta said. "They're just saying hello in an odd alien way.

  Alberta tapped a button. "Captain to Chief Engineer."

  "Chief Engineer speaking. How can I help you, Captain?" Catriona Zhou responded.

  "How soon can you recharge the jump engines?"

  "For another jump? How soon?"

  "We need to jump out of the Sholly system as soon as possible."

  Alberta heard a couple of imaginative curses before she got a reply. "Maybe forty minutes. It takes time, Captain."

  "Understood. Try thirty minutes."

  "What? That's impossible. Ooooh."

  "I expect it to be done, Catriona," Alberta replied calmly, as if she were ordering coffee.

  "Yes, Captain."

  "Janet, turn this ship around get us further out of the Sholly system, so we can make our jump to Pak system."

  "Yes, Captain."

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Fight or flee?

  Junior Captain Alberta Williams yawned and took another sip of her coffee. Alberta was seated at the head of a long table in a conference room on Guinevere. She had called the meeting with second shift's head to discuss what they could on the Lorkiiz matter.

  "Where's Shirley?" Janet asked.

  "Right here." Shirley Williams entered the room with a small hand in the air. "Sorry, Janet."

  "Okay." Janet Williams nodded to Shirley, the second shift supply chief. "That's everyone, Captain."

  "Thanks Janet." Alberta looked around at the sleepy faces. Right at that moment, first shift was still on duty. It would be a few hours before second shift took over the running of Guinevere. "From what I've been told by the senior captain, when we jumped into the Pak system they found another unknown vessel waiting for them. A probe was launched and they were able to confirm it as the Lorkiiz starship, which has been chasing us."

  "We're in hyperspace right now. When we jump out of hyper we'll be in the Martinez system," Janet said. "Question: what are we going to do if they show up in Martinez?"

  "Mostly we've been running." Tiffany Williams rubbed her bald head. On the bridge, Tiffany was weapons/tactical of second shift. "What if we stay and fight?"

  "This isn't a battleship, Tiffany," Fiona Williams said. " Guinevere wasn't designed to fight in a slug fest."

  "You’re assuming that alien starship is a battleship or frigate. What if they’re not?" Tiffany replied.

  "Why should we take the chance?" Fiona said.

  "Goddess damn, Tiffany! You're always looking for a fight," Agatha Gee said. "You should have stayed in the Yin Confederation Navy."

  "Speaking of the Yin Confederation, maybe we should be jumping back home," Donna Williams, pilot said. "I don't see why the Navy should be protecting us."

  "Might I remind everyone that we can't keep jumping here and there forever," Catriona Zhou said. "Guinevere's jump engines need to shut down to cool for maintenance. They weren't meant for constant jumping into and out of hyperspace. There is a chance they could overheat and burn out. If that happens in hyperspace we may never be able to leave."

  "Do we have any other choices?" Janet said.

  "Fight!" Tiffany raised her fist.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Being chased.

  Alberta slammed her fist on her armchair. Martinez! The bastards beat us to the Martinez system! How did they do it?

  Sensor Chief hadn't confirmed the unknown vessel that had been 'sighted' in Martinez by Martinez's naval sensor security screens.

  As always, space is huge. Very huge. Plenty of room for pirates, smugglers, and invading spaceships to hide. Most space navies tried to deal with this by placing various sensor devices in orbit around asteroids, moons, planets, and sometimes randomly dropped in space. Naval vessels also worked by hunting for them. It was a guessing game. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Which was why Alberta had ordered a couple of probes launched to get a closer look at the mystery vessel that kept just beyond Martinez's sensors.

  "Probe one is nearing the vessel, Captain," Fiona Williams said from her sensors station.

  Alberta knew Fiona would have sent one in first with the second probe following it, so there wouldn't be a lag in info they received from probe one. Laser communication went at the speed of light, but with the vast distances of space, that wasn't as fast as you would think.

  "Unknown vessel isn't answering our hails, Captain,” announced Agatha Gee at the comm.

  "They're increasing speed," Fiona said. "They're heading straight for probe one."

  "Showing themselves?" Janet whispered.

  "Missile launch! We have missile launch," Fiona said. "Missile will hit probe one in twenty-eight minutes. We are getting a better view of unknown vessel. It looks a lot like the same Lorkiiz starship that has been following us. We have a better look at the missile. Captain and XO should find what I'm seeing on your screens now."

  "Got it."

  "Thank you, Fiona." Alberta watched as the missile hunted the probe. There wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it. Eventually the missile reached the probe. They exploded and were gone.

  "A confirmed kill, Captain," Fiona announced. "And I was able to confirm the vessel looks the same as the previous Lorkiiz starships we saw at Sholly and Pak. Similar to the Lorkiiz starship we destroyed."

  "Thank you, Fiona. Now we know for sure who they are."

  "Agatha, are they still jamming our attempts to connect the spacestation?" Janet asked.

  "Yes, XO," Agatha said. "I can't get through, and the latest info dump was cut in half by that ship’s electronic jamming."

  "They don't want anyone to know what they’re up to out here," Alberta said more to herself than to anyone on the bridge.

  "Yes, Captain," Agatha replied when no one else did.

  "Well, let's not make them happy.
" Alberta stood up with her hands waving. "Agatha and Fiona, I want you to work together and prepare a dozen probes. They will have all audio/visual recording of the Lorkiiz starship attack on our probe today, and all previous attacks. Then I want all probes sent off in different directions. If they don't want anyone, they'll have to hunt down every one of those probes before they can leave."

  "Yes, Captain," Agatha and Fiona replied.

  Alberta sat back down with a grin. She tapped a button on her armchair. "Chief engineer, I want to jump in thirty minutes. This is an emergency! Do it or I'll hire someone who will."

  "Yes, Captain," Mumbled Catriona Zhou from engineering. "How far are we jumping this time?"

  "The Polecat system," Alberta said.

  "That's going to be a long jump, Captain," Catriona complained.

  "Yes. I know, Catriona." Alberta looked at Janet. "Get us further out of the Martinez system for the hyperspace jump, XO."

  Janet Williams nodded. Shed started giving orders to the pilot Donna Williams to bring Guinevere further out of the gravity well of the star called Martinez.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Erica's idea.

  Erica sat at her post in the security monitoring room B with two others. Erica's mother Piper had warned about the Lorkiiz's teleport ability, and they needed to be watchful, even with no alien ships nearby. Erica was monitoring the nuclear fusion reactor, and she worked hard to keep from being bored. She was supposed to, but she starting thinking about other things. Erica's mind eventually wandered back to the experiences she had with the Lorkiiz people.

  The Lorkiiz. They seem able to teleport without dying from its ill effects like humans most life we know of. How can they? Is it a trick? Speaking of tricks, it's a good thing I had that transponder implanted or we wouldn't have escaped from the Lorkiiz. Erica looked down at her arm. Wait. Could they have put transponders in us? That could be why that Lorkiiz starship is always where arrive at.

  Erica thought about it a little longer and decided to call her mother.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Convincing mother.

  "So you think the Lorkiiz might be following us, because they have a tracker of some kind implanted in you?" Piper asked.

  "Or in mother Alberta, or the girl who was murdered."

  "There already was an autopsy of the girl and nothing like that was found."

  "They probably would have guessed we would check a body, Mom."

  "I can see that." Piper took a bite of her beef stew and thought it over as she chewed. Both women were seated in one of the cafeterias on Guinevere. Erica drank some of her hot tea as she waited. She knew without looking that some of her friends were watching them from their own table. "Okay. Okay. I'll speak to Alberta about this."

  "Thank you."

  "I can't make any promises." Piper pointed her fork at her daughter.

  "Yes. I understand." Erica grinned and nodded.

  "At the moment, your other mother is have a meeting/dinner with Janet and some of department heads of second shift. They hope Senior Captain Audrey Williams, or her XO, will tell them if that damn Lorkiiz starship is there waiting for us in the Polecat system."

  Erica nodded. She knew first shift was now back running Guinevere, for it had been a long jump since they left the Martinez system.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Convincing wife.

  "It could be a possibility, Alberta." Piper sat on a couch in yellow pajamas with her left knee up, and foot under her bottom. Alberta sat on the same couch with her legs crossed at the knee. She uncrossed her legs. "I believe we should consider it."

  "What about the autopsy of the girl who was murdered?"

  "Nothing was found, but they did have the chance to do it to you both."

  "True, but to be cut open for no reason."

  "Amy can do it."

  "Sure, she suspects where it's at. Where it's hidden."

  "But what?"

  "I don't know," Alberta relented. "It would explain a lot."

  "Erica has volunteered for the first operation."

  "As long as you approve."

  "Okay."

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Erica's operation.

  "You are sure about this, Erica?" said Dr. Eva Williams, chief surgeon of first shift.

  Erica nodded. "Okay, all the CAT scans show nothing. What I am going to do is send in several swarms of special medical nanobots. If there is something implanted they will hunt it down, but at times it might be painful. You won't feel good afterwards either."

  "I understand, Doctor." Erica nodded. She squeezed her fists and let go. "We need to find out how they are they following us."

  There were a couple of nurses to assist the doctor. Erica's friend and roommate Tilly Zhou held her hand. Tilly was a nurse, but with second shift, thus she was off duty. "You'll be fine, Erica. We'll all be waiting for you when you get out."

  "Thank you, Tilly." Erica squeezed Tilly's hand one last time and nodded to the on-duty nurse to put her to sleep. Erica's vision slowly faded.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Welcome to Chumley.

  "Scanning the area for the Lorkiiz's starship, Captain," Fiona Williams said. "Launching probe one."

  Alberta crossed her legs and tapped the top leg with her left hand.

  "No info dump, Captain," Agatha Gee said. "Chumley system doesn't have much. Mainly just satellites around Caroline, the inhabited planet, and a small mining base on their moon. We'll be able to pick up something when we near Caroline."

  "Launch a dozen probes, Fiona," Alberta ordered. "Chumley system doesn't have any buoys for the probe to connect to."

  "Yes, Captain." Fiona nodded turned to work at her sensor station.

  "Maybe it will take a longer time for them to show up." Janet held two steaming cups of coffee. She had just retrieved them from a service-bot.

  "Thanks, Janet." Alberta took a cup and tasted the burning hot liquid. "Mmm. You're assuming they're still able to follow us."

  "Why couldn't they, Captain?" Janet coughed.

  "I'm just hoping they won't show up," Alberta snapped. "Is that too much to ask for?"

  "No." Janet patted Alberta on the arm.

  "Sorry." Alberta sighed. "The bastards are starting to get to me."

  "You've been through a lot recently, Alberta," Janet whispered. "No one expects you to be superhuman."

  "Of course they do." Alberta patted Janet on the knee and whispered. "I'm their captain."

  Alberta looked at her data screens. By the time they reached Caroline's orbit, third shift would be running Guinevere. Will Guinevere's Daughter be released and descend to Caroline's surface again, like it had to pick up her daughter Erica? How long ago was that? A year? Half a year? I can't remember. I could look it up if I had the time or desire. Oh well.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Still there.

  Alberta returned with most of the bridge crew after they ate lunch in the nearest cafeteria, while Janet ran the bridge with junior crewmembers. Alberta walked in feeling better with a full stomach.

  "How's things going, Janet?" Alberta sat in her chair. She pulled up her data screens to check things.

  "Just fine, Captain." Janet stood to stretch. "You've the command. I'll go get something to eat."

  "I'll make sure no one steals your chair while you’re gone."

  "Thank you, Captain." Janet left the bridge with the junior crew.

  "All scans show nothing of an unknown vessel in the Chumley system, Captain," Fiona said at her station. "I will begin another scan of the area in twenty minutes."

  "Thank you, Fiona, keep me advised." Alberta checked the data screens with a sigh. She typed in a question of how long they had been in the Chumley system. Four hours, came the reply from the computer. Four. Well that is a little better than the other systems. Should I knock on wood?

  "Captain, we just received the standard greeting from the government of Caroline," Agatha Gee announced.

  "
Thank you, Agatha."

  "They still pretend to have an actual government," Tiffany mumbled. "Everyone knows they're run by pirates and smugglers."

  "Yes, Tiffany." Alberta laughed. "But people like that tend not to want to announce such things to the universe, or people who pop in to trade."

  "I guess so." Tiffany shrugged.

  Alberta looked at the message sent by the local government and made a polite message for Agatha to send in reply. Several minutes later, Alberta was wondering what they would try to sell at Caroline. Maybe she should have Fiona send a probe closer to the planet in order to see what Caroline's markets were wanting and what exactly they had to sale.

  "Captain, probe four has just sighted something." Fiona turned from her station. "I've sent it to your screens. Permission to send three towards four, so I send four in closer."

  "Permission granted," Alberta said. Even though new probes could be made quickly by Guinevere's manufacturing, it wasn't free, and the more probes they lost the more it cost the family.

  "Thank you, Captain." Fiona turned back to her station.

  Alberta looked at her screen. Was it the alien starship hiding out there? Of course, as Alberta knew, the truth about hiding in space was that it was nearly impossible. A spaceship had to shut down its engines, thus it drifted under the mercy of fate. Fate was a cruel goddess to believe in, for she favored few.

  "Four is showing what looks like a spaceship. It could be debris, for you never know what junk you'll find around here."

  "And the pirates would have already picked it clean to the bones," Tiffany commented.

  "Pull the other probes back towards Guinevere slowly," Alberta ordered. "Keep three and four out there."