Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 2 - Maveen Offer

by David Buck

  ‘I did not have time to tell you before, but I also packed two video cameras if we could spot something interesting to report Steve.’

  Steve was relieved to hear that and gave a measured reply.

  ‘We should be okay over there and we just have to be careful in what we say and do. If we record our meeting down on tape, it can only help to find out what is actually their story. We must also find out how dangerous this second alien species are to humanity.’

  ***

  Captain Jane Walker read the latest message from HMAS Melbourne in disbelief, as it appeared that up to two dozen small boats was now approaching the Abrolhos islands from the mainland. The commander of the Melbourne had diverted his Seahawk helicopter to intercept the bulk of the boats, and Jane also quickly diverted their Seahawk from HMAS Sydney to change course. The helicopter had been heading again towards the Aurora Discovery, but soon was moving towards a second collection of small boats.

  Jane then ordered the Perth on a course due east at thirty knots to assist the Melbourne. She also read the latest reports from Geraldton and Dongara. It appeared that the police and the soldiers guarding the marinas had been distracted in the early hours of the morning, and a number of boats had fled the marinas before order was re-established.

  ‘So has the whole world gone mad today?’ An exasperated Jane questioned to the bridge as HMAS Sydney increased speed.

  Lieutenant Tom Sawyer had submitted a report early this morning about an alien ship apparently shadowing HMAS Sydney, though it was not detected. Jane had viewed the video footage quickly, and was almost convinced about his report, even if it was difficult to prove one way or another. She now wondered if the alien ship might be of the unknown second race that had just been reported by the Aurora Discovery as it reached the landing site. Now Tom Sawyer was already well on the way in the Seahawk to the southern knot of small boats. Jane conferred with Paul, her counterpart on the Melbourne.

  ‘Paul, if it comes down to the wire on these small boats, we cannot use the main guns or missiles. First we risk killing the bulk of these fools, and also I am wary about using our heavy weapons this close to those alien ships.’

  Paul briefly agreed with what Jane was stating before she spoke again.

  ‘In fifteen minutes we will launch our inflatable boats with extra armed crew, and we will either board them or turn them aside. If they refuse to stop then the Seahawk helicopters are our last option.’

  Susan Roberts sat in the front chair of the fast runabout. The media crew were again headed west for the southern Abrolhos Islands after she had dragged her aching body from bed at 4am.

  The senior news director had rung her again just before the boat reached Dongara at 10pm last night. He had retracted his previous instruction to her news team to refrain from getting to the Abrolhos islands. Apparently a concerted effort by the media teams was being made at first light the next day to get past the Australian navy.

  As soon as they were in motel rooms, Susan had quickly organised her news team to get some food and sleep in that order. The refuelled runabout was now leading at least ten other fast boats nearby with several other boats trailing along as they had slower top speeds. The opening of media cheque books had resulted in the desired effect. Come quietly; come just before 4am, then all boats to go as hard as they could for the Abrolhos islands.

  Susan watched as a frigate appeared several kilometres ahead of them flanked by four fast inflatable boats. She was not worried as the former fast response craft was at least as fast as the navy inflatable boats. The response craft banked to the south and accelerated to full power as the boat driver sought to evade the oncoming boats, the radio came alive and this time Susan reached across to switch it off.

  Susan watched and held on tight as their boat evaded the oncoming inflatable boats. The inflatable boats did not try too hard to stop them but seemed intend on stopping the several slower boats. There was a long period of silence, and then the Seahawk helicopter roared past them and it made several swerves in front of them to get the fast response boat to turn away. The pilot soon tried to speak with them via the loud speaker under the helicopter, but was ignored. The boat driver merely drove around the helicopter and now started to work north towards the Abrolhos islands.

  Susan worked out quickly from what she could see of the GPS that they would arrive in half an hour or so at fifty knots. The Seahawk helicopter had flown out to one side and turned again to fly past them from the rear as it passed about fifty metres from the starboard side. The loud sound of machine gun fire reverberated from the helicopter and several plumes of water erupted well in front of the fast response boat. As they had agreed previously, the driver ignored the machine gun fire, even as the helicopter turned away again for another pass.

  Susan risked a look behind her and noticed several small boats attempting to evade the navy inflatable boats and to follow her own boat. The Seahawk helicopter made another attempt at placing a shot across their bows, which the boat driver also ignored. The helicopter then flew away for a couple of minutes and Susan thought that they may have given up. But the helicopter soon returned, and was positioned above the fast response boat, with the co-pilot trying to drop smoke flares into the hull. The boat driver simply started swerving again to avoid a few dropped flares and the helicopter again moved off.

  After several minutes of not seeing the helicopter, Susan and the boat driver exchanged nervous glances, as they were quite certain that their own navy would not sink them. But now they were both unsure if the helicopter would then try another method to stop them. They were then aware of the Seahawk slowly closing from the rear and to one side. Once within one hundred metres of runabout, the door gunner on the helicopter had fired a short burst of machine gun fire into the outboard engines of the fast response boat.

  Susan watched in horror as two stray machine gun rounds killed two of her camera crew sitting in the rearmost seats, even as the tops of both outboard engines exploded. Two other members of her crew screamed in pain as they were injured, and Susan felt something cut the air alongside her. The boat driver then collapsed and started to bleed profusely from a bad back injury. Susan now did all she could to try to stem the bleeding, but the driver died just as the one of the fast navy boats reached them. She could only collapse and sob with the horror of it all, as the sombre navy ratings came onboard and took over the situation.

  Commander Jane Walker steadied herself as she stood against the side of her crew chair for a moment. The fast response boat they had diverted yesterday had returned, and had not responded to orders to turn away. So Lieutenant Sawyer had been forced to order the door gun operator to shoot the outboard engines to stop the craft. Unfortunately three of the people on the boat had been killed, and that was a cold hard fact for Jane, even if they had disobeyed her lawful orders. She watched through binoculars as the remaining boats either turned to the east, and fled towards home and arrest, or hove over for the navy runabouts to place an armed rating aboard them.

  ***

  Captain Narindestat stood at attention in his full uniform flanked by four armed Trader crew in their formal crew uniforms. The peaked caps of the uniforms added already to each of the Traders impressive height. The only detraction that the captain was aware of was that nearly all of the glimmer tattoos on his crew had disappeared; to be now covered by pale brown scar tissue.

  The captain has spent several hours during the night first assisting in repairs, and then reviewing the latest reports on fuel production and ship repairs. The fuel production rate had increased with the water distillation plant partially resolving the filter cleaning problem. However the ship was still in need of a series of repairs and many of his crew still suffered illnesses from a range of diseases that they had contracted.

  Captain Narindestat was again considering the wisdom of this new trading deal that was being driven by the Maveen lead probe. He was aware that it all could come to nothing if the humans appeared intractable, and also hoped
that Garendestat had been able to establish what the humans were actually like in both temperament and integrity. To one side, several other crew members had arranged a parade of flags from the various galactic races, apart from several Trader flags, with their blue and gray borders he already knew about. The captain briefly considered how his crew had ever obtained these items as the small human boat came into full view.

  Garendestat was sitting on the floor surrounded by four humans, one of whom was operating a recording device. The captain made a mental note that at least the humans could understand the importance of the occasion. Within minutes, the small human boat was beached, and Garendestat awkwardly clambered over the side of the boat wearing just his space suit pants. For a long moment father and son regarded one another, before Narindestat embraced his son and told him how glad he was to see him back safely.

  Garendestat turned to the humans now standing quietly to either side of him on the beach and introduced each of them to his father. Steve was really impressed as he drove the boat slowly ashore and turned off the ignition switch to the outboard. A very tall Trader, all of four metres, had looked at Garendestat for a long silent moment, before the two Traders had embraced as the strong voice of the tall Trader spoke to Garendestat only. Steve correctly surmised that this must be Narindestat, the ship captain and Garendestat’s father.

  Garendestat introduced each of them to his father, and Captain Narindestat gave each of them a careful half bow from his impressive height. He then repeated their names back to them and stated his own name again in English. Apparently shaking hands would remain a human custom, as Steve again considered the size of the Trader crew and the strength they would possess in those hands.

  Captain Narindestat calmly appraised Steve as he looked around the gathered Traders standing in a long row with their ornate galactic flags. To one side, Dan was again operating the video camera as the captain spoke in clear, but interestingly accented English.

  ‘I thank you one again for saving the life of my son Garendestat. I have a debt of life and blood to you and your friends now.’

  The captain gave another respectful bow that Steve had the presence of mind to graciously return before the Trader spoke again.

  ‘Now I must speak with you as soon as possible about several important matters. I am still learning your language so be patient with me. The most important matter is that we are not the galactic race responsible for your recent pandemic.’

  Steve was too stunned to speak by the logical extension to Captain Narindestat’s comment, and he thought of the two obvious questions he had to have answered at any cost.

  ‘So how many galactic races are there?

  And which one was responsible for our pandemic?’

  ***

  Chapter 7

  The Trader drive module was all but invisible as it streaked along on a highly elliptic course back to the human planet at high speed. Lieutenant Damofestat patiently viewed the status of the drive module and ensured that the cloaking mechanism was still fully functional. The lieutenant was hoping to hear from Captain Narindestat soon, as the Illuria had landed on Earth now over five days ago. The captain had left instructions for the lieutenant to only wait in the system for so long, but the lieutenant was prepared to await months if he had to for word of the Illuria.

  The real limitation the lieutenant had at the moment was water and food, as there was no way to safely transfer either with the Voorde infestation on the main ship. Fortunately they only had to share the water and food amongst a small crew, and the lieutenant had already ordered strict rationing. With plenty of time on their hands, the lieutenant had led his crew through the complete set of training and disaster scenarios twice. He found that he was always balancing the need to maintain ship moral against another round of training.

  The problem of the Voorde also still worried the lieutenant to a considerable extent. Lieutenant Damofestat had even gone for a quick space walk soon after the Illuria landed to verify the front of the drive module was intact. As the main hatch and all vents were closed before the Illuria had docked after landing on the infested planet, he was convinced after his space walk that the Voorde had not made it across to the drive module.

  The lieutenant considered, but discarded the idea of sending down two sneak ships to look for the captain. The captain's order had been quite specific in that regard, plus they were definitely needed to defend the drive module. The young female Trader sitting across from him in the control room of the drive module gave a small start. She then quickly reported what had appeared on her quadrant of tactical sensors.’

  ‘Lieutenant, I have just detected two Tilmud frigates entering the star system at extreme range. They seem to be setting up a passive search sweep. But they are wary of coming further in system or getting too close to large objects.’

  ‘Thank you Jumeria. Now they should be cautious, and we should be safe as long as they don’t come onto our vector and run into us. Do you know that if we were uncloaked they would probably prefer not to see us?’

  Jumeria gave a grin at the lieutenant’s wit and replied.

  ‘They are either brave or foolhardy to come after us with such inferior ships. They must know that just one of our docked four sneak ships can remain cloaked and destroy each of their ships in turn.’

  The lieutenant thought through Jumeria’s reply before he spoke again.

  ‘Fortunately the Zronte and the senior vassals have hoppled the Tilmud for previous transgressions, yet insist the Tilmud are to be the galactic police force in this part of the sector. Now consider if they were a pair of Barus destroyers on a vector to the inner system and us, how would you set our course to provide either a strong defense or easy exit from this system?’

  Jumeria was polite enough to suppress a groan at yet another training exercise, as no time limit was specified. The training was helpful, and in any case she actually quite liked Damofestat. As she considered the response she would give, Jumeria though about what it would be like to be on leave at the main Trader space facility, with plenty of good company, and decent food and drink.

  ***

  The squadron commander had long since learnt to inhibit his angrier responses as the two Tilmud frigates cautiously entered the outskirts of the Sol system. He had just been forced to remind a lieutenant, fortunately not his nephew, that the haven status of the star system made it illegal for them to use active scanners. The squadron commander growled half to himself.

  ‘What is it with junior officers, the information is all there in the briefing notes that the lieutenant had obviously forgotten to read.’

  If his bridge crew heard his comment they gave no sign, but his nephew did give him a respectful nod and a brief smile denoting respect. That was the one bright point in this mission the squadron commander decided sourly; at least his nephew could remain in control of both his work and his own temper. The central star was a yellow star a fraction larger than most stars the Tilmud made their homes around. The well spread out star system also featured both an extensive outer cloud of comets and four larger planets in the outer parts of the system.

  The squadron commander considered his orders with continuing unease as they sought a race that bore the Tilmud ill will. A race more technically advanced than the Tilmud, and with larger and more powerful ships. He set the bridge crew a further series of exercises and implored them to be vigilant, as this system could end up a tomb for the two Tilmud frigates, despite the haven allocation set aside for the system.

  The two Tilmud frigates slowly continued into the Solar system and gave the larger planets that might be hiding an ambush a wide berth. On Neptune the hidden sentinel detected the two small patrolling ships and evaluated their threat posture. Once satisfied that they posed no immediate threat it left the status of the still dormant colonists as unchanged.

  ***

  Gindane had mixed feelings about the arrival of the Tilmud frigates in the outer areas of the Solar system. She knew that the vassal
authorities had to take appropriate action or risk the displeasure of either the Vorinne or the Zronte themselves. However her recent interaction with a Tilmud admiral that sought to be her executioner was still fresh in her mind, and she had no desire to cross paths with the Tilmud again so soon.

  Gindane knew that she was under no obligations to take orders from or assist the Tilmud in any way. At this stage she just felt that their presence was an unnecessary complication she could do without dealing with at the moment, and she had no intentions of advising the Tilmud of her presence just yet. The Barus commander had made considerable progress with the English language and was at the moment crafting a suitable series of announcements to the humans. Gindane was also devising a series of answers to likely important questions. But the main sticking point remained in her speech writing efforts, and in frustration she gave voice to the problem.

  ‘So how do you introduce yourself, and then inform them that your race killed half of their population, before apologizing profusely. I could then understand the imperative that they would have to kill me and every one of my crew.’

  She paused and considered further the problem, and then realized that any actual attempt at explanation, let alone offering what could be interpreted as a justification, was fraught with introducing or creating a further misunderstanding. Gindane now knew that she could not attempt to explain away anything other than the actual event itself. With that knowledge Gindane then began to draft a small and simple set of notes.

  ***

  As soon as he was able, Garendestat had left the captain with the humans and strode into the ship to find Emeria. He soon found her busy with several sick crew members in the sick bay. He entered and a tearful Emeria quickly ran into his good arm, and just as quickly stood back flustered to check his injuries. Garendestat reassured the medical officer as he noted her tears and flushed look for a moment.