by David Buck
‘We will summon the humans again in the morning, as the day is already getting late. We will take advantage of their absence and press on with our repair and refuel efforts without any further interruptions.’
The Trader teams dispersed to carry out their ongoing work, with several Traders gingerly raking up the dead Voorde eggs and larva for disposal into the ocean. As the Voorde eggs and larva encountered the full action of the sea water they seemed to shrivel and fall apart before the eyes of the crew. Captain Narindestat noted that his crew avoided wading into the sea water if at all possible. He then turned to regard Lieutenant Garendestat and Emeria as they approached. He gave his son and his new daughter in-law a polite smile, things had improved in this regard he decided as he listened to Garendestat.
‘Captain, the new tattoos appear to be comfortable, and do not fade or smear like the human makeup. I recommend we all paint back in our tattoos this evening, though I will have to forewarn Steve and his team. We have ample supplies of the gold and silver paint, and we are just concentrating on the neck and cheek tattoo areas at this stage.’
Emeria then confirmed what the captain’s brief visit to the sick bay this morning had already told him.
‘The worst cases of infections are steadily improving and some of the lesser afflicted crew are already back on duty. Hopefully we should be clear of disease within two or three days.’
After he excused the two younger Traders, Narindestat looked over at the distant human ship and he watched the ship turn back down towards them again. He had been impressed with Garendestat’s earlier brief overview of their abilities in running a ship, which was a distinct ability of a sentient race as opposed to their technical level. To the captain’s mind a race was either suited to life amongst the stars in ships or they were not, and the humans seemed to be as well qualified as any race he had yet seen.
On the subject of his son, Captain Narindestat was very satisfied, as he had performed his duties with both excellence and diligence. Most notably he was delighted in both his son’s survival and subsequent marriage to Emeria. The Trader crew were also delighted and polite congratulations had followed the new couple around the small island all morning. Although all knew that due to custom that the official ceremony would await the safety of deep space.
The captain was also happy that Garendestat had figured out independently the importance of the Maveen. But this now led to his two main concerns that he reviewed silently to himself as he continued to watch the human ship.
So just when would the Maveen decide to make a re-appearance? And could they be counted to both uphold their end of the deal and not make an unexpected change to the whole process that could strand his ship on the planet?
***
Steve had spent a considerable amount of time during the afternoon scanning with his binoculars Middle island and the Trader ship to establish what was actually occurring. From what he could see the Traders had completed their frantic scouring of the ship and the island with high pressure water hoses. He noted that the aliens had now gone back to addressing their repairs and refuelling requirements.
Steve also noted that that two of the Maveen probes had returned and sat silently amongst the larger sneak ships crowding the southern end of the island. The northern side of the island still was given over to probable repair efforts on the two damaged sneak ships. But several different shaped smaller items now crowded the light rocky surface around the two ships. Even as Steve watched, several Traders led by the captain himself left one damaged sneak ship and wandered over to look over the smaller items for several minutes. Next the group of Traders moved along to examine the second damaged ship.
A crew member on watch walked over with a radio wireless headset and a quizzical look on his face.
‘Captain, we have a Trader on the radio for you and I think it is the one you rescued, Garendestat or something.’
Steve thanked the crew member who quietly returned to his assigned station on the port side of the bridge. Steve spoke discretely into the handset, even if the handset radio was not especially high powered.
‘Garendestat, I hope you have sorted out your problem earlier today and we can resume our meetings tomorrow.’
The ruse was not lost on Garendestat in his reply.
‘Steve, we have only success to report and we can indeed resume our meetings tomorrow. I will keep this message short, as we have improved on your medical team’s assistance. Do not be surprised to see everything as it should be tomorrow. I will see you then Steve.’
The almost terse radio message concerned Steve for only a moment, and he reflected that the Trader use of English had certainly improved over the last two days. Steve replayed the brief conversation in his head, and acting on a hunch he again turned his binoculars onto Middle island.
After several minutes of now especially observing the Traders, a slight smile and a fixed look came into his eyes. Steve looked again at the ramp of the Trader ship were several Traders were sitting with no cloaks in full sunlight, before leaving the bridge to find the mission team and quietly share his new discovery.
***
Professor Elysius gave a deep formal bow to the Cephrit station master, and wondered yet again what would bring the Cephrit this far from home. The large insectiod leisurely strode down the rear ramp of the small Cephrit landing shuttle. To either side of the male Cephrit stood two towering female Cephrit marines that cradled their nasty looking laser rifles. The marines casually studied the few Barus academics that had followed the Barus professor to the landing field. The station master gave a soft chirr to the marine guards who promptly shouldered their rifles, walked clear of the landing shuttle, and quietly began observing the bush surrounding the landing field. The Cephrit returned the professor’s bow and chirred again in his soft voice.
‘Professor Elysius, thank you so much for welcoming me here today. Please ignore my guards as they are so protective during our extended journey. I need to speak with you urgently and privately please on an important matter.’
After several more minutes the station master and the professor were standing alone in the research tent holding the massive Dradfer sculpture. The Cephrit marines and the junior Barus researchers remained outside well out of earshot. The station master stood still for a moment and looked around the descriptive sculpture before speaking again softly.
‘So this is the fate of the former Dradfer colony. Of course the official research will need to be buried in the deepest parts of your institute for many years, possibly forever. Now have you found any biological inconsistencies yet on this planet?’
Professor Elysius answered in the negative, and then listened in stunned silence as the Cephrit gave him additional information about the Trader ship he had sent Gindane to track down. He was appalled about the presence of a Voorde infestation on the Trader ship as well as the Trader’s rationale for heading for Earth.
‘Station master, this is a risky solution they attempt as they could extinguish a fertile haven world.’
The Cephrit reassured him that the solution should work and that the Traders were mindful of the planet’s status. He then briefed the professor about the task that Omerio was given to find a strange Tilmud ship, and then mentioned that an earlier world that the Trader ship had landed on had been deliberately contaminated with the Voorde. The professor put together the whole situation from the Station master quickly enough from the information he had been given.
‘So you are expecting to see Omerio in this part of space after he tracks down this ship?
The station master gave a soft chirr of satisfaction, as always the speed of thought of the Barus was especially useful.
‘Yes Professor and I have a Cephrit fleet nearby that we can use if we are quick enough to find the ship. However we may see ourselves fighting the Tilmud sooner rather than later as there have been several unfortunate incidents.’
The professor looked at the Cephrit, who he felt was telling him a bit too much in
formation, before he replied.
‘Well I have not seen Omerio recently. Now as to the Barus, I do have some influence and I am sure Omerio has even more. However we both are unlikely to sway a Barus fleet away from apprehending the Traders to support your efforts against the Tilmud.’
Professor Elysius considered the now silent and still Cephrit and then the unknown script down one side of the sculpture before continuing.
‘However we are certainly sympathetic even if officially we cannot help you. Now I would like to know if you have seen anything like this script on the side of our unofficial sculpture.’
The Cephrit station master quietly viewed the script and gave off a series of anxious clicks. He then told the Barus professor all that the Cephrit knew of the tragic events of so long ago. After the Cephrit left to return to his ship in orbit around the planet, the Barus professor quietly contemplated the sculpture with a mix of awe and horror.
***
Chapter 12
Steve drove the first runabout onto the beach, and a team member stepped off the boat into the ankle deep water to steady the hull as Steve cut the engine. He noted with that all six Maveen probes were now present on the island to one side of the sneak ships, and that a faint blue light connected them all to one another.
The second runabout followed onto the narrow coral strewn beach and a dozen science team members from both boats sloshed ashore. The remaining team members in three smaller inflatable boats followed the first members ashore. In moments all stood under the shade of an awning the Traders had set up near the rear ramp of the main ship.
Rebecca noted the reappearance of the Trader tattoos under their white cloaks and gave Steve a wry grin. For their part the Traders seemed calm and focussed compared to their rushing around of the previous day. Samantha looked at what Rebecca was seeing and then spoke discretely to Steve.
‘You were right about the tattoos.’
After several minutes of introductions were made, the humans all turned as Captain Narindestat turned to Steve and spoke clearly.
‘You have brought two dozen scientists with you today. We trust you will not increase your numbers further tomorrow, otherwise our discussions will become unwieldy.’
Steve looked around at the other humans as he spoke in reply.
‘Captain Narindestat, this is the limit of our science mission team that now has official status with myself as the leader of the mission. We are required to both study and negotiate with you and report our recommendations back to our leaders.’
The Trader captain seemed to give off a sense of relief as he spoke again.
‘Now this is indeed good news, so then please follow me as I have something I need to show you and your mission team.’
The humans and several Traders followed Captain Narindestat over to the damaged sneak ships as the captain spoke again.
‘These two sneak ships are important for our efforts to leave your planet, and unfortunately we cannot repair them as they were too badly damaged in the battle. The one struck by your kinetic weapon is not even useful for parts. We planned on destroying them as well as any cargo we decided to also leave behind. However, we would prefer to use the ships and cargo as trade goods rather than having to destroy them.’
The humans exchanged a variety of looks between each other, with both a Russian scientist and an American scientist doing little to hide their avarice for the technology. Dan also noted their indifference to the plight of the Traders. Steve for his part duly registered the variety of responses amongst the mission team as he replied.
‘So Captain, if you leave behind these items then you should still be able to leave our world?’
Captain Narindestat lent against a large rectangular crate, this one from his own cargo hold. He resented what he had to say, but he answered.
‘Yes Steve we should have just enough thrust reserves to barely clear the planet. Now with these other items we have here, the item under my arm is a portable fusion generator that can be adapted to power shields or weapons.’
Narindestat was relieved at the quiet buzz that erupted from the humans at the disclosure. The humans did have a proclivity for being distracted that needed to be worked on he decided. He did notice that one of the new humans at the rear of the group quietly studied him and did not join in conversation with the other humans.
‘A being to consider carefully…’
Captain Narindestat evaluated quietly to himself before moving onto other items scattered around the two damaged ships.
‘The other items here include three types of defensive shields, while the longer items are four types of laser blaster and pulse cannon weapons. We are stripping out parts of our ships to aid in our launch attempt.’
This was another lie, but the Trader captain felt safe, as Halbindestat had earlier verified that the older designs of the weapons and shields were still both sturdy and reliable. The captain knew that the assorted equipment was well suited for a variety of craft the humans might build. The chief engineer was also perplexed that he could not find any manufacturing details amongst the guns, indeed the construction methods used were not like that of any vassal race.
Captain Narindestat had quietly brought Halbindestat around to the rationale of getting away alive, and to not overly worry himself about the unknown source of the laser and pulse weapons. At this point one of the mission team asked a question of the Trader captain.
‘So how do we prove that all this technology is working captain?’
Captain Narindestat looked over the humans with a smile as he replied.
‘Well we are going to have to power those weapons and shields with a portable fusion generator to prove to you that it all works. So I expect that we will be busy for the next few days. By all means take as much recordings and notes as you can in that time.’
Steve looked over the buzz of enthusiasm that again became evident from the mission team members. He then acknowledged the quiet look he received in return from an Indian scientist standing by himself behind the other team members. Captain Narindestat continued over to another series of large boxes and gave a brief inventory again, before he led the mission team back to the awning and the welcome shade.
***
The Maveen lead probe considered the knot of humans and Traders at the other end of the small island. The humans seemed interested in the array of technology and the lead probe was confident in the negotiation capabilities of the Trader captain. The Maveen were hoping to stay out of direct negotiations with the humans, as this could potentially save them from the wrath of the other galactic races at a later stage. The lead probe was also still concerned that the Traders would simply dump the Maveen ships onto this world and flee. Only the near certainty of the humans being destroyed in the resulting attack by the galactic vassal races was keeping them here the probe evaluated.
Of course the Traders could not and would not know of the Ancient queen and her daughters on the sea floor. That fact would surely panic them to take flight with disastrous consequences for all the other races left on the planet. The lead probe would let the Trader captain come to him, and he evaluated the probability as high that this would happen soon before the deals were completed. After that the lead probe would take the other probes back to the ancients with the requested items. The lead probe also was considering two requests from the other probes, most unusual requests asking the same thing, and the lead probe knew it would soon have to make a difficult decision.
***
Steve and his mission team sat quietly as the Trader captain gave a brief overview of the galactic races and the state of galactic politics. First he started with the overlords of the Carinae sector, the Zronte and the various vassal races were described. He then mentioned the independents consisting of Traders and several other races. The Trader also briefly mentioned independent races towards the centre of the galaxy that were effectively restricted to their core worlds by the vassal races.
Captain Narindestat moved o
n to the state of galactic politics by outlining key edicts of the Zronte that could affect the humans at some stage. He discussed the possibility of conflict between the vassal races, and particularly his concerns of a limited war starting between the Cephrit and the Tilmud. Steve, with his military mind, asked an obvious question as the Trader captain paused for a moment.
‘Captain Narindestat, the edicts of these Zronte seems a double edged sword even for the vassals. Surely they would not let the Cephrit and the Tilmud fight and lay waste to a large part of the galaxy?’
The Trader captain regarded the human mission team furiously taking notes or recording the scene as he responded to the question.
‘Steve, the Tilmud are opportunists, for example as soon as our own home worlds were overrun they then moved in and made them their own. The Cephrit are mindful of this and the fact that that the Tilmud enjoy special status with the Zronte. This status is double edged because this also ensures they are only allowed to use frigate class star ships. If your race is going to have problems in the future it will be with the Tilmud or possibly the Jerecab. Your home world, even if it is a haven world, is close to the areas of expansion for both races.’
Captain Narindestat looked over at the mission team, and several more questions were asked along similar lines. Steve sat back quietly again and considered the implications of the briefing by the Trader. He anticipated that the evening phone call to Ian Ridge would be long into the night, as something the Trader captain said in answer to another question stuck in Steve’s mind. He now asked for the earlier answer to be repeated.
‘Sure Steve, I stated that your race should attempt to hold onto haven world status as long as possible, especially as the other vassal races now know of your world. The Barus commander was certainly correct with that piece of advice. The two real problems you have are that you are not united, and you still lack the technology to adequately defend yourselves.’
