Jack felt the same. A total of 51 grav-pull drive sources showed on the system view as yellow spots, with just twelve fusion drive sources shown in green. Stationary neutrino sources were present on planet two, on its moon, at three spots in the first asteroid belt, on planet three, and in orbit about the gas giant planets five, six and seven. The front screen also showed multiple overlays from NavTrack, the gravitomagnetic sensor, passive infrared and ultraviolet sweeps, and local synthetic aperture radar. Clearly there was a hell of a lot happening within the Nasen home star system.
“Told you,” muttered Maureen from her Combat seat.
Jack looked rearward to his SETI translator and specialist in Animal Ethology. “Denise, what do you pick up in AV channel emissions? Maser traffic? Microwave search scanning? Any other EMF systems active in Zeta Serpentis?”
His linguist genius looked down at her Comlink panel, then gave a muttered “Wow!” She looked up at him, her green eyes wide. “Captain Jack, my instruments are showing 467 AV channels at signal strengths from 5 kilohertz up to 300 gigahertz. Other EMF emissions at 1,000 gigahertz are likely microwaves. There are maser emissions suggestive of a diginet that links every computer in the system.” She looked back down at her Comlink panel. “There are also radio wave emissions from the three gas giant planets which appear to be natural. Uh, I’m setting Autonomous to scanning these AV channels for signal strength and repetition as a means of locating ‘official’ AV channels.” She pulled one red braid into her lips and began chewing on it.
Jack looked at the modulated neutrino comlink pedestal that stood next to Denise’s seat. Then he looked at Maureen.
“Combat Commander, how would you go about making contact with the Nasen? While keeping the fleet safe?”
The woman turned from a Tactical Display holo simulation that floated above her lap to Jack. Her manner was calm. “Leave this system. That’s the easiest option. But we do need intelligence on which species controls what star systems in the Orion Arm. I recall from the Gathering Hall on Sedna that these Nasen like elk steaks, hot sauces and interactive video combat games.” She paused, looked up at the system plan view, then back to Jack. “Call your Hilok guy on the neutrino comlink. It will not reveal our spatial position. See if he is willing to come out here with a few ships. No way should we blip jump into that inner system. We could be englobed by them faster than you could blink your eyes.”
Jack had thought the same about going deep in-system. Although he was very curious about the home world of these wolf-giraffe Aliens, he doubted any species would welcome a home planet visit by ships carrying thermonuke torps. Especially since Hilok had seen Jack use them at Sedna. “Thank you.” He looked over at Denise. “ComChief, activate the neutrino comlink. And have the motion-eye fix on me.”
“Activating,” Denise said in her high-toned voice. “The motion-eye is focused on you.”
Jack unsnapped his seat restraints and stood up. “Hilok of the Northern Pack, I am Jack Munroe, Pack leader of the humans. We have come to Zeta Serpentis to make Trade with you and your fellow Nasen. As you invited. We have elk meat steaks, interactive video combat games and several bottles of Ass Kickin Cajun Hot Sauce from New Iberia. Also, there are human sporting events that your Pack members may enjoy. We have AV recordings of many such games.” He paused, then pulled a yellow datapad from his seat’s storage slot and held it up. “We seek information on the occupied star systems of Orion Arm. What predators control which star systems? And what items do you Nasen value in Trade?” He put down the datapad. “Advise me where I and my nine ships can meet with you, in mutual safety.” Jack gestured to Denise to kill the neutrino broadcast.
“Captain Jack,” called Blodwen from the back of the cabin. “Is that a real hot sauce?”
Glancing back he grinned. “It’s just one of a dozen brands I loaded on the ship at Mathilde. There’s also Bayou Blow Torch Hot Sauce, La Preferida Traditional Louisiana Hot Sauce, La Guacamaya Hot Sauce With Lime, Santa Fe Jalapeno Hot Sauce and lots more!”
The lanky blond shook her head. “Amazing what passes for valuable items in interstellar trade!”
“True.” Jack looked up at his ship captains. “My allies, we have a total of nine thermonukes left after our earlier battles. I’d like for each ship to have one thermonuke onboard. Just in case. Admiral, will you use your Lander to distribute the nukes among our ships as we await the reply from Hilok?”
The man, dressed in a formal red uniform like the rest of his Mars-born crew, nodded. “Yes. One of my crew will guide the Rudyard Kipling in its pickup and distribution. Like the other landers in this fleet, it has belly grapples that can handle the torps.”
“Good.” Jack sat down in his Tech seat. “I suggest we allow our crews some R and R time. Once we rendezvous with Hilok, I suspect we will be on one level or another of Combat Alert.”
“Damn sure we will!” grunted Maureen.
Resisting the urge to pat his Belter granny on the head, least he lose some bitten off fingers, Jack got up. “I’m heading back to grab my Viking sword Old Roy. The rest of you may wish to have your own personal edged weapons with you, visible to your motion-eye. I think it wise for any Nasen to see us humans as armed, dangerous and ready to go to Meat battle with anyone who challenges us!”
Walking past his crewmates on the way to the Spine hallway, Jack hoped they would not have to fight the Nasen predators. The battle at comet 1993 FW had been damned dangerous. He did not want a repeat of matching wits with Aliens whose lithe bodies moved like a living sword!
♦ ♦ ♦
Half an hour later, as Jack sat at his Tech station with Old Roy lying across his lap, the modulated neutrino comlink pillar beeped.
“Sending the AV signal to the front screen,” said Denise. “Copying it to the other fleet ships by way of laser link.”
The true-light scope image of the Nasen system and the Sensor overlay image moved to either side as the incoming neutrino AV signal arrived faster than light. Thanks to passage through some kind of other dimension, according to Archibald. The details Jack did not care about. The fact it allowed for nearly instant communications with Aliens did matter.
A stone-walled room filled the center of the screen. In the yellow room’s center stood three Nasen. The front one was largest in size. All three had a body shape that resembled a wolf crossed with a giraffe’s long legs. The two yellow eyes were arranged stereoscopically on either side of a large brain case. That head was carnivore-long, teeth-filled and purple-lipped. A pair of flexarms emerged from the wolf-giraffe’s broad chest. The body’s smooth skin showed contrasting bands of red and yellow that ran its length. When the Nasen’s legs flexed like a recurved bow, Jack saw long, crescent claws on each of its four feet. The front Alien moved on-screen with a litheness born of wolf crossed with the long stride of a giraffe. It opened a mouth full of white canines and spoke.
“I am Hilok of the Northern Pack,” the Nasen said in guttural English, its voice tone a deep bass. “You are Humans. You are Pack Leader Jack Munroe. Your arrival is . . . interesting. Where are you located?”
Jack released his seat restraint straps and stood up, with Old Roy’s double-edge blade lifted to rest against his left shoulder. “Greetings, Hilok. I reply in English. But if you wish to converse in Nasen, speak it and our computer translator will turn your words to English and my words to Nasen. As for our location, we are distant from your star. We will not approach any of your seven planets without permission.”
The two Nasen behind Hilok each wore body straps that supported tool loops, glittering devices and a jeweled strip that ran over the Nasen shoulders and under the two flexarms that sprouted from each chest. White tufted tails flexed behind Hilok and the other two Nasen. One snarled words that sounded like metal being scraped.
“Kill this Alien! Its presence is an insult to all Packs!”
Hilok kicked back at the speaker, leaving a red welt across its chest. “Youngling!” it said in a throaty snarl. �
��You are here to learn how to do more than kill! You know this being’s tongue of power. It has now heard the translation of your careless words!”
Jack smiled, showing his teeth. “Human younglings are like that. Brash. Impulsive. Impatient. They need to be reminded of the respect due to elders.”
Hilok whinnied as if in agreement, then it grabbed its chest strip with two pairs of claw-fingers. “So true. Pack Leader Jack Munroe, you speak of Trade. And wishing to exchange some of your elk steaks, hot sauces and interactive combat video games for knowledge of those who roam the Great Dark.” Long black eyelashes fluttered as the Nasen blinked swiftly. “Nine ships are more than a Trader’s family. And the HikHikSot have chattered lately on our neutrino talkers about your destruction of their colony ship in Sol system. They were foolish enough to return?”
“They were,” Jack said, running a hand along the edge of the two-handed monster that had served him well in the fights within the Sedna Gathering Hall. “Sol is our hunting range! We humans are its apex predator! As for our ships, we used them recently to expand our Hunt territory. We now rule the Nuuthot and Mikmang peoples of two nearby star systems.” The impatient youngling gave a throaty snarl and whipped its white-tipped tail frantically. The second Nasen also whipped its tail wildly, but kept silent. Perhaps it was a smart female. “But Zeta Serpentis is far from Sol. Our visit today is solely for Trade. And strange as it may seem, I enjoyed our in-person Trade in the Gathering Hall. Your movements were . . . suggestive of one of our local predators. Creatures we call wolves. We humans learned to respect these wolves. We now show respect to you Nasen by offering Trade.”
The purple lips of Hilok opened as a purple tongue slid across sharp white canines. “You have a new hot sauce to trade? And new combat video games?”
“We do,” Jack said, moving Old Roy off his shoulder. He planted it point down on the cabin’s steel deck and rested both hands atop its round pommel.
The quiet Nasen gave a loud snort. “I would smell these two-legged beings in the flesh, elder Hilok. Other members of my crèche would also welcome a chance to meet a new Hunter of the Great Dark.”
The quiet Nasen had spoken in Hilok’s natural language of sharp screeches, barks, moans and yelps. Which the Comlink panel had translated into English, thanks to Denise’s algorithm-crunching of the AV broadcasts from the Nasen home world. Jack thought it amazing that even with the help of Autonomous they could so quickly speak the language of a species that had never before used its ‘tongue of power’ with them.
“We are willing to meet you and your people in person,” Jack said. “So long as both groups agree there is to be no personal Challenge to combat. Just Trade. And learning by the younglings.”
Hilok flared its tail at the formerly silent Nasen. “My daughter is more thoughtful than my eldest son. But her words also express my thoughts. And your warning to our two Pack ships is still appreciated.” The Nasen touched a shiny device hanging from his chest strap. “See here the image of our Hunt lands.” A holo of the Zeta system shimmered into being to one side of the three Nasen. “On the comet Hot Blood we Nasen maintain a Trade habitat. Its air and gravity are similar to the Gathering Hall on Sedna. This comet lies in our . . . our Kuiper Belt, some distance beyond our outermost gas world.” Jack saw a white dot appear on the outer edge of the Nasen system. It pulsed whitely. “When Hunters visit our system for Trade, we guide them to this location. It is mutually safe. We Nasen arrive with no more ships than those brought by the visiting Hunter.” The Alien’s purple tongue licked over its sharp canines. “Your elk meat portions were tasty. When hot sauce was added, the meal became memorable. We will bring meat portions from our own wild animals to exchange. Send me a neutrino message when you arrive at Hot Blood. We Nasen will then join you.”
Jack’s heart slowed its thudding. The sweat on his back that had come with the live neutrino contact now dried. He showed his teeth in a smile. “Agreed. Our nine ships will travel to this comet Hot Blood. We will not enter your system. My fellow Pack leaders and I will travel to the Trade habitat once you arrive and give guidance on the means to access it.” He paused, looked back at Denise and Blodwen, then faced forward. “Hilok of the Northern Pack, we will bring a few human younglings to our Trade meet. For mutual learning. Perhaps your offspring will enjoy playing one of the new interactive combat video games we have brought with us.”
Hilok flared his tail. “Until you call upon your arrival at Hot Blood. Departing.”
The neutrino AV image blinked out. Nikola’s scope imagery of the system expanded to fill the front screen. Elaine’s Sensor tracks of gravitomagnetic pulses, neutrino emissions, UV and infrared sources, stellar wind gales from Zeta and other EMF signals became overlaid atop the system image. He noticed that nine moving neutrino sources, which were also silvery graviton sources, had begun moving from planet two outward toward the location of comet Hot Blood. Jack looked up at the images of his fellow captains.
“You heard and saw that,” Jack said, scanning the images of his battle mates. “And now you can see the movement of those nine grav-pull ships. Guess those moving neutrino sources are neutrino comlinks emitting through Max’s parallel dimension. Otherwise it would take eleven hours for normal EMF signals to reach us.”
“Interesting,” said Akemi’s high-toned voice. “So. We leave our ships in the control of our crews and join you aboard the Anneli Korhonen for a trip down to the surface of this comet? Can we bring our swords and personal weapons?”
“Yes!” Jack said simultaneous with Maureen’s “Yes!” He smiled at the woman whose instinctive feel for space combat had kept her alive during the First Belter Rebellion. Then he moved to sit in his Tech station seat. The Viking broadsword clanked as he put it on the cabin deck. “We dress the same as when we entered the Gathering Hall at Sedna. While I believe Hilok’s assertion that we meet only to Trade, still, that son of his sounded impulsive. Best to be protected against the impulses of Nasen juveniles.”
Akemi chuckled, a rare sound from her. Hideyoshi, Gareth and other captains joined in with a low laughter. Maureen did no such thing. “Be amused, Captain Jack and other ship captains,” she said. “But instinct is still instinct. These Nasen are indeed suggestive of a pack of wolves. The fact they are smart and will arrive in deadly combat ships makes me nervous. When I get nervous, I get violent.”
Jack appreciated Maureen’s note of caution. “Everyone! Max will synchronize our entry into grav-pull transit! And while we blip jump, get your combat suits and personal weapons ready. Max?”
“All ships! Time-lock for grav-pull synchrony sent on laser link,” the man said, his expression intent. Jack liked that about Max, how the man became so serious when anything involved his engineering and tech devices. “Blipping!”
Jack took it all in.
Light blurred on the front screen and out through the Pilot Cabin’s side portholes. Star images bent, shifted, steadied, then repeated as multiple blip jumps became nearly continuous. Jack thought the ship’s ability to go to eighty percent of lightspeed from a standing stop was amazing. A gift no doubt of the Thorne Exotic Matter that lay inside the globe which was the central element of the Alien ship drive. Locally a blip jump seemed instantaneous. For longer distances like this 40 AU jaunt, it would take fifteen hours to arrive at the comet Hot Blood. Which was well enough. He needed to visit their cargo hold and inspect the crates of elk steaks they had loaded on at Mathilde. The hot sauce bottles and combat game disks took up less space. But they were equally vital. And perhaps Denise’s recordings of sporting games on Earth would turn out to be a hidden jewel among their Trade items? He looked aside at Maureen.
“Will you join me, Denise and Blodwen on our Trade jaunt?”
“Damn right I will!” The woman whose short black curls never showed a touch of gray inspected him, her expression irritated. “Young Jack, you really do believe in challenging the Fates! Gawds. We could do this Trade crap by way of automated transport barge. No
need to do it in person and risk injury!”
Jack released his restraint locks, grabbed Old Roy from the floor, and stood up. “You’re too sensible. I like being wild and crazy! Anyway, my gut tells me that meeting a Hunter of the Great Dark in person, with only one’s personal arms for protection, is a big deal to these social carnivores. I doubt they would show us any respect if we did not meet them in person.”
“Maureen,” called Elaine from her Pilot seat. “My brother has always been like that. Always willing to sell half his bottle of air if it would bring him some extra credits. Or bring him a new adventure.”
Jack gave Nikola a smile, a wave of the hand to Elaine, a wink to Denise, a thumbs-up to Max and then gestured to Blodwen, who’d taken to braiding her long blond hair. The way Denise and Minna did. “Up, Sociologist lady. Follow me back to our cargo holds. You gotta lift, haul and carry if you expect to join us in the Trade habitat on Hot Blood!”
The Welsh woman’s dark green eyes sparkled with humor. “Lay on!”
Jack touched open the pressure hatch leading into the long Spine hallway and headed for the distant cargo hold, which lay next to the Lander hold. Behind him sounded the boots of Blodwen. He grinned.
“I love defying the Fates!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Up front, on the screen’s black velvet backdrop, there gleamed the reddish ball of comet Hot Blood. Three tiny moons orbited it. The comet resembled the Scattered Disk Objects that lay beyond Sol’s Kuiper Belt, but it orbited closer to the system’s outermost planet. That world lay at 38 AU out from Zeta. This icy world lay just 42 AU out from the system’s yellow-white star. It was smaller than Sedna, measuring just 800 kilometers wide. He looked to Elaine.
“What is worth knowing about this place? And where’s this habitat that Hilok mentioned?”
His sister looked down at the Sensor panel of her Piloting station, then aside at her NavTrack panel which showed external objects and their vector tracks. “This place is like Sedna. Its surface is a crust of water, methane and nitrogen ices covered in those reddish tholin hydrocarbons. The comet’s day is twelve hours. Its surface temp is 78 degrees Kelvin. Local gravity is three percent of Earth. Orbital eccentricity compared to the Zeta ecliptic is just six degrees.” She paused, tapped her Sensor panel, then gestured at the true-light scope image. “There’s the habitat!”
Humans Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 2) Page 19
