Serpents and Vipers

by Donald Nicklas

  The Slones were fascinated. The small serpent looked like an exact, small version of Sly. It was not dressed, any more than the other serpents, but it was wearing some colored cloth strips, which Sly explained once, were marks of rank and clan. When the small serpent saw Sly, it stood up straight and began to speak to Sly in their odd language. Sly responded and they spent the next quarter hour talking while the heads of the Nova Romae government just stood there and wondered when they would be recognized. It soon became apparent that Sly was becoming a bit agitated and the humans wondered what that could mean. Finally, the conversation appeared to be over and Sly turned to look at the humans. Her lips began to quiver and it was clear she was about to speak.

  “Sss. This is an emissary from my clan,” Sly began. “She is a hatchling. We send hatchlings as emissaries because they are no threat. There is a difficulty on the home world and I am called back.”

  This was a bit of a shock to the humans. Ever since the serpents took up residence on Nova Romae, none has returned to the home world. In fact, no serpent ships have entered human space except for the derelict the humans found and the ambassador vessel that made first contact. All exchanges for trade and personal goods take place at a border system that is set up for that purpose. It is there that goods are traded and ship cargoes are exchanged. If the serpents need to communicate with those on Nova Romae, they transmit a message using human message pods. No human has ever been in serpent space.

  Strabo asked the question on everyone’s mind, “Sly, are you able to tell us what is happening on your home world?”

  “Sss. Yes. The emissary reports that our World Mother, the serpent leader, is dead. I am the mother of my clan and I must return to choose a new leader.”

  This was news to the humans. They had no idea that Sly was a leader on her home world. Christopher Slone asked the next obvious question, “Sly, have you had to go back home before to pick a new leader?” Slone knew Sly had been on Nova Romae for a long time.

  “Sss. No, Captain Slone, the serpent leader was older than the time we joined with the Romani. She was over 300 of your years.”

  Strabo knew the serpents lived longer than the 120 to 140 years of human lifespan, but had no idea it was more than double. “What can we do to help you?”

  Sly spoke a few more words to the emissary and turned to Strabo, “Sss. Consul, the clan assembly has granted me to bring humans to the home world to see how we live and pick a new leader. This is a great honor.”

  The humans were stunned and Strabo replied immediately, “We would be honored. Just tell us how many are allowed.

  Sly again asked the emissary and told the humans that ten would be allowed to come as well as Sly and the emissary. Sly then surprised them by making stipulations, “Sss. I will take the Slones, Tavia, and Centurion Marshal. Also two guards. Last four you pick.”

  Sly had picked all of the humans she was closest to who could be spared. Alaya and Tavia were in the same scout unit. Christopher commanded a dreadnought, but he could be spared, since the Invicta was undergoing routine maintenance. He would turn command over to Paul McMann. Centurion Marshal had accompanied them on scout missions before, when he was a Decanus, and Sly wanted some guards, since electing a leader could be messy. Both Consuls would not be allowed to go, so it was decided that Consul Lorenzo would go as the representative of the Nova Romae. The last three slots would consist of the rest of the crew of Alaya’s scout ship, the Draco.

  The next week was very busy. The spaceport gave first priority to outfitting the Draco for what would be a month long journey to the serpent home world. Sly had given them the coordinates and the navigation computer now knew the way. Live food was placed aboard for Sly and the emissary and all was ready a day earlier than expected. The Slones left Olivia in the capable hands of the Gardners and Strabo would check in on his granddaughter while they were gone. The entire trip was expected to take several months. They would have taken Olivia with them, if the Invicta were going, but the scout ship was cramped with those going along and the provisions for an extended trip. When all was ready, everyone met on the dock. The Slones knew they would be missing a significant part of Olivia’s young life, but this was a dream come true. Rarely were humans presented with the opportunity to enter a part of space unknown to them, and to have that inhabited by an alien culture, was icing on the cake. When the original crew of the Draco was advanced to the Invicta, Alaya had to replace them. Tavia was everyone’s first choice and she became Alaya’s second in command, despite her young age. She actually had seen more combat than the Romani replacements they received. She was now a full fledge Romani and had been granted citizenship for her valor. The Slones and their old crew were also now Romani citizens. None of them any longer identified with the corporations. Three Romani formed the rest of the crew. They were Navigator Allyson Cartwright, Sensor Tech Albert Claudian and Engineer Raul Ortega. Ortega was also responsible for the weapons and ordinance aboard. All three were trained by the legions.

  All were now aboard and the time had come to depart. Alaya looked at Tavia in the copilot’s seat and said, “Ask for clearance and take us to the outbound slipstream.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Tavia was all business when she was flying. They were cleared to the system boarder and left the Spaceport, heading for the outbound slipstream.

  Alaya looked at Allyson, “How long is the transit time to the slipstream?”

  Allyson did a quick calculation, “9 hours, 43 minutes.”

  “Once we are clear of shipping lanes, Tavia, post a watch schedule and rest time until an hour before slipstream.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Alaya then left the cockpit and took the short corridor back to the communal mess hall-conference room. When she got there, the passengers were all sitting around the table looking at a star field projected above the table. On the star field, she could see their course and the planet where it ended. That was the home world and they had no information about it. They would be scanning every system once they entered serpent space and soon they would have a lot of new information about that area of the cosmos.

  Lorenzo saw Alaya enter and said to her, “Sly tells me that their home world is called ‘Primary Jungle’, or at least that is what it translates as in our language.”

  “Then I assume it is a jungle world, similar to New Wales?”

  “Sly tells me it is much denser and their cities blend in so they are not readily visible.”

  Just then, they heard a chime and Tavia’s voice came onto the ship intercom. “Attention, we have cleared the shipping lanes and have a 9 hour transit. Ship set to rest status for the next 8 hours.”

  Alaya had to smile, “She does take her job seriously. She could have just come in and told us.” Everyone had to chuckle at that.

  There was still some discussion about the trip. All were excited to do something never done before. Within the hour, the group broke up. They had a two-week journey to the serpent border and then just over another two weeks to the home world. There would be plenty of time for them to look at the map.

  An hour before arriving at the outbound slipstream, a klaxon went off in the ship with Tavia announcing the rest period was ended. They were still an hour out but they had been given priority so there were a number of vessels waiting for them to enter first. Most of the ships waiting were either automated freighters or manned tramp freighters carrying private cargoes. No military ships were present, since they are only allowed in the system with special permission and they are not allowed to load their weapons. Only the ships of the 10th legion are allowed in the system routinely, and Slone’s dreadnought was one of them. His ship carried the eighth cohort of the 10th legion. William Marshal was the Centurion of the sixth Century of that cohort. He brought two of his best legionaries with him, both women, Claudia Reynolds and Melissa Jones. Both had fought well during the liberation of New Wales and carried the scars to prove it.

  They reached the slipstream in an hour and en
tered it. Ships could freely enter the slipstream wherever they liked, since nothing would happen until they raised the proper sales. The crew was now in the cockpit and Lorenzo and Christopher were there. The invisibility console usually manned by Sly was empty since they were in Romani space and did not need to vanish. Alaya ordered Allyson to raise the slipstream sails. The occupants could hear the motors projecting the collar of long poles that formed a circle of projections around the center of the ship. As soon as they were extended, the sails climbed up them to form a frill collar around the center of the ship. The aft sail projected on what looked like the skeleton of an inverted umbrella and formed a dish sail with the convex point facing the rear of the ship.

  Alaya then said, “Polarize.”

  Allyson pressed a button on her console and the side of the sails facing aft received a positive charge to attract the negative ions of the slipstream. The sails bulged from the force of the energy and the ship shook a second then started to accelerate towards the speed of light. As they neared light speed, the forward view became a wall of pure white and behind the ship it was pitch black as light was not able to catch up. Once the ship stopped accelerating, Allyson did some calculations and reported, “Speed is 1.96 light years per hour. Transit time to next system is 8 hours, 12 minutes.”

  “Post a watch and relax.”

  There is nothing to do in the slipstream. Ships cannot be detected or attacked. Only two things can be determined in the slipstream; one is the mass of another ship as one passes and the other is a message pod that is transmitting a recognition code. Because of the speeds involved, they pass quickly and no communication can take place until the next system is reached. Most ships just go into relax mode while in the slip stream and crews have to fight boredom. For the next two weeks there was constant slipstream travel and system transits, until they finally were about to enter the system which has served as the contact and trade point between humans and serpents for the past 300 years.

  Tavia reported they were about to exit the slipstream. The crew was at their stations and Alaya ordered the sails depolarized. Allyson pushed the appropriate button, the wall of white suddenly disappeared, and the galactic star field reappeared. The slipstream sails and their masts retracted. They had entered the Rubicon system.

  Alaya turned to her sensor tech, “What are our readings?”

  Albert was closely watching his readouts and he reported, “There are seven vessels in system, all appear to be freighters based on mass. Four are Romani and the other three are transmitting a serpent code. We are also getting telemetry from the Rubicon free trade station in orbit around the only planet in this system, a large, ringed gas giant. The main star is a light blue, main sequence, spectral class A.”

  Alaya asked, “How long is the transit time to Rubicon station. We need to refuel and restock supplies.”

  Allyson responded, “Five hours, twelve minutes.”

  “Ok set course to the station and send them notice we are planning to dock and resupply. Use the system sails.”

  Tavia put up the system masts that protruded from the top of the ship, one in the center and one in the rear, a mainmast and a mizzenmast. Square sails moved up the masts on yardarms and when polarized were turned to catch the star wind in the system. The Draco was small enough to move under sail only, using the star winds in each system. Tavia loved moving under sail only and they were short on fuel. The trading station was huge and when they arrived, they were told to dock in bay 143. As the Draco slid into position, the docking clamps immobilized the ship and Tavia put down the sails and retracted the masts. They opened the cargo hatch and Consul Lorenzo exited with the legionaries and the rest of the crew. As soon as Consul Lorenzo was recognized, everyone on the platform snapped to attention and directed the newcomers along with Sly and the emissary to the VIP lounge. They would spend a few days at the station as the ship was resupplied.

  Chapter 2 – Rubicon Station

  After refreshing at the VIP lounge, the Slones and Tavia made sure the station knew exactly what they needed to continue their journey. Since the Consul was part of the group, they were given priority. The finest suites were made available to the group and Sly and the emissary were quite happy to curl up on the carpet in a corner of the Tavia’s suite. She was sharing it with the other members of the Draco crew. She and the serpents were in one bedroom of the suite and the rest of the crew was in the second bedroom. The Slones had their own suite and the Consul was given a double suite for himself and his Romani guards and Centurion Marshal. The group left their guns aboard the ship but they did wear their bandoliers over their black military jumpsuits. The Romani favored swords for close combat. At the end of each bandolier that went over the left shoulder to the right hip, was a sheathed short sword. On their belt on the left side they carry a dagger. There was no expectation of any trouble on the station, but they just felt naked without some weapons.

  After a good night’s sleep, the Consul went to confer with the station commander. The trade portion of the station was civilian owned but the station itself was built and maintained by the military. The commander of the station had not been aboard when the Draco arrived. He was checking out a private mining operation on one of the numerous planetoids in the system. These were too small to be called planets, but larger enough to be mined. The commander was also responsible for security on the mining bases. The meeting with the commander was a courtesy call, but Lorenzo also wanted to get a feeling for how relations were out here with the serpents. The rest of the group spent the day stowing the supplies aboard the ship for a departure the next morning. After the day was done and Lorenzo returned with the legionaries who went with him as a bodyguard, the Slones decided to check out the local nightlife. Tavia and the legionaries agreed to come along, but the rest wanted to turn in early.

  There were two taverns on the station. The Slones picked the one nearest the living quarters and went in. Christopher could never understand why these places always had to be so dark. It also reeked of cheap alcohol. Life in space is mostly boredom and work. Every base or station build by humans has at least one tavern and these have what one normally finds in taverns, as well as local and travelling entertainment. On this particular night, there was a local band playing and the Slones took their seats at a large table in the corner. Word had spread that high-ranking visitors were on the station and that they were going to enter serpent space. The few brave souls who have wandered over the border in the past were met and turned back by serpent ships waiting at the end of the outbound slipstream. Sly and the hatchling were the only serpents on the station. Serpents were not restricted from human space, but all freight was passed back and forth on automated freighters and no crews were involved. On the human side, the freight arrived in automated and manned freighters, off loaded and then placed on automated ships that took it further. It was rare to see a serpent on the station, so the presence of Sly and the hatchling was a novelty.

  Alaya had spent a lot of time in taverns like this when she was scouting for the Sinclair Corporation. She and her friend and copilot, Allen Farnsworth, used to unwind with drinks and the occasional dart game. She missed Allen, who died heroically during the defense of New Wales. She and Christopher visited his ashes in the Mountain of Remembrance whenever they were in Roma, the capital city of Nova Romae. As they were discussing the coming adventure, a freighter captain named Robert Wingate asked if he could join them. Since there was an empty seat, Christopher motioned him to it and flagged the waiter down to bring him a beer.

  “Thank you, I’m Captain Wingate of the freighter Laura Beth.”

  Alaya did the honors introducing everyone at the table. “Are you delivering or picking up?”

  “Both, if there’s anything to pick up. It doesn’t make sense to run empty, but something is going on in serpent space.”

  Now everyone at the table perked up to listen. Christopher turned to Wingate and asked, “What exactly do you mean?”

  The freighte
r captain looked at them and said, “We come in here with full freighters with goods for export to the serpents. When we are ready to take back their exports, we’re lucky to get half a load. We used to fill our holds. In addition, the stuff we are hauling back is inferior to what we used to haul. If I was a betting man, I would say they are only sending us minimum stuff to reassure us that all is well, but it’s not.”

  This was news to the Romani and none of this had trickled back to Nova Romae. The Slones wondered if this was a universal feeling or just this one man’s opinion. Part of the 300-year relationship between the Nova Romae and the serpents was highly dependent on the trade relations. Since the humans could give nothing to the serpents in return for their ability to make human ships invisible, it was important to maintain the only common denominator, trade. If the serpents were now starting to curtail trade relations with the humans, that could be a sign of deeper problems to come.

  “Tell me, Captain Wingate,” This time it was Centurion Marshal asking, “do the other freighter captains feel the same?”

  “From what they say when you get them a little drunk, yes.”

  They enjoyed the company of Captain Wingate for another hour, and then he had to leave for a midnight departure slot. Traffic at the station was so high, that every arriving and departing ship was given an arrival or departure time slot, and if they missed it, they may have to wait up to two days for another. In the case of military vessels, such as the Draco, this did not apply and they always had priority of arrival and departure slots. When the captain left, the group decided to mingle with the tavern patrons and see if Wingate was right. After two hours of faked camaraderie, they had their answer and sat at their table as some patrons left and others entered. The tavern was always open, since day and night did not really exist on the station and traffic was ongoing around the clock.