Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 3 - New Shores (14 page)

‘I see that the Cephrit have left for their own systems, and the Deltas Vass remain true to their form and dither here. I assume you will stay to guard the Deltas Vass and I will have to go back in another research ship to capture this Trader ship.’

Omerio managed to suppress a chuckle, but could not suppress the smirk, as his uncle glared before reproaching both the younger Barus.

‘Omerio, I remember you wisely keeping silent until spoken to when we were on the Deltas Vass flagship. Now Commander Gindane, or should I make your rank Lieutenant Gindane? Or even Ensign Gindane? I feel you have already been harshly dealt with by the Vorinne envoy so I will overlook your impertinence.’

Commander Gindane sagged for a moment in her arm chair, before she regained composure and shot Omerio a look of disdain as she replied to the admiral.

‘Admiral, I am sorry for my outburst, but the last few days have been harrowing. The Maveen have scores of their ships in the Earth’s atmosphere and the Trader ship remains on the planet surface. We risked our ship and our lives to bring this news to the authorities as soon as possible.’

The admiral now visibly calmer, waved aside Gindane’s apology as he informed her what he was about to order.

‘I can understand your frustration and it is not a problem. We are in final preparations to leave this star system for the human system. We will of course get there slower than your three days, but faster than the week it takes for a regular journey to that system. You will be a guest on my ship with Omerio, who has also damaged his ship again during his own remarkable exploits. Now review your report to me and provide any conclusions that you have decided in the meantime. Note that I will not let either of you compromise my decision making process as you are officially guests not advisors.’

Gindane felt relief with the calmness now radiating from the admiral. She prefaced her report with a comment to Omerio, and momentarily looked into his eyes with traces of concern.

‘I trust you are well Omerio. No doubt the hold of your small ship is bursting yet again at the seams from services you have provided to alien races?’

Omerio gave Gindane a soft smile as replied he was well, ignored the well meaning but barbed question, and again considered the warning given in the admiral’s last sentence. Gindane recited from memory her lengthy report. He avoided looking at her too much as she continued her report, as it was considered in their current context to be socially demeaning to her due to his own social position as a single male.

The admiral, a married officer who was not so constrained, took in Gindane’s regal beauty as he noted Omerio’s detachment. He smiled inwardly to himself as he continued to listen. The admiral was all for any method to restrain Omerio from his worse impulses, and a marriage to Gindane would offer a decent solution as well as benefits in the long term. However there was the matter of Gindane’s recent fall from grace that made any attempts to marry her off futile without the royal courts consent. The admiral pondered that constraint, and he had the beginning of an idea, as he continued to pay close attention to the research commander’s concise report.

                                                            ***

Vic Mitchell tapped on the door of the four wheel drive in the early morning light, and he watched patiently as James Mudbury yawned and stretched, before carefully looking around and opening the window. Vic decided that the young man was still uneasy over the events of the night as he handed him a coffee, and gave him a warm smile.

‘James, are you okay mate? Once again that was a pretty brave thing you did to rescue Rachael and Amanda. My daughter is caring for the girls and I had a good chat with them after first speaking with my boys.’

James gave a now embarrassed smile and did not meet Vic’s eye for several seconds. Vic remembered the innate shyness present in many young aboriginals as he continued to speak carefully.

‘Now we all agree that you will under arrest on serious charges if the police find you even if they were Bangers. More to the point, you would not survive the revenge of other Bangers long in prison. Plus the girls would be looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives.’

James stretched again as he politely handed the cup back to Vic before he replied.

‘I see where you are going with this Vic, and I see no way out of it. We are going to the colony with you.’

Vic paused in his reply as he took in the four wheel drive and the boat further, before he handed James his mobile phone.

‘We will get you going as soon as we can do so James. When you leave for the gateway please give my mobile to Rachael to call her mother. Now show me this new rig you own before the others arrive.’

Within minutes the girls had made an appearance and James gave both Rachael and Amanda a reassuring hug. Paul appeared and quickly studied the boat and trailer with interest before he left to fetch a scraper, a roller, a tray and a tin of white paint. As James now slowly ate a pie that the girls had been given, Paul returned and scraped off the registration stickers for the yacht. He then also scraped off a small, but lewd hand painted mural on the transom, before quickly using a roller to paint over the now scratched areas.

For good measure Vic returned with his other sons and a trolley jack. As quietly as possible the men swapped all four wheels and the spare from the four wheel drive with other wheels that his youngest son had on his own four wheel drive. Paul looked calmly around the marshalling area, before he slightly altered the license plates of the four wheel drive with two well placed spots of paint.

A rough looking man stood two bays over beside his sleeper backed furniture truck with his wife and two daughters. As the stranger ushered his family back into the truck he gave James a big smile and thumbs up sign. Vic in turn quietly urged James and the two girls into the four wheel drive. He spoke urgently as his sons returned again with clear plastic water drums and boxes of food, which they placed in the back of the four wheel drive.

‘Other folks will work it out soon as the media reports are starting to get out. Now stay cool and do not draw attention to yourselves. Rachael, call your mother as you approach the gateway and we will see you later.’

James shook hands with Vic and he calmly drove the four wheel drive and trailer toward the gate leading to the main runway. At three stops soldiers would approach the car and check that they had enough food and water. James watched as they turned aside a couple in an expensive convertible that had obviously just driven up on a lark.

Another soldier now came along with a clipboard and took in the car and trailer for a moment, before he knelt down beside the car window with a knowing look. He shuffled his webbing and side arm, and then took in the large bruise on Rachael’s face as he spoke to James, who was struggling to contain rising panic.

‘Mate you did a great thing knocking over those bastards. Also you are doing a wise thing coming with us. Please give me your full real names and I will lose the details for a few days. Just keep it cool and you will be through soon.’

The soldier took a piece of paper from the back of the clipboard and recorded their real names before he hid the paper at the back of his clipboard again, as James started to feel calmer. The soldier then walked along the driver’s window and waved off any further attempts by other soldiers to approach.

Rachael reached for Vic’s phone and called her mother with her left hand, as she was using her right hand to hold onto James in a strong grip. James thought that at least one other SAS trooper had worked it all out, as he got a couple of subtle thumbs up gestures as he drove closer to the gateway. Rachael was in the middle of a tearful farewell to her mother and as James stopped for what he hoped was the last time, he gave her hand another reassuring squeeze.

Amanda had her hand on Rachael’s shoulder and was softly crying as she looked around the car. Several empty trucks were coming through with their lights on and they were moving to the side of the runway, before the soldier spoke again and gave James a handshake through the window.

‘Turn your lights on as it is night time in the colony. Best of luck to you and the girls mate.’

James had time to call out to Rachael ‘we are leaving’ before he was waved to go forward through the gateway. Rachael gave a heart-wrenching sob before she buried her head into his shoulders as James drove through the gateway.

                                                            ***

Chapter 7

Garendestat looked over the video feed supplied by the human’s helmet cameras with quiet satisfaction. He had taken temporary command after the first long day of the repairs to the aero spike engine. His father was now recovering from his own emergency treatment via the pressure chamber. He quietly watched as the human engineers carefully unwound the last heavy bolt securing the middle shaft housing.

The humans definitely seemed more confident after replacing the rear housings late yesterday. The bolt was a thick as human and weighted several times his own larger mass. Garendestat gave them another quiet reminder as they looped a thin lifting cable through the three holes in the head of the bolt.

‘Careful now as the bolt cannot be dropped as the fine pitch on the thread is easily damaged.’

For their part the human cameras did not even turn as the humans now hoisted the bolt clear. In moments they had winched it along a cable strung across between two upper support cleats recessed into the chamber and Garendestat admired their deft touch. They definitely were capable of performing complex mechanical tasks that would leave a Jerecab in a disorganised dither and which a Tilmud lacked the physical dexterity to perform. Rick had been checking the heavy bolt and he now looked over the housing as he provided an update.

‘Garendestat, the good news is that this bolt is also intact, and the bad news is that one side of the middle housing is fractured and loose. Do you still want me to remove the intact side out of the way first?’

Garendestat had checked this scenario in a video feed with Lieutenant Damofestat earlier, and then with Engineer Halbindestat, who now sat quietly nearby as he was still unwell.

‘Rick, just ensure that if any fragments come lose that you are not under them or that they land and dent the engine chamber.’

Garendestat knew that a lot of the preparation yesterday had involved placing soft thick matts down inside the two locations after they braced the main shaft. They had decided on the rear housing first as it would offer a degree of further safety if the slings and braces inside the engine moved during later work. Besides they decided that if the rear of the shaft was damaged then the ship was surely stranded. However the lengthy work on the rear housing had been successfully accomplished and the Traders still had real chance of escape to space. Fortunately the forward housing featured an access point and the integrity had been earlier verified by Rick merely shining his camera inside the opening in the housing.

Garendestat came back to the present moment, as the humans had now checked heavy netting to hopefully use to catch pieces of the fractured housing if it came lose. He watched as Rick placed himself around the intact side of the housing and gave it an experimental pull towards him. The intact half housing slid slowly towards him for about half a metre on the bottom plate. After it stopped, Mark stuck his head around the corner and looked up at the shaft between the two half housings.

After a moment’s hesitation Mark gave another report.

‘Garendestat, there is not pitting or scuffs to the shaft on this side. Also the cracked housing is definitely damaged internally though the damage is well way from the shaft.’

In moments the humans pushed along the cracked shaft housing further, before a yell came from Steve further forward inside the engine compartment.

‘Mark it is moving, get out!’

Garendestat watched the video feed anxiously and resisted the urge to place his head inside the access hatch, as Mark now breathlessly spoke again.

‘Thanks Steve, no problem now, as the top part moved a few centimetres but is still well held. We can drop a heavy mat into the netting so no fragments come through before I move it into the hatch.’

After this was done, Rick and his engineers gave the top section a hefty shove and two tonnes of housing fragment slid uneventfully into the heavy netting. Steve and other humans carefully lowered the netting to the access hatch, and two junior Traders used carefully handled waldos to reach two metres into the portal to remove the fragment.

Halbindestat slowly stood up and inspected the top face of the damaged housing.

‘Garendestat, the top face is also undamaged so the shaft will be fine. Please proceed with getting the rest of the housing out.’

After several more sessions of pushing the fragments into netting and then painstakingly removing the heavy pieces manually, the last piece remaining was the heavy base. Keeping clear of the jagged edges, Rick and his engineers now carefully slid the last piece across on the matting to the access portal.

Steve and his team then placed a cable in the lifting eye and lifted the base fragment before moving it over the access portal. After the broken base was positioned correctly they had lowered the razor sharp titanium ceramic alloy through the portal with the waldo units guiding the operation. A few calls had gone out from the humans as they accomplished this and Garendestat held his silence The Traders were usually a lot more reserved, and besides the job was not finished yet.

The heavier intact half of the housing was removed by carefully turning it sideways and sliding it slowly on the matting towards the access hatch. Both the human and Trader engineers were adamant that both sub housings for the middle and rear supports would need to be removed as there was a possibility of internal damage or hairline cracks in the face of the housing.

Garendestat stuck his head up into the hatch and looked up at the humans and the massive half housing as he spoke.