Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 3 - New Shores (31 page)

Commander Ludario on Green one watched his tactical display as the swarm of human missiles arrived. He took a moment to appraise the precise skills the young human race had used to devise such dangerous weapons. He was aware that even a near miss could be lethal if a ship lost a shield. Frantic pulses of light flashed from the cruisers as they sought to destroy the missiles with their point defense lasers. They also launched several missile defenders but the commander knew that the human missiles were now very close. His weapons officer never took his eyes off the screen as he reported his frustrations with destroying the threat.

‘Sir, the humans have improved in the number and quality of counter measures since the attack on Gindane’s ship. The missiles are also taking random evasive action which is hindering our efforts and our section has only destroyed six or seven of them.’

The tactical officer did not speak further as the view screen flashed white from a series of missile strikes.

‘CLANG, ping, ping, CLANG, CLANG.’

Reverberating impacts sounded around the ship, and Commander Ludario screamed to his bridge crew over the din as the ship shook heavily and then lost lighting.

‘By the sour sap of the Matriarch, what was that Lieutenant? Also I want a status report of all ships in our section immediately.’

In minutes the Commander had his answers and he was dismayed by the findings the lieutenant presented to him.

‘Commander both our shields on Green one and those of Green three are at fifteen percent, I estimate we took four missile hits each and the strikes also overloaded the shield recharge generators and crippled half of our engines. Most of the main weapons arrays of both ships have been rendered inoperable by a kinetic weapon, possibly dense rods of tungsten or uranium that passed through our depleted shields.  Green two and Green four did not get hit as hard and have half their shields well down and their main weapons arrays are also damaged.’

Commander Ludario analyzed the news quickly; the emergency lighting now came on even as he took in the damage to his ship. His superb training now took over as he issued a series of commands.

‘Advise the admiral of the condition of all four ships and that we continue to withdraw, and advise Green two and Green four that they are to cover us as well as they can. Damage control parties to decks three to eight, and take all our weapons offline and just concentrate on preserving our shields.’

The commander considered that as Green one crawled away at reduced speed that they would very shortly be in range of the Trader hyper drive module with her mass of cruiser class guns. Soon afterwards the main Trader ship would also be in range with her heavier battle cruiser class guns. The thought of engaging the powerful Trader ships when his own ship was so badly damaged was enough to create a cold knot of fear in the commander’s stomach that he fought to hide. Hopefully the other ships in his squadron would fare better and rescue them.

                                                            ***

Admiral Baredio considered the reports coming in from his fleet with disbelief. Green section had been badly damaged and driven from the battle by the human missiles. He viewed the specifics of the attack with outright consternation as further reports of missile strikes on other ships were reported to the flagship. In moments the Admiral had learnt that Blue section also had two cruisers that suffered moderate damaged as they went to assist Green section. Apparently a human kinetic weapon was doing considerable damage to his ships at close range after the nuclear warheads depleted their shields.

Hard on the heels of these disturbing developments, their own ships in Gold and Red sections came under attack from the remaining mass of human missiles. The weapons and tactical officers took over control of the bridge for several minutes as both cruiser sections battled to protect themselves from the human missiles. Concentrated blasts of laser fire struck out into space and claimed many of the attacking missiles, but several missiles got through and massive explosions rocked the core ships of the Barus squadron. As quickly as it started the battle was over, and the admiral scanned the resulting damage reports with unease that was soon justified.

‘Well all the human missiles are now gone but we are in bad shape. Two ships from Red section have moderately damaged shields and their weapons arrays are badly damaged. Gold three has minimal damage to her shields, but half her engines are down and her weapons arrays are badly damaged. Most of the weapons damage to our nine ships appears to be from the kinetic weapons the humans are using.’

Admiral Baredio looked at Omerio and Gindane sadly, though his shoulders did not slump as he addressed them, and the rest of his crew on the bridge.

‘We have significant battle damage to nine of our cruisers and this battle is now over. Signal to the humans and the Traders that we no longer wish to fight and that we will withdraw. The research fleet will cover our retreat and we stay in the outskirts of the human system long enough to repair our ships and retreat.’

                                                            ***

The sentinel on Neptune considered the brief battle across the solar system near the human planet and still did not elect to awake the sleeping colonists. The now clearly damaged Barus ships were withdrawing across to the far side of the solar system and would not be a threat in the immediate future before they left the system.

The intelligent sentinel had collated reports of the battle and no doubt its masters would seek a full accounting of what had actually occurred. The sentinel powered down again to remain well hidden even as the colonists continued to hibernate.

                                                            ***

The Maveen probe patiently orbited the sleeping forms of the Ancients in the ocean depths, and quietly considered the limited reports coming from a cloaked mini-probe that he had earlier left on the great ice sheet to the south. The Earth probe’s restrictions had not included any advice on the mini-probes, and probe three considered that the minimal risk was worthwhile if he needed additional time to wake the ancients.

Probe three knew that even Maveen ships in orbit would struggle to locate a mini-probe that was cloaked, but he would recover the device anyway once both the Barus and the Traders had left the system. Probe three evaluated what information the mini-probe had recovered from the tense and short battle in space. If he could feel surprise he would have exclaimed in amazement, instead the Maveen probe only felt acutely heightened interest as it took in the news of an improbable human victory against a powerful Barus fleet.

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat looked around the bridge at the relieved faces of his crew and he knew that they would be leaving this system shortly. He looked over the closing distance to the hyper drive module and gave a brief command before he grinned broadly as he passed on his congratulations.

‘Garendestat and Damofestat, please coordinate speed matching between the main ship and the drive module. Once the courses are stable we will begin the docking maneuver. This victory will become galactic folklore if I am any judge, even if the Barus tried to force their way past your missiles. Now this is a fantastic result and a great job done to all who contributed to this terrific victory, especially to the humans and their supposedly primitive technology.’

Narindestat now turned to Steve and his mission team now standing near the command chair to thank them personally.

‘Steve, once again my crew and I are in your debt as a result of your actions and I wish to pass on my congratulations to the rest of your innovative race. I consider your race’s durability during adversity to be a great asset. The actions of the human missile teams have saved the lives of many of my crew as well as many Barus crew. You will have also mitigated the risk of a Barus punitive assault on your world after we leave your system shortly. Now we just need a few hours to dock with the module and we will leave your star system.’

Steve shook hands with his fellow team members before he replied to the captain.

‘Captain, I thank you for your gracious words to my team and the rest of the human race. We merely sought to maximize the dynamics of a unique situation and we are fortunate to be successful. Now I wish to talk first with the Barus admiral and then I would like to speak with our leaders back on Earth.’

Captain Narindestat wondered briefly what the human would be speaking to the Barus admiral about as he gave the orders for the radio link to be initiated. He turned his attention to readying his ship further for the docking maneuver, before they then fled to the outskirts of the galaxy.

                                                            ***

Epilogue

Steve stood beside the command chair on the bridge of the Trader ship with the members of his mission team as he began to speak with the admiral on the flagship of the Barus fleet. He had insisted that the conversation between the two races be recorded as well as transmitted down to the Earth receding behind the Illuria.

Steve could see Gindane and a Barus male, who was introduced as Omerio, talking to a seated older Barus who was in turn introduced as Admiral Baredio, who did not speak English. Steve also noted the cool expression of Captain Narindestat as he looked at the Barus and he wondered for a moment what that was caused by. The Barus officers in turn studied closely the condition of the Traders and he felt they paid attention that their glimmer tattoos were clearly visible.

‘Admiral, I thank you and your crew for your courtesy in speaking with me. I hope your crew losses were not too high over this incident, we regret the loss of any lives over a simple misunderstanding.’

The Barus looked at Steve and his team and did not reply for a moment before Gindane got a nod of approval from the admiral.

‘Steve, the crew losses are light compared to the damage to our ships and to our pride. We are though at a loss to understand what you want to talk about as you are now free to leave.’

Steve had his points already worked out as he continued.

‘We are leaving soon but I am concerned about the safety of my home world after the Trader ship leaves. I would like to think that humanity would not suffer any punishment for what happened out here today.’

Gindane translated Steve’s comments for the benefit of the Admiral who icily looked over at the Trader ship, before he stood up and began pacing the deck speaking in a deep voice. Gindane gave a start and Captain Narindestat grimaced, as no doubt there might have been colourful initial language in the admiral’s reply, before she again translated only his words.

‘Steve, we were unlikely to assault the Earth even if we had defeated the Traders. Strict edicts for haven worlds are in place and the Traders would have advised you about being entitled to protect yourselves. We accept the blame for our own defeat by not talking to the Traders adequately before our attempted interdiction and by underestimating the effects of your missiles.’

Steve was relieved with this reply and he now moved on to his other concerns.

‘Gindane, so what happens now with the Barus relationship with the Traders and Maveen? Noting that they only merely destroyed a swarm of your own missiles? Remember also that the Traders have been ill and lost several crew to our diseases. They may yet still die of illnesses at a later stage.’

The translation was made again and the Barus admiral again paced his deck before he replied. Steve looked at the behaviour and was again reminded on how much the brown furred Barus resembled two legged lions, albeit with no tail, much smaller jaws and larger heads. Gindane looked the admiral again and now spoke after getting another nod of approval.

‘We will be required to report this incident, especially the involvement of the Maveen. The Trader crew will be likely fined in their absence and a heavy penalty levied against their home base. We remain only slightly concerned about a possible illness amongst the Traders, though we will make note of it. The Cephrit – Tilmud war makes the chances of immediate further vassal interdiction unlikely. Indeed a fleet was nearly not sent here at all as the Deltas Vass refused to be involved.’

Captain Narindestat looked over at this news and he first looked at Steve, before he spoke carefully in English to the Barus.

‘Admiral, I would like to express our regrets for the unfortunate loss of your brave warriors during our recent conflict. Omerio, we meet again after our meeting three years ago at a Cephrit star base. We return the Maveen to the outskirts of the galaxy as our original mission at a nearby star system was not realised.’

Gindane flashed a nervous glance at Omerio before she translated for the admiral, who had paused and glared balefully at both Omerio and the Trader Captain. Omerio for his part kept silent for a moment before the admiral spoke again to Gindane. Then the admiral took him to one side on the bridge and they had their own private conversation.

‘So what is all that about Omerio or do I have to arrest you for treason?’

Omerio looked calmly around the bridge as he replied.

‘Admiral, it was to do with a sanctioned intelligence mission and involves misdirection; I can give you further details later.’

Admiral Baredio gave his nephew a calculating glance as he spoke again.

‘You are a dark one Omerio, one day you are going to slip up and I will be forced to act and arrest you.’

Omerio deigned not to reply as they rejoined the conversation, and he noted the Trader captain was speaking again to Gindane. He was thankful of Narindestat’s misdirection as he took in what he was saying.

‘The Maveen have never divulged their mission to me but our eventual course was for one of the former Dradfer colonies. However we made our last trade stop beforehand with a Jerecab lifter on a small world that we since discovered was contaminated by Voorde.’