Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace (15 page)

Freya ignored the watching Fenshilla and proceeded to organise the survivors to help the injured and set up basic services in the hold. She looked over the lower section at the far end of the hold and noted that the crew support area provided cold water only for drinking and showers, and basic toilets. The commander later walked over to see how Ben was going and noted he must have blacked out when the other crew members set his broken leg.

Emma was huddled in fright in one corner and Freya went over with two other women attend to her injuries. Later the commander rationed out the food and allocated a series of watches for the crew to take. After a sombre meal, the few living lieutenants of both ships huddled around her as she issued a series of instructions that no left no doubt in their minds about her intentions.

                                                                     ***

Joel Everson looked over the sensor data showing the oncoming Jerecab frigates with unease. The three Earth destroyers continued to cover the small convoy even as long range weapons fire was exchanged between the humans and the Jerecab. Already two of the troop transports had been damaged by the Jerecab and the Auckland had been forced to attack frigates in reply. Joel knew that this response in turn placed the Auckland at greater risk of damage from the other frigates.

Lieutenant Chandra kept updating the status of the destroyer as they continued to travel to the next hyper jump point only twenty minutes away.

‘Commander, our shields are down to sixty percent and the frigates have launched another twelve missiles. The Newport and the Madrid are faring better with each of them having over eighty percent shield strength.’

Joel looked impatiently at the discharge timer for the spinal mount weapon, and noted that it still had three minutes until the weapon was recharged. He was confident that they would escape unharmed when he noted the targets of the oncoming missiles and gave sharp orders to counter their threat.

‘All ships to engage those missiles for the frigates are attacking the troop carriers.’

The three destroyers again altered course to protect the transports and their point defences claimed eight of the missiles as they raced past. Another two missiles were shot down by the transports before the last two missiles struck the two transports damaged earlier. Joel swore to himself as he noted that the engines of both the Bowman and the Achilles had been destroyed. Suddenly both the commander and Lieutenant Chandra noted a new development in nearby space.

Joel looked at the footage a side camera had obtained even as Lieutenant Chandra identified the new ships.

‘Commander, a Trader ship has entered the system about two hundred thousand kilometres from our position. She has launched her sneak ships and they are an intercept vector with the Jerecab frigates.’

Joel felt great relief with the news and immediately gave a curt order across his bridge.

‘Open a link to the Trader ship.’

The commander waited the few moments it took to establish the link and noted that their main screen now showed the impassive features of a Trader captain standing tall on the bridge of his command. Joel gave a deep bow of respect as he spoke, for he knew the likely name of the captain.

‘I am Commander Joel Everson from Earth in command of the destroyer Auckland. I presume you are Captain Narindestat and I thank you for your rescue of my small fleet of ships.’

Narindestat answered with a polite bow of his own and now gave urgent instructions.

‘Commander, I regret I cannot aid you defending your home world, but we are able to help you here today. Fortunately we arrived in time to help you with those frigates. Now two of our sneak ships are being operated by Barede colonists and they will come to the aid of your transports. I suggest you stay with your transports and prepare to leave here as soon as we destroy these frigates.’

Joel watched as the Jerecab broke off their attack and raced for the far side of the star system. He could see that the Trader sneak ships should overhaul the Jerecab frigates in a couple of hours. The formation of ten sneak ships trailed by the larger wing ship shot past the small collection of human ships with over twenty thousand kilometres separation. The commander could also see two more sneak ships heading towards his location, and in moments he was talking with a Lieutenant Rick Greene.

‘Commander Everson, it is good to hear from our home world after so long. We are permitted to exchange key information; however as Captain Narindestat stated the Traders cannot interfere at Earth. We will go alongside the transports in fifteen minutes as my commanding officer, Commander Paul Burgess, will lead the evacuation of the injured from those ships.’

Joel was feeling relieved with the news and he added information of his own in reply.

‘Lieutenant, we have much to discuss if possible at a later stage. For now I will send a transport over to each ship to take off the survivors. The injured are to be moved across to one of our destroyers at a later stage.’

Joel waited patiently for over an hour as the two sneak ships docked with the damaged troop ships. He knew that due to the nature of war in space that the injured they would eventually recover would consist of mainly broken limbs, for any crew affected by severe burns or smoke inhalation usually died fairly quickly. The point defences of the destroyers could not be shielded adequately and it was common for the crew operating these weapons to be broiled in their suits during their recent battles. Shortly afterwards the two nominated transports also docked on the other side of the damaged transports and began to take off any uninjured crew or marines. Lieutenant Chandra was monitoring the rapid withdrawal of the Jerecab frigates and he gave a concise report.

‘Commander, the Jerecab have already lost three of their frigates as they flee. The long range weapons of the Traders appear to be doing most of the damage. The transports have lost several crew members in their engineering sections, their main drives are destroyed and both shields and life support are minimal. Internal access throughout the transports is hampered by damage and loss of power. The Madrid will go alongside each transport after the sneak ships undock to remove the wounded.’

Joel noted with satisfaction that another two Jerecab frigates had been destroyed before Rick Green reported back to him as well.

‘Commander Everson, we will leave our medical teams aboard the two transports to assist the Madrid, before we recover them at a later stage. Captain Narindestat will return with the Resuria and her sneak ships in about six hours.’

Joel could not keep his curiosity in check any longer and he thanked Lieutenant Greene before asking his first questions.

‘Lieutenant, thank you once again for the assistance of you and your crew. Now Earth has not heard from the Barede colony, the Traders or the Maveen for one hundred and fifty years. We understand the limitations of the agreement specified back on Earth so long ago, but can you provide any news of assistance that could be supplied to defend our world?’

Rick was waiting for the question and had been well briefed earlier by both Commander Burgess and Captain Narindestat.

‘Commander, there are a smaller number of Maveen in the surrounding star systems but we are unable to establish if they can help you. The Maveen have instructed the Traders not to go to Earth as that would jeopardise your world further given the continued political difficulties between the Traders and the vassal races. The former mentor race of the Traders, the Cephrit, will intervene here shortly but we do not know if they will assist defending your own world.’

Joel was a bit nonplussed with this information as he was hoping that the Jerecab could still be discouraged from attacking Earth. His next questions highlighted his despair as he sought to obtain reassurances.

‘Rick, we can understand that Barede and the colonies she has founded would be too far away and possibly not strong enough to help us yet. But are the other vassal races likely to become involved in our defence? The Barus have a squadron now helping us and we are hoping to see a tangible plan offered to defend our world.’

Rick could understand the problems his counterpart was facing and gave a nod of understanding as he replied.

‘Joel, if I may use your first name. We have had little contact with the vassals also and this was the main reason for us now being in this part of the galaxy. Our special expedition force stowed away on the Resuria and we were then forbidden to meet with the Cephrit, though in hindsight they may suspect we were onboard the wing ship. We suspect the Deltas Vass may also become invoiced and we have seen several Sspol ships during our journey, though of course they are another reclusive independent race.’

Joel sat back to talk further with Rick, as a high speed data transfer covering the events of the last one hundred and fifty years was sent between their two ships.

The talk was of colonies and a race separated many generations ago, and so he learnt of the dozen ‘new’ colonies named after key areas of Earth, including Oceania, New America, New Asia, New Africa, New Hispania, New Canada and New Europe. The commander tried to take in as much as he could, but the amount of data overwhelmed him. He sat back to offer a pithy opinion as an update on the two crippled transports reached him.

‘Well Rick, you guys have been certainly busy and ninety million people on over a dozen worlds are most certainly an inspiring effort. Now my only worry is getting your information home with us and of course you are welcome to come with us.’

Rick was waiting for the offer and he was direct in his reply.

‘Unless Captain Narindestat releases us from his charge we will have to return with him as he would not like to lose these two sneak ships. He has just signalled my sneak ship and he reports that the last of the Jerecab frigates have been destroyed.’

Joel noted the reply and once again thought about why the Traders could not come to Earth’s rescue. The two men continued their conversation and Joel got an inkling of the military potential of the Barede federation.

                                                                     ***

Admiral Mary Neilson was feeling more confident after her fleet had run past the possible ambush site on their way out to the Echelon base. Already she had discounted the losses of their smaller forward bases and tech labs. Mary stayed on her bridge as an engineering team released a series of cargo pods that she hoped Joel Everson would recover on his own journey back to Earth. The admiral also knew that their hidden fuel reserves elsewhere in the Echelon system would at least give Joel and his surviving ships a fighting chance in returning in time for the battle at Earth.

Mary had been looking over their return journey and had updated a series of contingency plans in the event they could be needed. She noted that Lieutenant Commander Griggs was engrossed in one plan in particular, and she noted the location of the star system as she commented on his interest.

‘The 61 Cygni or Bessel system was explored by my mother on her second last mission and we have good intelligence on the star system. Now as you know the star system has two outer and three inner hyper drive points and they are all constantly moving in relationship to one another. We are willing to bet that that the vassal races do not know of this specific information and we will be taking advantage of that possibility. But first we need another ambush location on our journey home and there are three possible locations that we can consider …’

John Griggs was also confident that this was the case and he offered a studied reply.

‘Admiral, I think we can slow them down as their supply change is already long and vulnerable. I think Joel’s mission will really put a dent in the timeline of their attack if he is successful. Our two ambushes are worthwhile for the same reason, and the Bessel system is recommended for an ambush. These plans also give Joel the opportunity to rejoin our fleet, as he was involved in the earlier planning sessions. Otherwise we hopefully will see him again at Tau Ceti or Epsilon Eridani.’

John was well aware of the significance of the Bessel system for the history of the star’s exploration was taught first in all schools and later in the space academy.

He was relieved that the admiral did not talk much about her mother, Lesley Neilson, for he knew that the intrepid explorer and her ship had been lost, presumed dead, in her last mission heading out towards the former Dradfer colonies themselves. The Lieutenant Commander brought up the three candidate star systems and referenced his own notes he had prepared earlier. He knew that the admiral would later canvas her best commanders in their other destroyers, and he was confident they would implement a nasty surprise or two for the Jerecab armada on the long journey back to Earth.

                                                                     ***

Admiral Baunrus had screamed yet again at another frigate commander for not obeying his orders to the letter, after the frigate had returned alone and early from a patrol well towards the Jerecab rear deployment zones. Two lieutenants had wrestled the unfortunate commander to the deck after the admiral had relieved him of command, and they had tied up their former commander before he had been unceremoniously dumped out of a nearby airlock. Baunrus promoted the older lieutenant on the spot and the other officer rearranged his rumpled tunic before taking command.

The new commander nervously looked back at Baunrus as he was interrogated by the admiral.

‘So you are saying that you were attacked by both Sspol and Barus cruisers and yet your ship survived relatively undamaged, despite the former commander being the senior officer in the squadron? So how many Sspol and Barus ships did your squadron encounter on your patrol?’

The new commander kept calm as he replied as accurately as he could, for he was aware that he could easily follow his former commander, whose name he was too smart to mention now, in being forced out an airlock.