Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace (33 page)

‘Your majesty, my ship is on a mission of exploration with the Maveen and we will be leaving in a few days. A Trader ship is also due to arrive in this system with other Maveen at a later stage.’

The queen quietly took in this information and turned to one side as she discussed the news with her subjects, including Berrinal. After several minutes she addressed Grant in a thin voice still full of authority.

‘We trust the Traders to trade with us in a discrete fashion with their sneak ships. We will trade with you today, but in future you will have to go through the Traders to access our products.’

Grant readily agreed to the queen’s ruling, but was at a loss to work out what he could trade in return. So he merely offered to trade what he had in the shuttle.

‘Your majesty I have human foodstuffs, several pallets of metals, precious stones and woven basalt sheets in my shuttle. Would these items be of interest in trade with your race?’

Berrinal fielded the question as the queen gave Grant an enigmatic smile.

‘Captain, if you also supply tissue samples, painlessly of course, and a history of your people we will more than happy to trade for the items you listed.’

Grant soon found himself providing a variety of hair, blood and skin samples to the waiting Quixxe after two of their medics also came forward. He had a flash of inspiration and quickly excused himself to fetch two items from the shuttle. The freighter captain then slowly walked back to the queen and presented the items after bowing yet again.

‘This device is a talking holographic encyclopaedia that speaks in both human English and Trader language. We use it for teaching the Traders about the human race, and I also have a solar panel powered energy pack for it as well.’

Grant soon had the items setup and the Quixxe listened in rapture as the encyclopaedia gave an overview of Earth.

‘The Barede colony was founded one hundred and fifty years ago in year 2051 AD Earth time and year one Barede time. The colony was created after Maveen gate ships linked directly from the Earth’s surface to destination gate ships on the Barede planet…’

Grant was puzzled by a muted buzz that came from the assembled Quixxe as a picture of the Earth and its moon then appeared as the next holograph. The discussions soon moved to items that the Quixxe manufactured and the queen surprised him with her next offer.

‘Captain, we have a rare series of paintings that cover both folklore and history in the galaxy. We can replace these painting ourselves as we have copies of them elsewhere and we remember them vividly in any case.’

Grant was going to refuse, but this time Berrinal was quick to reassure him.

‘We are determined to be of assistance in your own future role in the galaxy and these paintings may be helpful. We will soon recreate them for our own use here after you have left.’

Grant then noted that a few Quixxe artisans were off to one side either recording his presence with recording devices or furiously painting away. He crossed over to them as they continued to work and admired their handy work.

‘These images are really very good and I am impressed….’

The trading went ahead and Grant’s shuttle was soon emptied out to be reloaded with the fourteen large canvas paintings and bolts of fabric. Grant stayed with the Quixxe for a formal meal of ryal and vegetables, before he turned to his shuttle to leave.

‘Your majesty, I request I be excused as I will have to return to my main ship shortly. It has been an honour to meet you and I wish you well.’

Queen Lorrinel warmly wished Grant well in return, and he was soon piloting his shuttle back into space. After Grant had docked with the Emerald Sky, the Maveen probe’s voice came through the speaker as Gayle and Olav joined him in the shuttle’s hold.

‘So with the trade items from the Quixxe, do you see the importance of the items that the queen has traded to you? Also I will remind you that the existence of this world should be kept a secret.’

Grant quietly removed the cargo strap from the first wrapped painting and lifted it up to the light. A series of symbols and alien races were present on the canvas, and both Gayle and Olav gave him nervous glances as he finally replied to the Maveen probe.

‘Yes we already have a brief idea of the importance of these items and both human and Trader authorities will have access to these items in secret. We will encrypt the location details for the Quixxe planet and it will be an official secret.’

Grant then began his preparations to take the Emerald Sky onto her next destination. He was mindful to leave a low powered message probe for Captain Narindestat to locate before he left the Kilin star system.

Back on the surface of the planet, the queen and her son were quietly discussing a particular image they had seen on the hologram. Berrinal framed a nervous question to his mother.

‘The planet is a described in ancient history and the moon seals the argument. Surely the other galactic races must be aware of the importance of the human planet?’

Queen Lorrinel looked at Berrinal sadly as she softly replied with a single telling sentence.

‘The Dradfer knew of the significance as was borne out by the last great rebellion.’

Berrinal repressed a shudder as he took in further details of the human home world, and he was sure that the peace of the galaxy was to be broken yet again.

                                                                     ***

Thatak’siema was feeling better after two days of rest, though her two broken legs itched badly in their casts. The itching had not done anything for her mood and the Cephrit station master was now well acquainted of this problem. The demeanour of Lord Malang’troh watching silently from one side did not fill him with confidence either as the second envoy berated him again.

‘So your superior officer, the fleet master, leaves just a few hours before I arrive. The Barus captains Omerio and Gindane are either at the former Dradfer colonies or even now defending the human home world. So what possibly worthless news can you give me about the Jerecab lately?’

The last sentence was delivered in a near shout and the station master loudly grated his hind scales in anxiety as replied.

‘Your grace our scout ships have discovered that the humans left for their home world pursued by the Jerecab armada. Also several human ships are trailing behind the armada as they seek to rejoin their own fleet. These ships are being pursued by Jerecab reinforcements that include large Jerecab lifters.’

The Cephrit paused now and bowed in respect, though Thatak’siema did not appreciate his delay as she spoke again.

‘There is something else occurring no doubt that you needed to tell me about?’

The station master knew that it was unlikely the Vorinne yet knew either the significance of the Quixxe servants in the corner of the room, or the planet were the fleet master had recently hidden the equipment from the Traders. However he decided that the fixed and malevolent stares of the two senior Vorinne could shortly mean serious trouble for him personally. So the station master volunteered something he knew the Vorinne would be interested in, despite it not directly involving either the Barus or the Cephrit.

‘Your grace, my lord, one of our scout ships witnessed a fleet of Fenshilla ships capture survivors from human ships. The Fenshilla then engaged a Trader wing ship before it fled from them. Four of the eight Fenshilla ships followed the Trader ship towards the outskirts of the galaxy, while the other four ships are slowly returning to Fenshilla space. These ships appear to have damaged hyper drive modules and so are forced to slowly retreat...’

The two Vorinne shared a long glance with one another before Lord Malang’troh knocked his staff once on the ground, and the Cephrit male fell silent as the Vorinne lord spoke.

‘Station master we encountered the Fenshilla earlier and we assumed they had left for their own systems after we confronted them. So why should we be concerned about these ships so far from vassal space?’

The station master felt relieved that he would survive the current meeting as he carefully replied.

‘The Fenshilla are actually from the Black Claw brigade and the ships were likely supplied by Lord Temeroth according to our intelligence sources. We also…’

The two Vorinne looked at each again other with long stares and the Cephrit male fell silent again as he knew that he had deflected their interest in other matters for the time being. He decided that truth was a powerful weapon as the Vorinne dismissed him from their questions. He moved across to one side wall as a Deltas Vass fleet commander walked in to the room.

Thatak’siema felt no relief as the Deltas Vass gave both the senior Vorinne a deep bow of respect. Her unease was heightened as Lord Malang’troh now placed his staff of office onto the bare deck to signify imperial authority was suspended for the moment. The Deltas Vass commander noted that the conversation was to be just vassal race to vassal race, but still spoke formally.

‘My greetings and respect to you your grace and to you my lord. My fleet has been sent here in response to a request for aid from the fleet master. Our obligation is honour the Cephrit request under galactic law, though we will of course at least consider anything else you ask of us.’

Thatak’siema knew that it was hopeless as soon as Malang’troh had placed his staff on the deck. She knew that her serf lord had his reasons and she even agreed with most of them. However she made an honest effort to steer the Deltas Vass commander in the direction she wanted him to go.

‘I understand that we cannot change your orders under the same accords, however there have been recent developments and we now wish for you to take your fleet with our fleet to Earth….’

The second envoy then spent some time stepping the Deltas Vass commander through the latest intelligence, and she even got nodding agreement from the station master standing to one side. However the Deltas Vass drone was patient and polite in his refusal.

‘My apologies your grace, but we will not even take our fleet to the former Dradfer colonies let alone Earth. We will just patrol the Cephrit outer zone as requested by the fleet master. Our matriarch has been quite clear in our instructions under the edicts in this regard…’

The highly trained drone explained the Deltas Vass position on this matter for an extended period, before the two Vorinne got bored with his answer and ended the meeting. The two senior vassals had then left the meeting after muttering something urgently about Fenshilla in one of their many dialects.

The commander crossed to the station master and greeted him with a bow of respect before speaking coolly.

‘Surely the first amongst us can see the importance of remaining within the law under the edicts? Also they must understand the reluctance of our race to go to either the former Dradfer colonies let alone Earth, a haven system?’

The Cephrit station master knew that the Deltas Vass had excellent and legitimate reasons for his refusal, and so had remained still and silent as he ensured that the two Vorinne had left. He also knew that frustrating the senior vassals was not recommended, and neither was it healthy to gloat about their request being refused either. The two allies continued to talk quietly between themselves while the Quixxe servants behind them remained discretely silent as they supplied food and drink.

                                                                     ***

Chapter 16

Colonel Mark Patton hunkered down in the dugout and ensured he was fully covered by the radiation blanket. Overhead a firestorm erupted across their shields as they were strafed by two more Jerecab frigates. The colonel watched the shield indicators with satisfaction, for the Jerecab had under-estimated the capabilities of his forces.

Joel Everson had promptly left several days ago with his five ship strong task force. The Jerecab ships, all ninety or so of the reinforcements, had quickly taken off in hot pursuit even as they entered the Gold system. Mark knew that if the Jerecab had instead used their all reinforcements to attack his position then his marines would have been quickly defeated.

Mark’s troops still faced a number of Jerecab marines across the river, occasional strafing attacks by obviously damaged Jerecab frigates, and the threat from their few troop transports still in orbit. The colonel was in the process of folding up his radiation blanket as one of his troop commanders sprinted over to see him. Something in the commander’s urgency made him stop as he realised that their radio network was not working.

‘Colonel, just before our radio and scanner network failed we detected several large ships arriving in orbit. We did obtain a short section of video footage and the ships do not belong to the Jerecab…’

Mark watched in amazement for several seconds as the dark rectangular shaped ships came onto the screen for only a few seconds. His mouth went dry as he gave an urgent series orders to his troops.

‘Pass this message along urgently for the radio network is down. The other vassal races have arrived, for those ships match the design of Cephrit ships according to the old Trader database. All troops are to stand down and all fixed defensive weapons are to set to standby mode only. We do not want to fire weapons at the Cephrit for any reason. Also I want the communications array to broadcast the standard neutrality and ceasefire clauses even if we are being jammed.’

After three hours, movement was detected several hundred metres west of their position, and Mark ensured that his forces did not fire their weapons. A lone large form appeared at the edge of the cleared ground and the colonel marvelled at the first Cephrit he had ever seen.

Mark knew that the Cephrit was obviously a female, as it was very large and had four drawn fighting swords set along the top edges of her second and third pairs of legs. He watched as the alien now set down a viscous looking blaster rifle and continued slowly forward. He left his own weapons behind him and slowly walked down to meet the Cephrit standing just outside their shields.