Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace (8 page)

‘My apologies Lord Malang’troh we will not fight you today. We lead our ships on a mercenary mission authorised by Lord Temeroth to detect the Traders and the Maveen. We also seek to obtain significant biological data for our research. We will leave for the outer parts of the galaxy after we rejoin our other ships.’

Malang’troh was scathing in his answer to the Fenshilla as he parsed out the foul creature’s intentions in this part of the galaxy. The transmitted protocols from the Fenshilla did indeed include the authority of Lord Temeroth, something that only added to his unease. No doubt the Fenshilla had already taken advantage of this authorisation to enslave other races after they stopped their ships.

‘Commandant, I care not for the mission of a pirate and brigand. You will return any Vorinne you have captured otherwise you may leave. I also care little for the lives of any Cephrit or Barus merchants you have captured.’

The commandant replied after several minutes, even as Malang’troh noted that the Fenshilla were preparing for a longer type two hyper drive jump.

‘Lord Malang’troh, my respects also to second envoy Thatak’siema, and we have not engaged any Vorinne ships during our mission. Several days ago we did see a fast moving Vorinne scout ship closer to Deltas Vass  space, but we cloaked and quickly left the area.’

Malang’troh now felt relief for two reasons as he carefully evaluated the commandants’ answer. Obviously the Fenshilla were not targeting the second envoy, despite being aware of her presence, and the commandant did not need to volunteer information about the scout ship. He did not bother to reply or take his cruisers off red alert status as they tore across the star system in futile pursuit of the Fenshilla cruisers.

Several more minutes elapsed and Malang’troh watched calmly as the pair of ships entered hyper space and fled while his own cruisers were still well out of firing range. He looked over at the second envoy and noted that her enormous tawny eyes now fully on him. He stood and knocked his staff once as he led the silent envoy back into their meeting.

Thatak’siema knocked her staff twice on the deck once the door was closed and he knelt in respect to her authority as she spoke.

‘My dear Malang’troh, I thank you for your quick action and wisdom. The Fenshilla can be discounted for now as a threat, although the large ships they now possess will have to be destroyed at a later stage as a matter of course.’

The second envoy went silent, but now moved forward and softly pressed her belly against her kneeling lord’s broad shoulders. The contact both stunned and delighted Malang’troh in the closeness of the room and he fought for self control as he stammered a reply.

‘Honoured to serve my grace, for now we leave these systems and the pretext of later destroying those ships will allow us to later increase our own squadron numbers. I will now take our ships back towards our home systems as per your earlier request.’

Thatak’siema was silent as she appreciated the wisdom and strength of her intended mate. She knew that ancient social rules meant that Malang’troh would remain still as instructed and not mate with her. Malang’troh felt the longing for Thatak’siema pass right through his body in a wave of both pain and pleasure. He looked up into her eyes and the wordless empathy of the Vorinne flew between them for several minutes.

Fifty light years from the Vorinne cruiser squadron, the Fenshilla commandant seethed in rage after his latest humiliation. He considered that he could have summoned his other six cruisers as reinforcements to take down the Vorinne ships, for he knew that despite the Vorinne status as the feared first vassal race that they were not invincible. However he was well aware that the later response from Lord Temeroth would be massive, terminal and brutal to the prospects of the Fenshilla Black Claw brigade.

The commandant sought solace in torturing to death a Cephrit freighter pilot that had the misfortune to be in the wrong part of space at the wrong time. Much later the Fenshilla cooked and started eating one of the dead pilot’s legs as he planned through his next moves.

                                                                     ***

‘Well that is something different….’ Omerio thought savagely to himself as he noted the large numbers of distant Jerecab frigates barrelling headlong towards his own squadron of cruisers. He locked at a data tablet with a series of numbers denoting time and distance to intercepts before issuing a series of commands.

‘Continue broadcasting the neutrality and non aggression clauses. All ships come over onto a heading that takes us to the outer jump point to the Jade system. All shields are to be at maximum strength, but all weapons systems are to remain on standby only.’

He was about to issue another order when the tactical offer interrupted nervously.

‘Excuse me Captain, another forty frigates have come out of hyper space well outside weapons range, but they are trailing us into the system.’

Omerio forced himself to remain calm as he took in the numbers and headings of the Jerecab ships, for over a third of the Jerecab armada was now heading towards his squadron. It was almost as if they were expecting the human fleet to be here and were disappointed instead to see the Barus cruisers. Omerio hauled himself out of his chair and glared angrily at the view screen as it came alive with the features of Admiral Baunrus.

‘I am Captain Omerio, and I command the Barus ninth fleet. Admiral, you are making a big mistake if you think you can get away with harassing let alone attacking our ships. Remember that the accords prohibit unsanctioned wars between the vassals and we are on official duty in these systems.’

Omerio knew that his terse comments would aggravate the Jerecab admiral, for he had not offered a bow before talking over the senior officer. His observations were well founded as the admiral loudly berated him over the video link.

‘Captain, you do not even offer the norms of protocol by offering a bow, and to my mind this confirms my suspicions about the recent actions of your race. I consider that you have colluded with the humans and even now seek to aid them in some manner. We have intelligence of meetings between you and the humans, and this marks you and your squadron as enemy combatants in my opinion. Your squadron will leave these worlds, and if you have any sense you will take your research fleet with you as well.’

Omerio forced himself to remain calm as he gave a calculated half bow, almost as sarcasm to the more senior Jerecab fleet officer. He knew that should they survive then this recorded broadcast would be highlighted as what not to do in galactic relations. He noted that the Jerecab Admiral had literally begun a hissing fit common to their race, as glared angrily at Omerio from across interstellar space. Omerio spoke firmly and this time did not offer a bow.

‘Admiral Baunrus, we will be reporting a series of breaches of the edicts relating to off limits worlds and attacks on the humans, who are still classed a haven race. I implore you in the name of our glorious civilisation to withdraw your ships to your own colonies many light years way.’

Omerio noted that the forty frigates appeared to be accelerating heavily and were now almost within range of his cruisers. He calmly gave two orders even as he was aware of Baunrus regarding him malevolently from the view screen.

‘The squadron has three altered orders, for we will increase speed to emergency and we will switch all weapons to fully operational. Finally we will no longer broadcast any non aggression and neutrality clauses.’

Omerio looked Admiral Baunrus in the eye across the video link and noted that the rage of the Jerecab had cooled. He steeled himself to look as hard as possible, and he knew that the admiral must be considering the powerful Barus cruiser squadrons that could be massing hundreds of light years away. A picture of a world came onto the view screen and Omerio had no trouble recognising it. The admiral now spoke with a resolve of his own as Omerio crossed his furred arms to listen critically.

‘Omerio, this is planet Earth, and I have read your own reports of this world and the humans. We consider the humans to eventually be a bigger threat than the Tilmud due to the Tilmud’s slavish devotion to the will of the Zronte. We also want the human home world as it is one of the best land/water worlds we have seen in thousands of years. The planet Earth and the former Dradfer colonies will be central to the greatest expansion in Jerecab history and we will take our place in this sector as a senior vassal race.’

Omerio was about to offer a reply that the other vassal races would control the humans, but the view screen went blank as the tactical officer made a breathless report.

‘Captain, the trailing frigates are breaking off their pursuit and we were drawing away from them in any case.’

Omerio sat back in his command chair in stony silence as his squadron headed towards the next hyper drive point and at least temporary safety. He knew that his plans were still viable, but he felt that the recent outburst from the admiral had not been expected. He was hoping to mislead the Jerecab further but now that plan was becoming fraught with danger.

Omerio was aware of the quiet regard of Commander Tamerio off to one side, and he motioned the commander to follow him into the rear meeting room, well away from the mandated recording devices on the bridge of his ship.

‘Well Tamerio that discussion with Admiral Baunrus went well…..’

The two Barus officers soon had a regional map of the contested star systems displayed, and set about modifying their plans to that of now actively engaging the Jerecab.

                                                                     ***

Altarebe had been talking with Queen Angwene for a couple of hours after finishing yet another series of chores that had been found for him. He did not resent this work in the least for he was well aware of his junior social standing in the royal family. The fact that Angwene’s oldest daughter, and by all accounts one of her best resources, was lying asleep and crippled nearby was also a spur for his efforts. He knew that there was very little margin for error in the ancient female’s attempts to leave this world at a later stage, for their underwater home could easily become their tomb if they were discovered before they could safely flee.

Altarebe powered slowly past the cradle that had earlier held the sled that brought him to this world. The cradle was empty and he could see a series of tools missing from their holders against the sides of the cradle. Probe three now swam up to the cradle and fetched three smaller tools from their holders. Altarebe slowly powered over and offered to help the probe.

‘Probe three, I have finished my last series of jobs and the queen has instructed that I rest for two days. I can help you ferry tools and equipment if that is required.’

Probe three made use of a low powered acoustic signal to thank Altarebe, before handing him two of the three repair tools and leading him out of the suppression field.

Altarebe swam off with the Maven probe and realised that they were slowly ascending in the water column. Probe three could detect his hesitation and offered another gentle acoustic signal to reassure him.

‘We are attempting a repair of the sled in shallower water as both the rear power conduit manifolds are being replaced. Seliandre is doing most of the repair work and the two youngest sisters are holding components and tools for her.’

The two of them soon arrived at the mid-water location and Altarebe could see that Seliandre was indeed attempting to repair the Maveen sled. She gave a soft call of greeting by protocol to him that he relished, before she offered a good overview of what she was attempting.

‘Beloved consort Altarebe, the Maveen lacks the strength to repair key parts of the sled and he cannot use his sub-probes underwater in any case. My manipulators are stronger, but of course they are too large to perform the more intricate repair work. I am now trying to work out the best way to replace these manifolds in the sled. After that the rest of the repairs will take time but they should be straight forward.’

Altarebe was aware via echo location of the reactions of the younger sisters to Seliandre’s words. He knew that for the daughters it was one thing to be instructed of relationships between the ancients, but it was quite another thing to witness it first hand after his sudden arrival on this world. He responded in humility and respect as he had an idea on how he could be of assistance.

‘Dear Seliandre, your intelligence matches both your youth and beauty. Your attempts are both wise and innovative, for the Maveen probe has to make a staged appearance in front of the humans before long. The sled is difficult to work on but I may be of assistance as my manipulators are smaller.’

Altarebe was aware of the younger daughters silently turning away from him, as he was offering to help by coming in direct close contact with their elder sister. Seliandre merely replied to his offer in a neutral manner as she well aware of the double meaning in his last sentence.

‘Consort, your offer is permitted under mother’s blessings as we seek to urgently repair the sled. I will brace the sled with my manipulators and you can attach the new manifold that I made earlier.’

Altarebe waited until Seliandre was ready and he directly approached her from the front in what he hoped was a non-aggressive manner. Probe three came in from one side and shone his blue console light directly into the back of the damaged sled. Altarebe was not too worried about the blue light as they were still several hundred metres below the ocean surface. But he did ask a couple of questions about something else that was worrying him.

‘So these humans, apart from their dangerous weapons have no reason to be in these oceans? Also I assume that their current technology cannot easily locate us?

Altarebe now slowly lined up one of the conduit manifolds with his smaller manipulators, he was grateful that Seliandre remained still and silent, as the Maveen probe answered his two questions.

‘Altarebe, the suppression field is more than a match for most vassal technology let alone the more primitive human technology. The field is assisted by a natural series of thermo clines in the oceans that render the seabed invisible even to active scanners. However the queen has mined several sections of the seafloor many years ago and subtle traces of those works may still remain. Since the Traders visiting this world the humans have been focusing their efforts on space exploration and building up their defences. Finally Seliandre and I managed to get this area of the sea bed set aside earlier as a marine park by the humans.’