Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action (28 page)

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Omerio was reluctant to break off the conversation with Gindane, but he knew that Captain Hallime needed to be spoken to urgently. Omerio ensured the communications channel was heavily encrypted and that the meeting room recorder was still broken as he greeted the Sspol captain.

‘Noble captain of the mighty Sspol; your ships look ready to leave and I wish you and your crew well.’

The deep and cool voice of the Sspol sounded pleasant as Captain Hallime replied.

‘We leave for our outer colonies; we will visit this system if invited by the humans. The secret in the oceans remains so; the renewal only needs a brief time to come out into the light of the galaxy. I had sent you a modified report of the destruction of the Fenshilla cruisers; this will prove to be valuable to you. Before we leave; we publicly submit a personal demand on you for salvage items you recovered from us earlier. The exercise in plausibility requires it of us and you.’

Omerio thought furiously on what Captain Hallime was seeking for he knew that Sspol race used materials in a completely different manner to his race and other vassals. The Sspol wasted no time in speaking again to the puzzled Barus captain.

‘We seek histories of the vassals and independent races; detailed histories which have existed for hundreds of thousand of years. We do not seek the official edited histories that the Vorinne and the Zronte provide as facts. You will also tell the Vorinne that we seek this information as payment from you.’

Omerio knew that he would have to tell Gindane of this request and find a way of informing the fleet master, for he knew that the Cephrit so far had refused to speak further with the Sspol. The Sspol captain saved him the dilemma by speaking again.

‘We will quickly farewell the fleet master; he is advised as the senior vassal of our demands upon you personally. We also farewell the humans; we say nothing of other matters that would only endanger them.’

Omerio then thanked the Sspol captain and watched as their massive ships angled towards the outskirts of the solar system. The message ended and Omerio again contacted Gindane.

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Admiral Neilson had only been back on duty for a few hours after getting much needed sleep, as the last few days had been hectic. The urgent requests for repairs and assistance had fortunately ended within several hours and a routine of sorts had settled on her remaining ships. She already had two pairs of destroyers patrolling the outer parts of the solar system as she sought to reassure the still frantic civilians on Earth. The colonies also concerned her, and so she had sent several of their remaining mining ships to Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti. Mary had also had a secret meeting on the Exeter with Robert and Emma and the possible ramifications of their findings had left a heavy weight on her shoulders.

Only twelve hours earlier, the hulks of their surviving cruisers had left on a one-way trip into the sun. The four hulks had been crammed with the wreckage of the command sections of dozens of Jerecab frigates, and sections from Barus ships, that had been destroyed in the battle. Mary had also used the pretext of not wanting to witness the destruction of the four ships as a reason to go off duty earlier.

Three of her lieutenants had been watching the Barus ships on the latest watch, and they had reported that the Barus looked like they were leaving soon. The view screen sounded and Mary found herself speaking with the Sspol captain, even as she noted that the Sspol ships were already moving away.

‘Admiral Neilson, we the Sspol seek to leave; with your permission we will withdraw. We will seek to speak with your race in the future; we offer guidance and assistance but not ongoing protection for your race.’

Mary felt relief at the offer, and she gave a bow of respect as she replied at the blank screen, for she knew now that the Sspol could see in sound waves.

‘Farewell to our friends and allies the mighty and brave Sspol; you are welcome to enter our home system again. You are welcome to approach your destroyed colony on Neptune. The restriction of not coming closer than the orbit of Mars applies to all races. We will value the future guidance and advice of the wise Sspol.’

Captain Hallime responded in a polite manner to the restriction as Mary and her crew listened intently.

‘We seek to be fair and treat other races with honour; your restriction is not onerous and we agree to it. The destroyed colony base is now a tomb and we will not approach it for centuries under our customs. We now seek our outer colonies and we will add to their numbers. Farewell Admiral Neilson; may your race know peace and wisdom.’

The Sspol cruisers now accelerated heavily away and the view screen had to zoom out twice to cope with the image of them leaving. Mary was just getting back into reading another long damage report, but the view screen came online with the two images of Gindane and Omerio. Mary stood and gave a full bow of respect at the both of them onscreen as she spoke up.

‘The Sspol just left and our farewells were friendly, and your own ships look nearly ready to leave as well. Now I understand you have both been summoned back to a Cephrit star base?’

Mary stood at ease as the two Barus captains gave bows of respect and Omerio replied first followed by an answer from Gindane.

‘I also had a worthwhile conversation with the enigmatic Sspol. The tension in your solar system can only lessen, as there is always a chance of a misunderstanding. My own ships need several hours of further repairs and seven of them will go with two of the three Cephrit squadrons to escort the Jerecab home. The Jerecab frigates have been patched up as much as possible by Cephrit engineers and they should be able to make the long journey.’

‘Admiral, our research ships will be ready and Omerio will come with me to the Cephrit star base to discuss the recent events that occurred here. After we report to the Vorinne second envoy we will seek to return here as soon as possible, but we will be gone for weeks at least. We must placate the second envoy or she will visit your world with dozens of cruisers or even larger ships seeking answers.’

Mary went silent but was concerned with Gindane’s explanation, as the recent conversation with the Sspol had highlighted something that had sat at the back of her mind since the Maveen probe left days earlier. She had not had time to research the background but she felt that something in the Sspol and Maveen relationship was troubling her. The two Barus captains eyed Mary critically due to her long silence, and so she gave a curt nod and began to speak again.

‘The Barus researchers are most welcome to return here and speak with us, and we understand that we still cannot be allies due to your role as a vassal race. Note that we will not permit your ships to come closer than the orbit of Mars. We wish you well in your task of reporting the outcome of the battle and the status of our race.’

The conversation continued for several more minutes as the two Barus indicated topics of importance that would be addressed during their return to the solar system. Mary sat back after the conference ended and thought through these topics with concern, as no doubt the civilian authorities would become heavily involved. She was soon immersed in further reports as she considered the remaining wrecked ships in orbit around the moon.

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Captain Mark Hammond shivered in his parka as he walked into the makeshift communications room. His crew had managed to pressurise two of the smaller warehouses and a short length of inflatable airlock now connected them. Mark strode over to the view screen removed from the wreckage of the Long Reach and found that an image of alien was onscreen. The jet-black carapace and antennae of a Cephrit was apparent and Mark awkwardly bowed in respect as the alien captain spoke.

‘Captain Hammond, my superior, our fleet master has taken three squadrons to your home world Earth. He has advised that your compatriots defeated the Jerecab armada three days earlier with mainly the assistance of the Sspol and the Barus…’

The Cephrit twitched his antennae in momentary alarm and remained silent as the other humans around Mark cheered loudly at the news. Questioning voices were heard from several colonists clustered over near the large radiators vainly trying to heat up the warehouse. The cheering resumed and was more intense as they all heard about the good news. The Cephrit captain soon continued to speak as silence returned with no obvious ill humour.

‘We are also relieved to hear of your world’s survival for the rogue actions of the Jerecab defile all the vassal races. Now your auxiliary cruiser contravenes edicts relating to your world, and so it is not permitted to be repaired and sent into space again. Also the edicts prohibit the possession of the advanced electronics suits on the two Trader sneak ships that launched back into space earlier.’

Mark offered another bow of respect, as he wanted to appear to be reasonable, for he still might require further assistance from the Cephrit. The Cephrit silently eyed him and Mark found the alien impossible to read as he spoke politely.

‘Captain of the un-named, I am a reserve captain and the final authority in this system rests with fleet commander Joel Everson, who commands the three destroyers. Joel is not landing his ships here, as they are then no longer capable of defending the colony. He is also asking the Barede commander to stand down but he is getting no answers to his messages.’

The Cephrit captain chirred in good humour as he replied, and Mark found this noise reassuring, though he did not agree with the Cephrit’s logic.

‘The two sneaks ships launched too late as the warning of our approaching ships was not deemed necessary by Commander Everson. The commander is not obstructing us and is broadcasting non-aggression clauses to our cruisers from his three ships. We will shortly detect the sneak ships and detain them for removal of the forbidden equipment.’

The large screen went blank, and Mark went off to lead his crew as they continued to clear the landing field and repair other warehouses. He was hopeful of getting a third of the colonists above ground within a week, and by this time hopefully other ships from Earth would have arrived. After three hours Joel sent him a message and Mark returned to the view screen.

‘Mark, the Cephrit captain got the drop on the two sneak ships as Rick had not enough time to hide. Apparently, their cloaks can be detected if the cruisers are close enough and hit them with enough active scans. The Barede crews quickly surrendered and a couple of Cephrit engineers came onboard the sneak ships to remove the active scanners. Apparently, they were very polite about it as the Cephrit have a long previous history of friendship with the Traders. The control modules for the active scanners are gone, and also a few of their data tablets, but the sneak ships are still useable as their flight controls and cloaks will still work.’

Mark grinned at Joel and he replied in a confident manner.

‘Joel, the war is over and you were wise not to hinder the Cephrit in their duties. We should be grateful that at least their hulls are still intact unlike the two sneak ships left behind on Earth one hundred and fifty years ago. Now I happen to know the fellow that runs the advanced spaceship design centre in Western Australia, and no doubt, he will want to look over the two sneak ships. The edicts enforced on the Long Reach will also interest him and remember that the Barede crew include engineers. This restriction will only be a temporary setback and we will address it later on.’

The two men turned their attention to the immediate concerns of the Tau Ceti colonists, and Joel soon agreed to send down some of his crew to assist Mark and his rescuers. The ice giant Tyr shone brightly in space overhead as the Cephrit cruisers now withdrew from the Sanctuary moon back to the location of the hyper jump point.

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Chapter 14

Captain Neanres had understood what was likely to happen the moment his frigates followed the larger cruisers of the other vassal races into the Moltema star system. A mass of Blue Jerecab ships, military and civilian, and their Deltas Vass protectors infested what was once one of the Red Jerecab faction’s largest forward bases. For several weeks his twenty-one frigates, all which remained of the once vast armada, had been escorted back to the Posient bulge over twelve hundred light years of space. Along the way, they had managed to gather in several supply ships, but none of the large lifters of the Red Jerecab survived.

Neanres had prepared his final reports while his ships waited at the outermost planet in the star system. Commander Tamerio had gone forward in one ship and had made a submission to the Blue Jerecab. Now two Blue Jerecab frigates, older and weaker than his own, approached his formation of ships with Tamerio’s Barus cruiser. The captain noted that two Deltas Vass cruisers had also escorted the Blue Jerecab across, before falling back just inside their own weapons range, but well outside the range of his smaller frigates.

The view screen came alive and Commander Tamerio gave him a polite half bow before speaking tersely.

‘Well Captain Neanres, it is all now up to you, and the Blue Jerecab will listen to what you have to say to them. You will note that the Blue Jerecab have been largely sparing civilian targets and colonies themselves. I make no guarantees for your own survival, but they will not murder your ship crews out of hand. Good bye and good luck Neanres.’

Neanres thanked Tamerio for his assistance with a full bow of respect and profuse thanks, before he ensured that his laser pistol remained on top of his command chair. He contacted the Blue Jerecab commander and politely requested permission to attend their presence to surrender. Permission was immediately granted, and Neanres first ensured that his crew made no threatening gestures by way of weapons locks, raising shields or scans of the other ships. The crew gave long downcast looks and mutters of acceptance in reply, as he strode resolutely towards the small hangar deck.