M'tak Ka'fek (The T'aafhal Inheritance) (2 page)

“What the hell is that?” Lem asked not really expecting an answer. Several of the survivors shrank down behind their vehicles, but Lem could tell from the angle of the .50 cal's barrel that it was not firing at them. It was firing at the huge dark shape hanging in the air between them.

There was a loud ripping sound, like a gigantic band-saw amplified nearly to the point of pain. A stream of green fire reached out from the dark shape to play across the pursuers' position. The brigands' vehicles disappeared behind a curtain of bright explosions, accompanied by the sound of rolling thunder. When the sound ceased, the pursuers were gone, save for a few pieces of smoking debris falling back to the ground more than a hundred yards away.

“I guess that takes care of that problem,” said Clem.

“And maybe swapped it for a bigger one,” added Lem

“Don't borrow trouble, boys,” said Doc, slowly standing up from cover behind his RV.

“Be careful, Eustis,” added Marge, the only one who called Doc by his given name.

“Marge, if that thing wants us dead we're dead,” he answered.

The large dark aircraft pivoted, presenting its blunt back-end to the little band of survivors. Mud, water and dirt flew, escaping from beneath the craft as it descended. It settled to the ground on landing legs that extended just before touchdown, sinking at least a foot into the rain soaked field. The thrumming sound ceased, replaced by random popping and creaking noises.

A muted whine heralded the opening of a wide door, folding outward to form a ramp. Even before it touched ground, the first of four dark figures trotted down the ramp. Roughly seven feet tall and wider than any man, the giant figures looked like something out of a video game. Instead of moving toward the refugees, the armored figures fanned out and formed a perimeter, facing outward, cradling what could only be weapons.

“Are those people?” asked Josephine Fredrick, Don's sister.

“Or the aliens who blew up the planet!” responded Don Jr.

A fifth dark shape moved down the ramp, this one larger than the first ones and moving on all fours. It loped down the ramp and continued ten yards toward the huddled survivors. There it stood up on its hind legs, ten feet tall, and surveyed the scene. Evidently satisfied, the creature sat down on its haunches.

“See, they are aliens!” yelled Don Jr., raising his rifle to his shoulder and firing a round at the huge figure sitting in front of them.

“Don!” shouted both his parents in horror, as the bullet glancing off the alien's faceless metallic head, the ricochet whining off into the distance. The entire band of survivors froze in place, awaiting the strangers' retribution.

The large stranger's “head” turned transparent, revealing a furry white profile inside. With a long snout and black nose the creature looked for the world like a polar bear. “Nice shot, Kid,” a deep contralto voice said, “now please put your weapons down before you folks hurt yourselves.”

As the survivors lowered their weapons, the bear said, “things are secure, you can come out, Lieutenant.”

In response to the bear's call a more human sized figure emerged from the ship—a woman wearing a space suit with a transparent bubble helmet. The woman's complexion was dark, her face thin with a long straight nose and high cheekbones. Her head was helmeted by closely clipped, dark curly hair and her smile was dazzlingly white against her ebony skin. When she spoke it was with a noticeable English accent.

“Good afternoon, I am Lieutenant Melaku. It appears that you people could use some assistance.”

Part One

We Have Met The Enemy...

Chapter 1

Task Force Alpha, the Kuiper Belt

Quiet tension filled the bridge of the Peggy Sue, Earth's most powerful warship. More significantly, the Peggy Sue was Earth's only starship, a fact not lost on her captain, Commander Gretchen Curtis. Commander Curtis had been the ship's first officer on two previous voyages and had been in command during her last action. 

Pursued by aliens of unknown origin, they had to fight their way out of the Sirius system. In doing so, they left behind a number of crewmates and the ship's original captain, Jack Sutton, stranded on a derelict alien space cruiser. Captain Jack and his skeleton crew evidently managed to get the four million year old warship into action as the Peggy Sue ran for home and safety.

Arriving back in the solar system, safety was not what they found. While they had been away, a gigantic alien vessel had entered the system in a sneak attack on Earth. It unleashed a massive bombardment of asteroids, pummeling the planet and killing much of the human race. The planet's ecology was ravaged and its climate plunged into chaos. Scientists from Farside Base said that it was likely that the material ejected into Earth's atmosphere would trigger a new glaciation—what non-scientists would call an ice age.

But the aliens evidently did not think the destruction of humanity's home world complete, for they continued on into the Kuiper Belt to gather more asteroids to hurl at the stricken planet. Many among the crew, and from the moon base as well, wanted the Peggy Sue to immediately pursue the alien vessel, but Captain Curtis knew that was not the proper course of action. To be sure, there were times when a quick reaction was called for, and sometimes a quick reaction could win the day. But Gretchen was sure that this was not one of those times.

Gretchen recalled the words of her mentor and friend, Captain Jack Sutton. Jack had quoted a saying from a 19
^th
century French chemist named Louis Pasteur: “Chance favors the prepared mind.”
How was it that Jack rephrase it? “It takes careful preparation to be able to act impulsively.”
 

With Captain Jack missing and Earth under continued threat there was nothing else that could be done—things at home must be put in order before any impulsive mission of revenge. The wounded members of the crew were transferred to Farside Base, along with members of the science section and all their data. It was that data and those scientists who held the key to Earth's future defense. Also deposited at Farside was NatHanGon, ambassador to Earth from the strange inhabitants of Gliese 581d. The Triads, long lived, highly intelligent, trisexual plants, were the only alien race discovered so far that was not openly hostile to Earth creatures.

Trips were made to the shattered planet below to recruit new personnel among the survivors, and to salvage irreplaceable scientific equipment and genetic samples. Pilots and crewmembers participated as a way to stay active while in port and as a way to help those few who survived. New crewmembers were added and immediately engaged in intensive training—drills to increase their proficiency with Peggy Sue's weapons and internal systems.

Munitions and other supplies were loaded, new armored shuttles were added along with a larger compliment of Marines. Then, satisfied that things at Farside were stabilized, at least to the greatest extent possible under the circumstances, Captain Curtis took the Peggy Sue in pursuit of those trying to kill her planet.

Accompanying the Peggy Sue were four of the six small ships built by Farside shipyard during the former's absence. Not intended for long interstellar voyages, they were the only other combat craft in humanity's arsenal. If the Peggy Sue was the size of a Navy destroyer then the corvettes, as they were officially designated, were more the size of PT boats. That was a moniker their six man crews adopted with pride.

Once it became clear that the moon base powers-that-be would not allow all of them to join the hunt for the alien invader, the PT boat crews drew lots to decide which of them would accompany the Peggy Sue. Those who lost were greatly disappointed—everyone wanted to get some payback for the surprise attack on Earth.

Those titularly in charge of humanity's space defense force consisted of a council of billionaire industrialists, who had backed the construction of the Peggy Sue and Farside Base, and senior scientific advisers, who had signed on to the project when its primary aim was to take mankind into space on a permanent basis. At least that was the publicized mission. Those in the inner circle, led by former Texas oil-man TK Parker, knew the real story behind the construction of the Peggy Sue, her amazingly advanced technology and the real purpose for her initial trip to the Moon.

Decades ago Parker came into possession of an ancient device of alien origin, found in a mountain on the Arabian peninsula. Spending years of effort, and a significant part of his fortune, Parker managed to assemble a team of scientists who discovered how to access the device known as “the artifact.” The device turned out to be the long-term memory store for a self-aware alien computer—an Artificial Intelligence or AI. From it they learned many marvelous things, and several shocking things.

Things about the origins of mankind and why certain polar bears can talk. Things about the history of the galaxy and an ancient war fought millions of years ago. Things about the destiny of bears and humans and the mysterious creatures known as the Dark Lords. But there would be time to ponder all those things later. Right now, Peggy Sue's pitifully small armada was closing in on the enemy at hand. 

As if on cue, Lt. Billy Ray Vincent called out from the helm “Captain, we have the enemy on targeting sensors and are closing at 14,000 m/sec. We should be able to disable their propulsion systems with the main railguns on the first pass.”

They had been observing the alien ship for days with Peggy Sue's two meter optical telescope, using light from the infrared to the ultraviolet. The ship was a monster over five kilometers long with a swollen head where it carried captured asteroids for dropping on its targets. Based on the ship's IR signature, the main propulsion systems were located in the aft portion of the intruder. There were also signs from neutrino emissions that a cache of antimatter was stored just forward of the engines. The plan of attack called for the PT boats to sweep the hull forward while the Peggy Sue disabled the enemy's maneuvering capability.

More problematic was the second phase of the attack, which called for two assault shuttles full of Marines to board the disabled ship and secure its antimatter stores—assuming the invader survived the initial attack. A secondary objective was to try and identify any computer navigation equipment from which the location of the attackers' home system might be ascertained.

A distant third priority was to capture any aliens left alive for interrogation. The Triad ambassador, NatHanGon, was positive that any spacefaring race would know at least one of the ancient trading languages and that communication with any prisoners could be established no matter what their mode of interchange. The Earthlings were not so sanguine.

“Steady on Mr. Vincent, bring the main battery online,” the Captain ordered. The main battery consisted of two railguns that ran almost the full length of the ship itself. Because of this arrangement, the railguns were aimed by pointing the entire ship, an action under the control of the helmsmen. Billy Ray, the XO, had more experience piloting the ship than anyone else and would be at the controls during the attack.

“Mr. Medina, make ready all shields and secondary weapon systems; gunnery crews and torpedomen look alive,” Curtis ordered. Unlike the main battery, the secondary X-ray laser batteries and the torpedo launchers were targeted independently by their own crews.

“Aye aye, Captain,” responded Jo Jo Medina, the ship's chief engineer. Lt. Medina had been with the Peggy Sue from the beginning and was among Earth's most seasoned space war veterans.

“All weapons manned and ready, Captain,” announced a subtly feminine voice. It was the voice of the ship's computer, a highly capable but non self-aware quantum device based on alien technology. Interfaced with part of the artifact's memory system, the ship's computer was constantly discovering new information left by its builders—a long dead race known as the T'aafhal.

“Peggy Sue, send a message to Farside: Enemy in sight, maneuvering to engage.”

“Yes, Captain.”

It was after the last great battle of the long war against the Dark Lords, four million years ago, that a badly damaged T'aafhal battleship took refuge on Earth and set in motion events that would eventually lead to the evolution of a bellicose, intelligent native species—
Homo sapiens
. The aliens' goal was to create a race to succeed themselves as defenders of the Galaxy's warm life. How well the plan succeeded was about to be demonstrated, for the aliens who had attacked Earth were about to find out just how bellicose Earth-creatures could be.

“Task-force Alpha, Peggy Sue,” Captain Curtis signaled, “We will be in position to begin our initial attack run in five minutes, on my computer's mark.”

Cargo Hold, Peggy Sue

Standing in silent ranks, like graphite statuary, Peggy Sue's Marine contingent observed the developing tactical situation on their suits' heads-up displays. Normally, the ship carried twelve human and two ursine Marines, but this time there were four times that many on board. There would have been more but that was all that could be squeezed into the ship's two large landing shuttles. The task of leading the Marine boarding party fell to Captain Jennifer Rodriguez.

Capt. Rodriguez, newly promoted from the ranks, had been with the Peggy Sue from the beginning and had participated in every major battle fought with aliens so far. She had been the gunnery sergeant of a squad of Marines originally sent to capture the Peggy Sue but ended up leading the ship's Marines on both its interstellar voyages. The only action she missed was the first skirmish beneath Crater Giordano Bruno.

Since she was the senior Marine with the most extensive extraterrestrial combat experience, Rodriguez was commissioned directly as a captain so she could command the boarding assault. She had still not come totally to grips with becoming an officer, but fortunately mustangs—officers promoted from the enlisted ranks—had a long history in the U.S. Marine Corps. One of the newer crew members made the mistake of wondering aloud if Rodriguez deserved such a promotion in front of Senior Chief Zackly.