Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 3 - New Shores

by David Buck

  ‘Omerio, you are up to something now, and indeed you have been up to a lot since we left the Cephrit star base. I have seen your mission report since then, but it only begs the question of what you were doing beforehand to get the knowledge about the Tilmud. I will know what you can tell me if we are to bring the matter of the Trader ship on Earth to a successful result.’

  Omerio looked over at Gindane cautiously with a polite smile as he quietly replied. For he had prior experience with how the exiled lady of the court could exercise her sharp tongue.

  ‘Gindane, if you are satisfied that a successful result could include the Traders and the few Maveen with them to be allowed to leave Earth peacefully, then we would be in agreement. Note that I had no prior knowledge of the Maveen until I spoke with the Cephrit.’

  Omerio knew that he risked little by implying that he would not discuss what he knew if Gindane only wanted to apprehend the Trader ship. He was hoping to get her strong analytical mind on his side, as he respected her research and command abilities. He gave her another polite but warmer smile as she now quietly spoke again.

  ‘A successful result is when the humans are not caught up in an interstellar battle near their own planet. I remember the obligations that the Vorinne second envoy gave me as my sentence too well. I can live with the Traders being brought to account at a later stage.’

  Omerio looked thoughtful as he considered the information he had to hand. He decided that he actually was helping the Trader’s unknown original mission remain silent if he informed Gindane of his own role with the Traders earlier. He gave her a data drive and a quiet word of caution as Gindane in turn gave him a soft smile that made him lose the ability to think straight for several moments.

  ‘Gindane, as you now will know, I met with the same Traders even as you were being escorted back to the Cephrit star base. We traded several items of a very secretive nature and the data drive gives the overview of the mission.’

  Gindane looked over the data and was amazed at what she saw in the information. She knew Omerio was working as a senior intelligence officer, and the audacity of his recent missions took her breath away. She could not imagine what it would be like to work for years alone in a lightly protected scout ship in the most dangerous parts of the sector. Gindane now quickly studied the cargo listing from Omerio’s meeting with the Traders and noted the specifications of the cruiser gun that he had supplied to the Traders.

  ‘The less I say about what you handed over the better, as the Vorinne second envoy would skin you if she found out, and I cannot be held to know anything. So old and good friend, what are we going to do about your very capable uncle and his plans for the Traders?’

  Omerio recovered the data drive from Gindane, but did not take her views on the second envoy too seriously. He quietly spoke again for her sole benefit. At several times she looked at him with her soft smile, but he now managed to keep his reactions and responses fixed on the task in front of them.

  The admiral sat in his office and quietly evaluated the information on his guests one of the crew had called in earlier. Both aspects of his plans for Omerio and Gindane seemed to be coming together, which was just as well he decided, as the fleet was due to arrive at the human solar system within three days.

  ***

  Captain Narindestat sat up in his bed and glared at Emeria in frustration. He had been amongst the slower of the second batch of Traders to recover from the emergency treatment and his agitation was now acute. The only bright spot for the Trader captain was that the humans had been successful in their efforts in repairing the aero spike engine. He now picked up a data tablet and noted the report with interest. For Garendestat had used his own initiative to identify a problem with the main hangar door after the main hold had flooded when he went overboard. The captain spoke now to Emeria in his calmest manner as he slowly manoeuvred his powerful legs to the edge of the bed.

  ‘Daughter, my place is on the bridge of my ship. If you assist me then I could get there after a little effort.’

  Emeria calmly lifted his legs back to the centre of the bed and replied as he weakly tried to move his legs again.

  ‘Father, and captain I might add, I do not doubt your place on the bridge. However it will not be today and it is unlikely to be tomorrow unless you rest.’

  The Trader captain bit back a retort, and Emeria was careful not to grin as the console communications light next to the bed now came alight. Captain Narindestat asked Emeria to activate the hands free mode and to please leave the room, and in moments he was speaking to the Maveen lead probe.

  ‘Lead probe, I understand your colony efforts are nearly completed, and my congratulations on your success.’

  The lead probe did not pause as it replied.

  ‘Captain, I am now Earth lead probe, but I will still leave on your ship with the ships we discussed earlier as the orders are already in place. Now we are extending our efforts to colonise Barede as you are delayed in your departure, and the humans have a limitation we have not factored in our deal arrangements.’

  Captain Narindestat was still in a dark mood, but his interest was piqued as he spoke again.

  ‘Earth probe, my congratulations on your promotion. No doubt we will work together again in the future. Now what are your expanded colony efforts and how do they involve my ship and crew?’

  The lead probe ignored his congratulations as it replied again.

  ‘The humans are still using a carbon based model to generate a lot of their energy, especially for mobile transport. Indeed their technology under this model is reasonably impressive. However the new colony is on a constructed not evolved world, and there are no fossil hydrocarbons to base the colony resources upon. Your crew will therefore await our extra colony support efforts here and then take us to the colony. I anticipate you will be at the colony for many years to assist us in getting the human technology and infrastructure up to a sustainable standard.’

  Captain Narindestat strongly resisted the initial urge to yell at the Maveen Earth probe’s presumptions, though he had though of several choice Trader invectives he wanted to hurl at the probe. No doubt they would have as much effect as a data tablet or blaster discharge, he thought acridly as he protested, with the protest getting more heated the more he spoke.

  ‘Earth probe our ship is nearly ready to leave and we are fully fuelled. Remember we need time to set the gate ships against the hull of the Illuria for launch. Once we reach the colony we do not want to stay too long as we need to return to our own home facility. We are not prepared to delay our launch for too much longer with the vassal fleets likely to arrive at any minute. Finally I absolutely refuse to commit to years of being on this remote colony!’

  The Maveen Earth probe merely waited until he finished speaking before it replied in a forthright manner.

  ‘Captain, you have no choice if you consider how the galactic authorities view your landing on this world. I also invoke the absolute authority I am entitled to wield implicit to our contract. It is unfortunate, but I anticipate you will have to take a low profile for an extended period and this new colony is very remote. We will send a message to your home facility advising them of both your assistance and acceptance of our instructions. Please ensure that your own ships are loaded and your main ship is otherwise ready to leave.’

  Garendestat walked up to Emeria outside his father’s quarters, noted how tired she looked, and gave her warm smile she returned before he softly spoke.

  ‘Father is busy I understand, though he should be resting.’

  Emeria looked at the closed door and flinched before she replied as she heard something, possibly the meal tray, being hurled into a wall at great force.

  ‘Garendestat, the captain is speaking with that Maveen probe again and we both know how much of a negative effect the probe has on him. I suggest we leave for a meal and return later.’

  Garendestat wisely agreed with his wife and they silently left the passageway for the officer's mess
three corridors away. As they walked away Garendestat talked to Emeria on the events of the day, and both ignored the loud harsh language now coming from the captain’s quarters.

  ‘The humans have been a great help in fixing the damaged engine, and the diagnostics have just been completed successfully. We should ready to leave within a day at most. I also understand that Samantha and Rebecca have been helping you.’

  ***

  Steve was tired to his bones as he sat at the head of large table in the meeting room aboard the Aurora Discovery. He had led an emergency team of human engineers and sailors aboard the Trader ship that had worked two twelve hour days affecting the difficult repair of one of the huge aero spike engines.

  The now recovered Trader engineers seemed tired, but were very grateful for the assistance of the humans after informing him that Captain Narindestat was still recovering in his quarters. Even as Steve returned with the engineers to his ship, Samantha had gone off again with Rebecca to help look after the last batch of Traders recovering from the pressure treatment. Steve sat up straight and asked for Ian Mitchin to please repeat his earlier comment, as he was not sure he had heard him correctly.

  ‘The Maveen have estimated that we have three more days available to colonise the world, and the Trader ship will not be ready until tomorrow. The Maveen are establishing larger marine gateways to allow the passage of our surface ships to the colony.’

  Steve framed a question as he considered the changes the Maveen had now implemented to the deal.

  ‘The Maveen were told the crews of the ships at these islands are going to the colony, but they have interpreted the arrangement to include the ships themselves. So why can they not just gateway the main Trader ship to another location?’

  Ian Mitchin looked around the room at the patient looks on the mission team members as he replied.

  ‘The planet bound gateways will only allow ships up to ten thousand tonnes to pass through due to mass restrictions, and if they were larger they would be damaged during transit due to their greater mass. The Maveen also state that the Trader ship is at least fifty times too massive to pass via a planet bound gateway.’

  Steve took in the limitations of the Maveen gateways and he indicated his concerns.

  ‘Ten thousand tonnes is not a big ship. We should send through as many smaller ships and larger boats that we can manage. Also we should ensure that several sailing boats go through as the lack of fossil fuels at the colony now really does concern me.’

  After a moments silence, Ian Ridge now took a turn to pass his own information around the room.

  ‘As you were busy over the last two days, I have already contacted the relevant leaders and advised them of the extra efforts the Maveen are going to take on our behalf. The countries involved are amassing fleets of smaller ships to journey through the new marine gateways, and they will include sailing ships given what we learned about Barede.’

  Steve now looked at Dan who provided his own update.

  ‘We can have the Lotus Marai loaded shortly, to take with the Aurora Discovery and both HMAS Sydney and HMAS Melbourne.’

  Steve looked at Ian Ridge as he replied to Dan.

  ‘Well we do not want to militarise the colony too much, but a frigate or two would be useful if we can power them.’

  The prime minister was already was aware of the other world leader’s concerns as he answered.

  ‘The other leaders did initially insist on the three ships here being sent over so the decision will stand. Australia is seen as a friendly nation by all of course, so the frigates should do well. We will refuel and change out the crews as required, but you will only get minimal crews on these ships.’

  Steve considered the subject of taking the ships to the colony as he continued.

  ‘The frigates will be able to source additional personnel from the new colony at a later stage. We also need to ensure we have a selection of fixed wing aircraft sent along as well. Also the Lotus Marai could take several times the recommended load from the fish farm and just unload it all in the Barede Ocean on arrival.’

  Dan now spoke again and Steve could tell he looked perplexed.

  ‘The Maveen actually mentioned the nearby fish farms, and they want to take the whole sea pens across one at a time from the fish farm. Also I think that some of the Maveen ships we have seen around the world have been exporting our plants and animals off world. There have been numerous reports of strange bright lights in game reserves in Africa, South America and Asia.’

  Steve looked at Dan and noted the consternation of the mission team members around the room as he replied.

  ‘Well I can talk to the Maveen lead probe in the morning and establish how we are going to deal with that discovery. For now we should concentrate on the new marine gateways to the colony.’

  Ian Ridge looked at Steve with quiet appraisal that Steve found to be confronting as the Australian prime minister now spoke again.

  ‘We now need to consider the new colony, as the Maveen have supplied a map of Barede, and various gateways leading to the colony are scattered over the west coast of a large continent. We all assumed that the Maveen would either put us all close together or at least put the same nationalities close together. This is certainly not the case and we are very concerned on how we are going to manage the colony as well.’

  Steve looked down at the simple draft map of the colony for a few moments and around the room, and noted that all eyes were now on him as he replied.

  ‘I understand that there are several senior officers and politicians of various nationalities amongst the colonists. Surely we can get a consensus occurring after the Maveen leave the colony?’

  The prime minister spoke as if to the whole room, however his eyes never left Steve’s.

  ‘The various leaders want a leader on the colony that is a military officer, has had experience with the aliens and understands the principles of western democracy. The Russians and Chinese were overruled on some of the points and now also the Maveen have offered their own strong opinions. Note that they are not leaving us alone and unsupervised on one of their sanctuary worlds, as they class the Barede world.’

  Steve looked around at the members of the mission team as several of them met his eyes, and they smiled in understanding as he offered another question to Ian Ridge.

  ‘So can you set aside your prime ministership and come with us sir?’

  Ian Ridge gave a hearty chuckle at Steve’s question and gave him a fixed, but warm smile as he replied.

  ‘No I do not have the military background to carry it off. We are seeking a suitable military governor for at least five years, and as you know our own Australian history, you will know how that works for officers of any rank.’

  Steve looked back around the room in consternation around the room at the mission team, as Ian Ridge stood and walked toward Steve, and now spoke with a warm smile.

  ‘Well Steve, with the agreement of the Maveen, you are to be the founding governor of Barede. I can see that I will have no trouble convincing you, and yes Samantha agrees. Also the mission team is to be the initial governing council of the colony. The instructions have been sent to the gateways as we speak.’

  Steve was speechless for several moments, but he then warmly shook hands with Ian and a procession of mission team members walked around to congratulate him. He wondered what Samantha would make of this process he had not had a say in, and then he realised that she had seemed satisfied with something before she had left for the Trader ship with Rebecca. The only comment she had uttered was a brief one before she kissed him and quickly left in the runabout.

  ‘Hear them out Steve, for there have been developments elsewhere. I love you.’

  Undoubtedly the prime minister and Douglas Stoneham would have convinced her of the necessity earlier while Steve was still on board the Trader ship. Ian Ridge looked around the room at the mission team with an air of satisfaction as they returned to their seats.

  ‘Now
Steve, or Governor Greene, I recommend some directives from your new governing council, as we need to get the colony organised. Also the Maveen had been quite direct about what we can and cannot do to the ecology on our new colony.’

  The new colony council continued to work into the night as dozens of Maveen probes and gate ships converged on offshore marshalling sites around the world.

  ***

  Troop commander Gavin Lewis considered the report from Perth Airport with relief. Apparently the number of people being sent through was slowing dramatically after four hectic days, and the Maveen had informed the major that they would be closing the Perth gateway shortly. Cindy and their girls had been rushed through on the evening of the second night, and they were now under close guard towards the centre of the field with the other families of the SAS troopers. Gavin promptly ordered the clear distance around gateway to be increased and doubled the numbers of soldiers guarding the gateway.

  Gavin now had fewer soldiers to command as several of the SASR and US Seal team members had returned to Earth. He also just gave strict instructions to anyone not staying on the colony that they should leave immediately. Indeed he was hoping that a particularly annoying individual would take the hint and leave so he could get his work done. As if to drive home the fact that this individual was still present, a senatorial voice rang out from outside the ropes he had forbidden the individual to cross.

  ‘Commander, if you will I wish to find out some additional information.’

  The speaker was the rude journalist from the first night, Cameron Bates by name, who had already managed to get two of his junior cameramen killed by a giant lizard after he ordered them to get support footage from the area surrounding the field. Gavin did not think that Cameron did it out of malice, as it was only that the man had blinkers on for common sense when there was a story to be had. Gavin drew himself up to his full height, and knew he looked every inch of the formidable warrior, as he looked down at the senior reporter and sternly repeated a few points.