Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 1 - Alien Flight

by David Buck

  ‘We will assist your ship by both detecting the Voorde and doing limited repairs under the direction of your engineers. Note that our smallest detection sub-probes cannot see through shielded sections of your ship. The sub-probes may fire on the Voorde, especially if they are cornered. Remember that we are the senior race as per our trade agreement. We therefore specify in this instance, a reward or deed of gift that will be detailed later both as our right and our due. You will also obey our later instructions to the letter as we seek to complete our mission.’

  With no further delay, access slots on two Maveen probes opened, and several black stick like utility sub-probes exited and hovered above the cargo hold deck. The small sub-probes featured a glowing bulbous helmet that shielded large electronic eyes that looked surprisingly life-like even if they had no mouths. The rest of the body consisted of two thin arms and two thin legs that dangled from the slightly thicker body, with the body plan of the smallest Maveen forms being generally bipedal.

  The captain considered briefly the significance of the thin red and yellow stripes down the arms and legs of the smaller probes. The sub-probes spread through the large ship and began to search, as Captain Narindestat politely thanked the lead probe and headed back to the bridge of his ship. Once he was away from the probes, the captain gave Kureldestat orders to take a squad and discretely follow the probes.

  In the shielded heavy research rig at the far end of the cargo hold from the Maveen probes, the deadly occupants of the rig were again in hibernation. They had successfully hunting and devoured two rogue Voorde drones and a Trader foolish enough to be alone and unarmed.

  ***

  Omerio had finished reading the sensor data and had carefully piloted his ship across the star system. He was again giving a wide berth to the planets and larger asteroids that might hide ambushing Tilmud frigates. The trading ship easily followed the older traces of the larger ships as they moved well out from the system before activating their jump drives. The large Trader ship appeared to have used the powerful type two hyper drive module, as a predictive trace appeared impossible to establish due to the high energy ionization effects of the drive. Omerio hoped that Captain Narindestat and his crew were well away from this star system by now and safe.

  The Barus trader then analysed the drive traces for the other two ships, and noted that the strange ship appeared to be tracking the Jerecab ship. Omerio laid in a course that followed the common trail. He set a good offset so that he would not blunder into visual range, a potentially fatal error if they were still in this system.

  But as he reached the other side of the star system, he finally detected the faint earlier traces of type one hyper drives being deployed as much as a week earlier. Omerio made a quick check on the adjacent star system and conferred with his star chart. The two ships were talking a course into a more populated section of the galaxy.

  As his ship make its way to edge of the system, Omerio rechecked the navigation details for the next star system and made calculations for a hyper drive jump of his own. With the course laid in, he relaxed for several moments as the hyper drive field enveloped his ship and the streaked starlight of hyper space came into view.

  ***

  Chapter 8

  January 2051AD

  Admiral Biruldesec quivered in rage, as the Jerecab freighter had travelled alarmingly close to docking at the military station, before it had made a navigation error and missed a course change. The Jerecab had requested an emergency docking, but would not state what the problem was, only that the Tilmud supply heavily armed guards at the docking port.

  The livid station controller had earlier berated the Jerecab Captain, but had not received an immediate response even as escorting corvettes dodged the wayward freighter. The controller had directed another flight of small ships to investigate the problem, and as the corvettes had reached the ship they had detected small weapons fire coming from within the Jerecab ship.

  As the controller received the news he immediately ordered the freighter to haul away from the station and await boarding from Tilmud marines. The Jerecab captain had then broadcast a mayday and quarantine notice stating that his crew were under heavy attack from Voorde on his ship. His remaining crew were confined to the bridge of their ship, and sounds of battle could clearly be heard coming from the Jerecab ship over the communications link.

  Admiral Biruldesec had immediately taken command of the situation from the station controller, and had ordered several patrolling frigates in the system to intercept the Jerecab freighter. The admiral then told the Jerecab captain that his ship would be destroyed and had the temerity to laugh at the freighter crew’s hopeless plight. Protests and pleas for mercy had then wrung out from the Jerecab captain as the frigates had opened fire on both the bridge and the engines of the ship. The Jerecab ship quickly disabled a pair of automated tug boats then undocked from the military station, and made the short trip over to the slowly tumbling ruin of the Jerecab freighter.

  ‘We are a Tilmud facility in Tilmud space, so this is not a matter for anyone else to worry about.’

  The now calming Admiral Biruldesec thought to himself, besides the death of the Jerecab crew would play well into other plans with which the Tilmud were concerned. For the ships’ destruction would clear up an unfortunate oversight to an earlier plan of his involving a new type of ship he had built.

  Admiral Biruldesec watched silently as the robot tugs docked with the Jerecab freighter and the entire assembly of ships made a leisurely one way trip into the local star. There was nothing on the Jerecab ship that would be worth the lives of everyone on the military facility. So he knew that the destruction of the two robotic tugs would be a small price to pay for fixing all this mess up safely.

  Back on the Jerecab ship, the freighter captain had led his crew to an isolated area of his ship near the hangar deck after the attack by Tilmud frigates. He knew that the crew had put up a brave fight against hopeless odds, but now even the records of his last mission could be lost. The captain felt the ship wide clang as the two tugs docked to his ship, followed minutes later by a gentle thrust as their engines fired. The captain desperately keyed his communicator, and downloaded what information he could retrieve from the recent battle.

  The otter-like Jerecab in desperation kicked a cloud of green dander from deck before he then finally added a quick verbal report. The captain included the observation that the poison in the dander of the Jerecab had caused no ill effects on the Voorde. Only two decks away, several automated probes became active as they received the latest downloads to add to their data banks. Even as the Voorde attacked again in force, the captain set the launch time of the probes to occur in five hours. The probes would launch once the ship was well clear of the military facility, but also well before it entered the star.

  Hopefully the probes would stay stealthy long enough to escape the Tilmud system and take his final reports back to Jerecab space. The captain had only time to draw his weapon and fire a few times before the Voorde drones reached him and the last of his crew. Several of the nightmarish creatures went down, before one of the Voorde drones reached out and effortlessly tore the smaller Jerecab captain apart. With the rest of the Jerecab crew now dead and the probes in the cargo hold awaited the countdown; the Voorde again began to feed.

  ***

  Captain Narindestat considered with unease the video conversation he was having with the Cephrit station master in his stationary ship a few kilometres away. Obviously neither was keen to see the other in person despite a genuine and warm friendship over hundreds of years. The captain had cleared his bridge of all crew but his lieutenants, and his first lieutenant was notable by his absence. The softly chirring Cephrit had informed him that he would not allowed to proceed further into Cephrit space due to the presence of the Voorde infestation on his ship. The captain outwardly kept his calm, but inwardly he was really concerned as he listened to his old friend.

  ‘I would not send you over to a Tilmud f
acility as apparently they have had Voorde problems of their own. A Jerecab freighter has recently been destroyed by a Tilmud frigate squadron for attempting to dock at one of their military facilities.’

  The captain now knew how his former trading partner had faired, and had real sympathy for their unfortunate fate. Even now the Tilmud military must be patrolling back along the track of the Jerecab freighter to find the world from which the ship had started out. Narindestat moved his attention back to the Cephrit as it spoke again.

  ‘Narindestat, I don’t want to know what my ship scans of your hold are telling me. I would like to know the location of the world that carried the Voorde infestation so we can organise the quarantine there. I suggest you find somewhere to lay low for several years after you deal with the Voorde.’

  Captain Narindestat replied respectfully to his mentor.

  ‘Station master there is no question of us not telling you of this world’s location.’

  As he now looked across at his navigation officer, the lieutenant sent a quick message to the Cephrit ship detailing the location and details of the relevant star system, before the Trader captain spoke again.

  ‘We cannot travel past Jerecab space as we heighten the risk of running into the Vorinne or the Fenshilla. The Fenshilla have no ocean worlds in any case, and would not help us even if they are an independent race.’

  The Cephrit made soft chirrs of agreement about the Traders evaluation of his options as he carefully replied.

  ‘Well I would not like you to encounter either of those races, and you would think the Fenshilla would have learnt by now.’

  The Cephrit glanced over the incoming data with satisfaction then continued on again.

  ‘Narindestat, there is a planet about eight hundred light years from our position that may be of help to you. I was involved in another matter recently were this world was involved, and as a point of interest it has extensive oceans. Here is the coordinates of this world and what data I do have, noting that the haven world has an intelligent species called humans that are pre-contact.’

  Captain Narindestat quickly viewed the data. With typical exhaustive detail, the Cephrit had included details of what appeared to be a recent trial of a Barus research crew at his star base for charges of breaching haven world guidelines and releasing an epidemic. He listened closely as the Cephrit spoke again.

  ‘Note that I advise both against contact with the humans or a dry landing captain. I suggest you just pick a spot with deep water to flood your ship for several hours. I suggest you scan the ship and ensure there are no dry spaces. You can then pump the ship dry, refine some oxygen and hydrogen on the ocean floor, and finally return to deep space.’

  Captain Narindestat was initially concerned about the welfare of the inhabitants of the planet, known as Sol 3 or Earth. But as he looked at the planet information he could now see hope, even as he noted the unusual size of the human home world. As the Cephrit silently appraised him over the video link, the captain softly replied to his mentor.

  ‘I owe you yet another debt of gratitude station master. We will land underwater on this planet, but if you do not hear from us within ten years time then we did not succeed. We would choose if all is lost to remain on the ocean floor rather than endanger the humans. In that case only you will know that our ship can be possibly recovered from the depths of this world.’

  The Cephrit attempted to lighten the conversation with a chirring sound of amusement.

  ‘Narindestat, you and your crew, and for that matter your ship, are the best of one of the best races in the Carinae sector. If anyone can succeed in this attempt to eliminate the Voorde infesting your ship, it is you and your crew. Now give my regards to the Maveen lead probe. If it is the one I am thinking about you should do well, even if they can be recalcitrant and obtuse.’

  Captain Narindestat gave a start of surprise and replied.

  ‘Station master, I do not know of the final objectives of the Maveen on my ship, and they may not like another delay. We were headed for another part of the galaxy and the Maveen would have advised me of the destination as we proceeded. Also the status of this world may greatly concern them as well.’

  The station master gave a chirring sigh and replied.

  ‘Narindestat, galactic authorities at the moment are more concerned about Tilmud posturing for conflict yet again. We are all seeking to confirm details of a strange ship that has made several landings or approaches to isolated worlds. The Jerecab freighter infested with Voorde turning up at one of the Tilmud bases has not helped the situation at all.’

  Narindestat now kept an inscrutable calm as the Cephrit sent over the details of the strange ship that he already had obtained from Omerio. The station master ignored him and continued on again.

  ‘A final point to remember, the Barus research fleet has returned to several worlds not far from your destination. These are the former Dradfer colonies and you need to avoid these worlds, otherwise you might run into unforeseen complications with the Barus researchers.’

  Another star map appeared, with several star systems highlighted, and was saved to the navigation computer by the vigilant lieutenant at his console. The conversation ran for several more minutes with Narindestat again profusely thanking the Cephrit for his assistance. The Cephrit wished the captain and his crew the best of luck, even as his ship turned for the short hyper drive journey five star systems back to his star base. Captain Narindestat stood from his command chair and looked over at his crew.

  ‘You heard the station master, we go to this planet to kill off the Voorde or die in the attempt. Lieutenant Garendestat, order sneak ship three docked and we will be on our way. Also can you please locate the first lieutenant?’

  The now calmer Trader crew on the bridge went about their duties as the Trader ship turned and made for the outskirts of their current star system. The captain checked through the navigation data he had just received, and realised that greater range of his hyper drive module did not give him any real advantages in this situation. For he knew he would have to make several small hyper drive jumps in quick succession to arrive at Earth as soon as possible.

  ***

  Steve read through the latest engineering report on the Lotus Marai with irritation and awaited a phone call. He looked across and noted their position as the Aurora Discovery sailed down the West Australian coast. A minor maintenance problem that had turned up on the trip down to Australia was turning into a major annoyance. The Lotus Marai had developed a fault with one of her auxiliary generators that powered the live storage tanks, and they could not obtain a spare in Geraldton.

  Fortunately he had been quite specific in his orders to John Robertson, and the ship had not been loaded with live fish for export. Steve could send the ship to Sydney or Brisbane for a couple months and hope to get it repaired, but he knew he would lose valuable shipping time. The generator was easily accessible from the large general cargo area in the forward hold, but it did him no good if he could not find a spare generator. Steve briefly considered but rejected either no worrying about the problem or replacing the faulty generator with a replacement locally from Geraldton. The issue was that spares had already been snapped up by other ships over the last few years, and the ongoing shortage of labour meant that spares and repairs would continue to be a problem.

  Steve put aside the problem for a moment and considered other reports and correspondence, the Australian navy wanted him to go directly to Garden Island to offload those strange panels he had recovered. Samantha appeared and gracefully walked over to him with the satellite phone.

  ‘Bill from Anders Ship Fitting is on the phone for you Steve.’

  With a warm smile for his wife, Steve thanked Bill for returning his call, and asked the question that bothered him.

  ‘Bill do you have a new ten kilowatt auxiliary generator laying around that you can fit into the Lotus Marai? - the existing one is shot.’

  Steve listened with rising hopes as Bill detail
ed the inventory he had available, the private inventory Steve had, and the prospects of repairing the damaged generator in Perth.

  Steve handed the satellite phone back to Samantha and answered her questioning look.

  ‘We will take both ships down to Perth. There should be a generator for the Lotus Marai at Bill’s. Also the navy want to see us for a few days and we are to hand over those panels.’

  Samantha thought about Steve’s answer and replied.

  ‘The repairs could take a few weeks, so we can get a few other things done as well. Your parent’s old place is still vacant, and we need to set up a home at some stage. Also I have to catch up with two senior medical researchers with which I am discussing research.’

  The couple good naturedly began listing the bits and pieces they would need to set up their new home. After Samantha headed back to her medical lab to inventory her medical supplies for the next aid mission, Steve made another satellite phone call to change John Robertson’s orders and get the Lotus Marai down to Perth.

  ***

  Captain Narindestat looked over the contents of the room with real distaste. Obviously the Trader squad had encountered a few too many Voorde. The first lieutenant and two crewmembers had then been attacked and killed, apart from one survivor that had been ordered to go for help. Before being taken to the sick bay, the survivor had mumbled something about the Voorde fighting one another before attacking the patrol in unison. The mangled remains of Voorde drones and the three largely intact Trader bodies littered the medium sized and secluded room. The patrol had not been suited up on this occasion and that omission had cost them their lives. The captain remedied that oversight by immediately ordering his crew back into their space suits and patrol groups.