Acarea. A Triumph or Disaster? (SpaceFed StarShips Series Book 5): A Novel by Gerry A. Saunders (SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy)

by Gerry A. Saunders

  One of their biggest successes being a small Car-like vehicle they called a Skimma. It was so named, purely because it hovered above the ground using air pressure, and, did, in fact, skim across the ground.

  Although there were forced food-growing facilities in the industrial parks, many Pavonisiens enjoyed cultivating the countryside they had been allocated. While others were farmers and made a living from it. These farmers grew various fruit and vegetables that the food production facilities were unable to force grow. Their produce was in high demand by the city dwellers.

  While in the hills surrounding the cities, small groups mined the precious ores that were necessary for the advancement of the Pavonisien people.

  The planet itself, however, was sadly lacking in natural wildlife. Apart from an inedible, lizard-like creature, and small grubs that seemed to be able to survive, by quickly burrowing into the ground to escape being eaten by the lizards. Although these bugs looked uninviting, they had turned out to be edible and were an excellent source of protein

  However, the lack of flying insects had meant that farmers had to pollinate their crops by hand.

  On the contrary, the sea had been more productive. In that, the Founders had managed to revive a large quantity of the frozen embryos of at least two of the most popular of Earth’s fishing stocks that they had brought with them.

  All of these had been divided between the fish farming tanks at the industrial complexes and some outdoor tanks that had been set in the lakes. The fish from the latter were then released into the sea when they were large enough.

  They had also revived their stocks of frozen organisms, termed Plankton, and divided them between both the fish farming facilities and the sea. Hoping that the plankton would multiply and eventually act as food for the fish.

  At the time, the founders had known that this project would take many years to come to fruition. Now the Pavonisiens were reaping the rewards of their Founders endeavours.

  Over the intervening years, Acarea’s crew members and the original settlers had passed away. New generations of Pavonisiens now sought to better their lives by becoming scientists, academics and engineers.

  Nevertheless, although their cities were still growing in size. The Pavonisiens somehow seemed to have entirely forgotten their past.

  There was an unhealthiness about their lack of interest in their history and a question about why they had forgotten their heritage.

  In fact, if the Pavonisiens had actually taken the time to think about it. Their scholars would have wondered where they had acquired all their knowledge and equipment from in the first place.

  So, now. Even though Traven and his men had made it to the Delta Pavonis system, and to DPav4. One question remained.

  Would the changes John Traven and his men had made, to meet Micky Sanderson’s Real Timeline, be enough to ensure the success of the Acarea’s mission?

  Or, would the current population’s lack of interest, turn it into a failure?

  Brendereen and his wife Acarea had been married at the local town hall in City Atreen, more than six years ago.

  He had lived his whole life in Atreen. Then he had met. Fallen in love with, and then married Acarea, who had been born in city Marca.

  Both had chosen to work the land. They had also agreed that they would wait. Then have children in a few years’ time, when they had built up enough credits to construct a proper farmhouse.

  Overall, Pavonisien life appeared to be idyllic for them. With no past to remember, or to worry about.

  The following year, however. Their lives would change forever.

  Chapter 37

  Remnants

  Just seven battlecruisers remained of the original Crillon’s Fleet 12, after Aran’s group had split away from the main group.

  Now, though, without the natural wormhole to escape through. They were left hanging and lost in Space. With their crews trying to decide on what to do next to survive.

  Captain Tripicac, of the Battlecruiser CS 14, had taken over command of the fleet following the warp core explosion in the fleet commander’s battleship that had killed all onboard.

  He had been saddened by Commander Ancalo’s death. He had had a lot of respect for him.

  Tripicac studied his tactical display, with his science officer, Cazer, peering over his shoulder. While Trenma, his second in command, checked the status of all of his ships.

  “So, what’s the status of our fleet, Trenma?” he asked looking up.

  “Not good enough, so far, Captain,” Trenma replied as he continued checking. “Basically, we’re all in the same boat. Our ships are all operational. But now that Arans communication’s burst has informed us that the natural wormhole is gone, it’s obvious that we can’t go back,” he replied.

  Arans information is right. It’s definitely collapsed,” Cazer, his science officer confirmed.

  “I can’t see it reinstating itself before we’re dead and gone.”

  “So, we're stuck here without a way to get back to Crilla,” Tripicac said while thinking about the situation.

  “What about our CP ship?”

  “Well. There is a problem with its power generators and this is causing a power fluctuation in the Crystal production facility. Unfortunately, we don’t have any replacements for them,” Trenma pointed out.

  “We need to get the crystal production units onto another ship, then…. Or, find a planet...,” Cazer suggested. Then turned, and selected ship’s schematics on his own tactical display.

  They waited, silently, while he checked the schematics.

  “No. We can’t move the production units, Captain,” Cazer finally said, “Our battlecruisers weren’t designed to take them.”

  They were all silent, again. While they each tried to come up with a solution.

  “So, Vendron. Has Astro found anything close enough for us to reach?” Tripicac finally asked.

  “Possibly. There is a Star system just two light years away. And Astro’s enhancing the Imaging probe’s data right now,” his pilot confirmed.

  “So, how long will it take?” Tripicac asked. “Timing is critical?” He added, sounding irritated.

  “I’ll…,” Vendron started to answer, then paused as he looked at Cazer’s tactical screen.

  Cazer was studying his screen intently as he received an update that included a conclusion report on the Star system, and on a planet that was orbiting the yellowish-orange coloured Star.

  Tripicac had always been amazed by the clarity of the images produced by the hyperlink visualizer, especially from so far away. He knew, of course, that the hyperlink’s imaging probe would have already been dispatched hours ago via a small artificial wormhole. So, had already placed itself in orbit above the target planet. Hence, the short thirty-second delay in receiving the images.

  “This looks like our only chance, Tripicac,” Cazer said sounding enthusiastic.

  Tripicac chose to ignore Cazer’s lack of rank usage for the moment. Then coldly asked, “So, what’s the risk to us, Cazer?”

  Cazer knew that Tripicac’s expression had changed but took no notice, knowing they all needed to work together to survive.

  “Captain…,” he started to say. Then noted that Tripicac’s expression had relaxed after he had addressed him correctly.

  “It’s a primary sequence yellowish-orange Star. It is within our limited Jump range… Um, one moment...” As the images refreshed again, Cazer almost jumped for joy.

  “You’re not going to believe this, Captain. There’s a habitable planet… the fourth planet out from the Star.”

  Another screen refresh, and more data.

  “It’s got all the minerals that we’re likely to need.”

  The screen refreshed again.

  “Well, well. It has life-forms,” Cazer added, then paused again, studying the data.

  “OK, can you find out what type of life forms they might be? Scan to see if they have any visible weaponry. Or any military installations, that
could be a threat to us,” Tripicac urged.

  A longer pause, then Cazer’s screen refreshed yet again

  “Well, there’s nothing that I can detect from my data link, Captain,” Vendron interjected while Cazer was still waiting for the Imager to zoom in closer.

  Then Cazer’s screen finally displayed a series of images that were moving across his screen in quick succession. With all of them, of figures that were similar in form to them.

  “See,” he excitedly said while pointing at his screen. “Don’t you see it?”

  “See what?” Tripicac asked, irritated at Cazer’s tone.

  “Some of them have bumps on what seems to be their fronts. I know it’s not clear, Tripicac. But I can see them.”

  “Here we go again,” Trenma tiredly remarked.

  “They must be the female of the species,” Cazer stated, sounding, even more, excited now.

  “That’s all you think about Cazer. Sex and genetic tampering,” Tripicac snapped.

  “Well, why not? If they are compatible… I’ll have whatever I need.”

  “You and your damn experiments,” Trenma remarked annoyed at Cazer’s attitude.

  “Enough,” Tripicac suddenly snapped. “Let’s prepare for a synchronised jump. All ships to Jump in ten minutes.”

  Cazer, feeling pleased now, quickly sent the Jump coordinates, and Jump-sync timing link, to all the Crillon vessels.

  While Tripicac sat back and started to formulate a plan, in his mind.

  He knew that he needed a plan that would ensure they could take over the planet, without destroying it in the process.

  After all, they would need these beings to do the heavy work for them. Well, at least, until they had in place all that they required.

  Mind you, he thought to himself. Cazer would take some controlling. His ego and his sex drive would make him very dangerous.

  Chapter 38

  The Coming

  Brendereen studied the minute dots in the sky. Slowly realising that, whatever they were, they were not from his planet.

  They appeared to be in low orbit. However, nothing like this had ever happened before to his knowledge.

  Counting seven of them, he began to feel very nervous as one of the dots seemed to swell before his eyes.

  It was evident one of the objects was getting closer, and, if these dots, were really spaceships then they must be enormous.

  “Bren,” his wife shouted, from the door of their metal cabin. “The military have already seen them. They’re sending scout ships to us!”

  “Good!”

  The dot, growing larger by the second, was now visible as a coppery-orange coloured sort of object, with a black dot in the centre.

  It stopped about four thousand metres up and turned slowly, revealing its shape in full. It was cylindrical, and definitely a spaceship.

  Brendereen continued watching as he waited for the scout ships to arrive. Far away to the left came a whining sound that rapidly became louder as the two scout ships hurtled towards him.

  The cylindrical spaceship seemed to do nothing. Then Brendereen gasped, as he saw two bright purple coloured beams shoot out of it.

  Before he could grasp exactly what was happening. The particle beams hit the scout ships, which dissolved into puddles of molten metal, that flew on through the air. Then plunged down and into the ground.

  Brendereen yelled in shock. Then started to run as fast as his legs could take him to their cabin.

  “Get inside,” he shouted to his wife.

  As he ran, molten metal slammed into the ground somewhere behind him, sending showers of molten metal everywhere.

  An area of his ‘cabbage’ like plants flared into flame behind him, as he crashed through the open door.

  Slamming it shut, just in time to save them both from incineration.

  The remnants of Fleet 12 had found a new home. A home with manufacturing potential.

  End of this book.

  If you enjoyed reading Acarea. A Triumph or Disaster?

  Please help me by reviewing it on Amazon.

  Now, I invite you to read the following sample from

  The Garoden War.

  My sixth and last book, in what has now become my SpaceFed StarShips Series.

  A sample from my next book.

  Book Six.

  The Garoden War.

  Star Cruiser Neutron.

  2309

  The wars between the Crillons, Solverons and Humans had ended five years ago. After which, all three races had joined as a Federation and entered into a loose, but binding pact.

  Since then it had been uneventful to say the least. Moreover, even though the three races had continued developing their own Starships, without the wars the urgency had gone.

  However, communications with, and visits to and from the Federation member planets had increased enormously. Including visits to and from Pavonis, as most of their colonists were descendants of the humans.

  This was where Andromeda’s usefulness came into its own, in providing transport for the dignitaries. A bit of a comedown for the StarShip, but she was by today’s standards, almost an antique.

  The experimental Star Cruiser Neutron was three light-days out, from Delta Pavonis’s newly constructed service platform that was orbiting the planet, Dpav4.

  Captain Sherman studied the sensor image displayed on his command console.

  “It came out of the Rift, Captain,” Science Officer Barlow confirmed.

  “Right,” Sherman replied. Then noted the object’s molecular make-up as he continued studying the image.

  “Well, it’s definitely a metal of some sort. About three metres square. So maybe it is a piece of an outer hull.

  If it is, then it must have come from a ship that was ripped apart and thrown out of that Rift.”

  “Agreed. Sir, maybe we can find out more about what happened to it if we try this new temporal-change measuring device that the Crillon’s gave us.”

  “OK. I assume you know how to set it up?”

  Barlow smiled, “Of course, Captain,” he replied. Then quickly set the parameters up, on the device’s dedicated panel, exactly as the Crillon scientist had already shown him.

  They both watched as the Rift’s measurements were taken, and the results then displayed.

  “See, Captain. There is a massive forward temporal displacement… That can only happen when a Rift almost doubles back on itself. At least, according to the Crillon scientists. Perhaps, that’s what we’ve just seen?”

  Sherman nodded his head in agreement, then turned and spoke to his comms officer, Ben Tomic.

  “Tomic, send an urgent message to Science vessel, Argonaut…Message to read. Need your expertise urgently.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  There was a one-minute delay before the answer came over the Hyperlink.

  “Captain Serrell reckons they’ll be with us in nine hours, Captain,” Tomic said, reading out the reply. “He also says. Do not go near it.”

  “H’m. So, Hector hasn’t retired yet?” Sherman murmured to himself.

  “Thank goodness. At least, we still have someone with expertise,” Barlow automatically replied. Sounding relieved then embarrassed, as he realised what he had just said.

  Captain Sherman raised his bushy eyebrows. Nevertheless, said nothing.

  So, time to waste, he thought to himself. He looked slowly around his control room, seeing that, even though the equipment onboard incorporated state-of-the-art technology.

  The fittings in this experimental Star Cruiser had a very utilitarian feel. At least, compared to the almost luxurious standards of other Earth vessels these days.

  However, this only applied to its interior. Outside, the Neutron had the same, gold looking, sleek form that Andromeda had. Its power rating, however, was double that of the Andromeda.

  It also had the very latest Skippa sub-light drive. He could only just feel the pulse effect as the Skippa drive produced a series of tiny depressio
ns in space-time. Then moved across each, in a fluid, sliding motion.

  Yes, far better indeed. A virtually instantaneous and smooth drive, Sherman thought to himself.

  There were only five crew members on this ship. Himself, Science Officer Bob Barlow and his Comms man, Ben Tomic, Plus Tom and Stewart, who were the ship’s scientific technicians.

  However, he didn’t know much about Tom and Stewart. They kept to themselves and spent most of their time in a large tech lab, situated in the centre of the ship.

  Their job was to monitor and test the innovations in the warp mechanics and stealth and force field technologies that were employed in this new vessel.

  All three Federation officers, including himself, were similar in build, height and age, but that was where the similarities ended.

  Both he and Tomic had almost black hair and hazel coloured eyes. While Barlow had longish ginger hair and blue-grey eyes that seemed too close together. Sherman thought Barlow wore his hair, far too long, for his liking. However, there wasn’t a rule that said a person had to keep it short, and Barlow liked it. Therefore, it was not his place, to frown on another person’s likes.

  Thinking on, he decided that he was pleased that he and the other two officers had been picked for this dangerous assignment. All of them were brilliant scientists in their own right, and willing to risk all in testing this experimental prototype.

  Captain Sherman suddenly felt uneasy. He remembered reading or hearing something about a survival pod, or capsule that the Dpav4’s founders had found when they were starting to construct their cities. And, that the object had then disintegrated, or something like that.