A New Colony amongst the Stars

by Philip R Benge

  Leander swore at the port thrusters, however Yung soon found out where the problem was using one of the few functional computers, and ten seconds later he was crawling under the floor amidships towards the faulty cable, and he soon had the problem sorted out. Leander`s attempt to stop the North Wind from crashing hard upon the ground, and probably awakening every colonists upon the planet, now worked, the fates had finally decided to assist them he thought jubilantly.

  Yung returned to engineering and he and Manchu sank to the floor exhausted yet again, they had done everything that they could and it was now up to the gods to decide their fate, they could do nothing more while the craft was in the air.

  On the bridge the amount of noise coming from the atmospheric engine made Karin look at his computer screen, he was using a diagnostic program and it told him how well the atmospheric engine was operating and what if any problems there were. Then he checked on each of the thrusters and what he saw scared him.

  “Captain, both the atmospheric engine and the vertical thrusters will not keep going for much longer, too much damage has been done to them when we went into freefall, we must land now or risk crashing.” First Officer Karin had to yell out his warning to make himself heard above the screaming engines.

  When the port thrusters had immediately levelled the craft, Leander had thought that they would probably make it, however as the level of noise coming from the engine increased, and coupled to Karin`s warning, Leander decided not to push his luck. He decided to attempt to land while they still possessed some power. Just then, the gods turned away from them again, a gale force wind suddenly sprung up and the craft began to fight him. Knowing that he could not trust the vertical thrusters to affect a gentle landing, he engaged the landing skis, and as he was now out of options he screamed out a warning.

  “Brace yourselves, we are going in hard.”

  Thankfully, the ground ahead of them was clear of any large trees or bushes, and although he had seen numerous gullies in their mad flight across the prairie, it was mainly flat here, so Commander Leander now applied the breaking thrusters. As the craft slowed, he battled to keep the nose of the ship up as the strong wind attempted to push it down, only the small wings of the craft and Leander`s skill saved them from disaster. The craft struck the ground heavily, but the landing skis survived the impact, and friction finally helped to stop the craft, and just before it plunged down into a deep gully that suddenly appeared ahead of them. Only Leander and Karin knew how close they had been to disaster, for if they had fallen down the gully, many of the Aldebrans would have been killed or injured, and the craft would have been a total write-off.

  Commander Leander finally began to breathe again as he looked across at his 1st officer. “Are you ok, Johan?” He gasped, taking in a large breath of air as he attempted to quieten his rapidly beating heart.

  “Yes, Captain, I am fine, how about you?” Karin replied as he sighed with relief, they were down and finally safe.

  An angry Lu-Song pulled himself out of his seat and moved forward to confront Captain Leander. “What the hell happened Captain? We must have woken every colonist on the planet.” He declared angrily.

  “No Commander, we landed many miles away from their encampment and your proposed landing site, they will not have heard a thing, especially with the wind blowing so hard towards us rather than them.” Leander replied. “As for what happened, I imagine that the substandard equipment that our beloved government supplied us with, coupled with all the stress that our systems have endured, have caused our engines to fail yet again, that and the fates which have been against us from the moment that we left Aldebra. In fact we were lucky Commander, just pray that your luck continues to hold up, and that our engineers can breathe life back into the engines, the atmospheric ones this time.”

  Commander Lu-Song could have had Leander imprisoned for such words against the government of Aldebra; however, he was too shaken to fully take in all that Leander had said and anyway his conscience would not have allowed him too, especially after his constant nightmares. 1st Officer Karin had heard them though, and he glanced towards the soldier to see his reaction to his captain`s words, fully ready to attack the soldier, should Commander Lu-Song attempt to take issue with his captain`s words.

  “We should check on your men Commander, and then I must speak to my engineer, to see if he can get the ship airborne again.” Leander said calmly.

  Commander Leander realised that his outburst had been unwise, but with the soldier not taking issue with his words, he was all work, the best way to ensure the soldier did not recollect his exact words and use them against him.

  Lu-Song was soon talking to his men, checking that none of them had suffered anything more than a bump, a graze or a bruise from their seat belts.

  “Men, this unforeseen accident has changed our plans, we must wait to see if the crew of the North Wind can repair their ship, and so assist us as originally planned by taking out the starship`s communications array, if required. If they can, then they will be able to make a clinical strike, if not, then we will have to amend our plans accordingly, split our team up so that we have men aboard the starship to take out the Communications Centre. It will complicate matters, for we will have less men to attend to our prime aim, to take out the colonists, which is why I would prefer to rely on the North Wind`s Phaser.” Commander Lu-Song explained. “Any questions?”

  There were not any, so Leander left Commander Lu-Song and his soldiers and carried on through to engineering to speak to Chief Engineer Li-Ching Yung.

  “The atmospheric engines had already been damaged by the power surge Captain, when we hit that turbulence it simply shook all of my repairs apart. My jerry rigged repairs are bad enough in space, but down here the planet`s atmosphere just put too much of a strain upon it all.” Chief engineer Li-Ching Yung explained.

  “Just do your best Li-Ching to get us back into space, Commander Lu-Song is banking on us to take out the colonist`s communications array.”

  “Yes of course Captain, Manchu and I are already working on it; it will be a long job, a lot more of our systems blew this time, including our Phaser fire controls, unfortunately we lost many of the safeguards when our problems first started.” Chief engineer Li-Ching Yung explained regretfully.

  On hearing this bad news Commander Lu-Song decided to disembark, Leander could contact them on their radio as soon as his craft was repaired, if it ever was. After his men had collected their gear they set off across the grass filled prairie towards the encampment of the colonists of Earth. His men were just grateful to be back on the ground, now their future was in their hands, not the substandard systems on the starship.

  Chief engineer Li-Ching Yung and Manchu worked all through the early morning to repair the ship, recycling many parts from systems that they had been forced to shut down, including the ability to enter hyperspace, but finally the ship was ready. However, the sun had been up for almost one hour before they could inform Commander Leander that they were now ready to assist his team.

  Commander Leander left engineering, where he and his 1st officer had been helping with the repairs, and returned to the bridge, the first thing he did was to call Commander Lu-Song on the radio, however, when the soldier replied Leander could hear the stress that the man was now under, all due to the delays to the start of his mission.

  “That is good news Captain, however we are still two miles away from the earthmen, I will call you when we are in position.”

  Commander Leander decided to offer the soldier a suggestion. “Commander, why don`t you wait until tomorrow morning to launch your assault, use your original plan rather than move against the colonists today? The earthmen must have been awake for some time now, making your task all the more difficult, your men can use the time to check out the countryside around the encampment.” Commander Leander urged Lu-Song.

  “Yes Captain, thank you for your suggestion, I will certainly consider it, depending upon what I find at the encampment.�
�� Commander Lu-Song began to reply, but he was interrupted by 1st Officer Karin.

  “Captain, the colonists have launched a drone, we must take off now or risk being seen.” Karin called across to Leander who then relayed this information to Lu-Song.

  “Commander, call us when you want us to take out their communications array, we will be ready to assist you.” Leander said.

  “Thank you Captain, I will do so; however the drone confirms that the colonists are awake and already working, it seems that I have no other option open to me than to do as you suggest. Captain, my men and I will hide up until early tomorrow morning, at which time we will launch our assault as planned, I just hope that our superiors on Aldebra give us the necessary time.” Commander Lu-Song replied solemnly.

  Leander was thinking along similar lines, but refrained from making such a comment on air, instead he gave Lu-Song a warning. “Commander, I do not know how many times our Phaser weapon will be able to fire, so please pick your targets frugally, or else you may be let down by it.”

  The North Wind took off minutes later and initially headed away from the colonists’ encampment, when they were far enough away from the drone they headed up through the planet`s atmosphere, the amount of turbulence had fallen and the starship managed to fly though it without incurring any further complications. They reached their standby position just two minutes before they received a signal from their headquarters on Aldebra, it was from their emperor, he wanted to know why they had not sent the code word Imperial, which told the emperor that his soldiers had launched their assault on the earthmen on the designated day. It seemed that the radio blackout had come to an end.

  Commander Leander replied to the signal, informing his base of the problems incurred during the voyage and the landing, half an hour later they received a reply.

  ‘1st officer Karin, you are now in command of the North Wind, send a message to Commander Lu-Song to launch his attack now, no further delay will be tolerated, his opponents are only colonists after all.’ It was signed, your beloved emperor.

  Karin was stunned, as too was Commander Leander who had heard of such a thing happening before, but somehow he never expected to be on the receiving end of one. However, he felt no ill will towards Karin.

  “Captain, do you want me to send the message down to Commander Lu-Song.” Leander asked with just a slight catch in his voice.

  Karin looked at his former captain, and nodded, unable to say anything for the moment, he felt that his former captain had been shabbily treated by their superiors. He had wanted a command of his own, but not this way.

  Leander was soon in contact with the soldiers down on the planet, and he informed them of the messages from Aldebra. Commander Lu-Song replied in clipped tones, which told Leander and Karin that he too was shocked to receive the new order, for to attack the colonists this morning would almost certainly mean losing some of his men. True their enemy were only colonists, so his squad should not be overly tested by them, but even so he was tempted to ignore it. However, to do so would be noted by Sub Officer Yang who might just report him to his father for not following an imperial command, so with his original plan now impossible, all he could do was to launch his attack as soon as they reached the colonists` encampment.

  It took Lu-Song only a moment to explain their new plan of campaign it to his men, who being loyal empire troops accepted it without comment, although the more experienced amongst them felt a burgeoning fear slowly growing inside their stomachs. As for Lu-Song, he too now feared death, and he felt a growing anger at the way his emperor was treating his loyal men.

  Chapter Four

  Battle Commences

  This was their second day after the crash landing of the Ark, and although the morning sun had only just risen on New Caledonia most of the colonists were awake, many of them were already leaving their tents that lined the northern bank of the river to wash in the temporary ablution areas that had been set up. Most of them had enjoyed an uncomfortable night`s sleep, and now they were looking forward to their breakfast before they used their tractors to plough up this small section of prairie in preparation for the first four farms. A drone had already been sent up to search for signs of one of the large herds of beasts that lived on the grass filled prairies and which should be already migrating northwards, for Bishop Marley planned to begin supplementing their diet as soon as possible, to extend the time that their survival rations would last.

  Mark Summers slipped through the small doorway of his two person tent, his six feet two inches tall body needed to stretch urgently. He looked around at his new world, forest behind him and open prairie before him and with the river flowing just feet away from his tent. As per years of habit his eyes scanned the countryside looking for signs of life, but as yet most of the native wildlife had kept well away from the newcomers. When he and his wife had washed and enjoyed a Spartan breakfast, he wanted to walk along the river bank, follow it for a while before returning to help with the day`s work. For the moment though, he was content to wait for his wife to join him, so that she too could enjoy the views of the countryside around the encampment. Hidden behind the forest that was at his back he did not see the first sign of the coming storm clouds that were already forming, although he did see some just above the distant horizon. Mark shivered as a cold wind blew down from the north, he had been hoping for a warm spring morning but it seemed that winter had not as yet let its grip slip on the land.

  Just eight hundred yards away from their tented community twenty four soldiers were quietly crossing the open prairie, slowly moving forward, moving unseen from one bush to the next, however, it was now that their unfamiliarity with the planet betrayed them. They disturbed a flock of New Caledonian pigeons feeding upon the ground, the birds shot up into the light blue sky making enough noise to waken even a sleeping colonist. Mark Summers was trained to react quickly to such events, he pulled out a small pair of binoculars and scanned the area of ground from which the pigeons had hastily departed, looking for his first sight of one of the planet`s large carnivores, what he saw was not a local beast. The Aldebran soldiers were also normally quick to react to events, however, one of them had the misfortune to duck down into a wasp`s nest, Mark saw his hurriedly retreating body clearly through his binoculars, he also saw the high powered Phaser rifle grasped in the soldiers hands.

  “Bishop Marley, armed men are covertly approaching us from the North, have the colonists collect their weapons, we might need to defend ourselves.” Mark said and then ducked into his tent and collected his own Phaser rifle, the latest thing in high power Phaser rifles.

  His wife Susan was still inside getting ready. “Arm yourself Honey; we may have to defend ourselves against some unwelcome guests, oh and be sure to keep your beautiful head down.” He said before returning to the side of the Bishop Marley who stood there looking at the prairie, alarmed at this turn of events.

  A dozen men had armed themselves following Mark`s words, and another dozen were in the process of doing so, however the remainder were looking to Bishop Marley for instructions.

  “Bishop Marley, friends do not sneak up on you, especially if they are armed to the teeth.” Mark said grimly. “Order the colonists to arm themselves.” Mark ordered. Then he noticed the newcomers beginning to raise their weapons and he screamed out another order. “Everybody down, they are about to open fire on us.”

  “Everyone listen to me.” Bishop Marley called out fearfully and just as twenty four powerful energy bolts screamed through the air all about them. “Arm yourselves we are under attack.” Bishop Marley screamed out in panic while throwing himself to the ground in terror as ten of the colonists screamed out in agony, having been hit by the incoming Phaser fire.

  A large bolt of energy screamed down from the sky, it struck the communications array sited atop the broken starship and destroyed it instantly, the massive explosion sending parts of it flying down amongst the colonists who were now panicking. Some of the colonists were screaming a
s they rushed for cover, others stood there shaking in fear, while other colonists quietly armed themselves. The colonists who had armed themselves began to return fire; however, they were pinned down, their return fire accomplishing nothing more than taking out the odd bush or small tree. Mark quickly ran to those in shock and pulled each of them to the ground. Then, seeing the need to take command of the situation Mark returned to Bishop Marley`s side and pulled him even further down into cover, the bishop smiled grimly at Mark, for he hoped that help of a military kind was about to be offered.

  “Bishop Marley, there are maybe only a score of them attacking us; however there must be more otherwise it would be suicide for so few men to attack us.” Mark said while opening fire on their enemy.

  “Mr Summers, you know about such things, I am a man of peace, please do whatever you think fit, but save my people.” Bishop Marley replied as a powerful energy bolt screamed past him just inches away from his head.

  Mark looked around them, he saw that many more of the colonists had now armed themselves, so Mark quickly gathered forty of them to protect their rear against a surprise attack that he was sure would soon arrive, in fact he was surprised that it had not yet happened. He positioned them in three groups, one group of ten on both of the flanks of their encampment and the rest to the rear of the encampment, in a line from the downed starship and along the banks of the river. He ordered all of them to keep very low, so as not to give their attackers a clear target to aim at, and although all of them looked to be a mite scared, they were all prepared to die to save their loved ones. He told them to wait there for the second part of the attack to commence, and with their rear and flanks protected Mark headed back for Bishop Marley, however he nearly did not make it when a Phaser bolt only just missed him, he flung himself to the ground and crawled the rest of the way, finally he reached Bishop Marley.