The Star Traders: The Star Traders Series Volume One

by Gary W. Feather

  #

  “Captain, there’s a ship approaching us.” Fiona announced from her station. “I’m receiving its ID signal as the HMS Noboru a Suiko frigate.”

  Alberta data screens told her the Noboru was one of the Suiko Navy’s new Hae-hime class frigates. Currently its Senior Captain is Lieutenant Commander Ono Sheiko, second shift Junior Captain is Lieutenant Commander Anayama Akimine, and third shift Junior Captain is Lieutenant Matsuo Sorai.

  “Captain, we’re being hailed by the Noboru.” Agatha Gee announced from her communications station. “They want to know why we’ve destroyed another vessel in Suiko space.”

  “I’m sure they do.” Alberta nodded. “Thank you, Agatha. Let me have them on one of my visual screens. Fiona, pull three of the probes back inside ship.”

  “Yes, captain.” They both said.

  The face of a frowning Suiko man appeared on Alberta’s screen.

  “Hello, I’m Junior Captain Alberta Williams in command of the Yin Freetrader Rocketship Guinevere’s Daughter. How may I help you, Noboru?”

  “Captain Williams, this is Junior Captain Anayama Akimine of HMS Norobu of Imperial Suiko Navy. Our sensors tell us you fired upon another vessel and destroyed it. You will surrender and explain your actions. If you make any hostile actions toward this ship you will be destroyed.”

  #

  “That vessel has been chasing us since we left the Kansbar star system, Captain Anayama.” Alberta tried to explain. Like most Suiko the first name was the surname and the second name was the personal name, thus it was Captain Anayama and not Captain Akimine. “In Kansbar we were aboard the Yin Free-trader Starship Guinevere when we were attacked and boarded by an alien race called Lorkiiz. Some of us were able to escape aboard the Daughter with the Williams’ clans children to get them to safety. That vessel has been hounding us ever since. They attacked us and defended ourselves.”

  #

  “I’ve been given reports of a pirate ship that matches the name and appearance of your rocketship. There’s reports of your attack on a ship in the Yin star system Diana and another attack on a ship in the Suiko star system Oki. I will send you copies of these accusations for your legal defense.” Captain Anayama spoke to someone off screen. “You will surrender your vessel and prepare to accept my marine boarding party. Any actions against my marines will be met with deadly force. Is this understood?”

  “But those are lies, Captain Anayama.” Alberta rubbed the back of her neck. “The Lorkiiz attacked us and those others ships were pirates that the aliens must have hired to attack us.”

  “As I said before, Captain Williams! You will surrender your vessel and prepare to accept my marine boarding party! Any actions against my marines will be met with deadly force! Is this understood?” Captain Anayama pointed a finger at Alberta, though in reality the man was pointing at his screen.

  “Yes, Captain Anaya-”

  “Wait!”

  #

  Alberta turned to look at the elevator door where Jacob Musashi stood. He had just yelled out. “I’m sure, Captain Williams. I can help you. Permission to step onto your bridge?”

  Alberta frowned for a second, but with a glance at Captain Anayama she decided to agree with him. “Permission granted, Mr. Musashi.”

  “Thank you, Captain Williams.” Jacob Musashi walked pass Alberta and waved for permission to sit in Janet’s empty XO chair. Alberta waved him to it and the man sat.

  “What’s going on?” Captain Anayama asked. “Do you agree or not?”

  “Yes. I surrender, Captain Anayama.” Alberta said.

  “Actually, Captain Anayama.” Jacob Musashi said. “I would like to vouch for this lady and her crew. They’re not pirates, but an ordinary family of star traders. Some years ago they got themselves tangled up with these newly discovered race of aliens called the Lorkiiz. All of what they just said is true. I’m also an old friend of this Captain Williams’ daughter Erica Williams.”

  “That’s nice.” Captain Anayama raised an eyebrow. “But why should I believe anything you say?”

  “I am Minamoto Otomaru Jacob Yoriie Musashi.” The man said. “Fifth child of Shogun Minamoto Hayashi Koyo Reiko and Doctor Minamoto Annabelle.”

  “What?” Captain Anayama exclaimed. He spoke to someone off screen for confirmation.

  “I’m sure I could confirm that, Captain Anayama with a DNA test by one of your ships chief medical officer.” Masashi said.

  “I-I suppose that would work best.” Captain Anayama said. “If all of this is true.”

  “You have permission to bring your marines and chief medical officer aboard, Captain Anayama.” Alberta smiled. When the screen went blank she breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Mr. Minamoto or should I say prince or what?”

  Musashi laughed. “No. I’m no prince. That would be the imperial family. I’m just a member of the shogun family.”

  “Okay.”

  “I know. It’s too complicated. That’s why I went to live at a monastery.” He shrugged.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDTWENTY-FOUR

  Going to Buddha

  After Jacob Musashi’s DNA proved positive as that of their Shogun’s fifth child HMS Noboru escorted Daughter to the main spacestation orbiting Hojo the second planet of the Sado star system. Alberta was pleasant surprised to make a good profit on some antique chairs that they’d purchased in the Augustine star system on spacestation Bobcat. She was so happy Alberta invited Jacob Musashi to join her and Piper for dinner at a restaurant on the main spacestation orbiting Hojo.

  Jacob Musashi took a sip of his tea once the waiter left after taking their orders. Alberta sat cross legged across from him. The short legged square table between them held a steaming pot of tea. Piper sat cross legged to Alberta’s right. Jacob Musashi sat in the standard Suiko way sitting on the floor known as seiza. In seiza you sat on your knees and feet. It was considered rude among the Suiko to stick your feet in front of people’s face. I can’t see how they can do that for so long. It seems like it would hurt, but I guess if your doing that since your were a child it wouldn’t matter. Alberta drank from her tea cup. Another thing the Suiko like to do was sit on the floor or mats instead of using chairs. It was something they borrowed from an old Earth culture/nation called Japan. Alberta had read that Suiko’s imperial family were descended from the youngest son of Japan’s imperial family, who left Earth to found a new colony far far away amongst the stars. Its hard to imagine that our ancestors did such things, but they did.

  “Thank you again for inviting me, captain.” Jacob Musashi raised his tea cup in salute.

  “You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do since you just save our posteriors.” Alberta chuckled.

  “I’m sure the truth would have been found out in court.” Jacob Musashi nodded.

  “Eventually, but we’d have been tied up in your Suiko courts for a long time.” Alberta shook. “I’m afraid of what would’ve happened to our children.”

  “Yes. About that.” Jacob Musashi raised a finger. “I propose you take your children to the planet Buddha for safe keeping.”

  “What? Why there?” Piper straightened her back and crossed her arms.

  “It has a reputation for peace,” Jacob Musashi began. “But I know that it has some excellent defenses.”

  “Really?” Piper raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

  “I don’t just mean those who are well trained in the martial arts, but their navy has the best sensor technology in the known galaxy. Suiko included.” Jacob Musashi said. “Very little can get by them. And though their navy is a small one, since their a single star system nation, their courage is not small.”

  “I wasn’t aware how impressive their sensor tech was.” Alberta frowned.

  “Yes. Most people don’t.” Jacob Musashi agreed. “Centuries ago an important leader of Buddha’s government realized that to know where all spaceship were was the best way to deal with pirates and invading forces. So they focused a lot on sensor technol
ogy more than any nation in the known galaxy and they haven’t changed their believe ever since.”

  “Impressive.” Piper uncrossed her arms. “I wasn’t aware of that.”

  Jacob Musashi nodded. “I’m sure my old monastery will permit your children to stay with them to give them a save place to stay.”

  #

  With the Lorkiiz starship destroyed Alberta hoped that the other one wouldn’t be following them so close behind like it had. So she jumped into the Yoni star system, which belonged to the Bonobo people. A human subculture that based their life philosophy on the Bonobo apes of old Earth Africa continent. The next jump took them to the Siddhartha star system where the forth planet from the sun was called Buddha.

  “Shut down the sails, Donna.”

  “Yes, captain.” Donna Williams said. “Shutting down the sails. Rocketship is cooling at a normal rate.”

  “Launch a probe, Fiona.”

  “Yes, captain.”

  Alberta smiled and glanced at Jacob Musashi who was seated in Janet’s old XO chair. Alberta looked at the data screens once the first info dump came in from the nearest buoy. She saw some possibilities for trade that they might make. Of course this system was probably the only one where you received an info dump containing free copies of Buddhist sutras in Sanskrit and translated in many languages. Along with commentary! Hurray!

  The journey to the main spacestation orbiting the planet Buddha was uneventful. The reverse engines were fired a couple of times to slow the rocketship from its post jump light speed momentum. Once they docked Alberta called for a meeting in the conference room over what do with the children. She brought along Jacob Musashi to speak with them.

  “So it’s agreed that we’ll land Guinevere’s Daughter on the planet’s surface to meet with the abbot of the monastery?” Alberta looked around at her department heads, including Saul Menendez, who was there to represented the teachers. She saw nods. Alberta raised her gavel and struck the table top. “Done.”

  #

  Alberta watched her data screens, while Donna Williams perfectly handed the descent of Guinevere’s Daughter. Of course her co-pilot Linda helped. Alberta smiled as their rocketship landed on the cold landing pad in Buddha’s Spaceport 12. It would take a few hours for the rocketship to cool down, so that they could get off. That was normal.

  “Well done, Donna.” Alberta gave a couple of claps.

  “Thank you, captain.” Donna blushed. “Just doing my job.”

  Alberta smiled called Saul Menendez speak with him on her visual screen.

  “Captain?”

  “Perfect landing, Saul.” Alberta chuckled. “Get the kids ready. Their taking a field trip today. The ship’s cooling down at the standard speed and you’ll be informed later when its time for them to go.”

  “Yes, captain.” Saul laughed.

  The face of Alberta’s brother-in-law vanished from her screen. Alberta called Piper.

  “Captain?”

  “We made it safe and sound, honey.” Alberta chuckled. “Get your security teams ready to protect the children when its time for them to leave.”

  The logistics of moving hundreds of children out of a rocketship, through several miles to a monastery is difficult to say the least. Alberta her head at her own thought. They had a large convey moving from the spaceport that looked almost endless. But it wasn’t really, thought it was big. Various sized hovercars, hovertrucks, and six aerospace shuttles.

  Alberta sat in the back of a hovercar with her wife Piper Williams. They were in position six in the long convoy.

  “I wish they’d let us put at least one of our own satellites in Buddha’s orbit.” Piper complained.

  “Now. Now, Piper. This isn’t Caroline.” Alberta said. “They’re not as powerful as Suiko or even our Yin Confederation, but this is not a primitive corrupt world that we can bribe. Also sensors our their bread and butter, so we just have to pay their fees of use like everyone else.”

  “Fine.” Piper snorted.

  “That’s a good assessment of people on Buddha, Captain Williams.” Jacob Musashi said. He was riding shotgun by the driver. “Not that they’re a nosy people. They just want to know.”

  Was that a joke? Alberta wasn’t sure. The man smiled, but he didn’t laugh. But she was shocked when he actual stopped smiling.

  “Captain Williams? There’s something wrong.” Jacob Musashi lowered his window and seemed to listening for something. His nostrils moved. Was he smelling something on the wind, like a dog would? How’s that possible? “Please, Captain Williams. Stop the convey. They’re attacking. We need to get ready!”

  “Wha-” Alberta started but Piper interrupted.

  “Do you want me to stop, captain?” Heidi Williams asked in the driver’s seat.

  “Who? Where are they coming from?” Piper’s eyes were moving from her tablet to the river the convey was running parallel with. “I don’t see anyone.”

  “The river.” Jacob Musashi said.

  A dozen ninjas leaped from the wide flowing river towards Alberta’s hovercar. Piper reached for her blaster. Jacob Musashi jumped out the window.

  “Jacob?” Alberta exclaimed. “Stop the car, Heidi!”

  “Alberta, more ninjas are leaping out of the river all along the convoy!” Piper shouted with a wave of her left hand that held her tablet. Her right hand aimed her blaster at a ninja. Her blaster bolt zipped through the ninja’s chest. The ninja was flung backwards. Piper looked back at Alberta, “Get your head down!”

  “Look out!” Alberta warned.

  A ninja star sunk into Piper’s hand and she dropped her blaster. “Fuck!”

  Alberta reached for the blaster on the floor. She fired at the ninja, but missed. “Hold still! Damn you!”

  Piper laughed. Piper pulled the star free from her hand. She took the blaster from Alberta. Piper fired and missed. She put the blaster in her unharmed left hand. Piper aimed again, while the ninja back flipped and tossed another star. The star missed. The ninja that had tossed the star was blasted by Piper’s next shot. “Fuck you!”

  “There more of them!” Heidi yelled. She’d slid over to the shotgun seat to fire her blaster.

  Alberta watched as Jacob Musashi fought the ninja. He was barehanded against their swords, but that didn’t stop him. His speed and skill was incredible.

  “My hand doesn’t feel right.” Piper said as she fired at another ninja with her left hand.

  “Maybe you’ve been poisoned!” Alberta yelled.

  “What?” Piper screamed. “My eyes. They’re getting watery. Blurry. Every thing’s getting blurry!”

  “No, Piper!” Alberta held her wife. Piper was unable to shoot. Tears poured down her eyes, but it wasn’t because she was crying. There was some kind of strange poison from the ninja star causing the reaction. She needs a doctor, but everyone else is pinned down the almost a hundred of ninjas that’d jumped out of the river. A metal box with a red cross on it was tossed in Alberta’s lap.

  “Here’s a first aid kit from the glove compartment!” Heidi screamed. “That’s all we got.”

  Heidi turned away to fire out the window. Alberta fumbled through the kit. She gave Piper a painkiller shot. There wasn’t anything else she could do, but hold her wife tightly in her arms.

  “Oh Goddess! I can’t see!” Piper screamed.

  “I got you, darling!” Alberta rocked Piper in her arms.

  #

  A dozen large aerospace shuttles flew out of the sky. They weren’t any of the shuttles that belonged to Alberta’s family. Stunner beams from the shuttles stuck the ninjas. Next monks and nuns jumped from the aerospace shuttles. They landed and began fighting the ninjas or shooting them with stunners. All of the ninjas were killed or stunned.

  Alberta called for help on her tablet and Tilly Zhou showed up. “I’m sorry we don’t know what it is, but this should slow her metabolism and the nanobots in it should fight the poison to a stand still. It’s the best we can do for now. There’s
others that have been poisoned by the ninja stars too.”

  Tilly used the hypo-spray on Piper.

  “Did she get hit by a ninja star?” Jacob Musashi asked when he returned to their hovercar. He must have been speaking with the monks and nuns that’d helped them.

  “Yes.” Alberta said. Her own tears had flowed a little, but it wasn’t because of the poison.

  “My friends at the monastery have a cured for it.” Jacob Musashi explained. “Just follow the shuttles and they’ll take you there.”

  “Okay.” Alberta quickly used her tablet to call everyone in the convoy to tell them what was going on. “Heidi, let’s go.”

  “Right, captain.” Heidi glanced back at Piper with a worried look. She raised the hovercar and followed the hovercars in front of theirs, which in turn was followed the shuttles. Of course the shuttles had picked up all the monks and nuns first. The ninjas were left where they’d fallen.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDTWENTY-FIVE

  Finding a safe place

  Arriving at the monastery Piper and the other victims of the poison were rushed through the walls of monastery to its hospital. Alberta expected to see something primitive. Maybe even more than what you’d find on Caroline. Instead the monastery’s hospital was state of the art. Everything was clean and spotless. There was plasma bags, modern medical equipment and even medical robots. Thank the Goddess!

  Alberta and few others were led into a waiting room. There Jacob Musashi stood speaking to an elder monk with a watchful monk and nun standing behind the important monk. Alberta assumed that must be the abbot.

  “Captain Williams. I would like to introduce you to Abbot Caleb Lake of the Blue Lotus Zen Monastery. Abbot Lake this is Junior Captain Alberta Williams. Mother of Erica Williams, who used to be one of our nuns.”

  “Hello, Abbot Lake.” Alberta replied and bowed. The abbot returned the bow.

  “Hello, Captain Williams.” The abbot bowed. He smiled honestly. “I remember your daughter. She had such potential, but so much doubt of her own abilities.”