by D. J. Holmes
“We could send one of our exploration drones down the shift passage towards the system the freighter came from,” Maguire suggested. “It could check out the system for us and then report back. We could wait here in safety.”
Alverez shook his head. “It would take too long. Those drones can only manage about half the speed we can in shift space, and even less in normal. We’d potentially waste weeks sitting here waiting for it.”
“But it is a good back up idea,” Emilie said when a look of disappointment crossed Maguire’s face. “If we go in the other direction, we could program the drone to go and very discreetly poke its nose into the system. Then, if we decide to head that way later, we can pick up the drone and check its sensor data to see if the way is safe.”
“I know one other thing we should do,” Alverez said. “We need to transfer this data to another one of our drones and send it back to the wormhole. If something happens to us, we need to make sure this data gets back to Earth. We’ve already discovered more than many thought we would. We can’t lose this information now.”
“Agreed,” Emilie said with a nod. “Maguire, you can program a drone to visit the freighter’s home system, and another to head back to the Gift once we are done here. Now, are there any other reasons why we should consider heading towards Karacknid space just yet?... Ok,” Emilie continued when no one spoke, “let’s start working on our plan for visiting these other systems. We have no idea what we’re going to find so we need to be ready for anything.”
*
Intrepid, unknown system, 23rd January 2482 AD (thirteen days later).
“I think we can safely say we’ve found something this time,” Jones said as he looked up from his computer terminal. “There is activity everywhere.”
Emilie nodded. The data was coming up on the holo projector. Intrepid was at the extreme outer edge of what they had called the gamma-4 system. The first two new systems from the alien flight plan had turned out to be devoid of any intelligent life. It was clear the third wasn’t. There was a vast amount of electromagnetic radiation coming from two of the planets in the system and from the orbits of three others. “It’s not as impressive as the Sol system, or several of the other alien systems I’ve visited, but there sure is a lot going on in there. Analysis?”
“It looks like two of the planets have been colonized,” Jones answered. “They’re both in the goldilocks zone, so it suggests the aliens like the same kind of planets we do. I’m guessing there are orbital trade hubs around both planets given how many freighters there seem to be going between both worlds. There also appears to be some mining operations in orbit above these three worlds. One is a gas giant, the other has a pretty impressive planetary ring. I’m guessing there is some kind of ground side operation on the third, though we’re not detecting anything yet. And then there are these,” Jones said as he zoomed out to show the outer edges of the system. “It looks like there are six different asteroid mining operations going on.”
“And militarily?”
“Both colonies have orbital defense stations,” Maguire answered as she took over. “They’re not too big, but given the energy readings coming off them, they have to be sporting military grade reactors. Then there are these two groups of ships,” as she spoke Maguire took over control of the holo projector and zoomed in on the two colonies. “Both are in geosynchronous orbit and appear to be in military formations. One group has twenty ships, the second thirty-six.”
“And there’s no indications of how powerful they might be, or what weapons they carry?” Emilie followed up.
Maguire shook her head. “We’re not picking up anything at this range that can give us any indications.”
“And they are definitely not Karacknid?” Matthews asked from where Alverez’s team sat.
Jones shook his head. “None of the readings, from the warships or freighters match anything we’ve picked up from Karacknid ships before.”
“All right,” Emilie said. “So we’ve found an alien civilization, one that looks pretty impressive, and hasn’t yet been conquered by the Karacknids. How do we proceed?”
“The way I see it, we have two options,” Alverez replied. “We could try and go in covertly. If we pose as a trader from a nearby alien civilization, we could try and get permission to dock and see what info we can pick up. There may not be any Karacknid warships out there, but we have no way of knowing if this species isn’t some kind of Karacknid ally. It might be best to test the waters before we reveal exactly who we are. That’s option one. The other is that we simply announce ourselves and be up front with why we are here.”
“What are the chances anyone would mistake a warship for a trader’s vessel?” Matthews asked.
“Probably not very high,” Alverez said. “But we could make some modifications to Intrepid’s hull to hide some of her weapons and mask her energy outputs. We could pass ourselves off as an armed trader. One designed for long trade missions, just the kind of mission that might take us to an unknown system.”
While Matthews asked another question, and Jones and Maguire joined in, Emilie threw the two options around in her mind. Whilst she wanted to hear her subordinates’ thoughts, the decision was hers. “We can’t hide who we are,” she said several minutes later. “Not when our mission is of such importance. There is just too much risk involved. If they find out, we could be damaging an important future relationship beyond repair. Take us out of stealth and set course for the planet with the thirty-six warships in orbit. One quarter maximum acceleration. At least that way if they turn out to be hostile we may be able to get away with a burst of speed. Begin transmitting our first contact message.”
“Yes Captain,” Maguire responded.
“This doesn’t mean we can’t hedge our bets,” Emilie said as she turned to Alverez. “I want you to take your team, Jones and Shaw and have a brainstorming session. I want a list of all the questions we would like answers too, and the best ways to ask them diplomatically. Then, think through the best ways we could ascertain them through other means. If they let us dock with one of their stations to take on supplies, we may be able to make contact with non-governmental organizations. We could buy or trade for some of the information we would like. Put together a wish list and figure out how we might go about getting what we want.”
“Right away,” Alverez said as he stood. “Keep us updated on how they respond to our presence.”
Emilie smiled. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. As soon as something happens it will be all over the ship. We’ll call you back if we need you though. I’ll not let you miss any of the excitement.”
“Right,” Alverez replied as he returned her smile. “Let’s go,” he added as he turned to his team.
Emilie watched them go then turned back to the holo display to watch the alien warships. It would take an hour for their COM message to reach the nearest group, but they would be able to detect the gravimetric waves from Intrepid’s engines right away. And we’ll stand out like a sore thumb, Emilie thought. There were no ships in Intrepid’s vicinity, it seemed the aliens had no mining operations in the part of their system near the shift passage Intrepid had just exited. And with nothing in the two systems we just came through there’s no reason for a freighter to be heading this way. When several minutes passed and there was no sign of a reaction from the alien ships, Emilie frowned. “Have any civilian ships reacted to us?” she asked.
Jones shook his head. “There has been nothing. Maybe they don’t have gravimetric sensors? But is that even possible?”
Emilie shrugged. “Gravimetric sensors are supposed to be pretty low-grade tech. Rudimentary even. Given how built up the system is, it’s hard to imagine they don’t have them.” Matthews would be able to tell them for sure. She quickly typed a query and sent it to her. A reply came back almost immediately. A space faring civilization not having gravimetric sensors made no sense to her. “Strange,” Emilie said after reading Matthew’s reply. “Maybe they
are more used to traffic coming in system from this direction than we thought.”
For the entire time it took the first contact COM message to reach the nearest alien world, Emilie watched as the aliens didn’t react to Intrepid’s steady flight into their system. To her, their behavior simply made no sense. Even if they thought Intrepid was some kind of trade ship, they should have sent a patrol to challenge her.
“Look,” Jones called barely a minute after the first contact COM message reached the alien’s world. “They’re moving!”
Finally, Emilie thought. The alien squadron around their nearest world was breaking orbit and moving onto an intercept trajectory for Intrepid. At the same time, the second squadron moved to take the place of the first. They certainly are wary of us now. Thirty-six ships were a lot to counter one alien ship, especially when Intrepid had sent out a message of peace and friendship. “Bring us to a halt,” Emilie ordered. “They seem to have been spooked. Let’s do our best to not appear threatening. Inform Alverez and the others, they’ll probably want to re-join us when those ships get close.”
It took another hour and forty minutes for the alien ships to get into two-way COM range. Though the speed they had shown on their journey towards Intrepid hadn’t been overly impressive, Emilie was still relieved when just three ships actually approached hers. She did not want to have to try and deal with thirty-six all at once if things took a turn for the worse.
“They’re hailing us,” Intrepid’s COM officer reported. “It looks like the Kulrean translation software is able to make sense of their language. Though it is saying this species uses a different language to the one the destroyed freighter used.”
Emilie didn’t have time to fully process what that might mean. “Put them on,” she replied. She had no idea if making the alien wait for even just a few extra seconds would be viewed as rude or even hostile. “Greetings,” she said as soon as an unfamiliar alien creature sitting in a command chair appeared in front of her. The alien was the closest looking intelligent species to an insect she had yet laid eyes on. The Flex-aor were insect like in a way, but it was only a passing resemblance. The thing in front of her reminded her of one of the many beetles she had kept as pets as a child on the Alpha colony. The alien had a large oval shaped dark green body split into two sections that she could see. Two antennae protruded from a small head structure and several other appendages came out from what Emilie instinctively thought of as its thorax. They had to be arms or legs, but they were very long and thin. She had a hard time imagining how they supported the large size of the alien’s body. With a start she realized she was staring. “My name is Emilie Kansas,” she said hastily. “I am a Captain in my species’ navy. We are on an exploration mission. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
The alien’s antennae swirled around several times before it replied. When it did, a hidden mouth opened, revealing a number of small mini antennae that began to move. Emilie had to remind herself to blink as the strange creature communicated to her. “Are you the representative the Karacknids said would come?”
Emilie’s eyes widened. A moment of panic ran through her as she struggled to figure out how to answer. She shared a glance with Alverez who was back in his command chair. If she said no, was her ship about to come under attack? If these aliens were expecting a Karacknid ship, were they allies of the Karacknids? If we say no, they might open fire immediately. But if we say yes, could we pull off the lie, at least long enough to run away? she asked herself. Not knowing what to say, she froze.
Chapter 15
Though the Empire has been involved in many wars since its founding, none cost as many lives as the War of Doom. In large part that is due to the Karacknid attack on Earth. To this day the civilian causalities outweigh anything else the Empire has experienced. Yet the numbers of military personnel lost were also significant. Only our two major wars with the Antarians and the War of the Pretender have seen more military losses.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
Apparently concluding that Emilie hadn’t understood the question, the alien repeated itself. “Are you here to speak on behalf of the Karacknid Empire? We were promised we would have more time to come to a decision.”
A decision? Emilie repeated to herself. That doesn’t sound like how allies treat one another. Her mind kicked itself back into gear. “No, we do not represent the Karacknids. We are an independent species. We come in peace. As I said, we are seeking new friends and trading partners.”
The alien’s antennae swirled around and around. Then its mouth opened and more than ten mini antennae appeared moving frantically. “You must be a long way from home. I apologize for my abruptness. However, your ship has appeared from a shift passage that leads to a dangerous area of space. You must excuse our caution. Let me introduce myself. I am Grand Admiral Tamkonna. I command my species’ warships in this system. If you come in peace, then you are most welcome. I must know though, what relationship do you have with the Karacknids?”
Emilie paused to think through her words carefully. “We are aware of them. They are a powerful neighbor of ours. May I ask, what is your relationship?”
“That is yet to be decided,” Tamkonna responded.
Emilie lent forward. “I do not understand.”
“The Karacknid Empire recently absorbed one of our trading partners into their territory,” Tamkonna explained. “They have requested that my species accept the same position. They wish us to become a vassal client state of theirs. Our political leadership is still discussing the issue. We feared they had sent you to obtain our answer before we were ready.”
Emilie struggled to get her head around how quickly things were developing. Her gut told her that she should go all in with the truth. “Your trading partner, were they absorbed by force? We encountered a damaged freighter on our journey and discovered the location of this system from data we managed to retrieve from the wreck. The freighter had trace energy signatures consistent with Karacknid weapons fire. My species is aware of the Karacknids’ aggressive expansion.”
“What system did you find this wreckage in?” Tamkonna asked.
“It was two systems away from here,” Emilie answered. “We will send you the data we have on the freighter. Perhaps you could transmit the location of the ship to its owners. There are still bodies on board they may like to retrieve and bury.”
Tamkonna bowed its head in a very Varanni like expression of respect. “We will handle this data with the utmost care and see it is sent to the people of the former Nanee Empire. Though it may take some time. We have not had contact with them since their war.”
“So they stood up to the Karacknids? I assume they lost?” Emilie asked.
Tamkonna didn’t reply. Instead it stared at Emilie for several seconds. It was the first time its antennae hadn’t even twitched. “You ask many questions whilst giving very little away.” Emilie made to reply but the alien continued before she could. “My subordinates have finished scanning your ship. It seems impressive. Yet not powerful enough to challenge my fleet. If you are willing, I will escort you to our colony; Betasaad. There you can converse with our political leaders. They will have more questions for you and will be in a position to answer yours. Your ship may set course for the world my ships were orbiting. We will escort you.”
“It would be our pleasure,” Emilie responded. “We are here to make new friends. I hope that today will be a significant point in the future of both of our species.”
“We will see,” Tamkonna responded, its antennae twitching only once. The alien then remained completely still until the image disappeared.
Emilie looked around at her officers. “I’m not sure how that went.”
“At least they were happy to hear we have nothing to do with the Karacknids,” Jones suggested.
“Yes,” Alvarez agreed. “Though that could be a double-edged sword. It sounds like the Karacknids have employed the same strategy they did with the Mindus. After conqueri
ng Jaranna they gave ultimatums to several single system species. They all caved in and accepted Karacknid overlordship. The freighter we found may have belonged to the most powerful species in this area of space. If they’ve been conquered, then the rest may soon surrender. Including our new friends,” Alvarez said as he nodded to the ships that were currently maneuvering to form up around Intrepid. “If they decide to join them, we could make a nice present to their new overlords.” Emilie swallowed hard. The same thought had occurred to her.
“We’re getting some good readings on their warships now,” Maguire commented as she zoomed in on the nearest alien vessel. “This is roughly the size of a destroyer. Look, these have to be missile ports and I’d bet these are laser cannons. Without seeing their missiles in action there’s no way to judge just how effective they are, but their laser cannons…”
Emilie nodded to her Second Lieutenant. The thought didn’t have to be finished. At such close ranges, a Human laser cannon from four centuries ago would have had enough power to burn through Intrepid’s armor. Now surrounded by the alien vessels, Intrepid was at their mercy. This is progressing far faster than I expected, Emilie thought. She felt way in over her head. Why couldn’t my uncle have sent someone with more experience? she asked herself.