by David Buck
***
Steve checked the life jackets yet again under the suited alien and fought back tiredness, as he now took of his swim fins and secured the fins to the harness. The runabout from the Aurora Discovery had finally reached his location. The skipper had the presence of mind to slow down, well before the boat reached the strange sight of a helicopter hovering over a combined five hundred kilogram mass of human and a suited alien.
Steve could see that the six metre solid plate runabout was crewed with Rick, the stocky engineer, and two of his burliest deckhands, and quickly they got the boat alongside. First one crewmember passed a heavy rope underneath the shoulders of the space suit and tied it off, as another deckhand helped Steve over the side of the runabout. Steve quickly took off his goggles and went to the side of the runabout to ensure that the alien was secure. The calm valve noises from the top of the space suit remained unchanged, and the alien cautiously regarded the new humans that had appeared.
Steve kept his voice calm as he spoke.
‘Now no unnecessary noise, as we don’t want to spook this large fellow, and remember he is injured and possibly ill.’
The engineer verified that the alien was tied off, and spoke briefly to Mark in the helicopter to lower more cable, before he unhooked the rescue cable from the rescue harness. The helicopter, now freed of the burden to support human and alien in the water, promptly flew off to land on the Aurora Discovery. Dan placed a last call to Steve as they left for the approaching ship.
‘Steve I got some good videos and photos of the alien and that strange rig. I will see you back on the ship.’
Steve acknowledged Dan and turned his attention back to what the burly engineer was doing.
‘Rick, how do you propose to lift him aboard the runabout?’
Rick grinned and picked up a two metre by one metre sheet of very thick high density polyethylene sheeting with a hole and a heavy rope in one end.
‘Steve, this sheet is off one of the aquaculture tanks. We will drop the sheet between him and the runabout, tie him on, and just lever him over the side without tipping the boat too much or injuring him.’
Steve watched with quiet approval as the sheet rope was secured to the opposite deck rail, the sheet quickly positioned and their guest tied off. Several seconds of solid effort on the rope by all four men had the plastic sheet slowly tilted and the boat rocked for several seconds more as they turned the alien to fit along the centre of the deck. The six meter runabout was certainly well loaded now and the engineer commented again after looking over at the strange floating rig nearby.
‘We will have to leave that object until the Aurora Discovery can reach this position.’
Steve took the runabout helm as he replied.
‘I don’t think the object is going anywhere and I want to know if it is safe before we bring it aboard the ship.’
Steve now took the runabout back to the Aurora Discovery a few kilometres distant.
The ship had now reduced speed and turned to the east into the wind to allow the returning helicopter an extra landing margin. He glanced down at the suited alien, and Steve was reassured to hear both the valve in the top of the suit and see the alien calmly looking out of his helmet at Steve and his crew.
***
Commander John Shepardson, Captain of the USS North Dakota, sat in his small office with his first lieutenant and looked over his orders with unease. His submarine was now over thirty years old and he was not confident of success after hearing of the loss of the USS Sioux City, regarded by the US navy both as a gun outfit and a more modern version of his own submarine. The captain had earlier taken his ship from the western Pacific at high speed into the Indian Ocean via the Sunda Strait then down the North West coast of Australia. The orders stated he was to take his ship to within fifty kilometres of the landing site for the alien ship and to launch two pairs of sea skimming cruise missiles at the aliens.
‘We are not fooling around this time, and other weapons are being deployed as well. Hopefully the close launch will enable the missiles to get near enough to do their job.’
He commented as he checked the orders and got his executive officer to counter sign he had witnessed them. The order called for kiloton yield nuclear warheads on each of the four cruise missiles.
John turned to speak to his executive officer.
‘Off the record, I think we are about to do something we could very well not live to regret.’
The first lieutenant privately agreed with his captain’s opinion, and then both men set about carrying out their orders to the best of their abilities. As the submarine closed on the selected cruise missile launch site to the north of the Abrolhos Islands, both officers were further worried on how they would ensure both their mission succeeded and that the submarine remained safe.
***
Ian Ridge sat behind his desk in the office of the Prime Minister, and suppressed a groan as he unconsciously ran his left hand through his grey hair.
‘Today was turning out to be one of those days’ he decided.
A stream of assistants either brought forward reports or left urgently on tasks that the Ian and the two important visitors to his office had agreed need to be followed up urgently. For also seated around Ian’s desk and anxiously scanning reports, was Stuart Eastlough, the Leader of the Opposition, and Fiona Wilkes, the third female Governor General of Australia.
Ian had fielded a call late the previous day from Stuart, who he respected and got along adequately with, who offered to ensure that the Australian government had the support of both main political parties. Fiona was present as she was the King’s representative, and she was respected by both men as an outstanding medical academic and politician. Fiona was just commenting to Stuart about a call she had received from England two hours previously.
‘King William has expressed concern with the situation and has asked to be updated as important developments arise. He has spoken also to the British Prime Minister to convey his distaste at the unilateral actions of the Americans in attacking those space ships. He felt that the British PM would also take that up with the US Ambassador.’
Stuart briefly stated that ‘That this is all that anyone could expect’ and continued into another report, as the prime minister looked over a report from HMAS Sydney and commented.
‘So, Commander Walker is reporting that the aliens have been met by a civilian ship.’
He paused and looked at the report and went on again.
‘The Aurora Discovery is operated by a Steve Greene and his wife Samantha, and his brother in-law Dan Edwards. The Commander goes on to state that Steve was until recently a RAN Commander. Wilson, can you please get me the service record of this fellow? I know a little about him but do not actually know him.’
The assistant hurriedly excused herself and left to get the requested report from the navy offices, as Fiona Wilkes now put down a folder and commented.
‘Ian, I taught Samantha Edwards in Melbourne before the pandemic. I had heard she left the Army reserve, and recently married a RAN Commander who she worked with in Malaysia.’
Ian arched an eyebrow as he considered the news and replied.
‘So a former navy officer and a medical team marvel. Fiona, things are looking better already. Stuart, do you see any problems with former defence force personnel being involved in this situation?’
Stuart considered the question thoughtfully and did not reply immediately. The media occasionally alluded to the opposition leader being dim witted, but he had a keen mind even if being nearly bald with large ears did not help his image either. Stuart gave both Ian and Fiona a polite smile that they unconsciously returned as he spoke at length.
‘Well Ian, as you know not being defence force personnel means that the couple can be appointed as envoys or civilian mission leaders, and that other leaders can endorse or support their leadership. Also we can always ask Mr Greene to resume his navy rank if necessary at a later stage. I then noticed that a well
known biologist, Dan Edwards, Samantha’s brother is also onboard with several former RAN personnel. Now if we can get those four US science team members in Perth up to the Abrolhos, we have the start of a science mission to research those aliens.’
With Fiona nodding in agreement, Ian considered the logic of his political opponent to be on similar lines to what he was thinking and politely voiced the same.
‘Glad to hear we are all thinking the same thing, a good point, and my thanks Stuart about those US scientists. Gregson, can you please get me a line to the US President?’
Stuart gave Ian a polite nod at his thank you. As another assistant rushed out of the Prime Ministers office, the three senior political figures fine tuned the urgent request that Ian would place in front of the US President.
***
Chapter 2
Captain Narindestat strode down the rear gangway of the Trader ship and determinedly took several steps onto the white sand. He paused to study the underneath of his ship before issuing a series of orders.
‘I want a pair of suited and armed guards at the bottom of the ramp at all times. I want four hose teams going over the hull from the outside, and we will progressively drop and raise ships shields in the sections they are working on. I want the fuel production process to continue as fast as possible.’
Several crew members followed him onto the island, before the captain knelt and stirred the mix of sand and strange pale rock with interest for a few moments. He looked around his ship further for several minutes before he spoke again.
‘When the engineers are not fixing the fuel process they are fixing the items on the damage list starting with the aero spike engines. Get going crew, all day and all night, or we die here.’
The crew, already with tasks to perform, turned to their section leaders, who were dividing up between themselves the captain’s latest series of orders. Emeria could see that the captain was busy at the moment and put off any thought of interrupting him with her latest news.
‘My discoveries could wait awhile.’
She decided to herself as she turned and returned to her medical laboratory. The loss of Garendestat still deeply cut at her and she was pouring herself into her research and heavy workload to cope with it all. Captain Narindestat wondered were the Maveen were on this planet, as he stood up again and now strode along the small island to inspect first one wing then the other wing of his huge ship.
***
The Maveen lead probe watched with relief as Queen Angwene swam back through the massive suppression field to her facilities. The Maveen had not been allowed at this stage to enter the queen’s facilities. The Maveen had been amazed at the size of the suppression field as the probes waited outside the facility. The lead probe had secretly analysed the field, and what it could see of the generating device, earlier when the ancient queen had been elsewhere talking to her youngest daughters.
The lead probe was soon evaluating earlier requests, actually orders masquerading as requests, after the queen had returned. He had later not even discussed these requests with the other probes present in case Queen Angwene considered that the probes would plan to dissent. He learnt at the time that the ancient queen’s two youngest daughters had since returned after hours of high speed underwater travel with several items in storage cavities in their massive bodies.
Four of the six Maveen probes now lumbered north through the underwater depths with these items securely held to the sides of their hulls. Probe three could not suppress a witticism once the probes had left the proximity of the queen and her daughters.
‘So tell me they refer to us as the eternal servants, are you sure that they don’t mean eternal slaves?’
The lead probe could see too well what probe three was getting at, but wisely withheld a reply. The queen had been quite adamant about what the probes would be forced to do to meet the needs of the queen and her daughters. She also had alluded to a reward that was rightfully that of the Maveen should the six probes obey her orders implicitly. As the probes neared once again the location of the two downed Trader ships, the lead probe continued to consider without success what the queen was getting at in her last comment. He felt that the queen was already driving him in the direction she wanted the Maveen probes to behave.
‘So other races consider the Maveen to be difficult or indirect, well we are not when compared to an ancient queen.’
The probe thought quietly to itself, as it led the other probes two hundred meters above the seafloor and still heading north.
***
Commander Edward Reed, captain of HMAS Townsville, a second generation Collins class submarine, quietly looked over the sonar operator’s shoulder. The submarine cruised one hundred kilometres north of the Abrolhos Islands on the way from Darwin down to Perth. The old submarine was nearing the end of another patrol, with several refits needed over the years to keep it still operational. The commander was still amazed about the news he had received from Fleet West about the alien ships landing at the Abrolhos Islands.
Commander Reed could also see the logic of their landing at that spot, as he had observed at the time.
‘Remote and away from us, and he can hide again quickly if he needs to do so.’
He had given orders that they skirt the seaward side of the Abrolhos to scout the zone and report, and that is when they had detected a US submarine well away from their usual location in the Pacific ocean. The sonar operator quietly voiced his observations on the data they were getting from the towed array.
‘Sir it is definitely the USS North Dakota and I place her direction, depth and speed as listed before.’
Commander Reed confirmed the details with rising concern and now spoke to his warfare officer.
‘If we get the towed array stowed we can still follow them down the coast. I want six torpedoes in the bow tubes, but leave the tubes dry and leave the tube doors closed.’
If the warfare officer looked bemused by the order, he gave no sign as the commander turned to the first lieutenant, James Bell.
‘James, the USS North Dakota is up to something at the Abrolhos, and I suspect they might launch a flight of cruise missiles.’
The commander was relieved to see the lieutenant commander was as always quick on the uptake.
‘Sir they will be nuclear warheads if the Americans do launch. The convention warheads will not trouble the alien ships at all from what I have heard about those strange force shields they possess. Note that the Abrolhos Islands will have tourists and civilians present.’
The commander was satisfied, but dismayed at the conclusions they had quickly reached. He ordered the HMAS Townsville to close on the location of the USS North Dakota as stealthily as possible. After fifteen minutes the warfare officer interrupted his thoughts.
‘Sir we are four kilometres behind the USS Virginia, she is maintaining a course due south, in two hundred meters of water at twelve knots. The six torpedoes are loaded in the forward tubes, but the tubes are dry as ordered.’
The captain looked over the control room and replied.
‘Thank you lieutenant, we are going to play chicken this afternoon with the USS North Dakota. Helm, slowly bring our speed down to twelve knots please. Sonar, give me two strong active pings forward please.’
Commander John Shepardson was scanning over recent messages received via the underwater antennae routinely trailed after very four hours, when two active pings reverberated through the USS North Dakota. He was hoping that Unified Command had seen fit to change his orders, but no further orders had arrived. The sonar operator wasted no time in reporting to the captain.
‘Sir, we have a series two Collins class submarine four kilometres directly astern of us sir, they appear to be in an attack posture. Sorry for not hearing them sir.’
The US commander was not concerned with the sonar operator making the oversight.
‘Well don’t concern yourself midshipman, if they did not want to be discovered by anyone then they would not be. He
lm, bring our speed down to five knots.’
As he awaited a further development, the commander knew that the Australian submarines had an enviable record in several war games against the submarines of other navies, including the US submarines. The sonar operator then spoke again.
‘Sir they are closing, soon down to three kilometres.’
Back on HMAS Townsville, Commander Reed quietly gave additional orders.
‘When we are down to three kilometres, I want full astern and sixty seconds later all six forward tubes flooded, but leave the outer doors closed please.’
The submarine continued forward for several seconds as the seasoned mariners quickly grabbed something solid and fixed. A deep rumble lasting several more seconds issued from the rear of the submarine. After the sixty seconds had passed a low rushing noise was briefly heard from the forward launch tubes. The RAN officers on the bridge suppressed grins at what the US sonar operator must be hearing.
On the bridge of the USS North Dakota and John Shepardson knew that the game was well and truly up, as the sonar operator hurriedly reported again.
‘Sir, the Australian sub has now come to a stop, we have their position, and then they flooded, but did not open the forward torpedo tubes.’
But the commander would attempt, for the sake of his career to bluff his way past the Australian submarine, so he gave two additional orders.
‘Get me an underwater phone channel to the Australian sub, we will see what they want, or if we can distract them. Also I want two torpedoes in the rear tubes loaded, but do not flood the tubes under any circumstances.’
Within two minutes the underwater phone link between the two submarines was established. ‘Commander John Shepardson of the USS North Dakota to the Australian submarine trailing us, how can we help you today? Over’
The reply from the Australian submarine came back in moments.