by David Buck
It was refreshing to be treated with a degree of openness and trust by another intelligent species, though he was saddened by what exposure to the other galactic races could mean for the humans. He brooded for a moment, as he remembered from many years earlier another evening gathering, his father’s tales of the Dradfer, and their contact with the galactic races.
***
Narindestat strode along the massive side corridor of the Trader outpost and then into his quarters to meet his wife Illuria with a hug. His oldest child, Garendestat, now halfway to adulthood, was still awake, braced a passable salute and spoke to him as he entered. ‘Captain, are we leaving on the ship soon?’
Narindestat glanced down his massive four metre frame to look into his son’s eyes with a smile, and softly answered.
‘Well less of the captain and more of the father to you son. We are not on the ship yet and you don’t have to salute either. We are naming the ship after your mother, and so the ship is to be called Illuria. She should be ready for trialling in a few weeks now.’
Illuria gave him another large smile and stated.
‘His younger sisters are in bed already, but your first mate stayed up for the story you promised him.’
Father regarded son again and asked.
‘Do you know what story you want to hear?’
Garendestat was quiet for a moment until his father asked again, and then he replied.
‘Father I want to hear the story of the Dradfer colonies please.’
The request changed Narindestat’s mood and he sombrely looked over at Illuria, who ventured an opinion.
‘Well Narindestat he is going to space with you soon. If he is old enough for space, then he is old enough to try and understand the story of ourselves and later the Dradfer colonies.’
Narindestat sat at the table with his late hour meal. As he ate the Trader captain slowly spoke to his son over the next two hours about the events that had changed the fate of both Trader and later the Dradfer races.
‘Garendestat, you already know a little of our exile from our home systems, which were then given to the Tilmud to harvest and misuse as they saw fit. Now we once had several space outposts with a sizeable remnant of our population near the Dradfer colonies when they fell afoul of the vassal races. Like we did earlier the Dradfer kept their independence for many generations, until the Tilmud and the Zronte themselves intervened and destroyed them.’
Garendestat was not long in matching his father’s sombre mood as he heard the long tragic story.
***
The Maveen lead probe had left the three other probes in shallow water to await his signal as he slowly flew to the Trader landing site. The probe was well aware that the possibility of conflict between the humans and the Traders still existed. But he was hopeful he could offer incentives to the Trader captain that would aid in any potential deals with humans. The probe considered the advice that the ancient queen had given as he signalled to a nearby sneak ship.
‘The humans are usually fair in their dealings with one another, but they can be quite savage in conflict. They have a proclivity for extreme violence to one another followed by acts of reconciliation. So try not to lie to them if you can.’
The Maveen probe had wondered how the queen had established that viewpoint as the sneak ship signalled that he could proceed to the main ship. As he landed on the small island next to the main ship, he scanned all the Trader ships and was relieved to find that no additional ships were badly damaged.
Captain Narindestat came down the well lit rear gangway carrying a couple of Trader data tablets under an arm. He briskly strode over to speak to the Maveen lead probe, who regarded the Trader impassively from the blue glare of his open vision strip.
‘Well I hope you have accomplished all your sight seeing, we could do with your assistance with repairs to the main ship. And then we have to worked out which one of the two damaged sneak ships can be repaired enough to assist us into space.’
The lead probe now stated nothing, but let the captain continue speaking, so the Trader could come to the unpalatable conclusions in his own time.
‘However if it turns out that both ships are beyond repair then we into real problems. We would have trouble ourselves escaping the gravity well of this planet, especially with your dormant larger ship in the cargo hold. I am wary of leaving cargo, especially those guns I traded to end up as a benefit to the humans.’
The Maveen lead probe gave off a buzzing sound for a moment and the Trader captain fell silent as the probe finally spoke.
‘Yet you only consider this possibility now, and yes I understand the organic life forms’ pre-occupation with eat or being eaten.’
Captain Narindestat suppressed a snort of irritation at the presumptive nature of the lead probe.
‘So what are you trying to tell me Maveen?’
The lead probe immediately replied precisely and at length to the annoyed captain.
‘I invoke the absolute clause in our agreement that we revised after we first saved you from the Voorde infestation. It is in your best interests to now agree and follow my precise instructions. I wish to propose a deal with the humans in a manner that will both ensure your survival, both by you keeping your ship and our leaving this world together. An integral part of the process is an arrangement with the humans that will both surprise and benefit them greatly. Now this is what we are going to do captain.’
Captain Narindestat still thought that the probe was particularly presumptuous, but could only listen in a subdued manner, as the Maveen lead probe spelt out what it wanted to implement. He was most annoyed with the lead probe when it indicated that it wanted half of all the advanced weapons and shields in the cargo hold, plus two of the latest fusion generators. But the Maveen then indicated that the advanced equipment would never find its way into human ownership.
‘So just what does a Maveen probe need a late model cruiser gun for anyway? And also were did those trade items for the humans come from now?’
The probe gave another particularly sharp buzz of irritation to break the captain’s train of argument and then replied.
‘Remember our terms captain, no questions, no following us around and definitely no active scans.’
The captain’s mood picked up for a moment when the lead probe told him that the probes had visited and then moved the two sunken Trader ships. He was grateful the Maveen had kept them out of the way of the human salvage team. His mood then darkened again considerably as the lead probe indicated that the hulls were beyond possible repair even for the Maveen.
‘Captain, the two ships have crashed at speed into the sea bed with no shields, the hulls are twisted, the drives damaged, though both reactors are still operating. We took the liberty of filling their holds with the trade goods for the humans and we then destroyed the high gain sensor arrays on the ships.’
Captain Narindestat, after hearing of the sneak ships being further disabled, now definitely felt like shooting the heavily armed and shielded Maveen lead probe. In a fit of anger and frustration, he threw a data tablet into the shields of the lead probe. The captain immediately felt chagrin and embarrassment, as the data tablet exploded and fell to the ground in a smoking pile of ruin. The lead probe impassively regarded him as it tersely spoke again.
‘Now if you are quite finished with your organic brain snap, I will explain a few things further, including the details on how we can get off this planet.’
The captain could only listen in awe and amazement as the lead probe spelt out both the why and the how of when they would leave the planet Earth. The Maveen probe felt a sense of accomplishment as the Trader captain stalked of in a put about and confused mood. The initiation of the deal was done, and the Traders had no knowledge of the ancient queen and her daughters hiding in the ocean depths of this world.
***
Steve looked at Garendestat with concern, for he had again fallen silent for several moments as if thinking to himself. Steve was ver
y tired himself and now checked the watch on his wrist. It was well past 9pm and he could not know how tired Garendestat was feeling now. But as he looked at the large frame of the alien he was presented with another problem, as Garendestat was too big to enter the ship itself and be given a cabin to sleep in tonight.
Steve called over a couple of crew members and they went away to fetch some bedding. He then motioned Garendestat to follow him, and now him along the front of the rear deck to the engineering and storage room. The room was located towards the middle of the ship under the helicopter deck. Steve pulled up the high roller door and turned on the light in the large square room, which fortunately had high ceilings to allow assembly work to be done under cover.
Garendestat crouched under the roller door to enter the room and Steve again flicked the light as he watched. It was obviously a utility room of some type, and he helped Steve move bulky items to one side as the crew returned with the bedding. Steve then asked the crew to fetch the blaster, the view finder, and the space suit components, and the humans arrayed them on the side benches.
Dan strode into the room, and made a show of admiring the new accommodation and inspecting the healing sores on Garendestat’s legs. He reapplied the Malazin solution to the sores and gave the ornate tattoos, now healing to a dull brown colour, another check.
‘Steve I don’t know how significant the healing over of the tattoos is to them.’
He stated as he helped straighten up the bedding. Steve also cast a quick eye on the tattoos and ventured.
‘Well this is all the more reason for us to get him back to his ship in the morning Dan. He could still die from something and we would be none the wiser.’
Dan nodded in agreement and Steve turned to the rear section of the storage area where four open showers lined the a few metres of the wall. To one side stood a four toilet cubicles, and fortunately one was larger. Steve dragged several welding screens between the sleeping area and the showers to give Garendestat more privacy. Garendestat was not fussed by the humans showing him around, as obviously a toilet and a shower were common to both species. He also appreciated their attempts to give him privacy as well. He now took the opportunity to speak to them again with new words of their language.
‘I thank you for all that you have done today.’
After several moments Steve and Dan walked from the locker pulling the door down behind them and detailed a crew member as watch on the rear deck. Garendestat was already aware of the outside guard, he looked over all his equipment stacked on the benches and thought about his situation as he briefly looked around the room.
‘Well I am a guest not a prisoner here, thankfully.’
Garendestat performed his ablutions and then quickly showered out his space suit. The Trader looked in further interest at the human equipment in the room for several minutes before he arranged the space suit to dry out. He then went soundly to sleep on the assembled mattresses on the floor.
***
Pilot Marenkestat had just returned from guarding the human ship carrying Garendestat when Captain Narindestat called for him. The pilot entered the bridge and saluted the captain standing near the navigation console. The senior Trader gave the pilot a calculating look and drew himself to his full height as he gave his orders.
‘Pilot, you are to board sneak ship seven as soon as it is refuelled, and take three of our best pilots with their sneak ships immediately from here and go salvage sneak ships two and four. Ask the Maveen lead probe for the coordinates for the damaged ships as the Maveen moved them. However the ships are still on the plateau where we first landed so you and your team should have no problems reaching them.’
The captain offered a wry smile that the pilot nervously returned before the senior Trader began to speak again.
‘Now the two damaged ships are to be brought back here undisturbed during the cover of darkness. You will ensure that the holds of these ships are not to be opened or their contents removed in any way. I can tell you that both ships will weigh at least twenty percent more than you think they should.’
Marenkestat wisely refrained from making a comment, and the captain spoke again after a few moments as he detected the constraint in the pilot.
‘Marenkestat, I do not like this either, but we have a new agreement with the Maveen to honour, and I intend to keep my word. Now Garendestat will be here early tomorrow morning and we will have a meeting then if you have returned at that time. You have your orders and I will await the return of your team.’
Within fifteen minutes Marenkestat was in sneak ship seven leading the three other sneak ships southwest to the new location. The four ships flew at roughly three times the speed of sound for half an hour. The pilots soon detected human ships well ahead of them at the location of their original landing site. Fortunately the new location of the damaged sneak ships was over the horizon from the human ships. Since it was now night time and the sneak ships were cloaked, Marenkestat knew that it would be unlikely that the human ships would be detecting them at any stage.
After the sneak ships had shed their transit speed, they slowly settled into the water, and sank towards the crippled sneak ships on the North West section of the underwater plateau. Inside the holds of each of the sneak ships, two Traders suited in special armoured and shielded waldo units patiently awaited their arrival at the destination.
The pilots were careful to monitor the increasing water pressure on the shields of the sneak ships as they approached the sunken sneak ships. Once the two ships were identified, two ships each approached a single wrecked ship. A wire controlled magnetic grapnel was fired by each ship and secured next to the pylon mount points on the sneak ships as Marenkestat spoke to the two engineers in the special waldo units.
‘I am extending the shields in front of the hold so make sure you do not fall into the shields, and try to get the cables attached as soon as possible.’
The engineers exited the sneak ships and quickly set down large attachment cables along the grapnel lines. The cables had autonomous drones that accessed the pylon mount points and secured the cables into the mount points on the damaged ships. All the engineers had to do then were to order the drones at the other ends of the cables to attach to the pylon mounting points of their own sneak ship. As the engineers re-entered the sneak ships, Marenkestat gave a simple order to the other sneak ships.
‘Now ease higher slowly to take up the tension and we will get some height off the sea floor.’
The combined mass of two sneak ships per damaged ship easily moved each damaged sneak ship, and the ungainly mass of space ships slowly moved north east as they ascended in the water. Marenkestat looked over the status reports of each ship as they reached the surface, then he issued further orders.
‘Now we will repeat the same slow lifting move as earlier. Just keep up the tension as we transfer to atmospheric flight.’
Within an hour the four sneak ships were flying in the air slowly back to the main ship with their cargo securely slung beneath them.
***
Chapter 6
Douglas Stoneham was still on the Southern Cross and on the phone again after Steve had rung him just moments earlier. Steve sounded tired and Douglas knew that it was getting very late now.
‘Steve we should keep this conversation brief, as we all need to get some rest for a busy day tomorrow. I have a few specific points I want to mention to you and we can talk again first thing in the morning.’
Steve was grateful for this consideration as he replied.
‘Thanks Douglas, we have had a long and interesting day for sure. Now we are communicating with Garendestat, and later other members of his race, they don’t seem hostile. I do not think that they intend to colonise our planet. Actually their galactic race name means ‘trader’. They are an intergalactic race of traders, and it is remarkable on how quickly Garendestat is learning our language.’
Douglas evaluated this information on the aliens for a few seconds as he replied.
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‘So we can work out a deal with them maybe. I know that your Prime Minister has specified that we now try to negotiate with these Traders. Though it would be useful to know the possible situation we are getting into if we do trade with them. Do you know what we can supply them with at all Steve?’
Steve already knew how he would answer that question.
‘I initially think they will trade primarily so we will leave them in peace. I think we might be able to offer them food, mainly vegetables and their extracts, from the delight Garendestat took in his meal tonight. Hopefully the meal will not make him unwell overnight.’
Douglas considered this news silently, and he decided that Steve had to know his real concerns.
‘Steve, one of my team members is advocating that we seize all the aliens and all their ships. Ian Mitchin considers that unless we lock them down we face an unacceptable risk of another pandemic. He also thinks that main ship represents a huge windfall to the human race and should be taken at all costs. I can see his point as it would save generations of research.’
Steve could not believe what he was hearing, though he also understood the logic too well.
‘Douglas it is the same type of opportunistic thinking that drove the US 5th fleet to attack. For all we know the Traders could then treat us as permanently hostile, and we would then have to fight them for generations in space. I am strongly against this idea and we cannot allow this to occur.’
Douglas stated his agreement to Steve’s opinion as he again continued.
‘Steve I wholeheartedly agree with you, we also know that another race came here with them and they represent an unknown quantity. There is also the fact that the Traders and these other aliens drove off the US 5th fleet. I seen reports that state their main ship did not fire her weapons in the battle. I consider they are being restrained until we push them past the brink, then their response will be powerful.’