Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace

by David Buck

  The two friends sat back to enjoy the rest of the meal together in companionable silence. Narindestat also got the opportunity to explain how the short life span of the humans affected the Traders. The fleet master was silent for several moments as he considered this snippet of detail, before offering a compassionate reply.

  ‘Yes old friend, I can see now that this could a problem with your friendship bonding psychology. I anticipate that the Traders will have to find their own worlds to settle many light years distant from the humans.’

  Narindestat gave a start as he considered the empathic nature of the friendship between the Cephrit and the Traders. He quickly discarded providing any specific colony information, not that he had any to begin with, before making a short but genial reply of his own.

  ‘We can look into forming colonies again as it gives us something to do while we await your summons.’

  The male Cephrit gave chirrs of delight in appreciation of his protégé’s dry humour, and Narindestat took the opportunity to finish the meal. He then quickly donned a Waldo unit secured to the front of the cargo hold. Garendestat was soon inside the second Waldo unit, and both Traders rapidly emptied the sneak ship of her cargo.

  Narindestat noted that the assault leader had called forward one of her platoons as he later extracted himself from the Waldo unit once back inside the cargo hold. He watched in approval as the Cephrit marines rolled camouflage nets over the equipment before taking up guard positions he knew they would defend with their lives.

  The Trader captain strode down the ramp once again to farewell both the Cephrit. He bowed and the fleet master once again repeated his key instructions.

  ‘Farewell Narindestat of the house of Skanor. Pressure the Maveen into more overt actions of control over the humans. Also you will engage the Jerecab supply lines, but at all costs do not enter the human home system. We will be in contact, but at much a later stage.’

  Narindestat quickly took his leave by offering his gratitude and a series of full bows.

  ‘You honour the Traders with your instructions great master. Farewell and we will strike a blow for both human and Cephrit survival very soon.’

  Garendestat was already well into the launch sequence as Narindestat secured himself into the co-pilot’s chair. After the flurry of dust settled from the launch, the two senior Cephrit ignored the junior marines guarding their position as they spoke quietly between themselves.

  ‘Fleet master, the greater scope of Narindestat’s advice is compelling. Also I consider that he was being evasive towards the end of the meal.’

  The fleet master regarded his mate of record with approval as he replied.

  ‘The galaxy is changing assault leader, and we have to change with it or risk becoming extinct. We will have to send our scouts out into the outer zones as soon as possible. The Traders are possibly establishing colonies in the outer reaches of the galaxy and that is not before time. Now let us leave and summon our forces to rescue those humans.’

  The sneak ship soon reached the Resuria in high orbit and the other three sneak ships also docked in quick succession, with the main ship dropping her cloak and shields to aid in the docking. Narindestat noticed that a Cephrit lifter was now heading for the landing site and he knew that his mentor was not wasting any more time. What the Trader captain did not notice was a small scout ship hidden many millions of kilometres way in the outer asteroid belt. After the Cephrit lifter had entered the atmosphere, and long after the Trader ship had left, the scout ship quickly fled the remote star system via a different hyper space jump point.

  ***

  Chapter 6

  The Fenshilla commandant wasted no time in dropping to the floor in obedience as he knew that this was expected of him. Across the video link Lord Temeroth silently regarded him with malice, and the commandant had the sense to remain quiet. The Zronte Battle Lord addressed him in a guttural rumble that more than hinted at the Zronte’s contempt towards the Fenshilla.

  ‘I provide you with several powerful ships and yet you dither amongst these worlds pirating ships from the lesser vassal races. Even amongst your own race you are regarded as the lowest of the low and I am questioning my involvement in your cause. If you wish to do something useful you could always attack that Jerecab armada, thereby giving me a quicker return on my investment in you.’

  The Fenshilla commandant knew about the size of the armada and he wanted nothing to do with it in any case. He remained silent as he knew the Zronte was in no mood to be trifled with at all. His instincts proved correct as the Zronte rumbled further instructions.

  ‘You will interdict the former Dradfer colonies as you see fit. Human or Jerecab, I don’t care, I want them killed off. If you see Maveen or Traders you are to immediately engage them, noting that they are usually either Maveen probe clusters or single Trader wing ships. Above all, I want useful intelligence of collusion, especially between the Traders, the Maveen and the Cephrit.’

  The commandant took the opportunity to reassure the Zronte lord.

  ‘Your majesty it will be as you have instructed. We will concentrate on both the Maveen and the Traders as we find them. Note that we were driven away by a Vorinne force of ships recently and we advised them that we would not be returning to this area.’

  The Zronte lord’s interest was aroused and he gave a low rumbling note of menace that was not lost on the Fenshilla as it echoed across the video link. The commandant again noted the fearsome teeth of the adult male Zronte as he tried to provide further information. He even sent the coordinates of his last meeting with the Vorinne.

  ‘Your majesty, the six Vorinne cruisers attempted to attack us. But then they later appeared to be relieved that we would not give battle. My intelligence places second envoy Thatak’siema aboard the lead Vorinne ship under the command of Lord Malang’troh.’

  The Fenshilla Commandant noted that only silence came from the video link and he dared not risk even looking up, before the communications office gave a nervous report.

  ‘Commandant, the Zronte have broken off communicating and are now withdrawing from the star system.’

  The commandant ignored the anxious glances of his junior officers as he slid back onto his command couch. He quickly keyed the sensor screen and noted that the twelve large Zronte battle cruisers were indeed leaving the system. He then forced himself to project calm as he made a brief attempt at reassuring his officers.

  ‘Temeroth leaves to grace the Vorinne with his mercies. We should rejoice for we live another day.’

  The commandant was not concerned that his officers rolled their eyes at his feeble wit. He was more concerned about meeting the Maveen if he managed to corner a Trader ship. He sat back to consider this possibility with a seed of an idea in his mind. The commandant was still thinking quietly an hour later, just after the last Zronte ship had finally left, when the last of his scout ships returned and made an urgent report. The commandant viewed the information with surprise for only seconds before issuing a series of commands. A series of flashes of light soon occurred as the Fenshilla squadron left for the former Dradfer colonies.

  ***

  Narindestat had taken the Resuria back towards the Dradfer zone with a long distance hyper space jump. Fortunately the type two jump drive module would allow him to immediately make another three longer jumps if they were attacked by a senior vassal race. He looked at the recharge rate for the module and noted that it would be fully recharged within ten hours.

  Garendestat looked over and offered both an analysis and a pithy opinion.

  ‘Captain, we will enter the Gold star system in two hours using the standard hyper drive to lower further the chances of discovery. We will need six hours to cross to the fourth planet and the likely concentration of Jerecab ships. Unless we run headlong into the armada itself we should be fine.’

  Narindestat gave his son a measured glance that spoke volumes as he replied.

  ‘Well Lieutenant, we know the Barus fleet is nearb
y and if they are in the Gold system we will have to abort the attack. We also could run into the Vorinne from what the fleet master is telling me and the outcome of that meeting will depend on the number of their ships.’

  The Jerecab frigate was picketing the outskirts of the Gold system, next to a known hyper drive point to Cephrit space, when a massive flash of light erupted in space several hundred kilometres away. The Jerecab commander had only time to scream an urgent warning as he took in the massive size of on the intruder.

  ‘Send an urgent message to deployment zone, a Trader wing has entered the system at high speed and is on an attack vector. Activate emergency evasion manoeuvres …’

  The commander watched in horror as powerful blasts of light flashed from the Trader battle cruiser and tore across space towards his ship. He only had time to key half a sequence on his own puny weapons, before his frigate was blown to atoms.

  Narindestat looked around at his tense crew on their bridge and offered a curt evaluation, before calmly adding further instructions.

  ‘Weapons officer, that was good shooting, now send the three active scan pulses. Lieutenant Garendestat I want you get those two pods in standby mode for quick release if required. We also will not bother with a cloak as I want the Jerecab to bunch up in a defensive formation….’

  He was about to offer a further comment when the weapons officer, Lieutenant Marenkestat, spoke urgently across the bridge.

  ‘Captain, a large ship has been detected further across the system from our position. Also there are two Jerecab frigates at other hyper drive points that are now fleeing.’

  Narindestat waited quietly as further sensor readings were taken, but he did note the time and distance equations for both the Jerecab ships and their own entry point into the system. Marenkestat soon updated the bridge on what he had discovered and the captain noted the wonder in his voice.

  ‘Sspol cruiser detected Captain, and they are broadcasting both non aggression and neutrality clauses. The cruiser is heading across the far side of the system and will not be a factor in our attack. The Jerecab civilian ships are already in a defensive formation and the ships are only protected by a handful of frigates. Only two of their large lifters are present and they have no other ships docked to them at this stage.’

  Narindestat was grateful on the Lieutenant’s attention to detail as he confirmed their existing orders.

  ‘Concise report Lieutenant and I see you also evaluated the risks of there being docked ships on those lifters. We will again check all weapons and shields before we attack, and the sneak ships will remain docked.’

  Narindestat later found the actual attack on the massed Jerecab ships to be an anti-climax. The Resuria had swept in at high speed from deep space as they had in the ancient raids of his race against their enemies so long ago. The Trader battle cruiser had used her long range beam weapons to decimate the Jerecab supply ships as the few frigates present attempted a feeble defence. As the ship continued inwards on her highly elliptic trajectory, Garendestat made a surprising report.

  ‘Captain, several of the smaller ships are landing on the planet itself in an attempt to evade us. Their landing site is on the opposite side of the planet from our own course.’

  Narindestat watched as the last Jerecab frigate blew in a soundless flash of light, and gave his son a grim nod of appreciation before he answered.

  ‘Well this means that the Jerecab admiral will have to expend fuel and time to get those ships back into space before he can use them. This is also a good development for the humans as it buys them more time.’

  The attack soon ended as the Resuria performed a gravitation slingshot manoeuvre around the planet and raced back into deep space. A small number of broken Jerecab ships tumbled in orbit where only a few hours earlier an orderly supply fleet had existed.

  Narindestat looked over the combat performance of the ship with satisfaction, for despite using their traditional older weapons, the ship and her crew had exceeded his expectations. He quietly gave orders for them to leave for the next Dradfer system, as he was hoping at least to send a message to the beleaguered humans. Specifically he made sure his smaller ships were ready for immediate launch should they be required.

  The Barede expedition force in the Resuria’s cargo hold quietly evaluated the one sided battle, before the three commanders conferred in short whispers about their next moves. Nearby several armed Traders looked over at the humans and tried not to give the impression that they were guarding their guests. Further out in the outer asteroid belt, a robot probe launched a small message rocket that quickly raced off towards yet another hyper drive point.

  ***

  Commander Joel Everson ran his right hand through his short dark hair and had the presence of mind to otherwise appear calm. He had taken his three ships across the Emerald system, not far from the location of the loss of Admiral Stanford and his crew onboard the Linares. Six transport ships had arrived directly from the Echelon base and he had them assisting his destroyers in setting up a second tech lab and small supply base. Joel was concerned that their efforts had been discovered as a sensor probe had raced from the system after the transports arrived.

  The commander had left his transports behind to follow him at their best speed as the three destroyers later ran down a smaller Jerecab convoy. The mission was becoming more complicated by his ships also detecting a Sspol cruiser. Lieutenant Chandra seemed as relaxed as when their patrol had begun two days earlier, and he now furnished a series of reports on the Jerecab convoy.

  ‘Commander, the Sspol cruiser is leaving for our rear deployment zones. The six supply ships and their two frigates will be in range in fifteen minutes. The supply ships appear to have extra accommodation modules on board and I suggest they might be troop transports.’

  Joel decided that the scenario was safe enough and he instructed his officers to continue with one order change and a caution to his marines.

  ‘We will attempt to disable the transports before we board one and attempt to capture a senior officer. I have been given my discretion in our ships reaching the Gold system and we can send back the tanker Pearl Sky with prisoners. Now all troops are to be in gas masks, as last time we lost three men to that green dander that covers the fur of the Jerecab.’

  The three Earth destroyers easily overpowered the two Jerecab frigates at long range. Joel watched both enemy ships detonate even as they now began moving in on the troop transports. He withheld the use of their spinal mount weapons on the transports as these ships only had basic shielding. After several minutes the Jerecab transports were slowly spinning ruins with no shields or engines and minimal life support. Each of the three destroyers now docked with a smaller transport and fierce hand to hand fighting ensured as several squads of human marines stormed the transports.

  Joel was just about ready to order his own troop transports to board the Jerecab ships when in quick succession the ships all surrendered. The humans proceeded to remove the officers from the first three ships before the boarding operation was again attempted on the last three ships. His marines were even quicker to get inside the enemy ships this time around. Joel knew that this was due to the marines having created a new strategy after quickly inspecting their first captures. The sounds of fighting inside the last three supply ships died away, and the Pearl Sky came forward to await her cargo of prisoners under marine guard.

  Three hours later, Joel was sitting back reviewing a minimal damage report, when the alarm claxon on the bridge sounded. Lieutenant Chandra quickly advised the commander on the new arrivals.

  ‘Commander, twelve Jerecab frigates have arrived from the Topaz system and are heading this way.’

  Joel kept quiet as he evaluated the time and distance calculations in his own console. He also noted the confirmation message that the Pearl Sky now had onboard three dozen Jerecab prisoners under the guard of a dozen marines. The calculations did not look promising for his destroyers were heavily outnumbered, and he knew
that he now risked heavy losses with his slower troop transports. With limited options available he quickly gave orders for what he knew could be their last battle.

  ***

  Admiral Baunrus snarled in fury as he took in the dire reports of the attack on the Gold system. He read again in shock and anger about how a Trader ship had attacked and destroyed dozens of supply ships. The death toll was over eight thousand, and that statistic had him ranting. He had earlier sent a dozen ships ahead in an advance patrol into the Emerald system and was just about to follow them with most of his armada when his rage finally cooled. He looked over his previous orders to his patrolling commanders and a new understanding came to him.

  ‘The fools in the Gold star system can await rescue from reinforcements due from our home colonies in four days. Today we change our plans and play the humans at their own game. The armada is to set course for the nearest jump point for the Aquamarine system.’

  Baunrus sat back to consider the decision and he found further cause to now trust his many years of instinct. The reports had stated first the presence of the Sspol and later the Traders, even if the Traders had only conducted the attack. He voiced his main concerns to his silent bridge crew, who by habit ignored his deliberations.

  ‘So the Traders would use violence against a vassal race and they must be worried about the humans to directly react. I cannot see the other races tolerating their presence in this area of the galaxy for long. Also the presence of the Sspol concerns me as the independent races could be colluding in protecting the humans.’