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

by David Buck

  Joel waited patiently for over an hour as the two sneak ships docked with the damaged troop ships. He knew that due to the nature of war in space that the injured they would eventually recover would consist of mainly broken limbs, for any crew affected by severe burns or smoke inhalation usually died fairly quickly. The point defences of the destroyers could not be shielded adequately and it was common for the crew operating these weapons to be broiled in their suits during their recent battles. Shortly afterwards the two nominated transports also docked on the other side of the damaged transports and began to take off any uninjured crew or marines. Lieutenant Chandra was monitoring the rapid withdrawal of the Jerecab frigates and he gave a concise report.

  ‘Commander, the Jerecab have already lost three of their frigates as they flee. The long range weapons of the Traders appear to be doing most of the damage. The transports have lost several crew members in their engineering sections, their main drives are destroyed and both shields and life support are minimal. Internal access throughout the transports is hampered by damage and loss of power. The Madrid will go alongside each transport after the sneak ships undock to remove the wounded.’

  Joel noted with satisfaction that another two Jerecab frigates had been destroyed before Rick Green reported back to him as well.

  ‘Commander Everson, we will leave our medical teams aboard the two transports to assist the Madrid, before we recover them at a later stage. Captain Narindestat will return with the Resuria and her sneak ships in about six hours.’

  Joel could not keep his curiosity in check any longer and he thanked Lieutenant Greene before asking his first questions.

  ‘Lieutenant, thank you once again for the assistance of you and your crew. Now Earth has not heard from the Barede colony, the Traders or the Maveen for one hundred and fifty years. We understand the limitations of the agreement specified back on Earth so long ago, but can you provide any news of assistance that could be supplied to defend our world?’

  Rick was waiting for the question and had been well briefed earlier by both Commander Burgess and Captain Narindestat.

  ‘Commander, there are a smaller number of Maveen in the surrounding star systems but we are unable to establish if they can help you. The Maveen have instructed the Traders not to go to Earth as that would jeopardise your world further given the continued political difficulties between the Traders and the vassal races. The former mentor race of the Traders, the Cephrit, will intervene here shortly but we do not know if they will assist defending your own world.’

  Joel was a bit nonplussed with this information as he was hoping that the Jerecab could still be discouraged from attacking Earth. His next questions highlighted his despair as he sought to obtain reassurances.

  ‘Rick, we can understand that Barede and the colonies she has founded would be too far away and possibly not strong enough to help us yet. But are the other vassal races likely to become involved in our defence? The Barus have a squadron now helping us and we are hoping to see a tangible plan offered to defend our world.’

  Rick could understand the problems his counterpart was facing and gave a nod of understanding as he replied.

  ‘Joel, if I may use your first name. We have had little contact with the vassals also and this was the main reason for us now being in this part of the galaxy. Our special expedition force stowed away on the Resuria and we were then forbidden to meet with the Cephrit, though in hindsight they may suspect we were onboard the wing ship. We suspect the Deltas Vass may also become invoiced and we have seen several Sspol ships during our journey, though of course they are another reclusive independent race.’

  Joel sat back to talk further with Rick, as a high speed data transfer covering the events of the last one hundred and fifty years was sent between their two ships.

  The talk was of colonies and a race separated many generations ago, and so he learnt of the dozen ‘new’ colonies named after key areas of Earth, including Oceania, New America, New Asia, New Africa, New Hispania, New Canada and New Europe. The commander tried to take in as much as he could, but the amount of data overwhelmed him. He sat back to offer a pithy opinion as an update on the two crippled transports reached him.

  ‘Well Rick, you guys have been certainly busy and ninety million people on over a dozen worlds are most certainly an inspiring effort. Now my only worry is getting your information home with us and of course you are welcome to come with us.’

  Rick was waiting for the offer and he was direct in his reply.

  ‘Unless Captain Narindestat releases us from his charge we will have to return with him as he would not like to lose these two sneak ships. He has just signalled my sneak ship and he reports that the last of the Jerecab frigates have been destroyed.’

  Joel noted the reply and once again thought about why the Traders could not come to Earth’s rescue. The two men continued their conversation and Joel got an inkling of the military potential of the Barede federation.

  ***

  Admiral Mary Neilson was feeling more confident after her fleet had run past the possible ambush site on their way out to the Echelon base. Already she had discounted the losses of their smaller forward bases and tech labs. Mary stayed on her bridge as an engineering team released a series of cargo pods that she hoped Joel Everson would recover on his own journey back to Earth. The admiral also knew that their hidden fuel reserves elsewhere in the Echelon system would at least give Joel and his surviving ships a fighting chance in returning in time for the battle at Earth.

  Mary had been looking over their return journey and had updated a series of contingency plans in the event they could be needed. She noted that Lieutenant Commander Griggs was engrossed in one plan in particular, and she noted the location of the star system as she commented on his interest.

  ‘The 61 Cygni or Bessel system was explored by my mother on her second last mission and we have good intelligence on the star system. Now as you know the star system has two outer and three inner hyper drive points and they are all constantly moving in relationship to one another. We are willing to bet that that the vassal races do not know of this specific information and we will be taking advantage of that possibility. But first we need another ambush location on our journey home and there are three possible locations that we can consider …’

  John Griggs was also confident that this was the case and he offered a studied reply.

  ‘Admiral, I think we can slow them down as their supply change is already long and vulnerable. I think Joel’s mission will really put a dent in the timeline of their attack if he is successful. Our two ambushes are worthwhile for the same reason, and the Bessel system is recommended for an ambush. These plans also give Joel the opportunity to rejoin our fleet, as he was involved in the earlier planning sessions. Otherwise we hopefully will see him again at Tau Ceti or Epsilon Eridani.’

  John was well aware of the significance of the Bessel system for the history of the star’s exploration was taught first in all schools and later in the space academy.

  He was relieved that the admiral did not talk much about her mother, Lesley Neilson, for he knew that the intrepid explorer and her ship had been lost, presumed dead, in her last mission heading out towards the former Dradfer colonies themselves. The Lieutenant Commander brought up the three candidate star systems and referenced his own notes he had prepared earlier. He knew that the admiral would later canvas her best commanders in their other destroyers, and he was confident they would implement a nasty surprise or two for the Jerecab armada on the long journey back to Earth.

  ***

  Admiral Baunrus had screamed yet again at another frigate commander for not obeying his orders to the letter, after the frigate had returned alone and early from a patrol well towards the Jerecab rear deployment zones. Two lieutenants had wrestled the unfortunate commander to the deck after the admiral had relieved him of command, and they had tied up their former commander before he had been unceremoniously dumped out of a nearby airlock. Baunrus pro
moted the older lieutenant on the spot and the other officer rearranged his rumpled tunic before taking command.

  The new commander nervously looked back at Baunrus as he was interrogated by the admiral.

  ‘So you are saying that you were attacked by both Sspol and Barus cruisers and yet your ship survived relatively undamaged, despite the former commander being the senior officer in the squadron? So how many Sspol and Barus ships did your squadron encounter on your patrol?’

  The new commander kept calm as he replied as accurately as he could, for he was aware that he could easily follow his former commander, whose name he was too smart to mention now, in being forced out an airlock.

  ‘Admiral, the former commander assigned us picket duty on the entry point for the star system and sent the other ships across to complete the patrol. A full Barus squadron entered the system from the other hyper drive point and decimated our frigates as they approached the far side. A Sspol cruiser was also present and tried to run us down before we fled. We sustained minimal damage and no casualties in the encounter, though the other frigates were destroyed and the supply convoy would also have been destroyed as they were expected to arrive shortly.’

  The admiral looked over the new commander and kept deathly still as he parsed through the reply. The Barus had been written off earlier as not being a threat to his mission, and plainly this initial assessment had been over confident. He knew that the new commander was not responsible and had been accurate in his reply. Baunrus now made an observation that the new commander wisely refrained from responding to in any way.

  ‘So we lose another convoy, but fortunately a small one. Now it appears the other races are involved in defending the humans, so if we are going to take their precious home world then we will have to be quick about it despite the risks to our supply lines.’

  The admiral dismissed the new commander without further censure and again called up what information he had about the star systems on the journey to the human world. The crew on his bridge ignored his animated mutterings and kept their eyes fixed to their own consoles, for they were aware that either a laser pistol shot or a short trip out an airlock could follow any serious breach of discipline or protocol.

  ***

  Omerio stretched out in his command chair and quietly considered his options as his ships crossed the Ivory star system. His squadron of cruisers had days earlier performed a text book ambush of several Jerecab frigates and the smaller ships had been obliterated. He had ordered his squadron out from behind the shadow of a gas giant and the cruisers had used their long range weapons to devastating effect. The frigates had nowhere to hide as the larger Barus ships fired a number of active scans that would have damaged their electronics, before opening concentrated laser and particle beam fire on each frigate in turn. The Barus had then attempted to overhaul a remaining frigate at a hyper jump location, but the Jerecab commander had wisely jumped his ship away before the Barus cruisers could get close.

  Omerio had also been meticulous in ensuring that his ships continued to transmit non-aggression and neutrality clauses to the Sspol cruisers whenever he encountered them. The Sspol usually remained distant and would leave whenever his cruisers entered a system that they were already patrolling, however one of their cruisers was rapidly approaching his current position. The Barus captain took in the energy readings for the alien cruiser and was impressed, for he realised that the large sphere could easily deal with any two of his cruisers. He reminded his crew of what he was expecting as he noted that the Sspol ship was now slowing to halt some distance from them.

  ‘Now remember what I said earlier as we want no misunderstandings with the Sspol. So there will be no active targeting scans and no weapons locks initiated by any of our ships.’

  Omerio heard gruff coughs of assent as his crew replied to his instructions, and now he looked over sensor readings from further across the star system. He noted that his squadron would soon reach the hyper drive point leading to Jerecab occupation zone at the Posient bulge. Omerio was feeling optimistic about more Jerecab ships arriving shortly; indeed he was counting on it happening.

  The communications officer gave a low cough of surprise and spoke unnecessary as the main view screen came alive to show another star system. A deep and fluid voice now spoke accented high Barus to the bridge, as Omerio noted the view screen now displayed two disabled human destroyers.

  ‘We speak to vassals about treachery; for the Fenshilla are harvesting life forms and they enslaved the survivors of these two human ships. The humans are a haven species; surely the vassals can protect them and drive away either Jerecab or Fenshilla.’

  Omerio felt a cold and harsh feeling soak through his belly as he considered the plight of the hapless humans taken by the Fenshilla. He thought carefully before offering a reply, as he noted that Sspol had not asked him a question, but had stated a position or point of view.

  ‘We thank you for your efforts; and we know that not all vassals will treat the Sspol fairly. The plight of the slaves has been noted and your message will be relayed onwards; the humans will address this matter if they survive the attentions of the Jerecab.’

  The Sspol cruiser remained silent and Omerio sweated quietly, for he was concerned that the Sspol envoy, Drannep, could be onboard and blow his cover story. His fears went unfounded as the Sspol onboard their cruiser spoke again in complex sentences.

  ‘We will inform our envoy of your peaceful and honest nature; for the Barus are respected as are the Cephrit, Traders, Deltas Vass and even the Vorinne. We seek to remain free of evil; the treachery of the Zronte, Jerecab, Fenshilla and Tilmud are of no interest to us.’

  Omerio noted to himself that the Sspol had not mentioned the Maveen and he was also grateful for this omission. He noted that Commander Tamerio was paying particular attention and he knew that their formal reports of this meeting would find a way to the more senior races within years. Omerio prepared another reply in the compound syntax of the Sspol.

  ‘We attack the supplies of the Jerecab; for this will delay their onslaught on the human home world. Jerecab ships appear shortly and we will attack them; you may join with our ships in the attack. We will return to the human rear deployment zones within two days; for we again seek the human admiral.’

  The Sspol cruiser remained silent for several more minutes and Omerio noted that it was starting to slowly distance itself from his cruiser squadron. He again checked his sensor readings for the rest of the star system and noted that the Jerecab convoy had not arrived. The answer from the Sspol cruiser had him revising his plans further as he considered the implications.

  ‘The humans withdraw from the colonies; for many of their supply ships have also been destroyed along with the two destroyers. We leave for the human system; we will fight alongside the humans despite the long odds. Farewell Omerio; know that the Sspol will seek to speak with you again.’

  Omerio ignored the surprised look that Tamerio was giving him as he watched the Sspol cruiser now rapidly move away from their position. He took the opportunity to quietly discuss the humans with his second officer to deflect any questions that might arise.

  ‘Tamerio, the humans will no doubt seek to ambush the Jerecab on their return to their home world. We will need to anticipate this and ensure that we stay well away from these battles. Finally we need to identify at least one ambush of our own that is unlikely to involve the humans.’

  Tamerio gave him a fixed look and quickly decided that the concerns he had would have to be resolved at a later stage. The commander called up a schematic of two star systems and gave a measured formal reply.

  ‘Well Captain, I think the humans will be fighting in these two binary systems as they have unique characteristics that are not fully known by the other vassal races. The complex nature of these two systems should only confuse the Jerecab further.’

  Omerio was hoping for something like this in Tamerio’s brief assessment, and he merely encouraged the commander to continue af
ter supplying additional constraints in what he was seeking.

  ‘Our own ambush needs to work in with the longer range of our weapons and the higher speed of our ships in the outskirts of star systems. I want to avoid a slugging match with the Jerecab armada deep inside a gravity well.’

  Tamerio now called up an additional star system map that Omerio took the time to inspect closely as the commander spoke again.

  ‘I have identified this system as being along the most likely path the Jerecab will take to Earth. The system has fast access to the hyper drive point and good refuge points inside the system. The humans are likely to avoid it as it would encourage a set battle with the Jerecab that they would lose.’

  Omerio noted the details of the star system with approval as he crisply replied.

  ‘Well I agree with your assessment and we will consider it further on the long journey to Earth. For now we will wait up to six hours for the Jerecab convoy before we leave this system.’

  Tamerio returned his attention to his sensor console and kept quiet, as Omerio noted that the Sspol cruiser was rapidly disappearing into the distance. The Barus did not have to wait much longer for Jerecab to turn up in their supply ships, and within six hours, the wreckage of twelve supply ships and three larger lifters littered the outskirts of the Ivory star system.

  ***

  Chapter 8

  Gindane paced in front of her command chair and absently rubbed her bare brown shoulders as she thought through the change of circumstances. She had left her fleet at the outskirts of the Echelon system and come forward to meet the humans in only her command cruiser. The humans had obviously abandoned their attempts to force the Jerecab from these worlds. For the Barus captain could see on her view screen the over thirty destroyers that would be the bulk of the human fleet. Nearby there were scores of supply ships lining up in turn to dock with the landing boom sticking out of a decent sized ice asteroid.