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

by David Buck

  ‘Back you go Emma and try to remain calm. The couples each will comply with the Fenshilla’s commands. The Fenshilla cannot be reasoned with and our humanitarian ideals are alien to them. Remember that this does not change who we are or our respect for each other’s rights.’

  Phil started to object, but he promptly knocked to the ground by a blow from the overseer’s stout whip handle. Freya placed herself between the overseer and the now sprawling Phil, and the alien obviously had orders to not strike her, as it stepped back several paces. The other couples were watching as Freya laid Phil on his back and promptly sat astride him.

  Freya carefully cradled his injured arm as he regained his breath from being struck down, and she was relieved that it was not broken. She also noted the large bruises over his large dragon tattoo were the coarse Fenshilla guards had played something called ‘beat the Vorinne’. The commander leant forward and spoke softly to Phil, who was trying to pick her off him with his uninjured arm.

  ‘Phil, it is okay for you to do this as we have to save the lives of our crew. Now we must lead the way for the other couples selected. Fortunately all the female crew have skin implants so conception is impossible for years.’

  To add emphasis to her instructions, Freya now ground herself firmly into Phil’s crotch, and he flinched in both surprise and arousal. She knew that they were both married with a family each back on distant Earth, but she also knew that only their immediate survival mattered for her fellow prisoners. The commander noted that the five other couples were slowly touching and reassuring each other, as she placed her mind in neutral and concentrated on Phil.

  Freya knew that she could not think about what they were doing as she wanted it over with as soon as possible. Phil was still recovering from being knocked down, so she went about the forced coupling with savage vigour and after several minutes Phil was spent underneath her. The commander noted that the other couples were also active even as Phil stammered his apology in acute embarrassment.

  ‘Commander, I am sorry for this and I hope you have not suffered by my lack of control….’

  Freya merely smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before standing again. She helped Phil to his feet and tried not to look at her bewildered crew standing nearby. Three other couples had also mated, and after several minutes they now stood and moved back to join the other prisoners. The remaining two human couples attempted to break off their efforts and return to the huddled group. But the Fenshilla overseer merely prodded them back together again.

  Freya again left the huddled prisoners and slowly walked towards the two couples, as she tried to ignore the fluid now running down the inside of her thighs. The Fenshilla sneered again at Freya and considered pushing her away as well, but she pointed out the obvious injuries to the two couples now standing nervously in front of her. The overseer glared at her and the two couples for several moments, before he turned away and finally sought out his kilt and equipment belts.

  Freya quietly motioned the remaining two couples to return to the huddled prisoners. The Fenshilla overseer then led his troops and the female slaves out of the hold. Two of the Fenshilla females first ensured that all the males had left, before they slowly came forward and gave full bows of respect to Freya. The commander considered this gesture of respect stonily as the last Fenshilla female left the hold. Freya then walked quietly into one corner to be alone for a few moments.

  Paul Burgess slowly limped over to check the welfare of the Barede woman who had just managed to mate successfully with a total stranger. Phil eyed Commander Burgess cautiously as the Barede officer now regarded him in turn. But Paul merely shook Phil’s shoulder, and the two large men talked quietly amongst themselves in a sombre manner for several minutes.

  Freya now buried her head into the corner of the hold and tried to fight back tears of rage and humiliation. She was already missing her husband and her two young girls, and her recent act just highlighted the desperate plight they now found themselves under. Rebecca and another woman from her own crew came over and gently laid their hands on Freya’s shoulders as she wept for several minutes.

  Much later, Paul and Phil came to sit with Freya and Rebecca and the four officers carefully began to lay out a plan for their next course of action. By silent mutual understanding, no one made mention of the recent events in the hold, though Paul did later commend a still shaken Freya on her courage and self sacrifice before he slowly moved away.

  ‘Commander, we are both of equal rank and your actions have highlighted the quality of your leadership and courage. I am prepared to follow your leadership and instructions as this will help retain discipline within our group of survivors.’

  Freya took in his words and sat back in her spot to further consider her plans for the survivors. She was feeling very subdued as she knew that they could remain Fenshilla slaves with no possibility of returning home for the rest of their lives. The commander knew that they would not accept this situation without a fight, plus the latest risk of providing human babies to the Fenshilla for their own purposes was unacceptable. The commander coldly reviewed the desperate plan she was considering, before she stood to rejoin the other officers talking several metres away.

  ***

  Chapter 12

  In nearby slave quarters, one of the female Fenshilla slaves who had been mated in the hold quietly told the other slaves of the courage of the female human. The Black Claw faction had employed more savagery than was usual, and the slaves all knew their captor’s obsession with the ‘Fountain of life’ was a big part of the human’s current misery. The female Fenshilla were all members of the Silver Guards that had been captured several weeks earlier by the commandant’s ships. The slaves all agreed that they would look out for the humans and attempt to communicate with them as soon as possible.

  On the bridge of the flag ship, the Fenshilla commandant watched the navigation screen with renewed interest. His four damaged cruisers had made another standard hyper jump on their long slow journey home. The screen showed three smaller disabled ships nearby and he gave a series of orders.

  ‘Stand by for further boarding operations and we will use the same methods as before. Note that these ships appear to have been damaged several days ago and there should be minimal resistance. Any survivors from these ships will be kept separately for the other humans we have already captured.’

  The Fenshilla commandant sat back to now consider his damaged ships again with distaste. He was already missing their earlier faster travel with the more powerful type two hyper drive modules, and so he ensured that these now disabled modules remained with his cruisers and were not simply jettisoned. The commandant was hopeful that at a later stage he could have these components repaired and use them for later conquests.

  The commandant would start with the two larger factions of Fenshilla that regarded his own Black Claw faction as brigands and terrorists. He knew that he could hide and copy these ships over many years and then launch two attacks in quick succession when he was ready to act. The other races would then face a revitalised Fenshilla empire and they would begin capturing many worlds. He knew that even the capture of the ‘Fountain of life’ with all its biological riches was possible, despite the so-called edicts of the Zronte. He called up an ancient picture of the fountain and noted the outsize moon, before calling up a similar picture of the human home world and its moon.

  The Fenshilla was hoping that his faction would finally discover a suitable biological weapon for use on the Zronte, and he knew that the biology of the humans would be a good starting point. The commandant understood that his race’s aggression towards the humans was founded in their own ancient past and mythology, for ecological war was their strength. He knew that the ancient significance of the Fountain was obviously forgotten by the other races and he would take advantage of their oversight. The thought of later using the combined might of all three Fenshilla factions on the other galactic races filled him with savage lust, and he addressed this
by having one of the female slaves sent to his quarters for his later pleasure.

  ***

  Grant Stoneham watched the view screen as the Maveen probe headed back to his ship for yet another discussion. The controlling nature of the Maveen was starting to grate on him, though he admitted to himself that the probe usually had a valid point. The small convoy of human ships had taken several hyper jumps towards an area of space identified as near the western or up spin border of the Carinae sector of the galaxy.

  Grant knew that they were still in the outer arm of the galaxy, as his ships had actually moved further out again after earlier meeting more Maveen ships at the Arranen system. He was aware that six gate ships with their full complements of attached ships accompanied the Emerald Sky and her six tankers. Gayle and Olav look over at him for several seconds as the Maveen Dradfer probe halted in outer space nearby and started to give more orders.

  ‘Captain Stoneham, I will take my gate ship ahead with me and we will check out the next system before the rest of the ships arrive there. I will then accompany you down to the surface of the third planet to meet the Huopheen. You will ensure that your tankers all remain in orbit and that your own ship is fully fuelled for a rapid departure if necessary.’

  Grant looked over at his two business partners and tried to ignore their puzzled looks as the fleet arrived at the next hyper jump location. So far the Maveen had taken their time moving slowly into the uncharted territory, and their unusually cautious behaviour troubled the humans. The humans had then waited for several hours as the Maveen explored the home of the unknown Huopheen, before a message probe signalled they could proceed.

  Several hours later, Grant placed the Emerald Sky in an entry trajectory for the planet they had named Huopheen three, and sat back to confer with his two partners again.

  ‘The Huopheen cannot be vassals or independents as there is no space going civilisation. Yet there are several large heat sources in the oceans of this planet.’

  Grant’s fiancée Gayle listened quietly, as he knew she did when seeking more information, with Olav eventually responding without taking his own eyes of his scanning console.

  ‘The oceans are shallow compared to Barede let alone Earth and the deepest point looks to be only eight hundred metres deep. The ocean of this world covers nearly ninety percent of this world and it appears to be a trifle warm by our standards. The island we are landing on is in the mid-latitudes so it should be pleasant enough. We will need sun glasses and UV protection as the ozone levels are much lower than on our worlds.’

  Grant returned his attention to getting his massive delta winged freighter down to the planet in one piece. He extended the Emerald Sky’s shields forward and out and the ship began to decelerate heavily as it entered the upper atmosphere. After fifteen minutes they were approaching the largest island in a group and Grant was reassured by the flat layout of their destination.

  The Maveen Dradfer probe was airborne several hundred metres from the beach and was shining a blue laser on their designated landing spot. Grant circled the Maveen probe at three thousand metres to bleed off more speed before he activated the landing cycle. The Emerald Sky slowly lost altitude under her powerful thrusters as he orientated the ship and slowly reduced power. Three more minutes and the ship settled with a shudder onto her massive landing struts and they were down.

  The bridge crew now shut down the ship’s engines and checked for any damage, as the voice of the Maveen probe came onto the bridge.

  ‘The Huopheen will be here shortly and I advise only one of you to only come forward after I speak with them first. I recommend that you speak Trader to them at the earliest possible moment for they revere the Traders. They will later trade with you and they have a preference for metals they can use as weapons.’

  Grant was soon covering his overalls in a thin white cloak, and then picked up a wide hat, gloves and sun glasses as he waited at the foot of his ship’s lowered landing ramp. The glare of the local star overhead was almost painful, even with his sun glasses, as he watched the Maveen probe at the water’s edge two hundred metres away. He looked on nervously as several massive forms now surfaced from the ocean and approached the probe.

  Grant looked at his first Huopheen and he could see that it was a fully aquatic life form that resembled an enormous crab. But he noted that the Huopheen had ten legs not eight and they also had front claws. The back of the Huopheen looked like a scorpion with the long tail, but it was terminated in a large club rather than a poisonous stinger. The Barede merchant decided that this new race looked truly formidable. The metallic voice of the Maveen probe sounded in his earpiece and Grant nervously moved down to the beach.

  Tomil squatted by reflex to cover his breathing holes with water as he watched the strange space craft and listened to the words of the holy one. The Maveen had appeared a day ago seeking an audience and the clan chief, Tomil’s father, had sent him along with an honour guard. His father had given him this task to perform as he was their best academic and he spoke the ancient Trader language.

  The Huopheen all worshipped the Maveen and revered the long absent Traders to the extent that differing interpretations of their wisdom still led to wars between the clans.

  Tomil watched as the first human he had ever seen walked forward and bowed, before slowly speaking Trader language to him and his honour guard.

  ‘Greetings to the Huopheen, I am Captain Grant Stoneham, a merchant of the Barede Federation. We are friends and protégés of the Traders and we come as friends of the Huopheen. We do trade like the Traders and offer only fairness and wise counsel in our dealings.’

  Grant waited for several moments, as the Huopheen took in his message, before it replied after giving a curious short bow after placing its large front claws onto the sand.

  ‘Greetings Grant of the Barede Federation, I am Envoy Tomil, and we are relieved that you do not come amongst us with advanced weapons on our holy world. We seek to trade again with the star races, and to learnt wisdom and obtain technology. We do seek strong metals as our world is metal poor.’

  Grant took in the deadly nature of Tomil’s guard as he gave the careful reply he had rehearsed earlier.

  ‘Envoy Tomil, we will not promote bloodshed amongst your race by supplying metal to one clan at the expense of another. We are a peaceful people and we recommend that your race set aside any differences.’

  Tomil was not expecting this reply and he asked a guarded question of his own.

  ‘You claim to be friends of the Traders, yet when is the last time you met one and what was the reason?’

  Grant took some time to step through his last meeting with Captain Narindestat a few weeks earlier. Tomil listened patiently before he seized upon Grant’s explanation.

  ‘You state that the Traders are likely to follow you out to this world at a later stage assuming they first survive a mission elsewhere? I must pass this news onto my father and we will keep watch for their arrival. We will also send messengers to other clans with the news and guarantee their safe passage to speak with you. I will return at a later stage with my guards.’

  Grant had then gone back to his ship after the Huopheen returned to the ocean. He had lifted the ramp and met with both Gayle and Olav in the hold of his ship. The captain spoke out as he allocated several pallets of stainless steel and titanium rods.

  ‘The Huopheen are potentially warlike and they are divided, we will only offer enough metal to interest them at this stage. After we leave will place a message probe in orbit for the Resuria to find when she arrives.’

  The next morning the Huopheen returned in larger numbers, and Grant noted that there were several envoys present whilst their guards stayed in deeper water. He put the Maveen probe to good use for a change by getting him to carry the pallets of metals down to the beach.

  The other Huopheen envoys slowly came forward and Grant held his ground as further introductions were made. So he got to meet Brimel, a female, Trifor, a male and Privel,
a male, all of other rival Huopheen clans. Grant repeated his earlier instructions about wanting to avoid bloodshed amongst the Huopheen and the envoys settled back to consider his words.

  Brimel, an envoy that had kept well clear of Tomil, now asked her own questions.

  ‘Tomil is not the only academic amongst us and we seek clarification on your words for we all distrust the treacherous vassals and despise the Tilmud especially. Do you offer personal freedoms amongst your own race? Has your race enslaved or conquered another race? Does your race conserve the planets that you live on to preserve life? Finally what is the nature of your journey to our world?’

  Grant felt relief at the questions and he summoned Gayle to join him, as he sat on a pallet to talk at length to the Huopheen envoys. Gayle slowly walked down and sat next to him after giving bows of respect to the envoys.

  ‘Gayle is my intended mate and carries our first child. She is a historian also and can correct me if I am in error when I speak….’

  Both Brimel and Tomil felt awe and respect as they took in the long story of the founding of the Barede colonies. The history of the humans was indeed tightly linked to both the Traders and the Maveen. The fact that an unguarded breeding female was present as an equal was also something that impressed the envoys. Gayle would interrupt Grant with further information from time to time, and he took her contributions with both humour and gratitude. The human story of the old battle near Earth with the Barus, narrowly won by presenting a unified front, was impressive and the lesson was not lost on the Huopheen.

  Grant then moved onto explaining how his mission had come about.

  ‘….so the Maveen with typical directness, told the Traders that their own mission into the inner galaxy was finally permitted, after do little for over one hundred and fifty years. The Maveen then wanted us to undertake this mission urgently, before bringing forward our departure at the last possible moment….’