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

by David Buck

  ‘The second envoy thanks the Cephrit for their vision and compassion in hiding her compatriots. By the ancient treaties between our races, the Vorinne extend their gratitude and forbearance to the Cephrit. Station master, you will now lead us to our apartments and then speak with me on several other matters, before we summon your other guests.’

  The station master remained silent as he led the two senior Vorinne slowly off towards their apartments. The second envoy would walk slowly for awhile before resting for an extended period due to her injuries. The Cephrit knew that the presence of Thatak’siema and Malang’troh complicated the plans of the Cephrit race. He also knew that he did not have the time to warn their other guests of the latest arrivals.

  ***

  Deshinal watched impassively as her mother and sibling conducted an animated discussion about the latest arrivals at the star base. Her older siblings were wailing in fright as they took in the news, for they all rightfully feared Lord Malang’troh after the brutal death of their father long ago. The Quixxe variform tried to impose a calm of sorts on her family.

  ‘Such rackets you all raise with your wailing and no wonder other races treat us with disdain. I hope the sound proofing in our quarters is up to standard and we are not detected.’

  Deshinal’s mother, Apinal, looked at her with resignation as she replied.

  ‘Daughter you should not mock us in our hour of lament. We could end up on a livestock ship heading to Zronte space if the Vorinne take us prisoners.’

  Deshinal did not feel chastised, as she noted that her sibling had stopped arguing and wailing long enough to hear her mother speak. She wasted no time in speaking again as a result.

  ‘We were supposed to aid the two junior Vorinne that came here earlier, and we had false identities given to us as a result. I have to remain hidden regardless, and only Shafinal has had any recent meetings with Lord Malang’troh.’

  Shafinal looked across at her mother as she replied to her sisters’ observations.

  ‘Deshinal is correct, and the meeting was an incidental one when I graduated from pilot school. We will await instructions from the Cephrit, as this after all is their star base. I suspect we will be taken elsewhere at some stage, possibly to the world the matriarch mentioned earlier.’

  Apinal knew that the Vorinne could easily overrule the Cephrit when it came to the welfare of the Quixxe. However she nodded her agreement to Shafinal’s logic and she softly crooned the tone of peace to ensure the argument was over. Her crooning was taken up by her children briefly before they all then fell silent.

  ***

  Admiral Mary Neilson was impatiently looking through the data she had available for what seemed the fifth time. The Jerecab were running late and this was impacting her own plans. She was aware of the increased risks of her strategy, and she tried to put this awareness to one side as she took in the dry statistics for the Tau Ceti colony.

  The admiral knew the colony held over twenty thousand colonists and was guarded by a local flotilla of ships. The auxiliary cruiser Long Reach was leading several of the smaller corvettes in a patrol across the far side of the system.

  Mary knew that the local ships, apart from the cruiser, did not add much to her own fleet. However she needed to know if the Jerecab armada had been delayed or was changing course, as she would not abandon the colony without at least attempting to protect it.

  Lieutenant Commander Griggs looked across at her in quiet appraisal, and Mary spoke up confidently as she took her attention from her console.

  ‘Spit it out Lieutenant Commander, you obviously are concerned about something.’

  John Griggs looked around the bridge self consciously before he replied.

  ‘We have to assume that the Jerecab armada will attack either here at Tau Ceti or the nearby Epsilon Eridani system. We have other ships in place on nearby systems so they are unlikely to surprise us…’

  Mary was only going to voice agreement with his assessment, for they had discussed this plan previously already. However she was interrupted as the tactical officer spoke loudly across the bridge.

  ‘Admiral, one of our scout ships has arrived nearby and is heading across to us at high speed.’

  Mary waited patiently for several minutes before the dark features of Lieutenant Sachin Khan came onto the screen.

  ‘Admiral, the Jerecab armada are four hours behind us and they will use this jump point to arrive in this system. We detected well over two hundred frigates, and several dozen supply ships are also present. Note that an advance section of ninety frigates leads their armada by nearly an hour.’

  Mary looked over at John Griggs, who gave her a nervous smile, before she replied to the scout ship commander.

  ‘Lieutenant Khan, thank you for the advance warning and we will only engage the Jerecab advance section at this location. The Jerecab are overdue so no doubt their supply chain is becoming very long. You will take your ship over with the remaining corvettes to join the Long Reach, as your own weapons are of little use in the coming battle.’

  After several minutes, the smaller ships at the hyper jump point peeled away from the destroyers and began to follow the scout ship across the star system. Mary steeled herself before she began to speak again, this time to the commanders of her destroyers.

  ‘We will form up on the hyper drive point and attack the lead section on the arrival of the armada. Prepare all weapons for a shield suppression attack, for we are hoping to ambush the Jerecab before we flee. Ensure that all ships have their hyper jump engines prepared, so we can leave immediately after our ambush. We will do this by the numbers according to our training before we go home.’

  The admiral sat back to consider her plans yet again with concern, for she knew that if her fleet was destroyed here then the Earth was as good as taken by their enemy. Earlier reports from the solar system had given her cause for hope, for she would implement additional plans upon arriving back home. Mary sat back to wait patiently for the Jerecab appear with their ships.

  ***

  Freya Paulson cautiously watched the tall Fenshilla guards as she walked with Rebecca across to the door of the cargo hold serving as their prison. The female Fenshilla slaves were setting up the day’s meal on the long tables, and the commander began to form the survivors up in an orderly queue. She noted that the Fenshilla overseer, a particularly callous member of a violent race, was absent and so she felt some relief. The previous day the overseer had beaten two of the wounded to death, before the commandant and other Fenshilla officers had intervened. The further tragic losses of two of her crew had led to urgent discussions amongst the survivors, and a response was being planned.

  Freya and Rebecca both now wore strategically placed strips of off-white cloth, which had been the trigger for the overseer’s rage yesterday. The rough cloth had been a concession organised quietly by one of the female Fenshilla slaves, and Freya knew that the beatings by their guards had diminished in both frequency and savagery. She bowed in greeting to the female Fenshilla and received a bow in return. The lead slave looked furtively at the male guards before she spoke slowly in Trader.

  ‘Speak softly for the Traders and their language are hated by the un-named ones of the Black Claw brigade. The overseer is no longer controlling your imprisonment and has been shackled in the brig for punishment. I expect him to be condemned as meat for killing one of your breeding females.’

  Freya looked at Rebecca as she briefly replied in the same language, and she was again grateful they had a sprinkling of Barede colonists with them. The Fenshilla slave spoke hurriedly now as she looked sideways at the bored guards nearby.

  ‘The chief surgeon has taken control and has instructed us to tend to you as best we can. Note that the forced mating process is likely to continue as he is aware of your species’ short life spans. I would recommend against bringing any offspring into existence for he is also a beast without mercy.’

  Rebecca thanked the Fenshilla in Trader language and tran
slated the news for Freya. The rest of the survivors joined the two women, and under the cover of the bustle for the meal, the halting conversation continued on. Freya soon learned that their new ally was named Millene, and she was a pilot lieutenant in the Silver Guards who had been captured with her crew. The males had been slaughtered for meat and the females enslaved as both forced labour and concubines. She also learnt that the Silver Guards were sometime allies of both the Traders and the Cephrit.

  Freya asked two brief questions bothering her about the whole process that Millene endured after being captured.

  ‘So if you give birth to a child then you are still a slave? And is your child also a slave?’

  Millene looked patiently and with resignation at both human females, as she replied and Rebecca translated.

  ‘We remain slaves and produce their young, and we are meat when we are broken or old. The male offspring become Black Claw brigade warriors, with the female offspring restricted with their own females to their main bases as engineers and workers. Note that all in our race become meat when we die.’

  Freya was pondering the meaning of the last part of the statement, before she took in the food being served out to the survivors. She urgently gave an order and blanched as she worried about what was being offered to them.

  ‘Stop eating everyone as you are possible eating either human or Fenshilla flesh.’

  Several of the survivors threw away their food bowls as if they were dirty, and Millene looked confused as she asked them a question.

  ‘Does our food disagree with your race? It is only vegetable and ryal based, for red meat is not given to slaves.’

  Rebecca translated and quickly explained for she knew that ryal was a type of Trader world fish. Freya now noted with relief that the white flesh of the ryal in a nearby discarded bowl was indeed like that of a fish. The commander corrected her last order and the survivors began to eat again in a subdued manner. She went around to the other officers in the group of survivors and quickly advised them of what she had learnt. Rebecca was talking again with Millene when the door opened, and the chief surgeon was followed in by several Fenshilla guards.

  Freya walked slowly up to join Rebecca and they both gave nervous bows towards the chief surgeon as Millene slowly backed away towards the meal tables. The chief surgeon sneered at them in disgust and motioned the guards forward towards the meal tables. Freya looked around for a moment, and witnessed Paul and Phil slowly moving the now standing prisoners back to the far wall. She watched as the guards impatiently cleared the meal tables, before she then slowly led Rebecca back to their own group of prisoners.

  A commotion came though from the doorway, and the shackled and bound former Fenshilla overseer was now dragged into large room. A large portable gas burner two metres across was wheeled into the room next followed by two large covered trolleys. Freya felt rising nausea as she recognised that the two bodies on the trolleys were human. The burner was lit and a large metal grate was placed across the top, as another dozen Fenshilla guards arrived with a third trolley laden with drinks.

  The Fenshilla overseer was dragged towards the large flames of the burner, and he was promptly thrown onto the metal grate with considerable force. Several of the guards grabbed either end of his body to restrain him, and they snarled at the overseer in derision as he burnt to death in howls of pain and rage. Freya was conscious of several of the survivors vomiting noisily behind them as the Fenshilla cooked their former overseer. The guards only waited an hour before they pulled the half raw body from the cooking grate and it landed on the floor. The Fenshilla argued noisily as they pulled the body apart, and Freya vomited several times as the masses of Fenshilla guards began to eat with enthusiasm.

  A cry of anguish went up from the humans as the two covered trolleys were now uncovered and the two smaller human bodies thrown onto the metal grate. Freya noted in shock that the bodies looked smaller in death, especially Emma’s, and they both bore the scars of obvious dissection. The Fenshilla guards snarled in reply at the sounds now coming from the humans, as Freya gave an urgent order.

  ‘We will have our moment and we will not aggravate the guards. Everyone is to remain silent and avert your gaze if you can do so.’

  The humans seethed in anger and shock as the bodies of Emma Fiddich and Ben Takayima were quickly cooked and eaten. Later the now intoxicated Fenshilla guards selected several of the Fenshilla females, including Millene, and noisily took turns mating with them. Freya steeled herself to the Fenshilla ordering the human survivors to mate again, but this did not happen. After the guards had left, Millene and the other female slaves cleared up the remains of the vile meal, before removing the burner and trolleys.

  Freya took Rebecca’s arm and the two of them slowly walked up to Millene, who was now hosing down the whole deck of the cargo hold. The commander squared her shoulders as she spoke a couple of quick sentences.

  ‘Millene, we will not accept our captivity and we will revolt. We are planning a response and we want you to aid us.’

  Millene looked sadly at both humans as Rebecca translated, and noted the slave bracelets around their ankles as she replied at length.

  ‘I understand and you should know that neither of our two main factions is as bestial as the Black Claw brigade. We eat meat but the bodies of even our enemies deserve respect, for we are not sadists. In my culture, the Silver Guards, the overseer would have been electrocuted before being eaten. Also the bodies of other races are forbidden to us as food as they are unclean. I will aid you in your revolt against the authority of the commandant.’

  Freya took in the information, and realised that the recent actions of their captors had offended the Fenshilla slaves. The three of them began the first of a series of furtive discussions behind the backs of their guards. Much later, as the cargo hold was dimmed for sleep, Freya spoke quietly to both Paul and Phil.

  ‘Gentlemen, you are definitely on with your plans….’

  ***

  Chapter 14

  Narindestat watched silently as the Sspol cruiser took a diverging course away from his ship, and headed for the outer planet in the Arranen system. The large Maveen gateway had first taken them all to the Hydros marshalling point in remote interstellar space. The large Maveen battle cruisers had left them at that point and the Traders had spent several hours repairing their ship.

  The Maveen sector delegate had eventually sent a voice message, and within two hours both the Traders and the Sspol had been taken by gateway to the Arranen system. Narindestat was relieved that they were nearly home, however the losses of so many of his crew and the damage to the Resuria weighed heavily on his mind. He knew that the rest of the crew felt the same way as they quietly went about their duties.

  The view screen crackled for a few seconds before the voice of the Sspol commander came across clearly in the Barus language.

  ‘Farewell Captain Narindestat and we will seek you out at a later stage; we will come to the Barede system within one standard human year. Know that we value highly your courage and integrity; for this is a new start for both our races. We wish you every success in founding your new colonies.’

  Captain Narindestat was careful to stand and offer a bow, for he was sure the Sspol commander could see him even if the incoming signal was audio only. Apparently the Sspol could see sound waves and he left no possibility of offending the hydrogen breather as he replied.

  ‘Farewell and best wishes to the Sspol; we also value our new-found understanding and we will assist you in the future when we can do so.’

  Narindestat kept it brief as he was aware that the Sspol did not converse at the informal level with other races like the humans. He also now knew that their compound sentence syntax had led to unfortunate misunderstandings in the past and he would not risk that now. The Trader Captain ensured that the Resuria was on the latest course set by the Maveen, before his son Lieutenant Garendestat made a report.

  ‘Captain, four human tankers owned by Gran
t Stoneham’s partnership are also heading towards the next hyper jump location. Several Maveen gate ships are already present and they await our arrival.’

  Narindestat took in the information with mixed reactions, for despite his earlier promise to locate suitable colonies; he knew that the Resuria had been badly damaged and would require extensive repairs. The captain was already writing up a recommendation that the Resuria also be upgraded to the standard of his own ship the Illuria. His thoughts were interrupted as he received another voice transmission from the Maveen sector delegate.

  ‘Captain Narindestat, we will soon leave on a jump of twelve hundred light years to a Huopheen sanctuary world. Upon arrival you will continue the preliminary negotiations with the Huopheen that Grant Stoneham recently performed.’

  Narindestat looked at Garendestat and the rest of the bridge crew in total amazement. The captain was speechless as he took in this latest development, for he knew that the Huopheen had been wiped out by the Tilmud many thousands of years ago. He now called up all the old data his race had of the Huopheen, and began to research what he could of a race the Traders had literally given up for dead.

  ***

  Mary Neilson watched critically as the first Jerecab frigates arrived in the Tau Ceti system. A series of urgent reports came across her console as thirty enemy ships appeared in space nearby, with two other sections of thirty ships appearing several hundred kilometres distant. The admiral quickly noted that several of the local corvettes were too close to the recently arrived enemy frigates. She was still relieved that the Jerecab had been thrown off by her fleet’s presence at the hyper drive points, and the admiral gave her first orders of the engagement.