by David Buck
Thatak’siema knew that it was hopeless as soon as Malang’troh had placed his staff on the deck. She knew that her serf lord had his reasons and she even agreed with most of them. However she made an honest effort to steer the Deltas Vass commander in the direction she wanted him to go.
‘I understand that we cannot change your orders under the same accords, however there have been recent developments and we now wish for you to take your fleet with our fleet to Earth….’
The second envoy then spent some time stepping the Deltas Vass commander through the latest intelligence, and she even got nodding agreement from the station master standing to one side. However the Deltas Vass drone was patient and polite in his refusal.
‘My apologies your grace, but we will not even take our fleet to the former Dradfer colonies let alone Earth. We will just patrol the Cephrit outer zone as requested by the fleet master. Our matriarch has been quite clear in our instructions under the edicts in this regard…’
The highly trained drone explained the Deltas Vass position on this matter for an extended period, before the two Vorinne got bored with his answer and ended the meeting. The two senior vassals had then left the meeting after muttering something urgently about Fenshilla in one of their many dialects.
The commander crossed to the station master and greeted him with a bow of respect before speaking coolly.
‘Surely the first amongst us can see the importance of remaining within the law under the edicts? Also they must understand the reluctance of our race to go to either the former Dradfer colonies let alone Earth, a haven system?’
The Cephrit station master knew that the Deltas Vass had excellent and legitimate reasons for his refusal, and so had remained still and silent as he ensured that the two Vorinne had left. He also knew that frustrating the senior vassals was not recommended, and neither was it healthy to gloat about their request being refused either. The two allies continued to talk quietly between themselves while the Quixxe servants behind them remained discretely silent as they supplied food and drink.
***
Chapter 16
Colonel Mark Patton hunkered down in the dugout and ensured he was fully covered by the radiation blanket. Overhead a firestorm erupted across their shields as they were strafed by two more Jerecab frigates. The colonel watched the shield indicators with satisfaction, for the Jerecab had under-estimated the capabilities of his forces.
Joel Everson had promptly left several days ago with his five ship strong task force. The Jerecab ships, all ninety or so of the reinforcements, had quickly taken off in hot pursuit even as they entered the Gold system. Mark knew that if the Jerecab had instead used their all reinforcements to attack his position then his marines would have been quickly defeated.
Mark’s troops still faced a number of Jerecab marines across the river, occasional strafing attacks by obviously damaged Jerecab frigates, and the threat from their few troop transports still in orbit. The colonel was in the process of folding up his radiation blanket as one of his troop commanders sprinted over to see him. Something in the commander’s urgency made him stop as he realised that their radio network was not working.
‘Colonel, just before our radio and scanner network failed we detected several large ships arriving in orbit. We did obtain a short section of video footage and the ships do not belong to the Jerecab…’
Mark watched in amazement for several seconds as the dark rectangular shaped ships came onto the screen for only a few seconds. His mouth went dry as he gave an urgent series orders to his troops.
‘Pass this message along urgently for the radio network is down. The other vassal races have arrived, for those ships match the design of Cephrit ships according to the old Trader database. All troops are to stand down and all fixed defensive weapons are to set to standby mode only. We do not want to fire weapons at the Cephrit for any reason. Also I want the communications array to broadcast the standard neutrality and ceasefire clauses even if we are being jammed.’
After three hours, movement was detected several hundred metres west of their position, and Mark ensured that his forces did not fire their weapons. A lone large form appeared at the edge of the cleared ground and the colonel marvelled at the first Cephrit he had ever seen.
Mark knew that the Cephrit was obviously a female, as it was very large and had four drawn fighting swords set along the top edges of her second and third pairs of legs. He watched as the alien now set down a viscous looking blaster rifle and continued slowly forward. He left his own weapons behind him and slowly walked down to meet the Cephrit standing just outside their shields.
Mark soon reached the shield boundary, the three nearest shields were deactivated and he continued on down the slope. The colonel drew on what he could remember of alien protocol as he gave the Cephrit a deep bow and spoke slowly.
‘I am Colonel Mark Patton, we are standing down under your authority and we will await your orders. I hope you will be able to understand me shortly as we do not speak any of the galactic languages.’
Mark knew that Joel had left with Barede colonists that spoke the Trader language, but there had been no time to swap any of them into his command. His concerns went unjustified as the Cephrit officer spoke in rapidly improving English.
‘I am the Cephrit assault leader of the expeditionary force sent to secure the former Dradfer colonies. I understand your language due to the earlier Barus expedition to your home world. We respect that you have stood down your forces and we will ensure your return to your home world if it survives the Jerecab attack.’
Human studied Cephrit for several moments before Mark gave another bow of respect and slowly spoke again.
‘We will hold our defensive position until you can verify the Jerecab are no longer a threat to us. We will not attack the Jerecab and will begin preparations to leave this world. Also we will trade what we have, including our weapons, to begin a trading relationship with the Cephrit.’
The assault leader gave Mark a deep bow of her own, really a distinctive crouch, as she replied again.
‘Your offer to trade is appreciated and we will be interested in doing so before you leave this world. Be advised that we have sent cruiser squadrons to your star systems to aid in your defence of your home planet, though they may not arrive in time. We are having trouble locating the Jerecab commander on the ground and I suspect it will take some time to bring them into order. I will return with my officers after the Jerecab are also disarmed.’
The assault leader bowed again and now raced for the cover of the nearby bushes after picking up her assault rifle on the run. The Cephrit flickered as she moved away and Mark noted both the speed of the massive alien and the fact that she must use a personal shield. He was now also very grateful he would not have to face the Cephrit in battle.
The Cephrit marines took several hours to subdue the Jerecab and isolated bursts of weapons fire came from across the river to the East. The assault leader then came forward again, this time with several members of her command, and Mark resumed his cautious conversation.
‘Assault leader, I have sent for our two surviving transports and we request please an escort home when this is possible. Now would you like to trade any items with us in the meantime?’
The assault leader was mindful of not appearing too eager after receiving instructions from her mate of record, the fleet master.
‘Colonel Patton, we wish to look over your foods, equipment and weapons in good time. However you appear to have captured Jerecab equipment, most notably one of their spare fusion reactors.’
Mark was soon showing the assault leader and her command team around an impressive collection of Jerecab armaments and technology. The colonel noted for a moment that the assault leader seemed to be larger and healthier than any of her fellow officers. He was modest in the description of his team’s effort as he evaluated the Jerecab technology to the Cephrit.
‘We were fortunate enough to surprise the Jerecab after our heavier
destroyers strafed and destroyed their original reactor. Their anti air weapons are superior to ours and we will be copying the design. We feel their ground defences were sub-standard and this allowed us to take their position quickly…’
The assault leader evaluated the efforts of the humans with a practiced military eye and made cautious praise.
‘The Jerecab were obviously not expecting you to land here and your daring raid has caused them considerable discomfort. Your forces were outnumbered three to one and yet you drove them away with your initial assault. This is a worthy outcome even if the Jerecab are regarded as one of the weakest races to fight in a land war.’
The assault leader continued to look around the human defensive position and noted that her marines would be hard pressed to dislodge the humans without sustaining heavy losses. She now knew that the humans themselves could present a greater threat to the Cephrit at a later stage, and so she quietly moved the discussion onto human weapons. The Cephrit pointed out human weapons nearby and Mark carefully presented the first one to her.
‘Assault Leader, this weapon is an RPG or rocket propelled grenade, and it has a range of several hundred metres against armoured targets.’
The Cephrit officers cautiously took turns handling the RPG as Mark picked up the next weapon and spoke again.
‘This weapon is our long range sniper rifle and is capable of hitting distant Jerecab sized targets in all light and weather conditions…’
The assault leader listened intently to ensure that her threat assessment of the human military potential was accurate. She decided that the initial threat assessment of the Barus research fleet many years earlier was if anything too modest in its assessment of the human capacity for war. The humans had an impressive array of weapons, they were innovative and adaptable, and they kept their cohesion in a pitched battle. She quietly continued to listen for several moments, before the fleet master’s last instructions came to mind, and she spoke up in what she hoped was a friendly manner.
‘Thank you for your overview Colonel Patton and we will indeed be interested in trading with your race. My initial offer is to let you take the Jerecab anti-air defences, and their standby reactor with you if you can do so. This also saves me the trouble of destroying the devices after you leave. In return we require you leave all your weapons with us, a sampling of your other equipment and of course some of your food.’
The assault leader was hoping the humans would have a decent range of food with them and she was not disappointed. She feigned ignorance as the human colonel pointed out some of their food on a hastily erected table nearby.
‘Well ignore our K and R rations for we all hate those. We have tinned meat and fish, some dried fruits, chocolate, honey, biscuits and cereals…’
The mention of honey set the assault leader’s antennae quivering, but she knew that she would not touch it again. The Cephrit merely commented in what she hoped was a jovial manner.
‘Well your race certainly eats better than we do in the field of battle. We will place all the trade items, especially the weapons, under guard as soon as possible if that is acceptable.’
The assault leader felt concern as she asked this, for she was aware that other races like the Tilmud and Jerecab could be obsessive about retaining their own weapons. Mark looked around at his nearby commanders and knew that he only had one way forward as he replied.
‘We will line up our marines and we will surrender our heavier weapons immediately. My officers will retain their pistols if that is acceptable?’
The assault leader let the human officers keep their pistols as her own officers avoided looking at her and the human foods nearby. The Cephrit had soon secured the human defensive zone and several of them began to stream back to their own base laden with human equipment.
Mark Patton again noted the small differences between the assault leader and her fellow officers. For one thing her wing covers were a purple colour, yet all the other female Cephrit had black wing covers. Also the colonel was bemused by the fact that the Cephrit had taken all their honey and left most of the other food stuffs behind.
A short time later the assault leader led her officers back to their landing site a few kilometres distant from the humans. The fleet master himself came down the rear ramp of the landing craft, and asked an urgent series of questions after ensuring they were alone by asking her to dismiss her officers.
‘The humans are disarmed and await a return to their home world if this is possible?
The weapons you obtained are similar to the ones we obtained earlier in many respects? You have obtained sample foods from the humans and any honey they possessed is under armed guard?’
The assault leader favoured her mate of record with a full bow of respect as she replied hesitantly.
‘We build trust with the humans as you suggested and it is a brilliant way for us to show our integrity. The weapons we have in truth seized are very similar to the ones from the Barede colonists, so we can legitimise our technology gains as a result. The honey is under guard and we will analyse it fully this time around. As a favour to the humans they will be leaving with several items of Jerecab military equipment.’
The fleet master tried to ignore the scent of his mate and her obvious good health as he spoke with concern.
‘Yet you are concerned about something else beloved mate, for I detect empathy towards the humans?’
The assault leader glanced around to ensure the other Cephrit at the landing site were still engrossed in their duties as she replied again.
‘Fleet master, the humans are truly amazing and they remind me of the Traders in so many ways. I would much rather have them as friends than enemies for their military capabilities are already impressive. I think that like the Traders the humans are likely to be perceived as a threat by the other races, even if we ourselves manage to remain at peace with the humans.’
The two Cephrit fell silent in deep thought as they remembered the unfortunate fate of their protégés, the Traders, once the Vorinne and the Zronte took exception to their vigorous civilisation many tens of thousands of years ago.
***
Freya Paulson was talking quietly with Phil and her other officers when Millene, the female Fenshilla slave, walked alone into their prison. Phil asked if he could throttle the slave, but Freya made him stay in his place as she walked over to the door with Rebecca. She noted that none of the Fenshilla male guards were present as Millene spoke in hushed tones to Rebecca.
‘Many of the guards are either seriously ill or dead after ingesting human protein two days ago, and our captors are all surprised this occurred after tests showed there was no risks involved. The surgeon general has been taken into custody after his latest mistake and he will be sentenced as meat later today.’
Freya flinched as she remembered the earlier horrible execution of the overseer as Rebecca translated. Millene paused and looked in concern at both women for a moment before she continued.
‘The commandant will be transferring more soldiers across from the other ships in two days time once we arrive at our next hiding place. So unless you can act quickly you will not get your chance to revolt. We will remove the ankle devices and supply you all with weapons when you are ready. Finally the surgeon general earlier devised a way to get past your contraceptive implants and you will not like his methods.’
Rebecca urgently translated Millene’s words, and Freya casually strolled back to her fellow officers nearby to relay the news and then to ask one question.
‘…so there you have it all. We can attack shortly and we are all going along for the trip. Remember that many of the Fenshilla female slaves will also be in revolt and we are not to kill them. Now several of you will gain weapons as soon as possible and you will ensure that no women survive you when we are finally cornered.’
Freya looked around at the surly expressions around her and she knew that the survivors all looked forward to attacking the Black Claw Fenshilla. Several human coupl
es had endured more forced couplings after their rags were taken from them again, and several of the women nearby still glared around them in shock and anger. Freya tried not to think about their state of health before the risk of unwanted pregnancies was introduced. She crossed back to the waiting Rebecca and brought her up to date with her decision.
Millene listened to the translation and looked over in fear at the crouching mass of naked humans on the far wall. She felt considerable unease as she considered that this new race now seemed primed to commit extreme violence. The Fenshilla slave wasted no time in reassuring both human females on her support for their efforts.
‘Two dozen of the female slaves have chosen death rather than life as incubators for our enemy’s offspring, so they will assault the crew quarters. We have jury rigged explosives and they will be supplied to you. Another dozen of us, including myself, will attempt to steal two small ships and reach our own factions to warn them of the renewed threat of the Black Claw brigade. We suggest your crew attack engineering as the bridge is heavily defended. The main engineering section is down four levels and towards the stern of the ship.’
Freya liked the simplicity of the plan and added only two more points by pointing at Millene.
‘Silver Guards and female Fenshilla; otherwise we kill them.’
Millene soon got the translation and was then repeating the name of her faction in unfamiliar English. The slave then supplied several small tools and explained that they could be used to remove the ankle bracelets. She left the cargo hold to organise her own team as Freya and Rebecca walked back to the other humans.
A hushed conversation took place and all were mindful of the observation window set high in the cargo hold above them. Several crew members now silently went through the huddle of prisoners using the stolen tools to remove the bracelets. Fifteen minutes went past, the humans were quietly muttering amongst themselves, as Phil and Paul organised them all into five teams.