Serpents and Vipers

by Donald Nicklas

  Aboard the serpent ship, Hatch made the connections and indicated to Tavia that the lines were open. “This is Primary Scout Tavia MacDougal reporting to Consul Lorenzo.”

  Since the fleet was now a half-hour out, there was only a very slight communications lag. “This is Consul Lorenzo. What do you have down there, Tavia?”

  “Consul, we are in the hangar and nothing much has changed since we were last here, but the base appears to be depressurized. We are proceeding deeper, but there is no indication of danger to the fleet.”

  “Thank you for the report. Proceed with caution in case this is some kind of trap.”

  “Acknowledged.” Tavia then continued deeper into the base along with the serpent crew.

  Captain Artok told Tavia that there were five levels below the hangar level. Since they were not sure if it was a trap, they decided to use the ramps, not the elevators between levels. Serpents did not use stairs. The first level contained the control and communication rooms. Captain Artok’s sensor officer went over to the life support console and activated it. After taking some readings, she reported there is a breach somewhere on the base that caused the shutdown of life support. Until the breach was discovered and sealed, the base would remain depressurized. The group continued down into the mining base after Tavia reported the findings to Lorenzo. On the second level, they began to see some signs of disruption. There were tables overturned in the mess hall, some doors were open, and it looked like serpent dishes were scattered all over the rooms. These were signs of rapid decompression and meant the breach must be on this level. They left the mess hall and moved further along when they saw a gaping hole in the side of one wall with jagged edges and dried blood on the mangled sides. Tavia looked into the opening and saw that it lead to a cavern beyond, which explained how a breach underground could lead to decompression. As she shined a light down she could see the broken bodies of several serpents on the floor of the cave. She motioned Captain Artok over and showed her the bodies. Even at this distance, Tavia could see that these were combat males. Careful examination of the rest of the room revealed evidence of a firefight with impacts from projectiles on the walls. Tavia surmised that the fight ended when the wall was ruptured and the combatants were sucked through the hole in the wall.

  On the third and fourth levels, they found some bodies of serpents that had been killed in a melee and firefight. Their bodies were desiccated from the vacuum. A few more desiccated bodies were found on the fifth level underground. Tavia had been maintaining a running commentary of their findings and the fleet was listening to their communication. Tavia turned to Captain Artok, “Captain, where are the rest of the serpent personnel? By my count there should still be well over a hundred here at the base.”

  “Sss. Lady Tavia is right. There should be more. Come with me.”

  Artok lead the group through a door to a large room with a hatch in the floor. Tavia could see some mining apparatus hanging on the walls and gear meant to fit serpents.

  “Captain, what is this place and where does that hatch lead?”

  “Sss. This is the mine head and below us is the drill head that digs the mine.” Captain Artok went over to the hatch and opened a panel on the wall that contained readouts. “Sss. The mine head is still pressurized.” Captain Artok pressed a button and talked into the panel. There was a quick reply spoken very fast, faster than Tavia could understand.

  Captain Artok turned to Tavia, “Sss. Lady Tavia, there are serpents in the mine head. The Mountain Clan fighters we captured escaped and there was a fight. During the fight, the miners and technicians hid in the mine entrance. They were lucky that the mine has its own pressurization. They are not sure what happened but they became aware from the sensors that the base depressurized.”

  “How long ago did this happen?”

  Captain Artok again spoke into the communications panel. After a quick exchange, he turned to Tavia, “Sss. Lady Tavia, this happened soon after we left”

  “That was over a month ago. Do they have food and water?”

  Again, there was a quick conversation, “Sss. They have water from the ice in the core of the planetoid but they ran out of food long ago and many are too weak to move.”

  As soon as she heard this, she called to the fleet, “Consul Lorenzo. We have an unknown number of survivors who are out of food and very weak. We cannot free them until we can pressurize the base.”

  “I will send down technicians and a marine contingent.”

  The fleet was now halted near the planetoid, in orbit around the triple star cluster, just outside the asteroid belt. Within ten minutes of the call, a landing shuttle left the Longinus with the techs and supplies needed. Tavia left Captain Artok to talk with the survivors and took the serpent sensor tech from their ship with her to meet the incoming humans. The shuttle landed and immediately 25 marines exited and formed a perimeter around the entrance to the hangar. The techs then entered with a portable force field generator. Tavia led them down to the breach and they applied the portable force field. She then ran up to the serpent tech and told her to pressurize the base as quickly as possible. Apparently, this is easier said than done. Since the serpents do not maintain large supplies of oxygen and other gases, the atmosphere had to be created by melting ice and then using electrolysis on the water in the planetoid to make oxygen and chemically break down the organic and other molecules in the planetoid for the other elements that make up serpent atmosphere. It took over two hours before the base was pressurized enough to open the hatch to the mine head. The conditions inside were horrendous between the cold and the lack of food, half the serpents were dead and the other half were near death. It was determined that they would not be able to treat them in the base medical unit, and they were all transported up to the dreadnoughts for intense medical care, with the serpent medic from Captain Artok’s ship helping the human medical personnel to mix the fluids needed to feed the serpents intravenously. Lorenzo did not want the fleet to lose too much time, so he ordered them into motion as soon as they were able to get all usable serpent ships from the planetoid. There was the possibility they may need serpent ships when they arrived at the home world. Six hours after arriving in orbit, the fleet broke orbit and headed towards the outbound slipstream. Their next stop would be the serpent home world.

  By the time they were in transit through the next system, all of the survivors, except three who were beyond help, were on their way to recovery. They had also extracted the information they needed from the base computers. They had to use the computers on the ship to analyze it, since it was in the serpent’s language and code, with which the Romani computers were unfamiliar. The fleet continued through the system, after Hister assured them that there weren’t any invisible ships in the area. Captain Lorenzo left his ship and flew over to the Invicta to see what the analysis showed. He met with the others in the conference room. Legatus Victoria Edmonton came over with him. Since he was present as a ship’s captain and the admiral of the fleet, Lorenzo left his Lictors behind. When his shuttle entered the hangar deck and the Admiral and the Legatus exited, the crew of the Invicta snapped to attention and Paul McMann and Tavia saluted. Captain Lorenzo, Legatus Edmonton, acting Captain Paul McMann and Primary Scout Tavia MacDougal entered Captain Artok’s ship. The serpent captain was in the mess hall-conference room with monitor readouts projected over the table.

  “Captain Artok, before we begin, let me ask how the serpents we rescued from the mining base are doing,” Captain Lorenzo asked.

  “Sss. Thank you for asking. All but three will survive. Had we been a week later, they would all be dead.”

  “Then I am glad we came when we did. Now what do we know about those missiles?”

  Captain Artok pressed some buttons on the table console and a projection of the serpent home planet appeared over their heads. It took those not used to the serpent’s penchant for looking up, a minute to be comfortably settled. Once all signaled ready, the serpent captain began. “Sss. The home
defense consists of some sentinel ships and the surface to space missiles. The sentinel ships are no match for Romani vessels, but the missiles are very large rockets and are designed to explode and make an outward projecting wall of explosive spheres. They are meant to push back invaders, since they dissipate with distance. The missiles do not get close enough to ships to be taken out by point defense. The missiles are meant to prevent landings and the spheres take several planet rotations to disperse completely. I am not sure what they would do to Romani dreadnoughts, but they will destroy landing ships.”

  Lorenzo put his hand to his chin, as if in thought and waited to see what his fellow Romani would think up. Finally, the Legatus spoke up, “I’m not sure what can be done about them in space, but if it were me, I would want to make sure they never took off to begin with.”

  Lorenzo smiled, since this was his conclusion as well. “Well put, Victoria. We will need to destroy them on the ground. Captain Artok,” Lorenzo said, as he turned to the serpent captain, “where is the missile control?”

  “Sss. Consul, it is in the center of the capital city, under the World Mother’s headquarters.”

  The Legatus was next to speak, “Can we get in there?”

  “Sss. It will be heavily guarded, but there is a way, if we can pretend to be part of the rebellion and on the side of the Mountain Clan. We will not get out. The base will close once tampering is detected, and not even the guards will be able to leave.”

  “How would we be able to stop the launches?” This time Lorenzo asked.

  “Sss. We must destroy the launch computer. All defense is around the building, once inside, there is no protection for the computer. We just need to know which computer is the right one.”

  “Do you know?”

  “Sss. No. However, my ship computer tech trained there. She will know and must come with us.”

  The Legatus spoke up again, “If it is a suicide mission, then only volunteers can come.” She made sure Captain Artok realized that this was unalterable Romani policy.

  “Sss. She will be asked, as will the others, but no more than five can come, since that is a standard ship crew.”

  “I will come with you, if you will have me.” Tavia said, to no one in particular.

  Before the other Romani could speak up, Captain Artok replied, “Sss. Lady Tavia, your courage will be legend among the clans, but humans would stand out on our world. This must be done by serpents only.”

  Tavia blushed at both the compliment and the knowledge that she spoke without thinking of the nature of the mission. All realized this was the enthusiasm of youth. The Legatus smiled and turned to Captain Artok, “Captain, are you and your crew up for this?”

  “Sss. We will do our duty, no matter the risk. It is important that our clan mother be saved along with the hatchery. To do that, we must get the Romani to our world.”

  All at the meeting nodded and left it to Captain Artok and his crew to work out the details. The Consul and the Legatus left the Invicta and returned to the Longinus. The next few transits were spent planning, not only the covert mission, but also the rescue of the hatchery. The fleet did not want to slow down for fear of coming too late; therefore, Captain Artok and his crew left the Invicta when they entered the next to the last system before the home world. The small serpent ships were similar in speed to human scout ships when in system, but something about their size and design allowed them to achieve 33 percent faster speed in the slipstreams. Calculations indicated that they would arrive on the planet just short of a human day before the fleet entered the system. This was hoped would be enough time to destroy the missile control. Tavia was there to see them off and wish them well. She and Captain Artok were now close and she could add another serpent to her growing list of friends. With the serpent ship on its way, the space and ground commanders spent the rest of their transit playing all possible scenarios repeatedly. Though they hoped Captain Artok would be able to stop the missile defense, they had to plan what to do if that did not occur. By the time they were about to enter the home system of the serpents, they were as ready as they could be. They would soon know if Captain Artok was successful. Since they would maintain communication silence, they would know the missiles were disabled if they did not fire at them. The clock of destiny moved forward another minute and the navigator informed the fleet that they would drop from the slipstream in fifteen minutes. The Romani were ready to do their duty and save their allies.

  Chapter 10 – Into the Vipers Nest

  The Cold Death came out of the slipstream and immediately went invisible. Calculations indicated the fleet was thirty-four human hours behind them. With an eleven-hour system transit, they will arrive on the planet twenty-three hours before the fleet enters the system. Since the fleet will be visible, security will increase as soon as they register on the sensors. Captain Artok was informed by her sensor tech that five invisible ships were located between them and the planet. They were closer to the planet but out of range of any defensive missiles. They were expecting a rescue by the Romani. This was beginning to look like the Mountain Clan wanted to break the alliance with the Romani. To do so by starting a war with them showed they knew nothing about the Romani. When it came to war the Romani were relentless. It was a war the serpents, as a dying race, could not win. If only they could be convinced that the future lay in closer ties with the Romani. The Mountain Clan has never had much contact with the humans and must think them weak. One on one they are, but as a group, they are very powerful. Captain Artok was brought out of her thoughts by a whistle from her sensor tech. The ships were moving away from the planet to intercept them. This was expected, since serpents can detect ships made invisible by their technology, but not pinpoint them. They had a general knowledge they were out there, but it was a cat and mouse game to locate them. Active sensors were needed and Captain Artok was hoping they would use them. Contact would occur in five hours.

  Time passes slowly in anticipation of combat. Human minds wander; serpent minds focus. Whereas humans will spend waiting time worrying about all possible negative outcomes, serpents see a plan developed as a plan already accomplished. They are certain of their plans. To them wait time is a time to consider what they are fighting for. Captain Artok and her crew were based on the home world, but they had patrolled mining bases in serpent space many times. As inhabitants of the home world, they had eggs in the hatchery. Therefore, they had more to lose than their lives. They had the future of their bloodlines. This is the focused thought that was on the minds of every member of the crew. Although wait time passes slowly, it does pass and eventually they were in active sensor range of the enemy. The Cold Death remained on passive sensors. Captain Artok’s crew knew what to do and no orders were needed. One of the enemy vessels “pinged” in the direction of the Cold Death. A fraction of a second after the ping was sensed, a missile fired from the Cold Death missile tube.

  During the transit with the Romani fleet, Captain Artok discussed the usual tactics and procedures of the serpents. They knew the serpent ship would be detected, even when invisible. Captain Artok told the Romani that the location was general and to be accurate enough to use the railguns, the enemy would have to find the Cold Death with active sensors. The command crew of the Invicta, having spent most of their careers on mining scouts, thought this could be made into a disadvantage for the enemy. Mining probes use active sensors to examine target surfaces for minerals. Once they detect these minerals, they send an active beacon to the surface. The mining scout then sends down an automated surface vehicle to take samples and do a more detailed analysis. This is done, rather than sending down a person, because it can be done at long distance and it can be dispatched immediately, rather than wait for someone to suit up. To the corporations, time is money and most surface analysis finds veins of ore that are too small for profitable mining. The beacon is homed into by the propulsion system of the surface vehicle and this is how it finds the proper location. Diana Gardner used her technical expertis
e to put a homing mechanism into the guidance system of a serpent missile tuned to the frequency of the serpent active sensors. In theory, this would allow the missile to lock onto the active sensor and follow it into the enemy ship. They were about to find out if it works.

  The missile cleared the tube and homed in on the invisible enemy. The enemy craft tried to avoid it, but they had no idea it was homing on their sensor frequency. They were desperately “pinging” the area to try to find the source of the missile, but the Cold Death took a sharp turn with evasive maneuvers to avoid detection. They never knew why they could not avoid the missile as it slammed into the ship, near the bridge. It was modified by the Romani into a ship killer missile, so it was more powerful than those used by the serpents were. As a result, when the missile hit and detonated, the serpent vessel disintegrated into a cloud of space dust. The remaining four ships were still too far away to pose a threat or to realize what happened, other than the disappearance of their ship. Captain Artok and four of her crew immediately entered escape capsules and abandoned their ship. The last crewmember shut down all of the electronics after aiming the course of the vessel towards the nearest gas giant. She only operated the invisibility console. Essentially, there was nothing in the area but four escape pods. The pods were programmed to bring them to the planet and land just outside of the capital city. Captain Artok knew that the policy of the serpents was to ignore escape pods within the home system, since they would all reach the planet. The hope was they would assume the pods were from their destroyed ship and let them pass. That is why it was necessary to make certain there could be no survivors of the enemy ship. The Romani called this a Trojan horse. The serpents had no idea what they meant.

  After several hours, the escape pods reached the planet and stayed in orbit until the capital city rotated under them. Once the systems on the pods located the landing site, they dropped out of orbit. When they reached the outer atmosphere and began to heat from the friction, folded wings opened along with small tail fins. This stabilized them and as the atmosphere became denser, they glided to the surface. To avoid suspicion, the pods transmitted a signal indicating they contained unharmed crewmembers and no assistance would be needed when they landed. This was hoped would prevent the authorities from sending immediate assistance. By now, the surviving enemy ships will have reported the intruder was scared off after destroying a guard ship. They also reported that four escape pods were on their way to the planet from the destroyed ship. If all went as planned, no one would know that saboteurs were now on the planet. Captain Artok told the Romani that the Mountain Clan would be too busy waging their civil war to worry about documented escape pods. She was right. When the pods landed in the jungle outside the capital, there was no welcoming committee. Captain Artok and her crew exited their pods quickly and moved into the jungle. Each crewmember carried a pouch containing the amount of explosive needed to destroy the missile control panels. Everything was redundant, so just one of them was needed to do the job. The serpent crew had been to the capital many times and they knew their way around. They had been stationed there as part of their duties. They moved quickly through the jungle, staying away from the more traveled paths. It took them less than an hour to reach the outskirts of the capital.