Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 2 - Maveen Offer (25 page)

Rebecca went still and felt pale as she looked at the sub-probes. They certainly looked hauntingly familiar in some way with the glow from the sensor helmet showing two big black eyes and no mouth. She then saw the long red and yellow stripes on the hovering limbs of the probes and mumbled something under her breath. Samantha shot Steve a perplexed look as she could see her friend under real stress. She then carefully put her arm around Rebecca’s shoulder before leading her back to a seat under the awning.

Steve watched the two women leave before he turned to question Captain Narindestat again with a concern.

‘If you test these weapons the Barus ship could detect the testing and attempt to intervene?’

Captain Narindestat looked at the sub-probes quietly interfacing themselves into the stockpiled items and replied.

‘Steve, they will protest no doubt but they will not come down from orbit. We are much stronger and they also run the risk of your military attacking them again.’

Steve also watched the Maveen sub-probes now working on the stockpile and asked the question that really concerned him.

‘So what are the specifics of the deal we are discussing Captain?’

The lead probe gave an answer as the Trader captain remained silent.

‘The specifics are that you let us leave peacefully when we are ready to do so, to carefully heed the advice we give, and implement an additional offer that we will make. Also the Barus must not know of the existence of our additional offer until the last possible moment.’

Steve was nonplussed by the answer of the Maveen lead probe and now Captain Narindestat provided a comment.

‘Steve, we wish to offer an agreement with your race, the first part of the deal with us is the two damaged ships and the stockpile you see. The second part of the deal involves the Maveen, and the Barus ship cannot know or even suspect this deal, otherwise it will flee to alert a Barus fleet. Note that we recommend that your race agree to both parts of the deal, otherwise we cannot quickly flee your planet. The reason for this will become apparent as it involves a limitation in the Illuria.’

The lead probe now spoke again to Steve and his mission team.

‘I offer this deal as we have endangered your existence by being on your planet and wish to see you amply compensated for your patience with us. Also we are ecological stewards of many worlds, and we consider that the harm you do to your own world to be a real concern to us. You are to consider what we will offer to be different and unlikely to be offered again. We seek also to prepare you as far as we are able in a very short period to be able to survive among the more powerful galactic races.’

Steve was ready now with a reply and he knew he would use it to obtain further information.

‘I can see were the Traders get short with you lead probe. Are you always so indirect? I understand the need to keep the Barus away but I have no authority to act on the behalf of the whole of my race. I understand the Trader offer but what is your offer, even a hint?’

The Maveen lead probe now remained quiet, and both Trader and human fumed over the silence. Steve turned again to Captain Narindestat and stated.

‘So captain, I assume you know little of the second part of the deal?’

The captain looked at Steve and replied.

‘Steve, I suspect I know but I am not actually sure. The main premise of the three way deal is correct from our viewpoint, without both parts of the deal agreed and implemented we will have trouble safely leaving your world.’

Steve was about to ask another question and struggled both to contain his curiosity and exasperation. However one of the laser weapons emitted a strong glow, and a short beam of light shot from the weapon to hit a vacant section of Middle island. The white limestone rubble crumpled in a three metre radius and glowed even as the laser weapon again went dormant. The lead probe again now addressed Steve and his mission team.

‘The least powerful laser weapon was test fired at five percent power in diagnostic mode. It is unlikely but still possible to be detected from space.’

A hushed silence fell amongst the human mission team as they took in the significant aspects of the lead probe’s short report.

                                                            ***

Samantha looked ashen as she took in the importance of what Rebecca was telling her, and she again quizzed Rebecca about her interpretation of the Maveen.

‘You are absolutely sure of this fact and you would make this a part of our report?’

Rebecca nodded silently, and Samantha made a mental note to draw Steve aside later and share this important insight.

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat watched the humans leave the island as they returned to their ship. Steve had been adamant with the newer members of his team that they could not stay and continue their discussions. The Trader was glad to see the humans had gone for the day, and briskly strode over to the Maveen lead probe now on the north section of the island it shared with the other Maveen probes.

Captain Narindestat wasted no time with niceties as he addressed the probe.

‘So, if you are finished doing my job for me, how do you know we have not panicked the humans beyond any possibility of a deal you impatient bucket of scrap?’

The lead probe regarded the Trader captain without emotion as it replied.

‘We have to get an understanding from the humans, as they are still a young race and too self focused. We both know that this could be lethal in a hostile galaxy.’

The Trader captain snorted in reply.

‘Well without any specific information, even from me, I see their point too well. As it is they have dithered over any deal with us and up to recently still considered they could take our ship from us.’

The Maveen lead probe carefully replied to Captain Narindestat as he wanted the Trader in a reasonable frame of mind.

‘There is nothing to stop you giving them an overview of your ship’s advanced technology after we have an agreement for both parts of the deal. The edicts only address that you do not leave any advanced technology behind.’

Captain Narindestat thought he was being both patronised and led, as he gave a stern and direct reply.

‘Probe, I am well aware of the edict constraints, though not a lot of good they have done other races over the years, including us with our former home world. Now why won’t you tell me about what you are doing with the advanced equipment that we gave you to supposedly hide from the humans? I still cannot see what you need that new cruiser gun and those heavier shields for on this planet. Can you guarantee that the humans will not get possession of these items?’

The Maveen looked over at the sub-probes still testing the stockpile of trade goods as it again spoke.

‘Captain, you will adhere to my original statutes and not ask any questions or insist on any involvement beyond what I have asked of you. This is to ensure your own survival. As far as you are concerned we will honour our agreement to provide you with assistance at launch time, however our methods are our own. You will do all you can to make this deal work with the humans, and if you need to make additional assurances to them I advise that you do so.’

Captain Narindestat fumed at the arrogance in the lead probe’s reply, but wisely refrained from further questions or comment. Instead he gave a weary reply.

‘Lead probe, we will go along the path you have specified, but I have my strong reservations. So you now have my guarantee. But know I have not finished with the Maveen over this mission, as I am down two sneak ships and a great many crew on this trip.’

The lead probe ignored the captain's last comment, as it was already evaluating further options in directing the Traders. Instead the probe asked about the repair and refuelling status of the Illuria. The Trader and the Maveen continued to discuss additional items of interest in a more civil manner, as the sky around the island turned to night.

                                                            ***

Gindane looked over the latest site reports and the other figures the chief engineer had calculated out with both annoyance and concern. Her ship regularly broadcasted requests for the Traders to surrender and comply with edicts; however these requests were just ignored. There also had been a test firing of a laser weapon on the small island, and the Barus only detected the test because they were directly over the island. The chief engineer was now adamant that the Trader main ship had a marginal launch capability from the human planet. The capability was assessed after factoring in the loss of two sneak ships, and was based on the best military intelligence that the Barus possessed.

Gindane looked yet again at the name of the author of the intelligence quoted in the report. Omerio had recently measured the performance of this very Trader ship, and she assured herself that he would be offering her an explanation in private when they next met again. According to the chief engineer, the Trader main ship should launch adequately empty and even achieve an orbit, but the presence of any cargo was not allowed for in his calculations. With this information available, Gindane had then deferred the decision to merely run and seek reinforcements. There was a strong possibility that the Traders had stranded themselves on this world.

Gindane knew that the Trader ship would need to make a prolonged effort on only her fusion drive engines to catch and dock with the hyper drive module that must be nearby. The added mass of six Maveen probes, and whatever cargo carried in their hold, meant that with only eight sneak ships they would not be able to immediately go after the drive module. The engineer did concede in theory that the six probes could launch into space separately. But then they would have to dock again in space with the Trader ship, and that would also take a considerable amount of time.

Gindane was perplexed by this issue, as surely the Maveen would seek to flee before a Vorinne fleet arrived to both destroy them and decimate this world. She knew enough about this world to know that even the Traders and Maveen would recognise the sanctity of the human planet. However the Traders had landed their Voorde infested ship into an ocean, so Gindane was no longer sure how they would react. The duplicity of the Maveen was well known amongst the vassal races, and the commander considered that this could explain much of what was occurring on Earth. She allowed herself no more thought on this problem and asked for a communications channel to be opened to the humans.

‘Commander Gindane of the Barus Research Institute, and I have a message to the human rulers of Earth. We have recently detected a test firing of a laser weapon at the Trader ship landing site. We insist that you do not trade with the Traders and withdraw all support for their efforts to leave. Now you will also continue to desist from any efforts to attack either the Traders or our own ship. We will have a space fleet here at a later stage to take the Trader ship into custody. Note that we have two Tilmud frigates in the outer sections of your solar system looking for the Trader hyper drive module. So we have already begun to interdict your solar system over this matter.’

The view screen remained blank for several minutes, before the screen came alive and showed an impressive office with a long desk, behind which sat a human male.

‘I am James Whiting, the President of the United States of America. We reject your demands upon us, and have sent a science mission with the Trader ship to establish the full circumstances of their landing. We do not accept your authority over us and we also find your attempts to intimidate us with the two frigates to be outrageous. We demand that you withdraw and take those frigates, and your gun-boat diplomacy, with you when you leave.’

The view screen went blank and Gindane resisted the strong urge to bite someone or throw something. The humans were proving to be intractable and she bleakly considered what their fate could be if they provoked the anger of the Vorinne envoy.

                                                            ***

Steve sat quietly with his satellite phone in his command chair on the bridge of the Aurora Discovery as he listened to Ian Ridge, who was still located in Perth.

‘Now Steve, from what you are telling me we get a deal of equipment from the Traders that we really need. However we can only get the deal if we also do an unknown deal with the Maveen that is confidential. The first deal scares me as we suddenly have alien technology with all the ramifications, and the second deal terrifies me, in part as it is unknown. The second deal could possibly see us under attack from the galactic races from what I understand of the political situation.’

Steve gave a wry grimace as the Australian prime minister stopped speaking for a moment and he replied.

‘Sir, the key fact is that if the Traders and Maveen remain then we will get attacked by the galactic races. In the very unlikely event we defeat both Traders and Maveen we still get attacked by the galactic races for possessing the advanced technology. The present course allows us to argue that we only have defensive alien technology, which we will incidentally need from my understanding of the state of the galaxy.’

Ian then added what the US president had told him after speaking with Gindane.

‘The Barus commander mentioned that a fleet was expected at some stage. However the president told them to leave and take the Tilmud frigates with them. We are preparing further defences against the fleet, but I assume we could not implement defensive alien technology quickly enough for our current problems.’

Steve was not surprised by the news, as he had previously evaluated that the Barus were compelled to act by their so-called edicts. He had thought enough about the complex problem to make a conjecture or two.

‘So when the Traders landed they had all their sneak ships functional and they could leave, as they would have hardly landed here otherwise. I think that the loss of the two smaller Trader ships is what is driving the deal negotiations and is what also leads us into dispute with the Barus. So once the Traders and Maveen leave then so the Barus should also leave. We can later argue that we compelled them to leave by agreeing to the deal. Also from a military perspective, I think how the second Trader ship was disabled should provide an insight into our own defensive efforts. We should be considered how to drive a Barus fleet away with our current technology.’