Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action (3 page)

The admiral was hoping to get the human fleet to shed too much velocity so he could arrive at Earth first with his armada. He watched in vain as the Earth destroyers merely altered course a hair to compensate for the course change of the armada. Frustration boiled as he noted that the oncoming human ships were still approaching at high speed.

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Probe three had earlier detected the non aggression clauses sent to the humans by the Sspol and he had copied the messages to both Robert and Emma with explanations on what the clauses actually meant to galactic races. The Maveen probe had later noted and muted down the psionic wave released by the dying Sspol on the destroyed cruiser, before sending another message to the defenders on Armstrong base on the moon.

‘Captain Seville I am certain that a Sspol cruiser has been destroyed by the Jerecab armada, and this could mean that they now come to the aid of your world. I understand that Admiral Neilson has already sent her own ally requests to the Sspol, and that she has ordered her fleet to maintain a high speed approach to Neptune.’

Captain Emma Stone instead replied to his message after several minutes.

‘Robert is leading the teams as they prepare our cruisers for launch shortly. We will be later detaching the engine pods and joining the ships together in orbit as instructed, though our authorities are still worried about this change.’

The Maveen probe had been concerned that the humans would not follow his advice, for his own analysis of the cruisers from high earth orbit now indicated that their design was suspect. The humans had merely scaled up their destroyer designs and called them cruisers. However the new design looked all together too flimsy compared to the offerings of the vassal races, and the presence of an extra heavier double turret amidships was confusing. Probe three looked over the images of the distant cruisers and realised that the double turrets were actually massive particle cannons. Finally, there was the fact that as long as Earth was still a haven world; the humans would be prohibited ownership of cruisers.

The Maveen was soon watching the eight ships closely as they lumbered up from the surface of the moon and took a straggly orbit around the moon. He noted that pairs of large ships approached one another and began to slowly dock. The humans then moved the paired cruisers into four different orbits around the moon. The probe evaluated the time the humans had left and decided that at least the larger ships should not be a problem. He then turned his attention to the other preparations the humans were now making on the moon.

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Chapter 2

Captain Narindestat had just signed off on the latest jury rigged repairs, even as he knew that the Resuria would need to be fully rebuilt to once again space worthy. Two of the four main turret weapons were destroyed and he also now knew that the outermost pair of reactors near these weapons had to be disabled as result of damage. He felt vulnerable even if he now knew that his ship was protected by both the Maveen and the Sspol in the Arranen system. Fortunately the Resuria still had her pair of aero spike engines and her main engines operational; otherwise he would have headed for the Barede colony despite the objections of the Maveen.

As if by cue the voice of the Maveen sector delegate came over the view screen.

‘Captain Narindestat, the Sspol have a message for you from their nearby colony world. Also I trust you are finally ready to begin your journey on our behalf?’

Narindestat answered the question with a terse ‘we are’ before the view screen came alive with now the alien voice of the Sspol.

‘Captain, we are sending four cruisers to the inner part of the galaxy after our colony in the human system was attacked by the Jerecab. We are attempting to attack Jerecab colonies in response and the Maveen are depositing us near the Posient Bulge.’

The captain had been aware that the new Sspol colony had recently gained more cruisers, and he had assumed that these ships were out on a patrol from elsewhere. The result of the attack on Earth was still forthcoming, and he had heard no news of the Barede humans on the two sneak ships he had been forced to leave behind. He also had seen no Sspol or Maveen ships arriving and he wondered how the Sspol had obtained their information. As a result Narindestat responded cautiously to the news from the Sspol.

‘Well the Posient bulge is well away from the human world and the Jerecab will not be expecting your response so soon. I suggest your ships keep moving and flee at the first signs of the senior vassals coming to the aid of the Jerecab.’

The captain wanted to say more but he knew that Maveen themselves were already taking a risk by aiding the Sspol. The sector delegate responded as if it could read his mind.

‘We are taking the Sspol to the Posient Bulge as our latest reports place most of the Red Jerecab ships as part of the attack on Earth. The Sspol will only attack Red Jerecab worlds as other reports state that the Blue Jerecab are scouting many of these systems.’

Narindestat was interested in this latest piece of information and he made a pithy observation to the Sspol commander.

‘Well you will increase the influence of the Deltas Vass if their protégés the Blue Jerecab overrun the Red Jerecab. This will have long term ramifications that I am concerned about despite not being a fan of the Red Jerecab militants. You must think that the Red Jerecab will be heavily defeated at Earth for some reason?’

The Maveen sector delegate already knew more than he would let on and the Sspol captain was suspiciously quiet. Narindestat gave a soft grunt of annoyance as he considered the inscrutable nature of both alien races. For former adversaries, both the Maveen and the Sspol were proving to be remarkably similar in wanting to misdirect or obscure information from him. His views were now justified as the Sspol did not speak again, and the Maveen probe commented briefly before tersely changed the subject.

‘We would welcome an alliance between the Traders and the Sspol, for we are friends of both races. You will standby to leave within thirty minutes, for we insist that you now start your next mission.’

Captain Narindestat shrugged in resignation and gave a measured reply.

‘I will recommend an alliance between the Sspol and us at the next captain’s table, noting we do not want to be dragged into any unnecessary wars. Also I will ask the table to clarify our relationship with the Maveen.’

Narindestat grunted in frustration as now no further comments came from either the Sspol or the Maveen. After two more hours the Maveen gate ships had transferred the Resuria several hundred light years further around the outer edge of the galaxy. Much later he sat to consider his earlier words to the Sspol captain, he felt a distinct chill pass through him as he realised that the galaxy could soon explode into open warfare over the actions of the Sspol.

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Queen Angwene was still struggling to remain calm as she analysed the battle in the far corner of the solar system. The recent psionic death cries of the Sspol had rattled all the ancients once the battle began. By galactic terms she knew the battle was right next door, and she also knew that their new allies had once been long time foes of the Maveen. The queen again considered ordering Altarebe to take Seliandre, Isphara and Helisphan to the safety of another star system. She just as quickly discarded the idea as it would doom her youngest daughters, Gementer and herself once the Vorinne surely turned up in response to their appearance. She was also not sure that her two middle daughters would survive the journey in any case.

Altarebe detected the detected the queen’s restlessness and made a cautious comment about the Sspol. He deliberately refrained from pointing out that he was repeating what he had reported to her earlier.

‘Your majesty the Sspol has known of your existence on this world for many thousands of years and they were apparently watching over you as a result. I expressed my gratitude towards them when I arrived and I did receive a terse acknowledgement as I flew past the planet Neptune. They understand you will remain here until ready to leave and your secret is safe with them.’

Queen Angwene knew that Altarebe had breached decorum by speaking with her directly without being given permission to speak, but she felt gratitude at his attempts to reassure them all. The queen then asked a question of Altarebe as she fought further to remain calm. Nearby her two youngest daughters were anxiously following their every word.

‘Altarebe I once again thank you for your information. We can assume that the humans now know of the Sspol and this may increase our own risks?’

However the queen was delighted with Altarebe’s reply, as her daughters turned their attentions back to the human broadcast channels.

‘Your majesty, the Barus research captain has already covered this scenario nicely when she stated that it was unlikely for there to be any other alien races hidden in the solar system due to the presence of the Sspol colony.’

Angwene now put protocol to one side with her fears and quietly talked through this latest development with both Altarebe and Seliandre. The ancients continued to monitor what they could of the battle as the human fleet arrived at Neptune.

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Captain Emma Stone walked in the research lab deep underneath the Armstrong base and noted that Robert must be working late and alone again. The captain knew that he had returned to more mundane work after his team had completed the recent launch of the cruisers. Emma had been kept busy in the meantime as she was primary liaison for the alien races helping in their defence. She had also just been reassigned as commander of the defences overlooking the sprawling moon base.

Emma started looking for Robert and eventually found him rummaging around in a storage room. The captain walked around two tables laden with testing equipment, before Robert straightened as he spotted her approach. She went in real close and gave him a lingering kiss, and he looked around the storage room nervously before she spoke first.

‘There are no cameras in here Robert, and in any case we are alone in the lab and we are in different command chains besides. Now you understand we are at high alert, but you mentioned that you had something you wanted to discuss with me?’

Robert decided that a confident answer would prevent him further awkwardness in the future in case one of his associates walked in on them. He kissed Emma back and then quickly led the way over to his research station outside the storage room.

‘We can go and get something to eat afterwards, but please keep things professional between us in public. There are days at least to wait until the Jerecab arrive and I was concerned about the recent conversation with the Barus captain, for something stuck in my mind. Now the latest discoveries on spacecraft research have been informative as we are comparing designs of various ships against the Trader records from their visit so long ago. Admiral Neilson’s teams also recovered interesting information from Jerecab ships they captured.’

Emma watched patiently as Robert quickly brought up several space ship designs on the large view screen along one wall. Robert had then also brought up their new cruiser design, and she noted as a comparison the power outputs from the alien ship designs before asking a tentative question.

‘So the alien races have a finite limit set for power generation against each of their ship design and size classes?

Robert gave her a look of quiet agreement as he replied in depth.

‘The latest hidden data we recovered from the Trader ships confirmed that idea, as their ships are stronger per ship class than all but the Vorinne and the Zronte themselves. The vassal races all use ship designs that are old and have not changed much, for many of the Jerecab frigates are several hundred years old and they are nearly identical. Of course the Maveen must be considerably stronger again, but we have little data on their ships though I now understand that they use anti matter reactors.’

Emma now looked at the information in a new light as she made another observation after remembering Gindane’s earlier words.

‘Yet our new cruiser design is actually weaker than the established designs of the vassal races. However the design is quite different and could quickly evolve into a powerful design, Gindane said something about human life times, which is short by galactic standards. So possibly the rapid development of our fighting ships could alarm the other races?’

Robert then hauled up onto the view screen a preliminary design he had been working on and Emma looked over the secret design in amazement as he spoke again.

‘This is my initial one hundred thousand tonne battle cruiser design and I am now so grateful we did not have time to build one of these ships. I do not think it would have been powerful enough and all it would have done is alarm the vassal races as you so well stated. We will of course revise all our existing designs and this design will have to be kept secret until we have permission to build these ships.’

Emma and Robert now quietly looked over the designs of their own ship classes, before Emma made another telling comment.

‘Our destroyers at twenty thousand tonnes mass nearly twice as much as a Jerecab frigate and they are nearly three times stronger. We also took nearly fifty years to get the prototypes correct after the Cephrit warning to Captain Lesley Neilson at the Bessel star system.’

Robert was now hauling up an entirely different set of information that Emma recognised as belonging to the original Trader landing so long ago. Captain Narindestat was speaking in reply to a question from Steve Greene, the founding governor of the Barede colony.

‘We have a life span of roughly a thousand years, and most of the other races are also long lived. The Cephrit live for over three thousand years, the Barus for two thousand years, and the Vorinne and Zronte live for thousands of years. The Maveen are practically immortal…’