Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action (34 page)

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Deshinal slumped low by force of habit as the Cephrit assault leader loomed over her family as it strode past. For weeks the modified mining ship had taken a course across several remote star systems before they arrived at their first way point. The cloaked ship had hidden in a dense field of asteroids before the mysterious Maveen had appeared. The Quixxe family had never directly seen the machine race before, and they all remarked that the Maveen were all friendly enough and would speak patiently with the Quixxe.

However the Maveen would not answer specific questions relating to the locations of several star systems in this part of the galaxy. This silent refusal, which would irk any of the vassal races, was ignored by the Quixxe family as they were grateful for the chance to begin a new life far from the Zronte overlords. The assault leader returned after several moments and chirred politely as she spoke.

‘The Maveen take us to your new home, but know that your home itself will be shortly moved to a safer location. Please remain calm and in your seats as we now enter the hyper gate created by the Maveen.’

The quixxe family had watched in wonder as the mining ship slowly flew between two Maveen gate ships and within moments was transported over fifteen thousand light years. The ship exited the opaque gateway as it entered the holy Kilin system, and the ship was soon following the Maveen sector delegate across to a nearby planet.

Apinal looked her daughter in the eyes and held up a sleeveless gold long wedding tunic that Deshinal looked over with embarrassment. Her mother knew she was concerned about what would happen next, and so she reassured Deshinal, as her daughter stripped and got dressed only in the bottomless tunic.

‘The life chapter matriarch was entirely accurate and you will have to agree to the mating requests of many males on the planet below. Note that we cannot help you much when we land and it is up to you. We will seek to ally ourselves to the rulers as advisors or engineers, but your offerings obviously have to be completely different.’

The mining ship followed the senior Maveen probe in to land inside a clearing near the hidden settlement. A few moments of organisation followed, as the Cephrit assault leader walked down the rear ramp and bowed in deep respect to the Quixxe Queen of Kilin. The refugee family was called forth, and Deshinal followed her mother and her siblings out of the ship and offered full bows as the Cephrit female introduced them.

‘Apinal is the mother; she seeks work as an advisor and is an engineer. Deshinal is her youngest daughter, is a full breeding female warrior caste, and her bloodlines are distantly related to your own. Shafinal is another daughter and is a trained space ship pilot…’

The introductions by the Maveen for her siblings soon finished, and Deshinal was intrigued by the polite interest one of the large warrior males was taking in her, though she felt worse than naked in the gold tunic. The family ensured they offered another full bow as Queen Lorrinel spoke, but all were suddenly aware of the tension in the air.

‘We the Quixxe of the holy planet of Kilin welcome our cousins, indeed your arrival is timely as we are about to be taken to a more remote part of the galaxy. We will treat you fairly and with honour, but you must obey my authority at all times.’

The queen looked Deshinal over critically, did the same to the large male, and then spoke quietly to one of her advisors. Deshinal noted that the male was the largest Quixxe she had ever seen and that he was well dressed as one who held rank. The queen spoke softly with the large male, and he nodded his head in agreement before Lorrinel introduced him.

‘Warrior Commander Berrinal is my senior son and I now require you Deshinal, to be his prime wife and lead consort. You will submit to his authority at all times and you will both concentrate on breeding. I will also specify additional males to impregnate you much later to maximize your breeding potential. You will comply completely with my authority as you are now an integral part of rebuilding the Quixxe race. Your siblings are now free to later choose their own mates from amongst us.’

Deshinal bowed deeply and offered a reply full of respect to the queen.

‘Your commands will be obeyed in full your majesty and I am honoured by the titles you have given me. I will love and obey Berrinal, surely a wise and fine male of our race.’

The queen smiled broadly at her reply as her advisors crooned the ruling loudly, and then promptly married the young couple by decree.

‘As the queen commands, the couple will be married. The queen commands and we advisors obey her ruling, and from this moment Berrinal and Deshinal are married.’

Deshinal glances sideways at her mother and she could tell that the older Quixxe was both delighted and surprised by the pace of events. Deshinal also knew that Berrinal was now well within his rights under ancient Quixxe mating laws to take her there and then, but he smiled politely and offered a half bow as he spoke.

‘Dear wife Deshinal, we do not oppress the oppressed that are now free and most welcome here. The formal welcome was to ensure you would obey our queen otherwise the Cephrit would have had to have taken you all away. We now dine together at the welcome feast, now also a marriage feast and we will talk of your family’s long journey to us.’

The queen echoed her son’s welcome, before she whispered two orders to her attendants, as the Quixxe now displayed their innate and warm hospitality to the new arrivals. One of the queen’s serving females came forward with a floral wrap that Deshinal gratefully accepted. Queen Lorrinel then spoke briefly with the Cephrit assault leader before she gave the Cephrit her blessing to leave. Apinal and Deshinal quickly farewelled the assault leader with deep bows of respect and grateful goodbyes, before the massive Cephrit left and returned to her ship. The earlier tension between the Quixxe dissipated, as they all enjoyed the decent meal and entertainment together.

Overhead several larger Maveen ships now appeared escorted by gate ships, with several ships landing and unloading enormous shield generators. Two of the Maveen gate ships then docked with the Cephrit mining ship and soon it was being assisted back into space. Berrinal later led Deshinal to his large and secluded tree house as the evening grew long, and the two them soon mated with passionate abandonment as they consummated their marriage. Later, as Deshinal lay sleepily alongside Berrinal, she found that she was relaxing for the first time in her life, and that she looked forward to her new role in the Quixxe race.

The Quixxe all later slept after the ceremony, and a large fleet of Maveen gate ships arrived and surrounded the Kilin world. The Maveen shield generators around the settlement activated and the air overhead took on a silver sheen to show their presence. Well before dawn, the night sky over the Quixxe settlement went opaque, as the whole planet was taken across several thousand light years of space towards the Barede colonies of the humans. The Quixxe awoke to a new day and a new local star over their holy planet of Kilin.

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Grant Stoneham looked over with love and pride at his wife Gayle as she breast-fed their newborn daughter, Erin, with the tender love of a new mother. They had been home from their long expedition for several weeks, had hurriedly gotten married, and had raced to setup their new home on New American for babies and later children. The Emerald Sun now sat on the landing field for the long winter, as three metres of snow blanketed the colony.

The couple had reinforced their home with care and an emergency shield generator was on standby should the metre thick insulated double walls, reinforced doors and the heated double glazing not be enough. Grant noted that the temperature outside was still a frigid minus thirty degrees at mid-morning. He knew that they had another seven weeks of the cold winter before the temperatures would quickly climb above freezing.

Grant was glad to rest up and plan his next moves inside their home, as the Maveen had pointed out that they did not want him to randomly explore the galaxy again. Once the weather warmed up he knew they would harvest the red deer as the herd migrated back from the southern continent. The planet also held Earth wild life from thousands of years ago, including woolly mammoths, cave bears, cave lions, and giant elk. The slopes around the colony held dense stands of tall redwood, oak, and other large trees, and he was planning to setup a timber mill.

The Arranen mines were producing thousands of tonnes of titanium, platinum and gold, and Grant and his partners had been forced to cap production so that the prices of the metals did not drop too much. Also they had released limited amounts of material from the Maveen payment shipment for the same reasons. Gayle put Erin in her cot and returned to side by Grant’s side, and soon ventured a comment that Grant was most delighted to hear.

‘If we build ships and equipment with these metals we will provide added value and keep the demand high. One of my uncles is a manager in Mills Space Industries and we should look at taking the output from the ore refineries and making metal sheeting and beams.’

Grant was about to reply, but the communications relay buzzed, and he was soon speaking with the Maveen Earth probe in outer space above the colony.

‘Captain Stoneham, I have a report that your home world has survived the attack by the Jerecab. The casualties were very high, but they have prevailed and the remnants of the Jerecab armada are being taken back to their worlds. Some Barede colonists assisted in the defence and are now on Earth.’

Grant was relieved at the news, for false reports had filtered out to the colony world from Barede that the Earth had been taken, and that Barede troops taken there by the Traders had been killed in action.

‘Earth probe, I thank you for letting me know this information, for I knew many of the people who went on the expedition. Now please take this information as soon as possible to our authorities and the Traders on Barede.’

Grant was expecting the Maveen probe to leave immediately, but the enigmatic machine paused for a moment before it spoke again.

‘The Maveen understand that you are an influential member of your race, and we would like you to perform more tasks for us. We will provide you with our considerable assistance, and this is what we want you. Now you will not explore inwards from the Arranen mines for any reason. Instead you will have exclusive access to the relocated Quixxe world and we want you to ….’

Grant and Gayle listened in stunned silence as the Maveen Earth probe spoke at length. Afterwards, as the probe left to rejoin his gate ships, the couple decided that the Maveen had just revealed a marked ability at understatement.

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Admiral Mary Neilson led Commanders Rick Greene and Joel Everson out from the wreckage of the Jerecab frigate and over towards the inside walls of the massive shed. The three of them were dressed in coveralls, boots and helmets, and they wore respirator masks to minimise the risks of poisoning from the Jerecab dander. Mark Hammond had since returned to the Tau Ceti system, and Robert Seville had just left with his wife Emma on the first colony landing at the Emerald world.

A young fleet cadet, a tall girl just into her twenties, quickly approached the three of them and sketched a text book salute as she reported.

‘Admiral, space operations have detected the return of a single Barus research cruiser, we think it is the Rupane, and it will arrive at Mars orbit in six hours. The Barus captain has sent forward a message for you that we have recorded in Robert Seville’s old office.’

Mary acknowledged and sent back the cadet, and she led the two commanders off towards the ASRI administration building nearby.

Rick pulled the respirator from his face, paused for a moment and looked around at the buildings nearby and across the Fremantle harbour. He noted that many of the buildings were hundreds of years old and predated the founding of Barede itself, and he watched as nearby a monorail crossed the harbour to the east of the institute.

The Barede colonist was sad that he would not return to his distant home, but he was also glad that he had made to Earth and that they had survived the attack by the armada. Rick then paid his respects to a large plinth, made from destroyer hull off cuts, one of many now around Earth. The plinths were all identical and listed the names of the ships destroyed during the battle.

Rick rejoined Mary and Joel, who also had removed their respirators as they patiently waiting for him to follow them. He enjoyed their company and was aware that the admiral was deliberately keeping the surviving Barede colonists busy. Rick had recently met Joel’s younger sister, who had been widowed during the final wild battle to defeat the armada, and he was already looking forward to seeing her again.

The three of them strode quickly off to Robert’s old office, and in moments the admiral had keyed the saved message from Gindane onto the screen. The tall and brown furred Barus captain bowed formally and began to speak.

‘Greetings Admiral Neilson, we have finally returned to your system and my ship will remain past the orbit of Mars as instructed. I can confirm that the emergency with the Jerecab is over in the eyes of the authorities. I can also confirm that your rights to colonise the former Dradfer worlds is seen as just by these same authorities and is permitted under our laws. I will await your response to this message and I look forward to meeting you again in the future.’

Admiral Mary Neilson looked over at the two commanders after they replayed the message a second time. She felt vindicated as she ensured that the ruling council also received a copy of the Barus message. Joel excused himself to organise a shuttle to return them all to space as Rick talked with the admiral for several minutes. Mary found that Rick’s views were similar to her own, and Joel soon agreed with the both of them when he quickly returned.