Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action (7 page)

Narindestat snorted in disgust at the presumptuous nature of the Maveen probe, but he elected to give a civil answer and then a question.

‘I will not argue with you when the Huopheen are due shortly. Our forebears helped you hide the Huopheen in secret so long ago and we then stayed away to help them hide. Rest assured I will seek to maintain Grant’s good work here and to get your reassurance across to them. So you are stating that this system is now under the protection of the Maveen?’

Narindestat was actually hoping to hold the Maveen down to a fixed answer, but the probe gave no answer and the Trader captain fumed in annoyance. Obviously the defence of this system was considered to be strategically high in value and possibly the Maveen probe did not have the authority to commit to an answer.

Narindestat was about to chide the Maveen probe for an answer, but he was distracted as he realised that several large forms were slowly emerging from the nearby water. The Trader knew what a Huopheen looked like of course, but he knew that the last meetings between them had occurred many centuries in the past. The massive armoured forms of the Huopheen reminded him only in passing of the Cephrit, as they also had external skeletons of chitin. However the large rear tail club and heavy front claws, along with the very different colouration meant that these beings could never be mistake for Cephrit.

Narindestat slowly crossed over to the lead pair of Huopheen and gave them both a full bow of respect as he stopped several metres away. Both the Huopheen dropped their claws to the sand and gave a curious bob with their bodies that he knew qualified as a bow. The Trader wasted no time in speaking to his silent hosts.

‘I am Captain Narindestat of the ancient house of Skanor of the race of Traders. I am honoured to be in your presence and relieved to see the Huopheen are still alive.’

The larger Huopheen, who by reason of his larger claws must be male bobbed again and gave a welcome in return.

‘I am Tomil, the chief envoy for the Huopheen and I am also nominated as the first Grand Chieftain of our race. This is my mate and chief ally Brimel and we are both delighted that the Traders have landed on our world after so long. If I remember correctly your trading house was one of the main supporters of our long ago escape from the vassal races….’

Narindestat now knew how he wanted to proceed at this point as he waited patiently for the Huopheen envoy to finish speaking. He knew that this strange aquatic race had unique strengths that he wanted to support to the best of his abilities, and he prefaced his observations by making a quick compliment.

‘We were honoured to take you race to safety so long ago as it was a time for the Huopheen to live in safety by appearing to have been destroyed. For so long your race has lived hidden and in conflict only amongst yourselves, but now the time of change is upon us all and you must come out into the light of this galaxy with the other races.’

Narindestat paused and noted that the Huopheen had remained silent as they critically appraised his next words.

‘I understand you revere my race and worship the Maveen, all I ask is that you trust the other races starting with the humans. The mistakes of your previous existence cannot be repeated and you must return to the stars as one unified race.’

The Trader paused as Tomil gave a cautious agreement to what he was hearing from Narindestat.

‘Captain Stoneham also highlighted this point during his own visit and we could understand the importance of what he was saying. We will ensure unity amongst our people even as we finally return to the galaxy.’

Captain Narindestat was secretly delighted with Grant’s earlier initiative as he spoke again.

‘We propose to give you assistance by helping the Huopheen create colonies on several nearby worlds. Also the Traders will help you return to the stars by ….’

Narindestat patiently listed out the areas of help the Traders would supply to the Huopheen. He knew that this would take much of the resources of the Traders and he also knew that he would seek the assistance of both the Maveen and the humans to accomplish his promises. The Trader was acutely aware that he would have to spell out the reasons for his decisions to the Captain’s Table at a later stage.

The day ended as the open air meeting continued and the Maveen probe made several telling observations that both the Huopheen and Traders listened to closely. Overhead the stars appeared in a dense swarm overhead and the view was all too familiar to Narindestat, who had lived for many years on the Barede colony.

After the Huopheen returned underwater, Narindestat had a quiet conversation in high Barus with the Maveen Dradfer probe before asking a terse question.

‘You realise what you committed both my race and your race to today?’

The probe remained silent as it calculated out a reply and Narindestat for once did not mind. The Trader captain watched the stars slowly wheel overhead, and pondered for quite awhile on how long it would be before the Traders were caught up in open warfare with one of the vassal races.

                                                                     ***

Chapter 4

Admiral Baunrus had taken the last several hours off to rest up his senior officers as the armada made running repairs. Several supply ships also milled around the stationary Jerecab frigates delivering replacement missiles. He was in a good mood brought about by the knowledge that the final one sided battle with the humans could not be far off. The admiral had looked over reports of the planet Earth with little unease, for although the planet looked well defended it was still only one planet against the might of the Red Jerecab Empire.

A lieutenant came over with another report and Admiral Baunrus gave him leave to speak, although he had already seen some of the information.

‘Admiral the human planet is opaque to active scans, especially their oceans, and I am concerned we could be ambushed. Also there are several structures on their large moon that require further scrutiny once we are closer. I consider they are defensive structures and they could affect our attack on the Earth.’

The admiral was intrigued by the last sentence, as he had already been aware of the strange opaque nature of the Earth’s oceans. He gave the lieutenant a critical glance of approval as he replied at length, for he noted that the junior officer had not attempted to recommend a course of action.

‘Very good lieutenant and your concerns are noted. We can at least confirm the accuracy of the earlier Barus research on this system. I am already planning to attack the moon first as it appears the human fleet is organising their defences at this point. However you will copy this information to Captain Neanres, though I am sure he is already aware of the risks. The size of the solar system and the presence of this large moon work heavily in the favour of the humans, however our crushing numerical superiority will win us victory.’

Admiral Baunrus now replaced the view screen image of the space around them teeming with ships. The image was of the blue world and home of the humans, an image that all the Jerecab officers present would recognise anywhere. A muted hiss of excitement came from the mouths of the Jerecab as they took in the image of the beautiful water planet.

‘Remember what is at stake here, we get to conquer a potential rival race and take their magnificent home world from them.’

The Jerecab officers looked over the image of Earth with greedy eyes for several moments before Baunrus set them back to work. After a further two hours the armada formed up and slowly began to work across the solar system towards the planet Earth.

                                                                     ***

Captain Neanres was indeed well aware of the problems of attacking the humans in their home system. He also had earlier stood down his own officers for a much needed break, and the captain had managed three hours of restless sleep filled with hulking human destroyers attacking his own smaller frigates from every quarter. He was already worried about the chances of victory but he wisely kept his opinions to himself.

Neanres had ordered his ships to alter course, and he was now heading across to attack Ceres, the largest asteroid, as it was the most distant to his eventual course towards Earth. A lieutenant sought permission to report and in moments Neanres had changed his view screen to go over the information. He indentified several areas of concern and sought clarification from the junior officer.

‘Our first assessment is that the two larger asteroids are mining colonies and we could safely bypass them if required to do so. However the admiral is delayed in his own direct approach and is many hours away from reaching Earth. We shall conserve missiles by only using our energy weapons to destroy the colony in about an hour’s time. However you are saying there is a threat from the large number of smaller ships in orbit around the asteroid?’

The lieutenant answered that this was the case and Captain Neanres could see his point after looking over the new information. For a moment the captain considered the courage of the humans defending the mining colony. He then issued a series of orders as he brought the image of Ceres up to full magnification on the view screen.

‘Both missile ships are to fall back and the designated rear guard of six ships will protect them at all costs. The remaining frigates will all slow but remain between the asteroid and our missile ships. We will do this slowly and by the book using only energy weapons.’

The Jerecab formation slowed even as the mining craft defending Ceres formed up across their path. Neanres knew that he had plenty of time to destroy both mining colonies, as they were currently only one hundred million kilometres from one another in their different orbits. By habit he then checked the transfer of from Vesta inwards towards Earth. The captain knew that his approach vector would be different from the rest of the armada, but he felt that this would give his forces an additional advantage.

The lieutenant called out across the bridge as the view screen came alive for several seconds showing a human male, obviously an important civilian. The image was erased as Neanres gave a curt wave and the communications officer dropped the link.

‘Captain that is the fourth attempt in the last half an hour by the humans attempting to talk to us, surely they would have decided it is much too late for that!’

Neanres scrubbed his long whiskers in thought for several moments before he offered a pithy opinion.

‘Possibly the confusion amongst the humans on who is actually in charge of their planet’s defences will work in our favour. Ultimately we will decide the issue for them when we take first their lives and then their planet from them.’

Neanres noted that they were now closing on the smaller human ships and he focussed his attention onto the coming battle.

                                                                     ***

Admiral Mary Neilson fought off tiredness as her remaining destroyers passed the orbit of Mars and began to decelerate for their arrival in orbit around the moon. The only bright spot for her current watch had been when she had earlier promoted John Griggs to the rank of commander.

Commander Griggs spoke calmly across the bridge to advise that Earth had sent another message, and Mary found herself looking at Chancellor Schmidt. She was soon finding it hard to remain calm as the chancellor now upbraided her about the recent battle at Neptune.

‘Admiral, your fleet has suffered further losses at Neptune and I still question your decisions. Also both Ceres and Vesta lie directly in the path of the invaders and you are not defending these colonies. We are attempting to contact the Jerecab directly to end this pointless war, but they are not answering our requests.’

Mary knew that the chancellor had still been unsuccessful in getting her removed from her command. However she knew that he would keep trying even if it was now the least of her problems. She answered him with a lengthy but polite reply, even though she wanted to blast the senior politician for his stupidity and meddling.

‘Chancellor we have slowed the onslaught of the armada and done so without risk to the majority of our ships. Every hour gained is an additional hour in which other races can intervene and stop the Jerecab. Both Ceres and Vesta will be left to their own devices as they cannot be defended without risking the fleet. Both their colony administrators have understood this from many years ago after our earlier planning sessions with them. We have detected that you have made several attempts to contact the Jerecab commanders, and we advise you not to contact them again. You efforts would be better spent reassuring the civilians that we are defending Earth.’

Mary signalled to John Griggs and he broke the video connection back to Earth, for the admiral was in no mood to talk to the chancellor further. Instead she qualified her earlier orders with Griggs about their return home, before adding an additional instruction.

‘The supply ships are in orbit and the repair crews are standing by to begin work? Also I want you to take command of one of the new destroyers, and I think the Adelaide would be appropriate.’

Commander Griggs gave her a look of concern as he replied.

‘Admiral the ships are all in place and awaiting our arrival. The eight missile frigates are already refuelled and waiting your orders. I estimate we have six hours before the Jerecab will arrive, though their smaller group of frigates could arrive earlier. I will take Lieutenant Sakami with me as my second in command. Lieutenant Gordon is recommended as my direct replacement, with of course your own agreement.’

The admiral looked over her bridge at the two lieutenants, one the Exeter’s tactical officer, who had both turned around at the mention of their names. She gave each of them a warm smile that they easily returned as she spoke again.

‘I agree with your recommendations John and make it so. Both Sakami and Gordon, along with the rest of the crew have performed very well on our long and dangerous mission. Get yourselves ready to leave and I will see you both off ship when we arrive.’