Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 1 - Alien Flight (2 page)

Other races inhabit the Carinae sector that are both very independent and deadly, these races seek to avoid the attentions of the Zronte and their vassal races, and meddle in galactic affairs to their advantage. The various original home-worlds of alien races, including the independent races, are considered as holy ground under general galactic law controlling both the preservation and quarantine of biological life.

However the independent races and the forbidden races are not subject to ongoing Zronte control. Recently these races have had too much freedom to explore and influence newly discovered worlds in the more remote regions of the Carinae sector…..

Excerpt from the introduction to

Galactic Affairs in the Carinae Sector

Introduction for Humans, edition 9

Barus Research Institute

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For thousands of years the small black robotic probe ship had orbited a remote inter-stellar world. The world, five times the mass of Earth, had been ejected a billion years earlier from the star system that it had formed around. The rocky ice world was covered in frozen layers of ice and carbon dioxide, and trailed by a string of large moons across interstellar space. The long dormant communications array on the ship suddenly activated and fixed on inter-stellar space, even as the ship’s engines also came online. The black probe ship moved a safe distance from the ice world, as dozens of similar but much larger vessels suddenly appeared in orbit, emerging from hyper-space in flashes of light.

The new arrivals rapidly moved in and formed a loose sphere around the dimly lit planet. The space between the ships shimmered, and an opaque globe appeared and quickly encompassed the ice world. The opaque globe shimmered brightly, and engulfed the ice-world in curtains of light. The energy globe then briefly flashed incandescent before instantly disappearing with the planet.

The legion of larger ships next moved at high velocity towards the nearby moons and a series of smaller energy globes quickly formed around the ice world’s moons, before they too vanished. The robotic ships, large and small, converged at a point and promptly began docking with one another. They quickly formed a spindly super ship that spun lazily on its axis, before it finally also disappeared in a large flash of incandescent light.

                                                            ***

For hundreds of years the cloaked survey probe had roamed the outskirts of the Oort cloud outside the Sol system, home of man. Many years previously the probe had sidled past the Voyager 1 probe and made a detailed scan without any possibility of detection by the primitive human explorer craft. The cloak on the probe shimmered momentarily as a tight coded transmission was received via a smaller message probe from a larger crewed ship that had recently arrived at a nearby star system.

The larger ship, crewed by three meter tall fur covered aliens known as Barus, remained cloaked even as their own scans told the crew they were alone in space. The Barus were on yet another research mission, and either diligently manned their science consoles, or strode purposely about on their ship as they went about their assigned duties. The survey probe’s engines briefly fired, and it moved further in-system to scout the inner worlds of the Sol star system.

                                                            ***

Chapter 1

Early 2040 AD

The cloaked research destroyer ghosted along in the outer reaches of the solar system. The tall female Barus commander silently considered the additional data from several small probes further inside the solar system. One of the junior male research associates spoke to her softly as she continued to read the detailed reports on the data tablet.

‘Commander Gindane, several hundred years had elapsed since the third planet in this system had been last assessed by researchers from the Barus Research Institute of Galactic Affairs. The planet had been previously flagged as both a haven world and a home of a primitive race, and had therefore been flagged as inviolate to even research teams until the radio signals had been detected.’

Gindane listened politely to information she already had researched earlier. She also knew that if the radio signals had not been detected, then the research ship would have been with the rest of the research fleet many light years away researching the former Dradfer colonies. The research probes had been monitored the growing radio traffic from the human planet for over one hundred years. The probes possessed sophisticated signal processing and linguistics programs, and had already made initial assessments of human languages.

The energy signatures from the planet had also been recorded and this information permitted an initial assessment of the human race’s technical abilities. The probes had later moved inside the asteroid belt to make an up to date study of the planet’s ecological status. Gindane grimaced and by habit, rubbed the plain brown fur on her arms, as she made her own formal observations to the now silent research assistant.

‘The sentient population on this planet has exploded, and with research to older ecological data, there are signs the planet’s ecosystem is struggling under the load. The Zronte may only have one simple and drastic course of action, repugnant as it may be…’

She trailed off her comment, and the bridge crew now exchanged anxious glances with each other as they stood at their consoles around her.

The commander noted that the latest data was still being analyzed for the technical and biological parameters of this new race by her crew. Gindane then continued her recommendations to be sent back to Professor Elysius, with the research fleet one hundred light years away.

‘Technically these humans have made amazing progress over the last two hundred years; however they are war-like, rapacious and not united. I can only foresee trouble for them if they are allowed out into interstellar space.’

Gindane now ensured that copies of the data and her analysis would be also sent back to the Galactic Research Institute on her home world, before she added a further comment.

‘The ecosystem on Earth is badly stressed, but not yet fatally damaged, so they will probably be given time yet to resolve their problems. I cannot see any other reason for us to intervene yet.’

The diversity of this planet amazed the researcher and her crew, with the biologists venturing the opinion that they could spend the balance of their two thousand year life spans exploring this world. Gindane considered her briefing notes further as she viewed the more detailed information about the planet Earth, and specifically these so-called humans, being provided by a few cloaked probes now in orbit around the planet.

‘Given the parameters of our research mission I am heading further into the Sol system, but I will not orbit the target world or make contact with the inhabitants as in accordance with the Zronte edicts on biological haven worlds.’

Now satisfied that the formal edict acknowledgement for the report was completed, the Barus researcher electronically signed the report. She watched quietly as the communications officer launched the message drone, together with the encrypted report and her recommendations to the Barus Institute. The drone sped away to interstellar space, and it would make a series of hyper drive jumps back to where Professor Elysius was coordinating the exploration of ancient ruins scattered through-out several now deserted systems.

Gindane settled into her command chair, before picking up yet another data tablet to peruse the contents further and issue extra commands to her crew.

‘Pilot, take the ship in to a trailing orbit behind the fourth planet, the one the humans call Mars. Engineering, please ready a series of six bio-probes, we need to identify specifics of Earth biology, especially of the humans, on this planet as a part of our mission.’

Elsewhere on the destroyer, an aged Barus senior engineer called Wanerio had been reading of the exciting discoveries of the planet that they now surveyed. Several parameters about the human race got his attention, and he considered the latest orders from his commander quietly and with real dismay. The engineer had quickly barred his section door, before setting frantically to work on the half dozen sleek long cylinders of the bio probes stacked neatly on the main engineering table.

Wanerio now reached into his personal cabinet and took out a locked folder, before removing two dozen different colored alloy vials from the folder. A revered Jerecab acolyte had approached Wanerio many years ago; once it was well known that the engineer was selected for the research mission to this part of the sector. The covert meeting in the shadows of a Barus space dock was something he thought better to comment about to anyone. The acolyte had been quite specific about certain parameters on any new races discovered.

On each bio probe Wanerio opened the aero shells used for high speed atmospheric entry to a planet, and inserted four different colored vials into each probe. The probes had several small equipment slots that held the vials nicely, and they would be silently deployed once the probes shed their aero shells upon successfully entering the planet’s atmosphere. The technician considered the barrenness of his own life, and remembered the righteous justification the revered one had offered to him as he accepted the folder.

‘Remember the fate of many young races; remember the fate of your own race and others in servitude to the heretics. Better to die than live as servants let alone livestock, remember the message of the Life Chapter matriarch.’

Wanerio quickly hid the locked folder again in his personal cabinet. He then replaced the aero shells and seals, before checking the operating parameters on the bio probes. There was a knock on his door, which he opened to admit his two young junior engineers. Both female junior engineers quietly entered the room and eyed with interest the six bio probes resting on the table. He now gave each of his students a kindly smile, discretely eyed their plain brown arms by habit, ‘Hopefully my actions today will benefit these young females one day, but for me it is too late…’ he thought to himself. After quickly looking over the probes again, Wanerio offered instructions to his protégés.

‘I have just checked to my satisfaction the cruise parameters whilst the both of you were at lunch. Now please help me carefully load these probes into the lifting slings. Commander Gindane will be most upset if one of the probes fails in its assigned mission.’

The three Barus smoothly loaded in turn each of the six bio probes into their storage trays adjacent to their launching tubes. The engineering team then raised and loaded each of the bio probes into their respective launching tubes. The status lights on the six launch tubes turned green as the tubes were sealed and the technician reported the command complete status to Commander Gindane.

On the bridge of the research ship, Gindane was reviewing the navigation data being used by the ship’s pilot. The research destroyer was accelerating again and had begun trailing the planet Mars. As the ship turned again and slowed dramatically to take up station, the pilot released the bio probes. Gindane nodded in satisfaction as the six stealthy bio probes fired their small engines and streaked towards Earth. The research commander further explained her decision to the bridge crew as she noted that the fast probes would arrive in only a few hours.

‘We have to give the inhabitants of this planet every opportunity, and at this stage we can only do that by learning as much about them as we can...’

                                                            ***

January 2040 – Perth, Western Australia

Lieutenant Steve Greene, Navigation officer, HMAS Sydney, Australian Navy, woke up and reaching over to press the answer button on his mobile phone. Steve groaned as he looked at both the 2am time stamp and the recall message, even as the home phone began to ring. Noting the high priority of the message, he acted on a hunch and accessed the internet for recent international news events on his wireless tablet PC. As the information was loading he turned to his phone and acknowledged the SMS message.

The young officer scrambled to his wardrobe, grabbed his kit bag, and laid out his uniform on the bed. His father Paul Greene, a former petty officer in the Australian navy, now knocked and entered his room. Paul was already dressed and he held a hot cup of coffee and the home phone handset.

After Steve spoke on the phone, both men briefly watched the urgent news bulletins on the tablet PC. They both watched in disbelief the reports that showed the US secretary of state responding with fervent denials. Steve was using his electric shaver as they watched the next screen shots that highlighted Russian, Indian and Chinese forces had mobilized.

Steve drank half his coffee before dressing quickly, as his father went off to speak with Steve’s mother Shirley. Shirley was in her dressing gown, and checking that none of Steve’s uniforms remained in the laundry. She then stood by the front door to await her youngest son. After another five minutes, Steve was ready packed his kit bag and tablet PC. The two men then had briefly reassured and taken their leave of the lady of the house, before getting into their electric car and driving off into a warm January night.

Both the Greene men talked quietly, as they made the fifteen minute journey from Warnboro to the foot of the causeway to Garden Island. As they drove down to the entrance, a steady stream of private electric cars followed them into the car park in front of the gates. Several dozen men and a few women in both civilian and naval clothes got out of their cars.

A navy bus now made the short shuttle journey across the Garden Island causeway to pick up the crew members. Steve quickly shook hands with his fathers, before Steve doffed his duffle bag and boarded the mini bus to take a seat near the front. Paul Greene briefly considered the extra activity around the causeway, before again entering his electric car and setting off for the short journey back home.