Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 1 - Alien Flight (21 page)

Just over the horizon from the western edge of the island continent, the Illuria gave a final series of sonic booms. The ship banked again at high altitude, and it turned due south west to descend towards the selected seafloor location well offshore. The ship leveled off a few hundred feet above the ocean in the moonlit evening. The captain sent a quick message to brace for emergency landing as the Illuria seemed to skim the ocean.

‘Lieutenant, you must keep the nose of the ship up please, and try not to bounce us around too much.’

Garendestat for his part kept his eyes on the screen and kept the ship level as it sank towards the waves as he answered.

‘Captain we are getting extra lift at this height and the speed is still dropping.’

As Garendestat replied, the stall warning came on for the wing tip and trailing edges of the massive ship, the lieutenant calmly dropped the ship’s nose towards the onrushing ocean. The bridge crew suppressed oaths at the onrushing ocean. But still glancing at his speed and altimeter readouts, Garendestat firmly eased back the flight controls and the ship flared slightly to settle onto the ocean in a massive spray of water.

Narindestat was almost tossed out of his command chair and sought to find calm. The ship bounced off a series of crests in a series of heaving lurches, and it was all over with in less than a minute. The Trader ship slowly settled into the water until the upper hull was awash. The captain flicked a console switch on his command chair and spoke.

‘Engineering, I want a damage report immediately, I am concerned about a shield in front of the port aero spike engine. Also stand by to progressively flood the ship on my orders. We seem to float better than I thought we would have, and that will be due to the salts in these oceans.’

The engineers quickly checked the shield and advised the captain to proceed with the flooding, but to not go too deep until they have stabilized the shield fully. The Trader ship slowly settled deeper under water as three smaller holds on each side of the ship were flooded. The ship was soon fully under water and the crew slowed the flooding in the smaller holds. The crew then experienced problems, as two of the external hatches on one side of the ship had jammed open. The ship took a slight list to the port side and the lieutenant attempted to compensate by increasing the forward speed of the ship to level it out. The interior doors held for several minutes before the increasing water pressure caused then to start leaking badly.

Captain Narindestat looked at the ship damage reports calmly, and another inner series of doors were also closed to control the flooding situation. The captain remotely verified that the doors were secured as he spoke again to the lieutenant.

‘Lieutenant Garendestat, you could not know of the risks of the water pressure on our inner doors, but keep the speed well down until all doors are closed.’

Finally, with the outer doors closed and the suspect shield now tested and supposedly safe, the Trader ship sank heavily towards the seafloor. Lieutenant Garendestat hurriedly called out.

‘Sir, our speed and angle of descent are both very high and we cannot navigate too well under water.’

The captain did not even look around as he calmly spoke to Halbindestat in engineering.

‘Can we ensure that one of the hold doors is closed on the port side and purge it with air? Also please lower the landing skids.’

The Illuria’s rate of descent slowed as the one of the flooded tanks was emptied of water, and the ship leveled off when still well above the ocean floor. Above the sinking main ship, the sneak ships, now also underwater, painted the seafloor with laser scans and sent the details to the Illuria. Narindestat was about to point out a series of underwater ridges for the lieutenant to avoid, when Garendestat made a course change away from the ridges before the captain could speak. He then looked at the readouts in his command chair and pointed out a flat section of the plateau. The captain had just time to speak.

‘Braking thrusters, brace for hard landing.’

The ship skidded onto the flat section of sea floor. Under a kilometer of seawater the Illuria quickly came to a halt, with the sturdy landing skids carving deep grooves in the ocean floor sediment. Captain Narindestat looked breathlessly at the ship damage readings showing on his command chair screen.

‘This is not a bad outcome at all….’

He calmly stated as he looked across at his son, who was now setting the ship flight controls to safe mode as his father spoke again.

‘Superb job with the landing lieutenant, a commendation will be attached to your records.’

 The bridge crew now altered their sensors to take stock of their strange landing place.

                                                            ***

Chapter 10

Omerio considered the Cephrit station master quietly as the large alien spoke again in the soft chirring way of his race. His ship was being fueled and replenished even as he sat in the Station master’s luxurious office on Cephrit star base 31. Omerio had just time for a quick wash and change of clothes so as not to offend the sensitive sense of smell of the Cephrit.

However he was ravenously hungry and looking forward to a good square meal from the star base food hall. The Cephrit was hiding something for sure decided Omerio, even if the alien was grateful to know of the system where Omerio had encountered the strange ship. The Barus trader decided the Cephrit already must somehow know of this bit of information. So taking the gamble Omerio volunteered.

‘That Trader ship I met with in that star system also felt that the strange ship was worthy of further inspection. Only they did not have time to do so.’

 The Cephrit went still for several moments as it parsed out the intent of Omerio’s comment.

‘Omerio, I must maintain distance between the separate parts of my life. The Vorinne envoy cannot learn that piece of information or otherwise she will borrow that Tilmud admiral’s garrote to use on the both of us.’

Omerio felt real heat rising into his face and shoulders, but he kept his tone respectful and civil.

‘Station master, what has happened to the Jerecab and the Traders? I have to know this if I am going after the Traders now. I can do no more about that strange ship.’

The Cephrit seemed to consider something else before he replied.

‘Omerio, the Jerecab were destroyed at that military base you skirted around, they attempted to dock at the base with a Voorde infestation on their ship. I sent the Trader ship to land in an ocean on Earth, a populated haven world, in an attempt to eliminate the Voorde. For this reason alone the Vorinne second envoy would order my execution.’

Omerio looked in amazement the Cephrit as he replied, as he knew the Cephrit were always mindful of the law. However several large and protective female marines were stationed just outside the station master’s front door, so he knew he had to be careful not to offend the male Cephrit.

‘I will keep your secret about meeting the Traders. But I will have to tell the Barus researchers about the Traders possibly being contaminated by the Voorde if I can reach them in time.’

The young Barus trader watched as the Cephrit Station master twitched in agitation then nodded in agreement. Omerio remembered his training about the Cephrit at the military academy. Basically he knew that they are reasonable to deal with, as long as they agreed with and followed your logic. He also knew that it might not necessarily in that order either, as he spoke again to the Cephrit.

‘Station master, as you know the second envoy was quite specific in her instructions to Gindane and the professor. In the meantime I politely and respectfully suggest that you contact the nearby Deltas Vass and Barus bases, and inform them of a possible emergency awaiting confirmation. Just say it is with the Tilmud and those cruisers they are forbidden to possess or something.’

The last section Omerio added as the Cephrit gave a start of protest at the initial statements, then a chirr of surprise at the last off hand comment.

‘There must be something more going on with the Tilmud than I know.’ Omerio now thought to himself bleakly.

The Cephrit surprised Omerio by venturing a long and detailed opinion.

‘Omerio, your logic does your race credit. I suggest you leave the Traders to the professor and Gindane if their ship has landed on the planet Earth. However your presence would be useful in the likelihood that Admiral Baredio arrives and takes a combined fleet to that world. Also the Tilmud are actually up to something. The star base where the Jerecab freighter was destroyed had five times the usual number of ships nearby before the freighter even arrived. We are reluctant to commit a significant fleet to chase down the Trader ship with the recent developments with these Tilmud.’

As the conversation wound down, Omerio thought of the additional complication of again meeting Admiral Baredio. He soon had bowed low to the Cephrit Station master and then left to find a quick meal. As he walked he also considered how to handle the two researchers before they crossed paths with the Trader ship.

Finally there was the matter of Gindane actually speaking to the humans on Earth about the pandemic that had occurred. Omerio did not envy Gindane and her crew’s position in that regard he thought to himself grimly. He then quickly strode down another massive corridor on the Cephrit Star Base to find something decent to eat.

                                                            ***

On the sea floor some two thousand miles west from the landed Trader ship, a massive form spoke quietly by low wavelength sound waves to her distant mother and her five sisters. The ancients were not ready and would not be ready for many years yet. This was despite the sisters ramping up their hidden underwater facilities, and the sharing of resources and technology amongst themselves.

Seliandre quietly withdrew another one hundred kilometers to the west. Her mother Queen Angwene and her sisters would meet her there, and if needed they could mount a combined defense for their lives.

Several hundred million kilometers away, in the depths of Neptune’s atmosphere, life forms every bit as massive and even more alien, evaluated the Trader ships trajectory. A decision was made before standing down from their heightened state of alertness. As they drifted off to dormancy yet again they made the commitment to stay asleep for many years. For the galactic edicts was holding judging by the behavior of the Trader ship.

                                                            ***

Gindane perused the flight reports as her research ship prepared to make a second hyper drive jump towards the Solar system. The planet Earth orbited a moderately large yellow star, and the planetary system was quite extensive. So she knew the research ship would not reach Earth for awhile yet. With the dual status of Earth now as both a haven world and a quarantine world, severe galactic edicts governed what the vassal races could do in the Solar System.

The two most relevant restrictions were that any un-necessary contact was prohibited, though the presence of the Traders on the planet would change that parameter. And the second was that war-like activity like active scans and interstellar combat in the Solar system were highly illegal.

Gindane was aware that the vassal races could apprehend the Traders at Earth. But she knew that if it involved combat then the reaction from the Vorinne towards a junior vassal race flouting the edicts so openly could be unpleasant. Gindane now keyed additional search requests on vassal races and first contact restrictions. She ruefully considered both that the Traders were under no such edict restrictions and that she would have to explain her ship’s role to the humans in the pandemic that had recently decimated their world.

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat pulled back the visor on his space suit helmet with satisfaction, as they discovered another Voorde drone body. The suited Trader crew had formed teams of eight to ten each, then each team gone over their assigned decks with fire hoses deployed to thoroughly douse any Voorde they encountered. Selected crew members would go in first with weapons drawn and power down the electronics in the areas they were working through. Other crew members later dragged the heavy water hose through, and began to drench the whole area with sea water after the electronics had cooled for a few minutes.

The Maveen also provided special assistance with two of their mini probes hovering nearby each team with sensors scanning for any non Trader life forms. The crew nervously scanned the larger air ducts with concern, and was generous with the water when they dealt with these ducts. As they passed through sections of the ship other crew members following behind brought the electronics back online and quickly sealed of entire sections of the ship.

The captain was not in the least worried about the salt in the ocean water. From what he could tell the Voorde did not seem to like the salt either, and the advanced materials of his ship would not corrode from a little saltwater. He did however have some concerns with damaged power conduits in areas of the ship worst affected by either fighting the Voorde or the rough landing. The only other concern he had was that one of the ten sneak ships that was hovering in shallower water still could not activate its cloaking mechanism. Once the crew had swept through the hull they would start the repairs and the refueling of the ship by splitting the seawater into hydrogen and oxygen.

Meanwhile in the shielded research rig, the now larger Voorde queen stirred restlessly amongst the drones packed around her. The rogue Voorde drones had been been hunted down and her own drones had only managed to kill two more of the now very wary Traders. The ship had left the great void of space and the rough landing had almost caused the drones to panic out of their shelter. A few of the drones that had been left to seek out food had hidden elsewhere on the ship. These drones had shown signs of illness since the landing and they were barred from returning.