Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 1 - Alien Flight (3 page)

As the mini bus crested the rise of the causeway, Steve suppressed an exclamation as the HMAS Stirling base came fully into view. The Navy crew members took on a buzz of speculation between themselves that Steve chose to ignore. The navy dockyard showed a hive of activity under flood lights not usually lit. Steve closely noted all the activity around the three littoral frigates docked in the berths across from the two replenishment ships, and the modern and large aircraft carrier that dwarfed everything else in the base.

                                                            ***

The six stealthy bio probes, already diverging from one another, reached the Earth’s atmosphere over Asia at high speed,. The probe’s aero shells rapidly heated to an incandescent white glow as they quickly decelerated. With the probes eventually cooling to below a cherry red color, the aero shells were jettisoned. As their aero shells peeled away from the probes, the smuggled alloy vials briefly tumbled in the slipstream of the probes before they deployed small fins. After several minutes of falling, the pressure sensors activated and the vials began releasing their contents into the Earth’s atmosphere.

The early warning systems of both the Russian and Chinese defense forces briefly went on high alert, and several fighters were launched to investigate reports of bright lights at night from several locations. An extensive ground search revealed only a series of curved carbon panels, and both the Russian and Chinese authorities considered to these panels part of a US spacecraft. After the denials of the US military, they then hid the panels in their most secret bases for analysis. Officially the sightings were evaluated as a meteor swarm that failed to result in a ground impact.

In the coming weeks these panels would lead to acrid denunciations of the US government on the use of biological weapons that the US military fervently denied. The US military and NASA succeeded in proving that the aero shell parts was not manufactured by any known supplier that they knew about. Later an unknown probe would be hauled from a trawling net and successfully mated to a set of the unknown panels. As the world changed beyond recognition, the world leaders privately and soberly considered the implications of the discovery of these unknown and strange objects.

                                                            ***

The third generation ANZAC frigate HMAS Sydney had urgently embarked crew and sailed from the Garden Island at 4am. Two other advanced frigates, The HMAS Melbourne and the HMAS Perth had sailed in company with HMAS Sydney, and had similarly scrambled to urgently recall as many crew members back on board before sailing.

On the bridge of the Sydney, Lieutenant Greene plotted, then verified the rendezvous point fifty kilometers north-west of Rottnest Island. The North Mole light house showed on the starboard beam three kilometers distant in the pre-dawn calm as the frigate altered course to the north-west. The young lieutenant now turned and spoke to Commander Bruce Stone.  The middle aged commanding officer of the Sydney was seated a few meters away in the command chair.

‘Sir, I recommend we alter course five degrees to starboard in eight minute’s time. Then if we increase speed to twenty knots we will reach the rendezvous point at 0600 hours.’

The senior fleet commander briefly considered an urgent telecommunications message the ship had just received, before crisply replying to his navigation officer.

‘Thank you lieutenant the course change is approved.’

The commander turned to his executive officer, Lieutenant Commander John Peters.

‘XO, please set a quick briefing in fifteen minutes time for all officers in the ward room.’

The officers entered the ward room, two decks below and ten meters from the rear of the bridge. They all felt the slight increase in the turbine electric hum of ship that indicated that it had just changed course and increased speed. The commanding officer remained standing in the ward room as his officers filed in and the door was closed. Commander Stone informed his officers that a state of emergency was being declared after several supposedly US space vehicles had earlier broken up over eastern and southern Asia.

Apparently there had been outbreaks of fatal illnesses in the populations of countries in these areas, and the Indian, Chinese and Russian armed forces had been placed on red alert, even as bitter accusations had been leveled at the US government. In response to these alerts the armed forces of the USA had been placed on high alert, and their allies had quickly followed suit. With the brief overview of latest political tensions completed, the captain of HMAS Sydney turned to each of his officers in turn.

‘XO, can you list any missing crew for us and the two other frigates? We have to ensure that we have no shortfalls in crew expertise.’

The ever efficient executive officer replied that the ship had sailed minus several crew members.

‘Commander, we are down two petty officers and five able seamen, and I am awaiting crew numbers from the two other frigates. The section chiefs on our ship had already informed me that they had sorted the matter out between themselves. Smith, Baines and Everson have been changed across to other duties as we undocked.’

The captain acknowledged the response from his second in command before moving on with the briefing and additional orders for his other officers.

‘Thank you John. Lieutenant Greene, I want you to now chart a patrol loop that takes us one hundred kilometers up the West Coast, but keeps our offshore distance within fifty kilometers from the coast. We are taking up a defensive posture well inside our own territorial waters to protect the greater Perth metropolitan area. Now bear in mind that we should see both the Adelaide and the Darwin in two days time. They are returning from the north-west to replenish and refuel from the supply ships at the rendezvous point.’

The captain of the ship paused over his notes before his attention turned to Lieutenant Jane Walker, the ships electronics officer.

‘Lieutenant Walker, you can expect some further messages from the balance of the fleet at Garden Island. All five submarines are due to sail at noon, and both supply ships and HMAS Australia are due to sail by 4pm this afternoon.

All officers exchanged quick looks at each other, especially about the carrier going to sea as well, as the captain continued his briefing and briefly reassured his officers.

‘Yes, I know that once the Adelaide and the Darwin reach us we will have the full resources of the Western fleet deployed with five frigates and the carrier. Now remember that we are trained for just this possibility in mind, no matter the cause.’

Lieutenant Commander Stone now turned to Lieutenant Bill Roberts, the ship’s weapons officer. Bill was held in widespread respect by the crew for his considerable expertise in the Australian Navy.

‘Gunny, please sound yellow alert after this briefing, and we will close up the ship for combined threats from submarines and aircraft.’

As the officers left the briefing, Commander Stone reviewed the messages in his folder further, and wondered how this whole situation would end up. Even if the potential for hostilities was dealt with, the captain of HMAS Sydney was sure that this emergency was only just beginning. The experienced officer knew that serious enforcement and humanitarian issues was certain to arise for many years.

                                                            ***

Gindane bleakly considered the reports coming from the bio-probes now hidden on the surface of Earth. Initially the reports had consisted of population estimates that closely supported that of the researchers. However after several weeks, the reports from all the probes had shown a marked decline in the human population, especially in the more populous zones of the major continent of Asia. The research commander had later contacted Professor Elysius, her immediate superior, both to report details of this disaster and the unexplained death of Wanerio after his locker was searched.

The professor had sent a reply by message probe stating that the research vessel was to remain in position to monitor the situation further. The orders also stated that the dead senior technician was to be frozen and his property was to be secured for later investigation. The Barus professor had then sent an encrypted copy of the research commander’s report to the nearest Barus base requesting advice and further assistance.

Gindane had received her reply with the instructions, and she changed the focus of her crew’s mission to attempt to discover what was actually occurring on the home of the humans. The engineering chief had stepped up monitoring of human communications channels, even as the Barus scientists attempted to further learn the main human language. An ominous sign that the situation on the planet was becoming dire was that several television channels had gone off the air. The researchers felt that this was possibly due to both deaths and rioting in the affected major population centers.

With the dire reports coming in from human television stations and the probe reports, the Barus research commander increased the priority of direct information about the humans. The rear hatches on the bio probes, now hidden across the world, retracted and dispatched several tissue sample micro-probes. The miniature probes had then discretely sampled both humans and the planetary environment. The results indicated that the pathogens already prevalent on the planet were an extreme risk to many galactic species. The information also indicated that a change in pathogen nature was resulting in massive numbers of dead humans.

The close knit crew of the Barus research vessel considered the reports coming back from Earth with considerable unease. The mounting death toll from the planet was approaching three billion people, or more than the population of the entire Barus species. Gindane considered the plight of the research crew with real anxiety, for if the entire crew was condemned in an enquiry they could later face severe punishment by galactic authorities.

After a further two years of subdued research, the Barus bio probes were instructed to find deep water and to go into hibernation. As the research ship edged out of the solar system the crestfallen researchers prepared a list of reports. The reports included a concise explanation of the English language and an initial summary of the death toll from the epidemic.

The Barus destroyer began the long journey back to the forward research base to replenish the ship and to report yet again to professor Elysius. Gindane and several other senior crew members held urgent meetings, during which recriminations and recommendations flew back and forth in turn. At other times the senior researchers lapsed into long periods of quiet inactivity and depression typical of the Barus species when highly stressed, as they mourned the loss of so much life.

                                                            ***

In the eternal night of Earth’s ocean depths, the remaining five bio probes were each hibernating a considerable distance apart from each other. The probes sent faint heart beat echoes every five minutes across the trackless expanse of the deep ocean plains between every continent. The sixth probe has apparently failed on landing in the water and had been flagged as lost by the others.

At exactly the same instant each probe barely registered a momentary shift in the blackness surrounding them, before they were suddenly enveloped. The probes were held and silenced behind a solid wall that appeared around each of them at the exact same instant. All the probes immediately went to high powered data transmissions and powered their engines as they attempted to break free. But the rear third of each probe was quickly sliced free by powerful lasers from the rest of the probe. The mysterious assailants stole silently off with their pieces of captured probes, and the eternal night of the abysmal plain returned to the ocean depths.

                                                            ***

Apinal, the Quixxe production supervisor surveyed the wreckage of the heavy weapons research facility from the roadway. A shiver ran through her brilliant white and yellow plumage as she considered the implications of any displeasure from the Vorinne planetary superintendent. Malang’troh had a reputation for being bad tempered and difficult to deal with even amongst other Vorinne, and she did not think the facility director, her mate Brodinal would enjoy his meeting with their Vorinne master later.

For one thing the previous night’s raid had also killed the Vorinne overseer, one of the few Vorinne that would be interested in defending their rights and lives. Brodinal stood several meters in front of her, and was frantically speaking over his communicator with a senior engineer who was using heavy equipment to access the key research areas.

‘What do you mean they are gone? Do you mean all of them or some of them? Yes I know it is a crime scene, but we need to establish what was taken.’

Brodinal seemed to deflate as the senior engineer ran through what he could see was missing, before he finished the call and looked at her dejectedly. Apinal once again admired his two meter height crested by bright red comb and his splash of blue on his breast feathers, as Brodinal now made his way over to her. They stood silently for a moment and surveyed the destruction of the facility with dread. For apart from their life’s work being destroyed, there was a real chance of their protected status under the authority of the Vorinne superintendent being revoked. Apinal finally asked Brodinal about what was missing, and her mate looked at her sadly as he replied.

‘We lost three of the four new cruiser guns, the new small adaptive shields, and some of the latest portable fusion generators. Whoever it was they knew exactly what they were looking for and they took it. They then did a proper job of destroying the facility before they left.’

Apinal shuddered again in fear at the news, and knew that Malang’troh would likely be most unpleasant about the theft of the equipment. This would be even before he got to the matter of his prized research facility being blown up. The two talented engineers used their long and slender wings, tipped with fine fingers, to groom and reassure one another for several minutes. They were the engineer and artisan sub species of the Quixxe race, and their keen minds, creative skills and fine workmanship ensured they had pride of place as a slave species to the Vorinne.