Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 3 - New Shores

Traders’ Scourge

Part Three, New Shores

Book One of the Carinae Sector series

by David Buck, 2012

Revised 20
^th
March 2013

The author assumes copyright and all rights relating to this publication. All characters depicted are fictional and the story line is a work of fiction.

The novel is written in Commonwealth English.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This novel is dedicated with love to my wife Nicola and our four children.

A special thank you goes to Simon Haynes, Stephen Dedman and Michael Foster.

Cover design by Luke Harris from Chameleon Print Design.

The story concludes in part three, New Shores…….

Chapter 1

The Tilmud message probe entered the far outskirts of the solar system and sent the encrypted message contents to the two patrolling frigates. Within hours the two frigates had left the solar system, with the second ship docking the message probe beforehand at the agreed meeting point. Twin flashes of light outlined both frigates as they made the jump into hyper space and quiet returned to the dark outskirts of the solar system.  Squadron Commander Tanuldesec reviewed with satisfaction the drive parameters and balefully eyed the bridge crew as he gave further orders.

‘I want full diagnostics run and status reports on all key ships systems during the return to our star base. We will only dock long enough for fuel and food before we rejoin the rest of the squadron. If we have any serious problems we will have to deal with them ourselves before any battle.’

The Tilmud bridge crew as always avoided looking at the squadron commander or each other as they went about their duties. Lieutenant Giruldesec quietly flagged a time stamp on several maintenance problems of concern. He would have to find a quiet moment to report these items to the squadron commander before the current watch ended. For now he scanned the console in front of him and considered on how to fix these problems without an extended stay at their star base.

                                                            ***

Lieutenant Damofestat stifled another yawn, and yet again eyed the status of the Trader hyper drive module, before keying in another course change.

‘The two Tilmud frigates have left this system, so now we have to give the captain every chance of docking with us when the Illuria launches into space. Navigation, please bring us onto this new course and slowly drop our speed down by forty percent. As for the rest of you, I want further combat simulations based on the new trajectory. You are to assume we will be intercepted as the main ship returns.’

The several other Trader crew on the command deck had the presence of mind to refrain from either groaning or making any wry comments. The mission was entering a decisive phase, and they all knew that the lieutenant had become less accommodating over the last few days, as he had not slept at all. Damofestat considered his decision yet again, as he was aware that reducing speed and uncloaking the module negated any tactical advantages he previously had available. However he was determined to give the Illuria every possible chance to dock and then flee this system.

                                                            ***

Gindane viewed the news of the two Tilmud frigates leaving with no real concern. Her superb analytical mind was well aware that the presence of the Trader ships in the inner solar system had kept them at a distance. She was also aware that the tactical situation had now changed, as the Traders must be getting ready to leave from what they could tell from their long range observations of the landing site.

‘Communications send a voice only message to the humans and the Traders. We are returning to high orbit to monitor the Trader ship landing site. Remind the humans that I am the senior galactic representative and I have to monitor the Trader ship as part of my duties. Also I would appreciate that the humans refrain from launching any more missiles at my ship.’

Gindane resumed a slow pacing of her command deck as she considered the situation further. So just what were the Traders and those mysterious Maveen up to on the surface of the planet?

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat read the advisory from the Barus research ship with considerable annoyance. He was hoping that they would have stayed at a distance for some time yet, as this would have eased the time constraints on the Maveen part of the deal. The captain answered a chime on his command chair and the bridge was filled with the metallic tones of the Maveen lead probe.

‘Captain the message from the Barus alters little in my estimation of our deal. So have you received a response yet from the humans?’

Narindestat bit back a sarcastic reply as he answered the lead probe.

‘Rest assured that I will not delay informing you of the outcome. I am very keen to regain the safety of deep space as soon as possible.’

The Maveen probe went silent again, but the captain got the impression that the lead probe was impatient to get the deal finalized. But surely there could not be any reason why the Maveen would be so impatient? The captain knew that the lead probe had insisted on clearing out the Maveen share of guns, generators and shields last night. He was sure they were implementing the next stage of their own plan, whatever that involved he could only guess. For one thing, three of the Maveen probes had also left the island, though the lead probe had remained with another probe.

Captain Narindestat considered this latest development with considerable unease. He feared that the unknown actions of the Maveen could lead to long term problems for the humans. Aware that he had no control over the Maveen, the Trader captain again reviewed the refueling and repair reports, now with a sense of achievement. For soon they would be leaving this world, one way or another.

                                                            ***

Maveen probe five slowly moved forward in the deep water broadcasting the soft call they had used earlier to contact with the ancients. A soft sub-sonic call was echoed back to the probe and it immediately ceased all forward movement. Within moments one of the massive ancients swam into view; ‘one of the daughters’ probe five decided to itself, as it respectfully addressed the ancient.

‘Majesty, we have all the agreed items on the seafloor to the east of our position. The deal is not finalized with the humans yet, but the lead probe insisted that we begin the transfer.’

The probe knew that the female ancient possessed senses that could sense the inner workings of even the Maveen probes, so it had the sense to appear as harmless as possible. The junior female regarded the now silent probe for a moment before replying.

‘I am not the queen but thank you for the courtesy. You have done well and we are grateful. You will immediately send one of your probes on ahead to advise my mother of this development. The remaining probes will assist my sister and me in getting the items to our production facility.’

Probe six, as the junior probe, was soon making the long underwater journey to the ancient queen and probe three. Probe five now formed up behind the larger forms of the two ancient princesses with probe four. The two races made the slow underwater approach to the guns, generators and shields massed on the seafloor.

                                                            ***

Omerio felt exasperation as he reviewed the changing fortunes of his mission after the brief battle. One of his ships three main sub light engines as not working at all, and the other two engines were running at reduced performance. To add to his concerns, the cloaking device was now also not working due to the same battle damage to a power conduit. The two trailing Tilmud frigates had stubbornly continued to chase his ship through several star systems, as Omerio piloted his way back to the nearest location of the Barus research fleet.

Omerio had earlier attempted to get past the two frigates to again follow the damaged Tilmud lifter. He was concerned when the lifter passed close to the parent star of the third system his ship had entered since the battle. He had then listened to a single broadcast distress call from the lifter, before it had promptly altered course and taken a dive directly into the star. Omerio could only assume that the containment process for the Voorde had also failed on the lifter after his attack had disabled the atmospheric engines. However he had no time to consider the justified fate of the Tilmud crew, as the two frigates continued to harass his ship.

Omerio knew that if he could extend and escape for long enough he could repair the power conduit. But he also knew that the two Tilmud frigates would not give him the opportunity. A warning buzzer briefly sounded as the two Tilmud frigates made another attack from extreme range. Omerio coaxed the damaged ship into further evasive manoeuvres as the Tilmud frigates again sought to strike down his ship. He knew that it was now only a matter of time before either his ship was struck again and disabled or the remaining power conduits failed. In desperation he recorded a series of broadcast messages as the attack ended as quickly as it had begun.

‘I am Omerio, the pilot of a Barus fleet long range scout. I am under attack from two Tilmud frigates and require assistance. I have intelligence that these Tilmud ships have been seeding several worlds with infestations of Voorde as a bio-weapon trial. This is in violation of both galactic accords and Zronte edicts governing warfare in this sector.’

Omerio was not hopeful of any rescue as he was still several systems away from encountering the Barus research fleet. He now downloaded the latest intelligence updates to his probes inside the cargo hold. He hoped that he would get time to launch the probes, and the Tilmud frigates would not destroy all of them after they had destroyed his ship.

                                                            ***

Altarebe had earlier powered down his engines as he slowly came to rest in the shadow of a large asteroid. He verified the cloaking mechanism was working and settled down to study the three ships further in system closely. Obviously the two Tilmud frigates were hoping to destroy the ship they were trailing in short order. Altarebe noted the race of the ship being attacked, but was not unduly concerned. If two Zronte vassal races wanted to fight then he hoped they would destroy each other. He noted with admiration the precise skills of the Barus pilot as he sought to stay alive.

Altarebe was plotting a combat scenario in the unlikely event that the Tilmud detected his presence, when he detected the broadcast message from the Barus scout ship. In moments the message was translated and Altarebe considered the information with considerable unease. He verified the details of the Voorde species via his own databases, and had no decision left to make as he sent a tight beam message to the Barus pilot. Altarebe was aware that he was out gunned, but he did not care as he remained cloaked and powered away from the shadow of the asteroid.

                                                            ***

Omerio read through the status reports on his overloaded ships systems and now resigned himself to his fate. The remaining power conduits were about to fail under the added strains of continued flight and additional damage from the Tilmud frigates. He ensured that the automated message still went out and the probes were ready for launch, when the communications buzzer erupted in a series of shrill buzzes. Someone was sending him a tight beam message from one side of the trailing Tilmud ships, and he now listened to a strangely inflected voice speaking rapidly improving Barus.

‘Omerio, this is a friend of life and law. Please follow my instructions without any questions if you want to live. Power down your long range scanners and slowly turn towards the outermost planet. You must keep your speed up, keep silent and not fire any weapons.’

Omerio swiftly complied with the unusual request, and sat back to ponder the identity of his mysterious would be rescuer. The external cameras revealed nothing from the direction of the message. The Tilmud frigates detected that no long range scans now emerged from the Barus scout ship, and closed together for another attack as they also altered course.