Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 1 - Purple Blood (28 page)

A Barede destroyer casually coasted though space nearby, and the commander nervously spoke with both his tactical and communications officers.

‘So our mentors and allies know nothing of our own plans for their journey? The sudden arrival of the sector delegate had me worried for a moment.’

The answers to his questions were both negative, and the commander settled back as his destroyer monitored the Trader ship powering away from the colony. Five hours later a large globe of light enveloped the Resuria as the Maveen gate ships instantly transferred her over five hundred light years towards the centre of the galaxy.

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Gindane had wasted no time in greeting Omerio after he had come aboard, and she walked directly into the hangar bay even as he walked down the rear hatch of his scout ship. A moment’s surprise for Omerio gave way to a warm smile as he gave her a polite bow that she returned whilst not breaking eye contact with him. He felt awkward for a moment at her direct interest in him due to the social constraints of the Barus race. He also noted that no one else was present nearby as he spoke to Gindane.

‘It is good to see you again Captain, now we should not waste any time in discussing the issues the humans are facing as a sizeable Jerecab fleet is nearby.’

Gindane straightened but gave no sign of resenting his impatience as she replied.

‘Yes it is good to see you Omerio, and my congratulations on your promotion. We must get onto this matter urgently and I have several things I need to bring to your attention.’

Gindane now led Omerio over to the table that had served as the briefing location for the recent human meeting. Wordlessly she handed a data tablet to him even as she used her wrist communicator to request food and drinks for them both. She now ignored Omerio, and instead looked over the holographic simulation for several moments, before she identified several points of interest that she flagged for review.

Omerio looked tense and she could see that he must be thinking frantically as he made a terse comment.

‘Now something does not add up with those human destroyers. Gindane, do you remember the photos of the two downed Trader ships that remained on Earth all those years ago?’

Gindane gave a wry smile as she found the old report and called up the photos they had obtained from the human media so long ago. The photos had been stored under ‘edict compliance’ as her crew had gone to great lengths to show the Trader sneak ships had their sophisticated sensor arrays disabled. The two Barus officers looked over the photos and Gindane silently hauled up the latest photo of a nearby human destroyer for comparison. Omerio rubbed his bare arms as he gave his opinion on what they had just discovered.

‘So if the humans have no advanced sensor technology, why do the human destroyers show the special sensor arrays? Also have the humans ever conducted an active scan of any of these star systems?’

Gindane looked again over both sets of photos as she replied.

‘No Omerio, we did note the human destroyers seem over powered for inline generators along their central hulls, but we assumed that they had inferior shield technology. In hindsight if the Jerecab admiral makes the same assumption then he could be in for a nasty surprise.’

Omerio now took in the nearby holographic projector and both Barus officers were soon revising the outcomes of the simulations even as the food and drink now arrived. The fleet captain sat back both in surprise and deep thought as he reached for a drink. Gindane also picked up a drink and they locked eyes for a few moments before Omerio spoke again.

‘I think the Jerecab are indeed in for a very nasty surprise, as long as the humans are lucky and their resolve holds out. The longer they skirmish here the better the odds are for their survival. Possibly the Cephrit and Deltas Vass fleets will interdict the Jerecab if there is enough time. So we can aid the humans by not being involved directly and by slowing the advance of the Jerecab armada by misdirection.’

Gindane picked up on Omerio’s viewpoints and now made her own observations.

‘We will keep the tactical and weapons appraisals of the humans to ourselves and let the Jerecab deservedly stumble. I will send pairs of research destroyers out to instruct both races to abide by a ceasefire we can mutually declare, as you have a junior flag rank. The human admirals can be summoned back and we will agree on a covert course of action, though they must realise that their own lives and their two ships are at high risk.’

Omerio favoured Gindane with an open look of respect and admiration that she enjoyed as he replied.

‘Well said and succinct Gindane, now before we send for the humans we must be clear what we tell our destroyer commanders. We must appear to adhere to the edicts and the series of steps involved also means we must delay the Jerecab Admiral in his efforts.’

Gindane now called in her lieutenants and Omerio started off the briefing by mentioning the Cephrit intelligence he had obtained on the Jerecab armada. The junior officers were obviously concerned about this latest news of the threat of the armada, however their excellent training now took over. Gindane had several of them working on different facets of plan, and one of the lieutenants made a short but candid assessment as he looked over the information.

‘While we strictly adhere to the edicts, we risk our lives and we will drive the Jerecab mad with frustration.’

Omerio gave the younger lieutenant a wry grin that was nervously returned as he addressed them all.

‘Indeed we will cause frustration as we closely adhere to the edicts to protect the human world. However the edicts are there for a reason and you all have your orders.’

The lieutenant gave both Omerio and Gindane a deep full bow of respect, far more than required by fleet protocol, and gave a response that was agreed to by all.

‘Honoured to serve, it will be all done as ordered and no further thought of personal safety will be considered. Indeed it will be privilege to frustrate and obscure the Jerecab.’

Gindane and Omerio both gave polite nods of gratitude and the technical nature of the briefing resumed. Privately she considered how the civilian scientists in her fleet would react to the current situation once it was mentioned in their later general briefings.

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Admiral Mary Neilson looked over the data she had obtained when the Auckland had briefly refuelled at the Echelon base. The admiral felt that the report from Joel Everson was concise in both the technical and strategic sense, and she made a brief amendment to the commander’s personal records. Lieutenant Lara Samuels looked over and after the admiral nodded she spoke up.

‘The eight small missile frigates will be leaving to head back to Earth with the convoy shortly. The return convoy has increased in size to ten empty supply ships.’

Mary looked down at Joel’s report for a moment as she replied.

‘Well unless we set them to guard Echelon base they are no use to us out here. They are slow, poorly protected and are best used as last ditch defences at home.’

Lieutenant Samuels agreed with the admiral and turned back to her console as Mary returned to Joel’s interesting report. She noted that according to the detailed information gleamed by the stealth probes on the asteroid, the Jerecab frigate attack on the decoy site had been a textbook attack by a smaller lead strike force guarded by the rest of the Jerecab armada.

Joel’s report had then highlighted the one for one match between the old Trader supplied technical reports of the Jerecab frigates, and the actual weapons used by the frigates in their attack. The photographic evidence could find very little differences in any of the Jerecab frigates. The tactical analysis in the report also highlighted how the tactics used were as described so long ago on Earth.

Mary say back to think this conclusion further, as the Jerecab seemed to be constrained by a traditional warfare doctrine. However the admiral did not dare hope that this constraint would always apply in the coming battles with the armada. She knew that both an unexpected or unpredictable response from the Jerecab could lead to the destruction of her fleet, and that was before random luck was factored into the situation.

The admiral did not have to think through her next orders for too long as she addressed the communications officer.

‘Lieutenant, open an encrypted channel to the Auckland please.’

Mary was soon speaking again to Joel Everson, albeit with only a small time lag.

‘Commander, please pass the message for all ships to now enter phase two of the green four series of plans. You are also to provide fuel to any ships below sixty percent from your own reserve capacity. Good luck to you and your crew Joel.’

Joel briefly confirmed the Auckland would return to their designated star systems to pass on the orders before the admiral ended the call. After two hours, Mary looked up from yet another report as the Auckland left the remote Echelon star system in a brief flash of light.

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Chapter 11

Grant Stoneham stood and stretched as he looked around the small bridge of the Emerald Sky. Gayle was getting some much needed sleep, and Olav was engrossed in yet another scan of the Arranen system. The freighter had moved further out to inspect the outer part of the star system after recovering another harvest of ore bags from the mining robots. Grant was aware that the numbers of Maveen ships in the system had increased heavily over the last watch, but he did not as yet understand the reasons behind the increased presence of enigmatic machine race.

Grant regained his seat in the command chair and noticed Olav stir at his console and begin to glance over at him. Grant quickly matched the feed of his own console to Olav’s console and took in the arrival of a new ship in the system, even as by habit Olav gave the race and eventually the identity of the new arrival.

‘Grant it is a Trader wing ship, one of their later ships but not the Illuria, which is still being rebuilt. Okay we have the designation by transponder…it is the Resuria.’

Grant knew a few Trader captains personally and he was keying the database for the name of the Resuria’s captain, when the view screen came alive with a pleasant surprise for the Barede captain. He took in the picture of his friend and mentor, Captain Narindestat, flanked by a smiling Garendestat, standing on the larger bridge of the Illuria, and Grant quickly stood to offer a full bow of respect.

The bow was returned by both Traders and now with a broad smile was given by Narindestat as he began speaking.

‘Grant it is good to see you again. We have just come five hundred light years direct from the Barede system. We are in a borrowed ship as we are on a mission further into the galaxy on behalf of the Maveen. I regret I cannot therefore stay in this system too long. Now with the adjacent system I understand you have setup a refining and refuelling station there. So can you advise on how much fuel you have available and if you have any tankers present?’

Grant had the information available, and he replied with the figures as Narindestat slowly sat down in his command chair.

‘We have about three hundred thousand tonnes of hydrogen and one hundred thousand tonnes of oxygen. There are six Tower class tankers present, though only half are currently loaded.’

Grant regained his own chair in the long moments it took his reply to reach the Resuria. He noted that Narindestat did seem well satisfied with the information as he spoke again.

‘This is better than I hoped as the new mining base has not been operating for very long. Now I am speaking with the Maveen shortly and they will have a request, really a set of instructions for you to later follow. Do not worry as you will be amply compensated. Now use my name if you must, but you need to get four more tankers from somewhere and ensure all ten tankers are loaded within three weeks. Note that the Maveen may likely send you and several of the tankers elsewhere before I return to this system.’

Grant looked surprised at the instructions but wasted no time in his response.

‘Yes Narindestat it will be as you have instructed, though the use of so much fuel elsewhere will delay the mining operations here in the short term. I will also provision up the Emerald Sky after you leave this system. I assume we are travelling a long distance in remote areas of the galaxy?’

Narindestat gave Grant a wry grin as he spoke again.

‘Well the Maveen will know after we return from the first mission into the galaxy. Now the Emerald Sky should do well as she is fast for a freighter and is also armed.’

Grant thought that the Trader was being diplomatic, for while his ship was fast it was only a little stronger than a much smaller Trader sneak ship in fighting capabilities. He also noted that the Resuria had a full complement of sixteen sneak ships docked to both the flying wing and the large type two hyper drive module behind the main ship. Narindestat continued on speaking, even as Gayle now came onto the bridge and made her own bow of respect after being alerted by Olav.

‘Hello Gayle good to see you again as well. Now time is short as we have to be leaving shortly, so any information you have on your new mining venture would be well appreciated.’

The Trader and human captains continued to talk easily between themselves for several minutes before conversation was ended. After another five minutes, Grant and his crew watched quietly as the Maveen formed a large gate way in space around the Trader ship. A brief globe of light enveloped the Resuria as she made the next jump further into the galaxy. After Grant had discussed the new developments with both Gayle and Olav, he sat back in quiet contemplation as he considered the risks inherent in the area of space his mentor was taking the Trader ship.

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