Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 1 - Purple Blood (33 page)

‘Commander, I would be grateful for any assistance with my questions and I will forward my appreciation to the Cephrit when we later speak. So can you identify your cruiser squadron and commanding officer? Also can you advise us of the fate of the humans from the planet Earth?’

Commander Delforio now gave Captain Narindestat a cautious smile that was returned as he spoke at length. In consternation the Trader captain now learnt that Omerio now commanded the actual squadron that had intercepted the Illuria at Earth so long ago. He also learnt a little of the combat that had recently occurred at the nearby Dradfer colonies.

The Trader captain wasted no time in thanking the Barus commander and instructing his navigation officer to place the Resuria back onto her earlier course. Garendestat silently trailed him from the bridge as they quickly made their way down to the hyper drive module and her four attached sneak ships.

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Chapter 13

Admiral Mary Neilson sat in the co-pilot’s seat of the shuttle and looked out at the alien cruiser they were now approaching. Mary and John Griggs had not been idle during the time it took to transfer from the Exeter, and they had been kept busy reviewing the damage reports across the fleet. The review had urgency as they both knew that the human fleet could be attacked in force at any time. John had sneezed loudly into a handkerchief and Mary had enquired how he was feeling.

‘I had thought your cold was getting better and I that did not think to leave you behind because you are unwell.’

John had merely given a wry reply.

‘Admiral, I shall be fine and I have been getting better, the rest of our personnel seem to be well clear of the cold now as well. I know that the recent events overshadow everything, especially our own individual problems.’

Mary’s attention had then switched to the massed ranks of the Barus research ships, named surprising after senior researchers, whereas their actual fighting ships only used a section colour and a number. She knew that the Barus research cruiser was an older and weaker variant of the Barus cruisers that had attempted to intercept the Trader ship Illuria at Earth one hundred and fifty years ago. However that took little away from how impressive the fifty thousand ton alien cruiser looked, as the human shuttle slowed to enter the ship’s hangar bay.

Mary was soon waiting with Lieutenant Commander Griggs inside the rear of the shuttle as the craft was secured inside the Barus ship. She gave Griggs a cool smile and repeated her earlier concern.

‘Please follow my lead and volunteer as little information as possible about our rear deployment zones.’

John Griggs sniffed self consciously and gave an answering nod of understanding as the rear shuttle door was lowered.

Gindane and Omerio both exchanged a polite bow with the humans as Mary led Griggs down out of the shuttle towards the awaiting Barus officers. The human shuttle appeared identical to the earlier shuttle, now destroyed, that had ferried back and forth the two now dead male admirals that Gindane had met earlier. She fervently hoped that this was not to be a pattern as she welcomed Mary aboard her research cruiser.

‘Thank you for coming aboard my ship at such short notice Admiral. We hope to aid you where we can in the defence of your home world.’

Gindane then saw that the humans must have worked out that the Barus usually did not show teeth when they smile. She also noted that John Griggs seemed to be sweating and quickly worked out that he might be ill. Gindane glanced to one side and noted the small bio sensors held casually by a pair of her scientists. Mary smiled as she replied, but kept her teeth covered. She instinctively felt nervous for several seconds as she took in the taller forms of the fur covered aliens.

‘We are of course most grateful for any knowledge or advice you both can provide. I understand also that you only have a limited number of ships available to you in this area of space.’

Mary was soon feeling more relaxed, and looked over at the nearby Barus shuttles as she followed Gindane over to a series of tables down one side of the hangar.

Omerio turned and gave a long appraising glance at over at the humans before he spoke.

‘Well Admiral, our own reports state that you have lost two ships so far versus the heavier losses of the Jerecab. Your fleet is to be commended for their bravery and fighting abilities, and we hope these successes continue. However if you loss another two ships that is ten percent of your forces before any major battles. We are concerned as the Jerecab would have to lose heavily in several encounters to keep the percentages constant.’

Mary was ready for this observation and she replied by quickly introducing Griggs, even as Gindane handed her a Barus data tablet in exchange for her own data tablet.

‘My second in this meeting is Lieutenant Commander Griggs. We hope to use the greater range of our ships to raid their supply lines even as they seek to destroy our fighting ships. The inner worlds and several other systems have already been scouted out by our ships. The scouts have obtained solid intelligence as we now have stealth robots hidden in these systems.’

Omerio now stood alongside Gindane and they both went through the human data tablet with increasing skill. Mary in turn looked through graphical data on the supplied Barus tablet, even as the device softly spoke to her in accented English. Omerio activated a holographic projection of the nearby star systems and began to make adjustments to the Barus data as Gindane made an observation.

‘Now Omerio is the senior Barus fleet officer here so I recommend we follow any insights he will have devised. As we mentioned to your predecessors, we lack the resources to drive away the Jerecab unless other vassals also come to your aid. A key observation I have is that I would recommend against attacking the Gold system too early as I consider it is a trap.’

Mary had already decided that this was the case as she spoke again.

‘Well the inner planets are hours from the hyper jump point and there is an inner asteroid belt. The Gold star system is not unlike our own star system, the solar system, in that regard. We are planning to hit these three nearby systems in quick succession after feinting moves elsewhere. We have cargo ships loaded with several thousand marines, but deploying them is not central to our planning.’

Omerio was aware of the quiet regard of both Gindane and Mary as he quickly completed the updates to the holographic combat system. He began a series of fly throughs of several star systems, and Mary noted what appeared to be a changing time stamp on the presentation as the tall Barus captain finally spoke again.

‘Well the Jerecab appear to be using a periodic reallocation of a large patrol force amongst these star systems. I consider that they will be vulnerable to a sequence of careful strikes, though if they change their patrol timing your destroyers could be easily overwhelmed. The ships loaded with those marines would do most damage to the Jerecab if they are deployed against one of the central systems. However this will be at the closing stages of your efforts here against the Jerecab.’

Mary already had planned for this scenario, and gave a subdued reply as she had some inkling of what the marines would be up against.

‘Thank you Omerio, we will most like send the marines later against the Gold system, and we are expecting heavy losses. We also have established several hidden bases and technical laboratories to continue our surveillance in the outer systems. We seek to use our troops if we can safely do so. Otherwise we risk their transports being destroyed if we take them back to Earth to battle the Jerecab armada.’

Griggs had been also looking over the data sets in quiet evaluation, and after exchanging a nod with Mary he spoke in agreement.

‘We will have to leave any actual ground attacks until a later stage. My own time and distance studies indicate we hit these nearby systems within the next four days. It will be hard to get the timing right, but if we can leave shortly we can be in position. A feint by a significant force inside the Gold system on day four will aid our cause.’

Both Omerio and Gindane gave Griggs another appraising glance for several seconds as they evaluated his recommendations. Omerio looked over his own data tablet before looking through the information that Griggs had supplied. He soon provided a terse answer to the two humans.

‘Well it all has to be done immediately and I can leave now to rejoin my squadron, but I do not guarantee we will be on time. Note that we will not attack the Jerecab as we are not yet at war with them. I recommend we end this meeting now so you can implement this plan.’

The two humans had then quickly reboarded their shuttle and were soon heading back to another destroyer as the Exeter was away being refuelled. Gindane and Omerio both began issuing urgent orders, as a researcher walked over with the results of the bio scanners.

Gindane noted that Omerio now also looked unwell as she quickly commented on the results of the scanners.

‘We have only had three meetings with the humans, yet there are now at least four human pathogens on this ship. Fortunately the microbes do not appear to be lethal and the crew complain of wet noses and itchy eyes. I evaluate the illness to be what the humans call the ‘common cold.’’

Omerio sniffed in disgust at the news as he replied.

‘If this is common then I do not want to meet an uncommon human disease. I will get back to my flag ship and lock my ships down in quarantine, and I suggest you do the same with your research ships.’

After twenty minutes, Omerio had undocked his scout ship from the Rupane and was racing towards the nearest hyper jump point. He noted that the humans had already begun moving towards another hyper jump point that led to an outlying star system and the Jerecab supply zones. The chime on his scout craft sounded and he was soon speaking with Gindane again.

‘Good luck Omerio, and remember that we are not initiating hostilities with the Jerecab at this stage. The humans need a series of victories to delay the Jerecab and I think they will do well.’

Omerio already knew what he wanted to say on both a personal level and command level as he replied.

‘Stay safe Gindane and I look forward to seeing you again before we go to the human home world. I will attempt to monitor the human efforts without risking my ships needlessly, and above all else we must avoid breaking any edicts in our efforts to aid the humans.’

After another two hours, a series of bright flashes indicated that the human forces had left as Omerio began his own ship’s countdown. A sole smaller flash of light told Gindane that Omerio’s ship was now also gone. She buried her concerns about him by again checking over the status of the research fleet. Gindane soon had the fleet moving back towards the Emerald system and the awaiting Jerecab armada.

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Altarebe had powered down the sled and quietly checked his flight status as he noted both the Maveen and Sspol approaching his position. In moments he listened avidly as the Earth lead probe began issuing final concise instructions.

‘Now when you enter the Solar system, ensure that you send a tight beam to Neptune, the outmost ice giant in the system. Now you must keep the message brief and request only a short reply. You will explain only that the Maveen and Sspol are now allies, in the eternal helper context, and that the Sspol envoy’s name is Drannep. Also you must state you will land on Sol three or Earth to join Queen Angwene and her daughters. Finally you must advise of the imminent arrival of the Jerecab Armada and their expected numbers.’

Altarebe still felt unease about telling the Sspol colonists so much and he stated as much in what he felt were polite terms.

‘Are you sure the Sspol colonists will be friendly towards Queen Angwene and her daughters? I am concerned that they will be unaware of the new alliance between the Sspol and the Maveen and that could complicate matters.’

Altarebe was aware of a long silence from both the Maveen and the nearby Sspol cruiser and considered if he had just made a grave breach of diplomacy. However he discovered that his concerns were unfounded, as the envoy Drannep on the cruiser now responded personally.

‘We seek to placate and reassure; we wish your race well even as the war with the Maveen once raged, for we knew of the existence of the dormant high queen for thousands of years. Our strategy of colonising the world known as Neptune was in part an attempt to end the long and fruitless war with the Maveen. We have learnt the main human language adequately after practising this ability further with the Earth probe. You will convey our blessings to the queen and our new found status as Maveen allies.’

Several seconds of silence followed as the Maveen Earth probe waited to ensure the Sspol envoy had finished speaking before he started to speak to Altarebe again.

‘You will do well to follow the envoy’s advice Altarebe. Now this is what I want you to tell Probe three, one of my former team members now hiding on Earth, about the human colony Barede in the outskirts of the galaxy…’

Altarebe listened in stunned silence as he took in the importance of what the Maveen probe was telling him, and he ensured that he copied key points into his own memory banks. After another two hours he again checked over the wreckage secured by magnetic loops onto the side of sled as he followed both the Maveen and the Sspol to the outskirts of the star system. A small globe of light from two gate ships soon surrounded his ship, and after several more minutes he had arrived at his destination star system.

Altarebe cloaked both his own body and then the sled, and then he checked over the navigation information twice for reassurance. He watched for several minutes as the two destination gate ships quickly fled via their standard hyper jump drives. He then charted a hyper jump to the next star system as the sled powered across the outer reaches of the Epsilon Eridani star system, just over ten light years from the solar system.