Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 1 - Alien Flight (24 page)

‘Well Steve as you know the RAN has sent two frigates to the target location just outside your territorial waters. The US Navy is sending their 5
^th
fleet and they will be there within two days. I have heard that they expect the two Australian ships to keep back to observe as our fleet sorts out this situation. But they could easily be dragged into the encounter.’

Steve immediately knew the answer to that concern.

 ‘Douglas, our own ships would be unlikely to be under US fleet command during the intercept of those objects. I cannot see our politicians allowing that without a mandate existing already. I think they will be still inside our territorial waters observing from a distance.’

Douglas could now see the point and continued on again.

‘Basically our foreign policy in the US has been badly shaken since the pandemic. I am concerned that the US admiral could do something foolish if this is indeed a true first contact scenario.’

Steve thought about his reply for a moment and again answered.

‘Well your navy, like our RAN, is very strong on protocols and mission objectives. I guess the real concern is the objectives that the fleet admiral has been given and how he reacts in a totally new situation like this one. Now apparently the world leaders are meeting after the fleet reaches the target location. So that could mean that the navy objectives could change. Obviously we would want to avoid another pandemic situation.’

The two men, one a former navy commander and the other a respected scientist continued to talk for several further minutes. Steve had Douglas’s number, and they agreed that they would speak again if any additional developments came to light. As the Aurora Discovery sailed west into the afternoon sun, Steve sat quietly in his command chair and considered the information he had available.

After the ship was hove too and dinner was organized, Steve brought Samantha up to date on both the panels and the phone call from Douglas. Samantha had then insisted that Dan and Rebecca be also informed about this news.

Steve first got guarantees of confidentiality from them by letting them know he could face charges if he broke certain guidelines associated with his former career. As the two couples sat and ate their meal, the surprised looks that Steve got from Dan and Rebecca told him a lot as he discussed the findings on the strange panels, with the most telling comment coming from Dan.

‘So those panels are definitely not of this world.’

Steve nodded somberly and continued.

‘Now Douglas, who usually has good contacts in the US Navy, is unsure what exactly this approaching fleet is up to, mind you I am not exactly sure they know themselves either.’

The discussion over dinner continued, and both Dan and Rebecca had recovered enough to offer some comments of their own.

Dan ventured his observations first.

‘Steve, the popular press is now saying that there is one large ship that landed in a manner reminiscent of the old space shuttles, as it washed off speed by gliding in a specific way in our atmosphere. Plus it was followed down by several other smaller ships. Steve, these are star ships from an alien race of unknown capacity, surely it is folly for the US Navy to seek them out?’

Steve replaced his glass on the table and thought carefully for a few moments before he replied.

‘Dan, I agree with you, the alien ship commander seeing that fleet coming towards his ship is going to be very defensive. If shooting starts I can see this ending one of two ways, either the alien ships are destroyed or taken over, or the greater part of the US 5
^th
fleet being destroyed.’

The conversation continued to the why of the alien ship landing with the smaller ships. Rebecca now chipped in with a simple but compelling viewpoint.

‘Steve, I think they are in trouble for some reason with their big ship, and they are trying to both fix the ship and avoid contact with humans.’

After dinner, Steve rang Douglas Stoneham and passed over these concerns, and found the US scientist agreed with him. Steve then rang and left a message for the commander of HMAS Sydney, Commander Jane Walker, who had taken command of the Sydney six months after Steve had been promoted commander of HMAS Perth. From what Steve could tell Jane was also the senior officer on the two frigates. The navy satellite phone was as always set to take messages only, and after ten minutes Jane rang Steve back.

‘Steve nice to see you recently at Fleet West and it was good to see you are doing well post RAN. How can I help you this evening? You no doubt have heard of the news of these strange objects?’

Steve read between the lines and quickly sketched out what he had surmised from the panel inquiry and speaking with Douglas earlier. Jane was keen to hear about the enquiry and Douglas’s views, promising to keep the information off the record for the moment. Steve took a breath and spoke about the situation further.

‘Well Jane we are not even sure that the pandemic is associated with any aliens, let alone the ones the US 5
^th
fleet is trying to interdict.’

Steve paused for a reply and Jane reassured him with her answer.

‘Steve you are probably giving the best advice I have heard since we left port. I would feel better if you were out here with us for sure. I have the gist of it down as follows, a US fleet interdicting cornered alien ships with superior technical design, an unknown offensive capability, and a possibly desperate crew. I am speaking to the US Admiral tomorrow morning by satellite phone, and if you don’t mind I will be passing these concerns off as my own.’

Steve passed on his agreement to that idea and requested that she keep her head down. Jane laughed and caught his meaning.

‘Steve, we will be well back in a defensive posture in our waters and seeing what happens.’

The former commander and current commander briefly passed on best wishes for each others spouses before bringing the phone conversation to an end. Later as Samantha slept beside him, Steve lay quietly in bed for several minutes and considered the day’s events. He fervently hoped that the situation down south would be resolved peacefully.

                                                            ***

Captain Narindestat sat bolt upright in his command chair and console, and considered the news from one of his sneak ships with real alarm. The ship had detected a fleet of human surface ships heading towards their location, and they would be here inside a day. He knew that the masking properties of the oceans also limited the performance of the sensors on the sneak ships. He was also aware that if the humans cornered the Illuria on the seabed then the Traders could be forced to fight.

The Trader captain now considered the earlier information he had on the general capabilities of the humans. Fortunately the records from the Cephrit station master had included a rundown on the human political and regional structures on their planet. He quickly decided that the fleet belonged to the United States of America, the most powerful country. The recent Barus scientific research of Earth politics had at least been thorough in that regard considered the captain.

Captain Narindestat perused the more limited data that Gindane’s research crew had learned about the military capacity of the planet. The entry for nuclear weapons got his attention quickly as did a small explanation of the means of delivery. The captain readily decided that if the humans ever got out into space that they would be more than capable of looking after themselves. So the decision now was to stay and bargain or to flee and hide again. The captain decided that the key objective, after the survival of his ship, was to ensure that they did not make the situation worse than it already was at the moment. The second choice was problematic as the Trader ship was still securely stuck to the ocean floor. Never one to waste a moment he got his command moving.

‘Engineering, secure the fuel refining equipment and check all shields, you will have two hours. Also send two engineers down to meet me at the portside landing bay deck, as I have an idea I want to try out with the stuck landing skids. Communications, I want the general crew readying the ship for flight. They are to assist the engineers with pumping out any remaining water. Also I want the guard in the main cargo hold doubled ensuring all guards are suited and armed. Lieutenant Garendestat, you are to take the ship north east underwater as fast as you can go after I give you the word.’

Captain Narindestat was with three armed guards and all were in space suits when they reached the landing bay deck. He quickly instructed the two waiting engineers, also suited and armed.

‘Now the main landing strut refuel line is below us so give me a hand with this access panel as I have an idea.’

He calmly explained his idea to the engineers, who nodded as they soon understood what the captain was intending. After the access panel was opened the two engineers fetched some larger tools from a nearby tool store. One of the engineers then dragged over a large reinforced hose over from another store. The captain recognized one of the large hoses used to clean the ship of the Voorde infestation.

‘That will do nicely; do we have a pressure rating on the hose?’

The engineer stated a high rating and the captain spoke in agreement. ‘It should do.’

The existing fuel supply line coming up the landing gear strut was disconnected after first manually closing off the fuel line feed going further into the ship. The Traders then connected the heavy water line. The captain tested the makeshift line for surviving the pressure for several seconds and the ship lurched slightly. Lieutenant Garendestat was immediately on the radio link.

‘Is there a problem sir? We detected slight movement on the landing skid strut.’

Captain Narindestat grinned at the nearby engineers and guards, and verified the water line was now off before he replied.

‘Lieutenant Garendestat, it is a going well here, that movement was the hose line being tested for several seconds. We are going to the starboard landing bay deck to make the same changes.’

The captain calmly explained what they were attempting, and gave his son some additional commands to wait for before he was to take the ship to safety. After the second heavy water line was attached, Captain Narindestat left an engineer and a guard at each one of the access panels to later control the water flow and returned to the bridge with the remaining guard. As he entered the bridge, Lieutenant Garendestat glanced over from the navigation console.

‘Sir, I looked into some calculations for the landing strut changes, the water pressure is the key at this depth. But then I assume the other orders are part of the process.’

The captain looked back over at his son in quiet evaluation.

‘Well I turned the water pressure argument on its head, and we will find out real soon on how well that works.’

The reports came in from other sections of the ship within minutes, they were all ready to go. The crew ran through their emergency launch check list, and Garendestat reported that the ship was ready for manual takeoff. Captain Narindestat satisfied himself with another long look at the readings on his command chair console then gave the first order.

‘Full power to the shields and extend them down three meters.’

The ship seemed to shiver slightly as the power in the star ships shields increased exponentially. The captain gave the orders for the two engineers to turn on the water supply to the two landing struts before speaking to Garendestat again.

‘Fully open the water valves. Lieutenant, I will watch the strain gauge on the landing struts, you just ease her down slowly on my mark.’

As the ship slowly settled further into the sediment, the captain manually raised the landing struts. Fortunately he could stop and start the lowering and the raising of the landing struts as he monitored the strain gauges. When the landing struts were two meters from the hull the strain gauges started to climb markedly, and the captain lowered the strain by easing down the struts fractionally.

‘Lieutenant, extend down the shields another three meters and drive the ship down into the sediment as far as she will go under thrusters.’

 For several minutes the ship hummed under full thruster power, as tons of high pressure water sluiced down the inside of the landing gear struts and out the attached landing skids. The lieutenant and bridge crew looked over with anxiety at the captain as he monitored the strain gauges, and the captain spoke again as the strain gauges finally started to drop to zero.

‘The water in the hose has limited pressure and the water depth here equals a much higher water pressure. By increasing out the shields they drop down the water pressure under the landing struts so the hose water flows out the landing skids at the bottom of the struts.’

Lieutenant Garendestat grinned in sudden understanding, and the rest of the bridge crew also understood quickly enough. With the landing skids now raised, Captain Narindestat turned to the lieutenant.

‘Now pull the shields back to the hull slowly and set the thrusters to climb, also slowly.’

Scant seconds after Garendestat completed the orders; there was a surge under the ship. The ocean depths reasserted control of the seafloor under the Trader ship, with the sediments suddenly under their natural pressure again. The Illuria drifted up from the artificial upwelling, and the lieutenant brought the ship three hundred meters further off the seafloor before setting a course north at increasing speed.

                                                            ***

Admiral Johnston considered his recent polite discussion with the Australian navy commander further as he received additional reports. Jane Walker had candidly voiced valid concerns that he himself had about this situation. Jane then had sincerely wished his fleet the best of luck, as the two Australian frigates would stay over the horizon in their own territorial waters to observe what occurred during the intercept. He would not expect anything less from the commander, indeed he highly rated all the Australian fleet officers he had worked with so far.