Daniel sighed, stroked her hair and rumpled her short curls. Most women and girls on the ship wore their hair short, it made life much more comfortable and easier, the water the Limokko was carrying in her vast tanks was not infinite and showers were rationed to two a tenday. He was remembering his life back home where women had worn their hair in elaborate hairstyles and exuded elegance from the tips of their noses to the toes on their feet.
“I don’t love Thalia.”
“You told me you did.”
“I did once but things have changed.”
“What things?’ she asked suspiciously. “Hurry up Daniel. I’m due at science class in a few tvans and Maru will not be pleased if I’m late.”
“We were in love, I suppose,” answered Daniel slowly, “but we’re so different in character and upbringing. I realise it now, it was never going to work. I’m a noble’s son, trained to serve my king, to look after my land and to protect my people. Thalia is a soldier. She’ll never be one to sit quietly at home, look after her children and wait for her men folk. I suppose that’s what I wanted her to do really. I thought she might change, but of course she never will. Then there’s Josei. He’ll always come first with her, not me, not ever.”
“I don’t believe you,” said the mercurial Jill, but she knew in her heart that what Daniel was saying was true.
Daniel bit back on his vexation. Jill was one of fourteen people selected for the science and technology programme and spend much of her time in class or performing practical assignments the length and breadth of the ship. She had recently gained her wings and was now checked out to pilot one of the adapted Quorkos, the Limokko’s scout ships. Daniel was not a pupil, his interest being of a more agricultural nature, or so he had informed Maru the Lai when he had been invited to become the class’s fifteenth member. However, although she was embracing the life, including the technological knowledge being offered with open arms, Daniel knew she would never let it take over her life like the vadelns who paired with Lind.
Marriage might be a bond for life but the Lind-human life-bond together with the mind-bond that went with it went far beyond the promises behind any marriage vows. After the death of their partner, the survivor usually committed suicide. Almost every widow and widower kept on living and often to a ripe old age, adapting. A vadeln would not, could not.
“I’ll tell you later,” he answered, placing a kiss on her forehead and giving her a push.
Jill gave him one of her looks as she departed.
Daniel was walking down the corridor in the direction of the gym to get some exercise when the same bang that Thalia and Josei had heard echoed along its length and the deck beneath his feet juddered.
“That blasted air compressor,” said Daniel.
* * * * *
Artem*: Vadeln of the Avuzdel (Lind: Larya).
Daniel Ross: He was born of a junior house of the northerly Barony of Ross in the Kingdom of Murdoch back on Planet Rybak. His family remained behind on the planet. He decided to join the last Diaglon ship to leave Rybak because he had fallen in love with Thalia Josensdochter.
Jill Hallam: The youngest daughter of Paul, Duke of Hallam.
Katie Durand*: A vadeln of the Fifth-first Ryzck (Susa’s Own) and cadet year-mate of Thalia Josensdochter. (Lind: Kenlei).
Thalia Josensdochter*: A vadeln of the Vada. Back on Rybak she and her Lind ‘enjoyed’ an adventure of a lifetime with Daniel Ross, a young noble from the Kingdom of Murdoch. Thalia fell in love with him but during the journey to their new planet and he, her. (Lind: Josei).
Zeb*: A young boy who played a large part in the adventure on Rybak. (Lind: Vya).
* * * * *
Short Story
Star Ships and Space Ships
What follows is the story about what happened to the various spacecraft at Planet Tenha.
Once the Aikko had taken off from the planetary surface, Susa Raknu made haste to re-join the other three space ships, the Aanvallenino, the Assalireino and the Atacarino, the latter being the command vessel.
Although their sensors had detected no sign of the space ships belonging to the strangers, Susyc Zavento of the Atacarino made haste to order his command to the comparative safety of the other side of the large moon previously talon marked as being a suitable place of concealment from where they would wait for Belu to report that the Fifteenth Ryzck had located the strangers who had landed on the planet.
As they departed Tenha, the sensors remained silent and their display screens blank of any of the strange ships, neither the first three nor the two that had followed them although they had detected a number of fading ibon trails.
They sped to the moon as fast as their engines were capable of. On the Aikko, the four remaining Brai were very aware of the protesting noise from the power crystals as the racoven’s engines strove mightily to keep pace with the faster verustas.
They reached the other side of the giant moon at last and Zavento immediately ordered that they power down and enter the pre-planned ‘silent-running’ phase.
He was almost a hundred prozent sure they had not been spotted but knew that the four ibon trails would be a dead giveaway if any of the technicians aboard the alien space ships thought to examine the readings in any detail.
The Brai crews did not worship a god or gods, but if they had, as Zavento mused, it would have been a good time to start praying.
* * * * *
The space ships they were taking pains to avoid were at that moment on the ‘dark’ side of Tenha, completely unaware of the presence of the alien defence group in the solar system or of the landing of the away team.
The first three ships, the ones the Vlon had first identified so many months before, would probably not have cared an iota about the existence of alien passage trails and what they portended. They were slap bang in the middle of a great deal of deadly trouble.
“How did they know we were here?’ cried out the Captain of the slightly larger vessel.
“I don’t know,” yelled back the Repairs Officer, struggling with the data on the damage control consoles and trying to work out which damaged area was the most critical to their survival.
The intercom bleeped.
< Engineering here Captain. I can give you eighty-two per cent of full power but no guarantees it will last for more than eight to ten minutes. >
< Thanks Chief. Damage? >
< Heavy but we’ll manage. >
“Incoming!”
“Vector Alpha - Mike - Tango. Four nanoseconds.”
< Goddamnit! >
The star ship juddered as another enemy space-cannon found its target.
The Captain heard the Chief Engineer scream, a scream abruptly cut off as the engine reactor imploded.
Almost before that fact registered with the Captain, the entire ship exploded, becoming, in seconds little more than millions of pieces of debris.
* * * * *
The other two rebel star ships avoided the centre of the debris field and making use of the edges to hide their trails tried to make their escape, ducking this way and that and trying to confuse the enemy sensors but they were too old and too slow. Their Alcub Drives were of an early model.
The Battlewagon Aegean’s command bridge sensors picked them out from the swirling debris with little trouble.
The two rebel star ships rocketed round Tenha, evading the blasts of dynamic energy that were firing from the Aegean’s many space-canon but still sustaining damage.
From behind the moon, Jaru, the communications specialist aboard the Aikko was the first to report the ‘sighting’ when they appeared.
‘Sighting’ was a misnomer. The Defence Group could not see what was happening visually but they had ejected a very small boton, a probe by any other name, which was transmitting update reports every twenty-five tvans. It wasn’t a receiver, therefore it could not bounce their signals down to Belu on the planet’s surface but this type of probe had a big advantage in that it was virtually imp
ervious to enemy sensor scans.
“Raknu,” he said. “Transmission coming in. Two alien space ships, at speed, coming round from the far side of the planet. They’re flying erratically.”
“Erratically?”
“I suspect they have been damaged in some way. They’re veering this way and that.”
“An evasive pattern?” Raknu queried.
“Could be. There’s no way to tell.”
There were a number of tvans of tense silence before Jaru spoke again.
“Two more and one of them is a big one.”
“They flying erratically too?”
“Definitely not. I don’t understand this but if anyone were to ask, I’d say the second two are chasing the first two!”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s definitely what it looks like.”
Raknu fluttered the ends of his wings in agitation.
“Open a communications channel to the Atacarino. I need to speak to Susyc Zaventu.”
There was a rapid exchange of speculation and views amongst the four captains. At last the connection was severed and Raknu turned.
“They do not understand why two space ships of the same origin and presumably the same species are chasing the other two. We have been ordered to do nothing and to watch. Our communications link with the boton appears to be the strongest one, the reception data information the verustas are getting is all fuzzy, so Jaru, you will report directly to Zaventu. Patch us in.”
“Do we power up the weapons system?” asked Falu.
“Negative. Zaventu says that if there is any fighting to be done the verustas will do it. It won’t do any harm if you got them ready to power up.”
“Yes Susa,” said Falu. Instantly his digits began moving over his huge keypads.
The Aikko may not have the extensive arsenal as did the verustas but she could make a viable contribution to a fight if she had to.
< Dru? > Raknu flipped the switch to open the internal channel to the engine room.
< Yes Susa? >
< Keep the power drain to a minimum but be ready to jump from stop to move at a tvan’s notice. Also augment the muffling parameters. Susyc Zaventu wants to stay out of this if we can and doesn’t want a single click or whine giving away our position. >
< Yes Susa. >
Raknu could do no more. He sat back on his command platform and listened to the relay from Jaru.
< Lead two space ships appear to be losing power and speed. Yes. Forty kellrans a tvan. No. Increasing. Fifty. Sixty. They’re definitely losing speed. Not by design. Accident? Closing in. Yes. Verassi! They’re firing! No. No return fire detected. One of the leading two destroyed. Disappeared completely from screen. Yllatys! I hope none of any of that landed on any of ours down on the surface! Yes. >
There was a pregnant pause.
< Second one destroyed. Fragments on screen but dissipating. >
“Where in relation to the away team’s position on the surface?” Raknu demanded but Jaru didn’t answer.
It was Falu, who was standing behind Jaru’s left wing who turned to his Susa.
“Right above them.”
“What are the surviving two doing now?’ asked Raknu.
“Nothing, no wait! They appear to be slowing down.”
* * * * *
The next day was spent monitoring the large space ship and its smaller escort vessel as they orbited the planet.
Jaru received a limited amount of information from the boton but was able to surmise that they strangers were sending Quorkos down on to the planetary surface.
“These are bloodthirsty creatures whatever they are. They are killers,” he said. “How are we going to warn Belu?”
Raknu turned the inside of his wings upwards in the traditional gesture that meant ‘Your guess is as good as mine’ or ‘I don’t know’.
“He knows,” said Falu. “Belu will have sensed the wrong as soon as it began to happen. I fear not for his safety, at least in the short term but what of the Lind and their partners? They cannot fly away from danger.”
“The Vada has a reputation for meeting danger with bravery and fortitude,” answered Raknu. “Tenha is a planet of trees and heavy vegetation. They will have taken cover and will remain thus until a rescue can be arranged.”
“What are Susyc Zaventu’s orders?” asked Falu.
The three Brai turned expectantly towards Jaru.
The inter-space-ship transmission came in a scant tvan later.
< We will take up waiting stance on the moon’s surface and continue to observe. >
The order was clear and concise.
“So we are to do nothing to help our friends?” asked Falu in a voice that reeked of disbelief. “It cannot be possible.”
“I will find out,” said Raknu and opened a private transmission channel to Susyc Zaventu.
Falu and Jaru strained to hear their Susa’s words. There appeared to be an argument in progress and they looked at each other in consternation. It was obvious that Raknu, as the junior, was losing the argument for an immediate rescue attempt.
At last Raknu cut the transmission, or perhaps Zaventu cut it, the two never found out.
“The order stands,” Raknu sighed. “We are to land on the moon and wait. Zaventu has asked for reinforcements and they are coming. Until they do we are to watch and wait. Jaru, keep a listening watch in case Belu manages to get a transmission through. The boton might be able to pick up something, however faint.”
“Watch and wait!” exclaimed Falu in disgust.
* * * * *
They watched and waited for day after day. The two alien space ships left orbit and went away. Jaru tracked them as far as the nearest star system but the boton lost touch as they sped out of the range of its sensors.
As the days passed they became more and more worried about the fate of their friends.
Susyc Zaventu refused Raknu’s request for a sortie to Tenha in order to try to make contact.
His orders were to wait for the reinforcements that were on their way. The senior Gtrathlin of the Diaglon had ordered their dispatch the moment he had learned about the destruction of the first three alien space ships.
At last the day came when Jaru reported to Raknu that the reinforcements were closing in.
“Two Defence groups,” he informed Raknu. “The Sbnai and the Lai have each sent one.”
Raknu nodded. “The nearest. Did you find out who is to command?”
Jaru nodded.
“Susyc Velo of the Sbnai,” he answered.
“They have sent the Simorko!”
The Simorko was the largest and most modern of the Diaglon space ship fleet.
When the two reinforcing groups arrived Susyc Velo immediately ordered Zaventu’s group to vacate the moon and to take up residential orbit close to a gas giant at the edge of the system. The order came not a tvan too soon.
The two alien space ships returned a hundred tvans after they had reached their new position. They took up orbit again around Tenha.
Jaru’s opposite number on the Simorko, Sunao was her name, transmitted Susyc Velo’s orders to all the space ships under his command.
By now, the scientists and analysts had come to certain conclusions about the abilities of the alien space ships and had decided that if it was so ordered, they should be destroyed.
Tuo, the Simorko’s weapons specialist explained how.
< Their weapons systems appear to be of a similar strength to our own. We have nine verustas and they have two. One of them is extremely large and can do much damage. However, the analysts have concluded that although they are fast at travelling between stars, they are not so manoeuvrable as us in close combat. We will therefore, if and when the order is received from the Gtrathlin, advance towards them at top speed and inflict as much damage as we can so to inhibit both their retaliatory strength and their ability to flee. The command to fire will come from me. Schematics of the exact aiming spots will be
transmitted shortly before the attack begins. >
Susyc Velo’s voice came through.
< Our orders are to capture one or both of them. That is all. >
“They want to find out how their space ships can travel so fast,” noted Jaru.
“All I want is to find out if the Fifteenth Ryzck and Belu are safe,” Raknu said grimly.
He wasn’t at all interested about what his superiors wanted to know about the technical abilities of these warlike aliens. They had got to know their passengers during their journey from Tak to Tenha and he was so worried about what he would find on the surface he felt he might just ignore orders and go and find out for himself. “They are our friends. We are their friends. Friends look after friends.”
They waited for a further four days until Susyc Velo decided that the crews aboard the alien space ships were sufficiently lulled into a position of complacency.
He then ordered the verustas to attack. The three racovens were to power up but they were not to follow the warships but be ready to either advance towards Tenha if the verustas were successful or if they were not, to try to make their escape.
Raknu received the orders with a grim face, his tail stiff and erect as he weighed up the implications. He had no intention of fleeing.
< Attack in thirty-seven dot eighty-two tvans. >
The Aikko’s engines began to rumble.
* * * * *
Belu: A Brai. Crew-member of the Aikko. Environmental specialist.
Dru: A Brai. Crew-member of the Aikko. Engines specialist.
Falu: A Brai. Crew-member of the Aikko. Weapons specialist.
Jaru: A Brai. Crew-member of the Aikko. Communications specialist.
Raknu: A Brai. Susa of the Aikko.
Sunao: A Sbnai. Crew-member of the Simorko. Communications specialist.
Tuo: A Sbnai. Crew-member of the Simorko. Weapons specialist.
Velo: A Sbnai. Susa of the Simorko. Susyc of the Diaglon space navy sent to help their friends stranded on Tenha.