THE KOSTROMA SAGA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 33– A TENSE SITUATION

 

13:55 (Universal Time)

Friday, May 21, 2320

Command bridge of the KOSTROMA

Closing in on planet Gliese 581c

Amin Jamilian, on duty at one of the sensors stations of the bridge, stiffened when something completely unexpected showed up on his display screens, making him speak up in alarm in his headset’s microphone.

‘’Captain, a number of ships have just appeared on my infrared scanners. They were previously masked by the bulk of Gliese 581c, which would explain why we couldn’t detect them before.’’

‘’Ships, rather than one ship?’’ asked a shocked Tina.

‘’Affirmative, Captain. I count 23 ships, all in low orbit over the single moon of the planet.’’

Made cautious by her past combat experience during the 2315 War against the now-defunct Terran Federation, Tina urgently gave orders around her.

‘’FRIDA, SHUT DOWN OUR ANTI-MATTER ENGINES AT ONCE! SWITCH TO GRAVITY SAIL PROPULSION ONLY. MISTER JAMILIAN, SWITCH OFF ALL ACTIVE SENSORS! OPERATE ONLY IN PASSIVE MODE. WE WILL STAY DISCRETE UNTIL WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DEALING WITH. DANA, SHUT OFF ALL OF OUR EXTERIOR NAVIGATION LIGHTS!’’

Next, Tina switched her intercom to ship wide announcement mode and gave out a warning that she had hoped that she would never give during this mission.

‘’Attention all hands, this is the Captain. Battle stations! I say again, battle stations! We have just detected a space fleet of unknown origin around the moon of Gliese 581c. Passengers and the relatives of our crewmembers are to stay in their quarters until further notice and be prepared to put on their emergency pressure suits. All the airtight doors are to be closed and the damage control center is to be fully

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manned at once. We may not yet be in immediate danger, but we will play the card of caution until we know who is out there and what it is doing. That’s all! Captain out!’’ With that done, Tina gave a concerned look at her bridge crew.

‘’Talk to me, people: I need to know what we are facing here.’’ Dana Durning was the first to speak out in response.

‘’While those ships are way too far to be examined in detail, I can say already that they could have come equally from the planet or from the moon. Both of them appear to have a thick atmosphere containing at least twenty percent of oxygen, while both also have liquid water oceans and visible continents.’’

‘’Our passive thermal sensors don’t show any rocket propulsion engine of any kind lit up right now, Captain.’’ added Amin Jamilian. ‘’Either they are simply coasting in orbit with engines off or they use some form of electro-magnetic or gravity propulsion.’’

‘’I am now detecting some faint electronic signatures from these ships, Captain.’’ said Patricia O’Neil. ‘’I have both radar waves and radio waves, but the radar waves are all in the medium to high frequency bands and are unsuitable for long range scanning across a solar system. They most probably can’t detect us at our present distance.’’

‘’What about their radio signals, Patricia? Can you actually process them and try to unscramble at least a few of them? That could give us a hint about their language and their appearances…if we could view a video feed.’’

‘’One moment, Captain… I think that I have isolated an audio signal of interest. I am now switching it on the bridge speakers.’’

A second later, Tina and the other crewmembers on the bridge started hearing a radio conversation distorted by the distance. It definitely was of alien origin, as the language was a guttural one they had never heard before. The voices themselves were low pitched and deep. Tina, after listening for a couple of seconds, pushed the button linking her with their central ship computer, Spirit.

‘’Spirit, could you please start listening to the electronic communications coming from those alien ships in orbit around the moon of Gliese 581c, to see if you could eventually build a language data base?’’

‘’Already on it, Tina.’’ replied the soft female voice of Spirit. ‘’From the voices’ modulation, I can tell you that their speech apparatus is definitely quite different from that of Humans or of Koorivars… Tina, I believe that we are now intercepting a weak video link signal. I am recording it and transmitting it to the bridge’s duty stations and to your chair.’’

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Before Tina could congratulate Spirit for this achievement, a video image of rather poor quality appeared as promised on one of the small viewing screens attached to swivel mounts fixed to the armrests of her command chair. The image was split in two, denoting a duplex communication link. Tina couldn’t help making a grimace on viewing the heads of the two alien creatures conversing together.

‘’Yuk! Not exactly what I would describe as handsome beings.’’ Dana Durning, who also had the video link on one of her screens, nodded her head in approval: the aliens had a massive head with a pronounced snout, a large mouth lined with dozens of pointy teeth denoting a carnivorous regime rather than a vegetarian one, and a very short, thick neck coming out of a barrel-chested torso from which a pair of long, muscular arms were attached. In turn, those arms ended in six digits with claws at their extremities. While their upper bodies showed that they were wearing a sort of space suit, their uncovered heads showed a dark brown leathery skin with no visible hair.

‘’In view of their built and of their body proportions, I would say that they come from a high gravity world. That would thus make them possibly natives of Gliese 581c, as the planet has a radius more than twice that of Earth and has five times its mass, thus should have a felt gravity at its surface of about 1.6 G. As for the moon of Gliese 581c, it is nearly identical to Earth in terms of mean radius and mass. I would be ready to say that this fleet came from the planet and is now orbiting the moon for unknown reasons.’’

‘’I concur, Dana, but I doubt very much that this fleet went to this moon with peaceful intentions.’’

‘’Uh, why do you say so, Captain?’’ asked Gerald Holmes from his V.I.P. observer seat. Tina looked at him soberly, understanding why he wouldn’t know about such a matter.

‘’Because of the number and individual sizes of the ships in that fleet, Gerald. If those aliens only wanted to explore or map the moon for peaceful purposes, then we would be looking at most at two or three ship or, in most cases, at a single ship. Even if those aliens came to colonize their moon, a very possible scenario, they would then have brought in a more numerous fleet than just a couple of ships, but those ships would tend to be more homogenous in size, like in the case of a convoy of cargo ships. However, what we see here is one large ship surrounded by four medium-sized ships and by eighteen distinctly smaller ships. This looks to me a lot more like a military fleet on an expedition that a colonization or exploration fleet.’’

‘’Oh! I understand! Then, what do you intend to do next, Captain?’’

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‘’Well, first, we have to remember that we are only visitors in this solar system. Furthermore, our actions will reflect on all of Humanity, while we have pledged to respect the values and ethics of the Spacers League. We are certainly not going to simply jump in and tell those alien ships to leave. What I intend to do is to approach Gliese 581c’s moon as discreetly as possible and to search for traces or indications of the passage or presence of the SHUNDAR on the moon. Then, if we see no traces of the Koorivar ship on the moon, we will check out the planet itself, again as discreetly as possible.’’ With that said, Tina turned her head towards Dana’s navigation station.

‘’Dana, let’s modify our approach path towards Gliese 581c and its moon. We will approach from the direction of Gliese 581, in order to hide in the glare of the star. That should complicate detection from the radar systems of these alien ships.’’

‘’Understood, Captain! Modifying now our approach trajectory. We should be closing in on the moon from the direction of its sun in approximately three hours.’’

‘’Then, let’s suspend our battle stations duty status for the moment. We will downgrade our status to ‘watch stations’ and allow our crew to rest a bit and have supper before returning to battle stations.’’

‘’Aye, Captain!’’

17:21 (Universal Time)

Command bridge of the KOSTROMA

On approach to the moon of Gliese 581c

‘’Captain, we are starting to see traces of organized life along the northern and southern latitudes of the moon, near the terminator line, where the mean temperature stands at around 31 degrees Celsius. Our main optical telescope has detected what appears to be a number of villages and small hamlets, along with a few dirt trails, on the northern continent. It has also seen a few sailing ships navigating near the coasts.’’

‘’Hum! That sounds like a pre-industrial society to me.’’ replied Tina, thoughtful. ‘’Hardly the kind of society capable of producing spaceships. Are you detecting any electronic emissions from those villages and hamlets, Patricia?’’

‘’Absolutely none, Captain! Furthermore, the villages nearest to or along the terminator line do not show artificial lighting other than ordinary campfires.’’

‘’Mister Jamilian, are your detectors seeing any traces of the SHUNDAR on the ground, or of its passage some eighty years earlier?’’

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‘’Not yet, Captain! I am presently using both thermal, spectroscopic and magnetic sensors to look at the surface of… WAIT! I just detected a magnetic anomaly centered inside a small crater. I am now centering our main optical telescope on that anomaly and switching its view to the duty stations of the bridge.’’ Tina’s heart nearly sank on hearing the words ‘magnetic anomaly’ and ‘crater’ in the same sentence. They had detected the VEON SHOURIA on Eris thanks to the magnetic signature its steel hull created. Shanandar, who was also sitting in an observer’s seat next to Gerald Holmes, also felt his heart skip a beat. Both he, Tina, Holmes and Dana eyed carefully the picture now showing on their screens.

‘’Some vegetation has grown inside that crater.’’ remarked Dana. ‘’It is thus not recent. It however could date from around eighty years ago.’’

‘’Captain,’’ suddenly said Min Wa Hien, one of the sensors specialists on duty on the bridge, ‘’look just past the northern lip of the crater, among the trees surrounding it: I can see some kind of metallic debris.’’

Tina shifted at once the aim of their telescope and pushed its resolution to maximum. What they saw then made Shanandar swear loudly.

‘’By the stars! That is a section from a shuttle…a Koorivar shuttle!’’

‘’But, if it had crashed on the planet, wouldn’t that shuttle’s debris mostly stay inside this crater?’’ asked Gerald Holmes, making Tina nod her head while clenching her teeth.

‘’Normally, yes, especially concerning a nose section, which that thing is. I can see only one explanation for this: that shuttle suffered an internal explosion…or was destroyed by someone.’’

‘’A Koorivar shuttle would not explode like this, Tina.’’ said somberly Shanandar. ‘’Our shuttles contain no volatile or explosive fuel or liquids and we had no weapons, thus no ammunition which could explode and cause a breakup. That shuttle was struck by something while on the ground, a something that dismembered it and dug that crater.’’

‘’Tina, have you noticed that this crater is near a sizeable native village?’’ interjected Dana. ‘’If there were survivors from that explosion, then they would most probably have tried to find refuge and help in that village, no?’’

‘’Damn, you are right, Dana!’’ said excitedly Tina, who next looked at Shanandar. ‘’We have to go investigate this crash site and the village near it by sending a ground investigation team.’’

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‘’I wholeheartedly agree, Tina! Furthermore, I would like to lead that team, since this concerns a Koorivar shuttle.’’

‘’That would make eminent sense, my friend, but you won’t go down without some protection. Michel and three of our security personnel will accompany you to the surface. I also want you to wear a set of body armor and a helmet. You may be a pacifist, but I believe that wearing protective gear will not go against your credos.’’

‘’That is correct. Uh, what do you intend to do if that alien space fleet shows up here while we are on the surface?’’

‘’First of, the shuttle that will land you will then return immediately to the KOSTROMA, so that it would not stay on the ground and betray your presence there. I will then withdraw our ship to a safe distance and wait for your report by radio. For that purpose, you will go down with anti-gravity scooters and a VLF directional transceiver, so that you will have some mobility and a communications means with you. Whenever it will be safe to do so, the KOSTROMA will get back into low orbit above you in order to better communicate. The idea here is to investigate what happened to that Koorivar shuttle and its occupants, not to start a war. However, if you are attacked, don’t hesitate to defend yourselves and, please, follow Michel’s counsels once on the ground: he has plenty of experience about combat situations and will have a more informed judgment than yours on what to do if you are threatened or attacked.’’

‘’I can understand that and agree with you, Tina.’’ replied the Koorivar, sober. ‘’I may be a pacifist, but I am not a sheep either.’’

‘’Then, go organize quickly your investigation team, my friend. And good luck!’’

19:08 (Universal Time)

Light shuttle WANDERER, flying at treetop level

Approaching the crater of the destroyed Koorivar shuttle Surface of the moon of Gliese 581c

‘’Thirty seconds to landing! Get ready to scoot out as soon as the ramp goes down.’’ said the pilot of their light shuttle, Valentina Suvarova, via the intercom. In the relatively small cabin of the shuttle, the three men, two women and two Koorivars of the investigation team, sitting inside three anti-gravity scooters, tensed up, ready to go. Their scooters, small but agile and fast vehicles, could seat up to three persons each and had sliding canopies which could protect its occupants from the elements, or even

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from vacuum. The minute that Michel had been told by Shanandar to prepare for a ground mission and why, he had ordered at once eight maintenance robots to immediately start applying a coat of camouflage pattern paint to the scooters, so that they would be more difficult to spot from the air. Michel and the three security specialists who were part of the team were heavily armed and wore armored vests and helmets, like the other members of the team, while Ingrid Holtz was armed with a pistol. To paraphrase an old military saying: while Michel was not looking for a fight, he was ready for one, just in case. In this case, the destruction of an unarmed Koorivar shuttle was definitely pushing him towards the side of caution for this mission. The wide rear ramp of the shuttle then started lowering as the craft gently touched down at the bottom of the crater. Michel, who was at the controls of the lead scooter, then activated the anti-gravity field of his machine, making it rise from the floor, and pushed forward his control yoke. With only a slight humming noise being produced by their gravity sails, the three scooters emerged quickly from the shuttle, then flew up to the lips of the crater, where they landed. When they opened their cover canopies, the shuttle was already gone, climbing for a few meters before speeding at treetop altitude towards the nearby sea before it would climb to orbit, out of sight of the occupants of the nearby village. Stepping out of his scooter, Shanandar pointed at Kovar, the ex-assistant engineer of the VEON SHOURIA, and at Ahmed Jibril, one of the security specialists of the team.

‘’Kovar, go with Mister Jibril and examine the debris in the crater. Try to establish how our shuttle was destroyed. As for me, I will go inspect the nose section lying nearby.’’

‘’On my way, Captain!’’ replied Kovar before climbing down the slopes of the crater with Jibril, who was an expert on explosives. While three other team members stayed with the scooters, Shanandar then walked through the long grass and brush surrounding the crater, Michel Koniev at his back. While the local temperature was quite high, at 31 degrees Celsius, the air was dry, making the heat a lot more bearable. Shanandar arrived at the broken nose section after only a few seconds and critically examined the debris while turning around them.

‘’Definitely the remains of a Kamaz-Class shuttle similar to the shuttles embarked aboard our three refugee ships.’’ said Shanandar before climbing inside what had been the cockpit, where he noted down a few serial numbers and compared them with a list loaded on his computer pad. His expression then turned from somber to grim.

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‘’This shuttle was definitely one of the shuttles of the SHUNDAR. We now know for certain that it at least got as far as this solar system. Whether the SHUNDAR is still somewhere to be found on this moon or inside this solar system, or departed it after the destruction of its shuttle, remains to be established.’’

‘’I see no traces or remains of the crew of your shuttle, Shanandar.’’ remarked Michel Koniev, his impulse rifle at the ready. ‘’Hopefully, this could mean that it was outside the shuttle when it exploded.’’

‘’Or it could mean that the local inhabitants retrieved their bodies and buried them.’’

‘’Damn! You could be right about that, Shanandar. Now, the way the fuselage aft of the cockpit was ripped and peeled off suggests to me that a powerful explosion aft dismembered this shuttle and dug this crater. Hopefully, Ahmed will be able to tell us whether traces of explosives remain on these debris.’’

They got an answer on that when Kovar and Jibril, looking rather glum, climbed up from the bottom of the crater and joined the rest of the team near the scooters.

‘’So?’’ asked Shanandar, anxious. Jibril took on him to answer him.

‘’I found strong traces of explosives on various pieces of debris, along with multiple holes created by fragments from a warhead. Your shuttle was destroyed by a probable missile armed with a fragmentation warhead filled with a chemical explosive with a formula close to that of HMX. However, that explosive is definitely not of Human manufacture.’’

Shanandar and Michel exchanged a knowing glance, with Michel then looking at Ingrid Holtz, their communication specialist.

‘’Ingrid, contact at once the KOSTROMA, using directional transmission mode, and tell the Captain that the destroyed shuttle has been formally identified as a craft carried by the SHUNDAR. Tell her also that it was destroyed by an explosive fragmentation warhead of alien manufacture. That last point is very important. Tell her that we are now going to visit the village to see if we could learn what happened to the crew of the Koorivar shuttle. Confirm to me once you get an acknowledge.’’

‘’Will do!’’ replied the blonde before going inside her scooter, in which their VLF transceiver was carried. Michel had to wait less than three minutes before she returned to his side.

‘’Message passed and acknowledged, Michel.’’

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‘’Excellent! Let’s go back in our scooters and take off. We will fly slow and low as we approach the village, both to take the time to observe it first and also to try not to scare the locals away.’’

The seven members of the team went back into their scooters and took off, heading towards the local village and with Michel’s scooter in the lead. As they were flying at treetop level at low speed, Shanandar took the time to admire the forest they were overflying.

‘’Those trees and plants may be alien to me, but this world is still an attractive one. The people of the SHUNDAR would have been happy here…if the local inhabitants would have accepted them.’’

‘’That would be a pertinent factor indeed, Shanandar. To my shame as a Human, too many of my people would have ignored the locals’ opinion and simply grabbed the lands and resources they wanted. Unfortunately for those locals, it seems that the inhabitants of Gliese 581c may be doing just that. The village is now less than one kilometer away. We will now go down to near the ground and continue slowly between the trees: I want to observe the village from up close while still hiding, before we reveal ourselves. By the way, I never asked you how old a Koorivar could live, Shanandar. Could any survivor from your shuttle still be alive after eighty years?’’

‘’They could, but they would then be near their end by now: the average life expectancy for a Koorivar is 120 of your years.’’

Michel nodded his head at that but didn’t reply, concentrated on finding an opening in the thick forest top foliage. Seeing one, he slowed down to a near hover, then flew down to just over the long grass and bushes covering the ground between the trees, followed by the three other scooters. Keeping his speed at ten kilometers per hour or less, Michel zigzagged his way through the forest, covering the last 700 meters before the village. He however stopped and lowered his scooter to the ground when about fifty meters from breaking out of the forest, then shut down his machine.

‘’Time to advance on foot, Shanandar: we want to observe and examine that village from a hiding position before we emerge and scare away the locals as the big bad aliens that we are.’’

That made Shanandar smile in amusement as he stepped out of the scooter with Michel.

‘’Well, I was most happy to see you big bad aliens when you helped us wake up on Eris, Michel.’’

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‘’And it certainly has been a pleasure to help save your crew and passengers, Shanandar. I will now ask you to walk as silently as you can and not to speak: we are now going forward in tactical mode.’’

‘’You Humans certainly have plenty of experience in those ‘tactical’ matters. I will be right behind you.’’

With his companions following him in single file through the forest, Michel cautiously advanced towards the village, his pulse rifle at the ready. After a couple of minutes, he started to see the first houses of the village through the trees and slowed down further his pace while crouching down. He finally stopped behind one of the last trees of the forest and took out his binoculars as his companions deployed on both sides of him to hide and observe from behind other trees and bushes. He already could see a few of the local inhabitants of the village and they certainly were nothing like Humans or Koorivars: they actually looked very much like mythical Centaurs, with a four-legged horse-like body, a torso rising over its forward legs, two arms ending in five-fingered hands and a head that looked nearly human, save for a flat nose and long, pointy ears. The creatures were however much smaller than Earth horses, being more like pony-sized and with the top of their head reaching a maximum height of about 175 centimeters. Michel actually found the aliens to be quite elegant creatures, with their long blond mane running from the top of their head, Mohawk style, down to their rear end, where it became a long and dense blond tail. Their body was a lustrous, shiny reddish-brown color that actually blended well with the predominant color of the local vegetation. As for their faces, Michel found them quite attractive, with their soft features and large yellow eyes. Most of the local aliens he saw didn’t wear any clothes, so he was able to see that the local race was divided into male and female genders, with the female centaurs having a pair of breasts on their chest. The locals who wore anything actually wore what looked like tool bags or haversacks rather than clothes. The only concession to clothing was the wearing of sorts of boots made of soft leather covering their large, round hoofs. He was still observing what looked like a child centaur when he heard Shanandar exclaim himself in excitement.

‘’I see a Koorivar over there!’’

Stunned, Michel turned his binoculars in the direction pointed at by Shanandar. He then effectively saw a young teenage Koorivar playing with two centaur children in front of one of the wooden houses of the village.

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‘’My God, you’re right! There were survivors from your shuttle and they have produced a few children while living in harmony with the locals. I really hope that we will find one or more actual surviving crewmember of your shuttle still alive.’’

‘’Well, there is only one way to find out. Stay here and keep hiding: I will go out in the open and go speak with that Koorivar child. Since those locals live with a few Koorivar in their midst, I shouldn’t attract a hostile reaction. You and your Human friends however could scare those aliens away.’’

Before Michel could protest, Shanandar walked out of the forest, accompanied by Kovar, and calmly went towards the little Koorivar while walking down one of the streets of the village. At first, the passing centaurs didn’t pay much attention to the pair of Koorivars, thus proving to Michel that a number of Koorivars lived in the village. However, a pair of male centaurs armed with bows and knives did notice the body armor and helmets worn by Shanandar and Kovar and approached them. With Shanandar’s helmet microphone and camera retransmitting what he heard and saw, the rest of the team was able to follow what happened next as the pair of armed centaurs cut the path of the Koorivars and spoke to them. Their tone was however polite and respectful, even though their language was incomprehensible. In response, Shanandar stopped and raised one hand high while speaking in Koorivarese.

‘’I am sorry, but I don’t speak your language. Maybe you could use that Koorivar child over there as a translator.’’

Looking in the direction pointed at by Shanandar and seeing the Koorivar child, who had by now stopped playing and stared with disbelief at the two adult Koorivars, one of the two armed centaurs signaled to the child to approach. The latter did so timidly and listened to what the centaur told him before looking up and Shanandar and speaking to him in Koorivarese.

‘’Hinoshi asked me if you came from Tyanaman and also asked why you do not speak Hoshin.’’

‘’We actually came from Space, from another star system far away from here, my child. Are there many other Koorivars in this village? We would like to meet them.’’

‘’There is a total of eleven other Koorivars in Wynona, mister, including Kravek the Elder.’’

The world ‘Elder’ made Shanandar’s heart accelerate.

‘’This Kravek, is he a survivor from the destroyed shuttle we saw some distance from here?’’

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‘’Yes! However, Kravek is now very old and his three original companions have now died. Did you say that you came from Space?’’

‘’Yes! Please, guide us to Kravek: we have very important questions to ask him.’’ Instead of replying to him, the child spoke at some length with the two centaurs, apparently translating for them what Shanandar had told him. That got him in turn two suspicious stares from the centaurs and one question, which the child translated.

‘’The Vorlaks also come from space periodically to attack the Hoshi and take away many of them as slaves. Why did you come to Hyanesu?’’

‘’Is ‘Hyanesu’ the name of this moon?’’

‘’Yes! Did you come in peace?’’

‘’Yes, we did, child. We came to find out what happened to the SHUNDAR, so that we could find and rescue its occupants. We really need to speak with Kravek.’’ Again, the Koorivar child took the time to translate the conversation for the benefit of the centaurs, who then visibly relaxed their attitude towards Shanandar and Kovar. They spoke in turn a few words which the child translated into Koorivarese.

‘’Hinoshi agreed to let you speak with Kravek the Elder. Follow us, please!’’

‘’With pleasure! What is your name, child?’’

‘’Shomi, sir.’’

‘’And I am Shanandar, Captain of the VEON SHOURIA.’’ The name ‘VEON SHOURIA’ seemed to be like a high voltage discharge for little Shomi, who stared in shock at Shanandar.

‘’The VEON SHOURIA? Kravek often mentioned that ship in the stories he told us. Is it here, over Hyanesu?’’

‘’No! We came on another, much bigger ship, along with friends from another star who saved me and my ship from an icy tomb on a frozen planet.’’ Now truly excited, Shomi translated that information for the centaurs, who looked in shock at Shanandar for a moment before gesturing them to come with him. As the centaurs and Shomi guided them towards a house near the end of the street they were on, Shanandar discretely spoke in Koorivarese in his helmet microphone while looking at Kovar, to give the centaurs the appearance that he was speaking to his assistant engineer, while he was in reality speaking by radio to Michel, who had learned Koorivarese while cohabitating on the KOSTROMA with the Koorivars who had been part of its crew for over two years now.

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‘’Michel, this is Shanandar. We are on our way to meet an old survivor from the SHUNDAR’s shuttle. This moon is called ‘Hyanesu’ by the locals, while this village’s name is ‘Wynona’. We were told that there are twelve Koorivars in this village, all but one descendants of survivors from the shuttle. The local race is called the ‘Hoshi’, while the aliens from Gliese 581c are called the ‘Vorlaks’. Those Vorlaks are said to raid periodically this moon in order to take away slaves. I think that this information should be sent right away to the KOSTROMA.’’

‘’Agreed! I will send at once Ingrid back to our scooters, with Lars to escort her. Contact me again when you will know more.’’

‘’I will, my friend.’’

With his level of anticipation climbing constantly as he followed the armed Hoshis and little Shomi, Shanandar finally entered one wooden house of modest proportions which was furnished with a few hand-made pieces of furniture. His heart jumped in his heart when he saw what looked like a complete Koorivar family, with two adults, one teenager and one preteen child. In return, all the Koorivars froze on seeing him and Kovar. Little Shomi then ran to one of the adults and pointed at Shanandar.

‘’Mother, this is Captain Shanandar, of the VEON SHOURIA!’’

‘’But, that’s impossible! The VEON SHOURIA left Shouria eons ago, like the SHUNDAR, and went in a totally different direction than our ship.’’

‘’I can explain everything later, but please lead me to Kravek right away, miss: I have very important and urgent questions for him.’’

‘’Uh, very well, Captain. Follow me!’’

The adult Koorivar then led the two newcomers to a nearby small bedroom where one Koorivar with wrinkled skin lay in a bed, looking quite weak. However, the moment he saw Shanandar, he raised himself in a half sitting position and spoke in a frail voice.

‘’Captain Shanandar? Is that really you?’’

Shanandar, now filled with emotions, nearly ran to the bed to press the hands of Kravek.

‘’My dear old friend! You still could remember my face after all that time?’’

‘’How could I forget the face of any of our three ship captains who took on them to find new homes for our people? How did you get here?’’

‘’In a ship belonging to friends of the Koorivars. That is however a long story. I first need to learn from you what happened after the SHUNDAR arrived in this system. Is it still inside this system?’’

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Kravek lowered his head at that question, apparently reviewing some sad souvenirs in his mind.

‘’When we arrived in this system, we quickly found out that the fifth planet was of no interest to us, thus we went to the fourth planet. While it proved habitable and very welcoming, the fact that it had very little in terms of emerged lands deterred Captain Kurkan, who then decided to go check the third planet and its moon. Seeing some Vorlak ships in orbit around the moon, which is named Hyanesu by its Hoshi inhabitants, and not knowing about the aggressive and cruel nature of the Vorlaks, Captain Kurkan sent me and four others down in a shuttle to contact some of the locals, to see if they would agree to let our people settle here. We had barely landed when Vorlak ships approached the SHUNDAR and started firing missiles at it, giving no prior warnings. When he saw that, our shuttle commander told Captain Kurkan to leave the system immediately and to not risk all our people who were in cryogenic sleep aboard the SHUNDAR just to try to rescue us. Captain Kurkan protested at first, unwilling to abandon us here, but he soon was forced to flee the system, barely avoiding a rain of Vorlak missiles. One Vorlak attack craft then spotted our shuttle on the ground and fired a missile at it. That missile impacted our shuttle just as its pilot was starting to take off in order to lead the Vorlaks away from us and the villagers. I will never forget the courage then demonstrated by Shianey, our shuttle pilot.’’

That story brought tears to the eyes of both Shanandar and Kovar, with the former gently patting Kravek’s shoulder.

‘’Shianey’s courage will be forever remembered in the annals of our people, Kravek. What happened after that?’’

‘’With the shuttle destroyed, me and the three other survivors of its crew fled to this village, where the local Hoshis accepted to hide us from the Vorlaks. Unfortunately, while they didn’t find us or even suspected that we were here, the Vorlaks still took away with them fifty of the locals when they left. Those fifty Hoshis were never seen again. The Vorlaks have since returned once, many orbital periods ago, to take more slaves. We have since learned from Hoshis visiting from other villages and hamlets that the Vorlaks regularly make those raids, choosing villages at random. The Hoshis tried a few times to fight back but their weapons are no match to those of the Vorlaks, who then raze completely the villages which had dared oppose them, and this after taking all the inhabitants away with them. The only tactic that has worked up to now is to hide most of the young and the prettiest female Hoshis before the Vorlaks can enter the village.’’

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Despite being an avowed pacifist, like all the Koorivars, Shanandar couldn’t help feel anger and rage as he listened to Kravek’s story.

‘’By the stars! Those Vorlaks would definitely deserve a good lesson.’’

‘’But who would give them that lesson, Captain? Even if the SHUNDAR would return here, it has no weapons to oppose the Vorlaks.’’

‘’I spoke earlier about friends of the Koorivars who gave me passage on their ship in order to find and rescue the SHUNDAR and the SHANIZAR. Well, that ship of theirs is a truly mighty one, heavily armed and armored and able to travel among the stars in the blink of an eye. Its name is ‘KOSTROMA’ and I am sure that it could easily defeat the whole Vorlak fleet presently in orbit around this moon.’’ His words made the old Koorivar open wide his eyes in excitement.

‘’The stars know how much I hate violence and war, but seeing your KOSTROMA chase away those monstrous Vorlaks would truly make me happy. So, now that you are here, what are you planning to do, Captain Shanandar?’’

‘’Right now, my companions hiding in the forest are sending a radio message to inform the KOSTROMA about what is happening here on this moon. The captain of the KOSTROMA will then most probably get closer to Hyanesu in order to launch a shuttle that will then come to retrieve us. When it will arrive here, I would like to take you and the other Koorivars with us and fly you to the KOSTROMA. Our ship will then go in search of the SHUNDAR and, when successful in retrieving it, will go find the SHANIZAR. The captain of the KOSTROMA, Tina Forster, had ideas about building floating cities for our people on the fourth planet, so that the Koorivars could finally have a new home among the stars.’’

To Shanandar’s surprise, his words left Kravek seemingly conflicted, like with the other Koorivar residents of Wynona.

‘’What? You don’t like the idea of finally be reunited with other Koorivars?’’

‘’That we do like, Captain Shanandar, but what about the Hoshis? Are you and your ship going to simply leave with us and abandon the Hoshis at the mercy of the Vorlaks? The Hoshis sheltered and hid us during all those orbital cycles, at the price of seeing many of their people being either killed or taken away by the Vorlaks. We can’t abandon them like this! Your ship must stay here and protect the Hoshis from the Vorlaks.’’

Shanandar gave Kravek a sober look.

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‘’Kravek, you are asking a sentient race from another star system to go to war against those Vorlaks, and this in a conflict that is not touching them. Captain Forster commands the KOSTROMA, yes, but she is not a head of government and has no legal power to involve her race in a war, unless she is attacked first.’’

‘’Doesn’t your precious Captain Forster have any moral convictions? Can’t she simply act to prevent the massacre and enslavement of another people?’’

‘’Careful now, Kravek.’’ shot back Shanandar. ‘’Captain Forster is about the most decent and principled person I have ever met, be it Koorivar or Human. She cares, believe me! However, as I said earlier, she doesn’t have the kind of political or legal power to involve her race in a war.’’

‘’So, what are you going to do now? Be warned that, if your captain refuses to help the Hoshis, then I will stay here, on Hyanesu.’’

‘’What I will do now is to call her.’’ replied Shanandar while taking an electronic tablet out of a cargo pocket of his field suit and flipping open its cover panel. Watched by the other Koorivars and by the Hoshi who had accompanied him and Kovar inside the house, who all crowded behind him to try looking over his shoulder, Shanandar tuned in to the tactical frequency of his investigation team, getting the face of Michel Koniev to appear on the display screen of his tablet.

‘’Yes, Shanandar?’’

‘’Michel, I need to speak directly with your wife. Could you ask Ingrid to arrange a direct connection between me and her? By the way, you will want to listen in on our conversation.’’

‘’I will ask Ingrid to connect you with the KOSTROMA right away. One moment, please.’’

As promised, the image on his tablet soon changed, to show Tina Forster’s head and torso as she sat in her bridge command chair.

‘’Shanandar, how are things on the ground?’’

‘’Rather complicated, Tina. I will now switch to Koorivarese in order to

accommodate the Koorivars I found in the village of Wynona.’’ Shanandar then spent a minute to explain the situation he had found in the village, along with passing the request for help from Kravek. Tina listened soberly to his report before nodding her head and speaking in Koorivarese.

‘’Please put Mister Kravek on the line.’’

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‘’Will do, Tina!’’ said Shanandar before approaching the bed in which Kravek lay, holding the tablet at an angle which would let him look directly into the display screen and the mini-camera of the tablet. Tina nodded respectfully to Kravek and spoke first.

‘’Greetings, Mister Kravek! I am Tina Forster, captain of the Human Spacers League armed merchant ship KOSTROMA. First off, I want you to understand that we are on a search and rescue mission, not a mission of war. My main goal is to find both the SHUNDAR and the SHANIZAR and, if they haven’t established themselves yet on a new home world, to find a suitable planet for them to live on, in which case my ship would logistically support the building of a Koorivar colony. With that said, I fully realize the need to defend you and the local inhabitants of this moon against those Vorlaks, who are plainly guilty of waging a one-sided war and of enslaving and killing another race.’’

‘’So, what are you going to do about them, Captain Forster?’’

‘’What I will do is to tell them plainly what the consequences will be for them if they continue their depredations and genocidal practices.’’

‘’I can tell you already that they won’t listen to you, Captain Forster: the Vorlaks are xenophobic, aggressive bullies and think of themselves as being superior to all other races.’’

Those last words attracted a smile on Tina’s face.

‘’Well, we will soon see about that, Mister Kravek. Michel, deploy your team into defensive positions around the village of Wynona and prevent any Vorlak craft or vehicle from approaching it while I explain myself with the Vorlak fleet. In view of their unprovoked attack on the SHUNDAR and its shuttle eighty years ago, you have my permission to use lethal force as you will see fit.’’

‘’Understood, Tina.’’ replied Michel, whose head was visible in a corner thumbprint image on the tablet’s screen. ‘’Shanandar, I need you to tell your hosts not to panic or to attack us when we will deploy around the village in two minutes.’’

‘’I will, Michel.’’ said Shanandar before looking at Kravek. ‘’Please warn the Hoshis that alien friends of mine are about to enter their village and deploy around it to defend it against the Vorlaks. Ask them not to attack my friends.’’ Kravek nodded his head once, then spoke to the armed Hoshi present in the room, who next ran out of the house to shout warnings around at the top of his lungs while he galloped up and down the streets of the village. That of course made the villagers come out of their houses to see what was happening, in time to see the three anti-gravity scooters of the investigation team enter the village to take dispersed defensive positions

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around its periphery, with one of the scooters covering the sole trail connected to the village.

‘’Lars, help me place our auto cannon on its pintle mount.’’ At Michel’s request, Lars Niström, one of the other three security guards from the KOSTROMA, helped him lift the heavy weapon to line its mounting bracket with the pintle mount attached to a telescopic base fixed inside one scooter. The three scooters of the team were in fact modified ones recently outfitted for possible military operations, so could carry a variety of weapons if needed. Right now, the team definitely needed this auto cannon to be in battery and ready to fire its 20mm explosive and armor-piercing shells. While the general design of that auto cannon directly descended from a similar weapon designed some 400 years ago, that design was still an effective and powerful weapon and also had the benefit of having proven its reliability over the centuries. Only the modern materials and high-performance ammunition for it had changed along the years, making a deadly weapon even more redoubtable. With a second similar auto cannon and one portable missile launcher having been carried aboard the scooters, along with other weapons and ammunition, the investigation team was going to possess some serious firepower with which to greet any unwanted visitors.

As Michel and Lars were working on loading their auto cannon, a small troop of Hoshi children gathered nearby to watch and examine them with intense curiosity. Michel smiled at that and wave his hand in a friendly matter at the children: these young centaurs were really cute in appearance, while some of them could be said to be downright lovely. Lars couldn’t help smile as well when a Hoshi mother joined the group of children to supervise them: that female Hoshi, like all the other female Hoshis they had seen in the village, was naked and sported on her torso a pair of firm breasts with large nipples.

‘’Nice tits on those female Hoshis, don’t you think, Michel?’’ whispered discretely Lars, making Michel’s smile widen.

‘’Quite! The Hoshis are indeed a most handsome race and their kids are downright adorable. I wonder what they are thinking about us, though.’’

‘’Uh, I’m not sure that I want to know about that, Michel. They probably find us butt-ugly.’’

‘’Time will tell, Lars. Time will tell. Now, let’s camouflage our scooter as best we can before the Vorlaks could show up.’’

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20:16 (Universal Time)

Command bridge of the KOSTROMA

In low orbit at the vertical of the village of Wynona Moon Hyanesu of Gliese 581c

‘’Captain, the leading vessels of the Vorlak fleet are now rounding the eastern terminator line of Hyanesu and heading in our direction. Their radars should be able to detect us at any time now.’’

‘’Understood, Mister Jamilian. Spirit, how are you doing in translating the Vorlak language?’’

‘’Unfortunately, not very well, Tina.’’ replied the ship’s central computer. ‘’I had next to no comparison points which I could use to infer the meaning of the words we intercepted. Right now, I have at most 58 words about which I have a reasonable certainty about their meanings. Any attempted verbal conversation with the Vorlaks right now would most probably result in some misunderstanding.’’

‘’Oh well! Then, let’s fall back to good old pictograms, Spirit.’’

20:23 (Universal Time)

Bridge of the flagship of the Vorlak fleet

Low orbit around Hyanesu

‘’Admiral, we are now receiving a video transmission from the alien ship we just spotted.’’

Admiral Wooshek frowned on hearing that.

‘’Really? Pass the video link to my command chair.’’

‘’Right away, Admiral!’’

Two seconds later, a color picture appeared on Wooshek’s viewing screen. He examined with interest the head and torso of the alien being looking at the camera: it definitely looked much frailer and weaker than a Vorlak, something that made him snicker in contempt. The image, with no sound connected with it yet, then split in two, with one top half and one bottom half picture. The image of the alien being, who was probably the commander of the alien ship, was doubled and reduced to thumbprint size

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at the same time, with the thumbprints sticking themselves to icons representing an alien ship shown in orbit of the moon. In both half pictures, a group of icons also in orbit of the moon and some distance from the alien ship’s icon probably represented Wooshek’s fleet. The top half image then started to animate itself, while the bottom one stayed frozen. As Wooshek watched carefully the top picture, the Vorlak fleet was shown advancing and approaching the alien ship. A big hand and arm then appeared, attached to the alien head and making a sign that most probably meant for the Vorlak fleet to reverse course and withdraw, which it did without firing a shot. The presentation ended by showing the Vorlak fleet returning to its home planet, while the alien captain harbored a big smile. As the top picture then froze, the bottom picture started changing. At first, it basically showed the same as in the top picture, with the Vorlak fleet approaching the alien ship. However, the video showed a Vorlak jumping out of one ship to attack the alien captain. A huge fist coming out of the alien captain’s picture then punched the Vorlak hard, projecting him far away, while the Vorlak ships were shown being destroyed by missiles from the alien ship. Wooshek snickered as the video froze. The alien way to communicate was quite crude, but it was also simple and easy to understand.

‘’So, you pretend to destroy my fleet if we don’t turn around and return to Shumesh, eh? Fat chance! Let’s give this alien captain a typical Vorlak answer. WEAPONS MASTER, FIRE A VOLLEY OF MISSILES AT THAT ALIEN SHIP. PULVERIZE IT!’’

The Vorlak weapons officer was tempted to point out to his admiral that the alien ship in question was bigger in terms of volume than all the ships of the fleet compressed together but abstained: questioning an order was a good way in the Shumesh Empire to lose your rank or even your life.

‘’FIRING FULL MISSILE SALVO NOW!’’

On the KOSTROMA, that missile salvo was detected at once, with Patricia O’Neil shouting a warning to Tina.

‘’THE VORLAKS ARE NOW FIRING MISSILES AT US! I COUNT SIX

MISSILES NOW ON THEIR WAY AND ACCELERATING QUICKLY.’’ Tina shook sadly her head on hearing that.

‘’A typical response from a bully accustomed to only face weaker opponents. You are witness to the fact that the Vorlaks fired on us first, Gerald?’’

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‘’I am, Tina!’’ replied Gerald Holmes, his expression hard. ‘’You now have the legitimate right to defend yourself from an unprovoked attack.’’

‘’Thank you, Gerald. Yoko, use our lasers to destroy those missiles once they will be within 500 kilometers from us, then start cutting to shreds the Vorlak fleet. Don’t stop until all the Vorlak ships will have been destroyed.’’

‘’Aye, Captain!’’

On the Vorlak flagship, Wooshek watched with growing disbelief as his six missiles quickly disappeared one by one from the radar screens while still well away from the alien ship. Since the lasers of the KOSTROMA were tuned to a frequency not visible to the naked eye, he had no visual clue of how his missiles got destroyed. He was still wondering what had happened when a loud explosion of sparks from the forward face of the bridge compartment made him instinctively turn his head away for an instant. The hurricane of an explosive decompression then followed, with the Vorlaks not attached to seats being sucked out of the bridge compartment through the widening cut through the ship’s hull, to end in the void of Space. The last vision of Wooshek was that of Space itself, when the whole right side of the bridge compartment flew off the ship, completely cut off by a 1.2-gigawatt laser beam. The same laser beam, fired on continuous mode against the flagship, kept digging deeper and deeper through the heavy cruiser, until it touched off one of its missile magazines. The VALASH then blew up in a spectacular explosion which projected debris all around. Some of those debris in turn collided with other ships of the fleet, either damaging them seriously or squarely destroying the smaller ones. With the three other cruisers of the fleet also being systematically cut to ribbons by invisible laser beams, the remaining Vorlak ships still intact reacted in the only manner they knew how to do: they fired their own missiles at the sole visible enemy ship in sight. On the KOSTROMA, Tina immediately ordered in response her laser batteries to switch to automated anti-missile mode and to also jam the Vorlak fire control radars. However, while the Vorlak ships were now temporarily rid of the KOSTROMA’s laser fire, that didn’t mean that they had stopped hurting, far from it. Already deployed out of their protective, armored silos positioned behind the underside of the forward bow section and masked by the massive, 700-meter diameter bow shield of the KOSTROMA, the four recently installed heavy rail gun turrets of the ship each pointed at one of the surviving Vorlak major units. Their 150-meter-long barrels, in essence being powerful electro-magnets put end to end and fed with 200 megawatts of

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electricity, started shooting up compact armor-piercing projectiles at muzzle velocities of twelve kilometers per second. In open Space and at typical interplanetary speeds, that kind of muzzle velocity would have been considered marginal in terms of precision against a moving target. However, when shot against ships simply coasting in orbit around a planet, or against a fixed ground target, the kinetic impact of their projectiles was devastating. The Vorlak troop transports hit by the tungsten carbide-tipped shells of the KOSTROMA’s heavy rail guns were literally deformed by the 260 megajoule impact energy of those shells, which produced as well blinding flashes on impact. The melted mass of the projectiles, followed by melted metal from the ships’ hulls, then went through from end to end, literally gutting those ships. The KOSTROMA also had eighteen much smaller, 25-meter-long rail gun turrets housed inside its six huge landing leg pods, but Tina decided to keep them in reserve for the moment. It took anyway only a bit over four minutes before all the Vorlak ships were destroyed, their parts destined to eventually fall from orbit and burn up on reentry, while none of the Vorlak missiles even got close to the KOSTROMA. However, Tina decided to continue using her laser batteries in order to cut the larger pieces of debris into smaller ones, so that they would not cause significant damage on the surface of Hyanesu when they would enter the atmosphere. Some nine minutes after opening fire, Tina finally decided that the job was done and sat back in her command chair.

‘’Well, that’s one problem that has been taken care of, people. Now we will need to make sure that there are no other Vorlak ships or fixed installations on the surface of this moon: we need to get rid thoroughly of this Vorlak infestation on Hyanesu.’’

20:31 (Universal Time)

Village of Wynona, moon Hyanesu

Shanandar, a big grin on his face, closed the link with the KOSTROMA on his tablet, then looked at Kravek.

‘’You may pass this good news to your Hoshi friends: the Vorlak fleet has been totally destroyed. The KOSTROMA is now going to do a full reconnaissance of the moon surface in order to make sure that there are no other Vorlak ships or fixed installations on the ground.’’

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Nearly giddy with joy, the old Kravek wasted no time in translating Shanandar’s words into the Hoshi language, prompting the armed Hoshi in the room into pushing out a scream of triumph.

‘’HEEEEIII! I’m going to pass this news to the rest of the village.’’ On those words, the Hoshi galloped out of the house and into the street, where he went up and down the alleys while shouting the good news around. Soon, the whole village was dancing and celebrating. Seeing that, Michel Koniev walked to Kravek’s house, entering it and going to join Shanandar and the other Koorivars. Shanandar’s joy was somewhat doused when he saw the serious expression on Michel’s face.

‘’Is something wrong, Michel?’’

‘’Maybe, Shanandar. We may be celebrating a bit too soon right now.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’That we may have destroyed one Vorlak fleet, but that it is most likely that the Vorlak have more ships on or around their planet. Also, since they were making periodic raids on this moon, it is very possible that they established one or more ground fixed installation or landing pad on Hyanesu. If there are any of those, then we must find them quickly and destroy them. Now, could you please ask the resident Koorivars if the Hoshis ever told them about any such Vorlak ground facilities? This could be very important.’’

‘’Uh, you’re right. Give me a minute.’’

Shanandar then looked at Kravek and at the Koorivar family whose’ house they were in.

‘’My friend Michel needs to know if you or any Hoshi has seen or heard about fixed Vorlak ground installations on Hyanesu, things like barracks, headquarters or landing pads for ships.’’

His question in turn prompted the three adult Koorivar residents into an involved discussion in a Koorivarese tainted with Hoshi words. Shanandar patiently let them plenty of time to talk between themselves, with Kravek finally looking at Shanandar and Michel.

‘’There is an old tale about a traveling Hoshi merchant who supposedly saw some kind of Vorlak camp from a distance but stayed cautiously away. That merchant said that there were buildings and one landed ship visible. He however did not dare get closer to have a better look. He also said that the Hoshis who had been living in villages near that Vorlak camp all deserted them, to go live far away from that camp.’’

‘’I can’t say that I blame them.’’ said Michel. ‘’And where would that camp be?’’

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‘’Some seventy ryals from here, to the Northwest.’’

Shanandar, seeing Michel looking a bit confused, then helped him out.

‘’The ryal is a Koorivar unit of length measurement. Seventy ryals would equate to about 310 of your kilometers.’’

‘’Okay! Anything else?’’

‘’No!’’ replied Kravek, shaking his head. ‘’The Vorlaks don’t like much traveling on the surface: they are paranoid about being ambushed on the ground.’’

‘’How typical! Bullies are often cowards at heart.’’ snickered Michel. ‘’Very well: I will transmit this information right away to the KOSTROMA. I am sure that Tina will make good use of it.’’

21:20 (Universal Time)

Command bridge of the KOSTROMA

In orbit over Hyanesu

Tina was silent as she looked at the pictures and videos transmitted by the reconnaissance probe sent to investigate the possible Vorlak camp signaled by Michel. In fact, everyone was either tense or filling with cold rage while watching those pictures, including Gerald Holmes.

‘’Those fucking, monstrous bastards!’’ muttered the husband of the Chairperson of the Spacers League Council. He, Tina and others on the bridge were now viewing a live video feed showing a part of the Vorlak camp. That camp was however in reality a fully-fledged base, with permanent buildings, a large warehouse, three hangars and three concrete landing pads. It also had a number of vast, fenced corrals full of Hoshi captives. What was enraging Gerald Holmes and Tina was a view of a sort of scaffold situated between two of the corrals and on which a chained Hoshi was screaming in pain while being tortured with electricity by a Vorlak guard. It took everything to Tina not to bang her fist on the armrest of her command chair.

‘’That poor Hoshi is probably being publicly punished for something in order to scare the other captives into total submission. What a bunch of barbarians those Vorlaks are!’’

‘’Yeah, they remind me of some of the Human dictatorships we had in our past.’’ added Holmes, a bit sarcastically. ‘’However, that doesn’t excuse their present behavior. What do you intend to do about this Vorlak base, Tina?’’

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‘’Normally, I would simply raze it to the ground and exterminate all of those damn Vorlaks, but there are all those poor Hoshis inside the base which could be killed by our fire. We must find a way to free and evacuate them before we could unleash all of our firepower. That will in turn definitely need the use of ground troops. Unfortunately, we have a grand total of only nine trained security personnel on the KOSTROMA, of which four are already down on the planet. Let me think for a moment, Gerald. Dana, collate and analyze in the meantime all the images and data we now have on this Vorlak installation. Have our probe infiltrate those buildings as much as safely possible, to see what is inside them.’’

‘’Got it, Tina!’’

Thinking of a practical and relatively safe plan of action proved difficult to Tina, partly because her mind was still boiling with the anger caused by the images of the Hoshi being tortured. She was still not sure how to proceed when Minh Wa Hien, who was controlling their reconnaissance probe, suddenly turned in her seat and violently vomited on the bridge’s deck. Alarmed, Tina jumped out of her command chair and ran to the sensors specialist, who was still bent forward and throwing up.

‘’HIEN, WHAT’S WRONG?’’

Hien, unable to speak, pointed a shaking finger at the display screen showing the live video feed from one of the micro-spy drones of the probe. It appeared to be inside a part of the Vorlak warehouse, which looked like a walk-in freezer. Dozens of meat carcasses were suspended from steel hooks, with one Vorlak visible some distance away, busy cutting off parts from a carcass. Absolute horror filled Tina when she saw what the ‘carcasses’ were.

‘’HOSHIS! THOSE MONSTERS BUTCHER HOSHIS FOR THEIR MEAT!’’ She herself felt like throwing up and she stepped back from the sensors station, while Gerald Holmes ran to it to look at the view from the probe. He also had to look away after a second, horror and disgust on his face.

‘’Those fucking Vorlaks! They are clearly a danger to all the sentient races which they will get close too. If we establish Human or Koorivar colonies on Oceania, or on this moon, those colonies will be at constant risk of attack by those monsters. We have to do something about them.’’

Still deeply shaken, Tina could only nod at Gerald’s words.

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‘’Yes, we certainly do, for the sake of the Hoshis and of any future colony in this system. However, such a decision is way above my pay grade. I am after all only the owner and captain of a single cargo ship, not some head of a planet or space consortium.’’

‘’Then, I will go get a decision for you, Tina!’’ said Gerald forcefully. ‘’You still have a jump capable shuttle aboard the KOSTROMA?’’

‘’Uh, yes? What do you have in mind, Gerald?’’

‘’I intend to make a quick trip to the Solar System and present to my wife all the data, information and video footage we have taken in this system to date, then will ask her for a set of directives and orders for you. Knowing her the way I know her, I am certain that she will not stay insensitive to the tragedy the Hoshis are living through.’’

‘’What if she rules that we have no business in involving ourselves in alien matters?’’

That got Tina a dubious look from Gerald.

‘’After she will have seen the pictures of this cold room, I doubt very much that she could then take such a cowardly decision.’’

‘’Very well! I believe that we have little to lose by sending you back home on a liaison trip. Go prepare a suitcase for your trip while Patricia O’Neil will compile all our present data and imagery on a thumb drive. Alan Ashford will pilot our interstellar shuttle.’’

‘’Thank you, Tina! I will make it quick.’’

As Gerald was about to run out of the bridge, Tina stopped him by calling his name out loud.

‘’GERALD!’’

‘’Yes, Tina?’’

‘’Please be convincing with your wife.’’ she said in a near pleading tone. ‘’I am not ready to watch more such horrors and do nothing about them.’’

‘’I will do my very best, Tina.’’ promised Gerald before leaving. Tina watched him go, then slowly turned towards Dana, sitting at her navigator’s station.

‘’Dana, could you check if we possibly could strike and destroy the Vorlak installations without endangering the Hoshis held in those corrals?’’ Dana simply nodded her head, then started working up her station, using the video links from the reconnaissance probe. After about two minutes, she looked back at Tina.

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‘’I believe that we can do it, Tina. I will just need to build a fire plan that will then be executed under the control of Spirit, in order to achieve maximum accuracy.’’

‘’Good! Start working on that plan, Dana.’’

06:17 (Universal Time)

Saturday, May 22, 2320

Governor’s official residence

Callisto Prime, Callisto moon of Jupiter

Solar System

Janet Robeson felt a bit like a zombie as she prepared her first cup of coffee of the day. She had worked late at her gubernatorial office and had to wake up early this morning because of a scheduled policy meeting. Not that this meeting was one she really wanted to attend, far from it, but politics often was about compromises. She sighed when her wrist videophone buzzed, announcing an incoming call.

‘’This better not be someone trying to push his personal points even before the meeting.’’ she said to herself. Punching the ‘open line’ button, she felt her heart jump in her chest when Gerald’s head appeared on the small display screen of her wrist videophone.

‘’GERALD! YOU’RE BACK!’’

‘’Not for long, though.’’ replied her husband, his expression sober. I came on one of the jump-capable shuttles of the KOSTROMA and intend to return to the Gliese 581 system as soon as I will have a chance to show you a few things and discuss them with you.’’

‘’The Gliese 581 system? Then, that Koomak Drive really works?’’ Her last sentence made Gerald smile briefly before he answered her.

‘’Oh yes, it works very well and the future will never be the same for Humanity, I can guarantee you that, Janet. I suppose that you are home right now?’’

‘’Yes, I am! However, I am due to attend an important policy meeting at nine.’’

‘’That meeting, what will it be about and who will attend it, if I may ask?’’

‘’Oh, there is nothing secret about it, Gerald. It is going to discuss interplanetary trade issues and a number of my ministers, plus a few trade and economy experts, are going to be present. So, what made you come back to Callisto ahead of the KOSTROMA’s return?’’

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From serious, Gerald’s expression then turned to somber.

‘’The KOSTROMA’s mission is far from finished, Janet. It still has to find the SHUNDAR and the SHANIZAR but it has found many things during the last month, some of them very disturbing. I am now in a taxi that is about to arrive at our house. Once there, I will show you a few recordings and data. I don’t want to discuss this on an open line, so I will wait until I am home. See you in a few minutes, my dear Janet.’’ Gerald then closed the link, leaving Janet standing in her kitchen, wearing a robe and looking at her now dark videophone screen.

‘’Damn, I better put something on before Gerald arrives: God knows if I will have to get moving after he shows me his recordings.’’

Some three minutes later, Gerald entered the residence, being let in by one of the two government security agents posted at the main door of the official residence. Janet, having hurriedly put on a simple long dress, nearly ran into his open arms and exchanged a passionate kiss with him before looking into his eyes.

‘’My god, Gerald, the last month felt really long without you.’’

‘’The same here, my dear Janet. However, that month was no wasted time, I can assure you.’’

‘’Let’s go to my private study: there, we will be able to discuss privately what you want to show me.’’

‘’A good idea, Janet.’’

Going up the main staircase together, the couple soon entered the large, well-furnished study used by Janet for her work and to receive important visitors. Gerald moved one of the rolling easy chairs of the study and placed it behind Janet’s work desk, beside her own chair, then put his laptop computer on top of her desk and opened it.

‘’To make it short and sweet, know that the KOSTROMA has visited to date the Gliese 667C, Gliese 625 and Gliese 581 star systems and is presently around the moon of the third planet of Gliese 581. On the way, we found and rescued 1,359 Koorivars who had survived and multiplied inside a mining complex on the fourth planet of Gliese 667C. Those Koorivars are presently sheltered aboard the KOSTROMA. Then, on Gliese 625, we found the single planet of the system to be uninhabitable, with no traces of the passage of the SHUNDAR. What we found however was the ancient crash site of an alien ship, dating back by some 6,000 years. We found some remains of one alien

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there, a sort of gorilla with two pairs of arms, which Tina Forster is calling a ‘Gordo’. Just that is proof that intelligent life is not so rare around the galaxy…or the Universe.’’

‘’Six thousand years?! My god, those aliens could have advanced a lot since then.’’

‘’Yes, or they could have self-destroyed, the way Humanity nearly did to itself in the past. Anyway, from Gliese 625, the KOSTROMA jumped to the Gliese 581 system, to resume its search for the SHUNDAR. By the way, the Koomak Drive is proving to be a complete success: it is safe, dependable and allows us to jump to another star system in the blink of an eye. Once adapted to more of our ships, Humanity will then be able to roam at will among the stars. On that, I can tell you that we have found a minimum of three intelligent species on three of the celestial bodies of the Gliese 581 system. We also found traces of the passage of the SHUNDAR on the moon of the third planet, plus one old Koorivar survivor from the SHUNDAR and eleven offspring from three other survivors, who have by now died of old age. This is where we hit a snag that is now causing me to see you: those survivors were helped and sheltered by a local race of intelligent centaurs called the Hoshis, after their shuttle was destroyed by missile fire from an alien ship that came from the third planet of the system and that also chased the SHUNDAR away. Those aliens, called the Vorlaks, have been conducting a campaign of enslavement and genocide against the Hoshis, on top of having fired without provocation on the SHUNDAR and its shuttle. Even worst, we have just found out that the Vorlaks butcher the Hoshis for their meat and eat them.’’ Janet’s eyes and mouth opened wide with horror and disgust on hearing that.

‘’Those Vorlaks butcher and eat another intelligent species?’’

‘’Yes, and they also fired on the KOSTROMA after Captain Forster ordered them to leave the orbit of the moon of the third planet. I was witness to that. As you may guess, that turned out to be a very bad decision on their part. The KOSTROMA, acting in self-defense, then destroyed the Vorlak fleet orbiting the moon, which is called Hyanesu by the way. Shortly after that, we found a Vorlak surface base on Hyanesu, where the full scale of the horrors committed by the Vorlaks then became evident to us. I have to warn you that the images you are about to see are very hard to watch, Janet.’’ Janet steeled herself mentally, then nodded her head once.

‘’Go ahead, Gerald. Show me what you found.’’

Gerald selected the video compilation file recorded by the reconnaissance probe and its micro-drones in the Vorlak camp, then opened and started it. Janet then watched in

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silence as the recording started to play. Seeing the poor Hoshi prisoner being publicly tortured created a flash of anger in her, but the next views, taken inside the Vorlaks’ freezer room, proved much worse. Despite Gerald’s warning, she barely kept herself from vomiting and turned her head away for a second. She however regained control and forced herself to watch the rest of the video, sighing with relief when it came to an end.

‘’My god, I have rarely seen something as horrific and disgusting as this. What does Captain Forster plan to do about that Vorlak base, Gerald?’’

‘’She wishes to destroy it and free the Hoshis held there, Janet, but she realizes and understands the long-term political implications of such an action and is asking for your official support. After all, this would mean that we, Humanity, would go to war with the Vorlaks in order to defend an intelligent race of aliens being massacred by those Vorlaks. There is also the question of the safety of all the intelligent marine life on Oceana, the fourth planet of the system, if the Vorlaks manage to get there. Right now, their space technology is inferior to ours and they proved no match for the KOSTROMA but, if given a chance to improve their technology in the coming decades, they will eventually become a very real threat to the species of the fourth planet and of any colony we could establish there. What Captain Forster urgently needs now is some political backup that would allow her to defend the Hoshis and eliminate the threat represented by the Vorlaks. Please realize that both Oceana and Hyanesu would be excellent candidates as new home worlds for the Koorivars of the SHUNDAR and of the SHANIZAR, once we find them. The local Hoshis have already declared that they would be happy to greet at least a few thousand Koorivars on Hyanesu, while our exploration team on Oceana is awaiting a response from the intelligent sea turtles there on whether they would allow floating cities to be established on their planet. At the rate things are going, the KOSTROMA is liable to discover more habitable worlds and more intelligent races in the next star systems it will visit while searching for the two Koorivar refugee ships. How to relate and deal with various alien races has now become a very pertinent and urgent question. However, I realize that discussions on such novel policy making could take a long time indeed and I must emphasize that Captain Forster needs some political support now if she is to do what is needed to save the Hoshis from the Vorlaks.’’ Janet sat back in her chair and was silent for a long moment before she finally replied to Gerald.

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‘’You said that the Vorlak space technology is inferior to ours, but the Vorlak base you showed me is quite large and is liable to contain many Vorlaks. To save the Hoshis being held captive in it while also destroying the base would need a substantial number of ground troops, as the fighting on Mars and Earth during the 2315 War proved to us. How many trained fighters does Tina have aboard the KOSTROMA?’’

‘’Only a handful, literally, while four of those are already down on the surface of Hyanesu, protecting the Koorivar survivors living in a Hoshi village.’’

‘’And those Hoshis, could they support Tina’s security officers in an assault on the Vorlak base?’’

Gerald shook slowly his head in response.

‘’The Hoshis may be brave, but they are actually at the technological level of the early Middle Ages and are no match for the projectile weapons and missiles of the Vorlaks. For them to assault that base would result only in a bloody massacre.’’

‘’I see!’’ said Janet, who then fell silent again while thinking furiously. Gerald didn’t say a word then, knowing how his wife’s mind worked when faced with a problem or an emergency. Janet finally came out of her thoughts and, powering up her government computer, which was linked to the highly encrypted and secure computer network of the Spacers League, started typing out a message, watched by a curious Gerald.

‘’Uh, what are you typing, Janet?’’

‘’An operational order for our patrol cruiser CENTURION, which is presently docked at the Callisto Main Orbital Terminal. I am going to send it to Gliese 581, along with a company of Space Marines, with orders to support the KOSTROMA.’’

‘’We have another ship equipped with the Koomak Drive?’’ nearly exclaimed Gerald, shocked, making Janet nod while she was still typing.

‘’Yes! Before Tina Forster left with her KOSTROMA, she sent me the full schematics and technical data for the interstellar Koomak Drive.’’

‘’Yes, I remember that. You in fact booted me out of here afterwards, to send me on the KOSTROMA.’’

The facetious tone used by Gerald while saying that attracted an amused smile on Janet’s lips.

‘’Well, after I booted you out to the stars, I decided to have at least one ship fitted on a priority basis with the Koomak Drive and contacted Gustav Shomberg, at the Avalon Space Yards. With him declaring himself ready to do the work immediately, I

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then sent to his shipyard our newest patrol cruiser, the CENTURION, to be fitted for interstellar travel. Mister Shomberg, who knows me and respects me a lot, then gave me a little extra as a gift and had anti-matter ‘cruise’ engines fitted as well to the CENTURION. So, while not as big and powerful as the KOSTROMA, I will be able to send you back with a ship as well equipped and advanced as Tina’s ship…and more.’’

‘’Uh, what do you mean by ‘more’, Janet?’’

Janet then stopped typing for a moment and swiveled her chair to look directly in her husband’s eyes, her expression now dead serious.

‘’By that, I mean that the CENTURION will have anti-matter warheads aboard as it will leave for Gliese 581.’’

‘’ANTI-MATTER WARHEADS?! But, Nadia Suslov, the ex-CEO of the

Sverdlovsk Group, was sent to jail for trying to acquire illegally the secrets of the Koorivar anti-matter technology.’’

‘’She was sent to jail because she wanted that technology in order for her consortium to gain preeminence over the rest of the Spacers League and because she had ordered the murder of a woman and the kidnapping of a Koorivar engineer in order to acquire it, Gerald. However, if we and the Koorivar can have an interstellar drive, so can other intelligent races around us in the galaxy. As the discovery of the Vorlaks amply proves, not all such alien races may prove benevolent or even indifferent to our existence. I thus decided to have a limited quantity of anti-matter warheads produced by the Avalon Space Yards, where Mister Shomberg personally built them in secret, and to equip the CENTURION with those warheads, plus a few extra ones made for the KOSTROMA’s missiles and heavy rail guns. I swore to myself that those anti-matter warheads were going to be used strictly in the defense of Humanity against a space invader or interstellar threat. Well, I now consider and declare that the Vorlaks constitute such a threat. If there is something that I supremely hate, it is a bully. As bullies, the Vorlaks will simply get what they deserve, while the Hoshis and the other sentient races of the Gliese 581 system will be able to live in peace and security afterwards.’’