Invasion Page 18

  “So, Olivia, what did you find over there?” Alaya was the first to ask.

  “Captain, that ship is tightly packed with women, children, old people and a crew that knows only the basics about how to fly it. Their engineer is not a ship’s engineer but rather an automated farm equipment engineer. From the looks of it, that corvette has not been maintained for decades. I have no idea where they kept it, but it must have been an open air museum.”

  “So, then they are refugees and not pirates,” Slone remarked.

  Olivia knew enough about how things worked to know she could only speak to what she personally saw. “As far as that particular ship is concerned, I would say yes. I have no idea about the others, but why would pirates drag civilians along and why wait for me to repair the ship?”

  “All good points. They are moving to the base, which has offered them refuel and resupply but I am not sure they have space to feed more people. I doubt they will get supplied from the corporation, given the situation on the home world. If the colony does not get relief in the next six months, then they will also be refugees,” Alaya indicated since they were in constant touch with the colony.

  The Mary Rose moved back to the colony but stayed in orbit. Ayala sent Tavia down with the skiff to pick up Captain Neumann and his family. They were now refugees as well. Captain Neumann had warned his family about the serpents, but they still froze the first time they saw them, until the soothing human speech of the aliens relaxed them. Soon the children were full of questions for the aliens.

  “Thank you for helping us out, Captain Slone,” Captain Neumann said.

  “I only wish we could help all of the refugees from Brandenburger Corporation. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of them,” Alaya remarked. Her heart went out to all of them, since the Andromeda 7 had been refugees themselves in the past.

  The day after the battle with the Saltic ship, the scout vessel was at rest and in orbit when Deadeye, who was on watch, detected an energy surge and immediately sounded the general quarters’ klaxon. Everyone aboard sprang into action and ran to their stations. Since Alaya carried only 25 Special Forces and no actual crew aboard a ship built for a crew of 50, her special forces also had to double as naval crew. This was easier aboard the corvette, since there were no cannons to service. Alaya arrived on the bridge along with her husband, the two guest captains as well as Tavia, Olivia, Blue Scale and Hatch. As soon as Alaya sat in the captain’s chair she asked for a report.

  “Sss. Captain Slone, an energy field is forming in the middle of the system and it has become a wormhole,” Deadeye reported.

  “Has anything come out of the field?”

  “There is nothing on sensors,” Olivia reported.

  Alaya heard a hiss from Hatch’s station, “Sss. Captain, two invisible ships have come out of the wormhole.”

  Alaya breathed a sigh of relief. “Secure from general quarters,” she ordered then turned to her husband. “Looks like the rest of our reconnaissance fleet has arrived.”

  “Olivia, open a coded message to the Tempestas,” Slone ordered.

  “The line is open, Captain.”

  “Captain Christopher Slone to the NR Tempestas. Welcome to the Munich system. I am sure you have detected the Saltic ship drifting in the system. It has been neutralized. As you pass it send techs over for a full salvage. We have taken what we could. After salvage, destroy the derelict. We will rendezvous with you at the Saltic ship along with some refugee ships that will be traveling with us. Become visible as soon as you get this message.” Slone then turned to Olivia and indicated the message was finished. “How long is the round trip?” he asked his daughter.

  “Just over two hours, Captain.”

  “Put me through to the colony,” Alaya ordered.

  “Captain, the channel to the colony is open and the wormhole has closed.”

  “Commandant Schneider, this is Captain Alaya Slone. You may have detected a wormhole open and close in the system. This was made by the rest of our reconnaissance fleet which I felt compelled to order here in case of another attack by the Saltic. The fleet is presently invisible but I have sent them a message to become visible. Round trip for the message and detection of the ships will be just under two hours.”

  “Thanks for the heads up. We were already concerned when we detected the wormhole without you warning us you were making it.”

  “We will be breaking orbit and moving to rendezvous with our ships at the site of the Saltic derelict. We will be taking the refugees off your hands as well.”

  “We greatly appreciate that,” the commandant acknowledged.

  Olivia now looked up from the communications console, “Captain, there is a frantic message coming in from the frigate Hermine.”

  “Put it through.”

  “This is Captain Bogarde of the frigate Hermine. Captain Slone, we detected an energy surge that came on and off but we detected no enemy ships coming through.”

  “Captain Bogarde, this is Captain Alaya Slone. The surge you picked up was a wormhole made by the rest of our reconnaissance fleet. It came through invisible but will become visible shortly. I would like your fleet to follow me to rendezvous with our fleet. You will be safe under their protection. You can then come along with us to a safer area.”

  “Thank you, Captain Slone that would be greatly appreciated. We do not want to be a burden on the colony, but I also must see to the safety of my people.”

  “Break orbit and follow us,” Alaya ordered.

  The Mary Rose broke orbit and moved towards the derelict Saltic ship which was a four hour transit from the mining colony. The refugee frigate and two corvettes followed after the scout vessel. While in transit the rest of the fleet became visible and reached the Saltic ship first. Salvage started immediately. When the Mary Rose reached the battleship, she landed on the flight deck and told the refugee ships to stop near the Avenging Talon that was staying clear of the salvage operations. Slone requested that the captains of the refugee ships come aboard the Tempestas for a meeting. Once they agreed, Slone sent a skiff over for them, since they only had a few antique boarding sleds. The Slones had spoken with Captain Melissa Bogarde but had never actually met her. They were not quite ready for the reality. Out of the skiff came a tall, stately woman in her forties who was dressed in a long, black leather coat with a red, short tunic beneath. She wore thigh high, black boots and on her head she wore a reproduction of a hat from old earth called a Stetson. She also wore a gun belt over her tunic with two, large revolvers as well as a few grenades and an electrical stun pistol. She may claim not to be a pirate, but she certainly looked like one. With her were two captains dressed in the usual casual jumpsuit of freighter captains, even though they were technically captaining war ships. The Slones were there to meet with the captains and introduced themselves. Olivia was also there as was Tavia and Bill Marshal along with Hatch. Captain Bogarde came over to the welcoming group and couldn’t stop staring at Hatch. She also looked around the enormous hangar and saw the mixed crew and troops of both humans and serpents working together. She knew about the serpents, but this was her first experience of seeing them, and one was never really prepared for the shock. Slone did the introductions for his side and when he got to Hatch, she spoke to the newcomers.

  “Sss. Hatch is very pleased to meet you.”

  The surprise on the faces of two of the captains was precious. Captain Potts had already spoken with a serpent. Captain Bogarde then introduced herself and her fellow captains to those who had never met them.

  “I am Captain Bogarde, commanding the frigate Hermine,” Melissa Bogarde began. “This is Captain Potts who is in command of the corvette Marne and finally, this is Captain Emma Moreau who is in command of the corvette Pluton.” As each captain was introduced, they nodded their head. Captain Potts was very thin, older than the others and seemed very nervous and somewhat overwhelmed, which was the same assessment Olivia had of him. Captain Moreau was short and a bit stocky but looked
like a woman in her thirties who should not be messed with.

  “Please follow us to the conference room so we can discuss your needs and what exactly you are looking for as far as the future is concerned,” Slone said and led the way to the conference room and called down to the kitchen to bring up refreshments and hors d'oeuvres. When all were seated, the refreshments and finger foods were served and Slone could see the guests were impressed.

  “This food is excellent. You travel well,” Captain Bogarde remarked.

  “These ships are our homes more than those we have on our home world,” Alaya said.

  “Just a shame you are away from your families so much. It is the reason I and my captains gave up our old life and moved our families to the agro colony. It seemed like a good decision until the attack.”

  “Tell me, Captain Bogarde, what was your old life?” Slone asked, thinking perhaps they had been pirates.

  “My captains and I along with some of our crew were bounty hunters in the employ of the Lagarde Corporation.”

  “Bounty hunting is a noble profession. In some areas you are all there is of the law. We welcome you aboard the Tempestas,” Alaya said. “We also prefer to be with our families, that is why the Romani carry their entire family with them on their ships of war.”

  “The Romani?” Captain Moreau said. “Lagarde used to have a standing bounty on any Romani we could capture. They considered you pirates, but this is not a pirate ship.”

  “We preferred to have the corporations think of us as pirates, this way they could never take us seriously. Trust me when I tell you, we are not pirates,” Slone pointed out. “We are now allied with Lagarde Corporation, so there is no longer a bounty to collect. We are here now to try to get the corporations to unite against a common foe, the Saltic. To that end, we have to decide what to do about your group.”

  Just as Slone finished this last statement, the general quarters klaxon came on and over the ship’s intercom Slone could hear Tom Gardner’s voice, “General quarters, this is not a drill.”

  Everyone at the table got up and Slone asked the captains to join him on the bridge, since their ships were without ammunition. All entered the bridge and everyone snapped to attention. Slone told them to carry on and asked for a report. Raul Cortega was at the sensor station and reported.

  “Captain, there is a wormhole forming approximately four hours from our position.”

  “Load ship killer missiles in all tubes. Put a can opener and a follow shot into two of the front tubes,” Slone ordered and all waited to see what came out of the wormhole.

  Chapter 8 – Senatus Consultum

  Slone knew that he had time no matter what came out of the wormhole and did not yet have a plan to deal with it, since it would greatly depend on what the level of threat was. If it consisted of only Saltic escort vessels, then it would not be a problem. He felt with the battleship and the serpent dreadnought he could handle a harvester ship with its escorts. If more than one harvester ship came through along with escorts for both, then he was in real trouble and would have to decide if he wanted to abandon the colony and the refugees. As all of these considerations went through his mind, Raul Cortega looked up from his sensor console.

  “Captain, I am picking up multiple ship contacts coming through the wormhole. There are four very large vessels, larger than automated freighters and there are now large numbers of smaller vessels and ten dreadnought sized vessels.”

  Slone was overwhelmed. There was no way he had a prayer of handling a fleet that size with what he had. Suddenly, Tom Gardner broke into his thoughts. “Captain, incoming message from the Longinus, the ships are ours and the four big ones are battleships.”

  “Put the message through.”

  “This is Captain Lorenzo. We are inbound to the mining colony with a decree direct from the senate which will affect all Romani going forward. Prepare your vessels for incorporation into the fleet and have your captains and centurions ready to discuss strategy. We will meet aboard the Tempestas. I would also ask that the commandant from the mining colony be present to answer questions necessary for the mission. Our transit time is just over 7 hours to the colony. We will rendezvous in orbit.”

  “Tom, send acknowledgement,” Slone ordered. “Paul, take us into orbit above the colony. Captain Bogarde, I will have you and your captains returned to your ships. Please follow us into orbit.”

  The refugee captains acknowledged and were taken by skiff back to their ships. The Tempestas and the Avenging Talon moved towards the colony. As they were traveling to the Munich mining base, a frantic message came from the base requesting information about the very large fleet that just entered the system and if there was a threat. They were relieved to hear that it was a Romani fleet. After reaching the seventh planet, the fleet went into a stationary orbit above the Munich Mining Colony. Anyone seeing the Romani fleet couldn’t help but be impressed. The tenth legion was there, centered on the Consular ship, the NR Longinus. There were a total of ten dreadnoughts in the legion with a screening force of ten cruisers and twenty destroyers. Along with this there were now five battleships, each carrying a full legion of 6000 troops and the serpent dreadnought assigned to the Tempestas. The entire fleet then consisted of fifty six ships and six full legions totaling 36,000 legionaries with the tenth legion itself. Overall command of the force rested with the Second Consul of the Republic, Juan Lorenzo. The fleet sent over the captains of all the ships along with the primary centurions of the six legions present. Captain Lorenzo came over with the primary ground commander of the legions, Legatus Victoria Edmonton. More than one legion present at a time was termed a consular army and required that Consul Lorenzo personally commanded the ground combat. The Legatus would be his primary advisor and command any secondary fronts that were opened, should that be necessary. The conference room aboard the Tempestas was now fully opened and the meeting filled it. The conference room aboard the Longinus would have been too tight. Slone had sent a skiff down to bring the commandant of the colony up and also present were the Captains Neumann, Morel and Bogarde. When all were seated, the twelve Lictors who carried the bundles of rods, known as Fasces, that marked the rank of consul enter with axes affixed to the rods to indicate the Romani were at war. Six Lictors stood on each side of the chair at the head of the table beneath the great seal of Nova Romae, a golden eagle facing right with a wreath in its talons surrounding a sphere of old Earth. Below was a plaque with the letters S.P.Q.N.R., standing for the Senate and People of Nova Romae. Consul Lorenzo then walked in accompanied by Legatus Victoria Edmonton. As soon as the Romani saw their consul, they all stood up and snapped to attention.

  “At ease. You may all be seated.” All sat down as Consul Lorenzo also sat down and continued, “Captain Slone, have me patched through to the fleet.”

  Slone called into the bridge and ordered Tom Gardner to put Consul Lorenzo on the combat channel. Once Tom acknowledged that the line was open, Slone nodded to the consul and said, “The battle channel is open, Consul.”

  “This is Consul Juan Lorenzo, let all present now hear the will of the Senate.” Throughout the fleet there was dead silence. The silence was so deep that the non-Romani aboard felt a slight bit uncomfortable. They had never seen such reverence given to any corporate government. Lorenzo continued, “The Senate has seen the video logs from the Tempestas and the Mary Rose. There can be no doubt that all of humanity is at risk from the Saltic invasion. The corporations Spinward of the Sol system have all allied with us and are mobilizing. They have also agreed to pass the torch of leadership to Nova Romae. That alone should indicate the gravity of the situation. As a result the senate has issued a Senatus Consultum, a Senatorial Decree. There will be a general mobilization of all Romani forces. All 38 Romani legions will be activated. This has never before happened in the history of the Romani. From this day forward, the Romani will kill all Saltic no matter where they are located. There will be no quarter given and we can expect none in return. To surrender t
o the Saltic is to die. The senate has ordered us to the home world of the Brandenburger Corporation and we are to seek out and destroy all Saltic ships and forces. The Romani will lead, if the others will follow or not. This is the will of the Senate and it cannot be altered. Make all ships battle ready.” Lorenzo then nodded to Slone who told Tom Gardner to close the battle channel. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lot of work to do and I would like to attack the Saltic on the Brandenburger home world tomorrow. Let’s discuss strategy.”

  The next five hours were spent examining holograms of Brandenburg and the capital city of New Berlin and discussing how to handle the Saltic ships in orbit. From what they knew of the Saltic, there was no hope of finding any humans alive aboard their ships. As soon as they were brought up to the ships, they were processed for their brains and their bodies were disposed of. Normally, fighting among the humans was a process of boarding ships with the intention of capturing them and holding their crews for ransom. In this case, total destruction was the order of the day. When they were finished with the discussions and all they could think of was dealt with, all were told to get a good night’s rest and make sure their crews do as well. Lorenzo dismissed all but the refugee ships captains. The fleet would move out at noon, earth standard time the next day. Remaining in the conference room were the refugee ship captains, the commandant of the mining colony, the Slones and the Marshals with the ever present Hatch.

  Lorenzo looked at Captain Bogarde and said, “Captain Bogarde, I understand that you and your people are bounty hunters and the families of bounty hunters. I know that Captain Slone has been protecting you while you were with his reconnaissance fleet, but that will no longer be possible. I can offer you two options; we can open a wormhole and send you wherever you wish to go, or you can join us in humanity’s fight against the Saltic. There will be no bounties and no prizes, since I doubt the Saltic would ransom their own and I have no idea if the corporations will pay us for the salvage rights to any ships that are captured intact.”