Serpents and Vipers Read online

  Lorenzo gave that some thought and made a note of it for when they got home. He was also impressed with how easily Tavia did her reporting. He was not sure if he should be insulted that his rank never seemed to impress this young scout. She was indeed destined for greater things if they made it home. “I assume the hatchling can read her language? If we needed to fly this craft without its crew, could we do it with her helping us?”

  Raul picked up on the problem. “Consul, you’re worried about the crew being taken out then?”

  “Taken out or detained, if for some reason there are rebels on the base. We have to keep on the lookout for anything until we are back in our own space.”

  While this discussion was going on, Tavia was conversing with the hatchling in her broken serpent language. She finally turned to the others, “Hatch says she can read the language. Apparently they are genetically born literate by injecting their eggs with DNA containing all of the basic knowledge needed.”

  “Handy, saves a lot of primary school time,” Lorenzo remarked.

  “She can help us fly the ship and will stay with us when we land. She is also very worried about stopping at any serpent base. Apparently she is still shaken up from the reception we got when we arrived at her home world.”

  “Tavia, you are doing a wonderful job learning to communicate with the serpents. If we ever need the position filled, I would like you to become our first ambassador to them.”

  “I am honored to serve, Consul,” Tavia said and saluted, which Lorenzo returned.

  Lorenzo had to smile at the enthusiasm of youth. “Check your weapons and armor, and then get some rest. We will meet back here in the hold an hour before arrival. Sleep in your armor and keep the weapons nearby, in case we get attacked before arrival.”

  All acknowledge the order and then they turned in. Hatch went into Tavia’s sleeping quarters and curled up near the entrance. Tavia was having some trouble getting to sleep. She had already seen more death and combat in her young life than most of the officers and enlisted persons in any existing military. Now she was witness to the society of her alien friends being ripped apart and no one knew why. At least no one told them, if they knew. Since meeting her first serpent, Sly, she loved the fearsome looking alien race that was so much a part of the Romani military. She knew the humans could not understand her love of them, since most Romani respected them but tried to keep their distance. In the 32nd century, all forms of racial discrimination and other forms of human inequality were gone, since everyone in space found himself or herself in the same predicament when earth became uninhabitable. However, the Romani had spent three human centuries with the serpents, but they still did not invite them into their lives. She also knew this did not bother the serpents, since they did not spend a lot of time trying to make friends with the humans. Tavia looked down at the sleeping hatchling and smiled as she drifted off to sleep, knowing how lucky she was to have friends.

  An hour before arrival, the serpent crew and the Romani were on the bridge as they approached the mining base. The base was still too far to see. Actually, the planetoid it sat on was hard to see among all of the other asteroid bodies in the multiple rings around the cluster of central stars. Lorenzo noticed that the serpents were all wearing body armor and carrying small, railguns attached to their backs with the stock over the shoulder for quick access. He was glad to see Captain Artok was as cautious as he was. “Are you expecting trouble, Captain?”

  “Sss. What happened on home world was serious. Do not want to take chances.”

  “Wise of you, Captain. May I also suggest that we remain aboard while you and your crew do the resupply? We can keep an eye on things.”

  “Sss. As you humans say, you will ‘watch my back’?”

  Lorenzo nodded, surprised that the serpent knew a human expression. Apparently, their allies observed the humans more than the humans did the serpents. As they approached the mining base, Lorenzo was struck by how much it looked like every mining base he had ever been to. Apparently, no matter the species, there are only so many ways you can build a mine. The approach went without a hitch and the ship passed through the force field and into the landing bay. After the Cold Death landed, a ground crew came out and immediately hooked up the refueling hoses.

  Captain Artok turned to his human charges and said, “Sss. They have heard about the troubles on the home world and they are concerned there could be an attack. Ships have been coming in and out of the system, many of them invisible, which is not the usual procedure.”

  “We will be on the alert then,” Lorenzo said as the serpent crew left the bridge by the bridge ladder.

  The hangar deck was a hive of activity. Captain Artok expected this, since they all knew his ship had priority and had to be rapidly restocked and refueled. The fueling was underway and well along. The hangar crew brought the food and other necessities to his crew who then stowed them aboard the vessel. Since the mining base was the only serpent habitation in the system, it also acted as the system guard post and carried a full restock of ammunition. Artok replaced the swarm missiles he had used in the escape from Primary Jungle and added several more to the stock. He also replaced the “lure mines” that he had used. The Romani had seen these spheres used against the invisible ships. From their conversation, Artok knew the humans thought these were only to render invisible ships visible. That was only partially true, since they were also used against visible ships. What they actually were are nanobots that adhere to any object and send out a homing beam to attract the swarm of mines released by the swarm missile. Extra lure mines were also stowed in the magazine if needed. While he was supervising the restocking of his ship, Captain Artok kept testing the air with his tongue. This allowed him to visualize by scents, what past activity occurred in the hangar and if anything out of the ordinary was there. Serpents had the ability to visualize past arrangements of objects, living and non-living, buy testing the chemicals in the atmosphere with their tongue. These chemicals form scents and other traces, which show up in the serpent mind as spherical clouds of different colors in their field of vision. The more intense the color is, the more recent the event. The serpent captain kept a close eye on matters, but could detect nothing out of the ordinary. There were no recent visitations to the station. Anyway, if the station were compromised, they would not have told him about the visitation of invisible ships, thus putting him on alert.

  As the ship was loaded for a long space voyage, Tavia, Lorenzo and the hatchling helped stow the supplies as they came aboard. The hatchling told Tavia where things went. Raul stayed on the bridge to keep an eye on the hangar. With only one hand, he would be of little help in the resupply. As the resupply was more than half done, Raul called on Tavia and the Consul to come to the bridge immediately. As they did so, they looked out of the transparent bridge bubble and saw a lot of activity with supplies now arriving faster than before.

  “Looks like something has changed, Consul,” Raul reported.

  Lorenzo watched the activity for a few more seconds, and then said, “Let’s keep doubly alert. Something is going on.”

  The activity the Romani noticed began when the control room on the mining base detected several ships entering from the inbound slipstream and going invisible. They were tracking the emissions and it would still be eleven hours before they reached the mining base. By that time, the Cold Death would be long gone. It looked like there would be another race for the outbound slipstream. Loading should be done in an hour. If the outbound slipstream were opposite the inbound, that would translate into a ten-hour head start. Unfortunately, the outbound slipstream was not that far from the inbound, so they would have to wait until the enemy was three hours out to make a run for it, or the enemy could simply beat them to the slipstream and wait there. At best, given speed and reaction time, they would have a two-hour lead in the race. The ship was fully stocked and refueled within the hour and now it was time to wait. The serpent crew stayed out for a while talking with the hangar crew
and some others from the base. As it became time for departure, the crew came aboard and took their usual positions and the humans went back to just watching. It was nearing the time for departure, but the bridge hatch to the outside remained open, to allow the hangar air to enter and save using the onboard life support until they left the safety of the hangar. The three-hour mark finally rolled around and the hatch was closed. Captain Artok ordered the switch to internal life support just as a shrill whistle began to sound throughout the hangar and heavily armed serpents in full armor started to arrive in the hangar area. Suddenly, very thick blast doors began to come together, from either side of the entrance, to meet in the middle and seal off the opening. The Cold Death was not going anywhere.

  “Captain, what is happening?” Consul Lorenzo asked.

  “Sss. I do not know. Let me go out and check.”

  Captain Artok reopened the bridge hatch and left the ship. They could see him through the bridge bubble moving over to one of the crew chiefs in the hangar. There was discussion and then a whistle on the bridge communications console. There was an exchange in the serpent language. After the line was closed, the bridge crew left the bridge through the door leading deeper into the ship. As they did so, they signaled the humans to come with them. Thus far, none of the crew, other than the captain, had spoken to the humans and they assumed none of them spoke their language. As they followed the serpents into the large hold, one of them turned to the Consul.

  “Sss. We put on armor. Enemy coming,” one of the serpents said. Since they all looked the same to the humans, in the absence of what station they operated, Lorenzo had no idea which of the deck crew spoke to him.

  “I did not know you spoke our language. Are they not still three hours away?”

  “Sss. Captain will explain. My language not good for that.”

  The serpents continued to put on their armor and each took a railgun from the rack against the aft wall. They also took an extra set of armor and weapon for Captain Artok. When they were suited up and had their weapons stowed on their backs, they opened the hold entrance and walked out onto the port wing of the ship. The humans followed. Though the wing was quite a height over the deck, Captain Artok leapt up in a single bound. She put on her armor and affixed her weapon on the back. She then turned to Consul Lorenzo.

  “Sss. The rebel ships have fired missiles at the base. They will hit in a half hour. The automated defenses sealed the base.”

  Lorenzo realized the gravity of the situation immediately. Even though the ships were still three hours out, their speed was added to the speed of the missile when it reached the end of its fuel. This meant the missiles would reach the planet well ahead of the enemy and forced the defenses to seal the base, thus preventing the humans from leaving. Lorenzo had to admire the tactical skill of the serpents. They were worthy opponents, even if this was a civil war. Now all the enemy had to do was fire missiles at least every half hour and the base would stay sealed. They had effectively turned it into a prison for the Romani. The only question remaining is; are the missiles nuclear?

  “Captain, what are the chances that the missiles are nuclear and, if so, can the base withstand a nuclear attack?”

  “Sss. Not nuclear. They are only meant to keep base shut. They know it is too dangerous to override the seal and would take too much time.”

  Tavia was the one to ask what was on all their minds. “Captain, what do you think their plan is?”

  Lorenzo saw immediately that Captain Artok was more comfortable responding to a female human. She also knew the special relationship of Tavia and her clan mother, Sly. “Sss. Lady Tavia,” the Captain used a human term of reverence and this did not escape the notice of the Consul. “We believe they will land outside and breach the hangar doors. We are planning for a full attack.”

  “Is everyone on the base loyal, or do we have to watch for traitors?” Again, Lorenzo noted that Tavia knew what would be of greatest tactical interest.

  “Sss. Lady Tavia, all here are loyal. They will die to protect you and the Consul. When the time comes, you will wait on the bridge. Small railguns cannot damage the ship.”

  When the first thirty minutes were over, the missiles reached the surface and began hitting the mining base and surrounding area. Most were taken out by the point defenses but a few got through. Since they were conventional missiles and the base had a very hard shell, no damage was done. Lorenzo had to remember this trick. He would not have thought to bombard a base from a distance to keep it from launching ships. Sometimes he wonders if the serpents are right, and they are smarter than humans are.

  About 15 minutes before the ships were due to arrive, a large visual bubble appeared in the air over the hangar and was filled with a view of the sky above the base. The ships could just be made out as small points of light. As everyone watched, the points of light rapidly grew into serpent ships. The Romani now knew the ships had a crew of five and could hold an additional 26 passengers. More if you put some in the hold. There were five ships inbound. If each carried 31 serpents, they were looking at a total attack force of 155 serpents. From what the Romani had seen, this was going to be a bloody fight.

  When the ships were over the base, the planetoid defenses engaged and started to fire large railguns and missiles at the intruders. The ships sped rapidly through the fire, but one of them had a wing sheared off and another was hit hard by a missile and they could see several serpents falling out of the side of the vessel. These were wearing space suits, as they were landing on an airless world, but, at the speed of their approach, they would not protect them from the impact on the planetoid. The force was reduced a little, but not by much and the serpent pilots were excellent and managed to land on the airless world. They could see the ships disgorge their cargo of serpents, a mix of male and female all wearing armored space suits. Lorenzo noticed the defenders in the hangar also suiting up in space suits and ordered the Romani into the ship. They did not have space suits with them, so they told Captain Artok their plan to go to the bridge and pressurize it. This way they could keep the hold open for quick evacuation and fall back by the crew. It was obvious that Captain Artok was planning to fight along with the mining crew. The Romani admired this and planned to watch for any chance to help. The Romani and Hatch moved quickly onto the bridge and closed all entrances to the area. Tavia asked Hatch how to re-pressurize just the bridge. Hatch went over to a panel, read the labels and pressed a button while letting out a low whistle, and they could feel the air entering the bridge as the life support kicked in. Now all the Romani could do was watch. They did not have long to wait.

  When the enemy reached the blast doors, they set to work overriding the controls from the external control panel. The doors are designed to protect against bombardment, mostly from meteors but also, in the rare event of an attack. They are not meant to keep serpents out. Therefore, they have an external control panel. The enemy overrode this and the doors slowly opened. They opened along the midline, and the air began rushing out of the hangar. The doors to the lower levels of the mining base had been sealed, so only the hangar was depressurizing. The enemy had hoped to catch the defenders without their spacesuits and kill them by exposure. If it worked, there would be no fight. To that end, they did not reactivate the force field when they opened the doors. Lorenzo watched this and quietly was amused to see that the serpents, who considered themselves more intelligent than humans, were not free from making rookie mistakes. A number of them were standing at the seam of the blast doors with the intention of being the first to run in and attack. Someone should have told them that was a bad idea. As the Romani watched the outside feed, the doors began to open and the internal atmosphere, which was pressurized against the outside vacuum, suddenly rushed out with such force, it picked up and threw five of the attackers before the rest could throw themselves on to the ground. Since the planetoid was small, it had little gravity once outside the artificial gravity of the base. The force of the initial blast of air was the stro
ngest since the opening was at its smallest. It did not take much to propel the five enemy serpents to escape velocity and they left the planetoid and entered the surrounding asteroid belt. They would die a slow death as their suits ran out of life support. Their plan did not work, since the defenders had discussed the possible attack and decided a fight in vacuum was possible, since they forced the closure of the blast doors for a reason. The battle would also be a short one, since teeth and claws were covered by the space suits and a small knick in the suit meant a quick death in a vacuum. This battle would be resolved with conventional weapons.

  Once the hangar was completely depressurized, the enemy serpents entered in a line with railguns blazing. It did not take the Romani long to assess how this was going to end. The mining crew along with the various ship crews outnumbered the attackers by a good five to one. However, the attackers had the advantage of armored space suits that were hard to penetrate with the hand held railguns. The defenders had to hit their targets in relatively the same area of the body several times to penetrate and puncture the suit beneath. The defenders only had the non-armored space suits. Even the crews of the ships, including Captain Artok’s crew, wore their space suits over their armor, rendering the armor useless to save their lives. Since the railguns recycle very slowly, the combination of factors negated the numerical advantage of the mining crew. As the Romani watched, the attackers started moving into a curved, protective formation. As the defenders were falling, Lorenzo was thinking about how they could help. The attackers were placing themselves into a tight formation that allowed them to fire in a tight volley and kept the defenders hidden. Intuitively, Lorenzo knew this was the time to act, if they could help in any way.

  “Tavia, see if Hatch can figure out how to activate the ship’s weapons.”