CONTACT

By J R Christensen

This is a science fiction story I wrote in 2002 and when I didn't have spell-check, so please forgive the many spelling errors. The story is pretty long (about equal to 82 pages of a paperback novel) and is set around 1,400 years in the future.

Part 1

“Contact“ the computer said.
The lieutenant looked across the cabin as the ensign opened up the field array. The system graphics rolled through reality as his sens lifted the uplink into his mind.
“Number three?” the captain’s voice whispered, ghost like. He licked his lips, concentrating on the input, closing his eyes to get a better look.
A bright red triangle, trailing data had appeared over the second planet, some ninety AU´s from the ship.
“Unidentified track“ he reported, “in orbit around the second planet.
“Emission is in the green“ the ensign said softly.
The lieutenant opened his eyes to look at his screens.
“my plates are all green“ he confirmed.
For several minutes no one spoke, as the data flowed through their minds and the ship waited.
On her bridge, the captain hung motionless, watching the stars. To one side, two civilians, scientists, waited nervously, whispering to each other.
“Helm“
The pilot twisted her head.
“Follow the prescribed course, all hands! Prepare for evasive action. Com! Relay the data to the Cabot“
“Confirmed“

Her secondary engines ignited and the ISS Livia Drusilla began to accelerate. Slowly at first then with ever increasing speed, she began to leave the influence of the fourteenth planet in the system and forty thousand kilometres behind her, her companion, the ISS Cabot began to recall her probes and robotmen.
As she moved, the Livia Drusilla opened her flanks and four smaller drone ships dropped away to take up defensive positions around her.

The Livia Drusilla was an Apollo class cruiser, carrying fifty humans from the Sol system. Its mission was simple, to escort the Imperial science ship Cabot to the Parker system.


Two jump probes had already been sent to this system, the first arriving in 3292, and the second in 3312. Neither was heard from again.
When the first probe failed to return, the assumption was that it had met with an accident. This happened to about one in every fifty missions, as systems were often difficult to enter, with all manner of debris surrounding them, and an AI controlled jump probe was vulnerable to a virgin system. In fact all ships were, that was why the first probes were always unmanned.
However, when the second probe also disappeared after relaying back its initial transponder broadcast, questions began to arise. Jump probes were cheap, whenever some one else was paying for them, and the Imperial science commission was not the richest of the Imperial organs. The committee charged with the investigations of unexplored systems, therefore recommended a military expedition. This left the problem with the armed forces, who were the only ones equipped to deal with such matters, as well as the bill.
The committee for the search for extra terrestrial intelligence got very excited and demanded representation which the navy board disliked, but passed on to the chiefs of staff to decide.
The joint chiefs, non the wiser after having read the original reports as well as the secret intelligence reports, the SETI recommendations and the science committees advice, debated amongst themselves at their annual state of the empire meeting. The problem came to rest on a single point. They had to go, the president ordered it, as well as the fact that the science committee had made it impossible to avoid by quoting the constitution, which clearly stated that extra terrestrial intelligence was interesting and should always be looked into.
The admirals sitting about the table were supremely indifferent to extra terrestrial intelligence, when the cost of examining it was to be deducted from their own fleet’s budget.
The grand admiral shook her head there fore and passed the matter to open debate.
Second Sol pointed out that he was stretched across thirty two light years, and had no man power to spare. Third Sol was out of the question as he was on the far side of the Paya system, over a thousand light years away, and not present at the meeting.
Every one knew that only first Sol had the extra ships, but the grand admiral was their direct superior, so no one cared to mention this fact.
Instead the buck was passed to the first Martian fleet, he scowled and looked at second Mars, but she was looking back with a raised eyebrow. They both knew she had not the ships as he had already over burdened her this year. Her fleet was fully engaged.
First Mars sighed and accepted the order. Small smiles broke out around the table at his discomfort, and the agenda moved on to lunch.
As he chewed his lasagne, first Mars looked over his status chart. His mind rested on the name, Captain Fatima Robinson. Commander of the Livia Drusilla. He had a general dislike for Arabs and a particular dislike for this Arab, so it was with a tight smile he posted her new orders.
There was always a silver lining if you just looked hard enough.


“D4 reports a metallic mass at seventeen MK“
Captain Robinson turned to glance at her board as the data popped up. Metallic mass. No emissions. Cold.
Another then another appeared. Soon there were close to a thousand tracks, strung out in a long line, twelve million kilometres long.
“Wreck?” she asked the lieutenant.
“I think your right Ma am, it could be one of the jump probes. The dispersion pattern is about right“.
“Let D4 take a closer look “
Her commander’s insistence on terming her as an Arab was infuriating. She had nothing what so ever against Arabs, but captain Fatima Robinson was ethnic Indian. She had lived all her life amongst other ethnic Indians and it had never occurred to her that there would be such discrimination, but when she graduated to find her self the only ethnic Indian officer in the entire fleet, she began to notice all the small differences the world kept putting in her way. Like this mission. It was exactly the sort of thing she had joined the navy for. Travelling far beyond the boundaries of human space to explore new systems. Yet she knew that most of the other captains would have regarded such a mission as an insult. She felt alive out here on the edge.
“D4 confirms“ the lieutenant’s voice interrupted the quiet chatter of the civilians behind her.
The drones report came up on a secondary screen before her. The wreckage was that of the second jump probe. And it appeared to have been lasered. Optics confirmed this, showing several heat blisters on the tumbling wreck.
The Livia Drusilla was still accelerating, and still seventy-two AU from the second planet. Even so the captain felt it was probably a good idea to go to alert status. She relayed the command to the ships primary AI and the lighting toned into a bright amber.
“Captain?“ the older of the two civilians spoke. She turned her command module to keep them in the corner of her eye.
“Yes Mr. Tanner?”
“What is happening now?” he leaned forward to speak quietly, “ are we going into battle?”.
The other scientist, a woman in late middle age, stared at her as if she had threatened them with violence. Fatima Robinson kept her face as neutral as possible. She had already had a run in with this woman on the nature of any possible contact.
“No sir, we are merely taking precautions so we don’t end up like that lasered wreck back there “
“but..“ began the woman.
“we have no evidence to suggest we are dealing with aliens here, this could have been the work of humans“
“Out here?“ Tanner smiled politely.
“There are many human settlements outside the core systems. Many people wish to start up for themselves and given the possibility, do so“ she replied,“ all it takes is a fair sized ship with jump capability“
“Why would they destroy two jump probes then?” he asked.
She broke away to examine a screen, pondering just that. Why indeed? They must understand that this would bring more attention to them than if they had simply just been discovered. Perhaps there were aliens here, and she would be the captain who found them. She smiled to her self, but some how the knot of tension that was sitting in her stomach refused to be persuaded.
The two civilians looked as if they shared her doubts. Tanner was watching her, whilst his companion Dr Holland, was darting her eyes from one screen to another. The watch was due to change over, so she sensed number two and asked her to take over. Sliding from her command module, after it had opened up like a banana, she stretched in the low gravity, and motioned to the hatch.
“It will take us about twelve hours to get within decent sensor range, so we have plenty of time. Would you like to join me for some lunch?”
Tanner smiled, his face opening like a light.
“I’d be delighted“ he turned to Dr Holland, “Drue?”“Yes that would be very nice “ she toned, still fixing her attention on the wall screens.

1_2

When the Livia Drusilla was only four AU´s from the second planet, fourteen hours later, the first long range bioscans began to pick up detailed information on the second planet. It was an e world. A planet with an equally wet and dry atmosphere, with a tolerable atmosphere for the human biology. When this information became common knowledge, it turned the quiet military atmosphere on board into something close to a party. Even the captain began to smile and laugh for no apparant reason the two scientists could understand. Tanner thought about this for a while then remembered that the crew of a space ship that discovered an e world, had the rights of discovery, they almost oened it, but not quite. This meant that they were allowed to sell the rights on behalf of man kind, either to the imperial administration, for a set fee, or if the empire was not interested in the planet, to the commercial sector. A planet in the Parker system was far beyond the boundry of human space and would not fetch the billions other such planets had, but the crew were in for a large bonus after they returned to Mars. It was with a start that he realised; he and Drue were also entitled to a share, as they were assigned to the ship. In an undertone he questioned the captain on this and she nodded happily.
“Four years ago, another ship discovered an e world even further out than this one and they sold the rights to colony administrator for ninety million credits!“
“Ninety million credits“ he gasped. Drue turned sharply to stare at him.
“What ?“
He quickly told her, and she stared in shock at him.
“Do you mean to tell me that we are rich ?” she demanded. He nodded enthusiastically.
“Unless we all get lasered like that wreck“ she heard the pilot mutter.
The smug smile on the captains face vanished, and she opened her mouth to say something, then turned sharply to her screens, her eyes glazing over.

The two forward drone ships were almost a full AU ahead of the Livia Drusilla. As they sped through the cold void, they scanned all around them in constantly changing patterns and frequencies, chattering to each other in close hyper wave emissions as they went. Suddenly D1 detected a new radio source close to their target area. Radiation spectoscope analysis was onto it at once and it hailed the Livia Drusilla, with its findings.
D2 brought all its sensors to bear and found nothing. It muttered this to D1 who passed back a recording of the brief emission, and together they worried the strange broadcast, into millions of bytes of data. No patttern. Not even a noise signature. D2 thought of a possibile and asked the Livia Drusilla.
“What kind of power source ?” asked the distant star ship.

The captain turned back to the two scientists, and motioned to a flat screen where numbers were dropping into place.
“Radio ?“ the lieutenant said to himself. “Heat, or reflected solar radiation“
“were getting he figures now“ replied the com.
“It looks human “ said Dr Holland, her voice betraying her disapointment.
The captin shook her head. No human ship could hide from the Livia Drusilla at this range.
“D2 is picking up a new signal“ said the lieutenant.

D2 focused on this new, second track, leaving D1 to find the original again. The signature was easily recognisable as identical to the first. It trilled in suprise, moving its mind into a higher thought routine for extra speed. D1 turned its hyper wave back at it and agreed. D2 pointed out the new comer to the Livia Drusilla, who was silent for once.
D1 reached across the millions of kilometers between them with a hyper wave caress, then began to deploy its submunitions, into a tactical pattern.

Aboard the star ship, the human and AI crew watched silently as D1 followed its robotman pack on an intercept course. The captain chewing her lip, glanced at the ready board and seeing the green light for the marines, gave the command for her two Centurion class assault craft to deploy. The Livia Drusilla vibrated slightly as they dropped away from her bay, each racing to their designated positions.
Nothing happened. The minutes passed slowly and soon the whispering voices became murmurs. After twenty minutes had passed. Dr Holland turned to the captain.
“Well ?”
Fatima Robinson ignored her. She was pleased to note that neither the com or the pilot spoke.
“We just passed four AU´s “ said the lieutenant in her mind, “ D1 is at less than two point two“
The com turned to glare at her. “ Listen to this “
A distant roar of hissing static filled the room. Below the violent noise, she could make out some kind of squealing, high pitched pattern.
“ what is that ?” she asked.
The com shrugged, and turned away. She looked at the two scientists. Tanner shook his head, “alien voices ?” he suggested.
She held his eyes for a second before the com spoke again.
“I´m getting a visual”
All eyes turned to the main screen as an abstract shape, in various grey and white tones appeared.
“Thats a ship” said the pilot. No one disagreed.
“Looks a bit like a Hyadian science ship “ said Dr Holland.
The captain frowned. “why is it here then ?”
“I think its a wreck “ said the pilot, “its tumbling, do you see ?”.
“The first jump probe ?” wondered the com. Both the pilot and Dr Holland spoke at once.
“No way its far to big.”
“No thats a much larger ship“
“Why is it here ?” the captain repeated herself.
“How can we know that ?” returned Dr Holland. Tanner nodded, he opened his mouth, but the computer spoke first.
“Contact”
“Contact” agreed the com.
“Where ?” the captain snapped. The system filled her head instantly, “ range and bear…”
Even as she spoke she saw D1´s stats disolve into red damage figures.
“Fire control !” she shouted.
“Wait you can´t . . . ” Dr Holland cried.
“Evasive !“.
She heard the panic in the pilots voice, and her chest thumped with andrenalin.
“D1 is gone !” fire control´s voice cut through the chatter, “we have range”
“Fire at will” the captains voice cracked with emotion. Fear lurched through the cabin. Even Dr Holland was silenced.
“D2 reports multiple targets emerging from the atmosphere”
“Hit !” shouted fire control. The captain closed her eyes to get a good view of the battle. Her cruiser was firing with both batteries at the distant red triangles. D1 and 2 were both gone, she could´nt see either of them, although she could see the orb-guns D2 had left in its wake.
She sent orders to her two remaining drones to give her covering fire, and was turning her attention to the distant Centurions when..
“contact”
A new icon had suddenly sprung into existance, some five million kilometers, directly in front of the Livia Drusilla.
“How ?” she gasped, D3 winked out of existance, and the Livia Drusilla´s batteries opened fire on an automatic self defense over-ride.
The ship lurched, throwing her against her straps. The lights flickered and behind her she heard Dr Holland cry out in pain as she was flung to the deck.
She opened her sens to fire control, when the ship lurched again, slamming her face into her flat screen. She felt the sickeng crunch of a broken nose, and blinked away the tears that sprung from her eyes.“Fire control . . “ she began.

1_3

The Barbarigos dropped across the face of the planet. Some where behind her, the last of D2´s orb guns were being silenced one after the other, as the mysterious weapon swept towards them. The pilot watched as the last of them evaporated, sweat running into her lips.
“ Faster !” hissed the captain behind her.
She pressed harder against the bar, knowing it was futile, the Centurion was already at maximum velocity, and they were passing through the thermosphere, the hull was still holding but it was a suicidal planet fall. A part of her mind watched the environ figures clinically; Oxygen, Nitrogen, Argon, Carbon Dioxide, Helium, Neon.
Suddenly the engine temperature flared, and her boards rippled from mostly green to a confusing patch work, the Centurion shuddered, power dropped.
“ Are we hit ?” screamed the captain.
The pilot glanced at the damage stats, the numbers were dropping drastically, she felt sick.
“ Well ?”
“ Yes sir “
Engine number two was gone, hull integrity was failing, her entire right flank was maimed.
“ No sign of pursuit “ said Navigation, his voice calm.
She fought to regain control, the reactor was till intact! The remaining engine was still green, altitude was forty seven kilometers now. The stratosphere.
“ Crew ?” the marine captains voice cut through her concentration.
“ What ?!” shouted the captain.
“ How are we ?”
For a few seconds no one spoke. Forty two kilometers.
“ We´re going down “ said Navigation.
At twenty five kilometers she killed the engine. Three of the four anti-gravs were operational, the fourth was slag.
“ The marines should bail out “ Navigation spoke over his shoulder. The captain, bracing himself, his eyes glazed, almost hypnotised by the altimeter in his brain, muttered incoherently. The gunner met navigations eyes and nodded.
“ Squad “ he sensed to all.
“ Yeah ?”
“ You might as well deploy now, we . . we might not make it “
“ We´ll make it ! “ the pilot snarled to herself.
Nine thousand meters.
Eight thousand meters and the belly hatch spun away amid a shower of debri, three marines scattered into the wind.
Seven thousand meters, and suddenly the Centurion was bucked by turbulence.
Six thousand meters. The two remaining marines dropped away into the wind.
Five thousand meters and she brought the tree anti-gravs up to speed. Number four´s stats began to ripple into amber. The Barbarigo was shaking violently, she brought the nose down, and the number four anti-grav stated showing reds. She disengaged it, and brought environ up to visual with her sens. Below them wa a vast blue ocean, dotted with tropical islands.
“ Shit it looks just like home !” she gasped.
Two thousand meters.
The cripppled ship levelled out and dropped,, almot smoothly towards the nearest island. Already they were below the summit of its central volcano. She looked for a good LZ, but the island was packed with dense vegatation.
“ You land on that beach on the far side of the bay “ said Navigation.
It was the only option. At four hundred meters, she knew they were approaching to fast, but number one anti-grav was beging to show amber readings.
“ Brace yourselves ” she cried.
The asssault craft slid across the open bay, her tail heavy and slipping with the wind. She reached the farther shore and doing almost two hundred kilometers per hour, ploughed into the rocky surf. Water, sand and splinters of volcanic rock were thrown in all directions as she hit, buckling up her nose, before bouncing side ways and almost tipping over as she slid along the sand. Her for wings both crumpled up and the port wing spun away into the trees. Several side panels cracked up and were pushed in as her port flank dented then fractured. She slid to a stop within thirty meters, coming to rest in the open sand. The sand and water cascaded away and silence descended. A thin trail of steam rose from her rear but apart from that, and the surf, nothing moved. After a while her tranponder began to broadcast an automatic mayday.


Hardwicke droppped through the tree tops, all sensors wide open, his rifle up and ready, Photon and Spectrum deployed to his left and right. He hit he ground quite hard, but smoothly rolled into a ready position and waited. After ten minutes had passed and nothing had moved, he began to move through the undergrowth, slowly and cautiously.
“ King ?” he sensed. There was no response.
“ Photon “ the drone crept through the bushes to hover beside his knee.
“ Yes “ it senswhispered.
“ Scout around and see if you can find any of the others “ It paused for a second then darted away. Hardwicke waited patiently, ignoring the worry that was building up in the back of his mind. Keeping the tactical overlay in vision he examied the jungle around him. It was suprisingly earth like, although the greens were a bit to yellow, and some of the insects were enormous. He saw an animal. It looked like a bird, but it had no beak. Instead it appeared to have two glossy black mandibles. It was black, with a long bright red tail, and when it spread wings and flew he saw it had feathers, although the wings looked stumpy and deformed.
“ I´m at the Barbarigos “ sensed Photon. “ It came down on the beach “
“ How far away is it ?”
“ About five hundred and forty two meters “
“ Can you get any contact ?”
“ No, it scans empty “ Empty ?
“ Hold still, we´ll be there in a few minutes “ he said, The he turned and beckoned to Spectrum.
From the trees, he assault ship looked like a monstrous giant beelte that some one had swatted. Its port side was crushed in and several of the panels had been pushed up, which enhanced the beetle image. He ran his target over it but it was still hot inside. The cockpit hatch was still in place, although the skin around it was buckled. He waited looking up and down the deserted beach, then scanned the sky with all his sensors. Nothing. Audio enhanced and filtered the back ground sounds but there was nothing, except the ships transponder beeping slowly on the emergency frequency, and the static hiss fromm the reactor.
After half an hour he stepped out into the open and walked over the ship.
He relaxed when nothing happened. Calmly he climbed onto the hull of the Barbarigos, his armoured suit relaying its temperature back to him. Still hot from its re-entry but not to bad. Certainly not enough to have killed the crew.
The cockpit hatch was a large and T shaped. It was self powered but when he tugged at the manual release it refused to move. He stepped back and pulled the emergency release instead. Several of the explosive bolts detonated with muffled thuds rupturing the hatch frame and bending up one end, but the buckled hull held the hatch tight and cursing he clambered over and brought his rifle to bear. It took forty minutes for his laser to cut through the damaged hull, until finally he was able to wrench the hatch open. The ship was dark inside, but the bright tropical light fell on the four figures sitting below him. They were all dead. He knelt beside the hatch peering down at them trying to guess what had killed them. Their suits were still intact, and despite the cruel landing, the cockpit was still in good condition. He could´nt make it out. He stood up and looked around. Where were the others ? even if they had come down on another island, his sens should be able to reach them. Even without a satelite his com had a range of seven hundred kilometers, but there was no answer, not even a location pulse. He looked back down at the crew, sitting staring ahead, as if they did´nt understand that they had died. The Livia Drusilla was gone, all the drone ships and the other Centurion had also been destroyed, and now all his companions were dead or had simply disapeared. Hardwicke sat in his wasp coloured armour suit on the hull. Photon and Spectrum hovered beside him, worried that he was sitting out in the open. He was the only survivor. The realisation was instant, but it took him hours before he could accept it. And it was weeks before he began to accept that he was the only human being on the planet.

Part 2

Hardwicke spent the first day burying the crew. At first it was slow because of his armour, which he was reluctant to shed, but after he had the pilot up from the dim cockpit, he finally accepted that who ever had killed her had done so through a 40g armoured hull. He discarded the wasp suit, then crawled through the access hatch into the hold retrieving everything he could salvage. The best of this was the small sapper, which he set to cut a hole through the hull, then dig four graves beyond the first trees in a small glade.
Whilst it was busy on the hull, he examined the pilot. He had known her for several months, since her assignment to the Livia Drusilla, knew that she had been popular amongst the male crew, being attractive and single, and knew that she had been in training for an advanced pilots license.
Kneeling beside her small body, he felt a dizzy emptiness that confused him. He looked down at her still face, eyes shut tight, face still clenched against sudden pain. There were burn marks on her finger tips, and when he unsealed and pulled off a boot, he found similar marks on her toes.
Photon hovering beside him, picking up his emotion.
“Was she a friend ?” it asked with its soft sens voice.
He knelt back on his heels and looked at the discus shaped drone. Although it had no face, its sens presence gave it all the personality of a dog, although it was considerably more intelligent.
“Where is Spectrum ?” he changed the subject.
“Inspecting the forest to the north as you ordered” it replied. He nodded and returned his attention to the dead pilot. He recorded his findings in his memory log.
Photon was hovering over the dead pilots head.
“Well ?” he asked.
“She has been electrocuted ?” it asked.
“Yeah I think so, can you see any internal damage”
“Yes several of her organs have ruptured and her brain looks damaged, but I think the electrocution happened after she was already dead”
He flinched slightly, shaking his head wearily.
“The ships memory core is intact, but the AI´s and the computers are destroyed.”
“Can you access the memory ?” he asked.
“Yes “
“What killed them ?”
“There is no entry in the memory of their deaths. The record merely ends seconds before the crash”
“I see”.
Later after the bodies had been lowered into their graves he had stood over them in silence for several minutes. Then he donned the wasp suit, returned to the crashed ship and began to carry the salvaged equipment to the nearby bay. The Sapper, standing by silently observed this, and began to help.

He built a small platform up a plant he mistook for several trees, on closer inspection though he found that they all connected among the brances and were in fact one large organism. He found several of these odd trees after he realised this.
He built a small hut among the trunks where he could store his supplies, then set about building a roof for the platform. On Earth or Mars he would have used palm leaves, but this tropical island did not have them. Perhaps there were none at all on this planet. The closest equivalent were the giant ferns that were littered all over, but when he tried to cut some of these down, he found they leaked an acidic sap that never congealed, but was extremely unleasant to touch. He gave up on the ferns, and searching further found another plant that grew like reeds or young bamboo. He cut several of them down carefully, and found they were harmless. Then sitting on the beach watching the sun go down, he wove them into panels, telling Photon and Spectrum about Robinson Crusoe.
After several days he had finished the shelter. He donned his armour again and checked his weapons and together they flew across the island exploring it for anything that might turn out to be usefull.
The island was roughly seven kilometers wide and about twenty kilometers long. He had not really examined it during the planet fall, but it seemed much larger than he had thought. The vegatation was quite varied, but the giant ferns were every where. The pillar trees too were quite abundant, and some of them were truly gigantic. They found one that must have been seventy meters high at least. Hardwicke was not sure wether terrestrial trees could grow this big, but he knew that martian trees never did. They also glimpsed several large creatures swmming in the sea, but these never came close to the surface, so remained tantalising abstract shapes in his minds eye. They saw no large land animals from the air, but one day beside a river full of rocks Hardwicke found several three toed footprints, made by some thing about the size of a small horse, but the animal itself was not to be found. Even with his invisibility field active, up a tree, with Photon and Spectrum deployed to either side, he remained ignorant of this creature´s form.
He remained ever cautious of the sky, but there was no sign of the mysterious aliens. Day followed day, and he became more and more familiar with the unusual island.
It was on his tenth day he found a statue. Several small rivers ran from the higher ground into the bay, and one of these ran about twelve meters from his shelter. He had explored along it for two kilometers, where he had found a small pool. Here he found several varieties of aquatic animals, that, although they esembled fish, were clearly amhibians. He named them Silver frogs, and using a net, he caught a couple and examined them with his biome. They contained no evident poisons, so he built a small fire and set up a spit. He sat on the sand, with his back to a fallen log, and watched them turn copper brown. The evening was warm, but as always he wore his armour. He was all to aware of the numerous alien insects that swarmed where ever one looked, and the thought of bigger animals kept his eyes darting about the clearing.
There were more practical reasons to. With out his armour he was grounded, and virtually blind, and the need for sudden combat, however remote the possibilty might be, made him ever paranoid.
The Silver frogs tasted awful. In disgust he threw their remains into the forest and as he turned he saw the statue.
It was almost hidden by the plants that had grown over it, but half a face was visible. It had four eyes, two on either side, and as he cleared away the moss and vines he found himself looking at a squat heavy humanoid figure with a face from a nightmare.
“It looks like a crab” Photon said.
“Or a Spider “ Spectrum added.
Hardwicke looked about at the other rocks around him and saw another further up the stream that was the remaining lower half of the statue. He pointed it out to the two drones. Spectrum moved quickly upstream to find any others but returned disapointed.

With the help of the Sapper, Hardwicke moved the two halves of the statue to the clearing by the pool and reassembled them. The Sapper bound them together with a molecular bonding agent and gave them a polish.
The four of them moved back and examined the creature.
If it was a portrait then Hardwicke did not look forward to meeting the model. The alien was clearly some form of crustacean, with an over lapping carapice, crab claw hands and a short stubby tail. It had four legs, two arms and two short antenae. It stood in an attitude of somber contemplation which to Hardwickes eyes displayed the sorrow of loss.
Four days later, Hardwicke moved his camp to the clearing by the pool and the statue became a sentinal. He had the sapper move it again so it was not clearly visible from the sky.
Each day passed slowly from that point and Hardwicke spent most of his time building his hut during the evenings when the sun was cooler. Each night he sat by his fire and swapped stories with Photon and Spectrum. The Sapper stood silently and listened, its black lenses reflecting the fire light. It had no stories in its memory so it stored each new tale with satisfaction.

2_2

A month passed. Then another. The weather grew hotter and hotter until each mid day Photon recorded temperatures in excess of forty seven degrees. Hardwicke found he was running out of food packs, and estimated that he had enough to last four more weeks. He had to find some food, but the heat was unbearable. He spent hours each day in the pool which had shrunk to half its size.
One day the sky changed colour. Hardwicke was building a larger fishing net in anticipation of his first attempt at fishing the sea´s for food. He sat and hummed whilst he worked beneath the shade of the ferns on the beech, and at the sudden chill that swept the land, he looked up and saw a dull grey nothing.
“Rain is coming!” Spectrum announced as it sped by.
“What?”
Hardwicke stood to see better and within seconds he was drenched as the sky opened. He gasped in surprise at the suddeness of it, but then realised that he was witnessing the beginning of a rain season. In his mind he saw the pool and the clearing and he realised he had built his hut to close to the stream. In frustration he remembered all his remaining food packs were in the hut. He began to run, cursing himself for leaving his armour back at the camp.
The Sapper had already removed the food packs by the time he reached the clearing, and it was busy dismantling the hut.
“Well done!” he shouted above the sound of the down pour. The Sapper hearing his voice turned and watched him rush to his armour which was laid on a canvas cloth under a large fern. It waited a few seconds in case the man had anything else to add, then went back to dismantling the hut.
Photon arrived and came to hover besides Hardwicke. “There are creatures moving in the surf”
Hardwicke looked up. “What do you mean? On the beach?”
“Yes”
It took five minutes for Hardwicke to don his wasp suit, then another five minutes to find where the Sapper had placed his rifle. In that time the stream had become a rushing torrent, and the ground was becoming a muddy quagmire. Hardwicke jumped into the air and climbed to forty meters. Photon and Spectrum followed him and took up their combat positions.

The surf was crowded with brownish red creatures and Hardwicke realised that the statue was indeed a life sized portrait. He hovered above the vegetation, keeping his invisibility field active, and watched them as they made their way back and forth. After a while one or two began to waddle onto the beach, and when the others saw it was safe, they surged after them in their hundreds.
“How many do you count Photon” he sensed.
“Seven hundred and fifty four… six” the drone replied, “There are more in the deeper water ”
“There appears to be several predators in the water further out” Spectrum added.
Hardwicke noticed that a group of the crab like aliens had appeared on the ridge of sand and coral that seperated the beach with the bay where the remains of the Barbarigos lay and were waving their arms and hooting in a deep voiced chorus.
“They´re intelligent” he noted.
“It looks like it” Photon replied.
“Lets go and see what they make of the wreck”.
They drifted slowly over the giant ferns to where the remains of their original hut had stood. From there they could see the hundreds of aliens that had gathered around the crashed ship. Several had climbed onto the hull and were examining the cockpit.
“Photon” Hardwicke sensed, “go and check they have not discovered the graves”
“Okay” The drone rushed away.
“That one is carrying a weapon” Spectrum reported. In his vision Hardwicke saw one of the aliens flash red. He zoomed in on it and saw it was indeed carrying a large serrated blade of some kind.
“With hands like those, what do they need weapns for ?” he asked.
Spectrum giggled static.
“The graves are undetected” Photon reported.
“Good” he replied. “Maintain your position”.
The aliens were making a murming noise interupted by the constant staccato of their hands pening and closing. One alien in particular seemed to be making a louder noise than the rest and Hardwicke located this one as one of the group that stood upon the Barbarigos. He wondered if perhaps that was the leader.
“Look behind us” Spectrum sensed. He glanced back and saw the beach behind them was rapidly filling up with new arrivals and although some where rushing to see the downed ship, most were pre occupied with each other.
The rain fell steadily.
A large number of the aliens had begun to make their way up the stream.
“Spectrum, go and warn the Sapper that it is about to have company. Let me know if it needs help“
Spectrum zipped away.
Hardwicke found a branch and sat on it. Several of the aliens around the ship ahd begun to pull at one of the rupture side panels. Hardwicke smiled as they failed to move it. It was after all an armoured war ship.
The speaker on top of the ship began to wave its arms. And Hardwicke wondered if he was seeing a crowd of mixed gender. There seemed no obvious difference between any of them, in fact, he found the more he compared them the fewer differences there were. They were all almost identical.
A huge crowd had now gathered, and still more were pouring up from the sea. Hardwicke let himself hover a few meters above the tree and zoomed his vision to the hazy half distant island on the horison. Sure enough, the beach was a dark teeming blur.
A new noise attracted his attention and he looked down to see several hundreds of the aliens pulling at cables they had attached to the ship, whilst others crowded behind and pushed. Only the leader still stood on top of the ship, and his voice was raised in a strange undulating warble that must have been a chanted command. The aliens were trying to move the ship!
Hardwicke shook his head in surprise.
“Are they trying to move it ?” Photon sensed.
“It looks that way”
“But why would they do that ?”
“I don´t have a clue” he answered, “Perhaps they can only remain out of the sea for a short period of time and they want to examine the ship”
“You think they are here for mating purposes ?”
“Oh yeah, the other island over there is exactly the same”
“They must number in their millions”
“Its weird that they are able to communicate with each other and yet they have such a primitive breeding pattern” Hardwicke mused.
Photon giggled, “I could say the same thing about you!”
“The Sapper is finished” Spectrum sensed. “What should it do about the statue ?”
“Damn it!” Hardwicke spun in the air and started towards the pool. “No wait…” he stopped.
“What ?”
“Leave it where it is. Tell the Sapper to hide well away, and you keep an eye on the statue, tell me what the aliens do when they see it”
Below him the aliens began to warble loudly. They had moved the back end of the ship by a few meters. The nose had been partly dug free of the sand and coral rubble that held it.
Other aliens from the surrounding coasts were coming to investigate. The beach was now packed with a mass of brown claws and waving stubby antenae.
“I see at least four more aliens carrying weapons” Photon informed.
“And I see the first of the aliens coming up the stream” Spectrum replied.
“Have they seen the statue ?” Hardwicke dropped back onto his branch.
“They will in about two minutes time” came the answer.
“JTLK XMM Y?” an unkown voice sensed. Hardwicke jumped ten meters into the air, his rifle going online and selecting the maser setting.
“Identify please” Photon replied.
“This is 182 4 1308 1343 Cuga”
“Cuga!” Photons voice smiled in Hardwickes mind. Cuga was one of Captain Hariq´s drones.
“Cuga, report your status “ Hardwicke sensed.
“I am roughly fourty kilometers north east of your position sir. Approaching at two hundred meters. I should be with you in about ten minutes”
“Where is Captain Hariq?”
“The Captain is dead, his body landed in the sea about seventy kilometers from your island, and is currently lying on the sea bed under twenty seven meters of..”
“So your alone? Wheres Puma?”
“Puma disapeared after we bailed out”
“Sir, the first of the aliens has seen the statue” Spectrum interupted.
“In a minute Spectrum” Hardwicke tried to dislodge the image of Captain Hariq lying on the sea bed. “So you´re alone ?”
“Yes sir. I have been searching for any signs of survivors ever since”
“What took you so long to find us ?”
“I saw King come down on an island about ninety kilometers from yours, and I went there first to find her, but although I eventually found Zed and Zero, they were both inactive and there was no sign of Private King”
“You say you saw her come down?”
“Yes sir, she was still alive the last I saw of her”
Hardwicke felt the despair from his first night returning. He had managed so far to forget he was stranded by keeping busy but now, in the middel of all the fussa round him, it returned with strength. He felt drained and let himslef slump down onto the branch again. His rifle forgotten.
“So why are you first returning to the ship now?” Photon replied.
“The ship was transmitting its transponder signal after it crashed” Cuga explained, “But was it was silenced shortly afterwards and I was nervous that it was easily visiable from orbit. I did not think any one would be here since it was such an obvious target”
The alien atop the ship issued a sharp cry and the ship shifted another few meters. There were now six cables attached and another two were being brought forward. Hardwicke idely wondered what they were made of.
“Sir ?” Spectrum sensed softly.
“Whats happening over there ?” he answered.
“The aliens got quite excited at first and a few stopped to examine the statue for a few minutes, but now they are all ignoring it and they are wading up the river regardless. I think these must be females going to lay eggs.”
“That make sense “ he agreed. “Where is the Sapper ?”
“It is about forty meters from the pool, but most of your equipment is really just a few meters from the statue. If they come in numbers to investigate, they will find it.”
“I see. Well, we´d best move it as quick as possible “ He put aside his sadness and flew quickly up to Spectrum was waiting. Sure enough, the stream was now a raging torrent and the aliens were struggling up against it.“Seems an odd time to go lay your eggs” Spectrum commented.

2_3

Cuga was in bad shape.
Several hours later, sitting under the overhang which had become his new camp, Hardwicke turned the drone over in hs hands and examined it. The Sapper stood heavily beside him, the rain causing it to steam slightly.
Most of Cuga´s mind systems had been spared but its sensors were all but blinded, and its blades would not deploy. Its tiny power plant was fine and it still had its AG in working order, but its shell was scarred by a burn that had wrinkled its skin and turned its camonodes into useless goose flesh.
“Whats the vedict ?” Hardwicke asked the Sapper.
“I can replace the primary sensors”
“Thas all?”
“That’s good enough!” Cuga replied.
“That is all” the Sapper said.
“Very well” he released the drone which floated into the delicate fingers of the Sappers secondary arms.
“The first of the aliens has returned from upstream” Spectrum sensed.
“Has it stopped at the statue then?”
“It has”
“How is it reacting ?”
“It seems to be waiting for others”.
“Do they seem to have any problems seeing in the dark?”
“Not really”
Hardwicke pondered his situaton for a while. He was tempted to contact the aliens, he did not think they were responsible for the destruction of the Livia Drusilla. Their evident surprise at finding the Barbarigos had convinced him of that. He smiled at the memory of all those aliens dragging the ship into the sea. They had not given up until the damaged wreck had disapeared into the surf. Photon had tracked their course into the deeps and now the ship had come to rest under sixteen meters of sea water. Here it had become lodged by large rocks and the aliens had ceased their efforts. Now they were examining it at their leisure.
He gazed up into the darkness and the rain ran down his visor.
The Sapper released Cuga, and the damaged drone moved to a rock and settled itself.
Hardwicke closed his eyes and let his thoughts wander.

“Sir”
He was awake instantly. “What is it?” The Sapper was standing beside him, its lenses regarding him. The rain was still steady, it was the middle of the night.
“I am detecting static in the hyper field Sir”
“Transmissions ?”
“Probably”
Photon hovered into view. “What is the pattern?” it sensed.
“Irregular” replied the Sapper.
“Then it must be tight communications. There must be some one communicting some where in this system”
The Sapper held out its arms and moved sideways.
“What are you doing?” Asked Photon.
“Aligning myself within the planets gravity field” The Sapper explained. “Some times it helps”
“Is it working?” Cuga asked from its resting spot.
“No”
“I´m going back to sleep.” Hardwicke decided. “If youu hear anything usefull, then wake me up”
“Yes sir” replied the Sapper.

The steady drumming of the rain on his helmet finally brought Hardwicke out of his dream. As always his mind snapped into reality with crystal clarity.“Report”.
“There was nothing of any interest” said the Sapper. “The hyperfield was silent again, twenty seven minutes after I awoke you”.
“Do you think it could have been our side?” he asked. The Sapper moved its arms in a pretend shrug.
“There is insufficent data” It stated.
“It means it does´nt know” said Cuga.
Hardwicke regarded the drone. “And whats your status?”
“Ready for orders sir”
“Are you fully charged?”
“Yes sir”. The drone lifted into the air.
“Good. I want you to go back and continue to search for Jessica King.”
The drone lifted higher. “Yes sir!” it sensed.
“That’s all” Hardwicke added. The drone accelerated into the sky and was gone in seconds.
“Photon? Spectrum?”
“Sir?” They chorused.
“What are you up to?”
Immedietly Photon appeared before him.
“I am still observing the stream sir” replied Spectrum.
“And I am here on watch sir” Photon added.
“Okay. Has there been any activity over there Spec?”
“Not for the last nine hours and seventeen minutes sir”
Hardwicke stood and stretched his back. The Sapper watched him, examining the way he moved.
“Are you hurt sir?” It inquired.
“Just a bit stiff from sleeping in my armour” he told it. It nodded.
“Humans stiffen up when they recharge” Photon told the Sapper.
“Knock it off Photon” he smiled, “Pay no attention to Photon, he´s just trying to be funny”
“Yes” said the Sapper. “He is making a joke”
Hardwicke took a second look at the Sapper. It was still examining him, its lenses running up and down his leg.
He checked his suit sensors and saw that the Sapper was also running a diagnostic scan over him and its info beam was focused on his knee.
“You seem a bit concerned Sapper, whats wrong?”
“Nothing sir.”
“Then why the scan?”
“I am collecting data sir.”
“Why?”
“For future reference sir”
“what?” he glanced at Photon.
“The Sapper was never activated before sir.” The drone explained.
“What never?”
“Only when it was test run, and in the regular diagnostics sir”
“So this is your first time in the field Sapper?” he asked it. It stopped scanning and turned its lenses to to his face.
“Yes sir”
“well” he pulled a face, which the Sapper saw and recorded, despite the dark visor of the marines helmet, then Hardwicke turned his attention to the food packs. “Time for breakfast”.
“You must eat a lot” said Photon, “You did not eat at all after twelve hundred and thirty two hours yesterday, and your body is showing signs of weakness”
“Hence the stiffness eh?” he grinned.
The two robots remained silent and impassive. They had no faces.
As he ate, he removed his helmet, and was watched constantly by the Sapper. He thought about the aliens.
Did they shoot down the ship? It seemed impossible that those crab like creatures, only able to move the Barbarigos with cables and muscle power would have the weaponry he had experienced. There had to be some one else around this system, some one hidden and dangerous. Some one who did not like visitors and who had strange unknown weapons. He realised there was only two possible candidates that he knew of.

Part 3

”Deploy the swarm” the Admiral said.
Behind him, floating in her command module, the gunner relayed the order.
In the aerofield, the forward ships Noailles and Negus suddenly blossomed into silent orange explosions.
“Swarm is initiated. Status is one hundred percent active” the computer said.
The Admirals chin jutted forward in silent defiance as he contemplated the distant star and its inner planets.
From his couch the civilian coughed.
“Yes Mr Trent, what is it?” the Admiral turned to face the long slim man in the two tone blue.
“Ah.. I just wondered if any one might care to inform me what is happening” he said.
“The ship will tell you if you ask it sir” replied the Admiral in a steady low tone.
“Ah, yes, well the ship refuses to speak to me”
“Computer?”
“Mr Trent does not have clearence Sir” the ship explained.
“He does now” the Admiral answered and returned to contemplating the aerofield.

Leonard Trent smiled at the Admirals back and closed his eyes. He opened his sens to the ship and requested the information he sought. This time his mind was filled with the data and explanations as to what the fleet was doing.
Admiral Van der Gees´s flagship, the carrier Paris was central to the main display as it filled his mind. Around it, the First Martian fllet was deployed in a staggered formation several million kilometers across. The two forward ships could be seen as two orange dots in the distance. As he zoomed closer to observe them, he saw they were in fact two groups of glyphs, each containing a red ship glyph in their midst.
“Is this the swarm? What am I looking at?” he sensed.
“The forward units are deploying a swarm of probes that will flood the system.”
“But why? Won´t that alert them to our presence ?”
“They must already know we are here.”
“But, what? “ he opened his eyes briefly and glanced around the bridge, “Then why have they not already attacked us?”
“There can be several reasons but most likely is that we are not violating their territory yet”
“And the other reasons?”
“We may be beyond the effective range of their weapons, or they may be waiting to see our next move”
As the computer spoke Trent changed the display to see a tactical over view of the star and its system. Littered about the display were the glyphs indicating the wreckage of the previous mission.
Cold and dead and moving on a slow eliptical orbit, the Livia Drusilla tumbled slowly trailing a mass of tiny metallic fragments. Clinically the scan data revealed frozen organic matter amongst the trail of litter that followed her. Trent swallowed. He had known Tanner and Holland, and seeing their doom like this brought home the risk he had when he taken when he accepted this missiion.
The Cabot was ninety million kilometers further out than her escort. At first it seemed to be intact, and the illusion was maintained by the fact that she was hardly tumbling, but the Cabot had been destroyed without physical damage. Her systems had been fried and the humans on board killed instantly. Their cold bodies still sat in crash couches or hung in frozen stasis chambers.
The long range scan indicated she had been moving towards the Livia Drusilla when she had been hit, and the attached file reported the conclusion that she had been trying to reach the damaged cruiser to evacuate possible survivors. Two of her escape pods had been ejected at the ede of the system, but the occupants had been killed in both pods by apparent systems failures that had crippled their reactors. Without energy the stasis fluid had frozen around the sleeping occupants killing them slowly.
Trent opened his eyes and let his gaze take in the warmth of human activity on the bridge. His eyes met the gunners and she smiled in sympathy.
“What do we know about the attackers?” he sensed.
“Very little” replied the ship. “They have used weapons we do not undertsand. It appears that they have killed the Livia Drusilla with some form of impact weapon, but there is no evidence to demonstrate how this weapon functioned. The ship has simply been impacted by something that has left no apparent trace signiture.
The Cabot is different, its crew were all killed instantly, and yet there is no sign of explosive decompression. The hull remains intact.”
“What about the ships memory?” he asked.
“Since the ship is completely without power, we will have to physically remove the memory core”
“How will we do that?”
“That will be decided when the swarm has met with any resistence”
“Why so?”
“By observing the reaction to the swarm we can determine how the enemies weapon functions”
In the display in his mind, the forward ships were now retreating from the swarm which was moving quickly insystem and expanding slowly as it went. Another two ships were movng forward to take up the positions vacated.
“What is the swarm?” He asked.
An image of sphere trailing a cable appeared. “each probe is about forty centimeters in diameter” the ship explained, “trailing a two kilometer strand of hylene fibre, and containing a simple proximity sensor. They broadcast a constant hyperwave signiture emission, each on its own frequency and if anything should happen to one, we will see it in real time”
“I see, so no light lag?”
“Correct.”
“What is the purpose of the tail?”
“That is the proximity sensor. Should it encounter any unregistered mass within its vicinity its reaction to that mass will be noted and broadcast back to us.”
“So the hylene reacts to mass?”
“As does all matter”
“Then why hylene?”
“It is hyper wave sensitive, even if the probe is damaged and cannot relay its warning, we can see the effects once the light has reached us.”
“But that might take hours!”“Of course, but we anticiapte the probes will warn us by their destruction by any hositle action”

3_2

“Contact” the computer said. Trent opened his eyes. The bridge sprang into life.
“Two ships are emerging from jump points sir” The Navigation officer announced.
“They are Imperial ships sir” the Gunner added.
“Oh?” Admiral Van der Gees looked back over his shoulder at Trent.
Trent shook his head.
“Identification?” the Admiral asked. There was a long pregnant silence before the computer replied.
“ISS Pheonix. Atlas class super carrier of the Grand Imperial Fleet. Commanding officer, Captain Jayna Yarra.”
Two ships appeared in the aerofield.
“ISS Copenhagen, Seneschal class support ship of the First Auxillary fleet. Commanding officer, Captain Anid Yassat.”
Around the bridge, the crew exchanged glances and Trent felt his eye brows raising in surprise. A Terran ship from the Grand Fleet meant the mission had been given a far higher priority since they had departed the Sol system.
“Dr Trent?” a friendly voiced sensed.
“Yes?”
He closed his eyes again and the ship established a visual link to new arrived carrier. A man wearing the two toned blue of the Institute sat before him. Strangely he had his eyes closed as if in another senslink. Trent realised this was Webster.
“Dr Webster”
“Dr Trent. How happy I am to see you” Trent smiled and the blind man seeing this smiled in response. “I only wish it were under better circumstances”.
“Indeed” Trent nodded, “but I must say that I am happy to see you here anyway. I know almost nothing about who or what we face”
“Have they told you anything?”
“The Navy? Nothing. I was only granted access to the external sensor data five minutes before you arrived.“
“Then you really have no idea what we are up against?”
“Of course,“ he scratched his cheek, “I have the obvious candidates in mind”
“The Eedrach?”
“Its not as if we know of so many other species with this level of technology” Trent sighed.
“Alas not” Webster agreed, “and certainly not with such aggressive tendencies”
The two men shook their heads almost as if in synchronisation.
“Had you heard about Lamens theory before you left?” Webster lifted his head.
“No” Trent smiled, his dark lips revealing his almost perfect teeth.
“Lamen went before the council and argued that this system may be protected by the Zinn”
“He did´nt!” Trent gaped.
“Oh yes he did” the older man grinned “He even had some old documents and some maps he had drawn to prove that this entire incident had been ordained by the Chinese”.
They both laughed easily, secure in the esteem of each other.

On the bridge, Admiral Van der Gees stood above the reclined form of the smiling African and contemplated the broad smile. Laugh whilst you may Earthman he thought.
Captain Yarra had not brought good news. Her voice still echoed in his mind saying the one word he had not wanted to hear.
Eedrach.

Their conversation had been brief.
“The Admiralty has had further word from the Institute of Extra Terrestrial Studies and they have decided amongst their many experts and scholars that we face either an Eedrach system or another race with the same aggressive attitude” she had sensed.
“And this is why they have sent you?” he had responded.
“Yes”
“So you do not carry new orders?”
“No sir. However, I have the institutes leading expert on matters pertaining to the Eedrach on board”
He had opened his eyes to see the idiot smile on Leonard Trents face.
“I see. I was under the impression that I already had their best man”
He could feel her smiling through the mindlink. “I have no idea sir, this one is blind can you believe it!”
“Blind ?” The Admiral felt his skin crawl at the thought.
“Totally.” Her humour faded. “Sir. What are your orders?”
“What is the Copenhagen carrying?”
“Eighteen drones and four heavy drones” she sensed the data straight into his memory. The four heavy drones carried extra shielding as well as enough fire power to destroy every planet in the system. He felt his mouth go dry remembering their stats. He had never deployed such a weapon before and his lack of experience made him nervous.
“Swarm is at seventy AU´s” the computer announced.
“Captain Yassat?” he sensed.
“Yessir”
“Deploy your cargo, oh and Captain..”
“Yessir?”
“Do you have no escorts?“
“Sir, they are underway, they should be here within the hour”
“I see. Carry on.”


Captain Yigal Arrat sat in his command pod and watched the new comers arriving.
“The Chevalier and the Castelnau” the gunner muttered.
The bridge was quiet with only a single aerofield active. All hands were at battle stations and the ship was poised for action.
Lt Ivanov turned her chilling yellow eyes on Arrat. “I am registering an unusual gravity point”
“Where?”
A blue spark appeared in the aerofield. And the stats maifested themselves in the minds of all the bridge crew. A slight flutter in the solar gravity field, four million five hundred and seventy seven kilometers from the ship.
“Asteroids?”
“Not this one, no metallic signiture at all sir”
“Organic?”
“Nothing”
Arrat frowned and chewed his lip. “Admiral?” he sensed on the priority wave.
“Captain Arrat?”
“We have a gravity anamoly sir, just under half a million kilometers off the ship”
“How close is your nearest drone?”
“Ah.. two hundred and sixty thousand kilometers sir”
“Let it investigate”
“Yes sir” Arrat spun his capsule to face the gunner. The ship brought a new aerofield online.
“Gunnery”
“Captain?”
“Send P6 to investigate”
“Yes Sir”
In the aerofield, the closest watcher powered up and immedietly the gravity signiture changed.
“Alarm!” The gunner cried.
“Contact” the ships computer stated calmly.
“All hands ready for combat” the Captain growled.
The Napier powered up her gravity shield and instantly the entire fleet went to red. Four hundred and sixteen drones appeared in the aerofield as the entire drone pack came out of hiding.
“Stat?” the Captain called.
“No change” replied Sensors.
“Captain?” Admiral Van der Gees sensed.
“We have a response to the watch drone powering up sir” he replied. Before him in the aerofield the gravity signiture turned red.
“Electromagnetic emissions detected” the computer said.
“Sir?” the gunner asked.“Fire” Arrat replied automatically.

3_3

On board the flag ship the lights had dimmed to red and Trent found his sens link severed. The Admiral was already in his command capsule and the atmosphere on the bridge had turned into heavy anticipation.
“Computer?” he sensed.
“Dr Trent”
“May I ask what is happening?”
“You may sir. We have encountered an unknown gravity anomly”
“Contact” the computer spoke aloud shattering the silence.
Trent opened his eyes and severed the sens link to the computer. He could feel the excitement in the room expanding to envelope him.
“Launch all our Centurions” the Admiral replied.
Their was no audible reply but seconds later Trent felt the heavy but distant vibrations as the assault craft disengaged and sped out into space. In the aerofield he could see them speeding away from the carrier. They seemed to be heading in the wrong direction.
“Whats going on computer?” he asked in his mind.
“The fleet is spreading into a defensive position to avoid being hit all at once” the computer explained.
“What are we fighting against?” he asked, trying to make sense of the crowded aerofield.
“The Napier is firing” the Gunner gasped. Trent saw the Admiral open his eyes briefly to frown at the gunner.
“It’s a hit!” the Pilot said in a tight voice.
“Yeah, “ the Gunner replied, “Sir, I have conflicting scan data”
“Define!” the Admiral barked.
“I am seeing an explosion in all sensors but not in the hyper field”
“What? You mean there is no echo”
“Exactly sir, the hyper field is quiet”
“Strange” the Admiral mused.
“Another explosion”
“I have static” the gunner replied.
“We just lost a drone,” the Computer said. “Number P6”

Trent looked about himself, utterly confused. To his right, the communications officer had his eyes tightly shut and was mouthing words to himself and beyond him the pilot sat sealed in his capsule.
To his left, Trent had the gunner and the four crew members monitering the sensors. None of them had spoken a word but the Gunner, who was now muttering to himself and staring at the aerofield with a dazed look on his face.
The Admiral sat silent in his capsule directly in front of Trent, half hidden by the now expanded aerofield.
“Contact. Unkown track at one hundred and six AU´s counter orbit.” The computer said.
“Where?” the Admiral demanded.
The Gunner twisted to stare blindly at the ceiling. Trent saw nothing until he remembered to shut his eyes.
Another gravity anomoly had appeared a mere fourty thousand kilometers from the cruiser Nuri-es-Said. Immedietly the cruiser and seven drones opened fire.
“Anomaly destroyed” said an unkown voice over the hyper field.
“Captain Annersen?” Van der Gees called.
“Sir ?” relied the Nuri-es-Said´s commanding officer.
“Check your hyper wave scans, did your explosion register?”
There was a tense four seconds before the answer came back, “No sir, we registered nothng in the hyper wave”
“How the hell are they moving so close” Trent heard the Gunner growl.
“Status?” The Admiral asked.
The aerofield rippled, and changed colours slightly.
“Two encounters with unkown grav signitures, one drone lost to unidentified energy weapon.”
The crew began to smile and grin at each other. “No sign of debris” the computer added. The smiles faded slightly.
“Contact” the computer repeated.
“Unknown track at seventy six AU´s counter orbit. Mark seven eighteen” the Navigater said.

SS5 scanned busily.
Its designated sector was far from the two hot spots so far identified but its weapons were ready and it had already gone into kill mode. Its partner SS6 was forty thousand kilometers ahead, with its systems all shut down, hiding in the dark. And one of the heavy war drones was about ninety thousand kilometers down orbit. SS5 knew the heavy was there but it could not see it. It had also gone into hiding. Its metallic mass hidden by billions of tiny metallic particles which were now spreading all over the fleet, and the now constant flow of feed back emissions in the hyper field.
It was becoming extremely difficult to see what was going on.
The hyper field crackled mysteriously and SS5 ran quick diagnostic. Some thing was causing a strange sound wave pattern, but SS5 could not identify it. It stored the sound in its memeory.
“Did you hear that?” it asked its mothership, the Nuri-es-Said.
“Hear what? We heard nothing” the ship replied.
SS5 relayed the broadcast.
“Contact” the Heavy barked. Instantly SS5 lost all sensor input. Blindly it ignited its primary engine and moved away at full speed. As it powered away from the sudden hell fire of radiation and electro magnetic static it heard SS6 in the hyper field chatter and die in the sudden squeal of its obliterating reactor. SS5 tried to launch its orb guns but they remained inactive. Seventeen seconds after losing its sensors SS5 found itself caught in a gravity flux. Something had materialised some where close by, but its burnt out sensor nodes were still numbed. It had a dim signiture of a ship and then the gravity flux was gone and SS5 found itself half a million kilometers from the fleet, venting plasma from a burning orb gun and unable to communicate.

“What was that?” the Admiral shouted.
“Another drone has been destroyed.” The ship spoke simultaeneously. “Heavy drone FK3 fired an EM pulse and apparently destroyed an unidentifed ship”.
“Confirm it”
“Confirmed. The wreck is visible.”
“We have a hit?” The Admiral asked, the relief in his voice reflected in every face on the brifge.
“Unknown enemy ship has been severely damaged. The Nuri-es-Said is sending Sappers to collect it. “
“Sir?” The Captain of the Nuri-es-Said sensed.
“What is it Captain ?” the Admiral replied around a grin.
“Sir one of our drones has intercepted an broadcast in the hyper field”
“A broadcast from whom?” the Admiral stopped grinning in surprise.
“Unknown sir.”
“Whats the status of the swarm?”
The aerofield changed abruptly. “Swarm still at one hundred percent. All drones are still in an expanding formation. They should reach the inner planets in seventy nine hours”.
“hmm. Keep the fleet at full alert” The Admiral frowned, “And tell the Sappers, I want to know what that wreck is within the hour”“Yes sir” the computer replied.

Part 4

”Another emission” the Sapper said.
“It has to be combat” Hardwicke replied. “It has to be” He was standing in his armour on the edge of the sea staring straight up into the night sky. Beside him the Sapper was padding about the sand examining the surf. Photon hovered twenty meters up the beach and Spectrum was gaurding the camp.
Except for the thousands of stars the sky was empty.
“Two more” the Sapper noted.
Hardwicke shifted his rifle from one shoulder to the other. For the past two hours the Sapper had been picking up faint cracks and hisses in the hyper field. Almost inaudible due to the ever present static of the local stars, these sounds were the characteristic signiture of space combat. Since the sky was empty of any signs of it though Hardwicke was forced to two conclusions. Either the fighting was happening on the far side of the planet, or the light signiture had yet to reach them. This last option meant that the battle had already happened hours ago and at the edge of the system.
The last twenty four hours had been long and frustrating. Nothing had happened. Although the beach still bore the signs of the crowds of aliens that had dragged the assault craft into the sea, there was no other sign to suggest that the Barbarigos had ever been there.
Of course the Sapper might be mistaken and we are listening to some black hole fifty lights away he thought to himself. Better get some sleep.
“Come on Sapper, lets go back to the camp” he yawned.
“Look at this dead creature” the Sapper said, “It looks like an Ibacus peronii”
“Really” Hardwicke mumbled without turning to see.
The Sapper registered his indifference and watched him walk up towards the vegetation. It checked its old data memory against its newly aquired experiences. Sleep deprivation with low blood suger and a poor oxygen flow? It wondered.
It dropped the dead animal and followed the marine.
The next morning, Hardwicke was again woken by the rain. He opened his visor and looked at the leaden sky.
“Good morning sir” the Sapper said. “What a miserable weather”.
Hardwicke looked down at the squat drone and smiled. “That’s an unusual observation for an engineer”.
“Thank you sir” it replied.
“Yes.. ” he turned to the frame work of his new hut and realised he did not feel like repeating the day before. Damn this rain he thought to himself.
Photon appeared and wobbled in a silent greeting. He nodded and began picking his way through the diminished pile of food supplies.
There was only five breakfast sticks left.
“I think today we´ll go up stream and see what those aliens were doing up there” he said.
“What about the shelter?” Photon asked.
“without any food it will not matter will it?” he replied.
“No” the drone replied.
“The Sapper can continue working on it while we go and take a look”. He picked up his rifle and jumped into the air. Photon followed him.
The rain had turned the entire island into a wet muddy mess, and the plants all had the hang dog expression that had begun to cloud his mind. Last night had been the only break since the rain began, and at the time he had felt relieved, but he had not realised how depressing the constant rain had been making him. This morning, the truth had been hammered home and now, as he flew over the rain battered vegetation he felt like death warmed up.
The stream had turned into a torrent, and where the pool had been was now a small lake which completely covered his old camp site. The statue was all but gone, up to its neck in the fast water.
Moving higher up he could make out the distant beach, hazy in the rain, but the enourmous run off which was colouring the sea brown was still easily visible.
He scanned around him in all directions, but for the rain on the plant life, nothing moved.
“That is where the aliens congregated” Photon sensed.
In his vision Hardwicke saw red cross hairs pointing to another pool further up stream.
“Right. Lets go take a closer look”
“Hello boss” Spectrum sensed.
“Hello Spec, where are you ?” he replied.
Another cross hair pointed to the far side of the pool. “There are still nine aliens here, deep in the pool and not moving”
“Oh?”
“I think they are gaurding their young”
“I see”. He activated his invisibility field and set down on the gravel shore.
The Pool was about forty meters wide and seventy meters long. His sensors told him it was almost nine meter deep its entore length, but towards the middle was a pot hole which seemed to go much further down.
“Is that a cave down there?” he asked.
“We think so” Photon replied.
“You want to go and have a look?” he asked.
“Yes”
“Very well, go ahead”. He opened a full senslink and closed his eyes to watch.
Photon activated its camonodes and slipped into the water. In the infra red the sentinals were easily visible. They seemed to be asleep or in hibernation. Photon slid softly along the lake bed, carefull not to disturb the eggs in the mud that was being moved by the current. None of the adult aliens reacted to its presence so the drone slipped easily into the dark pit and using is anti grav descended slowly down into the dark.
“This tunnel appears to be artificial” Spectrum sensed.
“Yeah” Hardwicke agreed.
Photon listened to them but remained silent as it dropped. In its mind it kept a count. Twenty meters, thirty meters. At forty seven meters it came to the bottom of the pit where there was a sealed metal hatch.

“Whats that? A door?” Hardwicke gasped.
“It would appear so” Photon replied.
“Can you open it?”
“No, it uses a manual release mechanism”
“Right, are there any detectors or sensors down there?”
“Nothing that I can see”
“It does not make sense to hide a door in a lake and then not have any sensors” Spectrum interjected.
“Maybe the sensors are inside…” Hardwicke felt the ground tremble slightly and looked up.
“What was that!” he cried.
Suddenly the ground heaved and he was flung helplessly aside as something rose up out of the gravel beneath him.’
Spectrum hopped spinning into the air and its blades sprang into place. But the sight of the creature that had arisen from the ground arrested the tiny drone. Hardwicke was already rolling into a firing position, his rifle online and targetting the bulk of the creature that had materialised as if from no where.
A huge, segmented worm like creature had risen up from the shore and was busy pulling itself out of the ground with two huge clawed forelimbs.
“What the.…?” Hardwickes finger tightened on the trigger but he held his fire since the creature was taking no notice of him.
“The aliens in the pool have stirred” Photon sensed.
Hardwicke began to slowly move backwards into the undergrowth, watching the massive creature pull itself free of the ground.
Now its full length was revealed, and Hardwicke swallowed, his eyes wide, at the brutal design of the organism before him.
It was roughly eight meters long, with eight, segmented limbs, two of which appeared to be adapted for manipulation. Its head was a blunt apparently blind dome with what appeared to be curved serrated horns on either side. Its mouth was a vertical slit filled with white gossamer like hairs. As Hardwicke watched it lurched from the wet hole within which it had lain hidden and with a great splash of water it crashed into the lake. Immedietly the nine infra red signitures in Hardwickes mind moved to attack it, and Hardwicke moved closer to the edge of the pool to watch.

4_2

Blood welled in a dark red cloud up from the deep as he stood there. The water of the lake rushing by, the hole in the shore filling with muddy water.
“The parents are killing the intruder” Photon sensed.
“They must be tough as old boots” Hardwicke wondered. “That thing must have weighed two tons”
“Its not going well for them either” Spectrum replied. “Three of them are now venting bodily fluids into the lake, but they are all still fighting.”
The strange battle continued for almost five minutes before the huge creature turned and began to flee.
Instantly Hardwicke moved back into the undergrowth and set the rifle at maximum burn.
“Here it comes” Spectrum called in his mind.
The water bubbled and splashed away as the heavy creature tried to scrambled onto the shore. Hardwicke saw that at least four of the sentinals were following it, their claw like hands attacking the ruined legs of the creature. It began bellowing in a monotone scream, but this only seemed to infuriate the defenders and they increased their efforts. One of the gaurdians side stepped and waddled around the dying animal to its head. Hardwicke smiled at the determination in its walk. These aliens were intelligent, there was no doubt, and the way this one moved reminded him of his old Staff Sergeant back on Phobos.
With a well timed stab into the white haired mouth, the small alien killed the larger, driving its claw up into where Hartdwicke presumed the brain must be. Instantly the huge creature spasmed and died.
“All blood and guts that one” Hardwicke sensed.
“A warrior” Spectrum agreed.
“Photon can you get out from where you are without being noticed?”
“I think so. At least four of the aliens down here are dead or dying. Only one seems to be on guard.” The drone replied.
“Good, get out of there before the others return”. Hardwicke gentle lowered his rifle but despite his caution the alien turned and scanned the bushes and its four eyes seemed to be looking for him. The human froze and watched it. Invisibility fields were not a hundred percent, and they did not operate in all wave lengths.
One of the other aliens waddled to the killer and chortled at it. It returned the conversation but its moved back and forth restlessly. The new comer turned to see what it was looking at and this one seemed to see Hardwicke because it pointed right at him. Hardwicke felt himself tense.
“Spec, I think they see me” he sensed.
“Shall I create a diversion?”
“Yes”
The two aliens immedietly turned to the sounds of the small drone moving in the undergrowth across the lake. The other two aliens, still standing in the water disapeared at once below the surface.
Hardwicke breathed a sigh of relief as the remaining two moved away from him but seconds later he frowned in astonishment when one of the two aliens that had dived below the surface returned with an object that looked suspiciously like a rifle.
“Whats tha.. ?” he muttered. The monster slayer it seemed was a leader because this alien now began to indicate to the others where they should deploy.
“I am picking up movement to the south” Spectrum sensed. Data began to flood Hardwickes mind. He erased it. Several new creatures were approaching in a delta formation through the forest. They were about fifty meters away.
“This place is getting to crowded for my liking” he sensed. “Withdraw to me. Photon, whats your status ?”
“I am on the lake bottom about nineteen meters from you” the drone replied.
“These new creatures are different from the two we have already seen here” Spectrum said.
Hardwicke hopped lightly into the air and floated away from the aliens. As he did he heard a distant hooting, a sound like a hunting horn came eerily through the rain.
At once all three aliens disapeared into the water.
Hardwicke moved quickly to a position thirty meters away. Photon and Spectrum joined him.
A few minutes later several creatures entered the clearing and made for the carcass. They appeared to be hunter scavengers of some kind, and Hardwicke marvelled that he had not encountered them sooner. They were the size of large dogs or wild boar, and he counted nine of them. As they approached their new meal they hooted and barked at each other.
One appeared to lead the pack and this one approached the dead creature and sniffed it. Almost at once the pack fell to devouring the body, but the leader ate warily, stopping every so often to smell the air.
After a few minutes it wondered over to where Hardwicke had hidden in the bushes and examined the area. Clearly agitated it rooted about for a while then urinated heavily. Its fellows ignored it.
“enough excitement” Hardwicke announced, “Lets get back to the camp”

The next day Hardwicke and the drones returned to the pool. This time the Sapper went with them. This slowed them down slightly since the Sapper could only fly slowly, but the rain had eased off a bit and Hardwicke was able to appreciate the strange flowers which had blossomed through out the forest.
The monster was gone. In its place was a gnawed skeleton scattered along the lake shore.
“Okay, you all know the plan” Hardwicke sensed.
Photon dived into the pool and raced past the remaining five gaurds. At once they sprang into action chasing the drone up towards the far side of the pool. The Sapper dropped into the water and made its way towards the pit, with Spectrum following it.
“One of them has remined” Spectrum sensed.
The sole gaurdian had seen the Sapper even before it entered the water and it came at the engineer with its claws wide. It grappled the drone but found to its dismay this new threat was far stronger and in desperation it began a low booming distress call. Instantly, the Sapper sent an electrical charge into the alien which left it stunned.
“Whats happening?” Hardwicke sensed.
“I am no longer being pursued” Photon announced.
“The others are returning” Spectrum sensed.
“Come on, get on with it!” Hardwicke ordered.
The Sapper released the alien which sank, stunned, to the lake bottom, and let itself descend into the pit. Above it the aliens returned to find their comrade drowning, and proceeded to drag it to the lake shore.
“Spectrum?” Hardwicke watched the aliens as they emerged from the water dragging their friend.
“We are at the hatch now and the Sapper is about to manipulate the opening mechanism”
Hardwicke was floating above the trees by the lake side. Below him the aliens were fussing over heir friend, and Photon was approaching through the forest. In his mind he opened a direct link to Spectrum and let it run in the back of his mind.
The Sapper had taken a hold of the large handle and had begun to move it counter clock wise. It gave slowly, then spun easily. At once several small lights appeared on the door and the sens link went dead.
“Spectrum?” He called out loud.
On the lake shore, the aliens as one, turned to stare at the trees below him.
“..tered the tunnel. It appears I am be…” Spectrum sensed.
“What is it Spec?” he asked.
“I have no link with Spectrum” Photon said.
“My sens cut out.” He replied, “You stay here, I´m going in” He dived down into the lake and sped towards the pit. “The aliens are following you” Photon told him.
The bottom of the pit was flooded with light. Hardwicke looked back over his shoulder but in the dim water he could not see the aliens. He made his way down into the pit keeping to the sides hoping to avoid being silhouted.
As he dropped down he had an uncomfortable feeling of claustrophobia, which made him think of the pit as some monstrous alien birth canal. Below him the light grew stronger.
The door was wide open, and the light was coming from within. As he approached he caught sight of the Sapper still holding the door but standing in its shadow.
“Spectrum?” he sensed.
There was no reply.
As he drew nearer and the angle changed he began to get a view of what was beyond the door. It was an airlock with a second door about five meters inside a short corridor. Coming to the bottom of the pit he could see Spectrum lying on the ground at the other door. Cautiously he scanned. There were various electrical nodes in the walls of the chamber and also some unusual heat patterns. Wiring in the rock? He wondered. There did not seem to be anything that might be a weapon. The Sapper was deactivated. Its systems apparently burnt out. An electromag pulse he decided. He turned his scanner on Spectrum and found the same.

4_3

“Photon?”
“Sir?”
“I am in the pit. Spectrum and the Sapper have been burned out.”
“I see” Photon replied. “Can they be repaired?”
“I don´t know. Spectrum is inside a chamber. It looks like an air lock”
“It was a trap”
“Or an automatic defence” Hardwicke felt his heart quicken. It was time to make a move. He let his eyes move over the white walls of the tube like chamber. Slowly he bent to pick up a pebble from the ground and tossed it beyond the entrance. It landed almost silently in the thick pressure. Nothing happened. He edged closer.
“I´m going in” he sensed and stepped across the threshold.
Still nothing happened. His sensors showed no activity in the walls.
“Can you hear me?” he sensed.
There was no answer.
“Photon?” He moved closer to where Spectrum lay and slowly picked up the tiny warrior.
The inner door had no manuel release, but a large copper coloured button was placed in the middle of it.
Abrupty the light faded and died. Now what? He thought to himself. Well, I guess I have two options, leave or press the button.
Hanging Spectrum on his belt, he reached over and pressed the button.
The outer door slid closed and moments later the water began draining out of the chamber. Hardwicke stepped back from the inner door and brought his rifle to bear as the liquid drained from around his ankles. Seconds later it opened and he found himself staring at the opposite wall of a dimly lt corridor. On the floor was a dead alien similar to the ones in the lake. He listened for a second then poked his head quickly round the door. Nothing, the corridor was empty. In the distance was the muted drone of heavy machinary.
He stepped over the corpse and crouched waiting to see if anything would happen.
Beside the dead alien was a rifle, and this was nothing like the wood and steel affair of the aliens in the lake. This was a sleek black weapon with a mounted battle computer, and it was still active.
So what ever had killed the alien had not burned out its weapon. He picked it up and noticed how the unusal the grip was made to fit the claws of the alien.
Spectrum must have killed this one with an x ray blast he thought. I can´t see what else might have killed it.
He moved away down the passage, rifle at the ready. After twenty meters he came to another doorway. This one opened out onto a huge cavern filled with machinery. Seven large tanks filled the cavity, with myriad pipes and feed lines leading from them and disapearing through the walls. There was a high amount of humidity, and the air was filled with steam. Hardwicke checked his rifle´s scanner and found the atmosphere in the room was filled with biologicals.
He ran a quick analysis and found the microbes living in the air were radically different to the ones on the surface, but did not seem to constitute a health threat. Even so, he decided to keep his helmet sealed.
He ran the info beam from the rifle over the room and its dimensions filled his mind. Seventy seven meters by nineteen. The tanks contained a water based organic soup with a few exotic trace elements and they seemed to be giving off a vague static electric charge. Hardwicke moved his gaze over the pipes and pumps keeping his sens open trying to identify what he was looking at. His memory brought back no comparisons, and neither did his rifle.
He noticed there was no inscriptions any where in the room. He filtered his optics but it made no difference. There was no writing, and no markings any where.
There were four other exits from the room. Two of these were standing open. Hardwicke made his way to the closer and the volume of ambient sound increased. From some where nearby came the distinct sound of running water.
He stopped. A voice was speaking loudly. He scanned around him searching for the speaker and caught sight of a second passage way about fifteen meters down the one he had chosen. His proximity sensors began to flash. Two marks, about forty meters away down the passage were coming towards him. Immedietly he hopped onto the ceiling and hid behind a fat pipe and waited.
A few seconds later two aliens waddled into the chamber and made their way towards the airlock. Each carried a rifle.
Hardwicke found a metal strut and settled down to wait.

The tiny phyiscal timer reached one hundred minutes and the Sapper came back online. Immedietly it ran a systems diagnostic and found all its major systems intact. Then it scanned its surroundings. It was still in the pit but the door was closed. There was no sign of Spectrum. It powered up its Antigrav and began to ascend. Above, it sensed the aliens were awake and milling around, so it activated its back up battery and when it emerged from the pit it sent an intense electrical shock into the first alien that approached. The others fled and the Sapper left the lake unmolested.
“You are active!” Photon said.
“Yes”
“What happened?”
“Spectrum was hit by an EM pulse, but I shut down before it was turned on me”
“You played deactive?”
“Yes” The Sapper checked its scan. “Where is the Marine?”
“He went down into the pit”
“Then he must have gone inside. The door was an airlock and it was closed.”
“Yes. I lost contact with him when he entered”
“So we do not know if he is still alive”.
“We have no information”.
“What are our orders?”
“My orders are to stand guard”
“I do not have any orders?”
“No”
“You are in command then. What do you command?”
“I command you to finish the hut”
“And then what?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I would like to examine the sea life along the beach”
Photon examined the Sapper. “Why ?”
“I have a theory the aliens are not native”
“You have a theory?”
“Yes”
“Very well. When you have finished the hut, you may indulge your curiousity”
“Thank you”
“Just beware you are not observed”
“Yes sir”
“Curiousity is not becoming in an engineer drone”
“No sir”

Part 5

Leonard Trent watched silently as the system was brought into being in the silent atmosphere of the bridge. The swarm was nearing the orbital path of the fourth planet of the system.
This planet, a dusty desert world, hung displayed in the aerofield dominating the bridge, as the fleet examined it for any signs of activity as the swarm passed by. The minutes dragged by and no one spoke. Slowly the dull brown hologram planet revolved against the back drop of chattering computers and the Admirals heay breathing.
“Nothing?” The great man asked.
“No Sir, nothing”
The Admiral turned and caught Trents eye. He frowned, hesitated then moved across to stand by the Earthling. “What are your thoughts sir? “ he said, lowering his voice.
“Admiral, I am at a loss” Trent confessed, “I cannot be of any help until we have made some form of contact. As you know, the Eedrach have never allowed any human vessells to enter their systems, but they have always warned us first, and the warning has always been heeded.”
“So you think perhaps we are dealing with some thing new?” the Admiral interupted.
“Well, I am not sure” Trent rubbed his chin, “we could be dealing with Eedrach of a different mindset entirely. A different way of thinking”
“An altogether unpleasant way of thinking of you ask me” The Admiral sniffed. His lips worked in silent indignation for a few seconds, before he turned his attention to the Gunner. “Mr Collins, deploy two standards drones, and one of the heavy´s, let them try and sneak into the system as far as that fourth planet”.
“Yessir!” the Gunner nodded, his eyes already closed.
“Will you try to provoke a response?” Trent asked.
“Eh?” the Admiral turned, “Yes. Lets see who they are once and forall. Lets flush em out and have it over with.”
There was a general nodding and murmer of satisfaction at this statement, as the crew, confident by their recent victory, looked to another more gloriious encounter. Trent sighed, worried some what by their apparent enthusiasm, and closed his eyes to regard the reports still coming from the ruined alien hull.

Mytra was almost already a full AU ahead of the fleet when it received the order to penetrate insystem as far as the fourth planet. It listened to the chatter of the fleet for a while as it contemplated its orders in lower thought, before turning the mover to its fox mind. Two other drones would also be penetrating the system, S9 and F3. Neither related to the other, and like itself, ordered to move as quietly as possible.
It removed its loyalty to these two, and plotted a new course of action.

The alien ship was long, sleek and resembled a squid or cuttle fish. Its oddly organic form, reminded Trent of the bright blue waters off Jamaica and his time at Oceanic Training, and the resemblence was reinforced by the long savage gash which ran along the entire starboard flank of the ship. This awful ruptured wound had been caused by the heavy drone which had fired upon the alien even as it materialised. The Imperial had fired its primary maser at sixteen percent and this weapon was so powerful that even though it missed the target by a good ten meters, the strangely unarmoured vessel had been immedietly incapacitated, its flank blistering and burning open, in a disturbingly organic fashion.
Now it hung in space along side the Copenhagen, its hull caressed and examined by countless engineer drones and probes. Already the report was extensive, but trent skippe the technical details and went straight to the summary. The alien craft it seemed had no propulsion unit. Just exactly how it travelled was not obvious, but it was thought that some how it was ferried into position by means of a jump and fired once it had materialised, immedietly being recalled. The seven long pylons at the bow end, which gave the craft its squid like appearance, were thought to be a weapon system, although the means by which this weapon worked was as yet obscure.
One thing was certainly fact. The ship was no drone. Four corpses, badly burned and mutilated, had been discovered an hour ago and were under way to the Paris for autopsy by Dr Webster and his Xenobiologists even as Trent read. He contemplated sensing Webster, but decided to wait until after the autopsy was finished. Instead he let the flagship patch him through to the operating room where the autopsy would be performed.
“Wake me up when they begin” he told the computer.
“As you wish”.

Mytra shadowed the unsuspecting S9. It had intended to follow F3, but that drone had slipped away to fast, so it had exchanged a quiet exchange of astrometrics with S9 to fix its original position, and then once the drone had slipped quietly into the system. Mytra had waited a few hours before following.
Now, it watched the void ahead for the slight disturbances in the solar wind that betrayed the silent drone as it dropped in towards the distant star. Mytra was seventy percent surprised at the velocity of insertion the done had chosen, since one of the doctines of solar orbital stealth involved making as little impression as possible, and the faster a body moved within the gravity of a soalr system, the easier it was to detect. S9 However was travelling at quite a rate. Powered down with its reactor cooled, it ghosted through the silent night, with only passive sensors active, watching the system intently for the slightest sign of the enemy, and listening to the hyper field, trying to find any clues in the clicks and hisses of the back ground static.
Plotting ahead, Mytra realised what the drone was up to. It had laid a very cunning course that would bring it into the influence of the seventh planet. A noisy gas giant, whose EM eruptions and general radio static would be an excellent place for aerobraking. In irritation it realised that its own course, three hours beyond S9 would have it crashing into the planet. Since it was already deep into the system already it did not dare to ignite its engines or reactor, so it would have to rely on stored energy to use its anti gravs, but this in turn was next to impossible this far from the planet, and it would have to wait until it came closer.
Unlike the two drones it was following, Mytra was a heavy drone, with a far greater level of thought autonomy, and a much simpler primary directive. It was a weapon, built to kill planets, and it approached the problem with singular attention and ruthlessness. Within seconds it had reached its decision, and slowly it began to send mines and orbguns into its own path travelling ahead, each mine ten minutes apart.

Dr Webster, sitting to one side, watched Dr Abé step back from the table. The short Japanese xenobiologist pulled the ossomer gloves from his fingers and turned to the blind man.
“Well Doctor?“ Webster asked. He had watched the whole proceedings through the ships sensors, using its increased spectrum to catch the few details Abé had missed along the way.
“A genetically enhanced super crustacean” Abé announced.
“Enhanced?” Websters smiled broadened, “To what degree”
“To a considerable degree,” Abé sat down heavily besides Webster and stretched his back. “This is an animal, geneered into a sapient slave by some one who did not care about the reproductive systems”
“So this is a drone?” Webster asked, in a tone of voice that implied he knew full what what the creature was, “perhaps this is all the evidence we need to identify our aliens”
“Perhaps” nodded Abé, “or perhaps we are seeing another race at work entirely”
“But we know the Eedrach manipulate the inahbiatnts of the worlds they invade. The planets of the Hykon system show this full well.!”
“Yes,” said Abé annoyed by Websters conclusive tone, “I know full well the implications of Hykon Two, and I have made a full study of the specimens brought back from that planet. But there are differences here. Real differences in method.”
For once Webster seemed prepared to listen, so after a brief sip from his water flask, Abé continued.
“All the creatures found to have been manipulated by the Eedrach on Hykon Two had beeen redesigned with specific purposes in mind. Of all the samples we found, and they stand at eighty seven seprate species, and to my recallection, not one of them was as clumsy as this” He waved at the burnt and now mangled corpse on the slab.
“So you are suggesting another race is resonsible?”
No. Not all” Abé shook his head fervently, “What I am saying is that this specimen only draws two conclusions. It is from the third planet of this system since that is the only planet with any sea´s where this creature might live.”
“And?”
“And originally, this creature was a mere sea bed denizen which has been clumsily manufactured by another race entirely.
“Doctor Abé?” Trents voice interupted Websters reply.
“Yes Doctor Trent?”
“I have the Admiral here. Can I quote you about the third planet?”“Indeed you may Doctor Trent. But please remember that just because this creature originated on that world. Does not mean that it is based there, and nor does it mean that the alien intelligence that created this alien is present on that world”

5_2

“Very well” Trented broke the Sens and opened his eyes to the Admiral.
“The third planet” he said.
“Excellent!” The Admirals face broke out into a huge grin. “Now we shall wait and see what reaction our scouts have, and since we have almost forty minutes before the swarm reaches the third planet, do you care to join me for some dinner?”
Trent realised he was in fact extremely hungry and he accepted with pleasure, and followed the Admiral to the galley.

The count down ended and Mytra fired its main engine in a sharp sudden point six second blast, almost like an explosion. It waited one second before detonating the mines in sequence, each exploding a second apart. It veered silently away on a new heading, it brought its primary weapon to bear and watched the mines creating a string of explosions that lead straight to S9. S9 had of course immedietly detected the initial engine burn, and it had accelerated away from the mines within forty miliseconds, This meant however that it had become visible to any one who happened to be monitering the seventh planet, and Mytra waited patiently to see if anything would take the bait. The last of the mines detonated and still S9 fled, its engines burning brightly as it fled into the upper reaches of the gas giant.
For seventy seconds nothing happened, then suddenly a gravity anomly appeared on the far side of the planet. Mytra ignored it since it was out of sight, the planets vastness blocking its shot, and sure enough eighteen seconds alter another anomly appeared and another beyond it, this time much closer, and in direct line of fire.
The heavy drone reconsidered its plan for almost half a second, but this was just natural prudence, and it found no reason not to engage the enemy. With all the power in its belly, it fired its Maser at sixty percent.

“ALARM!” the ships lighting went amber at once and the Admiral dropped his fork and sprang to his feet.
“Hellfire!” he roared and dashed from the room.Trent swallowed a last mouthfull of salad and followed as best he could, his heart pounding in his chest. The bridge suddenly seemed a vast distance away, and despite running as fast as they could, the two men seemed to take an age to reach its airlock.
Once they had enetered the bridge, the airlock sealed behind them and Trent flopped into his couch, wiping away a spat of salad dressing which had stained his shirt.
“Status? Report!” the Admiral barked dropping into his command module, which instantly sealed around him.
“A massive energy weapon disharge registered in the hyperfield sir” the Gunner reported.
“The heavy drone?” Van der Gees demanded.
”We don´t know sir, and we