Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) (11 page)

He gave her a thumbs-up. “ComChief, activate the neutrino comlink. Set it to the frequency Hilok used in our talk on Mathilde. And have the motion-eye fix on me. Maybe we can get an invite to Hilok’s home on Hunt Forever.”

“Activating,” Denise said, her freckles bunching up as she smiled at him. “The motion-eye is focused on you.”

Jack released his seat restraints, grabbed his sword Old Roy and stood up. “Hilok of the Northern Pack, I am Jack Munroe, Pack Leader of the humans. This time my call comes from north of your system. My Pack includes nine ships and captains, all of whom you met during our earlier Trade visit to Hot Blood.” Jack rested the long steel length of Old Roy in his left hand. “We have come to Zeta Serpentis to make new Trade with you. We met with the Arbitor and have questions. Perhaps you and your daughter Nalik can assist us. When we spoke earlier, you invited us to visit you at home. On Hunt Forever. Is that possible, or do you wish to meet with us at Hot Blood?” He waited for a neutrino Come-Back response.

Which happened in three seconds.

“Hello Pack Leader Jack Munroe.” A wolf-like Alien with the legs of a giraffe stood in a yellow, stone-walled room. Standing nearby were Hilok’s two adult children, Sator and Nalik. A fourth Nasen reclined on rainbow-colored cushions in the back of the room, just below a stone window that looked out on a rocky ravine. He wondered if that was Hilok’s wife, mate or partner or whatever the Nasen called their lifemate. All of them wore the usual leather body straps festooned with Tech devices. The Alien spoke in his natural language of sharp screeches, barks, moans and yelps. Which the Comlink panel translated into English, thanks to Denise’s SETI algorithm-crunching of their AV broadcasts. “Explain what help you need.”

“Warmest greetings to you, Pack Leader Hilok of the Northern Pack,” Jack said. “We come for Trade in knowledge similar to what your Nalik shared with us last time. And to share our Arbitor meeting results. Where do you wish to meet with us?”

The Alien stared at him with two yellow eyes arranged on either side of a long carnivore head. A pair of flexarms emerged from the wolf’s broad chest. His friend’s short-furred body was covered in contrasting bands of red and yellow that ran the length of his frame, making him resemble a long-legged zebra. With sharp teeth. A white tufted tail lifted alertly. The Alien’s two furry ears angled forward. Hilok blinked long black eyelashes. “Since this Trade is solely between your Pack and my family Pack, you may come into our system and orbit above my home compound. It lies at the edge of a deep gorge cut by the largest river of our northernmost continent.” The Alien’s purple lips pulled back from the white canines that filled his carnivore mouth. Was it an attempt at a smile? “My son Sator is eager to Trade for new interactive combat video games. Do you have such with you?”

Jack smiled, then nodded, a gesture Hilok had learned from their last encounter. “We do! They are new to you. They include space combat games like
Wing Commander, Starlancer, Tachyon: The Fringe, Freelancer
and
Freespace
.” He gestured to Maureen. “They are favorites of my Combat Commander, lady Maureen.”

“Progenitor!” whinnied Sator as he moved forward with Nalik. “I must have them!”

Hilok stomped his right claw-foot, which stopped the advance of both children. “Your eagerness for these Human combat games is well-known to your mother and I. Gather the jewels you earned through combat challenges with other Packs. You will need them.” The larger male gripped the jeweled chest strap that ran under his flexarms with the thumbs of each claw-hand. He tilted his head. “My daughter Nalik enjoyed the neutron star survey and Dark Matter research shared by your Nikola during your last visit. Do you have new astronomical data that will repay Nalik’s sharing of her knowledge with you?”

Jack bit his lip. There was no way he was going to share the Dark Matter data of Atarksis. Behind him Nikola unlocked her straps and walked up to stand beside him. She put her right arm around his waist and looked up at the motion-eye. “Pack Leader Hilok, while we have data on star systems occupied by new members of our Freedom Alliance, perhaps you will be repaid by our sharing of a new weapon. It is called a Magpulse Bomb.”

“Crap,” growled Maureen from behind them. “Gal, we should keep that secret!”

Jack agreed. But it was too late. The offer had been made. “Hilok, we also bring more hot sauces and elk steaks in our cold lockers.”

The Nasen leaned forward. A purple tongue flicked out to lick his canines. “This Magpulse Bomb, what does it do?”

Nikola waited for his okay. Which he gave with a hip bump. “This bomb sends out a magnetic impulse in one direction. Any ship contacted by the pulse loses all onboard controls. Circuits are burned, melted or wiped clean of the ability to work.”

Hilok blinked several times. “A useful device if one wishes to salvage a Hunter’s ship. Or an automated weapons platform. The Trade of such information to us will surely suffice for Nalik’s sharing of her Arbitor datafile.”

Jack let the tip of Old Roy fall down until it rested on the steel plates of the cabin floor. He rested both hands atop its round pommel. “Good. Mostly we seek information about Isolated systems. And about the Arbitors. Beyond what your Nalik shared when we spoke during my call from Mathilde. Plus, we also offer a vidrecord of our recent encounter with the Arbitor MakMakGor.”

Hilok’s tail swished from side to side. Which Jack knew indicated eagerness. “The basis of a Trade exchange exists. Pack Leader Jack Munroe, your ship
Uhuru
and the other eight ships of your Pack are invited to visit my world of Hunt Forever. We will emit a maser locator signal to guide you to my compound. Come to us in a single Lander ship. Be warned, though, our home world is protected by a shell of automated weapons platforms. The platforms support neutral particle beams and lasers. Any launch of a torpedo or other craft from your nine ships will result in the destruction of the torp and the launching craft. Accepted?”

“Accepted.” Jack would take the same precaution for any Alien ship that visited Earth, Mars, the Moon or an outer planets moon base. Thermonuke torps were too destructive to be allowed close to an inhabited world without an automated defense net such as Hilok described. “I will gather my fellow captains in our Lander
Anneli Korhonen
, along with some of my crew, and fly down to your compound. While the ships of my Pack have many weapons teeth, this is your Hunt territory, your Hunt star and your space to rule. We show respect to all Packs of the Nasen. Will you advise the other Packs that our visit is solely for Trade?”

“I will,” Hilok said in a low snarl. “Besides your fellow captains, bring your Nikola. My mate Vanix wishes to meet and converse with a Human female who is cub expectant.”

Not what he would normally do. Except they needed Nikola’s Astro expertise. A squeeze to his waist told him she wanted to meet this Vanix. “My lifemate Nikola is also eager to meet a fellow mother of cubs. We will arrive at Hunt Forever using our grav-pull drives. You and other Packs can observe our approach from the graviton emissions of our grav-pulls. Satisfactory?”

The yellow eyes of Hilok quickly scanned the crew behind and near Jack, then fixed back on him. “Satisfactory. My family is eager to Trade with your family. My Pack relatives who live in our compound will join us in a number equal to the Humans you bring with you. Until you arrive.”

“Until then.” He gestured to Denise to shut off the neutrino comlink.

Nikola looked up at him, her expression concerned. “Did I do wrong in offering the Magpulse Bomb? I knew you and Max and Archie were unlikely to offer the Dark Matter info they gained from Atarksis.”

Jack touched her cheek softly. “You did fine! The Magpulse Bomb is not as vital a weapon as our antimatter and Higgs Disruptor beamers. And these Nasen clearly know more about the Hunter system than we learned in our last visit.” He led the way back to their seats, ignoring Maureen’s scowl. “But when we arrive at their compound, stay behind me and Maureen. While you will wear your combat gear, Kevlar vest and sword, do not do any fighting! Maureen and I, and the other captains, will protect you.”

She looked up from her Chief Astronomer seat as she relocked her seat restraint straps. Her look was Woman Superior. “Jack! Being preggy does not incapacitate any woman. We can swim, run, even fight to defend our children while pregnant. Just can’t take high gee accelerations. But you know that, having grown up in the Belt.”

He did know it. Looking back, he caught the attention of their Sociologist. “Blodwen, I want you to come with us. With me, Maureen and Nikola. Everyone else should stay here on ship. Anyway, you can follow our visit by way of our vacsuit vidcams. We’ll clip them to our vests when we take off the suits.”

Denise gave him a thoughtful nod. Elaine and Cassie both nodded their acceptance. Archibald gave a start and looked up from his yellow datapad. Which he had been working on during the neutrino chat-chat. The Brit  nodded hurriedly. “Sure. Will give me and Max time to theorize on the nature of Dark Energy.”

Blodwen rested her chin on her left fist, her curly blond hair making a golden halo for her narrow face. Pale green eyes watched him. “So we go down dressed for a fight? Like at Hot Blood?”

Jack nodded. “Of course. You heard what I said to the Arbitor about prey weakness. We arrive as predators ready to eat anyone for lunch! We do not show weakness of any sort. Elsewise, we might tempt a Challenge from one of Hilok’s relatives.”

“Quite so,” Denise said as she fiddled with the neutrino comlink pedestal, her gaze cast down. “We are apex predators come to meet social carnivores on their home turf. Neither side shows weakness. Strength shown leads to respect given. Which allows for Trade and an amiable visit. Right, Captain Jack?”

“Right.” Why did their teen ask for his agreement to lessons she had shared with them all, based on her Animal Ethology studies? Was something bothering her? Something personal? He turned to their senior vet. “Maureen, are you ready to lead our group into dangerous territory?”

“Of course!” The woman brushed away short black bangs from her forehead, giving him a wintry smile. “Though my military historian side says I will be listening to every word Nalik shares with our Nikola. Learning more about this interstellar Hunters of the Great Dark system is part of my duty as your Combat Commander.”

“Good.” He looked up at the images of the other ship captains, then back over his shoulder to Max. “Drive Engineer, send the grav-pull activation signal to all fleet ships. Take us inward!”

The people faces and star images of the front screen grew blurred from gravitational lensing as the graviton-based gravity-pull drive pushed them down into the Zeta Serpentis system at eighty percent of lightspeed. They would arrive at Hilok’s world in 6.6 hours. Maybe he could get a nap in so we he felt ready to battle wits with social carnivores who were used to dominating every opponent.

“Heading inward,” Max murmured.

Jack smiled to himself. Before he got that nap he would say the one thing guaranteed to bring a smile to his crewmates.

“Who wants the first beer?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

The world of Hunt Forever was a blue and green wonder. White clouds drifted over three continents and five oceans. As the
Uhuru
took up the orbital vector indicated by Hilok’s maser signal, Jack drank in the view through the porthole to the left of his Tech station seat. It was gorgeous. A blue river cut through the twisting mountains of the world’s northernmost continent, making a deep cut in purple rock. With a sigh he looked away from the porthole to the front screen’s image, which arrived courtesy of the Schmidt scope’s CCD circuits. The screen’s daylight view was also a true-light image. But for him, seeing something directly with his own eyes was different than a view moderated by mirrors, circuits and the algorithms of the ship’s AI computer.

Elaine looked to him from her Pilot station, past the empty seat of Maureen. His sister shared his excitement at once more encountering a living world. So different from the rocky asteroids of the Belt, a place without air, free-flowing water, trees, grass and tiny land critters. “Plenty of room for a habdome down there, yes?”

He grinned, recalling the limited space in which he, his parents and his two sisters had grown up in. “Yup. And no need to check your air tanks for the gas pressures. Down below, you just open your mouth and breath. As if the air is endless.”

“Which it is,” Max said, his tone jovial. “On a big place like a planet.”

Ignoring for the moment the images of his fellow captains that ran in a strip above the true-light scene of Hunt Forever, he drank in wonder. Then duty hit him. “Anonymous, please expand the scope view until the compound of Hilok is visible.”