Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) (5 page)

Jack ground his teeth. He didn’t like the idea of pulling combat ships from Sol system, but most of the ships assigned to these two Hunter systems were coming from the volunteer ships that had received the seven salvaged grav-pull drives. “We do,” he said slowly, thinking fast. “Captain Helena, are you willing to take the
Grizzly
and two of the new fleet ships out to check on these Usulungun Hunters?”

The mixed race woman sat forward and laid her long arms on the table. She gripped a glass of his favorite scotch. She fixed slanted eyes on him. “Yes, I will do so. I know the captains who came in response to our call for volunteer fighters. Two of the new ships are outfitted with Higgs Disruptors. They also carry antimatter beam, neutral particle beam and HF lasers. Like every ship in our three fleets, thanks to the recent upgrades by Mathilde dock engineers. We will be cautious and careful whenever we arrive at this Usulungun system.”

Jack gave the lanky woman an appreciative grin. “Excellent! Keep in touch with us by neutrino comlink. We will let you, and everyone else here in Sol and elsewhere, know what happens at Tau Ceti.”

“Captain Jack,” called Júlia of the
Caiman
. “Our ship and the rest of the First Belter Fleet are willing to support you in this confrontation with the Arbitor.” The Afro-Hispanic woman’s dark skin showed no wrinkles despite being the mother of three high school age sons. “But what is your plan for when we arrive? Do we attack its ship? Do we try to capture this Arbitor? Or something else?”

“All of that and more.” Jack sat back in his seat, holding his bottle of ale close to his chest. He scanned those at the table, particularly the captains who made up his First Belter Fleet. “Like I said earlier, I have some hunches. First, I do not believe in invulnerable ships. Anything built by living beings has flaws, has a weakness. Somewhere. This Arbitor ship has to have a flaw. I’m counting on Max and Archibald to discover that flaw.” He nodded at his two crewmates, gave a thumbs-up to a glowering Maureen, then fixed back on Júlia. “Second, I want to see if this Arbitor ship automatically shields against antimatter particles. Antimatter is a normal part of the universe. Like light, baryonic matter and Dark Matter. The true-light image of the Arbitor ship showed it illuminated by the light of Tau Ceti. As Maureen noted. That means random photons are allowed to impact on the hull of this ship. Without setting off this shield. What else is ignored?”

Maureen thumped the table with a fist. “Near lightspeed rocks could kill that ship. And these dino bastards!”

“True,” Jack said. “But the approach of such a superfast rock might set off this shield. If the shield sets up before a
laser
hits it, then the Arbitor ship has some kind of new sensor that picks up a laser getting ready to fire. If so, we need to understand how that sensor works.”

Elaine lifted her slim hand. “The sensor could be as simple as those used last century that detected the powering up of weapons systems on bombers, ships and land tanks. There’s increased EMF whenever a weapons system powers up. In the infrared and microwave ranges.” She reached out and held the thick hand of Ignacio, giving Jack a shy smile. “Course, no sensor can detect the approach of love.”

“Ohhhh,” said Nikola softly.

Several of the men looked at the ceiling as if to say ‘women!’ Jack gave the two lovebirds a wink. “True. And if old-fashioned radar could detect an incoming rocket and allow a ship time for countermeasures, I’m sure this Arbitor sensor does that better and faster. It is clear this Arbitor ship stays outside of the shield for long periods. Otherwise it could not broadcast the AV talk it gave to Benaxis. Or detect the approach of his ship. So it has moments of vulnerability.”

“Moments are enough for me!” growled Maureen, sitting back in her chair and crossing arms over her black leotard.

“I’m sure they are.” What was with Maureen? Since the morning talk with Benaxis she had been more bloodthirsty, more death-talking than usual. Was the visit of her young granddaughter Hayley the cause? Or was Gareth’s growing devotion causing her to want a future where before she had been satisfied with battle? Jack’s mind swirled with options, worries and hopes. The appearance of this Arbitor in a supposedly invulnerable ship was not something he had expected. He held up his beer-free hand. “To continue, we need to know a lot more about this Arbitor, its ship and
why
the Arbitor system even exists in the Hunters of the Great Dark culture. To explore that I want to visit Hilok and his family at Zeta Serpentis. These Nasen are smart, sharp and savvy predators. They did not attack us unthinkingly, like some of the predator Aliens at the Sedna Gathering Hall.” He noticed a supportive nod from Hideyoshi. Whose black hairline had receded even more. “How many Hunters of the Great Dark are like the Nasen? Predatory but willing to talk and even Trade. With a system as old as this, I’m betting some Aliens are eager for a change in how things work. Maybe we can gain allies from Aliens we might normally attack or avoid?”

“Good point, Fleet Captain Jack,” said Blodwen from where she sat beside Max. The tall, bony woman pushed away her empty bottle of beer. She looked around the table, her pale green eyes bright. “Everyone, of course I worry about the threat to Earth from this Isolation Globe and the Arbitors. Zhāng’s suggestion that we build a colony ship is smart. And it is what every Hunter predator does when it conquers a new subject people system. No reason for humans to do any different. Let’s just hurry up the colonization process.” She tapped rad-tanned fingers against the metal of the table. “But . . . this interstellar system of social carnivore predators seeking out star systems they can dominate has a major weakness. Each predator species does this Hunting on its own. While multiple predator Aliens will tolerate each other’s presence, as they did for decades in Sol’s cometary Kuiper Belt, they do
not
cooperate. There is no alliance of multiple predator Aliens. Which is perhaps why there is a need for an Arbitor to settle disputes between two or more predator species.” She gestured down the table. “Denise, what do your Animal Ethology and Behavioral Ecology studies say about this system of only social carnivore predators ruling the starlanes?”

His ComChief, who sat between Max and Ignacio, nibbled her lower lip, then grimaced as she realized she was repeating a habit she had from chewing on a braid of her red hair. She gave a nod to their Sociologist, then scanned the table. Her expression was grim. “My fields of study tell me several things. Which I’ve shared during our Sedna battle and our two interstellar trips. Most important are two lessons taught by Evolutionary Biology.” Their teen took a sip from her bottle of ale, then put it back on the table. “First, warfare is adaptive, as pointed out last century by scholar John Alcock. It sharpens the ability of individuals and species to survive. So fights among Hunters are normal. Second, every predator species seeks to expand its ecological niche, its Hunt Territory. Which is what the Aliens in the Kuiper Belt were trying to do with Sol system, and what other Aliens have done for millennia at other star systems. Because a larger eco-niche means more resources for population expansion.” She looked to Jack, her manner stark. “Fleet Captain, humanity must do the same. We must fight space wars to defeat Alien predators competing for our share of the pie of subject peoples systems. And we must expand our area of control, our Hunt Territory, both for access to rare resources, to unique science knowledge like the Dark Matter info developed by the Melagun scientist Atarksis, and to create a buffer zone so some unknown Hunter Alien does not think it will be easy to conquer humanity. But . . . ” she looked from Jack to the rest of their tablemates. “But freedom to explore is
part
of human nature. Has been ever since
homo erectus
moved out of Africa about two million years ago. We don’t stay in one eco-niche like our primate cousins. We expand into all niches, from polar ice fields to ocean islands. The stars are humanity’s new eco-niche. Which is why we must some way, somehow defeat this Arbitor!”

“Exactly,” growled Maureen. “Three cheers for the young lady who has more
cojones
than some rock miners I’ve known!”

Jack once more gave thanks for the presence of young Denise in his crew. While he and Max had studied evolutionary biology on Charon and at Mathilde, it was the aposematic body shape and skin color lessons he had learned from Hortense Mbasa that had alerted him to the danger of the Rizen predators during humanity’s own First Contact, more than a year ago. While Hortie had died when Max’s first lover Monique took most of their crewmates down to that disastrous meeting with the Rizen, Denise carried on Hortie’s legacy. Which he was not about to forget. “ComChief, thank you! Your points are well made. And I agree with you that humanity must never be shut off from the stars.” He looked aside to his lifemate Nikola, whose pregnancy belly bump was getting bigger. “I want my kid, everyone’s kid, to have the freedom to explore the stars. I also want that for the offspring of every intelligent species, whether they are apex predators or not. Guess we got some big time scheming to do.”

Nikola tapped her datapad, shutting off the Nasen star holo. “Jack, I like your idea of going to see the Nasen after we meet this Arbitor. Nalik’s info about the star system that was Isolated was not present in the holo dataset she downloaded into my datapad, during our meeting at Hot Blood.” She leaned forward and rested her chin on clasped hands. “What
else
do the Nasen know? We need to find out.”

“Very true,” Max grunted. “But I thought this was also a dinner invite. Admiral?”

Hideyoshi gave Max a half-smile. “Very true. Warrant Officer Menami, tell the Master Chef we are ready for the steaks. With our usual side items. Good enough?”

Jack nodded as the Asian crewwoman left by the slidedoor. “Admiral, these steaks aren’t from my freezer collection. What kind are they? And from where?”

The ruler of the heavy cruiser
Prince Otto von Bismarck
took a sip from his glass of scotch, then chuckled. “You and your crew are not the only schemers! My Weaponry Chief Lieutenant Lopez made a deal with an Argentine transport ship docked at Ceres. Just before we left for Titan. We will feast on prime Angus t-bone steaks!”

“Yes!” Jack felt his mouth begin to water. He pulled up a cardboard box from the floor beside his seat, laying it beside his empty ale bottle. “And as promised, I have some fresh Cuban cigars! One for each of you after dinner and desert!”

The cheers that went up from around the table made him smile despite his worry over the Arbitor. Life was uncertain, as they had been reminded time and again ever since the Rizen made their first Challenge to Combat against the
Uhuru
crew. Jack and Max had survived the challenge and found a way to rad-slag the Rizen ship. Which had proven humanity was the apex predator of Sol system. Did they have to prove they were the supreme predator of all predators in the Great Dark? Somehow, someway, they were going to defeat this Arbitor and make clear to every Alien predator that you don’t mess with humans!

CHAPTER FOUR

A week later they arrived at Tau Ceti system on the side opposite the parked Arbitor ship. Jack had ordered Elaine to enter this location into the NavTrack computer for the
Uhuru
, the
Bismarck
, the
Dragon
and the six other ships of his Belter fleet. Their position was 50 AU out from the star, at the edge of its cometary disk. He looked to his sister at the Pilot station.

“What does your Sensor panel say about ships in this system? And can you put it up on the front screen?”

“Done,” Elaine said as she tapped at her Sensor panel. “Got fourteen moving neutrino signals, color of green, a few of them moving from planet five, or Home, at 1.35 AU out to planet six, which they call Cold Gases. But most sources are parked next to Home.” She paused. “Graviton emissions overlap eight of the fourteen neutrino-emitting spaceships. If five graviton sources are the ships of our Freedom Alliance allies, that leaves three on Melagun ships. My guess is our Melagun friends have built their own grav-pull drives using the Dark Matter accelerator of Atarksis. As the image of Benaxis without any strap-down on his deck suggested. Plus they have built another two fusion-pulse ships since we left, for a total of eight space-going Melagun ships.” She looked up and pointed at the front screen. “That purple dot on the far side of the system is the Arbitor ship. It too is emitting neutrinos and gravitons just like any ship of our fleet,” she said thoughtfully. “There are also multiple neutrino signals coming from planet Home and its large moon. But they match the pattern put out by fusion reactors.”

Next to him Maureen tapped her Combat panel into three dee simulation mode. “Loading those sensor readings now, along with the orbital tracks Elaine described. Plus the data from our UV, gamma ray, x-ray, neutrino, graviton, EMF and other sensors,” she said, her voice calm. “Wonder why the Arbitor ship has not moved in-system?”

“Maybe cause its current location is where we dropped off our Predator Alert satellite.” Jack tapped on his right armrest Weapons panel, which allowed him to back up Maureen’s Combat station. “So. We have our nine ships plus five Freedom Alliance ships plus at least two more Melagun ships capable of blip-jumping across this system. That comes to a fleet of 16 ships.” Jack scanned the top of the front screen. He saw the AV images of Minna, Ignacio, Akemi, Júlia, Aashman, Kasun, Gareth and Hideyoshi. Each of them wore vacsuits with bubble helmets since his order had been to prepare for combat upon arrival. “My first allies, how are your ships post-Alcubierre exit? Any trouble?”