Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) (6 page)

“We’re fine,” said Minna, her two blond braids swinging freely. The usually stern woman was smiling. “Alaric just proposed to Elie! About time. Our two other Finns are just waking up.”

“Congratulations!” Jack said. Alaric Vertanen and Elie Hämälänen were two people he had counted on during their prior space battles. They had made the
Wolverine
a deadly fighting machine.

“We Basque are also doing fine,” Ignacio said from the
Badger
. “Wokirk, Aligarde, Ibai and Josepe are eager to dance around this Arbitor, daring him to attack us!” The swarthy-skinned man’s black mustache lifted with his smile. “And Captain Jack, it is good to see you wearing your
boina
.”

He grinned. The black beret gifted to him by Ignacio long ago made him an honorary member of the Basque, or Euskaldunak, people. Nikola had reminded him to don the
boina
before they put on their vacsuits. “Good to hear that my brother. And fight we will. But first with words.”

“Just so,” said Akemi from the
Orca
. The descendant of a
samurai
family was a long-time resident of the Asteroid Belt and a talented commerce raider when the Unity world government had controlled Sol system. She had been fearless during their swords-versus-claws fights on the comet Sedna, before Jack had destroyed the HikHikSot base. And fearless in their space combat during two star voyages. The petite woman, who had grown up on the 52 Europa asteroid, wore her short black hair in curled bangs, like Maureen. She lifted a thin black eyebrow. “I too am eager to confront this Arbitor.”

“With our help!” called Júlia from the
Caiman
. The woman who had once worked as a maid to the Unity governor on Ceres had become as reliable as the sunrise in her support of Jack.

“And our help too!” said Aashman of the
Mongoose
. The tall, lanky, brown-skinned Hindu sat in a cabin filled with four Sikh crewmen. Each of them wore turbans, blue for Aashman and red for the Sikhs. “While this Arbitor Alien is stranger looking than our god Ganesha, let us hope our efforts will be blessed by the son of Shiva and Parvati. We will need divine help in removing this Arbitor obstacle and ensuring the success of our venture.”

Brown-skinned Kasun nodded. “Perhaps we can encourage this Arbitor to seek the peace of nirvana. Elsewhere in this universe.” The slim, black-haired captain of the
Leopard
gestured to his four Sri Lankan crewmates. “My crew and I stand ready to convey the wisdom of the Lord Buddha. Or to bestow upon this creature the wrath of an angry
bodhisattva
!”

“And,” grumbled Gareth from the
Dragon
, his brown eyes flashing, “if none of that works, well, we
Cymry
know how to tunnel under any fortification. Including invisible ones. May I be the first to use our Higgs Disruptor on the Arbitor? The beam of the weapon reminds me of our
Dyrnwyn
, the flaming sword of our hero Rhydderch Hael!”

Jack held up one hand. “Enough! There will always be a time for fighting. It is the nature of reality. But first we must greet our Alliance allies and Guide Benaxis. And as someone reminded me not long ago, negotiation is always harder than any battle. Right?”

“Correct,” murmured Hideyoshi from the
Bismarck
. The elder man’s manner was one of resolute determination. The devotee of professionalism in all he did scanned Jack’s crew before returning to him. “Fleet Captain Jack, the
Bismarck
and her crew are prepared for combat, for negotiation and to give our lives in defense of humanity. But yes, let us go see—”

“Incoming neutrino signal!” called Denise from her Comlink station. “It’s Benaxis! Going up on the screen and I’m piggy-backing it on our own Come-Back signal to the fleet ships.”

Below the small icons of each ship captain that ran across the top of the front screen, there appeared a six-legged hippo wearing a red robe over his flanks. Large brown eyes stared at Jack as two of the Alien’s tentacle hands touched a control pedestal on the Command Bridge of his spaceship
Polar Ice
. Six other Melagun worked behind Benaxis at their own control pedestals.

“Pack Leader Jack Munroe, is that your fleet which arrived at the edge of the Outer Rock Fields?” grunted the hippo in low-toned infrasound. “Our gravitomagnetic sensors tell us nine graviton-emitting ships just appeared at the edge of our system.”

“Yes, it is us, Guide Benaxis.” Jack unsnapped his seat’s restraint locks, stood up in his vacsuit and took position in front of Maureen. He looked at the motion-eye above the front screen. “My ship
Uhuru
, my Belter fleet ships, and our allies on the ships
Bismarck
and
Dragon
are with me. We are heading inward to Home and your orbital Refuge station shortly. By grav-pull blip jumping.”

Benaxis’ blocky face contorted in what Jack knew to be a body sign of puzzlement. “But your ships can arrive sooner than—”

“Stop!” Jack said hurriedly, giving thanks for the nearly instant functioning of the neutrino comlink. “Do not discuss our fleet’s abilities. Who knows who might be listening to our hoots? Recall we did not agree on an encrypted comlink mode when last we visited you.”

The hippo, also wearing a bulky vacsuit and oblong helmet over its head, nodded in the human style. A body language it had learned during their earlier visit. “As you wish. So you and your fleet will arrive here in a few hours?”

“Something like eight Earth hours,” Jack said, giving thanks the Melagun had not mentioned the fleet’s habit of Alcubierre jumping into the depths of a star system. That was a practice not followed by other Hunters of the Great Dark. And he saw no reason to alert the Arbitor to one of their battle tactics. “Perhaps you, your fellow ship captains, our Alliance captains and our fleet captains, we can meet in the conference room of the inner ring of your Refuge? The other Alliance members are used to a gravity similar to our Earth. Your three gees gravity is rare among the lifeforms we have met.”

“Understood,” Benaxis rumbled in low tones. “I will send a neutrino signal to Arbitor MakMakGor advising him of your arrival and your need to refuel and seek food and drink at our Refuge. After that we will travel to meet his ship. Yes?”

“Exactly so,” Jack said, giving thanks for the swift thinking of Benaxis in coming up with an excuse for why his ships did not go directly to the Arbitor ship. “We have brought intoxicating liquids of our own, to share with you and with your fellow Guides. Thank you for your patience until we arrive.”

The Melagun hippo flared his vacsuited tentacle hands towards Jack. “Understood. We await your arrival.”

The Alien’s image vanished. Which left Jack facing a screen image of the Tau Ceti system that depicted the locations of all graviton and neutrino emitting spaceships, and the star’s planets. Courtesy of Elaine’s Sensor panel. He turned, sat back in his Tech station seat, pulled over his Tech panel, and called up its display of all ship systems, along with data on all radiations impacting the outer hull of the
Uhuru
. He looked back over his shoulder.

“Max, set up a laser link with each fleet ship’s Drive computer. Then activate our grav-pull drives and take us inward to the world of Home.”

“Working on it,” his buddy said. “Done. Moving to grav-pull blip jumping.”

The front screen image of black space sprinkled with white, yellow, blue, orange and red stars shimmered from the gravitational lensing that always happened when they used the grav-pull drive. The images of his fellow captains, who were working with their own crewmates, also shimmered. But the imagery remained, rather than disappearing as it did whenever they entered the space-time manifold of the Alcubierre stardrive.

Jack licked his lips. Once more his mouth felt dry. Once more his heart beat too fast. Once more he doubted his ability to lead 18 starships into a confrontation with a reptilian Alien used to calling the shots and having every species bow before it.
Damn!
He had thought his on-stage anxiety had disappeared after their last star voyage. He felt a touch on his right shoulder.

“Here, my love. Your water bottle.”

Nikola. The woman who knew him better than he did himself. He reached up to his right shoulder, grabbed the soft plastic bottle in his right gauntlet, then stuck its feeder nipple against the intake slot of his helmet neck ring. Wrapping his lips about the water tube inside his helmet, he sucked. Ice-cold water that felt like a mythical mountain stream filled his mouth. He swallowed, sucked again, and swallowed.

“Thank you.” He paused, wondering what might lift the spirits of his crewmates. “Hey! Anyone want to head down to the Food Refectory and play a game of three dee Scrabble? I got close to beating Mizz Maureen last time!”

Laughs and chuckles came over the joint vacsuit audio that connected everyone in the cabin.

“Young man,” Maureen said in her trademark tough tone, “you only did so well last time cause your datapad had that touch-query link with Autonomous!”

“I deny it!” he said loudly, standing up and turning to the hatch leading into the long Spine hallway.

Nikola also stood up, but said not a word. She just shook her head, her brown ponytail jiggling a bit inside her helmet.

Elaine stood up and shook an admonishing finger at him. As if she believed Maureen’s accusation. Cassie winked at him, then poked at Archibald to move out of his seat more quickly. Blodwen ignored them all, engaged in a tight hug with Max that made Jack wonder if the two of them might spend the next eight hours in their private roomsuite. Denise patted Max on the shoulder as she passed them by, while Nikola pulled on his hand, breaking him out of his reverie.

“Get a move on!” she said, looking more beautiful covered up in a vacsuit than she had when naked seven days ago.

“I’m moving!”

Together they marched into the hallway, aiming for game time, for food, for drink and for the sharing normal among a crew of people who had risked their lives for each, who cared for or loved each other, and who were determined to ensure humanity’s freedom to roam the stars.

Jack felt a chill run up his neck as he realized, once more, what it meant to be a leader of people.

A great challenge they faced. But they would overcome this Arbitor. Somehow. Some way. Even if they had to travel to distant stars in order to decipher the secrets of this Arbitor, they would prevail. He knew that. It was what a good leader did for his people.

♦   ♦   ♦

The conference room inside the inner ring of the Refuge space station looked crowded to Jack. There was no central table in view of the different shapes of his Alien allies. Instead, they all sat, reclined or stood above floor mats. Plates of food, bowls of water and booze, and Alien versions of datapads lay in front of each attendee. While his human fleet allies sat to either side of him, their Freedom Alliance allies were opposite them.

Directly across from Jack was Benaxis the hippo, who reclined on six folded legs. The Alien’s six tentacle hands were grabbing bunches of almonds, which every Melagun loved. It was a Trade item Jack had brought in the
Uhuru
, along with elk and cow steaks, interactive combat video games, hot sauces from Louisiana and New Mexico, a few carved wood animal effigies and collections of sea shells. The captain of
Polar Ice
seemed quite relaxed.

To one side of Benaxis was the musk oxen form of Thoughtful/Progenitor, captain of the ship
Green Grass
. The BooMak also reclined on four folded legs. The two-minded Alien was sampling almonds, cashews, peanuts, grapes, mandarin oranges and other fruit of Earth using its five-segment manipulator tongue.

On the Melagun’s opposite side there reclined the twelve-legged, centipede-lobster form of Mother Prime, captain of the ship
Star Marcher
. Her two front pincer-arms were holding the water bowl close to her mouth palps so the invertebrate crustacean could sip from it. The Mikmang’s two pink eyes watched everyone as she drank.

Squatting next to Mother Prime was the bipedal form of Pack Defender Tok, captain of the ship
Tall Tree
. The eight foot tall prosimian’s short green fur glowed in the soft yellow light that was set to Melagun-normal level. The Nuuthot native was eating chunks of barbecued guinea pig, a treat prepared by Gareth, who was chatting with Tok in a low tone.

Their final ally was Bulaken of the North, a Mother of All who captained the ship
Sharp Teeth
. The Niktoren was eating shellfish from the seas of the Melagun world Home. The shellfish were consumed raw, like a true carnivore. The raccoon-like Alien also sat cross-legged and focused on ripping out the clam-like flesh with her talon fingers. But her two mobile eyes looked in opposite directions as she ate, inspecting the entire room as if it might hold a predator hidden away behind one of the woven drapes that covered the metal walls.

Jack put down his plate, finished with the meatballs and spaghetti prepared by his sister Cassie. Who had learned to cook Italian style as part of her cover identity. He raised his shot glass of Johnny Walker Black Label scotch, enjoying the amber color of the 12 year-old blended whiskey. He held it out.