Harvester 7 (10 page)

It had been
many years before, in a time of upheaval and shortage on Watuma, a
time of flux and great uncertainty. The primitive perception of the
Watu had been justified at that time, they lagged behind more
advanced races by a considerable margin and their ecosystem was on
the point of collapse. For centuries they had monitored the decline
of Terrillia, their closest galactic neighbour but failed to learn
from the mistakes. Their salvation would be in technology decided
the High Council and encouraged acquisition by any means, beg,
borrow or steal. So it came to pass that a marauding squadron of
Watumian fighters had stumbled upon a fresh ion trail heading into
uncharted space and the enterprising leader had followed the scent
to a lightly armed freighter. Such ships were a tempting target in
the search for alternative technologies but the decision to pursue
as the bulky ship engaged it's FTL drives would prove to be
disastrous. Crossing into Diurian territory uninvited and with
obvious hostile intent had sparked a conflict between the two
worlds that had simmered for centuries.

Go'an knew
that his current strategy had limited chance of success, but with
the total commitment that he had to mounting a united stand against
the Reapers, the benefits of a potential alliance far out-weighed
the repercussions, the loss of a Terrillian, a flawed Kressa and a
continuation of an already established conflict. His downside was
minimal.

"The Kressa
has received full instructions and coordinates, she has been
briefed on the protocols for this initial contact, you will simply
be delivering my message and invitation, just try to keep your
sarcasm to a minimum if you are forced to communicate without my
guidance," added Go'an, "Good luck, and may your Gods go with
you."

***

The moment for
departure finally arrived but Maulik had delayed to oversee the
placement of the first harvester drones, they would be acting as a
defence mechanism during this selective harvest as the L6's,
although backward and under-developed, could potentially have
rudimentary defence mechanisms of their own. Maulik considered the
large colonies of aggressive ants he had seen defending themselves
on Planet K559 on his last harvest, they were only L2 but displayed
a fierce sense of self preservation, the larger soldiers, spreading
their wings and attacking the collectors with powerful jaws and
strong jets of acid had wreaked considerable damage before they
could be subdued. The L6's on this remote world were only a
fraction of the size of the aggressive and determined ants, but
their more advanced level of development threatened the potential
for defence or retaliation. As Harvester Master it was Maulik's
duty to ensure the harvesting was handled efficiently with minimal
damage sustained to his valuable equipment.

Kressa dropped
back into the corrosive atmosphere and followed the lead drones
down, back on 7 Maulik had sat with his team and selected a
continent that straddled both northern and southern hemispheres,
two huge blocks of land that were joined by a the narrowest of
connections.

"This is the
logical start point," he had insisted ignoring the advice that
other regions displayed higher concentrations, "Agreed, other
regions look more viable, however, we will work towards the
recovery of this planet first, consider the selected target area,
the northern section is teeming with L6's, and large areas are
severely damaged, so total harvesting will comfortably fill our
holds on this trip, but it is the southern section that interests
me most, this area appears the least damaged, so for me it a
priority to clear this section first, call it conservation."

"Densities are
very low." said a junior officer.

"True," agreed
Maulik, "But consider this, spend a few extra days clearing this
section, or we stick to our original quota and spend an additional
three months travelling to the next harvest-able world?"

With that
thought in mind all debate ended, the whole crew could expect
generous bonuses for delivering full quota ahead of schedule so a
few extra days, a week at the most, spent satisfying their Masters
conservation plan didn't seem unreasonable.

***

"Much more
ozone in this region," announced Kressa as she modified her shields
to compensate for the higher concentrations of the corrosive gas,
"Most of the L6's are concentrated around the coastal regions,
there are areas with quite high levels."

Engineering
had configured the collectors to filter out all life below L6 and
Maulik watched with interest as the massive ships worked a pattern
over the largest colony, edging closer they saw the life forms
scatter as the beams flickered and transported.

"Just like the
ants," laughed Maulik, "But I don't see any defence yet, surely
such an invasive species has offensive capabilities?"

Moments later
his curiosity was satisfied as small fighters swarmed into
view.

"Scan their
capabilities Kressa," he asked as the insect like defenders raced
around the collectors firing what looked like tiny metal darts that
flared ineffectually on the flanks of the heavy collectors.

"Minimal
threat" announced Kressa, "They are a form of rudimentary attack
ship, no reactors, no FTL capability, capable of inflicting only
minimal damage, more an annoyance than a threat."

Maulik
signalled back to 7. "Relik, there is no offensive threat to our
equipment down here, program the drones to eliminate the small
fighters, and proceed with the harvest as planned, I will be back
in three or four days."

"Understood,"
replied his second in command, "May the Gods go with you." he added
as Kressa burst out into clean clear space and lined up on her
calculated course.

Their
destination known, but the welcome; uncertain.

***

As they
reached cruising speed Kressa released her tight grip around Maulik
by relaxing the rigidity of his seat. "We have eight hours now" she
purred, "Time to relax before the confrontation and hostility."

"You don't
have much faith in this mission, do you?" Question or statement,
Kressa could take it how it best suited her, fearless as she was,
and brimming with self confidence, Maulik could feel the concern in
her mind.

"I think it is
a waste of our time," she agreed finally, "I feel that there is too
much bad blood between the Watu and Diurians to ever contemplate a
collaboration, but that is only my opinion."

Maulik eased
himself out of the seat and strolled back to the compact relaxation
area. Kressa was well equipped for a craft of her size. She was
only slightly larger than a star-fighter but the genius of design
allowed all of the basic facilities needed for a scout on deep
space exploration, helping himself to a small sachet of
reconstituted meat he sank down beside a video terminal and
requested a re-run of the Diurian data stream.

"Pause," he
ordered the on-board computer as an image flashed onto the screen.
"Enlarge and enhance, twenty five percent," the image grew and
clarified, it was an artist’s impression of a Diurian military
officer, an image unchanged for hundreds of years and based on the
testimony of the only survivor of that first hasty territorial
incursion.

"And what are
you hiding under that exoskeleton?" he mused. The image depicted
armour, dark and sleek, functional and outwardly aggressive
looking. "I guess these guys really want to look the part" he
laughed, "But they have to be soft to need all that armour."

"Don't be
deceived," broke in Kressa, "For some races armour is simply
uniform, a status symbol, or ceremonial, many use it but don't need
it, I'm afraid not enough is known about the Diurians to be able to
establish their natural form, but it would be an error on your part
to under estimate them."

"Point taken,"
laughed Maulik, "But I didn't plan to under estimate anyone, I was
just thinking out loud. This is a very old picture, what is the
most recent data on their capabilities?"

"The most
recent dates back over one hundred years." replied Kressa.

"So really, we
have no idea what to expect when we arrive, they could have a fleet
of craft just like you by now!"

"True," she
replied, "Exciting isn't it."

Maulik slipped
the unwrapped sachet into his pouch and turned off the display,
there appeared very little point in studying the outdated data
further, he would soon discover if the Diurians had changed or
advanced since the last encounter, "Maybe after a hundred years
without contact their tempers have cooled," he chuckled, "But I
guess I won't be that lucky."

After five
hours of uneventful travel Kressa announced that they were about to
leave known space from a Terrillian perspective. "This is as far as
your people have ever been, you are now in uncharted space,
congratulations Maulik, you are now an explorer." she laughed.

"Well at least
I've fulfilled one ambition," he joked in reply, "Not exactly how I
had pictured it, but I've joined the scout club... finally, I just
wish it was on a mission for my own people."

"But it is for
the benefit of your people," cut in Go'an, "It is for the benefit
of all races in the galaxy, you should feel honoured."

"Yeah,
honoured to be the first idiot to offer himself as a gunnery
practice target to the Diurian fleet, I'm underwhelmed by the
privilege." replied Maulik, he had been expecting Go'an to
interrupt him so the comment from the invasive Watu came as no
surprise. "I guess in about three hours we will all know if this
was a good idea or not, but if they start shooting, Kressa and I
are out of there so fast... do you get what I mean, much as I like
you Chancellor I have no intention of dying for you, if it can be
avoided."

"Let's hope it
doesn't come to that," laughed Go'an, "But I have a feeling that
they will be in the mood to chat when they have heard my
salutation, like the Watu they are a strong race, but they are not
strong enough to face the Reapers alone, we need each other, they
will see that when they have studied the data you will
present."

"Yeah well, we
will soon discover if you are correct."

"Maulik, we
have company." called Kressa.

Jumping up he
rushed forward and dropped into his seat.

"Where?
Who?"

"Off to our
left, two Diurian star-fighters."

"An escort?"
he wondered.

"Unknown, they
are scanning us and maintaining a parallel course."

"Probably
ordered to escort us in," he guessed as he scanned distorted space
through the left view port.

"Possibly,"
replied Kressa, "But their weapons are hot and locked... so hang
on, I may need to get us out of here quickly, I won't be able to
give you much warning."

"If they have
allowed themselves to be detected and not opened fire it can be
taken as a very good sign," added Go'an who had been monitoring the
conversation, "Usually they fire first and then scan the
debris."

"Hey, thanks
for letting me know that in advance," exclaimed Maulik, "It's
always good to know you don't keep anything from me."

"You are
welcome," replied Go'an, "You can start transmitting the salutation
message now, all frequencies."

"Weapons are
still hot, but they released the lock." reported Kressa and Maulik
felt a small wave of relief wash over him, the step down in threat
level was a good sign anywhere in the galaxy and he allowed himself
to breathe again.

"Moving away
now," she added after a few moments, "They have taken up flanking
positions, I believe that they are now an escort, weapons threat
minimal." she paused for a moment, "I have interfaced with the lead
fighters computer and received coordinates, confirming acceptance
now."

"Congratulations Chancellor, I guess that means your meeting is
on." Signalled Maulik but received no reply.

"I raised
shields when they locked on," explained Kressa, "But allowed them
to scan, they were probably confused they couldn't find any weapons
system," she purred, "They feel secure now that we are
unarmed."

"You can block
a weapons scan?" he asked in shock, a scan would usually reveal
every system on a ship no matter how well shielded.

"I take their
data and filter out what I don't want seen," she laughed, "A lady
needs some privacy... I'm about to lower shields in a moment as a
show of trust, so get prepared for Chancellor Go'an, I'm sure he
will be contacting you again very soon." Maulik appreciated the
warning and tried to clear his mind.

Kressa
decelerated as they entered the upper atmosphere and her sensors
gathered data quickly.

"High levels
of methane, traces of oxygen, argon, nitrogen, ozone is minimal, a
little like your planet used to be," she teased, "Before your
people ruined it!"

"Long before
my time," sighed Maulik, "So you can't hold me responsible." he
looked out of the side window and could see their escort clearly,
the Diurian fighter looked menacing and advanced.

"I don't see
any plasma exhaust?" he mused.

"Anti Matter
drive," revealed Kressa, "Quite a feat of engineering really, but
not very practical, we can scoop plasma from space, but they will
have to manufacture their anti matter, expensive and very
unstable."

"Agreed," he
replied, "But imagine the power if it is channelled
efficiently."

"I'm still
faster," laughed Kressa, "Let's just hope I don't have to prove it,
I'm handing control over to their landing computer now, so we can
both relax for a few moments."

"When you go
outside to meet them, keep our link open, I will monitor your
thoughts, if it is not going well and you are in danger I will know
instantly... and I will come and find you."