The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) (27 page)

Ellison Firebrandt saw the column of fire while standing outside his house. It was several hundred miles away, but still visible just on the horizon. He called Roberts and Fire out to see. All three of them stood close together.

"Is the war finally over?" Roberts asked, half to himself. "This isn't a war," said Firebrandt bitterly. "This was nothing but a two-bit feud. The war is still happening in space. God knows where the next Cluster ship will appear. God knows how John Mark is going to get Tejans to mine Erdonium to help in that effort."
"Does this mean New Granada won?" asked Fire.
"I'm not sure anyone wins in a war this nasty." Firebrandt shook his head, sadly. He looked into his daughter's face. He was half surprised to see lines and wrinkles around her eyes. For a moment, he felt extremely old. "I do think the only explosion that big could have been caused by the Tejan supply train. No matter who won, the Tejans will respect us a lot more."
* * * *

When the launch returned to its bay aboard the
Firebrandt,
scorch marks were discovered. The people guarding the supply train had managed to get off a couple of shots. John Mark Ellis shook his head, then went to his quarters and retrieved a bottle of champagne from his space chest. On the bridge, he heard the news from the ground as he passed glasses around. "Only one glass for people on duty!" he said. The ship was alive with a spirit of celebration. Ellis poured the final glass for himself. "Here's to Chief Petty Officer Adkins!" he said, holding his glass high.

Cries of "Here here" rose from around the ship. Ellis split the final bit of champagne in the bottom of the bottle with Adkins. They clinked glasses together. Ellis sat back in the command chair wondering what was next.

An alarm light started flashing on Weiss' terminal. He sat upright as a message came through the implant. Something had just jumped into the Sufiro system and was approaching the planet. He looked around and displayed an image on the viewscreen. Ellis squinted at the tiny object.

"Magnify and enhance," ordered Ellis. The image on the screen grew larger. The hologram was fuzzy, but there was no doubt the ship that had just entered the sector was a Cluster.

The Cluster approached at a sub-light speed greater than any Earth ship was capable. It settled into a nearly circular orbit.

Ellis found himself sweating profusely. "Bring us alongside."
"Aye aye, sir," said Rubin.
"Communicator?" asked Ellis.
"I'm on it, sir," said Weiss. "No response from Cluster."
"Damn it," said Ellis. He sat in the command chair, helpless. The monstrous ship orbited silently. No death rays came—no communications. The ship just orbited, peacefully. PART IV
THE CLUSTER
"When I first saw the Cluster in the sky, I was in awe. The sunlight reflected hypnotically from all those mysterious orbs. Somehow, I think we all knew the end was at hand."
+ Guillermo Roberto Gomez from
Sufiro, An Oral History
A NEW PERSPECTIVE
John Mark Ellis leaned forward in the command chair and studied the image of the Cluster displayed on the holo viewer. He had never really had time to examine one of the clusters before. There was an aesthetic quality about it. The reflective orbs gave the ship an almost translucent quality. The ship looked graceful and beautiful, like no other space vessel he had encountered. The commander began to find himself being filled with a sense of peace as he stared at the ship. He shook his head and reminded himself of the death and destruction he had seen. Ellis forced the image of the
Courageous
, ripped open and dead, to his mind, yet the image seemed incompatible with the emotions the commander felt as he stared at the viewer.
"Position report, Mr. Rubin," asked Ellis, almost dreamily.
"Our orbit will be carrying us over New Granada in five minutes," said Rubin. The tension in the B-Com's voice seemed strangely out of place to Ellis.
The commander fumbled through his coat, searching for a cigar. He needed to clear his mind and devise a course of action. He lit the cigar. As he inhaled the smoke, his thoughts slowly focused and he saw New Granada come into view on the planet surface, below. In the distance, he thought he could make out Arepno's egg-shaped ship. "Contact Arepno, Mr. Weiss. Tell him to hold his position. I don't want them to provoke an attack."
"Aye, sir," said Weiss. The communicator touched his forehead. He enjoyed communicating with the Rd'dyggians. Their minds were extremely well ordered and contained vast amounts of knowledge. He always came back from the experience feeling enriched. "The Rd'dyggians acknowledge request," reported the communicator.
Ellis felt his concentration begin to return as he smoked. "Advise the Admiralty of our current situation and ask them if they've learned anything about the Cluster since we've been here."
Weiss touched his forehead. His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. "My God." His normally soft voice had an edge of terror.
Ellis stood and grabbed the communicator by his shoulder, shaking him. "What's the matter?"
"I'm getting nothing, sir," said Weiss. His eyes grew moist. "It's as though nobody's out there."
With his peripheral vision, Ellis saw the shocked reactions of Rubin and Adkins. "Hmph," he snorted. He stood and puffed on the cigar for a few moments, trying to calm himself as well as present a strong face to the crew. "Is it possible the Cluster is throwing up some kind of interference?" he asked at last.
Weiss nodded weakly. "I've never encountered anything so complete," he said. "It's almost impossible to jam an EQ signal."
"It is theoretically possible, though," piped in Rubin. Ellis nodded approvingly. The last thing he needed was a bridge full of panicked officers. "Back at the Academy, we studied some techniques the Alpha Centaurans were trying."
"I presume you contacted the Rd'dyggians on standard radio." Ellis spoke around the cigar.
"Yes, sir," said Weiss. "Standard practice is to use EQ communications only when necessary. Otherwise, it wastes power."
"Try sending an EQ test to the Rd'dyggian ship." Ellis folded his arms. "If you get no reply, send the test over radio, and find out if they received our signal."
"It'll take a couple of moments." Weiss pulled himself together. Intra-orbit EQ communications were, indeed, almost never performed. The communication required a nodal point to send the carrier wave. Then that signal had to be sent back to the receiving ship. The travel time of the signal would be minimal. Still, Weiss had to locate a nearby relay station to send the message, so it could be bounced back to the Rd'dyggian.
Ellis returned to his seat. "Take all the time you need." He found himself wanting to stare at the holo viewer again. He didn't know what was so compelling about the Cluster. He tried to avert his eyes, but found he could not.
"No response over EQ frequencies," reported Weiss, freeing Ellis from his dream-like state. "Radio seems unaffected. It's as though they can jam us, sir."
Ellis grunted. "Looks like we're going to have to go it alone then. Send a radio message informing the Admiralty of our current status."
"The message will take centuries to get to headquarters," protested the communicator.
Ellis nodded. "At least history will know what happened to us if things go wrong." The commander smoked furiously, allowing a gray cloud to build around his head, obscuring the compelling image of the Cluster.
* * * *

After the battle at Camlan Pass, Edmund Swan and Manuel Raton returned to Raton's home outside Nuevo Santa Fe. They stood outside the old, adobe house feeling the cool evening air. Swan looked up and saw the sight that was becoming more common each day. The Cluster shone eerily as it moved across the night sky. Each of the spherical elements of the ship stood out distinctly despite the fact that the ship itself was in high orbit. Manuel looked up to the sky, as well. He could just make out the point of light that was the destroyer
Firebrandt
, moving alongside the enormous Cluster. Both moved silently as they had for the past three nights.

"I'll say one thing," said Swan. "The Cluster's arrival stopped the war."
Raton shook his head, sadly. "But not all of the slaves are home, amigo." He shuffled his feet. "Once the Cluster leaves, we have to get them back. Meanwhile, Clyde McClintlock is back home, snug in his bed, dreaming up new plans."
Swan shook his head. He knew Raton was speaking metaphorically. It was day in Tejo and McClintlock was probably nowhere near his bed. Swan looked into his friend's eyes. "Dreaming up plans?" He looked back to the sky. "I don't know about Clyde McClintlock, but I feel like I'm being watched. I don't know if I could plan for the future if I wanted to." The Cluster drifted toward the horizon. It would soon set along with the
Firebrandt
, only to reappear three hours later.
All of the fighting had stopped around Sufiro. Many people stood outside at night, contemplating the silent ship. The ship made no attempt to communicate in any way. It simply orbited the planet.
"I tell you," said Swan, turning with Raton to enter the house, "one of these days, a death ray is going to come down from that ship and we're all going to die."
Raton pursed his lips as he stepped over the threshold. He was tiring of Swan's paranoia. "That makes no sense," said Raton, shaking his head. "They could have destroyed any part of this planet any time they wanted. They could have destroyed the
Firebrandt
."
"They still can." Swan twitched nervously. "Speaking of destruction, when is Ellis supposed to get here?"
Raton looked at the clock on the wall. He had almost completely forgotten about the meeting. "Soon." The sheriff went back to the kitchen and retrieved two beers and handed one to Swan. Swan drank half the beer in one swallow. Raton worried. Swan had begun drinking a lot since they returned home.
A roar sounded outside the house. The wind kicked up, causing the old-style wooden shutters to bang against the adobe brick. Swan looked out, half imagining the noise to be a death ray slicing the ground. He knew the Cluster was no longer overhead. Still, he was jumping at most loud noises these days. Instead of a death ray, he saw a launch landing. Swan frowned when he saw the scorch marks in the vehicle's hull.
The launch kicked up dust and finally settled to the ground. The unkempt form of John Mark Ellis stepped out. His hair had not been combed for days. His beard was thickening. The butt end of a cigar hung between his lips. As he walked toward the house, Swan could see coffee stains on the unbuttoned uniform coat. Nicotine stains covered his fingers and lips. Bags had formed under the young commander's redrimmed eyes. No matter how hard the Cluster's silence had been on the people of the planet, it had been even harder on John Mark Ellis.
As Ellis approached the door, he spit out the cigar butt, while fishing around his jacket for another. He pulled out the fresh cigar and lit it then shook hands with Swan and stepped in the house.
Raton brought out a bottle of tequila. Ellis opened the bottle and downed a shot. "You look horrible," said Raton, at last. "No matter how good medical science gets, those cigars are gonna' kill you."
"If the Cluster doesn't get me first," mumbled Ellis around the cigar.
"You sound as bad as Swan," said Raton grinning.
Ellis cracked a weak grin. Raton decided that it was the first smile that had crossed the commander's face in the past two days. They all sat around the table. Raton and Swan drank their beers. Ellis drank another shot of tequila. Raton wouldn't have offered, except that he knew that Ellis had a pilot back at the launch that would see him safely to the ship. Besides, it appeared that Ellis had enough caffeine and nicotine in his system to balance any amount of alcohol he chose to consume. The three talked idly for a while. Raton could see both Ellis and Swan relax noticeably.
Finally, Raton decided that it was time to come to business. "This is a fine evening and a fine visit, but I'm sure that nice chats have nothing to do with why you came here."
Ellis grunted. "I've been wondering what defense you've set up for your people."
Swan shook his head. "We haven't thought much about defense, to be honest. The way the Cluster takes out Navy ships, defense seems pointless."
"I don't think so." Ellis took another swig of tequila. "We know they can destroy ships, but their capabilities have never been tested on a planetary scale."
"I don't think we want them tested on a planetary scale." Swan laughed nervously.
Raton rubbed the stubble of his chin and looked back to Ellis. "New Granada has few resources to set up a defense against anything like the Cluster. Tejo is the only place with factories for refining materials that we could use for shielding."
"That's why I came," Ellis sighed. "The time has come to negotiate peace between the powers of Sufiro."
"But the Cluster hasn't done anything," said Swan, letting rationality penetrate paranoia.
"Besides," began Raton, through gritted teeth. "Tejo has yet to return any of our people."
"I know," said Ellis, drawing little imaginary circles on the table. He sat back in the chair, took his cigar and flung some ash to the ground. "Either way, it's time to take positive action."
Swan sighed. "I see your point, but it's not going to be easy."
"I don't expect it to be easy," said Ellis. "But I would like this planet prepared when I take action."
Raton leaned forward, his head inclined. "What sort of action? Firing on the Cluster?"
"Nothing hostile, if I can avoid it," said Ellis. "If the Cluster continues to do nothing for another three days, I plan to board it."
"How?" asked Swan. He had seen pictures of the enigmatic ships. The component spheres were absolutely smooth. There was no sign of a docking ring or even a rivet on the surface of the thing.
"I'm not sure I know," said Ellis, taking another swig of tequila. "But at least it's something to do."
Swan and Raton nodded in unison. They understood Ellis' position. Everyone on Sufiro felt like Ellis to some degree or other. They wanted to do something about the Cluster, but there seemed to be nothing to do. Ellis had decided on an action. Raton and Swan knew they would support it, but also understood the risk. The way Ellis looked, it was clear he understood what he was asking the two men to do. He wasn't just asking them, but the entire population of Sufiro as well. If the Cluster interpreted an attempted boarding as hostile, it may well unleash its death ray on the surface of the planet.
Raton took a long swallow of beer. He looked into Ellis' eyes. "Amigo," he said at last, "I know you have our best interests at heart, but if the Cluster chooses to destroy this planet, there ain't no stopping it." Ellis began to protest, but a glare from the older man silenced him. "I will talk peace with Tejo because I must. But when the time comes for you to try boarding the Cluster, don't wait for us."
Ellis turned to face Swan. Swan tried to smile reassuringly. "For all intents and purposes, our war is over. It's time for you to attend to the galaxy's war." Swan inclined his head. "After all, you came to Sufiro to get Erdonium for that war."
"I won't endanger civilians!" Ellis pounded his fist on the table. The bottles rattled and clanked in reply.
Raton grabbed his beer before it tipped over. "The civilians are in danger now, Mark. Do what you must!"
Ellis blinked a couple of times. "I will," he said, at last. "But, please, try to keep your people safe."
"We will," said Raton. "We'll do our best."
Ellis drank with the two men for a little while longer. He rose uncertainly to his feet and staggered out the door, back to the launch. The launch lifted off in a blaze of fire and dust. Raton felt his heart beating loudly. He knew that they had to make peace with Tejo. Yet, he wasn't sure if Tejo felt they needed New Granada.
* * * *