Earth borne, p.1
Earth Borne, page 1
part #4 of Star Man Series
Contents
CHAPTER ONE Raiders
CHAPTER TWO Hero's Return
CHAPTER THREE Carrier
CHAPTER FOUR Sithaloon
CHAPTER FIVE Perfect Timing
CHAPTER SIX The Gift
CHAPTER SEVEN Discovered
CHAPTER EIGHT Mysteries
CHAPTER NINE Disaster Relief
CHAPTER TEN Helpers
CHAPTER ELEVEN Departure
CHAPTER TWELVE Finding Dathelore
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Dathelore Beckons
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Invading Dathelore
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Next Steps
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Dathelor Delays
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Diplomats
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Earth Bound
CHAPTER NINETEEN Alien Incursion
CHAPTER TWENTY Aliens
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE True Colors
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Alien Invasion
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Fire and Destruction
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR The Cavalry Arrives
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Frustration
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Reclaiming Earth
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Battleground
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Contact
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Aftermath
CHAPTER THIRTY Diplomacy
After
CHAPTER ONE
Raiders
Suhmarlin Hazilsor shook with anger as he watched the approaching Dathelor Station. Dathelor was Hazilsor’s home before he conquered Hangelore. He'd continued to maintain and man it because its location made many raids easier. Two facilities increased the distance over which Peschal Alliance ships could range. Now the Federation had reduced them to one significant base. The defeat in Hangelore humiliated Hazilsor.
He checked the Scans for the treasure ships again. They had departed Hangelore Station soon Hazilsor rushed out to eject the Federation invaders. They should have arrived by now.
When Hazilsor's ships reached Hangelore’s Jump-Point, the Federation had too many vessels in the System. The Pirate preferred overwhelming odds in his favor and ran. The cursed Federation chased him until he entered Jump. Hazilsor was too busy to notice his treasure ship’s fate.
Hazilsor thought, ‘Perhaps a mechanical fault delayed them. They'll arrive soon.’
He knew this wasn't true but continued hoping. Hazilsor’s ship, Dithu docked to Dathelore, where he disembarked to meet his staff.
The Federation attack on Hangelore decimated the Alliance asset base, and Hazilsor needed to plan a way to recover the losses. He lost an entire planet to those bastards, a world he worked hard to conquer. Now he must start over and rebuild. When his forces regained their strength, they might reconquer Hangelore or another world. For now, that was impossible. After Hazilsor reached Dathelore's command center, an aide reported the Spy-Ship he left in Hangelore had arrived. Perhaps they knew where the treasure ships had gone.
Nobody considered Suhmarlin Hazilsor, a nice person. Love and loyalty meant nothing to him. Hazilsor's mind stayed fixed on his own self-interest. Psychiatrists would label him a psychopathic monster who took pleasure in torturing his victims. Sometimes, the Pirate leader even murdered loyal subordinates who displeased him. Enemies had no chance if they fell into his hands.
Nobody knew what made Hazilsor so bad. People thought he'd suffered a cruel and terrible childhood, but this wasn't the case. He’d enjoyed good parents who tried hard to raise him as a decent person, but they died when he was a teenager. If not for their deaths, he might have become a successful business leader. After they died, Hazilsor found himself shunted from one home to another. He'd lost the unconditional love that children need. His behavior worsened from one day to the next. Soon, Suhmarlin discovered pleasure in torturing small animals. Nothing his carers did, dissuaded him from this practice.
Like all children, he grew into an adult. By then, Hazilsor had taken the destructive path of a criminal. Over the next ten years, he became well known for the ruthless pursuit of his goals. He took his first ship by murdering the Captain and First Officer then bullying the crew into following him. Hazilsor's notoriety grew until even other Pirates feared him.
Hazilsor was the Pirate who conceived of the Peschal Alliance and convinced others to join. For a time, the new Alliance enjoyed healthy profits from their coordinated raids but the lack of shipbuilding facilities held them back. Their vessels became harder to support with each raid. Until Hazilsor cobbled together a limited shipyard in Dathelore, the Alliance only possessed installations to do limited repairs. After he conquered Hangelore, Hazilsor built a better shipyard.
The Pirate’s biggest problem was that they were too successful. As the Federation economy felt the pain, people took notice. Then Colin Gordon arrived on the scene, and the Federation interdicted Alliance operations. That human, caused Hazilsor problems at every turn. The man was always lurking nearby when Hazilsor's forces suffered a defeat.
Captain Hathra from the Spy-Ship didn't dare deliver the news that the Federation took the treasure ships and Kislaran Destroyers. Rather than risk himself, Hathra sent a slave to tell Hazilsor that the Federation had captured them. Hazilsor stared at the terrified slave who lay prostrated on the floor before him. The creature shook with fear. The slave's whining voice irritated Hazilsor until he spat on her. For a moment he fingered his gun then changed his mind. Even Hazilsor knew, if you killed the bearer of bad news too often, people stopped bringing unpalatable news. A lack of knowledge could kill you. Besides, the Alliance was short-handed after the debacle in Hangelore.
Hazilsor brought himself under control and said, "Leave."
The slave needed no encouragement and crawled from the room, never turning her back on the Pirate chief. When the door closed, she ran to the relative safety of her master.
Suhmarlin Hazilsor paced around the room while he brought his temper under control. The turmoil in his mind made it hard for Hazilsor to think. He spent hours wrestling with his inner demons, wanting to lash out. Hangelore's loss hurt, but the Peschal Alliance would overcome these setbacks.
His staff concentrated on their consoles in the hope he didn't notice them. They'd seen these moods in the past. Nobody wanted to give Hazilsor a reason to kill. After he brought himself under control, Hazilsor concluded that he must rebuild his fortunes. His group lost so much wealth when Hangelore fell. Their highest priority must be to replace their losses.
They'd lost the Hangelore shipyard, but he still held Dathelore’s making a good starting point to rebuild. The problem was an inadequate workforce. He needed more people to supply enough manpower. The Peschal Alliance required supplies and thousands of new slaves. Slaves would contribute new ship crews and troops. That meant more raids into Federation Space. Hazilsor pondered his options.
During this time of reflection, he made plans for his resurgence. When Hazilsor knew what he wanted, he called the senior staff together. These comprised the few who disagreed with Hazilsor in relative safety. Most times, Hazilsor listened to their council. Everybody had earned what little respect Hazilsor had to give, but even they feared him. Their positions of trust were a two-edged sword. On the one hand, they could help plan and gain considerable personal wealth. On the other, this trust brought them closer to Hazilsor than most found comfortable. He often raged about something that didn’t go as planned. Suhmarlin Hazilsor became terrifying then.
With everyone in the meeting room, Hazilsor said, "We lost too much wealth in Hangelore. The Federation captured our treasure ships and the Destroyers. To take warships from the Federation Navy is a disastrous strategy. We shall build our own. Our engineers learned much from the Kislaran vessels. First, the shipyard needs more slaves because we don't have enough workers. We also have a critical shortage of supplies. You are our strength and must help me plan a way to gain slaves and supplies. In the past, we stayed away from the Kranra Empire. Now we’ll harvest their outlying colonies. We shall raid Federation worlds too but will avoid Cambridge. The humans in Cambridge, are too dangerous. Our recent setbacks depleted my forces so take care during the planning. Wherever we send Raiders, it must be far from Dathelore. We don't have the strength to fend off a major attack from the Federation or the Kranra Empire."
Captain Hathra listened while Hazilsor uttered these words. For now, the Spy-Ship Captain remained silent. Hazilsor had control of his temper for now although Hathra knew Hazilsor's mood could change without warning. Hathra waited while others advanced their ideas. When Hazilsor liked an idea Hathra offered to gather information to assure mission success.
None of the surviving Alliance people knew much about the Kranra Empire. Their forays into Kranra Space were only to transit to somewhere in the Federation and when trying to escape Federation warships. Peschal Alliance Pirates knew to stay away from Kranra warships.
The Federation never entered Kranra territory. At least, when they did, it was covert. Otherwise, it might lead to war. The Kranra had the same policy toward the Federation, and this gave the Pirates a narrow margin.
Both sides sent Spy-Ships into each other's territory. The Spy-Ships never went far. Their job was to look for signs of an impending invasion. The Kranra and Federation Navy's tolerated the limited Spy-Ship incursions because they reduced tensions. These missions allowed each side to verify the other continued to adhere to the latest treaty. It was a gentleman’s agreement of sorts.
Hazilsor's core group spent two weeks floating one plan after another. Three days in, Hazilsor's third in command Kifra Dastin proposed two targets in
Faramon and Sithaloon appeared perfect for Hazilsor's purposes. If nothing else, they should find plenty of food and slaves. Although the Pirates needed more than food, Hazilsor steered the planning sessions toward these targets. He sent Hathra to scout the target Systems.
Hathra returned three weeks later. During that time, he visited both targets and returned with good information about both Systems. Several days after that, Hazilsor sent ships to raid Faramon and Sithaloon.
Drin Ramea, Sisla’s Captain, stood on the Bridge watching his crew prepare for departure. Ramea felt relieved when Suhmarlin assigned this raid to him. To escape Dathelore, even for a few weeks was much healthier than staying near Hazilsor in his opinion. Ramea didn't mind the Pirate's life, but his boss was unpredictable of late. Two other ships accompanied Sisla during this raid, Casin, and Drana. They intended to raid Faramon first. Two old Helimon Patrol-Boats defended that System. Ramea's ships should defeat them with ease. Then the world lay open for them.
Drin Ramea was a leader who attracted loyalty from his crew enjoyed by few Pirate commanders. Ramea looked after their welfare. Under different circumstances, he might have made a good Captain in the Federation Navy. A stupid mistake during his youth closed that choice. Ramea ran away to escape prison. He took odd jobs, working as ship crew from one place to the next. Because Ramea thought the law wanted him, he gravitated to the establishments frequented by criminals. People in those places preferred not to cooperate with police. Ramea drifted from place to place until he signed on to a decrepit old Freighter and his journey to Piracy began.
At first, Ramea's predicament horrified him. Captain Sheme was a pig, cruel and unscrupulous. Sheme cheated his crew and kept them in line with cruelty and fear. The Captain never let his crew leave the ship when they made port. He might have found it difficult to replace them. The bullying behavior increased, pushing Ramea until he reached the breaking point.
One day, a drunken Sheme slapped him without warning. Ramea lost his temper and retaliated. He didn't use open hand slaps. Instead, Ramea pummeled the Captain into a bleeding pulp. After Drin regained control and saw the Captain bleeding on the floor, he panicked. He dragged his tormentor to the nearest Air-Lock and Spaced the creature.
Eyes are everywhere on any ship. Word spread through the vessel within minutes and Drin became a celebrity for an hour. Then everyone realized nobody remained to lead them. Captain Sheme had trained none of his crew, opting to keep them reliant on his skills. This was when Drin Ramea became the Captain. It turned out, he'd learned his navigation skills while working on other ships.
Captain Drin Ramea continued Sisla's existing route. At the next port of call, nobody showed concern for Captain Sheme's disappearance. Out in the back blocks where Sisla operated, nobody cared, provided she continued to meet her contractual obligations.
Drin improved conditions for his crew and found the best and brightest among them. Those, he encouraged to study, so they became qualified Spacers. The new Captain preferred the carrot rather than a stick to maintain discipline. Sisla was only a Tramp-Freighter. She didn't have enough freight capacity or speed to make the crew wealthy. They had little money and often struggled to pay docking fees. They needed to find another way.
Everyone offered ideas, but none proved practical. This was when Ramea met a Spacer called Sireen in a seedy bar. They chatted for a while, and Sireen dangled a tantalizing proposition in front of him. The next day, Ramea took the offer to his crew, and they agreed. Captain Drin Ramea and his team accepted Sireen as another crew member, and Sisla became a Pirate. The change wasn't easy. The first attempt to capture a ship ended in abysmal failure. Other failures followed, but over time, Sisla's crew learned from their mistakes until they caught a Super-Freighter.
Drin placed a prize crew on board and escorted his prize to Hangelore where he sold it. Ramea used the profit from their prize to upgrade Sisla with better drives and potent weapons.
The improvements helped Sisla take more Freighters than other Raiders. Sisla's achievements impressed Suhmarlin Hazilsor who recruited the new ship and crew as a freelance Raider. Soon, Sisla gained a reputation for success until Drin Ramea worked his way into Suhmarlin Hazilsor's inner circle. Ramea became one of Suhmarlin Hazilsor's trusted Lieutenants.
Ramea was one of the few Pirates who insisted the crew keep their vessel clean and maintained. This meant he suffered fewer breakdowns and when authorities inspected the ship, they never suspected her provenance.
Now Sisla led two other Pirate ships, Casin, and Drana on a raid into Federation Space. They took a roundabout route to reach Faramon. The plan called for them to enter Faramon from the opposite side. This reduced the risk of somebody backtracking them to Dathelore. These Pirates still took a chance because they spent more time in Federation Space than a direct route needed.
The three ships entered Faramon Space and kept quiet while they used passive Sensors to confirm the Spy's information. The System lay quiet. Nobody challenged Sisla or her consorts as they moved toward the planet. Ramea knew Faramon had no Freighters due for at least another month, so he had that long to raid Faramon. He planned to stay for five or six days, no longer. Why risk discovery by a random Navy patrol?
A Star System is vast. This makes hiding easy in a lightly defended place like Faramon. The Pirate vessels loafed toward the planet hoping the locals didn't notice them. Ramea wanted to appear non-threatening until they came close enough to attack. He watched the Scans as they moved closer but saw nothing of concern.
One Patrol-Boat orbited the world while the other departed the gas giant to head toward Faramon. Ramea ordered his ships to reduce speed. He wanted both Patrol-Boats near the planet before he attacked.
Hazilsor's doctrine said no survivors. Drin Ramea interpreted that as nobody who could run for help. That meant killing the Patrol-Boats, so they couldn't Jump or fire on his ships while he continued the raid. Ramea had no intention of committing cold-blooded murder.
With Shields on the lowest setting, the Pirates followed a path that took advantage of the current location of Faramon System's planets and asteroids for extra cover. The final two hours before they reached Faramon would prove the most hazardous. This was when discovery might cause problems. Ramea believed less notice for the Patrol-Boats to prepare meant a higher chance of victory for his Pirates.
Meanwhile, the second Patrol-Boat continued her approach toward Faramon. Neither Federation ship showed any sign they saw the Pirates. Again, Ramea ordered his ships to slow. With luck, both Patrol-Boats might enter orbit and stand down before he arrived. This put them at a distinct disadvantage. They must come to battle stations and prepare to fight. In orbit, the Patrol-Boats made easy targets with no room to maneuver.
FNS Kopana maintained a standard orbit above Faramon's capital city, Davren. The Patrol-Boat was ancient, long past the age where Faramon should retire her, but they couldn't afford replacements. During her last few patrols, Kopana had experienced a variety of intermittent and unexplained breakdowns. The maintainers removed power to most of Kopana's systems, including her active Sensors while they tried to isolate and repair the faults. While the engineers worked to fix his ship, Captain Herenan sent half his crew on leave.
Technicians hadn’t manned Kopana’s Scan console full time because of her crew shortage. Instead, they checked the Scan console every hour. Sithry Vel, Kopana's Scan-Tech, entered the Bridge to make his periodic check. Because this was routine, Vel didn't settle at the Scan console. Instead, he activated the display and looked to see how far Kopana's sister ship, FNS Reaz had traveled. He noticed the flashing icon showing an intruder within seconds and investigated the anomaly. Vel's blood ran cold when he realized someone was sneaking into Faramon. Sithry had no choice and called Captain Herenan.
Herenan was in the bowels of Engineering, trying to understand Kopana’s problems when he received the call. Captain Herenan knew better than delay and rushed to the Bridge. When he arrived, Vel wasted no time with formality and pointed out the intruder. Herenan examined the displays for a few moments and considered his options. FNS Kopana was short-handed and carried several civilian technicians who worked on the power system repairs.
