Borne On Wings of Steel (20 page)

Mother began to feel disoriented, even strange, as the sensors felt their way deeper inside her systems.

She quickly broke the connection.

The red ship banked hard, and Mother sensed the targeting system aim for her ThunderStar engines. The alien ship now fully primed its weapons and prepared to disable her.

Mother waited a fraction of a second longer, trying to estimate the exact moment the ship would fire as its targeting systems locked.

In another instant, Mother dove hard down as laser blasts leapt out. The red lances grazed her shields as she shot away at a dizzying speed.

She fired four of her main guns as she retreated.

Even as she fired them, the alien ship maneuvered—hard to starboard and upward.

Her lasers missed—barely.

But Mother anticipated such a move. Instantly, she retargeted and fired the rest of her main battery.

The red ship shuddered under the direct hits.

The aliens’ shields dropped to one-third strength.

"Now, let's see...” Mother began.

But the alien ship fired again.

Everyone inside fell to the floor as Mother twisted herself to present as small a profile as possible while she strengthened her rear shields—all within bare nanoseconds as the lasers erupted toward her.

The hits blossomed against her shields. She had been hit. But damage was minimal.

Still, Mother was impressed.

The alien ship and crew had surprised her with its quickness.

As Mother righted herself and backed her engines down, she began to calculate her next run—the final run of this battle. This time she would target the engines of their ship. And once she had it disabled, Mother would scan this ship and find out exactly who these aliens were.

It would be easy pickings, for the alien ship's shields were damaged and no longer strong enough to withstand her next blows.

Mother felt a surge of surprise in her systems as her sensors registered the red ship turning away from her. Already, it streaked away in the opposite direction while ramping up its hyperdrive engines. A few seconds later and it disappeared in a flash of light as it leapt into hyperspace.

The engagement was over.

"A most effective enemy,” Mother said as Jysar and the others gathered closer together. “Their attack rivaled that of the T'kaan."

"Who were they?” Krinia asked.

"I have an answer. One from my long-term memories. It is from some data I picked up from a Tracadorian trading ship two months ago."

"And...” Elise prompted.

"The red ship is from the Paum Sector."

LATER THAT EVENING, after the others had gone to bed, Minstrel and Mother discussed the day's events.

"The Paum are popping up a lot lately,” Minstrel said as it floated gracefully.

"Too much for coincidence,” Mother replied. “I can find very little information about them."

"And worse, neither can I.” A wave of dark colors rippled throughout Minstrel's body. “We rendezvous with my ship later tonight."

"Minstrels have sophisticated auto-pilot systems, for you to command them from such a distance the way you have."

"Yes. We can leave them cloaked in orbit while we observe different species for long periods of time. Sometimes we travel far from them. But, it does have its limitations.” Minstrel's body glowed brighter. “When we transmit a course and input it into the auto-pilot system from far away, we can only meet them in deep space far from any stars or planetary systems. And the course must not take them close to any."

"That should be easy enough in this vast universe,” Mother said.

"Well, sometimes it's not as easy as we'd like—especially when we need the ship in a hurry."

"I understand. But back to the Paum."

"Yes, once my ship is back, I will make for one of the key Minstrel Communication centers,” Minstrel said.

"I thought you were in constant communication with other Minstrels?"

"Normally each Minstrel is within range of another Minstrel ship. But right before we landed at RahajMr I lost contact with my nearest counterpart, which is also strange. This sector has been well visited before."

"So, how far is this Minstrel Communication center?” Mother asked.

"Only a few days’ journey. I will try to find out more about these Paum and then meet you on Meramee. And I must find out more about the Harg."

"The Harg?"

"Yes. I did find some information when I contacted my ship this evening. It seems the Harg are paid mercenaries of the Paum. They are a most violent species."

"Two Harg followed you that last day on RahajMr—and did the quick scan of me."

"Yes. Not a coincidence either, I now think."

"And did your ship have anything on the Paum or that sector?"

"Nothing on the Paum. But that sector is the fastest growing regime in the known universe—that much Minstrels have gathered in the recent past from their journeys. Which should mean we would know quite a bit about them. But that is not so."

"Why is that?” Mother asked.

"Most species that live near the original Paum systems refer to them by another name—The Forbidden Worlds. And it has gotten that reputation for a reason. Even as the Paum Empire grows and takes controls of new worlds, this Forbidden Zone grows with it."

"Go on,” Mother prompted.

"Most races have explicit orders not to travel to Paum-held worlds or even to travel through their space. Too many ships and crews have disappeared—never to be heard from again. And when delegations are sent to the Paum, they get nowhere. The Paum has nothing to do with outside races.” Minstrel glowed with a dark hue of colors.

"Is there no trade between the Paum systems and other races?"

"Very little. Theirs is a secretive society. It is very structured and very controlled—another reason even we Minstrels have had little success in observing them. They are a bizarre society, a combination of quasi-military and quasi-religion. All those indoctrinated into Paum must live Paum—they live, eat and breathe Paum. Paum is now the center of their universe, and it affects everything they do.” Minstrel paused.

"And that is not of itself a bad thing,” Minstrel continued. “From what we Minstrels have discovered about the creed of Paum, it gives them a goal in life—they strive to be in harmony with the rest of their society as well as with their environment. Their peoples seem to thrive, their economy is stable, and their expansion is remarkable. But the creed of Paum has a dark side.” Minstrel paused again as a sense of expectation filled the air. Sudden waves of light swept through Minstrel's body one after the other as the pause grew longer.

Mother waited impatiently.

"Go on,” Mother finally urged.

"There have been unconfirmed but very disturbing reports from planets conquered by the Paum. It is said that all those defeated were given a simple choice—either choose Paum and follow it the rest of their life—or die. We know from the Twelve Words of Paum of this major belief: one day the entire universe will follow Paum ... and those that do not will be utterly destroyed."

"Forced conversion,” Mother said simply.

"It would seem so. But as I said, a lot of that is unconfirmed. It is hard for anyone to know—even Minstrels with all of our stealth. And there is worse."

"Worse?” Mother asked.

"Minstrels discovered this fast-growing empire only within the last few years. In that short time two Minstrels have been sent to learn more about this new race—or should I say these races, now that so many formerly independent aliens races have come under Paum control. Actually, the source of Paum is still unknown even to us—the original race that bred Paum."

"What did your two Minstrels learn?” Mother asked.

"Both Minstrels who journeyed there disappeared without a trace. It has been well over a year since the last communication. And the second Minstrel went in armed with the knowledge of the first one's previous disappearance. We have presumed the worst for both."

Mother processed this last fact with surprise. “I did not realize that Minstrels could be detected, much less captured."

"Or killed,” Minstrel added with a shuddering wave. “Sometimes an alien species does not take kindly to being secretively observed. I fear for my fellow Minstrels, now that I have learned this."

"Between our contact with this powerful ship and this new information, it seems we have need to be wary of these Paum."

"That is a logical conclusion. And I wonder
why
they have taken such a keen interest in us?"

"Perhaps it was they who tagged your search query for sentient technology. The other events have followed that initial action. I would have hoped that once we left RahajMr, the Paum and the Harg would lose interest in us. After all, prior to RahajMr we had no problems with them. Perhaps this is the last incident?"

"That may be the case. After all, the Paum ship did not actually attack. It seemed more interested in gaining data on us by intrusive scans, which you prevented for the most part. But we should find out all we can about these secretive Paum and their Harg agents. Just to be on the safe side,” Minstrel added with emphasis.

"I agree,” Mother said. “I will wait until we have gathered more facts and determined if there is indeed a threat before I share this with everyone else. I do not want to trigger their emotions, especially if the Paum turns out to be only a momentary issue based around our visit to RahajMr."

"A sound decision.” Minstrel twinkled. “The only issues have been with their monitoring our search activity and the Harg scan just before we lifted. And now the Paum ship trying to scan your internal systems today.” Minstrel undulated its body before compressing it into a glowing ball floating in the middle of the air. “Before I join you on Meramee, I will communicate to you all that I learn from the other Minstrels on a secure channel, if I determine there is any danger."

"Good. I do have good news to share,” Mother added.

"Yes?"

"I just now received a short message from Rok's ship—from Rok himself."

"They were not scheduled to be free for three more days."

"They got early release for good behavior.” Mother felt a surge of relief within her circuits. “I hope that both Kyle and Jaric have learned something from this experience."

"I think so,” Minstrel said.

"At any rate, they are safely aboard the Kraaqi frigate and are even now getting ready to set sail to meet us at Meramee."

"I am glad."

"And they are bringing a new friend."

"Indeed?"

"An alien called a Hammatt—Inaha by name. Jaric had Rok tell me that they know about Minstrels."

Thousands of tiny lights across Minstrel's plasma body glowed brighter. “They are a good race. A little emotional at times, but at heart, good aliens. We know them."

"Well, I guess we shall all meet at Meramee within four or five days,” Mother said.

"Yes, both I and the Kraaqi ship should get there about the same time.” Minstrel paused in thought. “Make sure you take necessary precautions while on Meramee."

"And you,” Mother said with concern.

"You should contact Rok once he's out of range of RahajMr too. Simply tell him to be watchful. It's possible a Paum ship might try to intercept them before they get to Meramee."

"You are right. I'll give Rok the warning. By the time they arrive at Meramee, I'll know if I need to confer with the others—if we find there is a real danger."

"Agreed."

THE KRAAQI FRIGATE
Aurora
parted the last cloud bands of RahajMr and entered the blackness of outer space.

"Disengage the anti-grav engines, First Officer,” Rok commanded. “Set in a course for the planet Meramee and engage hyper-engines."

"Aye, sir."

Rok looked around the bridge and smiled. It felt good to be back on his own ship once again. He gripped the arms of his Captain's chair and nodded with satisfaction.

"Take us out of orbit!” he ordered.

The
Aurora
surged forward. As the Kraaqi ship reached a safe distance from the gravity well of the gas giant, her hyperdrive engines roared to life.

The stars on the main view-screen suddenly became lines of light.

The
Aurora
shuddered momentarily as it leapt into hyperspace. A moment later and the starship sailed without the slightest hint of motion as it reached speed. The Kraaqi frigate soared through hyperspace—a new journey begun.

Inaha slowly approached the master of the ship. While he made his way forward he quietly observed the smooth functioning of the bridge crew as they went about their appointed tasks. The big alien smiled with approval.

Inaha stood beside the seated captain of the
Aurora
. Together, they watched the stars slowly approach on the main view-screen as they sparkled against the vaster and more distant starfield. The motions of those nearer stars were the only indications the Kraaqi ship was sailing at hyperspeed.

"It's good to be underway again,” Rok said to everyone on the bridge.

Inaha laughed heartily. As his laughter died away, he spoke softly. “Too long on any world makes one yearn for the freedom of open space."

"Well said,” Rok agreed. “It's good to sail on a starship bound for the distant stars again."

"It is good indeed,” Inaha repeated.

Rok smiled. “And there's nothing quite like the feeling you get as your hyperdrive engines engage—that tingling sensation in the pit of your stomach just as your ship leaps.” Rok grunted with pleasure.

"Nothing quite like it in the entire universe!” Inaha laughed.

"This has always been my dream,” Rok said as he turned to the jovial Hammatt. “To be captain of my own starship—and travel to unknown worlds."

Rok grew silent. Slowly a smile spread across his weathered face as the words of an ancient Kraaqi proverb emerged from a childhood memory.

"Give me a fast starship, that sails a gallant crew,” Rok said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Show me the distant stars, my friend. And there, there I shall meet you."

Inaha observed the bridge crew busy with their assigned tasks as the
Aurora
settled into its cruising speed. The navigator at the nearest station keyed in the final course heading for Meramee. The entire Kraaqi crew epitomized the image of efficiency.