Phoenix In Chaos (Exodus) Read online

  On PHOENIX, John was in his command chair, watching the station’s ship traffic activity on his tactical monitor. A couple of ships brave enough to fly near PHOENIX approached and docked with the station. But sensors showed several vessels holding outside the vicinity of the station. Apparently, they were too afraid of the large human starship to risk docking with the station. Except for Malnygun, no one bothered to contact PHOENIX. John had pretty much given up hope of getting any information about the Screen from the station merchants.

  The one bright spot was that Alex’sis and Drix had reported in their first successful trade deal. It didn’t yield any alien technology, as Zygo was unwilling to trade any of his native technology. He was only willing to part with some mined ore. PHOENIX already had plenty of ore in storage, but John figured that Zygo might share his trade experience with others.

  “Transport one, six, and twelve are away captain,” reported Julie from the operations table. All three transports were carrying the animals that were agreed to in the trade.

  “You think this will go down in history as the first successful trade between humans and aliens?” wondered John.

  “More like a footnote, captain,” said Julie. “Farm animals aren’t exactly an illustrious item to brag about.”

  “Captain, commander,” said Bret. “I’m receiving a communication from the station.”

  “Lieutenant Brandus?” said Julie.

  “No,” replied Bret. “The frequency is alien in origin.”

  “Patch it through,” said John. Bret opened the comm frequency.

  “Alien starship known as PHOENIX,” said an unknown haunting voice. “I am Evola of the Tif Trade Consortium.”

  “This is John Roberts, captain of the PHOENIX.”

  “Captain, I am contacting you regarding creatures called cows that you possess. Do you have any more?”

  “We do,” said John, unable to hide his smile as he suspected where this was leading.

  “I would be interested in engaging in trade discussions for these creatures,” said Evola. “I have been in contact with Zygo who has informed me of their many uses.”

  Bingo. For once, something went right. “Evola, we have ample numbers of cows on board we can use for trade.”

  “Who is representing your trade interests?” asked Evola.

  “Human Alex’sis Brandus and Cresorian Drix. They’re both currently on the station. If you like, I can patch you through to them directly.”

  “That would be acceptable, captain,” said Evola.

  Roberts motioned for Bret to patch the communication to Alex’sis. He looked down at Julie and smiled.

  “Who would have thought,” said Kevin from the navigation station. “Out of everything we have, cows are what aliens want.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Kevin cringed as he looked at the prices of meat on his DAT. There was no way around it. He was going to have to become a vegetarian for a while. After the first shipment of animals was delivered to the station, PHOENIX was inundated with trade requests from other merchants, and all they wanted was cows, chickens, pigs, and sheep. Drix was right, consumable goods were highly valuable. It put PHOENIX in optimal position. After all trades had been completed, the ship was now filled with a variety of unknown alien technology. The ship scientists were ecstatic with the chance to analyze the new technology. But the ship was left without any live cows, as they proved to be the most popular commodity the aliens wanted. It would take weeks to clone and grow a new batch. For now, the crew only had the remaining processed meat to purchase, and the limited quantity resulted in the ECON driving the prices up.

  Since steak was out of the question, it ruled out a visit to Stardust Café or Smitty’s for lunch. Kevin still had some frozen meat in his quarters and debated whether to just go home and prepare lunch. But he wasn’t up for doing any cooking, especially when he was due to report back for duty on the command deck in a couple of hours.

  “Kevin, over here.” The navigational officer looked over to see Lieutenant Michaels and Martin Everold sitting at one of the benches that lined the streets of Central.

  “I thought you were working through your shift?” Kevin said to Bret.

  “I was,” replied the communications officer. “But Commander Olson told me to go and have lunch. She didn’t think it was necessary for me to be at my post while we’re in a jump.”

  “By the way, congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant Commander,” said Kevin to Martin.

  “Thanks, but it doesn’t mean anything,” said Martin. “The captain’s field promotion won’t be honored by TERRA.” John had promoted Martin shortly after they had left the alien space station. It was John’s way of making it up to Martin for being stuck on the PHOENIX and all the work he had been doing training the Interceptor pilots.

  “The captain’s rank isn’t recognized by TERRA either,” said Kevin. “Doesn’t stop us from calling him captain.”

  “And you did get a raise with your promotion,” reminded Bret.

  “Fine, I get the point,” conceded Martin.

  “Either of you going to The Lounge tonight?” asked Bret. “I think Chris is performing.”

  “The captain invited me to go along with him,” said Kevin. “So I’ll be there.”

  “Not sure if I can make it,” said Martin. “I need to conduct maneuvers with all the flight teams. They’re getting a little rusty and need some flight time.”

  “Command deck to senior staff,” came the voice of Alex’sis over their pips. “Report to the command deck ASAP.”

  “Sounds like we’ve come across something,” said Bret, getting off the bench.

  “See you guys later,” said Martin.

  Kevin and Bret hurried to the command deck, anxious to see what the PHOENIX may have encountered. As they stepped onto the deck the ship exited from its jump.

  “We’re positioned right outside the star system,” reported the navigational officer.

  “The sensors are dead on,” said Julie, at the operations table with Alex’sis. “I’m reading a habitable planet on the inner sphere of the system. Captain to the command deck.”

  As Kevin and Bret assumed their stations, John came out of his office and joined Julie and Alex’sis at the operations table. “I’ve been monitoring your progress. What do we have?”

  “So far only a habitable planet,” said Alex’sis. “Sensors are picking up metallic objects circling it in low and high orbits. They may be artificial satellites.”

  “Captain,” said Bret. “I’m picking up a significant amount of communications traffic coming from the planet. It’s definitely inhabited by a sentient species.”

  “What are they saying?” asked John.

  “The communications are mostly unrelated,” reported Bret. “I believe it’s just part of their normal everyday activities. Flight schedules, personal contacts, that sort of thing.”

  “See if you can isolate any communications from the planet’s government,” said John.

  “Captain,” said Alex’sis. “I’ve verified the objects circling the planet as communications and sensor satellites.”

  “Any ships?” asked Julie.

  Alex’sis checked the sensors. “I’m not picking up any ships in the system. It doesn’t appear that they have any sort of functioning space fleet.”

  “Which means they probably haven’t had any contact with other races,” said Julie.

  “You think we should just leave?” said John.

  “If they’re not a space faring race, they probably don’t have any information about the Screen,” said Julie.

  John wasn’t prepared to just move on. “I’m not about to leave after only a few minutes.”

  “Captain,” said Bret. “There’s no sign that they’ve detected us outside the system. If you could give me a few hours, I might be able to learn more about them.”

  “Good idea,” said John. “Have the sociology and anthropology departments listen in on the comm traffic with y
ou.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Bret.

  CHAPTER SIX

  After listening to the planet’s communications for hours, PHOENIX entered the star system. The crew learned a lot about the sentient species, called the Volux. They had no faster than light drive technology, but although they were not a space-faring species they had come into contact with several alien races who had visited their world in the past. It was for this reason alone John elected to make contact with them, hoping they had dealings with the Screen.

  The Volux world consisted of two nations, the Mirimiss and Cruo. The countries were at a state of cold war with one another. Julie was apprehensive about making contact as there was no united government on the planet and she worried their presence might raise tensions, but John was optimistic. He believed this was an opportunity for them to improve relations between the Mirimiss and Cruo and he planned to work openly with both nations.

  The senior staff was assembled on the command deck, along with Thresha. They had already determined none of the many satellites orbiting the planet were any sort of weapons or defensive systems, but Alex’sis kept scanning them, wanting to ensure that PHOENIX was not flying into danger.

  John stood between Julie and Alex’sis at the operations table, going over his mind what he was going to say to the Volux leaders. He was hoping this endeavor would produce some fruitful information about the Screen, but he had doubts. They had come away from their time at the alien trading outpost with a lot of new technology, but no information about the Screen. They had dealt with nearly a dozen races, but they all knew nothing of the Screen, except to run when one of their ships appeared.

  “Captain,” said Bret from his station. “I’m getting a transmission request from the planet. No, wait. Two of them. One from the Mirimiss and the other from the Cruo capitals.”

  “Damn it,” muttered John. “I wanted to do the introductions separately. Bret, go ahead and open channels to both.”

  “Hold it,” said Julie. “Captain, we should keep the introductions separate. We don’t know how they’ll react if we talk to them both simultaneously.”

  “It might be a good idea, sir,” said Alex’sis. “These are enemy nations and may not like that we’re opening a dialog with both.”

  “Which is why I want to avoid any secrets with them,” said John.

  “We can always reveal that we’re talking to both countries after we’ve established a relationship with them,” said Julie. “For now, we should play it safe.”

  “Alright,” said John. “Bret, patch the Mirimiss to my command console. Julie, you’ll talk to the Cruo.”

  Julie nodded and both commanding officers went to the respective stations, with Julie joining Bret at his station. John got situated in his command seat and activated his terminal. On it, an alien that looked like it had two heads was displayed. One had features that appeared to be four eyes and a mouth while the other head was devoid of any traits. John was tempted to start asking questions but he forced himself to keep on the task at hand.

  “Mirimiss representative, I’m Captain John Roberts of the human starship PHOENIX.”

  “Ministruel Nurof of the Mirimiss Federated,” said the whitish colored alien.

  “Ministruel? Are you the leader or a representative of the Mirimiss?”

  “I lead my people,” replied Nurof. “We place the highest importance with contact with off-worlders and our protocol mandates that only the elected ministruel speaks to you.”

  “I am honored by your protocol,” said John. He felt his words were some half-assed attempt to ingratiate himself with Nurof.

  “Our records indicate we have not encountered your kind before,” said Nurof.

  “My people have only begun space exploration,” said John.

  “Difficult to believe given the large vessel you travel on and the sophistication of your weapons.” For some reason aliens didn’t believe that humans had only begun to explore the galaxy. They equated the size of the PHOENIX as representing humans being superior in space technology. John began thinking he would need to stop saying they were new to space travel.

  “Our ship took a significant amount of years, I mean cycles, to construct,” said John.

  “A reasonable explanation,” said Nurof. “Still, visitors only come here for trade and your vessel’s size should carry everything you need. What could my people provide for you?”

  “We have conducted various trade dealings recently and have traded for goods we never had before. I anticipate the same benefit with your world. We’d like to discuss the possibility of conducting trade with your people,” said John. “Also, as we’re new to this region of space, we’d like to learn about any races that may have visited your world.”

  “The Mirimiss are renowned for trade with off-worlders,” said Nurof. “We would be happy to engage in negotiations with such a noble race. We also look forward to learning about a species that travels on such a magnificent vessel.”

  Well, this was certainly going better than expected. Initially, John got the feeling that the ministruel was suspicious, now he was welcoming PHOENIX with open arms.

  “If you like, I could send a delegation to your capital to meet with your representatives,” said John.

  “Your offer is appreciated; however, travel to our world is dangerous,” said Nurof. “As distasteful as it is, we live on a divided planet. Although the Mirimiss welcome off-worlders, the Cruo are xenophobic in nature and will not hesitate to fire on any foreign vessel attempting to enter the atmosphere. It would be safer if a delegation from my capital visit your ship.”

  “That would be fine.” John wasn’t interested in placing his people in any unnecessary danger. If Nurof was willing to send a delegation to an alien starship, it placed John at an advantage in case the meeting didn’t go well.

  “I will have our security lead contact you in twenty-twelve uvix,” said Nurof. As usual, the micron wasn’t translating units of measurements properly. John hoped that whatever twenty-twelve uvix was, it was enough time to make all the necessary security preparations.

  “I look forward to the meeting, ministruel,” said John. When the display went dark, he stepped down from his command chair and joined Julie and Bret at the communications station, where Julie was finishing up her talk with the Cruo leader, Narx.

  “Someone from our ship will contact you to make the arrangements,” said Julie.

  “I look forward to a fruitful meeting,” said Narx. The screen went dark and Julie looked up at John.

  “The Cruo want to meet us?” said John.

  Julie nodded. “He’s insisted that the meeting be held on PHOENIX. Apparently, the Mirimiss are aggressive and will fire on any ship that tries to enter the planet’s atmosphere.”

  John couldn’t help but crack a smile. “The Mirimiss leader said the same thing about the Cruo. Said they’re xenophobes and don’t like aliens. I agreed that they could come aboard for trade negotiations.”

  “Two warring nations trying to ensure that we only speak to one of them,” said Julie. “I don’t like it.”

  “Narx seemed pretty impressed by the size of PHOENIX,” said Bret as Alex’sis joined them.

  “I listened in on your conversations,” said Alex’sis. “They were both fascinated that we travel on a large ship. They may assume our technology is more advanced than theirs.”

  “Is it?” asked John.

  “I scanned the satellites orbiting the planet,” said Alex’sis. “They don’t seem any more remarkable than human satellite systems. So I checked some vehicles on the planet I identified as military. Their weapons output is inferior to standard TERRA weapons. They’re not a match for PHOENIX.”

  “Which is why they’re interested in our technology.” The group turned to see Chief Sandoval coming down the catwalk. “The Mirimiss and Cruo both conducted a probe of PHOENIX. They did a general scan of the ship, but once they identified our weapons ports, they tried to narrow their scanners on our weapons.”r />
  “So they know our armaments,” said Julie.

  “I doubt it,” replied Sandoval. “I initiated a scattering field around the ship that rendered their sensors useless. They don’t know our capabilities.”

  “So they’re interested in our weapons, so what?” said Alex’sis. “If they have vital information about the Screen, isn’t that worth trading some of our weapons?”

  “Except this is a world that’s divided among two hostile nations,” said Julie. “Would we want to be responsible for the fallout of giving either side weapons technology that would give them an advantage?”

  “It’d probably take them years to reverse engineer our weapons and start constructing some for themselves,” said Alex’sis, trying to justify her position.

  “There’s nothing in our military rules that prohibit us from trading weapons,” said Sandoval.

  “We’ll proceed with the meetings and see what they have to offer us,” said John. “If they have any information on the Screen, we’ll try to entice them with some of our commercial goods. We’ll avoid trading any weapons with them.”

  “Even if it means giving up vital information they might have on the Screen?” asked Sandoval.

  “Commander Olson has a valid point,” said John. “We shouldn’t do anything that may destabilize the fragile truce between the Mirimiss and Cruo. No weapons trading.”

  “Cows were a big hit at the trading outpost,” said Bret. “Maybe these guys will go nuts over them too.”

  Everyone smiled except for Sandoval. “Then I recommend we limit the number of each envoy.”

  “Agreed,” said John. “No more than four will be permitted from the Mirimiss and Cruo delegations. We’ll conduct the meetings in the board room.”

  “As the Cruo leader is already familiar with me, I suggest I take the lead when we meet with them,” said Julie.

  “Agreed,” said John. “We’ll arrange both meetings a day apart from each other. I don’t want to chance both sides crossing paths by having the meetings on the same day.”

  “I believe I can determine the Volux’s measurement of time by monitoring their communications,” said Drix.