The Krenaran massacre ec-1

  The Krenaran massacre

  ( E.D.F chronicles - 1 )

  Ian. J. Smethurst

  Ian. J. Smethurst

  The Krenaran massacre

  Chapter 1

  Homecoming

  Lieutenant Michael Alexander could see the massive form of Delta base slowly drawing nearer.

  He was a deck officer on board the E.D.F. S Ulysses, a Danitza class battleship, and it was just returning from a three month escort operation with another explorator fleet on the northern tip near Eidolon.

  The relief on his face was plain, his lips curled up into a smile as he could see out of a nearby viewport that the Ulysses was coming into dock. It was his fourth explorator run this year, and was glad of the shore leave. Tired from his latest mission he longed to see his wife, Jana, and his son, Theo. He knew he had been away for far too long.

  On board the station; Jana looked out the view port, along the structure of docking station twelve, she could just about see the small shape of the Ulysses coming towards them. Slowly but surely it continued to grow larger. Little Theo kept jumping up and down, trying to get a better view; impatient to see the approaching battleship in all its glory, and at the prospect of seeing his daddy again.

  The dock was vast, and one of the larger ones onboard Delta base, capable of servicing even the mighty Danitza class battleships, being one of the largest ships in the Navy. The dock was rather minimalist in its design, and had large open spaces and loading areas which were intentional, due to the need to re-crew and re-supply the ship, once docked in case of an emergency.

  However, right now throngs of people were gathered to greet the crewmen when they disembarked from the vessel, and dozens of servicing crews and vehicles were stood by also.

  The forward thrusters began to fire, slowly killing the forward momentum of the huge ship. The thruster jets looked like two bright white streams extending out from the sloping front bow of the massive vessel.

  On board the Ulysses the internal comm. beeped. “All hands, this is the captain; adopt docking positions.” Michael made his way over to a large fixed chair, and strapped himself in with an attached harness.

  The ship slowly neared the base, which although the Ulysses was a colossal vessel; Delta base utterly dwarfed it, the station being the size of a major city.

  There was a shudder, a metallic ’clunk’ and a grating noise, and then finally the ship gradually came to a stop. Michael un-strapped himself and made his way towards the forward docking arm.

  On board the station, the internal comm. chimed and a voice spoke. “E.D.F. S Ulysses has successfully docked on docking station twelve, no admittance except military personnel and families.”

  Slowly the crew of the Ulysses began to disembark. There were some quite old men, and some were relatively young. Several female crewmembers could be seen, but no Michael; Theo began to look worried, a tinge of doubt began to cross his face, and he looked up at Jana.

  “He’ll arrive soon,” Jana said warmly looking down at him.

  Then Michael emerged through the airlock. Theo saw him and bolted across the waiting area.

  “Theo, wait!” Jana cried.

  But it was no use; excitement had him now, and there was no stopping him. He reached his father in seconds, Michael put down his equipment bag and swept him into his arms.

  “Hello dad.”

  “Hello son, you didn’t think I would miss your fifth birthday did you, where’s your mum?”

  “Over there,” replied Theo pointing to where Jana was walking towards them.

  “Hello sailor,” Jana said seductively.

  Michael smiled, put Theo down, and passionately kissed her.

  Theo blanched and turned away. When they had parted, Jana said gasping, “I guess you missed me then.”

  “You bet I did, let’s go home.”

  He retrieved his bag, and together the three of them began the long walk back to their quarters. “How have things been, since I’ve been away honey?”

  “Quiet actually, Theo has been getting on well with school. His teachers have said that he possesses a very curious mind.”

  “Really?”

  Theo looked up at his father and beamed a proud smile at him, which Michael duly returned.

  They arrived back at their quarters in one of the outer living areas on the station. It had a large viewport which offered glorious views of the blue white atmosphere of Orion IV which Delta base orbited far below. As well as separate bedrooms, a large kitchen area and washroom facilities, together with a spacious lounge. Michael stowed his gear in the bedroom, and quickly changed out of his naval uniform, and into something more comfortable.

  While he was doing this, Jana had made them all a drink and together they had dinner, the first dinner they had had together as a family for four months, ah domestic bliss, this is what I need, Michael thought.

  Once they had finished eating, and the crockery was cleared away, Michael said to Theo. “Since you have been such a good boy for your mum, and doing well at school, I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  Returning to the bedroom he searched inside his black equipment bag, picking out a rather large, white box. He held it vertically behind him, so as not to afford Theo a view of the item when he returned to the lounge.

  Theo approached his father with an excited, yet also curious look on his face. Finally after the space of a few seconds he handed down the nondescript white box to his son.

  “It’s a model of a Henschel class star liner, one of the ships I’ve been escorting. It’s used to transport large amounts of colonists to new colonies.”

  Theo opened the box excitedly, which was almost as wide as he was and took out the model, it was cylindrical in shape, except for the complicated command structures and navigation towers. It tapered at the front end to an almost bullet like nose, at the bottom of this nose two fragile little plasma drive emitters jutted out, and at the rear of the model, were four engines. The model was incredibly detailed; hull panels and small viewports were all faithfully represented. Theo’s eyes grew wide and a broad smile instantly flashed across face. “Wow, thanks dad.” He rushed over to give his father a big hug.

  “Thank you son.”

  “Where did you get that?” Jana whispered into his ear.

  “I had someone make it for me, for a few credits; an engineer aboard one of those ships while I was escorting it.”

  Michael gestured to Theo, “if you push a small button on the bottom of the ship, the windows will light up.”

  After a little bit of searching Theo located the button, pushed it, and sure enough the toy lit up. “Wow, cool.” He almost shouted in joy as he pretended to fly the model ship around the lounge area.

  That night, Jana and Michael slept soundly together. It felt good to sleep in my own bed again, Michael thought.

  The next day Theo asked the question that he had been waiting four months to say.

  “Daddy, tell me about the E.D. F,” he said walking towards a seated Michael. He sat his son on his knee and said. “What do you want to know about it son?”

  “Everything,” he said.

  “Everything?” Michael replied, “I’ve only got three months shore leave,” he said laughing.

  “Please daddy,” Theo replied, a somewhat serious look flashing across his face.

  Michael looked at his son for a moment. “Why do you want to know?” he asked.

  “It’s for a project at school that I’m doing, and because I want to be in the E.D. F one day; just like you,” Theo replied.

  “Okay,” Michael said with a sigh. “Where do you want to start?”

  “When did the E.D. F start?”

  “The E.D. F started i
n 2054.”

  “What was there before the E.D. F started?”

  Michael looked over at Jana with a puzzled expression on his face. “Before the E.D. F, there was a big alliance between somebody called N.A.T. O, and a space agency called N.A.S.A.” he picked up little Theo and hefted him onto his knee.

  “Together they patrolled the solar system, however men and money became a problem, and piracy soared, so much so that freighters carrying goods from planet to planet took up arms to defend themselves against the pirates.” He said pausing as Theo was sat in rapt attention.

  “So when E.O.C. A, the Earth and Outer Colonies Alliance were formed in 2051. They quickly pooled all the resources of planets in the solar system and the outer colonies, to form the E.D.F. And its purpose is to defend the solar system, and its outer colonies from attack.”

  Theo paused for a while, trying to take all this in. Finally he asked, “have there been any attacks since the E.D. F daddy?”

  “Not since the pirates’ way back in 2057,” Michael replied.

  Just then Jana came over and handed Michael a cup of coffee. “Here,” she said as she smiled lovingly at the two of them.

  “Thank you my darling,” Michael replied, smiling warmly and taking the cup. Jana beamed and then busied herself with her daily chores.

  Then Theo began again. “What makes up the E.D. F daddy?”

  Michael, taking a sip of coffee replied. “There are five different departments that make up the E.D. F, there is the E.D. F Troop Division, which trains and maintains control of all the soldiers in the E.D.F.” He took a short breath.

  “There is the E.D. F Navy, who maintains control of all the starships, and their crews in the E.D. F, of which I am a member of,” pausing to let Theo take this all in.

  “There is the E.D. F engineering services, which builds the starships, constructs bases and outposts and produces most of the equipment for the Troop Division and the Navy.” He took a sip of the coffee, before continuing.

  “There is also the E.D. F research division, who has many scientists who come up with designs for the Troop division and Navy, build and test new types of starships, weapons, and structures. As well as helping in civilian projects,” Michael took another breath, before draining his cup.

  “Finally there is the E.D. F Intelligence services, which monitors threats from within and without the entire E.O.C.A.”

  “One day I want to be in the Navy, just like you daddy,” Theo said yawning.

  “Well, a Naval officer needs his rest,” Michael replied, “time for bed for you, little fellow.”

  “Do I have to dad, I want to know more,” Theo sighed.

  “In the morning, now I’ll see you off to bed.”

  Theo trudged off to his bedroom with Michael following behind. Theo changed into his pajamas, and Michael gently tucked him in.

  “Daddy, will you tell me a story.”

  “Okay son.” He picked up a book, from the side of Theo’s bed, Robinson Crusoe, and began reading from it.

  “If I have a bad dream, will you stay to chase the nightmares away?” Theo asked sleepily.

  “I will always be here, I’ll make sure the nightmares don’t get you son,” Michael said as he stroked Theo’s hair, slowly he drifted off into a deep sleep.

  As Michael quietly left Theo’s bedroom, he noticed that Jana had sat down in front of the viewer, and began watching.

  “This is the outer colony news service; I am Annika Raumov, the headlines tonight. The new colony on Geki Alpha is nearing completion; this is what E.O.C. A spokesman Abdullah Abundu had to say about the development.”

  “The colony is coming along very well indeed; we have stable water and oxygen supplies, and now have a working hospital and sanitation, we are now working towards permanent homes for the colonists.”

  “Thank you Mr. Abundu. In another story, there seems to be some trouble in the Connaught sector, near the Agemman system. We now go live, to the office of private enterprise on Agemman, come in Mr. Mike Jones.

  “Hello,” came the voice of a red haired man, in a smart suit.

  “What is the cause of the trouble near your planet Mr. Jones?”

  “I am currently representing a mining consortium called Connaught mining services. Eight light years from Agemman lies an asteroid belt that has been found to be rich in iron, nickel and sulphur deposits, which the mining company have been exploiting for several years,” the man paused for breath.

  “However, within the last month three of their mining ships have been lost. Two have not been seen or returned. And the one that was found has been damaged beyond repair, and with no crew onboard. What I want to know is what exactly is the E.D. F going to do about it?”

  “Thank you Mr. Jones, we now go live to E.D. F Naval services operations commander, Commodore James Watts. Commodore; are you aware of the situation near the Agemman system, and what is your response?”

  A portly looking Commodore with greying hair appeared on the screen. “Yes we are aware of the situation near the Agemman system, the E.D. F Navy sent an anti pirate task force of an Alexander class medium cruiser, and two Gandhi class destroyers there three months ago,” he said with a dutiful nod.

  “However, no pirate activity was detected and the task force returned to base. In light of these new attacks, the Navy are already sending a Montgomery class carrier, equipped with a full wing of Peregrine fighters to the area, which will provide a more permanent anti pirate presence, as well as reassurance for the people of the Agemman colony,” the Commodore paused for breath. “The carrier is currently on route, and should arrive by the end of next week.”

  Jana turned the channel over, as Michael was coming down the hall.

  “Have you heard about the trouble near Agemman?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Michael said. “It’s probably just some terrorist cell, or some colonists wanting their five minutes of fame.”

  “Maybe,” Jana said. “But I think its more than that, my gut tells me something is wrong over there.”

  Michael was in the kitchen fixing himself a drink, “like what?” He asked. “If it was pirates, that last task force would have found something, and if it’s terrorists, it’s a job for intelligence anyway. So there’s nothing to worry about, right?”

  He made his way over towards Jana, and gently cuddled her. “Even if it is pirates the Montfort has got it covered when it gets there anyway,” he said softly, trying to ease her worries.

  “So the Montfort is the ship that has been sent, your cousin is on that ship,” Jana added.

  “I know, I bet Jake is sorry the day he signed up now.”

  “I hope he’s okay.”

  They spent the rest of the night cuddled closely in front of the viewer.

  Chapter 2

  Little Theo’s questions

  The next day Theo returned to his relentless questioning, Michael decided to take them all to the famous shopping arcades on Orion IV. Jana didn’t want to go too far, and Theo was just happy to go on a shuttle ride.

  So that morning they set off. Michael thought that since Delta base orbited Orion IV, a quick shuttle ride down to the surface wouldn’t be too far to go.

  They left their quarters, and headed down a long narrow corridor, eventually they came to an elevator. The three of them waited for the elevator to stop, and the grey doors slowly slid open as they entered.

  “Destination,” a voice spoke from a speaker in the elevator roof above them.

  “Civilian departures,” Michael spoke into the speaker.

  “Thank you.”

  The doors slowly closed and the elevator gently whisked them off to their destination. He wondered how they would have coped on the huge primary bases of the E.D.F. without the complicated elevator systems that criss-crossed the base, and served as the primary mass transit system in all the different bases. Especially with the likes of Delta base, which housed nearly a million people. At any one time there were hundreds of elevators in use,
and they ran in specially made elevator tubes across the entire base.

  Each elevator could carry up to thirty people or five tons in weight, or any combination of the two. Michael also wondered how much of a logistical nightmare it would be, if the elevators weren’t there.

  Ten minutes later they had reached their destination. The three of them stepped out into the bustling civilian departures area.

  “Theo, keep close to me,” Jana said.

  As they made their way through the throngs of people, they came upon a large archway some thirty feet tall, and over a hundred feet across. Above the archway, there was a white illuminated sign that read “Internal Departures.”

  The three of them made their way into the internal departures lounge; which was much less crowded than where they had just come from. Together they walked across the length of the hall and came to a small desk, with an illuminated sign above it which read ‘Orion IV shuttle service.’

  A young woman in a bright blue uniform white blouse, and blue hat looked at them; smiled, and then asked. “What is your destination?”

  “The Orion plaza,” Michael replied.

  “May I see your identification?” asked the woman.

  “Sure,” Michael replied; as he pulled out three small cards, each of which contained a small photo as well as a microchip. He passed them over to the woman. Who examined the photos, and then placed the cards in a small electronic reader at the side of the desk. At once all the information came up on her terminal, name, age, blood group, doctor, employment status, place of residence; everything.

  One by one the woman placed the cards into the reader. “You’re clear,” she said finally. “Theo is only four years old, under fives go free when accompanied by an adult.”

  “Thank you,” Michael replied, glad that Theo’s birthday was in two weeks time, and not today; as the woman passed the cards back to him.

  “The next shuttle will be docking in ten minutes; if you would like to wait over there,” the woman said, as she gestured toward a row of comfortable seats.