Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace by David Buck Page A

efforts against our race.’
    Narindestat acknowledged the fleet master’s direct answer with one of his own.
    ‘Much of the recent strife in the galaxy can be traced to one particular Zronte, Lord Temeroth by name. Hopefully he will lose interest and return his attentions to the centre of the galaxy….’
    After a brief discussion centred on the Zronte overlord, Narindestat gave another bow of respect, and led both the Cephrit up the ramp and into the cargo hold of the sneak ship. Garendestat went forward and began pulling the covers of several items stored along the sides of the cargo hold. Narindestat gestured around the hold and gave an overview of what the Traders had brought with them.
    ‘Fleet master, this light cruiser gun came to us by way of Omerio after he stole it from the Vorinne many years ago. The next gun over is one we have devised for our new sneak ships, and we have larger guns in development for our larger flying wing ships. The Maveen have also provided us with a portable anti-matter generator and smaller fusion generators. The Barede humans have devised a special missile that fires something they call a sabot round, and it is surprisingly effective as the Barus found out many years ago.’
    The assault leader came forward and cautiously ran her antennae along the missile, before inviting the fleet master to do the same. She took in the strange scents of the missile, and decided that they must belong to the humans and that the scents seemed to be fresh. The assault leader gave quiet chirr of appreciation in an obscure dialect about the contents of the hold, and then also a quiet evaluation of the scent.
    ‘Fleet master, the technology is indeed impressive and we will hide this away for further research. I urge caution as the likely human scent is strong and only a few days old.’
    The fleet master gave a chirr of humour at this news and briefly replied in the same dialect.
    ‘Noted and agreed, and our keen senses once again confer us an advantage.’
    Aware that the fleet master was now looking at him anxiously, the fleet master sought to first reassure both Traders, before being crystal clear with what he was expecting from them in the future.
    ‘The technology meets with our approval and I am not too worried about the specifics of their supply to us. You will of course continue on your mission, whatever that may be, but I strongly urge you to avoid going to the planet Earth.’
    Narindestat quickly reassured the fleet master on this key point.
    ‘I understand fleet master and I already have standing orders not to approach the human world.’
    The fleet master paused for a moment to parse the Trader’s reply for any hidden meaning before he spoke again.
    ‘I will then write a report that states your race made contact under diplomatic accords and that your race remains unchanged. However your part of this new arrangement is for you to remain with the rest of your race in the outer parts of the galaxy until we send for you. To this end you must supply a new contact point were we can reach you without travelling to the outer part of the galaxy.’
    The Trader was already prepared for this request and furnished the coordinates and contact details of a star system that the Maveen probe had provided to him earlier.
    The Cephrit looked over this new information with heightened interest, for he now knew the Maveen could also be reliably contacted in this star system. He in turn reassured the Trader captain that this new information would remain between the two of them, but with a caveat.
    ‘Well Narindestat that is convenient for the Maveen have had little to do with us for a great many years. We will contact them independently and advise that they only talk to us if no other vassal races are present. Otherwise an unexpected Vorinne patrol could destroy the gate ship hidden in that system.’
    Captain Narindestat now felt gratitude towards the fleet master, for the Cephrit could easily have decided to