Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 3 - New Shores by David Buck Read Free Book Online Page B

to the research fleet at the former Dradfer colonies and much longer to return to the Cephrit star base. Hopefully the authorities were backing up both her and the recently departed Tilmud frigates by having a decent number of ships deployed nearby. The research fleet location would be the logical place to start she decided quietly to herself.
    Gindane continued to watch as one of the larger Maveen ships eventually established orbit around Earth and deployed monitoring equipment after two more hours. After several more hours, her ship had reached a location it could exit the solar system and a flash of light occurred as the research ship made the hyper drive jump.
     
                                                                ***
     
    Troop Commander Gavin Lewis quietly watched the activity around the now closed Perth Airport with professional detachment. A frenzied number of civilian transport supervisors were coordinating a series of heavy vehicles down at one end of the international runway. Nearby he could see that two SAS teams kept a central area of the runway clear for the expected alien ships.
    Gavin had been in the SASR, the Australian SAS regiment for many years and he had seen nothing like this high density deployment before. The night before he had reassured his wife after they put their two daughters to bed that everything would be fine. They had even briefly discussed and then agreed on the merits of joining the new colony providing it was safe enough. He knew that similar urgent discussions and frantic organisation of people, transport, food and equipment was happening around the world.
    Gavin slowly pivoted around and viewed the full complement of the SASR second squadron of over eighty berets amassed with the signal corps troopers around the perimeter of the Perth airport. The squadron had brought a mixture of army fighting vehicles and trucks. The SAS soldiers were not alone either for a nearly equal number of elite US navy seals were present from US seal teams four and five. The navy seals had deployed to the Australian coast from the USS America, and had soon struck up an easy camaraderie with the SAS troopers after the confusion with the initial US fleet attack on the aliens was resolved.
    Gavin watched as two US heavy lift cargo planes unloaded several US ground vehicles and other equipment, including three small helicopters and scouting drones near the domestic terminal. The SASR had already either brought over several of their own helicopters or had arranged for the loan of civilian helicopters and pilots. Other civilians were present in a huddle near the control tower and included several scientists from many different fields clustered around several four wheel drives.
    A short burst of radio messages alerted Gavin, and he turned to watch as two of the larger Maveen ships escorted by those strange smaller probes now approached the airport. The featureless nature of the black hulled Maveen ships was apparent in the early morning light, and he watched in amazement as the alien ships now slowed to take up their positions. Within moments the two gate ships had landed on either side of the main runway, deployed long antennae, and a white oval a hundred metres across formed between the two ships at ground level. Gavin listened to another short burst of radio traffic and quietly went forward to meet the Maveen probes with the other Australian and US officers.
     
                                                                ***
     
    Troy van Essen considered the media reports initially with disbelief and now with real interest. He sat back with a beer and his two young sons played with their toys on the carpet at his feet. From the street a siren howled as the police answered yet another emergency call in western Sydney. Troy was in his early thirties and always seemed to be on the brink of a