The Indus Incursion by John Lallier

Author:John Lallier [Lallier, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-04T22:00:00+00:00

Centauri Station

Sector 6, Alpha Centauri A, Cronus orbit

2165JUL02 16:44

Carolina-Maria Ramirez sat at the small dining table in her quarters, randomly picking at the salad in front of her while she read from her tablet. She was in the middle of a lengthy letter from her mentor and good friend, Diana Bixby. Like Ramirez, Bixby served in the Commonwealth’s Diplomatic Corps; unlike Ramirez, Bixby landed one of the few plum assignments. Diana Bixby was the Commonwealth’s current ambassador to the Tyndaline Union. Her latest message was a very descriptive account of her travels to the city of Veroonell as the guest of honor at the Praazzuu Celebration. Ramirez could almost feel her friend’s excitement as she described the local architecture and fashions, foods and music. Bixby was living the dream!

Meanwhile, Ramirez was living the reality. As the senior representative of the Diplomatic Corps in the Alpha Centauri system, there were few celebrations on Carolina’s schedule. Her job consisted mostly of certifying documents for the limited number of foreign vessels that visited the system. Even though Alpha Centauri had the largest human population outside of the Sol system, it really wasn’t all that impressive to outsiders. Most ships visiting the system were on their way out from Sol or heading back from one of the outer systems. That meant a lot of Terrans passing through, but very few aliens. And for aliens, read Tyndal; no other races traded with the Commonwealth in any meaningful way. Really. Ramirez had checked the records, and despite being mankind’s original first contact, no Ssenn ship had visited Alpha Centauri since the station began operations sixty-four years earlier. None.

So while in theory any advanced space-faring race could suddenly appear on their doorstep, none but the Tyndal ever did. And they came only rarely.

Ramirez was quietly envying her mentor when the tone sounded at her door. She rose and was barely half-way across the room when someone began pounding on the door. Actually pounding. Luckily that caused her to step back quickly as she opened the door, avoiding the chance to be bowled over by her assistant as he burst into the room. Not that Kevin Wang could have knocked her over. At 165 cm, Wang was no taller than Ramirez and probably a kilo lighter. Still, best to avoid any collisions.

“Cara, have you heard?” Wang blurted out as he stumbled to a stop in the middle of her living area. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you alert us?”

Ramirez looked stunned, “Alert? Alert you about what?”

“The invasion!” Wang shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

“What are you talking about?” Carolina demanded, her patience with Wang quickly running thin. “Calm down and tell me what this is all about.”

Wang clenched his fists and forced himself to slow his breath. “It’s all over the station. The Fleet is mobilizing. All leaves are cancelled. They’ve got base security going through all the bars and rousting anyone off of any of the starships out there. The shuttle bay is a mess trying to get everyone out.

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