The Narian Predicament on The Narian Connection

    They popped out of hyperspace six light hours out on a trajectory that would pass near Conco, the fourth planet. Thank the Maker, Tial thought, that their ship was equipped with the latest stealth technology. Without that they would never be able to sneak into this system, get the information they came after and sneak back out undetected.

    During the three days it took them to reach Conco they counted the enemy warships and listed them by class and their state of readiness. They also counted the shipyards and observed how fast they were repairing the damaged warships completing their primary mission and gaining information the High Command needed to determine how soon the next attack would take place.

    Their secondary mission was to land on Conco in one of the undeveloped areas the High Command suspected were game preserves, find out if that's what they really were and, if so, what sort of game was being hunted there. Tial thought she already knew that. She had been in the Hanian's secondary star system when the enemy first attacked them some ninety five years ago.

    The Narians, Tial's people, established friendly contact with the Hanian just over a year before the enemy showed up. The Hanian were a peace loving people who were incapable of violence and had no weapons. The Narians liked this because they would rather avoid fighting if possible. They would rather live peacefully with all other sapient beings.

    Not so the enemy. They looked like bipedal rats one point six three to one point eight two meters tall with shark like teeth and appetites. Their prefered prey was sapient beings whom they liked to devour while their victims were still alive. Their favorite activity, aside from eating sapient beings, was fighting.

    The Narians had two hundred thirty four warships and seven transports in the Hanian's secondary star system when three thousand one hundred forty two warships popped out of hyperspace and started attacking without any warning. The Narians fought back valiantly and, although the enemy were taking heavy losses, were slowly being pushed back. the Narians sent one of their smaller ships for reinforcements while the seven transports and all the Hanian ships started evacuating the planet.

    When one of the Narian ships was disabled the survivors hopped into their evac pods and abandoned ship thinking that if their own people couldn't pick them up the enemy would and would give them reasonably decent treatment as prisoners of war.

    That idea was soon dispelled. The enemy ships picked them up all right. In fact, they seemed to vie for the priviledge of rescuing them. Then the enemy broadcast the treatment of the 'rescued." As soon as they got them on board they swarmed all over them, viciously attacking them and devouring them while they were still alive. After that the Narians forgot about surrendering and no longer abandoned ship Instead they stayed in their damaged ships and fought with whatever they could lay their hands on. Even if it was only a length of metal. If you're going to die anyway it's better to go down fighting than to stand there and be eaten alive.

    That initial attack was driven off but the Narians lost about a third of their ships in the process. Over half of the remaining ships were lightly to moderately damaged. The reinforcements arrived just under an hour before the next attack started. Most of the reinforcements were unarmed Hanian ships useful only to help evacuate the planet.

    They managed to fight the second wave of attackers to a standoff buying time to evacuate almost all of the Hanian from the doomed planet. Then the third wave of enemy ships arrived and drove straight for the planet. They scattered the remaining ships in the process. About half of the third wave landed on the planet while the other half joined what was left of the second wave and drove the Narians out of the system.

    Tial's ship was the last to leave and received a broadcast from the planet just before jumping out. Tial, the communications officer, recorded it. What Tial saw made her violently ill. The Hanian, a friendly non-violent people, went toward the enemy ship shown in the broadcast, offering them the same kind of warm welcome they gave Tial's people. The enemy piled out of their ship and swarmed all over the welcoming committee ripping off chunks of muscle and eating them. It seemed that they were trying to keep their victims alive as long as possible while devouring them. It was the most horrendous, revolting sight Tial had ever seen.

    Tial was very relieved when her ship went into hyperspace and could no longer receive that broadcoat. She wanted to erase what she had just recorded but realized that her people would need it and the other recordings of that vicious unprovoked attack so when they made contact with another sapient race they could warn them about this very vicious enemy. These recordings came in very handy when they contacted the Humans some one hundred years later.

    The enemy wasn't satisfied taking that one star system from the Narians and Hanian but kept making new attacks continually pushing Tial's people farther out this arm of the Milky Way. The Narians and Hanian quickly became one people sharing planets and resources. The Narians were the theoretical scientists and fighters while the Hanian were the engineers, technicians and assemblers.

    The Narians suffered horendous losses during the past ninty five years of fighting mostly in the first ten years while they were learning how to effectively fight this enemy. They lost nearly two thirds of their population during that time, too many of them from among those who hadn't had children yet. They quickly learned to use only warriors who were past their reproductive years.

    Thanks to a longevity experiment gone awry that did increase their life span from one hundred thirty years to between four hundered fifty to five hundred years they were only fertile from two hundred twenty to two hundred thirty years of age. Their birth rate was only two point three seven children per adult woman. Only about nine percent of their population escaped infection by the gene inserting virus and they disappeared to who knew where two thousand years ago. Tial's people foreswore genetic manipulation after that disaster. If they could stop their losses it would take nearly five millenia for their population to recover.

    Tial's ship, which she was the commanding officer of, followed a parabolic orbit that passed very near the one habitable planet in this system. It took them three days to reach the planet and then they used their anti-grav drive to brake and go into orbit.

    They gathered data on the ships, shipyards and other space based activities on their way in to the planet. Then they spent a week in orbit around the planet while gathering data on the planet's surface. They tried to keep at least ten kilometers away from any enemy ships and satellites and had a few close calls where they had to maneuver out of the path of incoming and outgoing  ships.They counted one hundred twelve game preserves on the planet and picked out eight for a closer look.

    When they finished their observations of the planet Tial called a meeting of the crew. The pilot had to stay at his board but the other seven crew members met in the galley/lounge. Tial brought up a map of one of the hemispheres showing a large continent with three of the eight targeted game preserves shown in blue.

    "This preserve," she pointed to one just inland from the western coast, "has a fair amount of activity and suitable terrain for hiding our ship while we make close observations of what's going on there. We'll land there just before dawn tomorrow and will have our ship camouflaged before the sun comes up. Then we'll take our two stealthed flitters to these caves," she clicked to a close-up of the game preserve, "here and here and see what kind of beings are hiding there. We'll also be able to see how the enemy interacts with them. If they treat them as I suspect; remember, I've seen in action before, it will not be pleasant. Our flitters have the same new stealthing this ship does and can't be seen by anyone farther away than five meters. Any questions or comments? Lyal, would you relieve Joncal and send him in? I need to go over the landing with him."

    They landed the next morning without incident and it was just a matter of a few keystrokes at the stealth board to make them appear to be just another part of the rock wall they landed by. Tial and two crew members went to the cave complex off to the northeast while Lyal and two others went to one just south of due east. That left Joncal and two others with the ship.

    "Remember," Tial instructed him, "the information we've already gathered needs to get back to our people. If you are threatened with discovery leave without us and get that information home. We'll manage to survive here until we can be rescued. It won't do anyone any good if we all die here and we definently don't want our ship and it's stealth gear to fall into enemy hands."

    When Tial arrived at her target caves she saw members of three different, obviously sapient species armed with bows, arrows notched, scouting the terrain around the caves. They were communicating with hand signals and cooperating with each other. Two of the species were hominid, as were the Narians, the third was feline. The felines averaged one point nine three meters tall, were bipedal and had yellow and black tiger striped fur. One of the hominid species was also furred but they all wore clothes. They broke up into six groups of three. Two of the groups headed off south southeast and south southwest, two headed north northeast and northwest, The remaining two groups went east and west.

    A half hour later Tial heard some calls that sounded like the feathered flyers that were darting in and out of the trees and underbrush. In response to these signals more people came out of the caves. The same three species she had already seen, some looking much like the scouts; others with mammary glands were obviously female. These also were armed like the scouts with bows, arrows, stone tomahawks and knives. Some set up a defensive perimeter about two th three hundred meters from the caves. The others waited and soon more people carrying empty baskets of about five liter capacity came out of the caves. The basket carriers broke up into six small groups and were joined by armed escorts as they started out in different directions.

    Tial followed a group of seven basket carriers and five armed escorts as they made their way through the forest. The escorts spread out and watched the forest closely as they and the basket carriers made their way through it. The basket carriers were watching the forest floor, occasionally stopping to pick fungi and loading them into two of the baskets. They only picked some of the fungi they found. Apparently they weren't all good to eat.

    Suddenly two deerlike creatures jumped up and started running away from the foraging party. Two of the escorts shot arrows at the fleeing animals and brought them down with one arrow each. Tial was impressed with their marksmanship. The hunters dressed their kills and Tial estimated their weight at about forty kilo each. That shouldn't be too heavy a load for such fit looking hunters. Before moving on they carefully burried the ofal so that it wouldn't be spotted at a casual glance.

    After about three kilometers of further travel the hunter-gatherers came to a clearing full of vines that were dying back. The two burdened hunters set ther loads down and the five armed escorts spread out around the clearing watching the forest as if protecting the gatherers from an enemy. The gatherers set their baskets down, unstrapped sharpened sticks from their backs and started digging up nice sized roots which they loaded into three baskets. After they filled the baskets they dug up the few remaining roots and replanted them in the holes they made with their harvesting. Then they covered their work so the clearing looked undisturbed.

    They departed from the clearing perpendicular to their former line of travel gathering fungi as they went. After going about one and a half kilometers farther they came to another clearing with three fruit trees about eight meters tall that were loaded with ripe fruit. After setting their burdens down the guards spread out around the perimeter and took up guard positions while the gatherers took two empty baskets to the trees and picked the fruit placing them in the baskets.

    As soon as they filled the baskets they picked the remaining fruit and sat down to take a lunch break. Two of them first took fruit to the thre hominid guards while the two feline guards dug some strips of dreid meat out of their belt pouches.

    After their lunch break they headed back toward the caves picking fungi as they went. A third of the way back a boarlike creature charged out of the underbrush at them. The three unencumbered guards fired arrows at it and notched new arrows immediately but the boar fell kicking it's last. The two burdened guards set their loads down and took up guard positions as did one of the three who killed the boar. The other two started butchering the boar cutting the hide in two pieces on which they placed the cuts of meat. They saved everything but the ofal which they burried.

    When they got back to the caves Tial saw nine adult Hanian and fourteen children. Five of the adults were knapping stone, two making arrowheads, two making tomahawk heads and the other one making knives. The other four Hanian were grinding grain. The children were playing a slow moving game. There were also children of the other species playing much faster games, stalking, wrestling, mock fighting and other games that helped them learn the necessary survival skills for the primitive life they were living.

    The arrival of the group Tial and her flitter crew were observing did not go unheralded. Members of some of the other hunter-gatherer groups that went out that morning came out of the caves with smaller containers into which they they loaded the contents of the gathering baskets. As they were filled they were taken into the caves. The meat was also split up, mostly taken into the caves but some was put on spits at the fires and cooked.

    Another group of hunter-gatherers showed up and their food was also put into smaller containers and taken inside. All the rest of the people in sight started wrapping up their outside activities and heading into the caves. The Hanian being the slowest. Tial heard a call from the northwest that alarmed those they were observing. Twenty of the felines came out of the caves fully armed and moving swiftly in the direction of the call. Some of the others picked the Hanian children up and helped the adult Hanian into the caves.

    Tial decided to go see what caused the alarm so she directed Ronar, the flitter pilot, to fly out towards the sound. About one kilometer out from the caves she saw the armed felines spread out and take cover. Another six kilometers out she saw two of the hominids cautiously heading back toward the caves and watching behind themselves closely. She directed Ronar to slow down because they were near their objective.

    They came to a clearing and spotted twenty seven of the enemy equipped with tubular objects that looked like weapons. They were about a third of the way across the clearing heading in the general direction of the caves. Suddenly an arrow flew into their ranks quickly followed by two more. Two of the enemy dropped and another was wounded but still standing. They swarmed all over them, biting chunks of flesh out of them and greedily eating them. The one who was still standing managed to wound one of the others and he to was immediatly set upon by his companions. Tial was revolted by the sight but was also glad to see some of the enemy dying.

    A tomahawk came flying out of the woods and struck a glancing blow to one hunter and burried itself in another. Five of their fellow hunters attacked them while the remaining sixteen rushed into the woods in the direction the tomahawk came from. A large male feline barefoot and with gray showing in his fur charged into their midst, kicking, clawing and biting at all he could reach. He quickly went down in the ensuing feeding frenzy. The hunters were not only biting hunks of flesh out of the feline but also off each other, anywhere they saw fresh bleeding. When the frenzy was over only five of the hunters still survived and they started sniffing each other and licking any blood spots they found. One licked a blood spot off his own arm and when fresh blood appeared he started biting chuncks out of it. While he was busy eating his own flesh his four friends swarmed over him and quickly killed him.

    "I'm glad I'm not one of them." Ronar said. "I don't like the way they treat their own wounded."

    "I don't see how their species can survive." Tial added. "They must have a tremendous birth rate. We've known for the past ninety five years that they go completely berserk when they see blood. Aparently they do that even when it's their own."

    The four surviving hunters seemed to be satisfied that there were no more wounds on any of them. The feeding frenzy was over. They picked up the dead and carried them into back into the clearing where the three survivors there were piling weapons in one place and the dead bodies in another. One of them pulled out a radio and spoke into it. Then they settled down to wait with four of them watching the woods carefully with weapons at the ready.

    About seventeen minutes later a flitter landed in the clearing near the piles of weapons and the dead bodies. The three who were just sitting loaded the weapons and bodies into the flitter then climbed in. The guards followed and the flitter left the way it came. The hunt was over.

    Tial had seen enough. Now they knew without any doubt what went on in the game preserves. She told Ronar to return to the ship. Lyal's flitter returned from the other cave complex with a similar report. A quick check of a few other game preserves should let them know if these preserves were mainly for hunting sapient species like this one was. They spent the next few days hopping around from preserve to preserve and observed the same pattern in all of them.

   They then spent three days spying on several enemy cities where they saw families with five to eight children in each age group. the average family consisted of a mother, father and thirty to forty children. They were all relieved wen they left the planet and went back home. They came to the conclusion that the enemy transported survivors of the sapient species whose planets they conquered to planets they colonized for food and sport.Their improved stealth gear enabled them to finally spy on conquered planets and learn new things about this vicious enemy of thiers.

    Tial was just finishing her report as they popped out of hyperspace in their home system. This was their third home system since the war started. The enemy kept driving them farther and farther out the galatic arm. They were presently looking for another systen to move to as this system was coming under more frequent attacks and the High Command projected that it would fall to the enemy in onother ten years. Tial's mission, and others like it, gave them information that would help them firm up this projection. When she finished her repirt she tight beamed it on the FTL radio to her base. Her E.T.A. was nine hours twenty three minutes. That gave her commanding officer plenty of time to digest her report before her debriefing.

    At the end of her debriefing Tial suggested making rescue runs so they could establish free populations of the species they discovered in the game preserves. "After all," she said, "these felines are magnificent fighters and the hominids do pretty well too."

    "Yes, we may well do that." Renna, her C.O. replied. But, fortunantley, we won't have to rely on such a log term project to find the ally we so desperately need. One of or scout ships just found a new sapient species in the early stages of space travel. Their numbers are in the billions and they're good fighters. They call themselves Human and," she brought up a star system on the screen, "this is their system. almost all of them live here, on the third planet. A few are in space."

    "They are threatened by conquest and death by our common enemy so I don't think we'll have too much trouble recruiting them to help us fight this war for survival we've had forced on us. After all, it's a war for their survival too. It will be about another twenty five years before their system is directly threatened. That should be enough time to learn their languages, they speak more than one, establish contact with them and help them prepare ot fight. At thier current technoligical level it would take the enemy only a few hours to conquer them."

    "So it's a matter of mutual need." Tial obsereved. "They'll only last another twenty five years without our help and we'll be lucky to last the rest of our natural lives without theirs. Just another few centuries."

    Renna shut the screen down. "Yes. That's why I'm sending you and your crew there. I want our best team on this job."
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