Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1) (24 page)

“Attention!” the captain shouted, the
whispers dying instantly.

“Let's all remember that we are trained
members of the TSB! No matter if this is a drill or an emergency,
it makes little difference! So keep the speculation to a minimum
and report to your starships!” The passenger's turned in
unison.

“Yes, sir!” the trained response echoed
through the compartment as the lights went green and the shuttle’s
doors slid open. The excited, but silent, TSB personnel started
streaming. Daniel tried to stand, but the hand kept him seated.

“And you Lieutenant, should know better.
Remember to keep your voice down next time you are discussing
sensitive matters,” the captain hissed into his ear. He continued
biting his tongue as he stood and saluted, exiting the shuttle with
the stone-faced Lieutenant Cody in tow.

“How dare h-,” Daniel started to curse, but a
perfectly placed elbow to the side stopped him.

“We were at fault, don't dwell,” she
whispered into his ear as she kissed him on the cheek, then hurried
down the boarding ramp first, turning at its base. “Good luck!” she
shouted with a wave, then vanished into the crowd.

He found his anger wane, and a sudden
fondness
for the woman to appear in his
heart. It was a strange feeling, one he rarely recalled having
before. So he quickly suppressed it, reminding himself that women
were mere playthings, unless, of course, they were able to help him
increase his standing. Content that he had the feelings properly
repressed, he pushed his way into the flow of officers and crew
rushing across the docking platform adjacent the docked shuttles.
He found a gap and started sprinting for the crisscrossing gangways
that led to the transport tube station.

The moment he exited into the station, he
located an open single person tube, linking his BC node to state
his destination, the TSB Ero'Cia, a cruiser named in honor of a
past TSB Commander who was killed in action.

Within only a few moments, the tube door
opened to an enormous hanger bay cut directly out of planetoids’
grey rock, its smooth grey walls barely illuminated by the
starships docking lights. Suspended gangways crisscrossed one side
of the hanger, intersecting a large docking platform that ran
adjacent the 500 meter long starship. He forced his way into a line
of crewman hurrying onto the closest gangway.

Like almost all NHA starship's, the TSB
Ero'Cia was of a cuboid shape, or three-dimensional rectangle, with
the top of the front slightly recessed. The tilitium, programmable
matter hull was colored white, with two blue strips running down
each side. The TSB crest, a giant representation of Earth with the
letters TSB in its center, covered each side. Four groupings of
tightly packed thruster tubes exited the rear of the starship, the
main means of propulsion, while variable maneuvering thruster tubes
ran down each edge, used for steering the starship.

The TSB Ero'Cia, like all cruisers, had a
modest armament of long-range Laser Particle Arrays, or LPAs, with
a class A plasma cannon mounted on the nose. The LPAs were quite
obvious by the focal apparatus that was made of many overlapping
oval plates of differing sizes, with a funnel like protrusion in
the center that sat upon an oval base platform, used to extend the
weapon beyond the energy shield system, or ESS. There were three
different models of the LPA present, large, medium, and small, or
point as it was more commonly referred.

The primary weapon, the plasma cannon,
protruded from the angled nose of the cruiser and was quite obvious
with its circle of arrow-like plasma feeders with a vortex cone in
the center.

Scattered over the entire hull, glittering
amongst the much larger LPAs, were ESS spikes, responsible for
creating the energy shield system that super-compressed electrons
against the hull. This provided protection against direct energy
and kinetic weapon systems, able to “bend” the energy away from the
hull while dispersing any kinetic force from mass, particle, or
plasma based weapons. Finally, almost completely hidden from view,
were the sensor, electronic warfare, and communication spikes.

The plasma cannon, LPA and ESS technology
were rather new in NHA terms, having only been implemented into the
standard starship design within the last 400 years. Before that,
starships were armed solely with fusion cannons, which had taken
the place of kinetic torpedoes prior the NHA’s creation. Fusion
Cannons were extremely powerful at close range, but would disperse
quickly beyond 100,000 kilometers. This shortcoming became obvious
during the last battles with the ASU, when the massive NHA fleets
were devastated at range by enemy LPAs and plasma cannons. Luckily,
the NHA was able to capture an ASU starship intact and reverse
engineer the shield and weapon technology, and integrate an
“improved” version into the NHA starship designs.

Daniel rushed down the docking platform, past
the gangways that led to the entrances used by general crewman, and
made his way to the officer’s entrance near the bow. Standing in
wait, with her hands crossed behind her back, staring intently at
Daniel as he approached, was the towering TSB Ero’Cia Captain,
Captain Aysi. Her cropped, jet black hair matched her complexion
perfectly, and stood in perfect contrast to her blue and white
combat uniform. As expected, his heart raced as he approached, few
other women, even noble perfect women, could match her beauty and
magnificence.

Only if she could do something about that
personality,
Daniel thought as he came to a stop, saluting
crisply, which she returned with a wide, toothy smile.

“It's good to have you onboard, Lieutenant
Daniel,” she look him up and down, like a lioness studying her
prey, “I'd like to discuss with you your part in the latest after
action review council. So be prepared to provide me a full brief as
soon as we are underway,” she nodded, and started to turn to her
Executive Officer, or XO, Commander Geoff, who was in the process
of cursing at a terrified supply officer.

“Lieutenant Taku,” Aysi turned back before
Daniel could make his escape, “was involved in an accident shortly
before the shuttles launched. He will recover, but will require an
extended stay in the medical bay, longer then we can wait. So I’ve
decided to have you fill in as primary tactical officer on the
bridge,” Somehow he was able to keep his shock from showing. He was
positive that Captain Aysi hated him, after the fiasco with the
Ero’Cia’s pervious helm officer, and her emotional breakdown during
an exercise a year earlier after catching Daniel with another
woman. But maybe she’d forgiven him, since this was a pretty big
promotion from his previous post as secondary tactical officer on
the combat systems station, CSS for short.

“Thank you, Captain. I will do my best!” He
saluted and started jogging up the gangway to the starship.

“You better! I'll be having you running
constant simulations during this entire exercise!” Daniel stumbled,
his eyes catching the kilometer drop over the gangways railing,
vanishing into the darkness below.

She’s positive this is a drill
, he
mused, which is why she didn't mind providing him the temporary
promotion. Now, he just had to make her regret not promoting him
sooner.

The menacing thorns adorning the artificial
rose vines that wrapped around Sasha’s command chair, bit deep into
her skin, calling forth a trickle of blood to run down her finger
and drip to deck below. Though she hardly noticed the pain, or the
servant who scurried to her side to place a bandage on her
trembling hand. Her mind was lost in disbelief, unable to fully
fathom the insane logic of the message she just received, and the
ruling noble who had sent it.

Duke Zehman Hulk’Zif
,
or as Sasha had
begun referring to him
: that traditionalist bastard,
had
finally responded to her findings in regards to the fabrication of
facts by Sir Simwa. His curt reply stated that he disagreed with
Sasha’s interpretation, thinking she had fallen for the TSB’s
propaganda and would not oblige her request to abandon his siege of
the Earth star system, unless he received a direct order from his
liege, King Johan, Sasha’s father. He then, quite clearly, reminded
her of the fact that she still wasn't “officially” sworn in as
Grand Duchess of Alutia, and held no rights to demand anything from
him.

So now I suddenly have no authority,
she wanted to scream, but held her tongue, noticing the young
servant at her side dressing her wound.

A squawk echoed across the fleet command deck
as Terra, the name she'd provided her catillian, turned from where
he perched on the railing overlooking the bridge, seeming to share
her anger.

After the six days of craziness that Tiana
had playfully named, Sasha's coming out party, she’d felt utterly
exhausted. So after the decision was made about the Star of Terra,
and she finished composing all her messages, it was straight to
bed, sleeping for 12 straight hours. She'd been furious when no one
woke her, at the apparent order of Tiana, even though Sasha
realized she was in dire need of a good night's rest. Plus, it
provided ample time for the messages to make their journeys. In the
end, she thought of thanking Tiana, but quickly discarded that
idea, knowing her young friend would just add it to her growing
list of favors.

She felt a smile force its way to her lips at
the thought of her devious lady-in-waiting, but it quickly vanished
when she recalled that the most important reply, that from her
father, had yet to be received. She was about to check again,
prepared to give in and compose another message, when her CID
beeped and a bronze sphere appeared off to the side.

“A message has arrived from King Johan
Vn'Oco, Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia,” the Program’s monotone words
called her free of her thoughts.

“Why are you notifying me of new messages?”
Sasha asked with genuine curiosity.

“I have completed full integration into the
NHA Shuttle ABF Princess One and have found many basic functions
required for a ruling noble, lacking. Notification of high priority
messages is paramount, so I have amended the duty to my protocols.”
Sasha nodded, unable to find anything wrong with the Program’s
logic. Though she couldn’t help wonder about what else the Program
had found “lacking” onboard the starship, but held the question on
her tongue;
there are more important matters to attend too.
She quickly linked into her personal BAP and queued her father's
letter.

“My Dearest Sasha, I am very proud of the
woman you have become, as evident in your message to me. In such a
short time you seem to have grasped the realities of the universe
and haven proven to me that I made the correct choice to present
you with this great burden.

“The vagueness of reasons for the rewarding
of the Star of Terra does worry me, however, I will trust in your
judgment, and hope that the Programs will allow you to provide the
entire story once you’re officially elevated to grand duchess.

“Your report on Duke Zehman is not
unexpected. Word of his deeds have reached my ears, and his actions
to invade the sovereignty of the Alutia Duchy, which is currently
under my jurisdiction, will not be tolerated. I am, however, unable
to become directly involved in this matter due to various reasons
that you will come to understand in time, though know it is not my
wish, but that of another, the only man who can command me.

“Your official transfer ceremony shall await
your arrival, but know that all your action's carry the full weight
of your duchy and our galaxy. Please stay safe, my daughter, and
know that your mother and I love you, and wish you luck in this
most pressing hour. Your loving parents, King Johan Vn'Oco and
Queen Vahna Vn'Oco.” Sasha let the weight of the words sink in.
Even if she wrote another message, asking her father to command
Duke Zehman to recall his fleets, it would be in vain, the man he
referred obviously being NHA Emperor Yuloo.

But what does the emperor have to do with
this?
She wondered, queuing the message again to verify nothing
had been missed. Finding no other hints within, she closed the
message, cringing as the number other messages she received kept
growing. Though one of the messages received, a moment after her
father’s, was from her eldest brother, the Crown Prince Kohan,
which she quickly queued.

“My Dearest Sister, I hope you are well. You
are now a player in this perilous game of nobles and I hope you are
ready, for it is full of deceit and hardship. My advice to you is
twofold: use the Star of Terra, there is more to the reward then
just a name, and find another, for you will not be able to survive
the coming time alone.

“A gift I may bestow upon you with Father’s
blessing, and I have chosen one that may help you in your greatest
need. Wait for it at your rendezvous, at the Don'Alutia SJS gate
hub.

“Sister, I, like Father, cannot help you
directly, but hope for your and Alutia’s great success. Remember my
words...the Star of Terra may be your greatest boon. With love,
Crown Prince Kohan Vn'Oco.” Her heart fluttered and her skin
flushed as the thought of the Star of Terra made Trent's face
appear within her mind, seeming to enter through her BC node. But
the flutter turned into an ache as her mind morphed the image, to
his injured, motionless form, lying helpless on the ground with Sir
Simwa laughing manically in the background.

He’s definitely alive,
she reminded
herself, before reaffirming her promise that she would personally
reward him the Star of Terra when the current matters were
resolved. Except, she couldn’t understand what her brother meant
by;
the Star of Terra may be your greatest boon
.