Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1) (42 page)

Another spotlight appeared out of the rising
darkness, this time enveloping only Trent and Sasha in its pure
white essence. At the same moment, the statue began to glow without
emitting any light. Trent stared, frozen in place as his eyes
cleared and the woman before him seemed to change in an
instant.

Sasha, who moments before still wore only a
jumpsuit, was now dressed in a regal gown of crimson, with a
platinum tiara set with a large, rose shaped red ruby on her brow.
She released his hand, rising to her full height to stare down upon
him, stunning and overpowering, telling all who beheld her that she
was indeed a galactic princess.

“Kneel,” she ordered, voice of unquestionable
command. Trent obeyed without a second thought, falling to one knee
while locking his gaze on her majestic visage, the giant statue of
King Johan glowing faintly behind her, watching silently over them
both.

“TSB Lieutenant Trent,” her voice boomed, “as
is my right as the Grand Duchess of Alutia, who holds
responsibility for the special protectorate of Earth, I hereby
award you, with the blessing of King Johan Vn’Oco and Programs of
the NHA, the Star of Terra for your actions on the 236th day of NHA
year 75,023,” Trent stared in awed disbelief at the goddess who
stood before him, a woman, he realized, that was well beyond his
mortal reach.

But what is this Star of Terra she speaks
of?
He wanted to question, but was unable to form any words,
her presence just too overwhelming. She opened her right hand,
revealing a ring of platinum, inlaid with a mysterious blue gem set
between many tiny faceted gems of red and green that were
interspersed along the ring’s surface.

“Lay forward your right hand,” Trent lifted
his right arm as if all self control had left him. He was at her
command. She grasped his palm, sliding the ring over his ring
finger, lingering with her touch. When she finally released him, he
pulled his hand back reluctantly, looking closely at the mysterious
blue gem that now adorned his finger. Just beneath its rippling
surface, like it was made of liquid, floated tiny lights that
danced and swirled, beckoning for him to join them
.

“Stand, Sir Trent, holder of the Star of
Terra!” He stood, pulling his vision away from the ring and back
into the emerald eyes of Princess Sasha. In her left hand unfurled
a choker made of a mysterious reddish-purple metal, with a large
purple gem flanked by two smaller green gems, similar, if not
identical, to the ones that adorned her bracelet.

“As is your right as holder of the Star of
Terra, I now present you with the Eye of the Emperor, to help you
in times of need, and protect you from those who mean you harm,”
she exclaimed, it sounding like another voice intermingled with her
own.

Her breath caressed his cheek as she clasped
the choker about his neck. Trent felt the cool touch of its metal
exterior, which suddenly tightened, then loosened, before vanishing
completely. He reached up, finding though he no longer felt it, it
was there, like a collar forever binding him to this new reality.
Sasha’s fingers ran over its surface, lightly brushing against his
burning flesh, until they came into contact with his own. They
locked their fingers together and he found himself pushing closer,
craving further her touch. But she stepped away, releasing him,
face flush as the elegant gown vanished and all lights faded.

Nothing but their rapid breaths penetrated
the darkness as she pulled herself away. The lingering sensation of
his body’s touch begged her to embrace him, but she resisted the
urge, knowing this wasn't the time.

It’s done,
she realized, another
weight lifting from her shoulders, and no matter what others may
think, or what repercussion may come from her decision, Trent was
now an NHA noble.

She glanced back at the statue of her father,
having been confused at first as to why Vin had led them to a Royal
Room. But then, as if she'd always known, the knowledge flooded
into her.

When, in times that the emperor or king’s
presence was required, locations would present themselves where a
likeness of the ruler could be found. Since the awarding of the
Star of Terra required the elevation of an individual to the noble
court rank of duke or duchess, which can only be officially
performed by the emperor, king, or queen, they were led to a Royal
Room, since Vin deemed the appropriate authority for the elevation
had been granted. She was then presented, through a rather
elaborate miniature SJS Gate built into the statue itself, with the
Star of Terra and Eye of the Emperor, to act, during that time,
with the king's authority, allowing her to bestow the full
award.

As she turned her attention back to Trent, a
peculiar sight caught her eye. Showing through the darkness, the
purple gem on his choker glowed a dim azure, similar in color to
the worldstone sapphire that adorned the Star of Terra. Sasha
reached out and touched Trent's arm, only to find the blue glow of
the Eye of the Emperor and the red glow of the Arm of the Emperor
to both shift to purple. She released her touch, and at the same
moment Trent's gem began glowing blue and hers red. After touching
and releasing him multiple times, and seeing the same phenomenon
repeat, she sighed, now certain that there must be some sort of
unnatural connection between them. She was about to ask Vin if it
knew anything, when the door collapsed opened, allowing the light
from outside to stream within.

“It would be inadvisable to exit the Royal
Room at this time,” Vin told when they started towards the door.
They looked at each other, eyes wide, both having forgotten the
fact that they were still being hunted by Sir Simwa’s men. Trent
started towards the wall next to the door, but she moved
faster.

“Hey,” he pressed against her, and at the
same moment, they both peered out the doorway. She noticed a
silhouette in the distance before pulling back into cover.

“There is someone out there, at the first
split,” they said in unison. Trent peered out again, hissing an
unintelligible word under his breath as he pulled back.

“Four...all wearing green. Sir Simwa's men,”
Trent whispered harshly as he pulled his laser arc from his
holster. Sasha did the same, knowing they were in trouble. The only
way out of the Royal Room was the way they'd come, the way blocked
by their enemies.

“Vin, is there another way out of this room?”
Sasha asked, hoping the Program may know of another escape.

“Yes, Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia,” his bronze
sphere rippled above her bracelet, “according to the original
construction schematics there is an abandoned access tunnel
situated in the floor behind the statue,” responded Vin. Trent
turned to Sasha, placing a finger to her lips the moment she
started to speak.

“This time we do it my way. Find the tunnel
while I keep them busy,” he pushed her towards the statue and
leaned out into the doorway, firing his laser arc. A laser bolt
struck the ceiling, sending smoke and debris in all directions,
forcing their pursuers to dive to the floor for cover. Trent fired
a second shot before backing towards Sasha, who'd rushed around the
statues base, finding a single blinking light on the floor. At her
touch, it swirled into a circular opening.

An icy breeze struck her face as she stared
into total darkness, then looked towards the doorway, about to
shout. But Trent had already started around the statue, laser bolts
streaming through the doorway beyond, harmlessly striking the far
wall. He fired once more as he finished rounding the statue, Sasha
leaning out and firing another before he came to a halt. He looked
to the dark hole, then her, and without hesitation, grabbed her,
pulling her close.

“Hold on tight and don't let go!” She wrapped
her arms around his waist and squeezed with all her might. “Jump!”
Trent shouted a moment before they plunged into the unknown
darkness.

An oppressive cloud of tension hung over the
bridge, only fading when the damage alarms finally went silent.
Daniel, along with the rest of the bridge officers, had been
working nonstop since the short, but devastating, battle had
concluded, assessing damage and running the repair crews ragged. At
first, it looked like they'd have to fall out of formation. But
readiness reports kept coming in and, to Daniels chagrin, the TSB
Ero'Cia would continue the fight.

He studied the latest weapon status updates
and found little good news. The plasma cannon was still online. But
two of the ten plasma feeders had been damaged, increasing the
charge time by another ten seconds. One large LPA had made it
through unscathed, but two had been destroyed completely, while the
fourth was salvageable. Six medium LPAs were reporting online, but
only four small LPAs would ever fire a shot again.

The laser particle arrays, or LPAs, were the
most susceptible to damage since they extended beyond the
protection of the energy shield system, or ESS. Daniel recalled
almost asking why during his first days at the academy, but stopped
himself when he remembered the purpose of the ESS. It would be just
as effective stopping LPAs that were fired from within its
protective shell.

Finding his weapon’s crews occupied and his
immediate attention no longer required, he switched his PDU station
from the weapon status display, back to standard tactical. The
distant HZBF invasion fleet came into focus. He frowned as he
noticed little change in their numbers, knowing that the loss of
one super-capital, one capital, and a number of screening units did
little to affect their immense advantage.

Having seen enough, he punched another icon,
causing the display to zoom in on the much smaller TSB Fleet. He
held back a cringe as he looked over the pitiful sight. The TSB
fleet had been devastated even worse than Daniel had originally
thought. More than half the starships in the fleet were either too
damaged to continue or destroyed. This included the majority of the
fleet's firepower, the battleships and cruisers. Luckily, they did
receive reinforcements...if not the ones Daniel had originally
hoped for.

Two additional TSB battle groups, that had
been trailing the HZBF invasion fleet as they entered the Earth
star system, rendezvoused during the fleet’s 90 degree burn, when
the starships would come about while maintaining their velocity by
entering max safe acceleration at 90 degrees of their momentum.
Fleet command, finding no reason to try to manage the eight heavily
damaged battle groups that fought in the first battle, decided to
reform the fleet into three task forces. Combined TSB task force
one consisted of the TSB flagship, the NHA Dreadnaught TSB Reverie
and two of the eight remaining battleships. The other six
battleships were then split between task force two and three, while
the remaining cruisers, corvettes, and frigates were split evenly
amongst all the task forces

The TSB Ero'Cia was assigned to task force
one and had entered formation between Knight Captain Quinn's TSB
Reverie and the NHA Battleship TSB Mercury Three. The fleet had
then maneuvered into a “wall” formation, stacking starships
vertically and horizontally, which if viewed three-dimensionally,
appeared like a wall moving through space.

The HZBF invasion fleet hadn’t been silent.
As soon as the TSB fleet had passed out of range, they reformed
into an “arrowhead” formation while accelerating at 105
kps
²
, until they reached a velocity of 100,000 kps, on a
direct course for the TSB Fleet Base.

In response, the TSB fleet, once the 90
degree burn had been completed successfully, accelerated at 500
kps
²
to the max safe in system travel speed of 150,000
kps and was currently closing on the HZBF invasion fleet. He
glanced to the CID, finding they just breached 100 million km to
target, which meant they would be in weapons range in a little over
31 Earth minutes, unless, as Daniel could only hope, something
changed.

“Captain!” Lieutenant Howe shouted, “sensors
have detected multiple starship readings coming in system at two
million kps! At current rate of deceleration the new contacts will
reach TSB Fleet Base in eleven hours, twelve minutes,” Daniel, like
everyone else on the bridge, tensed.

“Thank you, eyes. Forward your observations
to fleet command. Any idea if they're friendly?” Captain Aysi
responded, her tone revealing she had not yet fully recovered from
the death of Executive Officer Geoff.

“Initial readings report high probability of
HZBF battle groups. But data is based solely off direction of entry
and included starships. The estimated point of origin is the Jodwa
Barony Fleet Base and initial estimates show four full battle
groups.” Daniel could see the tension creep across the captain's
lips.

He turned back to his tactical display, then
back to the captain. A feeling of hopelessness had begun to sneak
into his mind, and that feeling could cause people to do things
they would later regret. His thoughts vanished, mind going blank as
time stood still.

“Captain, permission to speak,” he felt
himself speak, but like he’d become a puppet, someone else having
taken control of his mind.

“Make it quick, Lieutenant,” Captain Aysi
snapped.

“Why are we being asked to sacrifice our
lives for some useless Earthling?” the bridge went deathly silent,
all eyes on him. He stared at the captain, regaining control, but
feeling his hatred boiling forth...hate for her, hate for the
knight captain, hate for the TSB, and most of all...hate for Trent,
the man, who he suddenly realized, was responsible for
everything.

If only he didn’t exist, none of this
would have happened,
his mind screamed.