Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1) (64 page)

“No one is to disturb Her Grace unless it's
the medical officer, understand?” The battleguards nodded, moving
to attention before the door. She returned to her seat beside
Vickie, who nodded, eyes distant. Silently, she watched Til'Ma and
Gil'Da lead a cranky Regalia to the ladies bedchamber, Tiana still
having trouble believing what had transpired. But in any case, they
needed help, and fast.

Thinking of no other option, she gathered her
courage and accessed her BC node, preparing a message to the only
person she could trust in the universe

“Mother, we need you....”

Nineteen days, almost two full NHA periods,
had passed since the Battle of Earth where the TSB and Alutia
Fleets had been devastated, and the Earth...destroyed. Sasha
glanced over her shoulder at the stone faced Sir Seb'Losh, who
stood diligently a step behind her, scanning the crowd of TSB, ABF,
and TBF personnel mingling with the Tidelia nobles within the
enormous banquet hall. He’d become even more vigilant then before
she'd banished him on a fool's errand, and though it bothered her,
she understood Sir Seb’Losh’s reasoning.

To her surprise, he had arrived at the TSB
Fleet Base alongside her guardian, Tiana's mother, Countess Liana,
and a fleet of 20 Tidelia Battle Fleet battle groups a day after
the Battle of Earth had concluded.

Sasha smiled at the memory of the emotional
reunion. Tiana had cried, for what seemed like hours, in her
mother's arms as Sasha told the story of what had befallen.
Countess Liana, after hearing the full truth for the first time,
had ordered her fleet commanders to invade the Hulk'Zif Duchy,
without hesitation, to bring Duke Zehman to justice. But cooler
heads prevailed and the countess agreed to wait upon the king’s
approval before launching her crusade.

But she didn’t have to wait long. Duke
Zehman, unfazed by the loss of seven HZBF battle groups, assembled
another fleet of 10 battle groups and returned for revenge. But his
second invasion of ABF space was short lived, being forced to
retreat at the sight of the larger Tidelia Battle Fleet that had
caught the duke’s force by surprise.

Countess Liana, again restrained from
pursuing Duke Zehman into the Hulk'Zif Duchy, dispersed her fleet,
sending them to the four jumpgate hubs that allowed access to and
from the Alutia Duchy, blockading all traffic until the situation
had been sorted and calmed. Sasha glanced to the fiery woman
sitting on the nearside of the dining table, a spitting image of
Tiana, but much taller, with a single braid of white hanging
amongst her wavy blond locks. Sasha watched her with hidden
amusement as she tried to convert Knight Admiral Quinn, newly
appointed commander of the yet to be commissioned 7
^th
ABF battle group, for her crusade against Duke Zehman.

He glanced to Sasha, a dubious look on his
whiskered face, as Countess Liana explained her plan to rain fire
upon Hulkra and Zifanillia, the twin capital planets of the
Hulk’Zif Duchy. Sasha let slip a grin, noticing Tiana next to her
mother, blushing furiously from embarrassment. Regalia, who sat
just beyond, was oblivious to the heated discussion to her left,
playing absently with the salty black eggs that she'd been told
were a delicacy of Earth, but obviously didn’t agree. The seat next
to her, where Vickie should have been seated, laid empty for all
but the most important parts of the evening. Sasha scanned the
crowd, easily locating the woman, her skimpy violet dress, similar
to those that were popular on Tidelia, standing out amongst the
fleet officers dress uniforms. She flirted aggressively, as
romantics were known to do, with a handsome young TSB Lieutenant
that looked vaguely familiar. Sasha sighed, unable to understand
the appeal of dallying with men she didn’t love, but finding little
reason to keep Vickie from a hunt she obviously enjoyed so very
much.

The decommissioning banquet for the TSB had
begun to die down, the formal ceremonies in honor of those who lost
their lives during the Battle of Earth, which encompassed both the
clash with Duke Zehman and the latter with Knight High Admiral
Baric, having been completed. She frowned, the memories of these
most horrible of men returning, a shiver creeping slowly up her
spine.

One thing had become certain during the
nineteen days following the Battle of Earth, Duke Zehman and Sir
Baric had powerful allies. She received personal messages from at
least 10 dukes stating she was now an enemy of the entire NHA,
though she knew it just talk, and that if she or any starship of
Alutia entered their duchies, they would be detained for the
offense of capital murder, a much more serious threat. Of course,
most of these duchies were loyal to Duke Zehman and Hulk'Zif, more
so then the crown or emperor. But the rest were friends of Sir
Baric's father, King Maric of galaxy 2 and his sister, Princes
Xeros, wife of Crown Prince Kohan, her brother, and the future
queen of Galaxy 189, her noble better. The letter Sasha wrote to
her brother about the part he played, according to Sir Baric, while
still flush with anger, had not been returned, nor her pleas for
her father to deploy the King’s Fleet to punish Duke Zehman.

It almost appeared like she was alone in a
sea of enemies, only a tiny isle on the far side of this sea, ruled
by Countess Liana, her sole bastion of support. But there were
signs of hope. A few messages arrived from realist dukes and
duchesses that seemed to know of Duke Zehman and Sir Baric's
hard-line traditionalist reputations. The letters contained
exploratory offers of trade agreements to help her build her fleets
and colonize the vast stretches of space, over 900 light years at
its widest point, and containing tens of thousands of colonizable
planets, in return for, a grin broke her lips, gorian ore, an
exceedingly rare metal that when converted to a programmable matter
alloy was able to withstand plasma beams without melting. Of
course, to waste such a valuable alloy on a starship’s hull was
unheard of, being normally reserved for specialized engineering
projects and private decoration.

From what she had learned from the reports
she had been neglecting since her rise to grand duchess, Duke
Zehman had discovered the largest gorian deposit in the known
universe, along with a previously undisclosed paradise planet, in
the heart of the newly formed Alutia Duchy. This deposit would make
Alutia, after payments to the crown and emperor, one of the richest
duchies in the entire universe. Sasha felt a wave a glee push past
the heavy air, making her wonder if her father had known of this
beforehand or if it was just blind luck.

A finger brushed against her hand under the
table. She glanced to its owner, Trent, shifting stiffly within his
seat, adorning the same unemotional expression he had worn since
Earth was destroyed.

Her attempts to force him out of his sour
mood were repeatedly rebuked, and he seemed to be falling farther
and farther from her grasp during his days being bedridden. She
hadn't dared leave him behind when she came to the TSB Fleet Base,
but she knew little else she could do. Vickie, of course, explained
the entire matter was easily resolved. That all Sasha had to do was
take his mind off his constant dwelling, force him to look to the
future, and what better way to do that, then through her body’s
touch.

This brought back the argument that had
ensued, on a day that felt so long ago, when Sasha broke down after
removing her clothes in Trent’s unconscious presence. Vickie then
went on the offense, saying that in light of Sasha's shortcomings
as a woman, she would take her place as Trent's mistress, to
perform what Sasha could not, and free him from the prison of his
own mind. After this ultimatum, Sasha kept a watchful eye, Vickie
constantly lurking in shadows, watching, waiting, to see if Sasha
would face her demons. But when Trent started getting worse, and
Sasha unwilling to do what was necessary,
unable is more like
it
, her mind screamed, Vickie went on the offensive.

The first incident occurred when Vickie snuck
into bed with them in the middle of the night and only Terra,
squawking an alarm, warned her of the unwanted presence. Then, the
following morning, she again warned by Terra's squawk, running from
the shower to find Vickie trying to remove the pants from an
obviously confused Trent. Heated words were exchanged and Vickie
was banished, temporarily, to the TSB Fleet Base. It was then that
Sasha made a decision.

That night she'd gathered all her courage and
proceeded to seduce Trent with her feminine wiles. He reacted
without question, taking her with such fire that his very touch
threatened to burn her skin. Her mind blurred and the scar of her
heart vanished as pleasure unlike anything she before experienced,
born of her one true love, flowed through her veins. Then, he had
removed her nightgown, and a cold, hard fear pushed everything else
out of her mind.

The room had morphed, returning her to that
time so long ago, surrounded by the noble boys, touching and
prodding, begging to be allowed to take her forcefully. She slapped
them away, screeching in horror. They released her, trying to pull
away, but she attacked with all her fury, punching, biting, and
scratching. It wasn't until Tiana barged in, flipping on the light,
did she realized what she'd done. She escaped to the washroom,
balling her eyes out to Tiana, like she had done before, after that
time so long ago. Tiana's kind words, though welcome, were hollow.
She knew them all already.

It is too early, Sasha.

You shouldn't rush things like this.

Time is the only way to heal these
wounds.

But now she’d come to realize that this was
no longer true. It wasn’t that the wound wouldn’t heal, but that
her mind refused to let the wound heal, to make herself
vulnerable...to once again give herself, to completely trust in
another.

Trent said nothing of the incident. But fell
deeper into despair. The joy she once felt in his presence had
changed to ever present worry, worry for the one she loved falling
farther and farther from her reach, to a place she could not
follow.

She looked away, a lonesome tear begging to
break free, only to see Vickie sauntering through the crowd that
split before her in a sea of blushes, the young TSB Lieutenant
she'd been flirting staring ravenously in Sasha’s direction, making
her skin crawl. The man, noticing her gaze had fallen upon him,
bowed deeply, before turning, and with a skip in his step, headed
towards the exit, continuing to gaze in her direction like a
predator...a predator that reminded her eerily of Vickie.

Daniel grinned merrily as he left the central
banquet hall on TSB Fleet Base.

“It is time, Daniel, and you have done well,”
he beamed, but not at the voice, instead at the fact his plan had
finally been set in motion...his plan for revenge...revenge most
foul that would destroy Trent, repay him for all he had done, for
the 25 billion people he had killed.

Not directly, of course,
that is too
risky
, but he wouldn't be surprised if Trent ended up taking
his own life in the end.

When the rumor began to spread that Trent had
begun courting the Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia, Daniel had not
believed it.
How would anyone allow an Earthling, especially
someone of Trent's history and background, to court such a noble
and beautiful woman?
It wasn't until he learned that the
awarding of the Star of Terra had been accepted and the full report
leaked of Trent's antics on Earth base, that he started to suspect
that the rumors were in fact, true. But within these rumors, he
found a perfect opportunity, one that would allow the destruction
of Trent through the use of Daniel’s greatest weapon, and his
target would be the one and only, Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia.

The only problem was patience, and that paid
off when the perfect occasion finally presented itself when he was
invited to the TSB decommissioning ceremony, to be awarded the Moon
Beam for his actions on Earth during the erecting of the
contaminate barrier. The award wasn't nearly as prestigious as the
Star of Terra, not even close, but he would receive it at the
banquet being attended by both the Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia and
Trent himself. He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to
accomplish his plan, but he knew, and the voice reassured, that an
opportunity would present itself, which to his delight, did of its
own accord.

One of Grand Duchess Sasha's
ladies-in-waiting had caught his eye and he was able to cut her
clear of the crowd. Her name was Lady Vickie, a paramour or
romantic, that carried herself in a way that told Daniel she would
eat him for lunch. Their heavy flirting led to Lady Vickie
discussing how Trent didn't belong with Grand Duchess Sasha and
that he would be a much better match for her, which Daniel,
feigning ignorance, took the bait. He mentioned a substance that he
had on his person, one that would make any woman willing, no matter
the man. Lady Vickie had licked her lips at his words, apparently
well aware of the aphrodisiac, Noble's Delight. They put their
heads together, coming up with a fool proof plan.

Lady Vickie would sneak the drug into Grand
Duchess Sasha's drink and as it started to take effect, she would
escort her to the washroom. But instead of the washroom, she would
deliver her to the small, unused servant’s quarters, where Daniel
would be waiting. He shivered as he thought of what would come
next, being able to work his magic as Lady Vickie would fetch
Trent, saying Sasha wished to see him. She would then escort him to
the servant’s quarters where he would witness an exuberant Grand
Duchess Sasha, crying with unbridled pleasure, in Daniel's
passionate embrace.