Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1) (7 page)

“It is as Your Grace commands. But until said
discussion, I will continue my duty of protecting the Grand Duchess
Sasha Alutia with my life, as is my vow as a member of the Alutia
Guard, and my honor as her Guard Captain.” No smile or amusement
appeared on Sir Seb'Losh's unemotional face as he made his
pronouncement, clearly informing Sasha that he would not be as
easily defeated as her guards on Tidelia. Where her and Tiana’s
favorite pastime had been finding ways to escape their ever present
protectors and watching, with girlish delight, as they would scurry
through the castle, trying to locate them.

She nodded again, hiding a smirk, and
proceeded through the door, taking a slight amusement in the fact
that he followed her through, coming to attention on the side she
had entered.

A small
, curving
balcony greeted her, extending over the
shuttle's
modest bridge. She recognized it immediately
as a miniaturized version of the enormous fleet command decks
utilized by the much larger NHA battle fleet starships.

Fleet command decks were specially designed
for the sole use of fleet admirals and their staff officers, so
they could operate separately from the starship’s crew, and oversee
the battle group or fleet in which they commanded.

There were some major differences, however,
between the deck expanding before her and the traditional fleet
command decks she had visited during her journeys to Planet Vn’Oco
to visit her parents.

The standard fleet command deck would have
rows of staff officer stations running parallel a combat
information display, or CID, allowing them to perform their duties
effectively. The fleet admiral would be situated at the head of the
CID, allowing full view of the projected battle space, their staff
officers, and the starship’s bridge.

Sasha's command deck, on the other hand, was
much less complex, since she couldn't think of any plausible
situation that she would actually command a fleet in battle from
this location.

She glided gracefully across the deck,
towards the single chair situated in its center, constructed of
rose colored metal vines that were braided to form its arms and
legs, with rose shaped rubies blooming throughout, and the Alutia
Duchy’s crest as its backing. Unable to repress a frown at how
ostentatious the chair must appear to others, she suddenly thought
of the joy it must have provided her mother to design. Her frown
vanished, a gentle smile taking its place.

Built into the floor before her command
chair, stood the smallest command information display, or CID, that
she had ever seen. It stood barely a meter by a meter, and was just
large enough to project a decent sized depiction of surrounding
space. But it was much too small to display all the surrounding
starships, orbitals, and space stations as anything but different
colored dots.

On the edge of the right armrest, peeking out
from its base, stood a hidden, semi-spherical irradiated particle
display unit input station, or specialized PDU, that would allow
her to access the CID controls through the use of projected,
tangible, floating icons that she could manipulate at will.

Satisfied that there wasn’t anything else of
note on the command deck, she accessed her BC node, searching for
the local biological access point, or BAP. She located a private
terminal built into the CID, allowing only her brain frequency
access, simplifying the decryption process required for delivering
special priority or private messages.

She queued a request for information on her
new duchy, thinking it may be prudent to become familiar with her
new duties as soon as possible. But as the restricted topics
started flowing into her mind, she decided to wait until another
day to fully explore them. Reports such as:
Alutia Duchy’s
Minable and Tradable Resources, Preliminary Habitable Planet
Locations
,
Preliminary Earldom and March Border
Estimates,
and
Defensive, Battleguard, and Fleet
Requirements
, required a little more preparation to fully
enjoy. She moved on, accessing her private messages, finding
nothing of interest besides a short note from her older sister,
Lady Valia, who had married for love and now traveled the universe
as the wife of an explorer.

Not the most prestigious of vocation
,
Sasha recalled telling her sister, Lady Valia, only for her to
laugh merrily, explaining that the excitement of exploring the
unknowns of the universe was second only to one other human
“occupation”. When the eight year old Sasha had asked what
particular “occupation” she referred, Valia had only winked,
leading Sasha on a journey of discovery that ended with her being
scolded by her servant and tutor, Gil’Da, and her being unable to
sleep for a week.

Sasha filed the message away, planning to
reply with the proper candor when she'd settled in, then proceeded
to seat herself in the chair of roses, finding it fit her body
shape perfectly. A moment later, six, two-dimensional images
appeared, at arm’s length, in the air before her, each showing a
saluting officer within. Sasha swallowed her surprise, taking a
moment to scan her surroundings as she recovered, finding another,
larger PDU recessed in the curving ceiling, responsible for the
current projections.

“Your Grace, please allow me and the officers
of the NHA Shuttle ABF Princess One to formally welcome you onboard
your private starship. I am Flight Captain Jeb'Tol,” the old, white
haired man displayed in the topmost projection said, he and the
rest of the officers lowering their salutes. “We will be clearing
the Tidelia gravity well shortly and will rendezvous with the
Alutia Battle Fleet escort, commanded by Knight Admiral Bhool,
within the next 47 minutes. We will then travel to the Tidelia SJS
Gate hub, and from there, on to the Vn'Oco Kingship. Total travel
time should be a little over one period, or 11 days, Your Grace,”
Flight Captain Jeb'Tol finished his report with a salute.

“Thank you for the kind greeting and update
on our flight status, Flight Captain Jeb’Tol. It is a pleasure to
be traveling aboard such a fine vessel,” responded Sasha with the
gentle, but commanding tone she planned on using during formal
discussions. She paused briefly, pushing aside a wayward lock of
jet black hair that had fallen across her brow. “Flight Captain, I
am unfamiliar with this particular shuttle design. Are all private
shuttles this opulent?” Sasha asked, continuing to push at the lock
that refused to stay in place.

“No, Your Grace. This shuttle is...special.
Unfortunately, I must return my attention to the flight operations.
We are still working a few kinks out of the shuttle’s matrix
systems and I'd like to be prepa-” The Flight Captain froze. It
took Sasha only a moment to realize the reason...her. When she
heard the word, kinks, she uncharacteristically lost control of her
expression
.
“The kinks are nothing major, Your Grace, just
some minor fluctuations in the NSD core and LPA systems. Both well
within fleet operating regulations. But this is the Grand Duchess
Sasha Alutia's private starship and even the most minor,
inconsequential fluctuation is taken seriously,” he finished
quickly, lowering his head in reverence.

He’s good
, Sasha realized as the
flight captain recovered wonderfully. It was never wise to make a
noble patron feel anxious about their safety and Jeb'Tol
recognized, and recovered quickly from his minor foible.

“I understand quite well, flight captain, and
I am relieved to have such a capable crew running what appears to
be a very fine vessel.” she said honestly.

“You are very kind, Your Grace, I will let
Flight Supply Officer Xin'Eir provide a more thorough explanation
of the shuttles capabilities...if that would please you?” he asked
as the attractive, sharp faced young woman, with cropped blond
hair, being projected on the bottom right, moved next to the image
of Flight Captain Jeb'Tol.

Flight Supply Officer Xin'Eir’s expression
was one of utter fascination and uncontrollable fear; most likely
born from being thrust into a situation she was not wholly
prepared. Sasha, noticing this immediately, decided to take steps
to alleviate her understandable concern.

“That would be fine, flight captain,” she
activated the PDU situated in her armrest, taping a command to
prepare a private channel, “In reverence to you and your crew I
will move my discussion with Flight Supply Officer Xin'Eir to a
private channel. I would not want to be held responsible for you
missing the appearance of a kink or unexpected fluctuation,” said
Sasha with a hint of humor. She waited for the officers salutes to
fall before closing the open channel and transferring Flight Supply
Officer Xin'Eri and herself to the encrypted, private channel she’d
prepared. Xin'Eir, obviously still uncomfortable, forced Sasha to
further consider the best way to calm the young woman before
starting.

“Y-Your Gra-,” Xin’Eair started with a
stutter, most likely taking Sasha's silent contemplation as
impatience for her to begin.

“Xin’Eir,” Sasha quickly cut her off, “I
would like you to refer to me as only Sasha,” she instructed,
though with a tone she normally reserved for speaking with
friends.

“Your Grace, I could never, it...it would be
disrespectful!” Xin'Eri finally found her voice, but Sasha had
already made up
her
mind.

“Xin'Eir, I do understand your unwillingness
to be impolite. But since I am the one requesting that you refer to
me as Sasha, there will be no disrespect,” she sighed, “I get so
very tired of ceremony, especially when I'm involved in a normal
conversation,” Sasha raised her tone slightly at the end to further
substantiate her point.

“Yes, Your Gra-,” Sasha raised her eyebrows,
“Sasha,” Xin’Eri squeaked.

“Good, now,” she clapped her hands together,
“please provide me a full briefing on this wonderful starship,”
instructed Sasha, letting all command and authority exit her
speech.

“Yes, Your Gr....I mean, Sasha. I'll activate
a projection of the starship so you can follow my explanations.”
The image of local space being projected over her CID blurred,
transforming into a perfect, three-dimensional representation of
the ABF Princess One.

The starship, like all standard NHA vessels,
was of a cuboid shape, or a three-dimensional rectangle, tapering
slightly at the nose. In the rear, four bunches of tightly packed
thruster tubes were barely perceptible jutting from the starships
hull, while the variable maneuvering thruster tubes were much more
obvious, lining the shuttles four edges from nose to tail. On each
of the four, smooth faced sides of the shuttle stood elaborate
depictions of the Alutia Crest, sparkling as if they were sculpted
from gorian and exotic gems.

“The NHA Shuttle ABF Princess One,” Xin’Eir
started the moment Sasha finished studying the projection,
“accommodates up to 50 passengers and has a current crew complement
of 17, with a battle crew complement of 21. The starship is 75
meters long with a height and width of 25 meters respectively. In
reference, a standard NHA emperor class shuttle is 50 meters long
with a height and width of 15 meters,” another projection joined
the first, of the standard NHA emperor class shuttle. Though the
two shuttle designs shared the similar cuboid shape, the size and
cosmetic differences were obvious. “The ABF Princess One has two
primary decks. The upper deck contains a small engineering section
in the aft, or rear,” a very small section of the top-rear of the
vessel highlighted as the emperor class shuttle vanished, showing
where Xin’Eir referred, “the Grand Duchess's,” Sasha decided to let
this slide, “private apartments and seating area are towards the
bow, directly before the upper engineering bay and separated by a
solid tilitium bulkhead.” Sasha assumed she meant front, based on
the section of the upper deck being highlighted.

She quickly took an inventory of what would
be her home for the next three months. A large bedchamber and
private washroom, which she assumed hers, with two smaller,
adjacent bedchambers that were probably meant for her
ladies-in-waiting, were at the rear of the apartment. A wide
corridor led forward from the bedchambers, through the center of
the apartment, with every room a noble lady would require lining
each side, such as a dining hall, sitting room, meeting room,
general washroom, and servant's quarters.

In front of her apartments stood a smaller
section simply labeled:
Alutia Guard Barracks
. It was quite
obvious that this was where her ever present protectors would be
quartered. The idea of having her guard’s barracks, for all intents
and purpose, within her apartments, made her squirm, even though
she understood the reason behind the design. She glanced to Sir
Seb'Losh, who still stood before the lone door leading to the
command deck, expression distant, a sign he was using his BC node;
being “node locked”.

You knew this would be difficult
, she
reminded herself, deciding to have that planned discussion with Sir
Seb’Losh and his officers as soon as possible.

She turned her attention back to the image of
the ABF Princess One, noticing the small seating area she had just
exited and wondering about its purpose, deciding to interrupt
Xin'Eir before she continued.

“What is the reason for the seating
area...here?” She pointed towards the projection, hoping that
Xin'Eir could see where she referred.

“That...that is the protected passenger
compartment, where you and your entourage are requested to be
seated during launch, landing, and during emergencies,” Xin’Eir
paused, seeming reluctant, “Much of the shuttle has been converted
for your private use, and certain defensive systems are no longer
uniformly effective. So it was decided to design a...safe
area...within the starship that would also double as an escape
shuttle in the event of the eminent destruction of the ABF Princess
One. It allows us to eject the seating area, providing you and your
companions an opportunity to escape and rendezvous with friendly
forces.” The image Xin’Eir’s words called forth sent a shiver down
her spine.