The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (57 page)

Lowenah looked back at Darla, sniffling. “No
child, it is enough. Like your sisters so dear to your heart, you
will become, knowing the Dream of Dreams, and… and with it all the
other knowledge they carry buried deep within their bosoms.” She
refused to speak further about the matter. Taking Darla’s hand,
Lowenah forced a smile. “Hurry now, a bath, a bath. You must carry
the smell of fresh, flowering beauty this hour. Quickly be off, and
when you return I will have prepared you raiment and train.”

Darla dutifully obeyed, rushing to the
officer’s showers and cleansing her body with the fragrant soaps
Mother gave to her. After her return, Lowenah dressed her child in
the sheerest, spider-silken gown that left little to the
imagination. “Better to leave the others longing for such
untouchable treasures.” she laughed when Darla commented how
seductive the outfit was.

Lowenah painted Darla’s eyes and lips,
splashing a dash of colorful blush on her face to ‘add a little
accent’ before placing on her head a chrysolite and sapphire crown
and attaching to the gown a long, flowing, silken train, a pair of
high, laced, satin sandals finishing it all. Oh my, did Darla look
a sight to behold, it being said by those witnessing it that she
was a thousand times more alluring than when dressed for the
Prisoner Exchange. When satisfied with her creation, Lowenah led
Darla from the cabin by the hand and down the long companionway
toward the aft exit door of the DusmeAstron.

The aft exit door opened on the starboard
side of the ship, just abaft boiler room four, and fore the two
main fueling stations and the elevator leading down to steerage.
This entrance was often used by officers who boarded, wishing to
avoid the formalities when entering via the main ramp. This was the
same entrance Darla earlier used when she was searching out
Euroaquilo before departure for the Prisoner Exchange.

Today the passageway was noticeably quiet,
no engine and boiler crews, no guards or laborers. Mother must be
up to something, but what might it be, and why the buttoned-down
ship, which Darla felt was also Mother’s doing? She was not kept
pondering her questions for long.

The hatch quickly slid open, catching Darla
in a blinding blaze from several banks of construction lights set
up outside that were pointed directly at the open doorway.
Laughing, Lowenah waved her hand and the lights slowly began to
dim. As Darla regained her sight, the girl noticed that they were
not alone. The entire camp was gathered outside.

Darla looked down in shocked surprise to see
all the crew and officers dressed up in their smartest of uniforms.
With them were dignitaries, members of the court and councils,
Mother’s honor guard, and so many of the important people who had
journeyed here to this little desert planet for the Prisoner
Exchange, minus those journeying with Field MarshalTrisha, en route
to EdenEsonbar. But most unexpected to behold was the distinguished
man standing below at the bottom of the descending stairs.

“
My Euroaquilo!”
Darla gasped, as her
hand went to her mouth. “My Euroaquilo...” She repeated, more
subdued this time.

Stunning the man did look, too. Tall, proud,
and majestic he was, dressed in purple robes of state, gilded in
gold and draped in silks dyed red, blue and green. A cloak of the
finest woven mantan satin, laced with silver and chrysolite
threads, covered his shoulders, while a turban shimmering the
colors of the rainbow he donned for a headpiece.

Before Darla could respond to the wondrous
visions she was witnessing, a cheerful applause arose from the
hundreds of smiling well-wishers gathered below. At that instant,
three ancient T-4’s roared by overhead, wagging their wings as they
passed by. Darla was totally overwhelmed, staring out dumbly at the
goings on.

As the roar of the fighters slowly faded
away and the joyous applause died down, Lowenah took Darla by the
shoulders, turning the girl toward her until she peered into
Darla’s surprised eyes. “Always have I desired this day. Too long
we have had to wait, you have had to wait, but this once, please,
forgive me for taking so long. There were many reasons.”

Lowenah looked down at Euroaquilo and back
into her child’s face. “Today you come of age. This day you will
give your virginity up to the man who can give you the Dream of
Dreams, and like your sisters you will become, a woman knowing good
and ill.”

Taking her daughter’s hand, the two slowly
walked down the stairs to the sand below, Euroaquilo gracefully
bowing, sweeping his arm out toward them.

“My ladies...” He called out to them as he
stood up.

Placing Darla’s hand in Euroaquilo’s, and
then cupping hers over them, Lowenah declared, looking into Darla’s
face, “I have given to you this man who will give to you the
celebration of the heart, the Dream of Dreams. A father he will
become to you, to refresh your heart, mind and soul. Today you will
become a woman, leaving forever the innocence of your childhood
behind.”

She then spoke to them both, glancing toward
a pearl-white starship shimmering in all its translucent
brilliance. “By blood does a covenant become sealed. Go to your
chambers prepared for you and seal with each other the everlasting
covenant that only a man and his maiden can consummate. It is the
custom of our people. ‘So shall the blood of the man be given to
the maiden to make her complete, and a woman she will become.’”

Lowenah now lifted up her voice to those
gathered for the celebration. “See! Our daughter has come of age!
Her day of celebration has arrived. Today is a new dawning for our
child, a new beginning for us, our kind. It is the assured
expectation of things - that our own new coming of age will soon
arrive.”

The people broke out in renewed applause and
exuberant celebration with music and song. Lowenah led Euroaquilo
and Darla over to the fiery sentinel, standing at the base of the
starship’s on-ramp. The sentinel bowed low, removing an ornate cap
as he did. After standing erect, he reached out and took Lowenah’s
hand. “My Queen...”

Lowenah smiled, offering a respectful nod.
“Do give them a splendid time, my good fellow, as I know you
will.”

The sentinel assured her that he would,
quickly turning his attention to the couple and ushering them up
the ramp and into the ship. After waving to the cheering crowd, the
party stepped inside, the ramp closed, and the star-ship silently
rose into the evening sky. In seconds, it was little more than a
speck on the distant horizon.

Rare was the dry eye among those gathered
there. Few had ever seen one of Mother’s star ships up this close,
let alone a fiery sentinel, and to do this for a coming of age
celebration? Well, that was momentous!

Lowenah listened to the silence as she and
the others quietly stood, staring off in the direction of the
star-ship. This hour must be remembered, an event that would stir
the heart in the cold, upcoming times ahead. This was no way to end
the day, so quiet and subdued!

Motioning for the musicians to strike up
merry tunes, Lowenah called out to the people to remain for a
departing feast. “Tomorrow we shall leave this world behind. Let it
be remembered with intoxicating fondness.”

Late into the night, the wine flowed and the
music played, the weather remaining exceptionally warm. Song,
dance, feasting, and, yes, a few romantic interludes out among the
dunes, filled the memories of those fortunate few who celebrated
Darla’s coming of age. Times were changing, had changed, but
tonight would long be remembered by the men and women of that world
as the day of renewed hope.

* * *

The Dogie’s engines were running hot,
sending an occasional tremor through the hull of the ship as its
massive drive - twin turbines - pulsed at redline revolutions.
After receiving the latest report from the engine room, Captain
UuzuloftChumay addressed his fears to Field Marshal Trisha, who was
standing on the bridge beside him.

Leaning back and clasping her hands behind
her, as she casually looked down at the deck, Trisha calmly
replied, “Captain Uuzuloft, I understand your concerns. That is why
I sent my engineering officer along with a technician to assist
your crew chief in this hour of haste. Major Tiffany is a capable
engineer, familiar with the stulic drive system of this vessel. I
have my full confidence in her abilities to judge the limits of the
machine. I have placed the safety of ship and crew in her
hands.”

Captain Uuzuloft slowly shook his head as he
repeated his concerns. “Lady Trisha, this is a converted collier,
refitted to a deep space freighter from before the Three Hundred
Years War, which had already served as a troop transport during the
wars before that. This ship has been under the Navy’s commission
for close to three millennia, receiving multiple upgrades and
refits over the course of time, the stulic drive being its latest.
May I inform you, it is a drive system designed for modern ships
with stronger hulls and frames.”

He tapped the deck with his boot. “Indeed!
This old tub was consigned to the scrap yard before the Great War,
so unfit for service to even be re-commissioned for that conflict!
Your Admiral Sujin, when Commissioner of Salvage, resurrected the
old girl, refitted her to haul animals, and then renamed her
‘Dogie’. He pulled the stulic drive system from the brigantine,
Widget, it being refitted to that of an imperial class warship,
thus receiving larger drives. Those oversized stulic engines were
not designed for a small transport like the Dogie, her hull being
quite inadequate. I fear overstressing the ship if we continue to
run them full out.”

Trisha nodded her sympathies. “Captain, I do
appreciate your concerns. I will send for my design officer, Major
Garlock, to confer with Major Tiffany. He is well versed in the
studies of ship design and construction.”

Captain Uuzuloft was still not assuaged,
arguing for a more prudent speed. Trisha was becoming impatient
with his gentle protest, and needed to remind herself that the
military of the Children’s Empire was much different from those of
the 2
^nd
Realm. Here, especially among officers, it was
considered normal to debate the matter until the issue was forced.
It was the customary way among Lowenah’s loyal children, and Trisha
dare not interfere with it if she wished for their lasting
support.

Reaching out and taking the captain by the
arm, Trisha suggested the two retire to the navigator’s table near
the rear of the bridge. After excusing those officers at the table,
they sat.

“My friend,” Trisha calmly began. “I have
need for great haste, and this
cattle barge
, as you call it,
will serve my needs quite well. Trust me, my lieutenants chose this
machine for our journey because they believed it to be the most
seaworthy of the ships available to me. I trust them. If they
believe we are safe at these speeds, then I feel it is so.”

Captain Uuzuloft began to counter-argue the
case. Trisha lifted a finger to hush him and smiled, asking, “My
dear captain, will you permit me a personal word, friend to
friend?” Surprised, the captain nodded.

“Thank you.” The field marshal looked down
at her hands, playing with her fingers. “A little child I am when
compared to the great leaders and wise men among your kind, as you,
yourself are. I do not claim to know a thing, other than what your
mother, my God, gave to me. As I sat in her presence not that long
ago, she bestowed upon me the rank of field marshal, giving me a
ring and many councilors, along with hidden wisdom that, she said,
would come to me in my times of need. Although I would not trust
myself alone with such weighty matters, I trust Lowenah and I trust
to the words she told me.”

“Captain, this ship, the Dogie, was over a
thousand years old at the time of my birthing. I am sure you are a
great deal older, and your aged wisdom warns you to be cautious
about the integrity of this ship. You are to be commended for that,
the care you have for it and the safety of the crew in your
charge.”

She looked up into Captain Uuzuloft’s face.
“But there comes a time when needed risk must become the master
over safety alone. The days of pondering the future and choosing
the safe course are now past us. A new and frightening future pants
ever forward at a maddening pace, and we must face it head-on if we
are to survive the approaching hour. The enemy is already gathering
the crows. We, our people, have slept too long. The time is past
for wishful thinking. Are there dangers to be faced? Many... Will
people die because hasty decisions are made? Yes! Nonetheless, we
must not falter in our determination. We need to become risk
takers, if the risks are within reason.”

The captain nervously agreed.

Trisha acknowledged him. “The risks we are
taking this night are acceptable. I trust my people, your crew, you
and this ship. Trust, my friend, may be the only solace we have in
coming days. My assignment is to get our people through those cold,
ruthless times and beyond. This I must do at all cost to myself,
and those who follow behind my banner.”

Her voice became harsh and foreboding. “I
have not come from the other side of death to watch this world also
dissolve into forgotten memories before my eyes. I will do whatever
it takes, sacrifice all, heedless of the cost, to accomplish my
purpose, the purpose your mother placed me under oath to
accomplish. If it means death to us all, then so be it, for through
that death shall all life be renewed.”

Captain Uuzuloft glumly nodded. “Thank you,
commander. I will assist you in every way I can. Your
servant...”

Trisha stood, the captain also rising.
“Captain, I knew I could trust you in this. Please keep a weather
eye out for our safety and alert me to anything you feel is of
importance. There is no need to take unnecessary risks today, or
any other day for that matter. Thank you.”