A War Most Modest (JNC Edition)

by Hiroyuki Morioka

  Perhaps in consideration of Jinto, the walls began displaying video of the outside — the grey nothing of flat space. He looked behind him.

  White light was gushing out from a point at their back. Colors flickered to and fro around the dazzling corona, colors that swelled before his very eyes. This disgustingly beautiful light show portended gor ptarhoth — space-time fusion.

  “Battle acceleration is a go,” said Lafier. Their seats morphed into their sleeping-cot modes.

  The colors that tinged the grey flowed alongside their acceleration until they’d become a solid band of hues. They rushed overhead from behind his back, and from the front of the ship (where his feet were pointed) to the back, combining to forming great rainbow rings.

  A space-time bubble was a universe unto itself, with a space-time bubble engine at its center. Multiple such engines would be meaningless, since accelerating wouldn’t change one’s position within the pocket universe. Instead, it would appear to be spinning in place — and Jinto had witnessed what effect that rotation would have. Yet he wasn’t sure he was up to feeling the full blast of acceleration right now, either.

  “Won’t they just chase us into normal space?” said Jinto, bracing against the G-forces as they steadily ratcheted from six daimon to even higher speeds.

  “In normal space, we’re faster than they are.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  The yellow and blue dots were very nearly touching when the rainbow colors and the grey canvas vanished, replaced by the star-pricked black of the heavens. They were back in normal space.

  Again, he turned to look back. The normal space side of the Sfagnoff Gate, a dimly radiating ball of gas, was floating there.

  “And the mines!?”

  “Over there.” Her frocragh detected them faster than Jinto could.

  Whenever they ported over from flat space, from which point of the gate they exited was completely up to random chance. As such, even if their pursuers exited through the same point on the uneven helix as they did, they wouldn’t necessarily come out of the same section of the sphere.

  Mine after enemy mine popped in from various off-target spots on the giant orb that was the gate, its phosphorescence helping them see them better. They were still homing in on the connecting vessel, only laughably slowly.

  “Woo-hoo!” Jinto cheered. “But wait, there must be enemies around here, right?”

  “Not in the immediate vicinity.”

  “Well that’s stupid of them.” Even a novice like Jinto understood how important it was to guard the gate.

  “They’re busy with other things. See for yourself.” Lafier pointed even as they accelerated to yet higher velocities.

  She was pointing to the sole inhabited planet of the Sfagnoff Marquessate, named Clasbule, or as the Abh spelled it, Clasepyr. The way it was positioned relative to him, it almost felt natural to reach out and pluck it from the sky.

  Light shone from the part of the planet covered in night, only to fade immediately.

  “I bet the enemies that were in flat space were on high alert for any Star Forces ships that might come from the outside. They’re blockading Sfagnoff.”

  “So they’re still battling it out as we speak?” Jinto groaned.

  “Yep,” Lafier nodded.

  “Is it just me, or are we headed toward Clasbule?”

  “Of course we are. That’s our destination.”

  “But it’s a warzone down there!”

  “Where else is there!?”

  “Uhh... you’ve got a point there.” And seeing as there was no guarantee the Star Forces would win, they could hardly wait it out in nearby space. For one, even though they’d put some significant distance between themselves and the mines, they were still following them. Secondly, nothing precluded the possibility yet more of the enemy would emerge from the gate for their heads.

  That being said, jumping into an active battlefield still wasn’t the most appealing prospect. In fact, he rather loathed the idea.

  “Imperial Star Forces, come in. This is the connecting vessel of the patrol ship Goslauth!” she said, without transmitting video.

  After trying several times, they finally received a response.

  “This is the Sfagnoff Liaison Fleet Base speaking. Report your status, connecting vessel.”

  “The Goslauth encountered an unidentified group of space-time bubbles in the sector of Itum 533. This vessel broke off from the mother ship with non-combatants and navigation log in tow. Will be touching down here at present.”

  “Roger that, connecting vessel. As an anti-espionage measure, you are forbidden from divulging any further details on the matter.”

  “Roger, Sfagnoff Base. Requesting instructions.”

  “Unfortunately, this base cannot field your vessel. You must proceed without instruction.”

  Lafier bit her lower lip. “Roger, Sfagnoff Base. This vessel will proceed without instruction. Sathotr (victory) be ours!”

  “The chances of that are slim,” they laughed drily. “But still... sathotr frybarari a (victory be the Empire’s)!” They hung up.

  Jinto couldn’t stop himself from asking: “Does that mean we’re losing?”

  “Of course it does,” she said, rattled. “The number of troops stationed in each territory nation is small. Do you think a single liaison fleet base can hold back a full-scale invasion!?”

  “I’m sorry. It was a dumb question.”

  “No, I’m sorry...” said Lafier. “Forgive me, Jinto... In the end, I failed in my mission to escort you safely.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” he answered back in an almost canned way. “So where’s the enemy?”

  “They’re still far, but three ships are headed our way.”

  “Is three their lucky number or what?” Jinto looked ahead, or as he perceived it, up. Clasbule had gotten even bigger, filling up almost all of his field of vision. While he couldn’t spot any enemy encampments, he did notice something thread-like sauntering off from the planet’s noonday zone.

  “What’s that thing?”

  “Looks like an orbital tower.”

  “Oh yeah, the tower...”

  Destroyed, it was still revolving, glinting off the rays of Sfagnoff’s sun.

  “A lowly act. Orbital towers aren’t military bases...”

  “Uhh...” There was something they had to be worrying about more than the enemy’s character. “Can this thing land at all now?”

  “Land?” Lafier turned her neck to look at him dead-on.

  “Yeah! I mean, what other option is there with the orbital tower gone?” he said, horrified at what that meant. “Is it impossible...?”

  “No, it should be possible.”

  “‘Should be’ possible? ‘Should be’?”

  Ath letters appeared on screen. Lafier gave them a cursory glance. “I knew it. It is possible.”

  “Hold on a sec. Are you telling me you didn’t give landing the ship any thought until this very moment?”

  “Yes,” she nodded, looking guilty.

  “You didn’t even think about entering the planet to begin with, did you.”

  “No.”

  “Then why all the hustle?” Urgh, I feel so weighted down. How long are we going to be accelerating for, anyway?

  “I thought we’d be aiding in the fight.”

  “How would we do that!? Thing’s not even armed! Did you think we’d take them out the way you took out the Baron?”

  “I didn’t think that far ahead. But there still might be something we can do. Besides, there are three ships tailing us at the moment.”

  “That may be true, but from where I’m standing it’d have been suicide.”

  “You’re right; I was being hasty.” She lowered her eyes. “And I didn’t even consult you, my passenger...”

  “Consult me...!?” Jinto was suddenly seized with anger. “You, you idiot!”

  Lafier’s eyes widened with shock, but then shame set in. “You have every rig
ht to speak ill of me. I was undervaluing your life.”

  “No, who cares about my life!? Er, I take that back, I do care about my life, but that’s not what I’m so worried about. What about your life, Lafier!?”

  Now Lafier’s eyes burned with rage. “I nearly wrapped you up in a war with little hope of victory, and for that I must apologize. I resign myself to any punishment you have to dole out, no matter how cruel.”

  “Punishment!?” he gasped. “You honestly think I want to punish you? And ‘cruelly’ at that?”

  Lafier wasn’t about to stand down. “But you have no business firing at me over my own life!”

  “Maybe not,” he cried, “but what I’m trying to say is... Why do you feel the need to rush to your own death when you’ve got such a long life ahead of you? Could you maybe spare some thought to surviving, Lafier!?”

  “I am NOT ‘rushing to my death.’”

  “Really? Cuz that’s what it looks like. Didn’t you say you only fight when you have to? Or was that a lie?”

  “The fight’s already here, Jinto. This is a warzone. And when a soldier’s on a battlefield, they fight!”

  “All right, fine. If you wanna fight, go ahead. But seeing as I’m not a soldier yet, do me a favor and drop me off on that planet!”

  “Fine! It’s not like you’d be any use in battle anyway!”

  “Oh, and you’ll be SO useful with your tiny ship! Go on, what do you plan on doing in this thing, exactly!?”

  The two glared at each other.

  Lafier was the first to look away. “I’m sorry, Jinto.”

  “This is the greatest day of my life,” said Jinto, releasing the tension. “A royal princess apologized to me twice. Even among nobility that’s something to boast about, right?”

  “Don’t tease me, Jinto. But... you’re right. Even if I were to join the battle, this vessel would serve no purpose. You’re not the only one who’s useless; I am, too.”

  “Which isn’t your fault,” he consoled her. “I’ve already told you, but you’re not useless to me — I’m grateful, for everything. And I mean it. I may be useless now, but one day people will rely on me. I just want to survive long enough to get to that point, and I want YOU to survive, too.”

  “Uh-huh,” she answered tersely.

  As their anger subsided, so too did their fear. Earlier, Jinto felt as though his heart was in a vise, but now it was back to normal.

  No use worrying. What will be, will be.

  Jinto screwed up his resolve. He would take after the style of the Abh: he wouldn’t dwell on the what-ifs of his own potential death.

  At the very least, death among the stars would descend quickly, without any long-lasting pain. What if he were to fall asleep or lose consciousness? At these blistering speeds, he could imagine closing his eyes one second and finding himself in heaven the next. It’d be right out of a feel-good movie.

  Unfortunately, his consciousness was not flagging.

  After a while, the call sign rang.

  “That the Liaison Base?”

  “No. The transmission is coming from the spaceship ahead of us.”

  “So it’s hostile, huh...? They close?”

  “Yes. Very.”

  Jinto squinted. Something grain-sized was shining against the planetary backdrop. Was that the enemy ship?

  Lafier answered the call.

  “Pan dong zop cos ree jee. Nayk go sheck...” A language Jinto couldn’t understand.

  “The hell is that?”

  “The official language of the United Humankind. They say they’ll attack unless we stop accelerating.”

  “You know that language?”

  “Yes, I study it at the academy. And so will you at the quartermasters’ academy.”

  “Ugh. And after I finally mastered Baronh.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s a simple language to learn. But in exchange for being simple,” she frowned, “it lacks any richness. In terms of elegance, it can’t even stand in the same ring as Baronh.”

  “Yeah, probably not,” said Jinto as the foreign words fell on his ears. It seemed as though they were repeating the same sentences over and over.

  Lafier dropped the line without responding. She’d never once entertained the notion of negotiating with them.

  “I was looking forward to whether they ever said anything different.”

  “I really don’t want to be killed by a bunch of humorless pricks.”

  “Me neither.”

  At last, they could make out the enemy clearly. Their ships made up the vertices of a pyramid with an equilateral base.

  “Jinto, I have some good news.”

  “Good news? I’ve almost forgotten what that’s like. Lay it on me.”

  “The main battlefield is on the other side of the planet. The ships right in front of us are the only ones here.”

  “That’s awesome. But we don’t know when they’ll get reinforcements from the other side, right?”

  “No, we don’t. However, the chances that happens are low.”

  “Then let’s make a run for the surface when those scary old codgers get up from their seats to take a leak.”

  “Right after we dodge their attacks.”

  The ship loomed nearer by the second.

  Suddenly, all sense of gravity disappeared. Just as suddenly, they lurched hard to the right. He’d experienced this once before, during their battle against the Baron.

  The connecting vessel dodged enemy fire through chaotic propulsion. Moments passed, and a glint of light flashed to their right. Unless he was imagining it, the enemy’s laser or antiproton beam must have collided against particulate matter.

  The spectacle of battle always gave him goosebumps. The constant shifts in perceived gravity were making him dizzy. Unlike the fight at Febdash, he was secured in place, so this was slightly preferable... or so he thought initially.

  He got pushed against the seat, suspended from it, pinned in such a way that he looked like he was being crucified upside-down...

  You can take it. You can take it. Jinto endured as the contents of his stomach gradually rose up. He wondered who had it harder in times like these, the pilot or their passengers?

  The enemy ship came into view overhead. The second lay right below, and the third to the left.

  Their close encounter with the enemy had already concluded. By the time the G-force fluctuations ceased, the asautec (propelling flames) of the enemy ships were flickering far behind them.

  “Are we... Did we get away?”

  “Yes. They can’t catch up to us now, even if they about-face.”

  “Man, they really let us past without much a fight, huh?”

  “Ignorance is bliss,” said Lafier, exasperated. “We missed one of their lasers by a mere 20 dagh.”

  “If it had hit us, would we be in trouble?”

  “In that we’d be scattering as a clump of gnoc (plasma), yes.”

  “Now that’s a tragic ending,” he said quietly.

  Lafier picked up the phone. The other side shouted: “Coo lin mahp ahs tang kip!“

  “What did they say just now?”

  “Nothing that a young lady,” said one angry, blushing Lafier, “should ever repeat!”

  “Ah... Gotcha.”

  “I’m going to start decelerating soon. Don’t make a fuss.”

  The sky and the ground switched places. Above floated the Sfagnoff Gate, while below them waited the planet of Clasbule.

  “Decelerate how hard, exactly?”

  “We’re going fairly fast at the moment, so you can expect a rough ride.”

  “Go easy on me, please.”

  “I could go slower, if you prefer burning to a crisp on entry.”

  “No thanks, I hate when it’s hot out.”

  “Then you’d best grit your teeth for this.”

  And so it began: an experience that would make their acceleration up to that point seem breezy by comparison. Their soft seats were holding them in place,
but still his ribs were near to crumpling in. Blood rushed away from his extremities. His world was turning as red as his eyes.

  Jinto gritted his teeth and endured. He stole a glance at Lafier; even she was sweating.

  Their rough ride wore on. How much time had passed now?

  Suddenly, the footage cut out, taking with it the stars above and the blue sphere below. Back to the walls of opal white. And the pressure pinning their bodies disappeared, too.

  “Wha, what happened?”

  “Worry not. I’ve merely detached the hull.”

  “‘Merely’?”

  “We can hardly enter the atmosphere while carrying anti-matter fuel. Think of how that’d affect the planet’s people.”

  “But you didn’t have to go that far, did you...?” Yet more Abh excessiveness, thought Jinto.

  “Connecting vessels aren’t designed with surface-landing in mind.” Lafier was speaking rapidly now. “All landings are emergency landings.”

  “Can we even land without a hull?”

  “We can’t land with a hull,” Lafier had lost her patience. “I’m frightened, too, Jinto. This is my first-time surface-landing!”

  “Your first time!?”

  “I told you before: I’ve never been to a terrestrial world.”

  “But surely it’s come up in training...”

  “Yes, I’ve done the mock training, but that’s all.”

  “So which one’s got you scared — surface-landing, or being on a surface world?”

  “Both!!”

  And Jinto could more than see why that might be. He held his tongue, since he understood that forging through fear was a personal struggle, and the last thing he wanted was to get in her way.

  Not long after, the shaking commenced. The vessel — or what remained of it — dragged against Clasbule’s atmosphere. As they were rocked violently, Jinto could only think: Glad I can’t see outside.

  At last, the turbulence died down. Their seats morphed back upright from their sleeping-cot mode. The peculiar floating sensation harked back to memories past within Jinto: this is how it felt that one time, years prior, when he had descended from an orbital tower down to the surface.

  Oh man, I remember...

  He’d been a ball of worry back then, too. So much so that he could barely recall what the cabin attendant who had been at his side looked like.