Imperatrix of the Galaxy

by Tristan Vick

  “They weren’t,” Lianica said, rising to her feet. She had a bad feeling about all this, but if her intuition was correct, this wreckage might just be the key they needed to finding Jegra. “If you need me, I’ll be in my ready room.”

  Lianica turned and left the bridge, leaving Dree’alek and Brei’alas to give each other a confused look.

  Once in her personal office, Lianica sat down at her desk and brought up the holographic console.

  “Computer,” she said, “Locate and bring up file 8472.”

  [*There is a video file attached. Would you like me to play it?*]

  “Yes,” Lianica replied. A blue line traced out the edge of a viewing screen. Soon the blue rectangle filled in with high definition color. A disheveled Dagon captain appeared on the monitor and he looked into the camera.

  “This is captain Regnarwald of the Enmity. We were responding to a border infraction by the Galliforns when both fleets encountered a strange celestial entity. I don’t know how to explain it except to be in awe of its destructive power. These glowing, squid-like creatures the size of starships have already destroyed half the Galliforn fleet and are now approaching our position.”

  The captain glanced off screen for a moment, as though he was analyzing a chart, and then looked back again. “It seems they are protecting some kind of spatial anomaly. A rift between dimensions. Our readings are inconclusive, but it appears as though a pocket universe has formed. For whatever reason, these celestial entities are determined to protect this location at all costs. I don’t believe they…”

  A sudden spray of sparks along with several electrical explosions erupted in the background. An officer’s voice came from somewhere in the background and frantically relayed, “Sir, they’re attaching themselves to the hull of the ship.”

  The captain looked back at the camera and static interference caused the image to distort and flicker. His worried expression came back into view for just a moment and then the video feed cut out.

  Lianica leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers under her chin as she thought. She had vaguely remembered hearing stories of the first encounter with the squidies, but she hadn’t thought to make anything of it until now. With the reappearance of the celestial entities, she knew that something was coming. Something big.

  If the squids could jump through hyperspace, they might be able to jump into other-dimensional space, too. If so, it was possible that Jegra had been taken to the Dark Zone, the mysterious rift that Captain Regnarwald spoke of. Every attempt to send a probe in had been met with silence. It was as though the region were a black hole, but without the destructive forces of a singularity. It was just a tear in space that swallowed unsuspecting ships whole.

  If Jegra was stuck inside the rift, there’d be no way to get her out except to use the Shard’s slipstream technology. Theoretically, the vessel could pierce multi-dimensional space. And it was the only vessel that could do so. Even if Jegra wasn’t stuck in the void of multidimensional nothingness, Lianica could at least gather some intel. Maybe even chart the other dimension. Something nobody else had managed to do in three hundred years, and not for a lack of trying.

  The bustle on the bridge died to a calm murmur as Lianica strode back in. “Lieutenant Brei’alas, scan for any spatial anomalies that coincide with the rift.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “I have a gut instinct that Jegra is somewhere on the other side of that rift.” She pointed at the starry backdrop on the viewscreen. Only a faint shimmer of gravitational lensing denoted anything out of the ordinary.

  “It’s my duty to inform the captain that every attempt to penetrate and retrieve information from the rift has failed. No ships have ever returned from it. And there’s no guarantee anything can survive what’s on the other side.”

  “I understand the risks, lieutenant,” Lianica said, her voice controlled and calm. “But it’s a risk I’m willing to take, if it means rescuing the empress.”

  “With all due respect, ma’am, what makes you so sure that Empress Alakandra is stuck on the other side of the rift?” Dree’alek asked.

  The captain shot him a fierce look that made him cast his eyes downward. She then eased up and replied, “Like I said, it’s only a hunch. But this ship is the only vessel in the Commonwealth capable of piercing the alternate dimensional fold. And if my intuition is correct, we’ll find the empress on the other side.”

  “And if we don’t?” Brei’alas asked.

  “Then we take readings, gather data, and use the slipstream drive to re-enter normal space.”

  “That is, if we survive the initial trip,” Dree’alek replied. This time when she shot him a disapproving stare, he didn’t look away.

  Lianica scanned the faces of the bridge crew and took note of their worried expressions. “Look, I understand what I’m asking you to do is dangerous. But I wouldn’t be asking you to do this if I wasn’t so certain.”

  “You yourself said it was just a feeling,” Brei’alas reminded her. “So, explain to us why we should risk our lives on a mere feeling?”

  “Have you ever been in love?” Lianica asked, gazing right at the lieutenant.

  “Not that I can say, sir.”

  “Well, when you do fall in love, you’ll know it. There’ll be no explanation for it, but the feeling will be unmistakable. Undeniable. It will consume you. And that’s how you’ll know it’s real. It’s a lot like that.”

  Brei’alas looked over at the other officers who merely nodded in agreement. She then turned back to Captain Lianica Blackstar and smiled. “We’re with you, captain. No matter what.”

  “Good,” she replied. Slowly, she removed her hand from the blaster that sat in its holster at her hip. She was afraid she’d have to make an example of someone if things took a wrong turn.

  “Ensign, the moment you have the heading, set a course into the rift. Hyperstream velocity.”

  “Yes, sir,” Dree’alek replied as he swiveled in his chair and began typing the coordinates into his console.

  The Shard slowly eased toward the wavelike ripple marked by the gravitational lensing that denoted the edge of the anomaly. Gradually, the ship stretched and distorted and then, in a flash, it leapt into the rift.

  Lieutenant Brei’alas awoke in her quarters. Not realizing how she’d got there, she slowly sat up. She was in bed. She had on her finest Kreelack needle spider silk pajamas and the korridium bracelet her mother had given her after she graduated from the academy.

  She slipped out of bed and slowly rose to her feet. She steadied herself as an intense wave of vertigo washed across her. Once it passed, she looked toward the portal of her room and saw a frightening backdrop. It appeared as though space itself was on fire.

  It didn’t make any sense. In order for flames to exist there had to be atmosphere. Gases to ignite. And although she’d heard of nebulas that burned, she’d never seen anything quite like this before.

  She crept up to the window and reached up with an open hand. She was afraid it might be hot, but when she touched the glass, she found it cold. As cold as the dead of outer space.

  In the lower right corner of her view she could make out a green and brown swirling sphere. A planet, she thought. An ugly planet, but a planet, nonetheless.

  An abrupt flare shot up from the planet and Brei’alas startled. When she looked again, she saw what appeared to be a shuttle launch. Her eyes followed the white trail of exhaust through the atmosphere until the tiny object broke into orbit. Eyes fixed on the glimmering object, she heard the comm in her room chime.

  “Lieutenant Brei’alas, you’re exactly thirty-eight minutes late for duty. Please report to the bridge, asap.”

  Late? Brei thought. But I just woke up.

  That was assuming a lot, considering she didn’t remember going to sleep. Or, for that matter, returning to her quarters after her shift. “Computer, what is the date and time?”

  [*It is 8:38 in the morning, currently the 48th revolution of
the seventeenth era, Dagon standard time.*]

  Forty-eighth revolution? She’d lost more than a whole day. But how? And had anyone else experienced the strange time lapse?

  By the time she arrived on the bridge, there was an energy and excitement uncommon to the usually calm and collected Dagon crew.

  “Glad you could finally join us,” Captain Blackstar said.

  “Has anyone else been experiencing strange time warps?” she asked, looking around at the blank faces. Only Dree’alek responded. “No. I mean, I don’t think so.” He glanced around to see several nodding faces confirming his answer. “Why? What kind of time distortion?”

  “Never mind,” she replied, pinning it for a more appropriate time. Returning her attention to the task at hand, she went and sat down at her station.

  “Report,” the captain said, a touch of impatience tucked into her voice.

  Brei’alas scoured her console, studying multiple readouts all at once. “It appears to be a mid-sized transport. It has just broken into a decaying orbit and is now requesting emergency assistance.”

  “Put it on screen,” Lianica said, motioning for her to play the emergency broadcast.

  “I’m afraid there’s only audio.”

  “Then play it,” Lianica said, shooting her lieutenant a sharp look.

  “Yes, ma’am. Right away, ma’am.”

  There was a static crackle and pop and then a voice came through. “This is Empress Jegra Alakandra of the Dagon Empire requesting an immediate pickup. I repeat, our vessel is in distress and our scanners are down. If you are receiving this, we are in need of immediate assistance.”

  “It’s her!” Dree’alek said.

  Lianica rose out of her command chair and walked up to the view portal. “Lieutenant, get us within grappling distance of that ship.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Brei replied, her voice filled with the first bit of optimism since they’d taken this mission.

  The Shard moved in over the small vessel and the shuttle bay wall melted away. Magnetic grappling hooks shot out and latched onto the vessel and began reeling it in.

  Without warning, Brei’alas felt lightheaded. There was a strange distortion and everything and everyone on the bridge began to wobble and distort. She felt extremely woozy, as though she’d been out drinking all night, and had to fight to prevent herself from keeling over and vomiting.

  “Don’t move!” a Bre’lal woman said, holding a blaster to Empress Jegra Alakandra’s head.

  The woman had on knight’s armor and used the empress as a body shield.

  Brei’alas crouched behind a large crate and looked over at Captain Blackstar who held her abdomen. She’d been shot with a low yield disrupter blast and was lying on her side, writhing with pain.

  Looking down, Brei’alas realized she had a blaster of her own in her hands. Without even thinking it through, she abruptly stood up and, raising her hands in surrender, held out her gun which dangled on her pinky finger. “Don’t shoot. I surrender.”

  “Throw the blaster on the ground and kick it to me,” the green-skinned woman ordered.

  Brei’alas complied with the demands and kicked the blaster to the woman. She made sure that it skidded to a stop just beyond her reach, though. When the woman saw this, she rolled her eyes. “Do you think I’m stupid?” she barked angrily.

  “No, I don’t think that…what I mean is…I wouldn’t ever dream of accusing you of…it’s just that…” As the lieutenant stalled by playing it dumb, she glanced over at the captain and then to the empress.

  If she could get close enough to the Bre’lal, she could use herself as a battering ram and smash into the armored aggressor and break her hold on Jegra. That would give the empress time to fetch her discarded blaster and then use it on the crazed woman.

  Relying on the element of surprise, Brei’alas screamed out and lunged at the woman. Before she had made it even half the distance she heard the shot of the blaster and stopped dead in her tracks.

  She suddenly found it difficult to breath and looked down at the wound only to cringe at the sight of a gaping hole in her abdomen. She looked back up in time to meet the empress’s eyes and tottered on her feet. She mouthed the words “I’m sorry,” and swaying gently to the left then the right, she collapsed under her own weight and fell in a heap on the floor.

  As she felt herself bleeding out, time began to distort again.

  Lieutenant Brei’alas awoke in her quarters. Not realizing how she’d got there, she slowly sat up and slipped out of bed. Fetching a fine silk gown, she wrapped herself up and tied the sash loosely around her slender waist and headed over to the view portal of her room.

  She stood before the large oval window and peered out at a frightening backdrop. It appeared as though space itself was on fire.

  Although she’d heard of nebulas that burned, this was something different. This was primordial, like the infinite plasma at the dawn of time. She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose as an overwhelming sense of déjà vu came over her. “What in the world?”

  That’s when she remembered the ship rising up from the green planet’s atmosphere. She peered out the window at the swirling globe of khaki and sage green. She sighed out in relief when there was no sign of the shuttle. Just then, her morning alarm went off, startling her.

  She hurried and got dressed, made herself a cup of coffee from the food synthesizer, took only a couple of sips of it before setting it back down, and then rushed to the bridge to report for duty.

  As she arrived at the bridge, there was an excited commotion atypical of Dagon officers. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “A ship just launched off the planet,” Dree’alek informed her.

  She looked at the viewscreen and, sure enough, it was the exact same ship as before.

  She slowly settled into her station, not once taking her eyes off the vessel.

  “Lieutenant?” Lianica barked, her voice filled with concern. “Is everything all right?”

  Brei’alas put it out of her mind and replied, “It’s nothing, ma’am.”

  Captain Blackstar nodded and then said, “Report.”

  Lieutenant Brei’alas checked her console, reading each graph and readout that scrolled past her display. “It appears to be a mid-sized transport vessel. Badly damaged. And we’re getting an audio only distress call.”

  Again, the overwhelming sense of déjà vu came over her, but she quickly shook it off.

  “Play it,” the captain ordered.

  The lieutenant did as told and brought the message onto the ship’s comm. After the static crackle died down, a voice said,

  “This is Empress Jegra Alakandra of the Dagon Empire requesting an immediate pickup. I repeat, our vessel is in distress and our scanners are down. If you are receiving this, we are in need of immediate assistance.”

  “It’s her!” Dree’alek chirped excitedly.

  Lianica rose out of her command chair and walked up to the view portal. “Lieutenant, get us within grappling distance of that ship.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Brei replied, her voice filled with the first bit of optimism since they’d taken this mission.

  The Shard moved in over the small vessel and the shuttle bay wall melted away. Magnetic grappling hooks shot out and latched onto the vessel and began reeling it in.

  “Ensign, you’re with me,” the captain said, as she turned to head to the shuttle bay to meet the empress.

  “With all due respect, ma’am,” Brei’alas interjected. “Maybe I should accompany you two. After all, we don’t know what condition she is in and she may need immediate medical assistance.”

  Lianica nodded and then said, “Grab a med-kit and meet us down there.”

  Brei’alas hopped to her feet and quickly followed the captain and the ensign off the bridge as they all three made their way to the shuttle bay landing pad.

  Due to the fact that Brei’alas stopped off at the med lab to grab a medical kit, she arrived a few min
utes after the others. When she arrived on the scene, she found the captain lying on the floor behind some containers and Dree’alek lying in the very same spot she somehow remembered dying in herself, just before the second time jump.

  The Bre’lal woman, who once again held the empress hostage, trained her blaster on Brei’alas when she entered the room. Brei’alas froze in her spot and held up the med-kit. “Don’t shoot!”

  “Stop right there!” the green-skin growled, brandishing her weapon and motioning for Brei’alas to set the case on the floor. “Just set the case down and slowly back away.”

  Instead of doing as requested, however, she boldly charged forward, using the metal case of the first-aid kit as a shield. The green-skin pulled the trigger and let off a blast, but Brei’alas managed to deflect the shot with the med-kit. Its polished surface was heat resistant, and the plasma bolt deflected off of it and ricocheted across the room. It hit a light fixture above the empress and the Bre’lal woman and sent down a smattering of sparks and fine glass.

  This caused the Bre’lal woman to flinch and duck out of the way of the debris, giving Brei’alas the chance to strike. Bringing the med-kit down across the woman’s temple, she clocked her as hard as she could.

  With a skull fracturing crack, the green-skin crumpled to one knee and, dazed, tried to push herself back up. That’s when a second, even more devastating blow hit her in the exact same spot as before.

  Out cold, the green-skin hit the metal deck plating, face first. The blaster flew out of her grasp and skidded across the floor where it scraped to a halt several feet away.

  When Brei’alas turned to Jegra, she noticed that she had an immobilizer fastened to her back. It kept a steady electrical charge running through a prisoner’s body, seizing up their motor functions and freezing their muscles. Reaching up, she plucked it off, a small static discharge popping as she tore it from the empress’s back.

  Brei’alas dropped the device to the floor and immediately got under Jegra’s arm to help steady her. Using her boot, she squashed the immobilizer and it crackled and sparked under duress then fizzled out.