by Darold Higa
While dish after dish appeared, Alicia engaged the governor in the requisite small talk. As the evening progressed, however, the governor turned his attention towards the business executives at the table. This left Alicia free to shift gears and enjoy the more interesting conversation between the three admirals. Admiral Johnson was engaged in a debate with Admiral Huffington over the applicability of lessons from Pre-Separation Earth to modern space combat. Admiral Johnson argued that history had a tendency to narrowly focus thinking, and as a result too often military doctrine was framed on solving the problems of the past while the reality of the situation had long since evolved into an entirely new set of problems. She posited that, for instance, while the battle of Thermopylae might teach some general lessons, it would be difficult to imagine how such restricted geography would be applicable to space warfare. Admiral Huffington, on the other hand, pointed out that history was our best laboratory, and by using history many pitfalls and mistakes could be avoided. Huffington mentioned the Battle of Midway as a good battle to learn from, making a subtle tribute to the fleet exercise that had gutted the 7th Fleet, causing Alicia to blush. As the conversation went on, Alicia was impressed at Huffington's considerable knowledge of pre-starflight military combat, which appeared greater than her own. She had always held ancient military history dear to her own heart. She remembered hanging on every word from the lectures of Professor Sorin. Back in the academy, most students found ancient history boring. For her, ancient military history classes were the highlight of the week. Intoxicated by the deep conversation, Alicia had hardly noticed that the dessert course had arrived. Alicia quickly finished her guava sorbet, allowing the senior officers to continue their debate. She may have been a princess, but in the military world she was an allied fleet Captain sitting at a table of Admirals. The fact that they treated her as a fleet Captain and not royalty was comforting, and she appreciated it. As she sipped her coffee, she discovered that her respect for Admiral Huffington had grown considerably.
As the coffee cups were cleared, the governor rose to speak. "Thank you ladies and gentlemen for your attendance at this Royal Ball to celebrate the alliance between the Queendom of Spincora and the Federal Republic of Renspa. Now that we have filled ourselves, I think it would be appropriate for a dance. I would like to ask that her highness, Princess Linodan and Count Bronsi join my wife Miranda and I for the first waltz."
On cue, Largo rose and offered his hand to Alicia. The media in the upper balcony went wild, recording every moment from a thousand different angles. In Renspa this might be something out of a fairy tale, but to Largo and Alicia this was second nature. The two gracefully moved to the dance floor as the music began. Alicia looked into Largo's eyes and the crowd melted away. Even the Governor and his wife, capable dancers on their own, looked awkward next to the dazzling couple. The one thing about court life that Alicia loved was dancing, and Largo had been her dance partner for over twenty years. As the two moved across the dance floor the entire crowd, who had remained quite restrained through the evening, had lost its composure and were spellbound, and the enchanted audience let out audible gasps and cheered and clapped at every turn made by the two Spincoran royals.
Alicia looked into Largo's deep blue eyes. Largo was a handsome man, in his late twenties, with wild blonde hair and a boyish smile. Feeling the warmth of his body pressed against hers, his arm around her waist, and his warm breath caressing her hair had made her feel giddy. It was true they were lifelong friends, but at times like this Alicia was reminded that Largo was a man, and a very attractive one at that. Alicia knew Largo well enough to know about his romantic conquests--there had been quite a few broken hearts in the court. Still, Alicia felt a tinge of jealousy. His status as count meant that he could still afford the occasional romantic scandal. The crown princess, however, was afforded no such luxury. Perhaps in days past when the media wasn't so invasive in the daily lives of the royalty she might have gotten away with an occasional tryst, but certainly not now.
Though perhaps that wasn't entirely true, she thought to herself. Her youngest sister, Henrietta, had gotten into that mess with that young music teacher. He was a lot older than she was, and wasn't a royal either. That had turned into quite the disaster for the family, and the royal press secretary almost suffered a nervous breakdown after dealing with the constant hounding of the press. Still, the world went on, as did the royal family. In fact, it seems that Henrietta's popularity only grew after this incident. Even her very proper sister Ekaterina had more than a few boyfriends. While her romances were far more discreet than Henrietta’s, Ekaterina still managed to make the headlines of the tabloids on occasion. Of the three sisters, only Alicia seemed to steer clear of romantic relationships, which only fueled speculation in the media about her relationship with Largo. As she exchanged smiles with Largo she began to wonder if there was a deeper reason why she had turned down all of her would-be suitors. Once the dance ended, the entire hall, including the press in the second floor clapped and cheered. The two bowed and returned to their seats.
As they sat, Admiral Huffington's wife, Amanda, could not contain herself. "Your Highness, that was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The two of you make such a perfect couple!" For the third time this evening, Alicia could feel a blush emerging. She was still getting used to how forward the Renspans were. As if on cue, Alicia's waiter returned, thus sparing her the embarrassment of further praise.
"Your Highness, a cup of punch?" The waiter was handing out cups of deep red punch in crystal glasses from a cart. The cart had a beautiful cascading fountain of red liquid. Thirsty from her dance, Alicia gladly accepted. As the waiter turned away, his black vest caught her attention. Something is wrong, she thought to herself.
At that moment, the ballroom became a mad cacophony of sound as personal communicators began buzzing in rapid succession.
4563 July 05
Federal Space Patrol, 7th Fleet, Carrier Group 1 Battleship FSP New Angeles, Fleet Command Information Center
In Orbit Above Newport
Renspa Federal Republic
Captain Ellen Cadwell was bored. In front of her she was watching the news feed from the grand ball down below. Normally, she was thrilled when Admiral Huffington gave her command of the CIC. As his Executive Officer, she knew she was being groomed for her own command, a prospect that she looked forward to. The Fleet Admiral's chair felt nice, along with all of the responsibility and prestige that went along with it. But right now, as she watched Princess Linodan and Count Bronsi glide across the floor, and she genuinely wished she could have attended the party down below. Captain Linodan was a princess out of a fairy tale, her white dress and navy blue shawl, her long blonde hair flowed along her back, with two locks tied in ribbons in the front, her tiara and her graceful movements made her look absolutely perfect. The count was a stunning man with a cute, mischievous smile. She looked at the holofeed again and sighed. Apparently he had unbuttoned the front of his jacket, which made him even more sexy. Ellen was beginning to feel jealous.
"Who is anyone kidding, the way they look at each other, they must be a couple," she lamented to herself. What was decade-long speculation in the tabloid press in Spincora had been the juiciest new scandal to hit the medianets in Renspa. They had images of Count Bronsi with a number of other stunning women, but for every image of a different woman was one showing the Count and the Princess together, smiling, hand in hand. She had even read stories about jealous girlfriends attempting to embarrass the Princess. Ellen even saw a clip of a now famous incident where some Baroness demanded that Princess Linodan leave her fiancée alone in front of a crowd of high-ranking officials. As usual, any kind of scandal was completely denied by the royal press corps. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to the giant data tank in the center of the bridge. She cursed Huffington for putting them on combat alert. "Who is going to attack us here?" she thought to herself. With Narthia busy with its occupation of the Anticora Marginals, Ren
span Intelligence figured that the earliest possible attack from Narthia was months away. Given the rhetoric coming out of the Empire, it wasn't even clear that Renspa was their target. Spincora was in the center of Narthia's sights, and Spincora had poured it on thick getting Renspa to sign on as an ally. In the corner of her eye as the dance ended, the fairy tale couple bowed to each other.
Suddenly the data tank exploded with activity.
"Captain Cadwell, I am detecting a large number of bubblespaces within 200,000,000 km of the Newport stardocks, 3270 mils by 3017 mils. We have confirmed at least 20,000, correction...now 50,000 bubblespaces. No IFF response."
That many ships represented no less than 10 Fleets, a whole Banner. Cadwell attempted to keep her voice calm as she barked out a series of commands to her CIC crew. "Confirm sensor reading. Attempt to raise them on hailing frequencies. Have the AI profile the bubblespace signature to determine identity!"
"Aye aye ma'am." The CIC was filled with a small army of console operators operating smaller datatanks, responding to Cadwell's orders.
"Sensor calibration confirmed."
"No hailing response."
"Newport Fleet Command is confirming that identity of the ships are unknown."
"AI is 72% confident emerging fleet is Narthian, Banner Green."
"We are now detecting a second group of 50,000 bubblespaces 2605 mils by 2934 mils. Multiple bubblespace clusters appearing in-system."
"Oh good Gaia. Tell all Carrier Groups in dock to scramble. Vector CAP to form up between us and the nearest fleet. Launch standby CAP from Carrier Groups 1 and 2 immediately. Patch me through to Admiral Huffington's comm unit immediately!"
Chapter 2
The Royal Ball
4563 July 05
Grand Reception Hall at the Newport Oceanside Hotel
Newport City
Renspa Federal Republic
In the seconds before personal communicators in the Grand Hall all starting ringing, Alicia knew something was wrong. That the waiter serving her earlier was now wearing a black vest had alerted her. He had just finished placing her punch glass on the table and upon turning away reached inside his coat to pull out a submachine gun. The man spun back around with the gun leveled at the table, but Alicia was quicker. Already wary, she stood up as he was turning back and planted a kick firmly in the waiter's groin before he could fire. It was at this moment the Grand Hall erupted with the sound of personal communicators, which distracted most of the people in the hall from realizing something was happening at the head table. Largo was receiving a call from the Relentless and turned toward Alicia, only to notice her stripping the submachine gun from the crumpled waiter.
As Alicia scanned her surroundings, it was evident that her assailant was not the only attacker. She judged that he was supposed to get off the first shot, and since she had interrupted him she had bought a few seconds to assess the situation. She quickly picked the other five wait staff that had donned black vests. As she glanced along the walls near the second floor gallery where the media was sitting she she saw a vague outline along one of the walls. Adaptive optical camouflage? That could only mean a special forces attack unit of some sort. She quickly glanced down at the SMG in her hand. It was a Type 57 SMG used by Narthian special forces. In less than a second, she had all the information she needed to act.
In the corner of her eye she caught the telltale flicker of more adaptive optical camouflage. To the untrained eye it might go unnoticed, perhaps as light playing tricks with the eye. Under normal circumstances even Alicia might have discounted the flicker. Given the current situation, she would take no chances. In one swift motion she reached over, grabbed the glass of punch, and threw it at where she last spotted the flicker. As the red liquid hit the surface of the camouflage, it was no longer able to maintain the optical illusion and the outline of a Narthian commando stood there dripping in punch. Alicia didn't hesitate, and fired until the figure crumpled.
The outbreak of gunfire turned the already chaotic situation into utter pandemonium. There were screams everywhere as the confused, terrified people scrambled for the exits. Alicia leveled her SMG at the head of nearest waiter, who was reaching into his vest. With a quick pull of the trigger, the man’s head disintegrated and his headless body fell to the floor. The second round of gunfire focused the attention of the assailants on Alicia. The remaining four black-vested waiters were readying their weapons, but before they had a chance to return fire Alicia took down one more waiter with a head shot then scrambled for cover.
The waiters and optic camouflage troops had now pulled out their weapons and began looking for their targets, but Alicia's quick actions had thrown them off guard. Alicia had ducked under the table, where she was quickly joined by Largo, the admirals and their spouses and Dale Sanchez from Newport Cybernetics. Largo had already unsheathed his sword.
"Largo, we have three men dressed as wait staff in black light armor vests with Type 57 SMGs, so head shots required. I also detected troops scaling the side walls with optical camouflage. My guess is that there are probably another five. Looks like Narthian R5 or R7 commandos." Largo nodded. Another round of gunfire went off and more screaming.
"I got a call from the Relentless. Narthia has deployed twenty fleets in the system. Probably at least a hundred-thousand ships. Looks like the entirety of Banner Green and Banner Blue."
"We'll worry about that later,” whispered Alicia. “Our first concern is to get out of here. Admirals, respectfully, I believe we should operate independently to present a smaller target profile." The three admirals, swords in hand, nodded. “Since I have the SMG, Largo and I will distract the Narthians, so please escort your spouses and Mr. Sanchez to the exit as soon as possible.”
Alicia paused for a moment. It was obvious that the Renspan security forces present at the hotel had responded. More gunfire could be heard, with the sound of Mark 11 rifles and a variety of pistols joining the din of the Type 57 SMG. She silently wished she had a few members of her reliable Royal Guard Commandos with her, but she knew that they would not have done much better than the Renspan forces. Domus Aurea was no longer the den of intrigue that had forged one of the most effective bodyguard units in humanspace. Even with the heightened tensions with Narthia, nobody had expected this.
"Well Largo, let's go." Alicia checked her SMG. She had half a clip. Turning to the admirals, she saluted, wished them them Earthspeed and headed out with Largo into the melee.
4563 July 05
Royal Spincoran Navy, 93rd Fleet (Provisional), HMS Relentless, AI Center
In Orbit Above Newport
Renspa Federal Republic
Rick Blanchard took another swig from his bottle of soda. The team back at the office had been fixing a broken software library, so he had nothing to do as he sat in his surround datatank. Bored, he browsed the newsnet. Some media focused on President Harrington's nephew's funeral on Aurora, but most of the coverage was on the Governor's Ball being thrown for Princess Linodan. He dived into a datastream covering the party. The first thing he noticed was Old Man Sanchez, schmoozing with the governor. He noticed that there were some indie conspiracy datastreams spinning around Sanchez speculating on how Newport Cybernetics won the Linodan fleet contract. He sneered. He knew that their new AI string processing cybercores had left the competition in the dust, so Reynolds Computing and Tyberian Engineering had been forced to engage in viral counter-marketing.
Rick was proud of the company he worked for. Newport Cybernetics was the undisputed leader in high-powered computer processing. It had been a big breakthrough to successfully apply string computing, which had been abandoned for millennia, to the dynamic fitness emergent AI. While some of the preliminary research had come from papers being published by Narthian Universities, Newport Cybernetics, and Rick’s branch in particular, had been quick to seize upon these ideas to slave dynamic Heisenberg gates to string processing AIs. The AIs rapidly restructured the network of Heisenberg gates in order to accomplis
h specific processing tasks. Some engineers called the result “human brains with centralized optimization and process management.” Computing, which had long been considered a stagnant field, had exploded overnight. Changes were happening fast and computer engineers began talking about reviving Moore’s law, a novel concept that dated back to the pre-Unified Earth Government era. At the forefront of this computing revolution was Newport Cybernetics.