After a time, Tiana’s tears waned; the last few, emotion filled hours having finally caught up to her young friend, leading her into a much needed slumber. Carefully, Sasha untangled her arm from Tiana’s embrace, then carried her gently to a small couch adjacent their seats.
“Mother...” Tiana moaned the moment Sasha laid her upon the couch, grasping for her hand. She smiled kindly upon her friend, brushing aside a lock of her curly blond hair that had fallen across her brow, allowing her thoughts to turn back towards the future, and this wondrous gift she had been provided.
The ornately designed starship, known as the NHA Shuttle ABF Princess One, was just one of a great many gifts from her parents, King Johan and Queen Vahna Vn’Oco of NHA Galaxy 189, for her coming of age. Her father had already provided another gift beyond all others, gifting her an entire duchy, while also handling the negotiations with the affected dukes and duchesses, with a political capital cost that must have been beyond staggering. Sasha found herself beyond delighted that she didn’t have to personally undertake those particular negations. Even though she knew, quite well, her own ability to guide a noble court was inherited from her father. Who could easily steer the most strenuous of negotiations. Her own reluctance came from her fleeting experience negotiating with a particular political sect of the NHA ruling nobility, whose beliefs were rife with illogical idiocy born of blindly following tradition; known plainly as the traditionalists.
Beyond the gifts so far received, Sasha would be receiving assistance in the creation of Alutia Duchy. Since the hardest part still lay before her, the formal colonization, with a monetary and material cost that was far beyond her meager fortune. Luckily, Sasha knew she could rely on gifts and “official” contributions from her parents until the Alutia Duchy was fully able to stand on its own.
She locked her fingers together, stretching an unfamiliar soreness from her shoulders that she could only think caused by the new weight of responsibility. If I can’t handle this much, she started, but shook off the thought before it could stick, and all the others that had crept unwilling into her mind as she considered the uncertain future.
“Remember the perks, Sasha,” she whispered instead, allowing her gaze to sore across the interior of her personal starship.
There was only one word she could think to describe the sight; extravagant. Red rose silk from a distant galaxy encased cushioned seats and couches at a cost beyond what Sasha could possibly imagine; the sensation like sitting upon a fluffy cloud. Golden tassels weaved from comet’s hair, a rare moss that grew only on the searing surface of special comet, fell at intervals, ending with sparkling crimson gems the like Sasha had never before seen. A purplish metal, that seemed to be infused with a red rose, similar to gorian alloy, lined the crimson carpeted aisle that cut between the rows of seating and couches. Programmable matter art crept across the walls and arched ceiling, displaying exotic, six-legged creatures that galloped majestically through a vast forest, then shifting to a white peaked mountain in the center of a vast green plain, covered in gentle mist. It was breathtaking.
Carefully, Sasha tiptoed away from Tiana, trying not to wake her, and moved slowly through the rows of empty seating and couches, admiring the starship’s interior while approaching a crested door at the far end of the passenger compartment, a ceremoniously dressed guard stood at attention, arms crossed behind his back, before its face.
“Your Grace,” the guard used the revered title reserved for dukes and duchess, while presenting the noble salute, crossing ones arms before their chest while glancing towards the floor. He then, with a flourish, swung open the door.
“Thank you,” Sasha paused, having already forgotten the names of her private guards who had been introduced during the emotional goodbyes.
“Knight Captain Seb'Losh, Captain of the Alutia Guard,” told Sir Seb'Losh, not fazed in the slightest by the need to reintroduce himself.
She always found it refreshing when a noble chose a position within the military or government, as she knew Sir Seb'Losh had done based on the title of knight before his rank. For the vast majority of her life, Sasha had been surrounded by traditionalist nobles who believed any sort of work beyond their station, and to only be performed by the common and petty classes. Though this belief was most prominent within the unlanded nobility, those noble’s who held no hereditary claims, and thought all they, or any other unlanded noble should ever do, was collect the noble living stipend in which they were entitled, and occasionally attend court to harass any realists or reformists who may not share their narrow-minded beliefs.
I will not allow them to sway me, Sasha reaffirmed, the knowledge that she would soon be dealing with these “types” in her own court, beyond irritating.
“Your Grace?” Sir Seb’Losh questioned, staring at her curiously. Sasha blushed her embarrassment, having been lost in thought while standing before the Alutia Guard Captain.
“My apologies, Sir Seb’Losh...and thank you,” she responded with a nod, then started through the door. She paused midstride, her mind registering the colors and crest of his uniform for the first time.
The officer’s doublet and guard style, straight leg pants that he wore were of a dark red, similar to the color of a blooming rose, and identical to the pallet used throughout the interior of the starship. His undercoat, gloves, and boots were jet black, making the vibrant red even more pronounced. On his left breast sat a crest, the same as what adorned the door’s face, a gorian alloyed tiara wrapped in a rose vine, with a blooming red rose on each of the tiara's three peaks. In its background swirled a spiral galaxy, colored a similar rose red, but slightly more crimson, between the galaxy’s star specked arms.
“Sir Seb'Losh, may I gather that you are wearing the colors and crest of my new duchy?” Sasha asked, realizing as she spoke the question that it must seem odd. Sir Seb'Losh let slip a look of surprise, but quickly recovered with a trained professionalism one would expect of his rank.
“Yes, Your Grace. I was under the impression that this design and color palette was of your choosing,” Sir Seb'Losh responded with genuine interest.
“Ah yes, if only that were true, Sir Seb’Losh. It would be my mother, Queen Vahna, who decided on this particular color pattern. She has always held a fascination with roses, given their historic significance with galaxy 189’s founding, and I'm sure my father was more than happy to oblige her free reign over my new duchy's colors and crest,” Sasha explained, a slight melancholy slipping into her tone.
The aversion she'd originally felt over the use of crimson and rose red, she being a fan of white and silver, faded when she recalled it had been a gift from her mother; though a different thought quickly took hold as another of her aversions resurfaced.
“Sir Seb’Losh, since I gather you or another Alutia Guard will be required to be in my presence at all times, being your sworn duty, I would request that you set aside a moment to discuss my protection and what I deem appropriate,” her hands fell to her hips as she stared seriously into his unreadable eyes. “It took me quite a significant amount of effort to convince my guards on Tidelia that I have no need to be constantly babysat, and I feel my time ruling Alutia would not be best served trying to do the same with you and your guards. Do you understand my meaning?” Sasha explained, a slight hint of amusement slipping into her commanding tone when she noticed his eyes flash with anticipation.
“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 f
riends.
“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.
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