The plasma cannon beams and LPA bolts could theoretically travel well beyond their approved ranges with no external resistance, as many people assumed was true within the vacuum of space. But even though space in itself didn’t provid any latent resistance, there were certain other influences that had to be calculated into the firing trajectory.
Daniel quickly went to work, first accounting for the different gravitational forces that would affect the LPA bolt’s path, then the turbulent solar and interstellar winds, radiation, and particles that had penetrated the Earth's star system. After he completed his calculations, he inputted the slight adjustments into the targeting system, required for a direct hit at max range, and awaited the command to open fire.
The tactical display continued updating as tactical officers across the battle group responded to battle group command’s target priorities, until all targets within their assigned sector were accounted for with sufficient firepower to hopefully destroy, or at least disable, the enemy starships.
The enemy fleet adjusted course and Daniel cursed under his breath. They were heading straight for a small gravitational eddy that would cause hell with his targeting calculations. He began to recalculate when the range meter ticked to a million kilometers.
“Fire all LPAs!” Daniel barely had time to enter the new trajectories when the command to fire broke his concentration.
As one, the LPAs sent multilayered streams of neutrons, followed by massive amounts of laser energy, across the emptiness of space at the speed of light. Multiple starships exploded on both sides as the bolts struck home. Daniel cringed when more than half of his own LPA fire veered off course, missing his targets completely.
The small and medium LPAs continued to fire freely on the targets he’d assigned after the first salvo, a short delay occurring only when their charge would diminish. Within milliseconds, the small LPAs would fully recharge with energy and neutrons provided by the neutron star drive core, or NSD core, while the medium LPAs would take a little longer, just under a second. The large LPAs, however, would take almost 5 seconds to fully recharge, given their exponentially larger size and superior firepower to their smaller brethren.
A second salvo of large LPAs burst forth and starships on both sides continued to break apart, a few violently as their NSD cores were breached.
“Damn it,” Daniel cursed under his breath, the TSB Ero’Cia’s LPA beams once again veering off course.
As fast as his fingers could work, he entered new calculations as another large group of gravity eddies appeared, attracting an enormous solar wind storm whose crashing waves of protons would play havoc with the neutron particles in the LPA streams. But it all was in vain, his LPA fire continuing to miss more often than not.
The range to target ticked to below 500,000 kilometers.
“Fire plasma cannon!” Daniel punched the fire icon for the plasma cannon, not bothering to double-check that the helm had the starship properly aligned with the target he'd designated. The swirling beam of purple plasma that erupted from the nose of the starship traveled much slower than the LPA beams, moving at only 50,000 kps from a standstill. Meaning, it would take a little less than 10 seconds for the beam to bridge the empty space between the battle lines.
Daniel turned his attention back to his calculations, glancing to the bridge's CID projection out of the corner of his eye just in time to witness a swirling beam of plasma strike the nose of the TSB Ero’Cia.
The lights flickered, then went dark, Daniel, along with the rest of bridge officers displays vanishing.
“Congratulations, we’re dead,” the Ero’Cia’s Executive Officer, TSB Commander Geoff, said sarcastically from the captain's chair off to his right, staring down upon the officer's stations that lined each side of the bridge’s CID. A moment later, the lights returned to normal, while Daniels station morphed back to the standard tactical view, displaying just the assembled TSB Fleet waiting in a standby formation.
A fleet wide battle simulation had been initiated by Knight Captain Quinn when all the TSB starships had gathered at the rendezvous point, just outside Jupiter's orbit, minus the two battle groups and frigates on outer system patrol duty. When the order was received, a collective sigh of relief rippled across the entire TSB Fleet.
Daniel, on the other hand, didn’t feel that same sense of relief, his gut telling him that something was definitely amiss, since none of the captains were involved in this simulation. They'd been called to the TSB Reverie for a command meeting. The official explanation was to see how the XO's would command in a situation where the captains were incapacitated, but something definitely smelled fishy.
“Cancel combat stations, Lieutenant-Commander Xi. Everyone is free until the captain returns. I would recommend food and rest...knowing her, she will definitely have a “prize” for our outstanding performance,” said XO Geoff with his ever present sarcasm.
After the collective sigh faded, all the officers knowing the captain’s “prize” would be anything but pleasant, Daniel turned back to his tactical station and accessed the battle simulation data as the rest of the bridge officers filed off the bridge. He began reviewing the calculations he'd inputted during the exercise, and to his dismay, they were all correct. He was just about to run a system diagnostic on the tactical matrix when the XO squeezed his shoulders.
“That gravity eddy is a fake. See how the ripples don't have a noticeable effect on that micro-dust cloud,” Daniel looked up at the XO, then back at the display, wanting to smash his head into the semi-spherical PDU of his station as he realized his mistake.
“Even the tactical matrix, when it handles the calculations during normal combat, would have been fooled. Remember, even though the tactical officer’s duty includes verifying the tactical matrix’s calculations, the primary duty is to prioritize targets and... locate fake signatures, such as, “ he pointed to the gravity eddy the enemy fleet had maneuvered towards at the beginning of the battle, “a false gravity eddy,” Daniel felt his anger about to explode at the cocky XO...of course I know the tactical officers primary duty! But before he could voice his feelings, he was thrown forward in his seat, a painful slap striking his back. The XO started laughing hysterically.
“By god man, you should have seen the mistake I made during my first official simulation at primary tactical. I inputted a wrong vector and ended up shooting half my LPAs into a friendly battle group, it was a disaster,” his laughter faded as he took a few steps back, squeezing Daniel's shoulder again.
“Come on, let's grab some grub. It'll make you feel better, and I have a feeling the captain may not let you off as light as me,” the XO winked. Daniel, completely confused by the XO’s banter, nodded stiffly and stood, following him off the bridge, into the tube transport, and to the waiting officer's mess.
*********
Knight Admiral Bhool stared intently at the two catillian's wrestling playfully before them, swirling her snifter in one hand, while tapping a finger on the dining table’s surface with the other. Sasha couldn't help but gaze expectantly at the old admiral, knowing without her unwavering support, there would be no way to resist Duke Zehman if he decided to push his hand.
Over dinner, Sasha had explained the situation as best she could, allowing Tiana and Alutia Guard Lieutenant Lia'Sil to fill in any pertinent information she may have missed. The major issue she faced with her justification was that she was not allowed to reveal how she came upon the majority of her “facts”. She half expected the commander of the Alutia Battle Fleet to call her claims ludicrous and refuse to help. But when Knight Admiral Bhool looked up, staring deep into Sasha’s soul for what felt like an eternity, she just nodded, running a hand through her shoulder length brown hair, then went straight to business.
“We have one major issue, Knight Rear-Admiral Quo'Nup’s battle group. Officially, his allegiance is to Alutia and you, Your Grace, as is mine. But by all reports, his ties to Duke Zehman are still strong and may sway his actions if this escalates i
nto a direct confrontation,” Knight Admiral Bhool explained, turning the discussion to the major issue facing their plan to travel to the Earth star system and meet with the duke personally; how many “trustworthy” battle groups would they have at their disposal if the duke decided to resist?
Normally, a new duchy was required to build and man their own starships, half of which would be transferred to the emperor, while another ten percent to the galaxy king. But until the duchy was sufficiently established, security still needed to be maintained. So a minimal number of battle groups were typically loaned or sold from the kingship or other duchies at inception.
Sasha had been surprised to learn that Alutia had been granted a special boon, being gifted, at no cost, three fully manned battle groups, one more then traditionally allocated during the creation of a new duchy. It appeared that her father had pulled some strings, allowing her to receive two newly formed battle groups from his own King's Fleet, the starships brand-new and the crews taken directly from the population of the Vn’Oco Kingship.
She was beyond grateful to her father, though the obvious preferential treatment could lead to issues with the ruling nobility if it became widely known. But even beyond the potential diplomatic issues, she couldn't hide her concern about the loyalties of the crew and officers, even if they were from Vn’Oco. They were still being forced, along with their families, to immigrate to her duchy, and she knew, firsthand, that could cause great distress.
“What of the other two?” she asked carefully. A barely perceptible grin, or what Sasha thought was grin, appeared within Lady Bhool’s professional facade.
“Your Grace. Beyond me personally vouching for each every officer and crewman under my direct command,” Sasha bit her lip, feeling beyond embarrassed, “the battle groups were formed by volunteers who, along with their families, willingly immigrated to the Alutia Duchy. Though this does not hold true with the third battle group, commanded by this Knight Rear-Admiral Quo'Nup, which was transferred directly from the Hulk’Zif Duchy with none of the same considerations,” Sasha blushed an apology, realizing she had questioned the Lady Bhool’s loyalty.
“I'd have to agree, Sasha,” Tiana leaned forward, flicking a lock of curly blond hair over her shoulder. “During my research, I was able to locate a connection between Earl Ti'Nic, Knight Rear-Admiral Quo'Nup's brother-in-law, and the group of traditionalist nobles that were involved in Knight Captain Quinn's trial 30 years ago,” explained Tiana, furrowing her brow as if having trouble recalling all the information from her research.
Sasha was beyond pleased by her lady-in-waiting, who had discovered a treasure trove of political insight on all the great noble houses of galaxy 189, from where no one would have ever expected; the Lady Regalia. Apparently, Regalia’s mother, Lady Belia, had been preparing her daughter for court life from a very early age. So beyond the tutoring and firsthand experience received during the time she was a part of her father’s court, she’d been forced to travel between the many different traditionalist and realist courts of galaxy 189 since. During that time, she had become quite accustomed to the intrigue required to survive within those hostile environments.
“Then we shall proceed with the assumption of having just the two battle groups of your escort available, Your Grace,” Knight Admiral Bhool decided, her attention seeming to again be pulled to the catillians, that now scurried between their drinks, like two children playing tag.
“How many can we expect from Duke Zehman?” Sasha wondered out loud.
“One moment, Your Grace,” Lia’Sil’s expression went distant as she accessed the local BAP.
While they waited for her to locate the information, Regalia stood, tiptoeing around Tiana to Sasha’s side, where she leaned close to her ear.
“That man by the door is trying to hide something,” Regalia whispered. Before Sasha could ask her to elaborate, Regalia hurried back to her seat, expression unreadable.
Her curiosity perked, she glanced at the Alutia Guard Private stationed by the door, quite obviously “node locked”, as guards would be from time to time during their duty shifts. Sasha didn’t find anything odd about his actions, but she was still bothered, having learned Regalia was particularly keen on picking up changes in behavior that others may have missed. Again, she glanced to Regalia, who stared intently at the guard private.
“According to the last fleet census, the Hulk'Zif Duchy has a total of 506 active battle groups, 253 of which are transferred to permanent duty within the Emperor's Fleets, plus an additional 51 transferred to permanent duty within the King's Fleet,” Lia'Sil listed the numbers she'd located, pausing as she again accessed the BAP with her BC node. “He has official obligations that should occupy around 197 of his remaining battle groups. So, Your Grace, based on these numbers, I believe we will be dealing with at most eight battle groups, give or take any that may be in refit or newly commissioned.”
Knight Admiral Bhool, expression indecipherable, gestured for her catillian to return, Terra squawking in dismay at being left behind by his mother. Sasha, feeling his sadness like it was her own, waved for him to return. Reluctantly, he hopped away from his mother and up Sasha’s arm, using its six legs like springs, before climbing into her dress’s modestly cut top to curl up in-between her bosoms.
“Those numbers are about what I expected. We will have to avoid a direct confrontation until we can verify the numbers or find an ally willing assist with his removal,” Knight Admiral Bhool explained, downing her drink and waving for the servant, who hurried from the dining hall to fetch another.
Sasha, still bothered by Regalia’s words, stretched to mask her glance at the guard private stationed by the door, though still didn’t notice anything out of place. Regalia cleared her throat, staring intently at her, trying to speak with her eyes, which told something was definitely amiss. Tiana appeared to catch the exchange, glimpsing between Sasha and Regalia, a questioning half-smirk on her lips. Sasha, trying her best to not alert the guard of her actions, gestured with her eyes while angling her head towards the door.
Tiana, obviously thinking it a game, winked before reaching across the table for a biscuit, carefully turning in the private's direction in process. After staring at the guard for a moment too long, she slipped back into her seat, staring intently at Sasha, her eyes, like Regalia’s, telling something was definitely wrong.
“What is it?” Sasha asked, having given up on secrecy.
“Why is he sweating so much? It’s not that hot in here,” Regalia responded, her whisper barely audible, but loud enough to pull all eyes to her.
“Who is that, Lady Regalia?” asked Knight Admiral Bhool, looking to the guard by the door when Regalia pointed.
“Private, are yo-.” Knight Admiral Bhool started, but cutoff when Lia’Sil tensed. It took only a moment for Sasha to realize why.
A narrow silver cylinder had slide from the private’s cuff into his left hand, only its end visible, while what looked like an emergency oxygen mask appeared from other. He turned in their direction, eyes wide, skin a pasty white, with sweat raining from his brow.
“That’s a...” Lia’Sil started, climbing to her feet, just as the guard tossed the silver cylinder towards the table while covering his nose and mouth with the oxygen mask.
“Assassin!” Knight Admiral Bhool shouted as time seemed to slow.
Sasha reacted without thinking, grabbing Tiana’s hand while diving towards Regalia, pulling her two ladies along as she desperately rushed away from the dining table. At the same moment, Lia'Sil and Lady Bhool pulled free their laser arcs, two laser bolts sizzling through the air to burn holes through the guard’s chest. The bomb seemed to hover in midair, its rotation slowed, as if someone could easily grab and stop it from going off. But it was too late, and just as she was about to reach the servants exit, the cylinder struck the table and with a blinding flash, a pinkish gas erupted throughout the entire dining hall.
“Vin! Emergency deco-,” Lia'Sil shouted, but was cut
off suddenly.
Sasha's ears popped painfully as the dining hall depressurized, pulling the gas, along with the life-giving atmosphere from the room. Sasha held her breath, smothering her two huddling companions against her chest, hoping to protect them from what she could only guess was a lethal gas. Time started to accelerated as her mind screamed for her to breathe. She started gasping for breath, reaching desperately for her throat when everything went completely silent, a dull white shimmer growing within the edge of her vision.
An image flashed before her, that of a man crying out to her, crying out for her to breath...to just breath...a man she knew, a man she lo-.
A defining hiss erupted throughout the dining hall and the image faded alongside the white shimmer. Her ears felt like they would explode, an intense pressure pushing against them. She gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the debilitating pain as the dining hall gradually regained its normal pressure. Slowly, the throbbing in her ears cleared and the sounds of her companions gasping for breath took its place.
“Is anyone hurt?” Sasha wheezed. Regalia and Tiana looked up, both dazed and eyes full of fear, but neither showing signs of inhaling any gas. Carefully, she recovered her feet, shuffling back towards the dining table, where Knight Admiral Bhool kneeled, back expanding with every breath, over Lia'Sil, who convulsed, foam spilling over her lips as her eyes rolled back into her head.
“I was too slow,” Lady Bhool glanced up to Sasha, who felt burning tears start to trickle forth, “we can save her, Your Grace, if we hurry,” she reassured with an honest confidence, though her voice was throaty. She forced a rolled up black glove into Lia’Sil’s clenching jaw when she started to bit her tongue.
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