Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1)

by Craig Gerttula

  “It's time,” Knight Admiral Bhool scanned the crowd, “are there any last minute questions?”

  “Ma'am,” a young junior engineer came to attention when her eyes passed over him.

  “Speak, crewman,”

  “What if something goes wrong?” It was the question that lay on the minds of all present, but nobody wanted to ask for fear of already knowing the answer. Knight Admiral Bhool stared at the young man, eyes rigid.

  “You die...if it will protect Her Grace. If not, you move to the escape shuttle attached to the Grand Duchess Sasha's apartments, or to one of the escape pods. But remember this...all of you,” her voice went deep, serious, “...the safety of the grand duchess is paramount, if I have to blow the starship to save her, I will,” an eerie silence greeted her words as the crewmen mentally prepared themselves for what lied ahead. Knight Admiral Bhool was about to continue, but Sasha raised her hand, gesturing to interrupt.

  “Please survive,” she started, letting her heart take over, “I do not know half of you as well as I should, having only been aboard this fine vessel for a few short weeks, and knowing each and every one of you is willing to sacrifice so much for my sake, touches my very heart,” tears began welling within her eyes, “but I do not want anyone else to die for me. So I order you all, as your grand duchess, to live, and to succeed in your mission!” The tears broke free and Sasha noticed many of the dark expression turn to thankful smiles. Knight Admiral Bhool seemed touched by her words as well, coming out of her temporary reverie and presenting her reassuring, stoic facade.

  “Everyone into position! We go in five minutes!” The room emptied and Sasha, holding Tiana and Regalia's hands, rushed out last, to the small docking bay and entered the waiting ferry shuttle. Sasha took the pilot seat, while Tiana sat to her right, in the co-pilot seat. Gil'Da and Regalia took the two passenger seats in the middle, while Lia'Sil was already strapped to a stretcher that locked into place where the rear seats usually stood.

  Lia'Sil looked better, Sasha noted, but knew that there was little hope for a full recovery. Neural gas had a particularly nasty habit of destroying the neural pathways in the brain and leaving most victims dead or comatose. So even though Lia'Sil had only inhaled a tiny amount, it was enough to disable most of her higher brain functions. She was lucky that the area that controlled her autonomous functions, heartbeat and breathing, remained fairly intact. At that moment Sasha realized a grim reality. The woman would most likely never recover. She would need to write Lia'Sil's fiancé to let him know of what had befallen his love, before turning her mind back to the task at hand.

  She studied the area in front of the pilot's seat, finding only the PDU responsible for projecting the pilot station and viewscreen, when a familiar fluidic bronze sphere appeared before her.

  “Integration complete. Vin is now integrated into the ferry shuttles systems,” a monotone voice stated. Sasha stared at Vin's sphere for a second, grasping at an idea.

  “Vin, could you prepare the shuttle for launch?” Normally, she would expect a negative response from any other Program in existence, but she knew Vin was a different. It had little trouble indirectly interfering in events most Programs would never become involved, since Programs, as every NHA noble knew, were only permitted to intervene in the highest level decisions, or so she thought before she met Vin.

  “Very well, Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia, I will commence launch preparation. Please inform me when you are ready.”

  “Thank you, Vin,” Sasha nodded, “please patch me into the com channel being used by Knight Admiral Bhool and her strike teams,”

  “Of course, Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia,” Vin responded without question.

  “One minute,” Knight Admiral Bhool’s voice filled the tiny cabin, “are you in position Alutia Two?” she questioned, voice a whisper.

  “We're at the top of the elevator shaft placing the dehacks now,” Private Usa’Pol responded immediately, her tone unwavering.

  Sasha’s last remaining loyal Alutia Guard, other than Sir Seb'Losh, had been distant for the past two days, watching over Sasha with bloodshot eyes, making it clear that she was in no mood for conversation. Sasha figured she was having a difficult time accepting what had occurred, and who could blame her. The people she trusted with her life, being traitors.

  “You better hurry, 30 seconds. How is gas dispersal preceding, Alutia Three?” A bit of anxiety seemed to creep into the admiral’s words.

  “They should be out cold, ma'am. They have been breathing in a fifty-fifty mix for the last minute,” Tho'Mos's voice boomed, apparently unconcerned about being overheard.

  Sasha realized she was holding her breath and felt a hand squeezing hers. She looked over at Tiana, whose eyes were bloodshot and cheeks puffy from tears, but still strong.

  “Oxygen masks on now! Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two....go, go, go!” Knight Admiral Bhool shouted. A few seconds passed in silence, Sasha waiting with baited breath.

  “Bridge clear! Alutia Three, start collecting the prisoners!” Sasha sighed with relief and Tiana's eyes once again welled with tears.

  “Knight Admiral Bhool, the grand duchess's apartment is clear, but we have a problem,” said a noticeably shaken Usa'Pol. Sasha tensed, clenching Tiana's hand, ignoring the concerned squeaks rising from her bosom, “There is a time coded bomb in the guard barracks. It's melded to the deck and the countdown timer is at five minutes,” Sasha froze.

  If she recalled correctly, a time coded bomb required a code to be entered within a set time period, such as once every 30 minutes. If it wasn't entered, the bomb would go off. Nobles had once been known to use them during negotiations to guarantee the other side didn't try anything dirty...which in itself made little sense to her.

  “Tho'Mos-.”

  “Already there, ma'am,” Tho’Mos cut off Knight Admiral Bhool. “It's trouble. Get everyone to the emergency escape shuttle.” Sasha felt her blood drain, knowing the order to come.

  “Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia, launch immediately, I repeat, launch immediately,” she took a deep breath and glanced to Tiana, whose eyes were wide with fear, then Regalia, whose face was buried in Gil’Da’s chest, the old woman’s expression unreadable.

  “Vin, launch!” the ferry shuttle rocked violently as it was ejected from the bottom of the starshp.

  A spherical control unit appeared before her. She stuck her hands into its sides, grasping the two tangible handles within, stopping its sudden rotation as the NSD came online.

  Sasha had been provided a crash course in emergency starship piloting during one of her many trips to Planet Vn'Oco, having been amazed at the time by how the 15 helmsmen, through the use of their BC nodes and the “meld” piloting system, maneuvered the massive, 40 kilometer long super-capital ship in trained unison. But that skill required years of training, so in emergencies, all starships were still able to be piloted manually with the spherical control unit.

  “Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia, please direct the shuttle towards the blue reticule on the viewscreen. This can be done by manipulating the sphere control unit in the direction of the displayed arrow. Once the ferry shuttle is properly aligned, it will lock into automated flight for high-speed travel.” She took a deep breath, staring intently at the curving viewscreen that appeared before her, displaying the darkness of space flecked with many stars. She began to panic when she couldn’t locate the reticule in which Vin spoke, only grey, yellow, and red boxes outlining distant objects and points of interest. But on the top-right edge of the viewscreen she noticed a blue arrow with the word, destination, flashing beneath. A hand squeezed her shoulder, pulling her gaze to Tiana, who stared at her with desperate eyes. Nodding while forcing a reassuring smile, she turned back to her task, trying to steady her trembling hands.

  She tilted the sphere towards the upper right, causing the ferry shuttle to move in unison. The arrow became a circle, which floated directly past the center of the viewscreen only to vanish to the bottom l
eft, turning back into an arrow.

  “You can do this Sasha,” she whispered, angling the sphere back to the lower left. The shuttle responded immediately, angling to the lower left as the arrow again became the circular reticule and once again started moving past the center of the viewscreen. At the same moment, she rotated the sphere to the top right, trying to stop the shuttles from overshooting, but caused the reticule to fly back to the bottom left to turn back into an arrow. She grunted her frustration and tried again.

  Her failed attempts at leveling the shuttle mounted, making it undulate back and forth like a wave. Though with each attempt, Sasha started to gain a feel for how the ferry shuttle would react to the movements of the control sphere. Gradually, the wave became smaller and smaller until finally, the viewscreen steadied dead center on the circular reticule.

  “Automated flight locked,” Vin confirmed as the control sphere vanished. “Preparing for high-speed acceleration, NSD field active, GM field steady, NSD Propulsion coming online.” Vin continued.

  “Wait! What about the crew, did they get out safe?” Sasha asked as the adrenaline from trying to level the ferry shuttle began to fade. Silence filled the cabin and she looked to Tiana, seeing the color return to the young girls face, but fear still present in her bloodshot eyes.

  She was about to ask again, fearing the worst, when an alarm sounded, the interior of the shuttle flashing yellow as the shuttle began shaking violently from a gravitational shockwave that could only have only been caused by the destruction of the ABF Princess One. Her first gift from her parents...gone forever.

  Tears crept into her eyes, born of her failure. She knew it was her fault. That in her ignorance she allowed those who meant her harm into her inner sanctum. Before the thoughts could take over, she pushed them aside...this isn’t the time.

  “Emergency escape shuttle detached safely, all crew and guards aboard. Propulsion damage has been reported and high-speed travel is currently inadvisable. Knight Admiral Bhool requests that we continue to the TSB Fleet Base and report their location upon arrival for retrieval,” Sasha let her face fall into her hands with a relieved sigh, while Regalia and Gil'Da screamed in joy. The tears she'd been holding back finally broke free, gushing down her cheeks as she climbed out of her seat into the arms of Tiana, who returned her hug and tears.

  “Entering high-speed flight, time to destination, 11 hours, 91 minutes,” Vin's voice faded in the cacophony of tears.

  *********

  The third day of simulated combat ended as uneventful as it began and Daniel once again stumbled back to his quarters on the TSB Ero'Cia. The exercises and simulations seemed endless as the fleet slowly made its way to their standby location just outside Neptune's orbit.

  Initially, the simulations appeared more like readiness drills for an upcoming fleet battle, being centered around the TSB fighting traditional NHA fleet formation that were attempting to invade the Earth star system. But the last few exercises had changed, concentrating on offensive battles against ASU fleets, and support missions for NHA battle groups. Daniel found it odd, and had again began to question his original belief that this was a move to counter Sir Simwa allies, and not just a regular exercise

  Captain Aysi had returned shortly after the first simulation a few days prior, and following a full after-action debrief, started preparing the crew for additional combat simulations that were planned during the command meeting. Of course, Daniel wasn't left out of the fun, having spent hours being lectured by the captain on what was expected of him as the primary tactical officer, then spending his rare off-hour's reviewing known EW markers. It'd been a long, stressful three days, and he was ready for sleep.

  He let his uniform fall to the floor before the door slid shut and collapsed onto his bed, the sweet embrace of sleep overtaking him the moment his eyes fell closed.

  He awoke as the battle stations alarm blared, seeming to emanate directly from his skull. A groan escaped his lips as he rolled over, still feeling as if his head had just hit the pillow, but found his chrono stating that two hours had indeed passed. He stumbled to his feet and pulled on his wrinkly uniform before exiting into the bustling corridor to make his way to the bridge.

  Captain Aysi and Executive Officer Geoff were already at their posts when he arrived. The captain had the distant expression of being “node locked”, so XO Geoff nodded a greeting as he entered, his expression unreadable.

  “Get to your station and switch to combat mode, Lieutenant, the unlock codes should be waiting. Then check your station link with battle group command and verify that your array crews are ready.” Daniel froze while his mind registered what he'd just heard, the last thread of drowsiness vanishing when he did.

  “Yes, sir,” he responded, running to his station. His hands trembled as he touched the standby icon hovering over the tactical stations PDU, causing the tactical display to appear before him. He quickly entered the authorization code to go to full combat mode, then queued a test link to battle group command, receiving an immediate affirmative, his system was linked and ready.

  As he sent readiness queries to each of his LPA crews, the rest of the bridge officers began arriving. Every officer paused when they heard XO Geoff’s orders, before rushing, white faced, to their stations.

  Daniel cursed under his breath as he received retransmit requests from most of his groggy weapon crews. They seemed to be under the impression that the orders to go to full combat readiness had been a mistake. He started keying his response and confirmations, cursing again at his lackadaisical crews, when XO Geoff, having overheard his muttered curses, moved to his side and glanced over his shoulder. He leaned in and hit a few icons on the three-dimensional input, causing a sub note to be added to his message, signed XO. The confirmation requests ceased and reports of full readiness began taking their place, except for point defense LPA 20, which was failing to deploy. They returned an estimate of 30 minutes to full operation.

  “Station status. Communications!” the captain shouted, the bridge CID shifting from local space to the full star system view.

  “Online, Captain,” Lt.-Commander Xi reported through the bridge’s closed communication channel, linked to the combat PDU every bridge officer wore over their ear.

  “Good, engineering?” The Captain decided to use the com channel as well, giving up her attempt at yelling her orders, which as every bridge officer knew, wouldn't last.

  “NSD running at 102 percent, Captain. ESS ready to deploy.” Lieutenant Pablo reported.

  “Get that up to 105 percent, Lieutenant! You never know when we'll need the extra power. Eyes!” As expected, the captain started shouting again.

  “Active and reading clean!” stated Lieutenant Howe, the sensor operator.

  “Superb, Ghost!” she turned to the EW officer.

  “All active and passive EW systems ready to deploy, ma’am,” responded Lieutenant Zara.

  “Fantastic! Helm!” Her voice kept getting louder.

  “Locked in, ma'am. Awaiting destination!” Commander Rew'Da responded with an equally excited bellow.

  “Excellent! Tactical!” she stared at Daniel, eyes full of expectation.

  “Point Defense LPA 20 is currently inoperable...estimate 30 minutes for full readiness. All other weapon systems report green.” He knew the response before she voiced it, already keying the message to the responsible array crew.

  “I want it back online in 10!” the captain bellowed. “Communications, open a channel to the crew,” then went back to using the bridge’s closed com.

  “Yes, Captain......patching you through now,” responded the always composed Lt.-Commander Xi. Daniel felt his own tension increase with every breath, his mind racing as he studied the tactical display, still showing only the eight TSB battle groups and roaming EW frigates. It was a formidable sight, but he knew it was nothing in comparison to what they might be forced to face.

  “Attention crew of the TSB Ero'Cia. Today we embark on a journey, a journey to exe
cute our sacred duty. A fleet of seven Hulk'Zif Battle Fleet battle groups, which shall be referred to as the HZBF invasion fleet, have appeared at the edge of the Earth star system. We have known for days of their presence, and have been watching silently while we prepared, waiting for them to make their move...that time has come.

  “A skirmish has just been detected between an HZBF patrol and a starship of the Alutia Duchy, who many of you may have already heard, has been assigned responsibility over the special protectorate of Earth,” she paused, glancing in Daniel's direction. He stiffened, recalling his misspoken words on the shuttle that had spread even to the ears of Captain Aysi, “preliminary sensor reports indicate that the Alutia starship was destroyed, and records indicate it was none other than the NHA Shuttle ABF Princess One, the private starship of the Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia, ruler of the Alutia Duchy and daughter of our king,” a muffled gasp escaped from the far side of the bridge.

  Daniel, on the other hand, couldn’t help but grin, knowing if the Princess Sasha had indeed died in the attack, the king would not allow Duke Zehman go unpunished, perhaps deploying his enormous King's Fleet to their aid. But that left the question of the emperor, who was notorious for showing up with his own fleets to remove offending nobles before any major civil wars could breakout. Minor skirmishes happened all the time, and if history held true, this battle would probably only show up as a small blip on the emperor's radar. Unless, of course, the king became involved and Duke Zehman, along with his allies, decided to resist...then the emperor might take the situation a bit more seriously.