Polaris Rising

by Jessie Mihalik

  “I’m not surprised,” Rhys said. “It wasn’t exactly the highlight of either of our lives.”

  I put two and two together and came up with seven. Still, I couldn’t resist testing my theory. “You were at Fornax,” I said. Another realization struck when he didn’t deny it. “You’re part of the missing squad.”

  Rhys nodded once. The world tilted, then snapped back into a strange new form. The Consortium blamed Marcus for the death of his commanding officers and the unit with him. But the bodies of his squad had never been recovered, supposedly burned to dust in a massive explosion.

  “There were eight of us,” Rhys said. “Loch was our squad leader. He bought our freedom with his.”

  I frowned at the phrasing. “What do you mean?”

  Rhys’s grin was sly. “You’ll have to ask him.”

  “In that case, I’ll go to my grave never knowing,” I said. “He’s decided I no longer exist. I’d have better luck questioning the door.”

  “You were both fine this morning. What happened?” he asked.

  “I happened,” I said with a sigh. “I freaked out because he appeared to be sticking around and my relationship experience thus far has been shit. He was too angry to understand my concerns, so we fought. And now I am persona non grata.”

  “Do you want him to stick around?” Rhys asked.

  “Yes,” I said, “and that’s the problem. How do I know he’s sticking around for me and not because I’m a von Hasenberg?”

  “Loch can be as manipulative and conniving as they come,” Rhys said. He held up a hand to prevent me from interrupting. “But he’s also one of the most honorable men I know. And honorable men don’t take advantage of women, no matter what their name is.” He paused and gave me a hard stare. “And honorable women don’t pursue a relationship they have no intention of committing to. Get your head straight.”

  I nodded my understanding. “Thank you, Rhys.”

  “If you need an opening, ask him about the Genesis Project.” He stood. “Tell him I told you to.” With those cryptic words, he left.

  I tried searching for anything related to the Genesis Project but we were too far from a net node to get live data, so I had to make do with the cache on the ship’s computer. Nothing came up, but it was hard to target such a generic search term.

  Rhys knew me well. The curiosity would eat me alive until I had to talk to Loch. It was a genius plan on Rhys’s part, but I vowed to hold off as long as I could because he was also right that I needed to get my head straight.

  A glance at the commander’s console showed our orbit had covered 75 percent of the planet’s surface. I decided to wait to jump until the ship scanned the final 25 percent. It was unlikely anything would be found, but if I didn’t know for sure, I’d wonder about it later on.

  I drifted in the realm between awake and asleep until the gentle beeping of the ship’s alarm pulled me fully alert. The planet’s entire surface had been scanned and no life-forms were found. No radio transmissions or signs of human settlement were found, either. As far as the ship was concerned, nothing man-made existed on this planet.

  The feeling of defeat was unexpected. I’d known this planet was a long shot, but subconsciously I must’ve been hoping to find something that would allow me to stop here. Without that find, I had to move on to more dangerous waters and drag the rest of my passengers along with me.

  The door slid open again and Lin’s excited chatter entered with him. He went silent when he caught sight of the planet through the window. Veronica nudged him forward.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” she said, “but this is his first space voyage. Rhys said we were over a planet, so I hoped it would be okay for Lin to look.”

  “Of course it’s okay. I’m sorry, I should’ve offered. Lin, if you’d like to sit in the navigator’s chair, I’ll stream over the data we’re getting from the planet.”

  He looked at me with wide eyes, then a grin split his face. He looked up to his mama for permission and she nodded solemnly at him. She smiled when he turned and raced to the chair. I duplicated my display on his console but locked him out of input.

  Veronica came to stand on my left while Lin marveled at the console and window in turns. “How are you?” she asked quietly.

  The simple, genuine concern almost unraveled me. “I’ve been better,” I allowed. “But I’ve been worse, too.”

  “I know we are not close, but if you need to talk,” she said, “I’ve been told I am a good listener.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “Same thing goes for you. And if Loch bothers you or if you decide you’re done with Rhys and he won’t take a hint, definitely let me know.”

  Color rose on her face. “I don’t think that is going to be a problem,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see Rhys again, but now that he’s here . . .” She trailed off, her expression going warm and distant. She had it bad, but from the heated glances Rhys had been throwing her at dinner, he was in the same boat. Maybe she’d end up settling down after all.

  While I continued on alone.

  I turned back to my console to hide the pain I couldn’t keep off of my face. I knew it was better that everyone was getting settled, especially if House von Hasenberg was going to war, but I envied her future.

  Sensitive to my mood, Veronica called Lin away from the navigator’s chair. “Time for bed, pumpkin,” she said.

  He cast one more awed glance out the window then moved to her side. “Thank you, Lady Ada, for letting me visit,” he said in carefully formal tones.

  “You are welcome to come back anytime,” I said. “When we have more time, I can teach you about the various console displays.”

  Joy suffused his face, so bright I had to smile back. “Thank you!” he said. Veronica mouthed the same words then ushered Lin out of the flight deck.

  I pulled up the list of reachable locations. Xi Antliae Dwarf Six, Rockhurst’s closest planet in this sector, was first on the list. Two more Rockhurst planets and the gate completed the main list.

  I could dig deeper to find planets without human occupation, but most of the time pilots never bothered unless they were specifically looking for a place to disappear or had a dire emergency. Most of those planets were unsettled because they were inhospitable to life.

  I plotted our course to XAD Six, then, in an abundance of caution, plotted the continuing jump to the gate. I needed to be sure we would only be stuck in Rockhurst territory for a little over an hour.

  A red warning flashed on-screen: insufficient alcubium. The second jump required a six-hour cooldown. I plotted a third jump. The same warning appeared and the third jump required a forty-eight-hour cooldown.

  My pulse quickened. I’d never heard of alcubium, but it seemed to be responsible for the faster FTL jumps. Originally, I’d thought House Rockhurst was mining a resource needed to manufacture the faster FTL drives. But if alcubium was instead used on a per-jump basis, Rockhurst would absolutely go to war to corner the market on it.

  I checked the ship’s manifest, but alcubium was not listed. Did we not have any extra? I looked more closely, checking each line against what was normal. I found the most likely option buried deep in the engineering section: a hundred units of copper. It wasn’t strange enough to raise flags, but with synthesizers on board, ships usually didn’t carry raw minerals.

  I would have to go down to the engine room and look for it, but for now I needed to see if I could disable the faster jump. If I could disable it now, I’d wait the six hours and save the fast jump until we needed to leave Rockhurst’s territory. Plus, even if we had extra, Father’s scientists would need as much alcubium as I could provide to figure out how the drive worked.

  It took twenty minutes of persistent poking through the ship’s various settings, but I finally figured out how to turn off the alcubium drive and rely on the standard FTL for our next jump. The cooldown had started after our previous jump, but even so, we had over four hours to wait until we could jump again. />
  I could’ve spent the time sleeping, but I was trying to be a little more productive. And it was possible I didn’t want to be alone with only my thoughts for company.

  I knew just enough about FTL drives and ship engines to get myself into trouble, so it was with some trepidation that I breached the maintenance tunnels. But the alcubium wasn’t going to find itself and if I needed it resupplied in a hurry, I had to know how to do it.

  The maintenance tunnels were narrow and warmer than the rest of the ship, but they were spotlessly clean and perfectly illuminated. I wondered if Richard had even used this ship before he came after me. Perhaps it had been kept in the Santa Celestia’s hangar to use as an escape ship. Or maybe Richard was testing it as a prototype. That would be best because if their entire fleet was already equipped with fast FTL drives, they would slaughter us if it came to war.

  The maintenance tunnel ended in a ladder down and a crawl space that continued on. Luckily, I’d retrieved the smart glasses Veronica had procured for me on TSD Nine. “Polaris, show me a map of the ship and my current location.”

  The map overlaid the display of my glasses, automatically oriented in the direction I faced. The crawl space led to several life-support systems, but the ladder led down to the engine compartment. I waved the map away and slid down the ladder.

  A couple meters farther on, the narrow tunnel widened into a workshop. Lined in cabinets with pristine plastech counters, it looked brand-new. Neither dirt nor grease had the audacity to cling to a single surface. A large industrial synthesizer took up most of the far wall, while a sizable lift platform in the floor could be raised through the doors in the ceiling to retrieve parts directly from the cargo bay overhead.

  Two wide catwalks led toward the back of the ship, flanking the FTL drive. Ladders linked to catwalks above and below this main level, allowing all parts of the drive to be accessed. Mostly self-contained, FTL drives had very few parts that could be swapped while in space. But if something did go wrong, the whole damn thing had to be taken apart, so the walkways were a necessary evil.

  Another wide tunnel led off to the main engine. Used to power the ship’s life-support systems as well as the traditional propulsion, it, too, was a highly contained, redundantly backed-up system. Engine troubles were rare unless you got in a pissing contest with someone who shot holes in your hull. And then you generally had bigger problems.

  So if I was going to hide a secret material needed for the FTL drive, where would I hide it? I spun around slowly, looking at all of the cabinets. The problem was that I had no idea how big a hundred units was, since the units weren’t specified. It could be a spoonful or a roomful.

  I decided to look for where it interfaced with the drive, because that would give me an idea of its size. “Polaris, show me the manual entry for alcubium replacement.”

  The technical document showed up on my glasses, complete with detailed diagrams. I tilted my head, trying to decipher what it was showing me.

  “What are you doing?” Loch asked from behind me.

  “Ah!” I spun and pressed a hand to my heart. I hadn’t heard him at all, even on the metal floors, and he’d scared the bejeezus out of me. I breathed through the adrenaline spike. “I’m looking for the secret FTL drive,” I said when I was sure my voice would be steady. “Did you need something?”

  He looked the same, like we hadn’t just stomped all over each other’s feelings. He didn’t even look any worse for wear, the bastard.

  He shrugged. “Saw you come down here. Since we haven’t jumped yet, I figured I’d see if the drive was damaged.”

  I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to see past my hurt and judge him fairly. He’d come this far. Maybe he would betray me the second the opportunity presented itself, but he deserved the truth, or at least part of it. “The drive seems to use a specific resource. Supposedly there are a hundred units stashed somewhere on board. I’m reading the manual, trying to find where it is, because we only have one fast jump left. That’s why we haven’t jumped, I’m waiting out a standard FTL cooldown.”

  “You want to be able to jump out of Rockhurst space quickly,” he said.

  I nodded and went back to the document. It seemed to be showing the right side of the FTL. I started down the catwalk, looking for anything that resembled the diagram. I found it about a quarter of the way down: a small, round hatch marked alc with an inset handle. To access the hatch, the diagram indicated rotating the handle ninety degrees left and then pulling out a cylindrical container.

  I read the rest of the instructions. The drive needed to be put in standby before the hatch would open and allow access to the alcubium. When I returned to the control panel in the workshop, Loch still lounged against the wall of the tunnel leading to the main part of the ship.

  He didn’t look threatening exactly, but there was something off about his stance. I still had both blasters and my necklace and cuff, so I pushed away the fear. If he tried to take me, he’d come out sorry.

  I put the FTL drive in manual standby then returned to the alcubium hatch. I reread the instructions, then turned the hatch handle ninety degrees and pulled. An illuminated plastech cylinder a little less than a meter long slid from the hole. Nestled inside was a smaller cylinder filled less than a quarter with a glowing, viscous pink fluid.

  That seemed . . . bad.

  “Polaris, is this stuff radioactive?”

  “Minimal levels of radiation detected. Levels remain well below the safety threshold for humans.”

  Well, that was a relief. My nanobots could probably handle some radiation damage, as long as it wasn’t extreme, but I didn’t relish the thought of testing their capability.

  I slid the alcubium container back into place and locked it in, then returned the FTL drive to active. Now I just had to find a meter-long tube of glowing pink liquid. No problem.

  It took another consultation of the manual, but I finally found the locked cabinet where the spare containers were stored, in the wall across the catwalk from the hatch. It had room for ten cylinders, but currently held only one faintly glowing pink tube.

  This setup, more than anything else I’d seen so far, indicated that this was a prototype ship. In a fully functional production model, the entire process would be automated. Either this was an early model and they’d moved to automation in newer models, or they were not as far along in production as I feared.

  One thing was clear: if alcubium tubes were being manufactured on XAD Six or Seven, I had a duty to my House to try to secure as many as possible. Of course, if I got blown up in the process, that would be counterproductive, so I’d have to weigh the risks once I saw what sort of defense they had.

  When I returned to the workshop, Loch still hadn’t moved. I’d have to squeeze by him to return to the passenger section of the ship. “Did you need something else?” I asked from across the room. “Or did Rhys talk to you, tell you what he told me? I wasn’t planning to ask you about it, if that’s what has you worried.”

  He straightened and narrowed his eyes. “What did he say?”

  “He said a lot of things, actually. He is still speaking to me.” It was a mistake to expose the wound, but I couldn’t help myself. “He was meddling, trying to use my curiosity against me.” I waved a negligent hand. “He knows me too well.”

  That barb struck home. I watched Loch’s expression turn furious before being wiped clean. “That fucker needs to keep his mouth shut and stay out of my business,” he growled.

  I sighed, abruptly bone-weary with the whole thing. “Look, I’m sorry about the things I said, and I’m sorry Rhys is meddling. If you want to talk about your past, I’m here. If not, that’s fine, too. In a few more days we can each go our own way and that’ll be that. Can we at least try to be civil until then?”

  Loch’s expression was inscrutable, but finally he nodded once.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Now I need to get back to the flight deck and see if this heap has any offensive ability befor
e I decide to do something potentially stupid.” I slid past him, careful not to touch. Loch followed me back to the passenger area, silent as a ghost.

  It did not escape my notice that he had not apologized.

  Chapter 19

  The deeper I dug into Polaris’s systems, the more I fell in love. House Rockhurst had spared no expense. Not only did it have the offensive and defensive prowess of a small corvette-class warship, but it also had exceptional stealth and cloaking ability.

  I knew House von Hasenberg had ships that could match it—at least, if you took out the alcubium FTL drive—but I’d never captained one. It would be hard to turn Polaris over and let our scientists dismantle it. During negotiations, I would have to ensure that I received the ship back in perfect working order—or that I received an early prototype to match it. Father would love that.

  I catnapped as I waited for the FTL drive to cool down. It was strange how quickly I’d gotten accustomed to fast jumps and how waiting six hours—a very short wait by conventional standards—was agony. It was no wonder House Rockhurst was willing to go to war to corner this market. They’d make enough money to buy the rest of the Houses.

  Once the drive was nearly ready, I sent an announcement over the intercom. “We’re getting ready to jump into Rockhurst space. We’re going in cloaked, but things may get rocky. You have fifteen minutes to secure loose objects and yourself. I’ll sound a warning at one minute. Let me know if you need more time.”

  I started a countdown on my com and went to check my quarters. Hopefully the ship’s compensators would counteract any maneuvers we had to make, but it wasn’t always guaranteed, especially if we had to fight. Nothing that I’d left out would take damage from falling, but I went ahead and put away my clothes and bag.

  By the time I returned to the flight deck, Rhys and Loch were seated in the navigation and tactical stations, respectively. I dropped into the commander’s station and clicked in the harness. The timer went off, and I sounded the one-minute alarm.