The Sacred Stars (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 4)

by Kal Spriggs

“And excellent job to you, as well, Lieutenant Perkins. Lieutenant Commander Douglass will do the full after action review for your department, but I don't think he'll mind me telling you that you had a ninety percent hit rate against the enemy ships.”

  Alannis's eyes went wide at that. The Academy taught that a seventy percent hit rate was the generally accepted standard of quality. An eighty percent hit rate in a full drill like they had participated in was noteworthy enough to receive commendation on an evaluation.

  The reasoning behind that was plain enough. Space was big. Fire Control officers had to hit small targets at incredible ranges with data that was often as much as fifteen seconds out of date by the time they applied it. They had enormous resources from targeting computers to stored profiles and even the best predictive software that the United Colonies could produce... but at the end of the day, it became more of an art than a science.

  Apparently Lieutenant Perkins had begun to master that art.

  “Now, before you both get inflated heads,” the XO growled, “there is still plenty of room for improvement. Your response time is barely acceptable and I don't want to get started with some of the maintenance issues I still keep seeing.”

  “Of course, sir,” Lieutenant Perkins said with a demure voice. “We'll get to work on those issues right away.”

  “Good,” the XO nodded. “See you at the after action review.”

  To Lieutenant Perkins' credit, he waited until the XO closed the hatch to spin, “Woohoo!” He crowed, “Ninety percent! Chief Petty Officer Dulleto, when we hit port, I'm buying drinks!”

  ***

  Hachiman Gu System

  The Shogunate

  September 9, 2407

  The Hachiman-Gu system was the central system of the Shogunate. Now an official star nation of its own, the Shogunate had been a collection of systems under the Colonial Republic... until their titular ruler had made his alliance official with the United Colonies and split off from the Colonial Republic.

  Alannis had read up on both the Shogunate and its leader. Hachiman-Gu was the capitol system, but it wasn't the only or even the most significant historical colony of the new nation. In fact, Dai Yamato was still the “spiritual” capital of the nation. That colony had been the first system settled by colonists from Old Earth's Japan. They'd brought with them one of their princes, who became their new Emperor... and after the sacking of Earth, he and his family became the spiritual leaders for the other Japanese colonies.

  Under the Colonial Republic, none of the systems had done well. All three of the core systems had been conquered at one time or another and the notorious infighting within the Colonial Republic had been particularly savage in that part of space.

  At some point, someone had brought in mercenaries to back their play for conquest and that was where things had actually improved. The mercenary commander had managed to handily defeat most of his opponents in battle and had talked his employer into allowing him to integrate those forces into an overall alliance. After the death of his employer, by all indications to natural causes, that mercenary commander had continued on to unify the entire region and had made it one of the more stable military sectors of the Colonial Republic.

  The Shogun had considerable military expertise and his notional allegiance to their Emperor brought him an air of legitimacy that the predominantly Japanese culture could respect.

  All that said, he was still a warlord. To say that her brother was entirely comfortable with the Shogun as an ally would be an overstatement.

  Alannis kept all that in mind as the Constellation's shuttle number two settled to the guest landing pad at Castle Yamamoto. She waited while the senior officers at the front of the shuttle stood. Captain Beeson's gaze went back along the compartment and seemed to zero in on her. “Princess, I believe you should be in the initial greeting party.”

  Crap, Alannis thought. She had wanted to avoid as much official attention as possible. That would have been far more likely as one more ensign. It wasn't likely at all as (Technically) Princess Alannis Giovanni.

  “Yes, sir,” Alannis said. She straightened her uniform once more and hurried up to the front of the shuttle to stand uncomfortably next to the XO. She knew how to do the noblewoman routine. She knew how to do the junior officer role in an official function. Mixing the two was something new for her. Might as well pick it up, she thought, it'll be a fixture of my life for the foreseeable future.

  Captain Beeson led the way down the ramp. A set of officials guided them off the pad and directly into a gathering hall inside Castle Yamamoto.

  A small host of Shogunate officers and notables awaited them. Alannis recognized the Shogun himself fairly quickly. He had a sort of electric charisma about him and she could see almost instantly how all of his officers seemed to move in relation to him. He's definitely got presence, she thought.

  “Presenting Captain Daniel Beeson,” someone announced as they entered. “Commander of the UCS Constellation.”

  The Shogun greeted her Captain with a handshake and a polite bow. They also spoke briefly, but in the crowd, Alannis couldn't make out what was said.

  “Commander Bowder, Executive Officer for the UCS Constellation.”

  Alannis felt her heart race a bit as the XO went forward. Here she was, nervous as she never had been as a noble. Then again, Lucius had always been the Baron... and they had both always been social pariahs to the rest of Nova Roma's nobility. Their family's estates had passed on to her when Lucius accepted the title of Emperor of Nova Roma. When the United Colonies Parliment had ratified that promotion, he'd become the Emperor of the United Colonies as well.

  Now here I am, sister to the Emperor of the most powerful human nation in space, she thought to herself. Don't screw this up, she thought.

  “Princess Alannis Giovanni,” the voice announced.

  She stepped forward and very nearly tripped over her feet. She managed to extend her hand for the Shogun to shake in a motion that felt robotic.

  “I always hate these formal functions,” the Shogun said in a cultured voice, with no trace of the accent she had expected. “I live in constant fear that I'll have to scratch my nose at the wrong time and start a war.”

  That startled a smile out of her. “Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

  “The pleasure is all mine,” the Shogun replied. “Given the Baron's... I'm sorry, your Emperor's military career, I expect much of you, Madam.” He gave her a slight bow and then, without realizing it, Alannis had been passed off to the next notable in the receiving line.

  After what seemed like several hundred handshakes later, she found herself near the bar and sipping at a drink she didn't remember taking.

  “Quite the presence, eh?” A familiar voice spoke up. Alannis looked up and saw Lieutenant Perkins had worked his way through the crowd. His scarecrow frame should have looked ridiculous in the formal dress uniform, but he actually cut quite the sharp figure. I shouldn't notice that about my superior, she told herself.

  She distracted herself by looking at his awards. She blinked a bit at both the variety and number. As a Lieutenant, she wouldn't have expected him to have quite the display that he did. He quirked a smile as he caught her gaze. “Comparing medals is a long and storied tradition,” he said reassuringly.

  One of the Shogunate officers nearby spoke up, “Greetings, I am Kaigun Motogami. I do not wish to interrupt, but I heard you discussing awards, and I wondered if I might ask questions?”

  “Of course, sir,” Lieutenant Perkins said. He'd picked out that Kaigun was the equivalent rank of Captain. “We're all here to socialize and familiarize ourselves with one another.” He gave a friendly smile, “We're allies, after all.”

  “Yes, of course,” Kaigun Motogami responded. He looked between them, “I understand that both of you are rather junior officers, yet you both have numerous medals. Are these... I am sorry, the word I think is: peace time awards?”

  “Well,” Lieutenant Perkins said, “something I
should probably explain is that the United Colonies Fleet has personnel from four major nations as well as a dozen minor colonies.” He glanced at Alannis, “Ensign Alannis comes from Nova Roma, and while she never served under the Nova Roma Empire, we have many personnel who did. Then there are others like our Executive Officer who served under Amalgamated Worlds Fleet.” He shrugged, “I served in the reserves for the Saragossa Defense Forces. So to be honest, we have a variety of peace and wartime awards, some of which I honestly don't even recognize.”

  “Ah,” Kaigun Motogami nodded, “I had noticed a large variety and that puzzled me, we have only a small number of awards.”

  “Right,” Lieutenant Perkins said. He pointed at his own awards, “The United Colonies is headed that way, but we still want those who have earned awards with their former nations to be able to wear them with pride... so we have a variety. Generally combat awards, regardless of origin nation, are above peacetime awards. Something we also do is present awards for unique campaigns. For instance, I have a Liberation of Nova Roma medal, since I was present during combat operations to free the system.” Lieutenant Perkins pointed at the award, one of the highest, Alannis noticed.

  “I see,” Kaigun Motogami said with a nod. “A fierce fight, I understand. Tell me, what is the one above it?”

  “Oh,” Lieutenant Perkins flushed, “that's the award for the Battle of Melcer Station... with a star for valor.”

  “Apologies, I have not heard of this battle,” Kaigun Motogami said. The crowd of Shogunate officers had grown and Alannis saw attention on their faces. Evidently war stories got a lot of attention around here. “You seem junior in rank to have seen so many battles.”

  “Well,” Lieutenant Perkins turned deeper red, “I was actually not a member of the Fleet during the battle. I was a prisoner, aboard a Chxor mining ship.”

  “I have heard of these ships,” another Shogunate officer said with a nod. “They are small, poorly equipped, yes?”

  “Right,” Lieutenant Perkins said. “A small mining laser and a tractor beam. No defense screen, a fusion drive, and enough environmental equipment so you don't quite suffocate.”

  “You survived during the battle to receive this award, then?”

  “Well...” Lieutenant Perkins shrugged, “I commanded the mining ship and led a squadron of them to attack the Chxor dreadnought squadron when the Baron, that is, the Emperor, attacked the system.” He looked more than a little self-conscious. “I tractored an asteroid along a collision course with a Chxor Ten-class Dreadnought.”

  “You...” Kaigun Motogomi seemed uncertain if he had heard correctly.

  Alannis herself wasn't certain that the Lieutenant was being quite honest. “Sir, how exactly did that work out?”

  “Oh, I destroyed the dreadnought. The collision was at high enough speeds that the entire ship disintegrated.” His face turned grim, “And the Chxor fired at my vessel and the other rebellious slave miners. There were a dozen ships and around thirteen hundred personnel... and only thirty-nine of us survived.”

  Kaigun Motogomi nodded at Ensign Ashtar Shan who had come to join the group, “And you... Ensign? What of your awards?”

  She pointed at her awards, “These three awards are for combat service on three separate occasions. All three were ground combat, two against terrorist groups on Tehran and the third against one of the Chxor command centers during the liberation of my planet.”

  The Shogunate officers seemed surprised. One of them turned to Alannis, “And you?”

  “I only have two campaign awards,” Alannis said cautiously. In fact, she felt embarrassed to mention them. “I obtained the first as a civilian during my part in the escape from Nova Roma. I piloted Emperor Romulus IV's shuttle and then piloted a destroyer out of the system while we took fire from the Chxor task forces and defense stations.” She cleared her throat, “The second was during the Dreyfus Coup,” she pointed at that award, “I piloted an assault shuttle during the counterattack, while I was still a cadet. Admiral Dreyfus had nominal control over many of the ships and he ordered them to fire on the attacking shuttles.”

  “I see,” Kaigun Motogomi said. He set his drink down on the bar and then pointed at one of his ribbons, “This is my combat decoration, my unit and I encountered a small pirate force last year where we engaged and destroyed them.”

  His voice seemed subdued. Alannis hoped that she and the other United Colonies officers hadn't dreadfully offended him or the other Shogunate officers.

  “It seems that some of the stories we have heard of your battles are not exaggerations,” Kaigun Motogomi said. “I give you praise, you all have the spirit of Samurai.”

  One of the older officers stepped forward and pressed a drink into Lieutenant Perkins' hands. “That means you are a true warrior!” Alannis didn't recognize the man's rank, but it was probably a fair guess that he was senior.

  “Thank you, sir,” Lieutenant Perkins said. He looked awkwardly down at the drink in his hand and managed a smile. That's right, she thought, he doesn't drink alcohol. He'd mentioned that before, but she didn't know his reasons. He probably didn't want to explain them in front of this crowd.

  Alannis lifted her own drink, “We have a toast, a military tradition. We drink for our absent companions, those who fought and died for the rest of us.” The officers around her stood a little straighter at her words. “To absent companions.”

  “To absent companions!” Over a dozen voices echoed her words.

  Alannis thought back to the men, women, and children who had died during the escape from Nova Roma. She thought of the classmates who had died during the Dreyfus Coup... and about the many, many men and women who had perished fighting the Balor and the Chxor.

  Here's to hoping the fighting is past us, Alannis thought, though if she'd believed that, she wouldn't have volunteered. There were any number of threats still out there. The Chxor Empire had fallen apart but there were still warlords within who sought to conquer humanity. The Balor were still a threat too, for that matter, though Lucius's defeat of them had knocked them on the defensive.

  And there's plenty of humans who are perfectly willing to conquer their fellow man, she reminded herself. It was a rough universe... and Alannis wore the uniform to protect the people and ideals she cared about.

  ***

  “Ladies and Gentlemen,” the Shogun said, his voice amplified to reach the entire chamber. “Today we are gathered to celebrate our alliance. Already we have received a dozen ships and now our allies have gifted us with the technology to build advanced ships of our own. With this, we will finally rise...”

  He trailed off and Alannis noticed him cock his head, his eyes going narrow. She couldn't make out an earbud, but she would guess he had one, either that or a comm implant.

  A moment later she saw Captain Beeson look down at his comm. When he looked up, he signaled his officers towards the doors.

  “It seems we have some uninvited guests,” the Shogun said. His officers had begun to move quickly towards the doors as well. The Shogun's face had a grim expression, as if the news he had received was not favorable. Shadow Lords or something equally bad? That was one of the concerns with the technology transfer: that someone powerful would attempt to seize it and the engineers here to train the Shogun's people in its use.

  Alannis fell in beside Lieutenant Perkins as the officers from the Constellation gathered just by the ramp to their shuttle. “Commander Gantry of the Regent reports that a battlecruiser just arrived in the system,” Captain Beeson said. “We don't yet have an identity on the class, but odds are that it is either of Centauri Confederation or sent here by the Shadow Lords.”

  The entire group went quiet at that. President Spiridon of the Centauri Confederation wasn't actively hostile to the United Colonies, but that was only because he didn't have enough popular support yet for an active war. In Confederation space his ships constantly harassed United Colonies merchant ships and there was a travel ban for all United Colonies
military personnel.

  Outside of the United Colonies, the Centauri Confederation had the best level of technology in human space. That edge was something that President Spiridon would be eager to erode... and this tech shipment would do just that for him.

  The Shadow Lords would be even worse, Alannis thought to herself. Powerful psychics who acted as pirates and warlords, the Shadow Lords had looted entire star systems. They seemed to hate what her brother had built and there had been considerable probing from them over the past couple years.

  “It isn't safe to launch the shuttle just yet, their ship might be able to shoot us down. As soon as the Shogunate launches their shuttles, we'll slip up there with them. In the meantime, I want everyone on-board and ready to go. Once we reach the Constellation, I want every one of you to move straight to your stations and ready for battle.”

  “Yes, sir!” they rumbled back.

  Captain Beeson nodded at that and Alannis saw him smile. “Good. Now, get ready!”

  They rushed to their seats, just as the first Shogunate shuttle took off in a roar.

  ***

  Chapter IV

  Hachiman-Gu System

  The Shogunate

  September 5, 2407

  Alannis rushed to her console even as she stuffed herself into her ship's suit. She tried not to think about the damage her formal dress uniform had taken when she'd ripped it off and thrown it on the floor in her quarters in her hurry to ready herself.

  “Status?” Alannis asked as she strapped herself in.

  “Lieutenant Commander Douglass has us at weapon's ready but no orders to fire, Ma’am,” Petty Officer Muna said. “Word is that the ship hasn't moved since it arrived.”

  She forced herself to think and to take everything in as she looked over her displays. The flat screens had some depth to them, but nowhere near the capabilities of a larger terminal. That was mostly to save space, she knew.

  Still, she could read the tactical situation well enough. The Shogunate Fleet had marshaled a substantial in response to the interloper. She counted at least seven of the old Independence-class cruisers and at least fifteen destroyers, along with four of the new Katana-class frigates that the United Colonies had sold them.