Francescan War Chronicles 1: Space Knight Denxeiter

by C. K. Pershing

  “That’s fine. You must be part of Admiral Kesh’s fleet. The Tannhauser is also here,” Lenz responded with a magnanimous note in his voice that annoyed Feln.

  “Nice of him to remember us,” Larkin said under her breath. She shared a glance with Feln and he nodded.

  “I see you’ve brought something with you,” Lenz went on.

  “Yes, this is a gift,” the voice said. Feln could feel Aaltskog shift and looked down at her. Her hair was pulled back in front of her eyes and she was looking past Feln at the group of ships on screen.

  “A gift!” Lenz laughed. “Very good. You may bring it to the Uhlinder.”

  “Admiral, we all know there’s something wrong with this,” Feln said to Kesh.

  “Listen to the voice,” Aaltskog said. “He’s speaking in a way that’s…off somehow.”

  “Maybe Lieutenant Commander Kendle is shellshocked,” Larkin offered.

  Kesh turned to one of the bridge crew, “Is there a Lieutenant Commander Kendle on the Bohcroo?”

  A moment later. “Yes sir. The captain is Commander Carm Elsin. Lieutenant Commander Kendle is the XO.”

  Kesh nodded. “Open a channel.” After receiving a signal from the communications officer, Kesh said, “This is Admiral Kesh of the Tannhauser, where is Commander Elsin?”

  Lenz’s image on the screen glowered. “What are you doing Admiral?”

  “My due diligence.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? I—”

  The voice cut in. “Commander Elsin is killed. I am in command of this vessel now.”

  “Who knows what these people have been through?” Lenz said. “Hell, they’re from your own fleet and you’re asking stupid questions instead of welcoming them.”

  Feln had enough. “Just listen to that voice! Who talks like that? ‘Is killed.’ Calling his own ship a ‘Francescan space ship’ like it’s something foreign. They’ve been compromised and you’re being stupid!”

  “You’re out of line,” Lenz seethed, apparently not paying attention to anything else Feln said. “Lord Handlen is a close friend of mine and he’ll hear about this. Even a Space Knight can’t—”

  “Silence!” Kesh hissed and Lenz’s mouth clamped shut. “Despite Captain Feln’s…lack of decorum, his point remains. Something is wrong here. I strongly recommend the new arrivals stay outside of the defense zone until we can be sure all is well.”

  Lenz’s face was red with fury. Feln stared back at him and then at the ships in question. “Admiral,” he continued gently. “I apologize for my words. But please, if you’ll look, those ships haven’t slowed down. It’s almost like they’re going to collide with our other ships no matter what we decide.”

  Lenz slowly turned to look at the ships. He took a deep breath and much to Feln’s shock said, “Perhaps you’re right. Okay, let’s be safe.”

  “Thank you sir,” Feln said with a bow. “This Space Knight humbly begs the Admiral’s forgiveness.”

  Lenz waved his hand absently as his expression showed that he was actually giving the ships a critical eye for the first time. Feln looked from Kesh to Larkin and finally at Aaltskog, who shrugged. Valisia said Lenz wasn’t a bad guy, just did things his own way. I guess she was right.

  “Lieutenant Kendle, we have noticed something odd in your demeanor and your ships haven’t slowed in their approach. Report.” Lenz said.

  “There is nothing to report. I command this vessel and the other vessels. We are bringing a gift. Let us through to give the gift.”

  After a moment, Lenz stiffened and shifted his communications to fleet wide. “Attention fleet, although we appear to have been joined by friendly ships, there is a good chance it’s a ruse from the enemy. All ships go to yellow alert and ready battle stations.” He turned back to the approaching ships who would have also heard his communication to the fleet.

  “Attention, Lieutenant Commander Kendle, you will stop your approach this instant and submit to scanning and a search. Only after that will you be allowed to rejoin the fleet. Do you understand?”

  The ships kept coming. Lenz glanced back at Feln and Kesh through his screen before saying, “This is your last warning. This fleet will destroy you unless you stop right now.” After another tense moment, Lenz’s expression grew resigned and he raised his hand. “Prepare to fire on my signal.”

  “Yes, we will stop,” the voice of Kendle said. “There is no need to destroy fellow Francescan ships.”

  “Ships are coming to a halt, sir,” one of the bridge crew said.

  “Very good,” Lenz said to the slowing ships. “We’ll get this sorted out soon enough. Hold your position and we’ll confirm when you may proceed.”

  “Yes,” the voice answered.

  Lenz shifted to a private line between the Uhlinder and Tannhauser. “Well, Admiral, any ideas?”

  “I believe we should send the Space Knights with an Alden escort to take sensor readings as best we can,” Kesh offered.

  “I see where you’re going,” Lenz said. “Send smaller craft in case our fleet has to open fire so there’s a lower chance of getting hit than if we send something larger like a cruiser. Okay, I concur.”

  “We can keep a medical ship a couple echelons inside the defensive ring to help once everything is clear,” Kesh said.

  “Also a good idea.” Lenz nodded, “Please proceed.”

  “Yes Admiral,” Kesh said and they both ended communications.

  “Well, that went better than I thought it would,” Larkin said. “I was afraid he’d let the whole thing go south just to keep his wounded pride intact.”

  Feln nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. I guess that’s why I said what I did…sorry about that by the way.”

  Kesh said, “Imperial Prerogative allowed you to say what needed to be said.”

  Aaltskog snickered. “Those Nonns say you have a sense of humor, Admiral. I think they may be right.”

  Kesh responded with a look that could best be described as serene innocence. Aaltskog’s mouth made a pfft before breaking into a squeal of laughter. The sound of her high, youthful laugh seemed to diffuse the massive ball of tension hanging in the air of the bridge. Larkin put her hands on her hips and dropped her head. It was only when he saw her shoulders moving up and down that Feln realized she was laughing quietly.

  “Did I say something funny?” Kesh asked.

  Aaltskog’s laughter grew louder and she howled, “You know you did sir!” She leapt out of his chair and the blanket, threw her arms around his neck, and gave him a kiss on the cheek saying quietly, “Thank you sir. I really needed that.”

  Kesh’s face was one of surprise, but quickly grew gentle as he lightly patted her back. “It was my pleasure.”

  “Hey sweetheart,” Feln called. When she turned to face him, he held up the blanket that had been covering her.

  She looked down at her naked body and up at Kesh. “Oh, heh heh, whoops!” She twirled away from Kesh and did a pirouette. Impishly, she said to Feln, “It’s not like you haven’t seen this before!” She struck a victorious pose before she skittered off the bridge, squealing with more laughter.

  Feln looked at Kesh and Larkin, embarrassed. The rest of the bridge crew made a point of studiously looking at their duty screens. “Uh, well, that…she’s… I’m so sorry.”

  Larkin said, “I think I speak for the Admiral when I say we’re just relieved to see her back to her old self. Just try to get her into some semblance of clothing soon. We already let her get away with murder on this ship when it comes to covering her body. Let’s not lower our standards even more.” She gave a slight smile and Feln’s horror at Aaltskog’s behavior turned to relief.

  “Yes, ma’am. Thank you ma’am. Sir. I’d better be going. Don’t want to keep Lieutenant Nonn and the others waiting.” He saluted and left the bridge to chase down Aaltskog.

  Chapter Twelve

  Feln and Aaltskog stopped off at her quarters to get some clothes. He was glad he had stopped to c
lean the place up on the way to the bridge. She threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and went back out the door.

  “No panties?” Feln asked.

  “No time for that!” she said cheerfully and skipped down the hall.

  He walked a little faster and caught up with her. “Are you okay? I mean really okay?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “It’s just, you know, them trying to take over your body. The Ancient Enemy. You praying. That’s some hardcore stuff there.”

  “I know. But like, I think once all the pieces started coming together and the minutes went by, I dunno…it made me feel better somehow. Like, I know that they’re evil and things are bad, but I feel like we’re shining a light on them and scary things aren’t as scary when you know more about them.”

  “So you’re not scared anymore?”

  “Oh, I’m terrified! Probably good I’m going commando cuz I feel like I’m gonna wet myself in terror at any moment.”

  “Thanks for the heads up.”

  “Don’t mention it. But anyway, yeah I’m scared! It’s just…different, you know? Like I went from ‘paralyzed-scared’ to ‘wetting-myself’ scared, which you know is an improvement.”

  Feln considered. “Is it? I’d think paralyzed would be better.”

  “No way! At least, with wetting myself, I can still move! Come on, it’s not that hard to figure out.”

  They walked again some more and entered the hangar.

  The chief walked up to them. “Captain, Little Miss. So close to the last battle, we couldn’t get everything patched, but Denxeiter’s pretty much ready to go. Just try not to stress the navigation deflector too much until we can really get it fixed. It’s holding together with chewing gum and bandaids and I don’t know how long it will last.”

  “All the crap flying around out there is already pretty bad,” Feln said.

  “Yes sir, but the deflector should be able to handle it. Barely. But flying body parts colliding with it…not so much.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Well, in conjunction with the deflector, try not to take too many hits with your shields, okay? They might pop suddenly if you’re not careful. But aside from that, I think you’re good.”

  “Got it. Thanks.” Feln launched his body up to Denxeiter’s cockpit, Aaltskog following.

  As he opened the hatch she stopped him. “Hey, we both know this is gonna go wrong. I don’t know if those people are being held hostage or what, but stay alert. Kendle sounds like someone purposely talking strangely to let us know something’s up. Maybe they have a gun to his head or something. But whatever’s happening, be careful!”

  “Of course,” he said. He kissed her forehead. Just kiss her lips, you jackass. “Hey, when I get back, we’ll have a long talk.”

  “Uh oh…”

  “No, it’s not…I don’t know. Don’t worry about it. But we need a talk.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So be careful and don’t do anything dangerous.”

  “Says the man about to fly out into space and check out a creepy ghost fleet.” She smirked.

  “You know it. But seriously, be good. We’ll get…us…figured out.”

  “Good.” She clung to him and said in a soft voice, “‘The Companion obeys and wishes the Space Knight a good hunt while achieving new heights of heroism’.” She looked up at him and pulled the hair from her eyes. He got lost in those bright purple eyes with white star designs as she earnestly said, “I’m so sorry for using that against you earlier. That wasn’t very nice of me. Sometimes I’m such a bitch.”

  “No, I think I needed to hear it. It took a while to penetrate my thick skull, but I think it was what I needed to hear.” He decided at that very moment that he would break it off with Katashka and only be with Aaltskog for the rest of his days. She belonged to him, but in many ways, he belonged to her even more. It had taken him entirely too long to realize it, but he finally understood he was hers body and soul.

  “Well, I just want you to know how much I love you,” she said. “And I love you so much that even if you need someone else to make you happy, I’ll still love you and won’t get in the way.”

  He scooped her up in his arms and kissed her. At first gently and then with the abandon of something that had been building up for years. She kissed him back with such pure honest love that he had to steady himself to keep from falling over. He hated to do it, but he had to pull himself away. “I really have to go.”

  She stared at him, tears of happiness in her eyes. “I know, it’s fine.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I have the strangest urge to tear your eyes out and eat them.” He laughed, but for some reason, something inside him felt like he was only half joking. As strangely bewitching as Achren’s Nymph eyes were, Aaltskog’s made them seem plain and dull in comparison.

  “Yeah, you and a few hundred Maass fanboys and girls.” She said with a sardonic smile. “But hey, if that’s your kink that’s been holding you back all these years, my eyes are yours.” Her eyes widened with mischief and…longing? Maybe… She stepped back. “Okay get going. I’ll catch you on the flip side!” She covered her eyes again and the spell was partially broken.

  “Yep,” he agreed. “See ya around.”

  She blew a kiss and leapt off Denxeiter’s chest. He turned to look at Denxeiter’s face, expecting the robot’s eyes to be staring at him but they weren’t. They were looking straight ahead.

  “Okay then,” Feln said agreeably and got in the cockpit.

  As he approached the Uhlinder, he saw Ganxeiter already hovering over the ship’s deck and a squadron of Aldens milling around. Valisia’s blue custom Alden was there too. Feln was embarrassed that he was always late thanks to his complicated relationship with Aaltskog.

  “Alright, let’s go,” he said to the group.

  As they headed away from the center or the fleet and toward the outer rim where the ships in question were, Katashka and Valisia flashed onto his screen.

  “Hey sorry I’m late…again,” he said.

  “No problem,” Katashka smiled. “Companion troubles?”

  “Kind of.” He filled the sisters in on what Aaltskog had been through, leaving off what happened in the hangar just before he launched. I’ll break it off with Katashka, but in the middle of a mission isn’t really the time.

  “That’s horrible!” Valisia said. “And honestly terrifying. Something trying to possess her, poor Aaltskog!”

  “It’s times like this that I’m glad I have a Companion who isn’t all that special,” Katashka said. “I think if any evil entity tried to possess Keith, they’d move on out of sheer boredom.”

  “Who was Keith’s creator?” Feln asked.

  “Professor Stein.”

  “Ah.”

  Katashka laughed. “That’s always the response: some monosyllabic grunt. Even peoples’ reactions to his creator are boring.”

  “Hey be nice. Keith’s a good guy. Dependable,” Valisia said.

  “‘Dependable’ is another term often used to describe Stein Companions. ‘Dependable’ doesn’t really elicit any excitement does it?”

  “She’s just mad that he won’t join her in a bunch of sexual gymnastics.” Valisia said conspiratorially.

  “Damn right!” Katashka said. “I mean, he’ll work in a pinch, but it’s pretty much the definition of having sex with a machine. And I don’t mean that in a good way, like ‘that guy’s a machine!’ I mean it like everything’s so mechanical and mundane. In and out, in and out, blah blah blah. I told him to talk dirty to spice it up and it was like, ‘I will stimulate your clitoris. Your breasts are firm. That’s good. Firm. You’re wet. Wet’s also good.’”

  Valisia laughed hard. “Oh you poor thing. The hard life of a Space Knight.”

  For his part, Feln was glad to see the two of them talking happily with each other. It was good they’d made up from earlier although he wasn’t sure when they did it since Valisia was now stationed
on the Tannhauser. Maybe they just had an easy rapport.

  “Hey Valisia, why are you here?” he asked. “Or I guess I mean, ‘how’?”

  “Admiral Kesh asked me to come along. I don’t know why, but I suppose he trusts my judgment even though we’ve really barely met. He told me to watch Lieutenant Hoff closely. I said one of Hoff’s own people would know him better than me, but he still wanted me to go.”

  “Hmm, well he might also trust your record. We’ve got some good pilots on the Tannhauser, but nobody really special…excluding yours truly of course.”

  “Of course,” the sisters chorused.

  Feln continued, “But you are a bit of a prodigy and you’ve got that hotshot Alden there. So maybe the admiral feels you’re the best person for a dangerous job no matter how familiar he is with you personally.”

  “Hopefully. I’d hate to disappoint him.” Valisia said.

  “Oh, enough of the false modesty.” Katashka laughed.

  “False modesty? You’d know all about that.”

  “What are you talking about? I have no modesty.”

  “Well that’s true.”

  “Okay, we’re here,” Feln interrupted them.

  They were approaching the outer rim of the fleet’s defensive sphere and Feln saw the medical ship there, waiting for the go-ahead to treat any wounded personnel they found. As they passed the cruisers and destroyers that made up the first line of defense, Feln felt safer seeing all of their gun ports open and shields up from being on yellow alert.

  Feln’s group slowly approached the newly arrived ships and the Aldens in the group flew out to meet his group. Hoff’s Alden gave a slight wave and Feln waved back with Denxeiter. He could make out a damaged communications array on Hoff’s machine, no doubt explaining the hand gestures.

  “So far so good,” Valisia said. “All the vital signs I’m able to pick up are…fairly normal. There’s something a little off. They’re all reading kind of hot, but I think it might be the interference causing it.”

  As they approached the Bohcroo, Kendle’s voice came over the comms. “Hello. We’re ready to join the fleet now.”