Francescan War Chronicles 1: Space Knight Denxeiter

by C. K. Pershing

  “Darling,” Feln whispered. “Let it go.”

  “This thing doesn't deserve to live,” Aaltskog growled.

  “I know. But won’t it be even better if she has to helplessly watch when we destroy the rest of her race? If you kill her now, you’re putting her out of her misery. Let it go. Then she’ll really suffer.”

  “Maybe…” Aaltskog said.

  The queen collapsed into a heap and the stars in Aaltskog’s eyes stopped spinning. With a slight toss of her head, her hair covered her eyes again. The rest of the group joined them, as did members of the two specialist corps.

  “What happened?” Siegfried asked. “Is it still alive?”

  “Barely,” one of the technicians said. “Knowing how resilient these things are, it should survive, but I can’t be sure.”

  “She’ll survive,” Aaltskog whispered to Feln, “Because you’re right. I want her to see her race die. But she won’t have any more ‘children’.”

  Still trying to figure out what happened, Siegfried asked, “Did it still have some kind of magic left that it used to try to commit suicide?”

  Feln noticed a Magic Corps officer watching him and Aaltskog. He looked young, but Feln got the feeling he was much older than he appeared. A faint smile flickered across the man’s face and he imperceptibly dipped his head in deference to Aaltskog. “Yes,” he said to Siegfried. “That’s just it. A suicide attempt with something we missed. I take full responsibility for this dreadful oversight.”

  “No, if nobody was hurt, it’s fine,” Siegfried said. “But please, no more surprises like that, agreed?”

  “Of course, Your Highness,” the Magician bowed, “And thanks for your forgiveness.”

  Siegfried exhaled sharply and with a laugh said, “Well, on that note, I think we’re finished here.” He turned to Aaltskog, “We’ll find out through interrogation what this thing was talking about with its implications about your missing brother. Fascinating that we should receive more clues of his existence from this monster of all things, but life is strange. Keep in mind, what it said was likely all lies to hurt you so please don’t be troubled.”

  “I understand, Your Highness,” Aaltskog said. “Thank you.”

  Siegfried looked at her a long moment and nodded before saying to the rest of the group, “This was certainly enlightening. But now, shall we get back to the party?”

  Feln and his friends all happily agreed to leave the queen behind them and they went to leave the room. As they did so, Aaltskog looked back at the Magician and mouthed out the words, “Thank you.” He inclined his head in return, and Feln also acknowledged his help with a small wave.

  As they rode the elevator back up, Feln’s eyes met Aalveus’ for the first time since they left the queen behind. Aalveus also shared a quiet glance with Aaltskog. After a moment, he smiled at both of them and nodded approvingly. Feln could feel the tension go out of Aaltskog’s shoulders. In reality, Aalveus was a virtual stranger to her. He’d also obviously seen what she did to the queen, but her secret was safe with him. At that moment he became a brother to her in more than just name.

  For Feln’s part, he was disturbed by what the queen had said about another Maass creation helping the Union. As Siegfried said, it could just be a lie, but he wasn’t so sure. He also didn’t think Siegfried believed that either. But he was sure that Siegfried didn’t intend on pressing the issue with Aaltskog just then, if ever. Whatever crimes Aaltskog’s missing sibling may or may not have committed, Siegfried wouldn’t punish Aaltskog for it.

  Feln also wasn't sure what to think of Aaltskog’s ability to burn the queen. He knew it wasn’t psionics and it wasn't magic. The Magician had obviously seen her do it, but the fact that the other Magicians present didn’t feel her doing it, ruled magic out. So what was it?

  Feln thought back to when Aaltskog was jealous of Katashka and had somehow burned her. All I know is, your Companion is both very special…and very frightening, Katashka said. Feln didn’t know what to think. Katashka surmised that Aaltskog had burned her by using Katashka’s own empathic abilities against herself. But what happened to the queen seemed like an obvious case of pyromancy or pyrokinetics.

  He loved Aaltskog more than life itself and they’d done the seemingly impossible with their link during Resonance. But she had begun to manifest other abilities that were actually quite scary.

  He knew that she would never use those abilities on him, but just as importantly, he hoped that she wouldn’t ever use them again at all. While he wasn’t afraid for his own well being, he was certainly afraid for hers. And he’d do everything in his power to protect her— even from herself.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Feln and his friends were on the bridge of the Tannhauser waiting for the signal from the Crown Prince to make the jump out of the system. Kesh had felt that it was important for Feln, Aaltskog, and Valisia to be on the bridge when they left the place that caused them so much pain. Kesh had invited Kriemhilde to join them, but she felt it would be an intrusion and opted to stay on the Weiß Speer. They would see Kriemhilde, Aalveus, and Siegfried again at the wedding.

  Feln was standing at the front of the bridge looking out the windows that had only just been uncovered from their protective blast doors for the first time since the Tannhauser arrived in the system. Aaltskog and Valisia stood beside him as Kesh and Larkin went about their final jump preparations.

  “I never want to come back to this place for as long as I live,” Valisia said. “Which is a shame because now that it’s safe and all the debris has been cleared and a lot of the gas has dissipated, it’s actually quite beautiful. But just too much has happened here.”

  “Yeah, I feel the same way,” Aaltskog said. “Even if this ends up being one of the most secure systems in the galaxy and it became home to some of the best sights you could see, I’d still pass.”

  “Too many ghosts,” Feln agreed.

  The three continued to chat as Feln stared out into the space outside the window. The colors of the swirling clouds of gas were no longer menacing with the possibility of hidden enemies. He remembered when they were first pulled into the system and how beautiful the clouds looked to him then.

  That had all come crashing down soon after as the enemy emerged from those same clouds and began the slaughter. Perhaps it was because so much death had occurred in such a lovely setting that made Feln feel so much worse about this fight than any others he'd been in. He had many friends die over the years, but never in the midst of such bright and lovely colors.

  Or maybe he’d been affected by this fight in such a way because of how so many people died. Space Knights were supposed to be hardened against such things and it wasn’t the first time the Empire had fought against enemies that committed grisly acts. Even the Union’s threats of turning Francescans into food wasn’t new. There were some truly disturbing things in space and the Union was right up there with the worst.

  Kesh and Larkin finished what they were doing and walked over to join the group. “And so we depart this place of such beauty and such terror,” Kesh said. “There will be more beauty and other terrors. So we must make sure to cherish the beauty all the more, then.”

  “I was just thinking about how much the colors here remind me of the garden at the house I grew up in,” Larkin said. “Crazy, but I think it’s helping me to cope with what we’ve seen.”

  “It’s not crazy at all,” Feln said. “I was thinking about how much this encounter with the Union has affected me compared to other battles I’ve been in. It’s rough, but as the Admiral says, if I focus on the beauty, it helps. And thanks to what you’ve just said, Captain, I’ll try to think of a peaceful garden.”

  He laughed softly, “Now I guess I sound crazy. But maybe after all that’s happened, it’s good to embrace the crazy here and there, huh?”

  “A very astute observation,” Kesh said.

  Feln suddenly grabbed Kesh and Larkin in a hug. He looked over at Aaltskog who looked unsure o
f what to do.

  “What are you waiting for?” Feln asked. “Get in on this.”

  “Indeed,” Kesh said, his voice muffled in Feln’s chest. With a laugh, Aaltskog, then Valisia joined the group hug.

  “Admiral, incoming signal from the Weiß Speer,” the communications officer said softly, unsure of how to break into their moment of closeness.

  “Go ahead,” Kesh said as the group came out of their hug. Siegfried’s image came on screen. Kriemhilde and Aalveus were with him and all three were smiling. Feln and his friends bowed.

  As they were told to rise, they all held hands. Siegfried nodded approvingly and said, “It’s time to leave. My life has been made richer for knowing you and I’m eager to see you all again.” He looked at Feln and Aaltskog. “Your wedding is something I’m looking forward to with all my heart.” Next to him, Kriemhilde smiled and nodded as he said, “So now that we’re ready to depart, would you like to give the order, Admiral?”

  Kesh bowed and said, “Your Highness, if I may, I’d like to pass the honor to Captain Koenig.” Then he looked at Feln and said, “I mean, my friend, Feln.”

  “Excellent and I wholeheartedly approve.” Siegfried looked at Feln and said, “Captain, our ships are in your hands.”

  “Er, thank you Your Highness,” Feln stammered. Siegfried and Kriemhilde bowed, then saluted before their screen went black.

  “Weiß Speer and the rest of the fleet are ready for our signal,” the helmsman said.

  Feln turned to Kesh and said, “And thank you, my friend.” Kesh nodded and gave Feln a gentle pat on the back. Encouraged by the presence of the people he cared about, Feln said, “Helm, prepare to make space jump on my mark.”

  “Aye sir, jump drives are spooled up,” the helmsman confirmed. “We are ready on your mark.”

  Feln turned and pulled Aaltskog close to kiss her. As she returned his kiss, the bridge erupted into applause around them. “Thanks for everything,” he said to her through the clapping and cheers.

  “I wouldn't miss it for the world,” she replied.

  Feln smiled and looked ahead. “Well okay then,” he said softly before raising his voice above the applause. “Jump!”

  With a flash the starships winked out of normal space, leaving glowing stardust behind as they began their journey home.

  THE END

  Author’s Note

  Whew, thanks so much for reading this story! Feln, Aaltskog, and company will be back for more adventures— I’ve tried to drop some hints along the way to pique your interest. Things are gonna get pretty crazy.

  As you’ve probably surmised, Feln’s world is a complex place with lots of stuff going on. As you can see from the title, Space Knight Denxeiter is only one story arc of what are collectively called the Francescan War Chronicles. I first created this world over ten years ago and as time has gone by, I’ve added more and more to it. With the rise of indie publishing, I figured I’d get these stories out and see if anybody else would come along for the ride. For those who did and are reading this now, I hope the ride was fun and you’ll come back for more.

  Since Denxeiter only makes up one bit of the Francescan War Chronicles universe, there will be other stories with different characters taking place at different times. The first Francescan story I wrote years ago was actually about Gustav II and his friends fighting the Great Wystran War and the rise of the Francescan Empire as the premiere power on the world stage of Wystra.

  From there, the story takes us along as Gustav has to hastily fight off invaders from another world and in the process create the Francescan Star Empire. I would like to get those stories done and published someday, but until then, it’s been interesting jumping centuries into Gustav’s future to see what his little empire has become.

  The next story to be released will take place about 100 years before Feln’s time and follow the crew of a ship— I won’t say any more because I want the experience to be fresh for readers. As I jump around through time and space with these different adventures, the aim is to enrich the overall storyline and universe so the reader gets to experience things that may be history to some characters, while it still has yet to happen to others. Don’t worry, I’ll still get to Feln (I have his life pretty well planned out all the way to his death, so…yeah). But telling some other stories in the same universe helps me recharge my batteries.

  I’ve also sprinkled in lots of little shout-outs and homages to other known science fiction and fantasy properties that we geeks all love. Some are pretty obvious, others are very subtle— the eternal dance with homage continues!

  I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Dade W. Bell for his technical assistance in the creation of the 3D CG models used in the Concept Art Gallery and cover.

  Well, that’s all for now and thanks again for reading Space Knight Denxeiter. It truly means the world to me.

  ——CKP

  Concept Art Gallery

  About the Author

  C.K. Pershing is a hermit who lives in the Mid-Atlantic United States surrounded by too many books on too many subjects and spends too much time building models, of which he owns too many.

  ckpershing@gmail.com