by D. J. Holmes
When Lieutenant Beckford nodded to Christine, Christine took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Officers and crew of the Imperial Fleet. This is your Empress speaking. I have travelled with you to the edge of the Sol system. This is as far as I can go physically. My responsibilities to our people prevent me from going with you further, though I earnestly desire to do so. Whilst physically you will leave our species home system without me, in mind and heart, I will be with you. As well as all the people of Earth, the Sol system and every one of our colonies. You know what is at stake. The Karacknid invasion fleet may be on our very doorstep. One that will finish what the Karacknid’s began on Earth just over a year ago. Your three fleets are being dispatched to see that this does not happen. You are all that stands between our peoples and certain death and enslavement. Go with the blessing of your Empress and your people.”
As she paused, James watched Christine let out a breath before continuing, she still hadn’t opened her eyes. “There is an ancient proverb from Sparta, mothers sending their sons to battle would hand them their shields and give them one final instruction; that they should return, ‘with this shield or upon it.’ I say the same to you all now. There is no turning back. No fleeing. If you fail, we all fall. It is victory or death. There is no other choice. Therefore this is the command your Empress, of your Empire. The last one I will leave you with… Do not fail us... You have all sworn to serve me, to serve the Empire in life and in death. I now ask that service of you all...” for a brief moment Christine hesitated before finishing. “Farewell my fleet. May you take us with you in your hearts.”
Opening her eyes, Christine reached up to wipe them, but she wasn’t quick enough. James saw the two tears run down her cheeks. “I will retire to my shuttle now,” she said as she stood, her voice breaking. “Take care of my husband,” she said as she nodded to Fisher and then looked around at the gathered bridge officers. They were all staring silently. “And one another.” She turned to James. “Will you escort me?”
“Of course,” James said, already standing. Linking her arm through his, he led her off Drake’s bridge. Though several things came to James’ mind to say, he couldn’t find the strength to do so. It was hitting him now as hard as he suspected it had hit Christine earlier. They were parting, and after so little time together. She understands the risks, James thought, her short speech made that clear. Whatever was going to happen in the Karacknid depot systems, the three fleets they were sending would follow her instructions. Either they would be victorious, or they would die on the battlefield. Though if that happened, there would be no one left to bring their bodies home.
When they got to the large hatch that led into Drake’s number one shuttle bay, Christine stopped short. James stopped as well when he felt her touch his arm. “Let us say goodbye here husband,” she said, barely above a whisper. “I don’t want to do it in front of everyone.”
James understood, the shuttle bay would be a hive of activity. Looking down at her he smiled as he lent in for a kiss. “We have had far too little time together. But I will treasure what we have shared.”
“As will I,” Christine said as she folded herself into his arms. Leaning her head against his chest she then looked up at James. “Promise me you will return. I cannot do this without you.”
James swallowed hard as he looked down at his wife. He wanted to make the promise she was looking for. He desperately wanted to. The look of hurt and loss in her eyes nearly made him do it. But even more so, he didn’t want to lie to her. Ever so gently he shook his head. “I am sorry. That I cannot do. We have a mission to accomplish. One that is more important than my life, or even our marriage. I will return on this ship or I will die in it. But I cannot promise you which it will be.”
Christine closed her eyes as she pushed her head more firmly into his chest. More tears streamed down her cheeks. “This is harder than I ever imagined.”
Gently James prized Christine away from him. He then kissed her again. “As it is for me,” he told her. “But it will make our reunion all the sweeter… Now, you better get going. If you don’t appear in the shuttle bay, my bridge officers will start to think we made a detour to my quarters. That would hardly be appropriate now would it, Empress?” he asked as he raised his eyebrows.
The smallest of smiles briefly appeared on Christine’s lips, then it faded away. “I know you have your duty to see to. I don’t want to delay the fleet. I will go. Just... One more kiss?” she asked as he lifted her chin. James smiled again as he obeyed. Stepping back moments later, Christine took both of his hands in hers. She squeezed them as she held his eyes. Then she gave one sharp nod and let him go. Turning quickly, she stepped up to the shuttle bay’s hatch. It automatically slid open for her and she moved through. Seconds later it slid shut leaving James on his own in the corridor.
*
As she walked through the shuttle bay, Christine kept her eyes on her shuttle. She knew officers and crew members were saluting her and acknowledging her presence, but she didn’t trust herself to look at them. Instead she kept her focus on the shuttle’s access ramp. She just needed to get to it and make it to her seat. Then she could let her guard down. She didn’t care if her personal pilots saw her distress. But she didn’t want to dishearten Drake’s crew. If they saw how she was feeling, it would spread throughout the battleship like wildfire. The last thing she wanted was to hurt the morale of James’ crew.
As her foot touched the shuttle’s access ramp, she quickened her pace. She could feel her resolve giving way. At the same time, relief sprang up within her, for she was almost out of sight of everyone. The distraction made her lose track of her right hand. Instinctively it moved to her belly and rubbed it. Suddenly horrified at what she had done, Christine whipped her head around. She sought out the shuttle bay’s access hatch. With a sigh of relief, she saw that James was not standing there. He hadn’t followed her into the shuttle bay. Turning again, she quickly moved through the shuttle and to her seat. They had only been married for four weeks and she was far from certain, but she suspected, more than that she hoped. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to tell James. He already had far too many things to worry about. He needed his full attention focused on defeating the Karacknids. If he comes home, then maybe I will have a surprise for him, Christine thought as she ordered her pilots to take off. Not if, when! she scolded herself. Then her emotional resolve ran out as she began to cry. Unaware of their Empress’s emotional state, her shuttle pilots took off and left Drake. The battleship quickly faded out of sight as the shuttle headed for Earth.
Chapter 31
Nomadic species are a rarity within the Empire. During our Empire’s birth only one such species had been discovered. To this day, the Kalassai remain the most elusive of those we know about. Their ways and customs are still largely hidden from us. Only one has ever really got to know them and she took their secrets to the grave.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
Kalassai ship Wayfarer, unknown space, 12th December 2482 AD (two months previous).
“Pair of sevens,” Walker said as he laid down his two cards beside the third seven that Emilie had just turned over. “Three of a kind. I think that beats whatever you have and parts you from the last of your money Captain,” he said as he leaned forward and reached for the small pieces of bark like material they had been using for chips.
Emilie threw her two cards down onto the table. She’d been holding out for another diamond but it had not appeared. “That’s fine, I have some reading to catch up on anyway.”
Walker laughed. “Sure you do Captain, sure you do. Perhaps some report on the energy transfer efficiency from Intrepid’s tertiary power relays?”
Emilie grabbed the chip and made as if she was going to throw it at Walker. Her gesture only made him laugh louder. “Give it your best shot ma’am. I’d bet on my reflexes over your strength any day. I suggest we make a wager on it,” Walker then gestured to the pile of chips sitting at his end
of the table, “but I don’t think you have anything left to bet.”
Emilie let out a sigh as she shook her head. “Of all the people Alveraz could have suggested sending with me, why did it have to be you? Of all the people?”
Walker snorted. “If it wasn’t me, you’d be bored out of your mind. Or at least, more bored out of your mind than you are. I always carry a pack of cards and dice with me. Imagine the last month and half without them.”
“Touché,” Emilie had to admit. Though they both had their datapads and so plenty of visual and written material, alongside electronic games to entertain themselves, there was something different about actually playing cards or the various dice games Walker knew. “But still, it would be just a bit more fun if you let me win once in a while.”
Walker laughed again as he shook his head this time. “You don’t get into the marines by letting people win Captain. I’m afraid that part of my personality is not going to change.”
“I suppose not,” Emilie said as she stood and lifted her arms in the air to stretch. “I’m going to go and lament my losses. Perhaps I’ll come up with my own card game. One where you might not stand such a good chance of winning.”
“As long as the rules are fair, I’m game,” Walker replied as she walked away. “Enjoy your rest.”
As Emilie stepped up to where she knew the doorway to her private room was and the bark like structure peeled back. Within seconds an opening formed that she walked through. Without turning around, she knew it would already be closing behind her. Initially the alien’s technology had amazed her. She had watched the door opening and closing tens of times in fascination. When they had grown the three rooms that she and Walker shared it only took half an hour. She had watched that too with her mouth hanging half open. The aliens were even able to synthesize the perfect atmosphere for her and Walker to breathe, even though they had never had a part of their ship before that had just been filled with gas rather than the liquid goo they floated in. And it actually looks pretty good, she said to herself as she moved towards her bed. If anyone from her species was suddenly dropped into the room, they would probably think they were in some kind of log cabin. Only a close inspection would reveal that it wasn’t. A close inspection, or a sleep in the bed, Emilie thought as she threw herself into her bed. Whilst the Kalassai were able to replicate the general shape and form of most inanimate things she and Walker needed, a mattress was not one of them. Instead they had improvised. What Emilie was now squelching around on was a malleable membrane that held a portion of the goo that filled the rest of the Kalassai ship. It wasn’t exactly what Emilie called comfortable, but it allowed her to get some sleep, nonetheless.
As she reached for her datapad a soft chime reverberated around the room. It was the noise the Kalassai used to alert her and Walker that someone was about to speak to them. “Captain Kansas,” Wal-sma, Wayfarer’s Captain said. “We have arrived at our destination; you and your mate may come to the bridge if you so desire.”
Emilie rolled her eyes, though she had long since given up trying to correct Wal-sma and the other Kalassai. Whether it was because she and Walker had been the two Humans to come onboard their ship, or because they had requested living quarters where they shared a central room, or for some other completely unknown reason, the Kalassai thought that she and Walker were a mated pair. No amount of trying to tell them otherwise seemed to work. “We’ll be there presently,” Emilie called out, knowing that her words would be relayed to Wal-sma.
She rolled herself off her bed and back onto her feet. Setting the datapad down, she walked over to the doorway back to the main living quarters she shared with Walker. Without thinking or pausing, she walked towards it, fully expecting it to recede in time for her to pass through. “I presume you heard that?” she asked Walker who was still seated where she had left him.
Walker nodded. “I guess we may as well go and take a look.”
“I certainly intend to,” Emilie replied. After being cooped up in their quarters for the entirety of the last month and half, she was eager to see something different. Even if it meant spending time in the rest of the Kalassai ship. Of course, being at their destination meant she was finally going to get to speak to the Kalassai leaders. At the beginning of her voyage that would have sent butterflies into her stomach. But she had spent the majority of her time preparing for the meeting. She was as confident as she could be. Either the Kalassai would find her reasoning convincing, or they would not. And at least I’ve got to know Wal-sma a little. The Kalassai Captain had kept herself pretty much to herself, despite Emilie’s best efforts to draw her into conversation. But even that had taught Emilie something important about the Kalassai.
Moving over to the door that led out of their quarters, Emilie grabbed her breather. She thought of it as a portable gill. Slipping it into her mouth she took a couple of deep breaths to steady herself, and then stepped right up to the door. Walker was already at her side. As the bark like structure in front of her peeled back, it revealed another small chamber. When they stepped into it the door quickly sealed again and goo rushed into their chamber. Though Emilie had experienced this more than a handful of times, she still had to fight the urge to pull her feet back from the goo. Doing so was pointless though for it quickly covered the chamber’s floor and proceeded up her legs. Within seconds she was completely covered. Tentatively, she took a breath through her breather to make sure it was working. When a stale stream of air entered her mouth she had to fight the urge to cough out her breather. Despite her complaints to Wal-sma, the Kalassai Captain had told her they could do nothing to improve the taste of the air her breather sucked out of the Kalassai goo.
Glancing over at Walker she gave him a nod, when the marine nodded in return, Emilie maneuvered towards the exit. It peeled back just as quickly as the others. Emilie swam up the corridor. By now she knew exactly where Wayfarer’s bridge was. At least I’ll be a little bit fitter by the end of all this, Emilie told herself. Swimming certainly used a lot more of her muscle groups than walking around Intrepid’s bridge. As she moved through the Kalassai ship, she intentionally didn’t glance back at Walker. It always infuriated her how easily he moved through the alien ship. Rather than swim, he was able to walk upright. She also knew he could move far faster if he needed to. When she asked him, he had said it was something to do with his implants, but he had been very vague.
As they came to Wayfarer’s bridge, there were no guards or any other kind of security protocols. The door simply appeared as the bark like structure peeled away. Emilie had been surprised by the lack of security on board the whole ship during her first few weeks. Then she had learnt that Wayfarer was as much a community residence as it was a warship. The families of all of Wayfarer’s crew lived on board the ship, as did many other Kalassai who did not serve any military function. They simply called this ship home. On the bridge, six Kalassai were floating above their command consoles. Wal-sma was in the middle of the oval room, staring at the Kalassai equivalent of a holo projector. Emilie swam over to Wal-sma. “Greetings Captain,” she said. “It’s good to see you again. Thank you for the invitation.”
“Of course Captain, you’re the reason why we are here,” Wal-sma replied. “I confess, it is good to visit one of our city ships. All of Wayfarer’s people are keen to disembark and converse with our brethren.” Wal-sma gestured towards the image of the system Wayfarer was in with one of her tentacles. “As you can see, we are here.”
As Emilie twisted her body so she could look at the image, her eyes narrowed. Without a known reference point, she couldn’t fully grasp what she was looking at, but even just going by what was in front of her, she hardly believed what she was seeing. “Those are your city ships?” she asked. “They are not broken moons?”
Wal-sma’s tentacles swirled in a pattern Emilie had come to recognize as one that betrayed pleasure. “Indeed, they are no moons. Here, let me project your Human measurements.” With one tentacle Wal-sma reached down to
her console and tapped a button. The projection in front of Emilie changed slightly to show the size of the planet and the two ships that were orbiting it.
If it wasn’t for her breather, her mouth would have fallen open. The planet was approximately the size of Mars. If that was the case, then the two Kalassai city ships were massive. They were easily more than a hundred times the size of a Karacknid dreadnought. And they had been the largest ships Emilie had ever seen before. She shook her head. She had been expecting something big when Wal-sma had described the ships as city ships, but nothing like this. They were metropolis ships! “How many Kalassai live in each one?” she had to ask.
“Approximately twenty million,” Wal-sma answered. “The ships are completely self-sustaining. They can carry our people to any system in the galaxy though they are very slow. If the Karacknids discovered one, it would not be able to escape, nor could we defend it. Hence why we take such great care to keep them hidden.”
And why so many other species are so nervous about you, Emilie thought but didn’t say. She knew from previous discussions with Wal-sma that most of the space faring civilizations they had encountered in Karacknid space hadn’t been too friendly. Of course, part of that was probably due to just how alien the Kalassai were. But now Emilie suspected it was out of fear as well. If one of the Kalassai city ships had appeared in Human space its size alone would have terrified her species. Certainly, it would have made Humanity extremely nervous to allow the Kalassai to pass through their systems. “Twenty million,” she said. She shook her head as her mind struggled to grasp the logistics that would be required to run a ship with that many people on board. “And there are two of them out there. How many does your species have?”