Borjon

by Randal Sloan

  Moments before Galen had decided to enlist Gabo’s help when his first efforts at finding a match to the star formations around them didn’t produce anything that made sense, even when he used the highly advanced AI that was an integral part of Katarina. Gabo had expanded their sensor gain to get more distant astronomical data for him. Surely they would figure it out soon.

  “I don’t believe it!” Gabo exclaimed. The AI finally gave him a plotted position, just not where he would have believed possible. He popped up the AI’s estimate of their current location to the main 3D VR for the bridge. “According to this, we’ve traveled several hundred light years!”

  Everyone on the bridge stared in total surprise. They’d all known they had traveled a great distance, perhaps many dozens of light years, but no one had suspected it would have been anywhere near that far. Despite how it had felt to them, it had only been a couple of minutes time. They should not have been able to get that far.

  Jarra realized her mouth was hanging open, so she closed it. She knew she needed to keep it together for her team and she also knew they had priorities now that they knew their location, however unbelievable it was.

  She suddenly realized something else. The discovery of this planet is going to have to remain highly classified. The ability to travel at the speed we just did cannot be allowed to be known by anyone outside of a very few. It could make all the difference in this conflict. She didn’t say any of that aloud, however, not that she didn’t trust her team. No, she just didn’t want them to worry about it yet.

  “Galen, plot us a course to the nearest location where we can access a system node. We need to report what has happened to my Uncle as soon as possible.” She looked around at her team. She could give them a little of it. “I know you each have a lot to do, but I need all of you to start thinking about how we might duplicate what we just did. If we could, just think what that might mean! A truly fast ship that could be anywhere in the Galactic Empire in possibly a few hours — across the galaxy in a few days.”

  That sobered them all up. Galen spoke into the silence as his systems gave him the answer to her first request. “The nearest system node is just about 300 light years away. It will take us about 20 minutes if we use the zeta level, longer if we use something lower. If Gabo thinks the systems can handle it — after what we just did, zeta should be a piece of cake.”

  Gabo nodded. “We’re good. All systems are now reporting in the green.”

  Jarra would have liked for them to be able to take their time, but reporting in had to be a priority. “Sooner is better than slow and careful, so please make it so.” She rose from her station. “I’ll be in my cabin if you need me. Let me know on the NET when we’re getting close to com range.”

  Jarra knew she had to get her thoughts composed before she spoke with her Uncle. She caught her breath as another thought came to her mind. They probably think we’re dead. Oh, Jase, I’m so sorry. You’ll be the second one on my list to call. Even now, duty has to be first.

  James Grayson Von Hasson, Emperor of the Galactic Empire, was in anguish. John had just called to tell him the news and it didn’t look good. No, not good at all.

  Jarra was much loved by her family; her youth and vigor had been a boon to a tired old Emperor. He smiled as he remembered some of the antics she had pulled off while growing up in the palace. She just can’t be dead.

  James wished his wife were still alive. She’d had some psychic ability — she would know if it was true. Times like this were when he missed her the most. She would have known what to do. It sounded like his little Jarra had saved the galaxy again before she rushed off to save those ships. So heroic and so tragic, and it tore at his heart.

  James looked up as a notice of a com message popped up on his implants. It was from the Imperial Com Department. “I have a long distance com call for you, Sire. It’s from your brother, Ambassador Von Hasson, on Borjon.”

  James couldn’t help the look of anguish that crossed his face as he thought of his brother, who must be even more distraught than he was. He had sent the word to Jarra’s father by private message, not willing to look him in the eyes yet. After all, James had been the one to send her on this mission and he knew the blame was his own.

  Nevertheless, he knew none of this was the fault of the com officer. Once more gaining full control of himself, he told him, “Thank you, Carson. Put him on.”

  The message opened up in his 3D VR view. Since he wasn’t working in private mode, that meant it displayed on the wall in front of him. His brother was in his quarters at the Borjon Embassy with a Borjon male standing beside him.

  Before James could say anything, his brother spoke excitedly, “James, I have someone here that you need to speak with. Master Hadassah, the High Monk to the group best translated as the ‘Order of the Most Vigilant.’ Their leadership, as you know, is the main reason the Borjon joined the Empire.” He indicated the man standing beside him.

  Master Hadassah spoke quietly, his command of Galactic Standard impressive for a Borjon, “My Emperor, I have news good for heart. Dearest Jarra is alive and because she has discovered fast ship, we can now give to Empire.”

  James almost didn’t hear the second part. His heart leapt in joy when he heard Jarra might be alive. He kept it together enough to remember how he was supposed to speak to the Highest Monk of the Borjon order. “Master, are you sure?” Even so, his voice cracked as he spoke.

  “Yes, we saw what would come and gave her what we could. Hyper-storm is proof of survival. Ship not close to system com — she call in moment.”

  James was glad he was sitting down. He was feeling just a little faint. Before he could say anything else, another message came in. “Long distance com from Crown Princess Jarraosa Von Hasson.”

  James could barely control his excitement. “Put her on, merge to current com session.”

  The com view split into two parts. Before him stood his little Jarra. He could tell she was trying to be calm but he could see the excitement dancing in her eyes. “Uncle—” she started to say, then she saw the second com view. “Father! I didn’t expect to see you too.” She couldn’t help but smile, although she didn’t know the alien who was with her father.

  Shaking her head, she went on. If her father trusted the Borjon enough to connect him with the Emperor, she would trust him to hear her news. “As you can see, we’re very much alive. We are currently on the edge of the Rim, several hundred light years from where we started. We traveled that distance in only a few moments. I know you can see the ramifications of what that means.”

  James could only stare. His heart had finally started beating. Before the others could speak, the Borjon answered her. “Yes, dear Jarra, you have found fast ship.” Then he apparently realized his error. “So sorry. I be Master Hadassah of the Order of the Most Vigilant. I see you in vision, I forget you no can see.”

  That brought more questions to Jarra’s mind than it answered, but she went with the most important. “Fast ship?” she asked.

  “Yes, through galaxy in some few of your days. We sending ship to you, teach how to build safe. You must come here when do.”

  Jarra’s father spoke for the first time since Jarra joined them. Thanks to the alien he had been the only one of her family to know his daughter was alive until just now. “That’s why we called. We need you to come to Borjon!”

  Jarra gave him a smile. She’d already known that was coming, a strong premonition, if you would.

  “We have a few members of our team we’re going to need picked up. We could make use of that fast ship, Master Hadassah, until we have our ship ready to travel that way again.”

  Master Hadassah returned her smile. “Yes, that where we send ship.” His expression grew darker. “Must have all nest together. Most needful.”

  Jarra was thankful for that. She knew someone she needed to see soon. “I thank you, Master. For now, I must go. I have others I need to contact, ones who still don’t know we’re alive. Fat
her, I’ll see you soon. Uncle, I’ll call you back in a few moments.”

  Before either could protest, she broke the connection. She did indeed have calls to make.

  “Very special One,” Master Hadassah said into the quiet. The others could only nod in agreement.

  Chapter 2

  Plans

  Jarra sent an urgent message to her team. Just an FYI, we’re meeting a Borjon ship that will provide us intel on ‘Fast Ship’ technology, which is what they’re calling what we just apparently discovered by accident. With their information, we should be able to repeat the process; hopefully, a lot more safely this time. Find us a safe place to meet; they will come to us.

  Finally, she was able to make the distant call she’d wanted to do the moment she realized they’d survived. She needed to talk to Jason— she didn’t hesitate to use her high-level command codes. She waited impatiently for the connection to firm up and even more impatiently for the Com Officer on Relentless to make the connection to Jason, who was now in his quarters. That was probably for the best, but she chafed at the delay.

  Finally, the 3D VR of Jason in his quarters came up. He stared at her in total shock. Jarra didn’t give him time to process it.

  “Hello, love. I’ve been missing you quite severely. I still haven’t collected on that Jason time and I’m going to be needing it soon.”

  Jarra couldn’t help but notice the tears on Jason’s face. She knew the ones there now were tears of joy, although some were probably the remnants of his earlier despair. She had a few tears of her own — she hadn’t expected to survive either. She also deeply regretted it taking this long for her to be able to let him know she was alive.

  Jarra knew their real reunion would have to wait until they could be together. “You’re going to need a Fast ship to meet up with us. I’ve just made arrangements for that,” she tried to explain.

  He was so happy, her words didn’t really register with him. He should have paid more attention. Jarra gave him a smile; he’d find out what “Fast” meant. Then she dropped the bombshell. She let a little of her excitement slip into her voice.

  “We have a new mission to complete — we’re going to Borjon!”

  Lieutenant Amy Swanson stared in shock at the message she’d just received. Luckily, she was already in her quarters and seated, because she felt rather weak. She had been certain that the Katarina was lost when Jason had said they were still looking for any sign of them. She’d seen it in his eyes—he didn’t believe they were still alive and it certainly looked hopeless. She’d spent the last hour believing the worst, blaming herself for what had happened. After all, Katarina had put herself in danger to protect Amy and her convoy of ships.

  Even though Amy knew it wasn’t really her fault, it had made the hurt worse than it already would have been. Despite having known Jarra for only a few weeks, she’d already become an important part of Amy’s life. The loss she felt had been terrible.

  But the message she’d just received had been sent with Jarra’s command codes and it had included a personal message addressed to her from the Crown Princess herself that left no doubt it was really her. Tears in her eyes, Amy finally let herself believe. Her friend was alive!

  Amy still was amazed at how it had all come about. When she’d first befriended the much too young Lieutenant Jarra Carsean, she’d known the girl was special. Of course, at the time she had no idea who she really was. A smile came to her lips. Sometime after she’d figured out Jason was already besotted with the newly arrived and rather mysterious Lieutenant Jarra, she’d speculated that perhaps the girl was one of the Princesses of the Realm, sent out to learn about the Imperial Navy. She’d had no idea that any of her wild imaginings were actually true and at the time didn’t really believe it. It had just been a fun idea until Jarra had revealed her identity to her.

  Amy still couldn’t believe the Crown Princess was her friend. But when Jarra had revealed who she was to Amy, she insisted that they were still friends and had gone out of her way to prove it over and over. She even gave Amy a place on her team, assigning her as the backup navigator along with other duties — although Jarra had insisted the most important purpose she was to have on the team was as a translator. Amy knew she had some ability at languages, but she didn’t yet know how she was going to be able to use that for the team.

  Speaking of which, her message had indicated that she was to catch a shuttle over to the Relentless to meet up with the others awaiting pickup by a special ship, whatever that meant. It would take her to Jarra, that’s all that mattered to her.

  Jarra had given her a little more detail in that personal message, but most of the details Amy intended to get straight from her friend. She’d also been instructed to start studying up on the Borjon language. Amy suspected she did know exactly what that meant. Maybe she could be a help to her new team after all.

  Kaeden of the Borjon nest of Kilajare’lyl, otherwise known as newly ordained Young Master Kaeden of the Order of the Most Vigilant, piloted his ship swiftly and expertly. After being called forth by his Master, Kaeden had been rushed through his promotion to a full Young Master, something never done before.

  Kaeden still could hardly believe it. Borjon’s don’t rush anything! They always took the long view, so any decision was given careful consideration over much time. Most changes took decades to be completed. Yet here he sat, a Young Master, and on a special mission at that. He was going to see the One!

  That was another thing. The Master had brought the fast ships out of hiding, so well hidden that no one believed they still existed. Kaeden had already figured something else out. These Fast Ships were amazing, even if piloting them was challenging! Of course, he suffered from the same discomfort all of his race experienced while within the level of hyperspace the fast drive used, what the humans called theta, but he could handle it.

  Kaeden had been sent out on this mission before the High Master could give him details of his destination. Instead, he had been instructed by the Master to travel to the Rim District of the humans and to wait, so he had done so. Now the Master had sent him a destination and told him to be there with dispatch. Which was good — he’d already grown tired of this waiting. Even a Borjon knew that when it was time to do something, one should do it the right way and get it done. Luckily, he would soon be arriving at the location of the Galactic Imperial squadrons he had been sent out here to meet, so the waiting would be over with.

  He was making this quick stop to pick up those missing from the nest of the One and he intended to do it soonest, so that he could get to her ship quickly. Of course, he was curious to see what those of her nest were like, having already met her nest father. As soon as he met the Ambassador, he’d sensed the man’s strong belief in duty, something that told him much about what to expect from his daughter.

  That was the thing. Kaeden had learned the Prophecies in his childhood of the few decades accounted so by his people and he’d been a believer even then, but when he’d been accepted into the Order, studying the prophecies had been one of his primary duties. In those later decades of young adulthood, he’d come to realize just how special the One and her team were to be. He was glad that he was finally going to meet her and amazed that he was going to be the one to work with her. What a special privilege — he still couldn’t believe the Master had chosen him. He vowed to do his best.

  He smiled as he drew near to the human squadron of ships, quickly opening a com channel. He wouldn’t want them to think he was with the enemy.

  “Relentless, I am Borjon fast ship Amfiltrite. We come to get friends of the One.”

  Jason stood impatiently in the main landing bay of the Relentless. Beside him stood Lieutenant Amy Swanson with her travel kit in hand. By the time he’d managed to start moving again after receiving that unbelievable message from his love, he’d had only moments to get his own kit together and rush down here to meet Amy. Of course, now he was having to wait.

  About the time Amy disembarked fr
om her shuttle, they’d received a message telling them that their transport would be there shortly, so neither had bothered to leave the landing bay. Soon thereafter the Master Sergeant and most of the Marine contingent from the Relentless arrived in their location, also awaiting pickup by the “fast” ship. The two injured Marines in the regen tanks were going to have to follow at the more sedate pace of the Relentless. Jason owed his life to them, so he didn’t begrudge them their slower trip.

  As a Lieutenant Commander in the Imperial Navy, Jason had studied the Borjon ships which, although they varied in size, all shared the same design, but the ship that came into the landing bay was unlike anything he’d ever seen. Somewhat smaller than he’d expected, it reminded him a lot of the Katarina, and according to the specs Jarra had sent him, it was one of the fastest known ships in the galaxy, at least until her ship had made their own crazy flight. Perhaps the Octarians had it beat, but no one knew for sure since no one had ever met an Octarian. He found it all quite fascinating.

  The Borjon ship came in for a swift but gentle landing in front of them. Whoever was piloting it was pretty good. Probably something to do with the Borjon ancestry being oriented around flight. He wouldn’t want to be the pilot in a fight against someone from their race; fortunately, these guys were friends.

  Amy must have been thinking along similar lines regarding the Borjon racial background. She gave Jason a smile. “Did you know the Borjon word for spaceship means ‘flying nest’ or something like that? We think their ancestors were a flying race, although the ones living now have lost the ability to fly. Much of their culture revolves around the nest, similar to humans who live in a clan-based society.”