by Randal Sloan
“Nevertheless, our friends believe this is the best opportunity to gain much-needed intel on our opponents. If your ship were able to penetrate deeply enough into the edge of the Aerstone space for your Sara to hack into their equivalent of the NET, young Sasha should be able to glean enough data to see the patterns to tell us much more about our enemies.
“Now you see why I said at the beginning, this mission must be optional. We have absolutely no idea what will be waiting for you on the other side. The Borjon believe that the details of their surprise attack were unknown to their enemy and therefore the backdoor will have minimal defenses. After all, it is in the Aerstone equivalent of our Rim District. But the Borjon are only speculating, since they’re operating on millennium-old information and up until now they have been unwilling to send a ship of their own on this mission.”
Jarra nodded with understanding. “I must provisionally accept the mission, Uncle. I need to discuss it with my team before I am willing to commit them to such a dangerous venture. I know they will accept it, no matter what, but I will not commit them without their buy-in.”
Her uncle smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” His smile turned sad. “You do understand that no matter what else happens, you must not allow your ship to be captured by the aliens. Your ship possesses entirely too much of our advanced tech to allow them to capture you. Plus, I suspect capture would be worse than death with what they probably would do to you.”
“Yes, I understand. Not only must we not allow ourselves to be captured, but we also cannot reveal the technologies we now possess to facilitate an escape from such a possibility.”
“I so very much wish I could have given this one to someone else, but no one else would have a chance at accomplishing it. But we’ve been lucky so far and we’ve had you and your team in the right place to save us both times, something we cannot continue to count on.
“I very much fear the consequences if we were to lose this war. Despite their technology, I believe the Octarians will lose if the Galactic Empire along with Borjon were to fall and likely the galaxy will be plunged into a darkness from which perhaps it would never recover.”
Jarra nodded again. “I know, my dear Uncle, I know. That is why I’m sure my team will accept this mission.” She stood. “I will let you know their decision in the morning.”
As she left, James sadly shook his head. He couldn’t help but whisper to himself, “I’m so sorry, my dear Jarra. I fear this one will be too much for even you.”
Tears were in his eyes. Sometimes it really sucked to be the Emperor.
Dinner that night was a small affair with only family and friends. Again seated next to Jason, it reminded Jarra of the night when she first met him. She did her best to forget her worries about their new mission and concentrate on what she felt in her heart.
She laughed and joked with Jason, who knew something was going on with her, but he wisely let it slide, going out of his way to entertain her. He even reveled her with stories of his childhood and she was glad that Prince John wasn’t there to tell him more of hers. She was surprised to learn that Jason had been following her career from a much younger age than she’d expected. He even knew about the fighter she had taken on its unauthorized flight in her wilder days, something she thought her uncle had managed to sweep under the rug.
“You know that day was when I became addicted to spaceflight,” she told him. “Before then it had been all sedate shuttle flights or flying somewhere aboard larger vessels such as a super-dreadnought. Not even simulators of fighters could give me that thrill. But the freedom I felt in that fighter and the way it moved through space, even allowing me to avoid capture by our finest in the fighter corp, hooked me for life. The Katarina is just a much bigger version of that first fighter.”
Jason smiled at the twinkle in her eyes as she described the merry chase she’d given the top pilots in the Empire before four of them had finally corralled her. No, the incident was well known, just not talked about. That was when he’d been hooked.
“How do you think I wound up in the Imperial Navy?” he asked her. “Up until then, I fought my Dad tooth and nail when he tried to get me to choose the Navy as my career. Mostly because that’s what he wanted for me. But when I heard about what you did, suddenly it didn’t sound so bad. Of course, I never got up the nerve to try your stunt, either. Plus, they locked down all the fighters even more after your little incident.”
Jarra smiled. “I might have checked the situation out at least once or twice afterwards. Even though I didn’t take any more unsanctioned flights, I did hack the controls to prove that I could have if I wanted to.” Her smile grew bigger. “Has Galen told you the story about me hacking the AI to the Aeres, the first ship we had, to give me access without a physical key?”
When he nodded, she went on, “They finally listened to me when they built the Katarina. No physical key required. It’s not like anyone could ever fake someone else’s implant signature.”
Jason just laughed. “I can see you doing all those things.”
“Hey, I had to do something to counteract the Princess thing, whereby everyone expected me to sit around playing with my dolls.”
Jason laughed even harder. “Now that is something I could never see you doing.”
“I’m sure I did at some point.” Smiling at the look of disbelief in his eyes, she went on, “Probably when I was three or four,” she told him with a laugh.
Everyone had finished their dinner, so it was at that moment that the Emperor stood, facing the people at the table. “It’s very seldom that I get to do what I do tonight. The presentation of honors to our Services is a special privilege. But to make things even more significant, since that original mission, our young heroes just had to once more place themselves in great danger to save the galaxy. For that second mission, the group has grown to include others, so it is with great pleasure that I increase the list of medal recipients to include the entire crew of the Katarina. If my dearest niece and her team would please stand, I hereby bestow upon each of you the Galactic Medal of Honor.”
With the help of an assistant, the Galactic Emperor moved to each member of her team, saving Jarra for last, and placed one of the medals around their necks.
“Thank you for your service,” he whispered into her ear. She didn’t miss the few tears in his eyes, but he kept them under control. She barely managed to do the same.
Stepping back to face the entire group, he went on, “Know that wherever you go within the Empire while wearing this medal, all officers, no matter what the rank, are required to salute you and all non-military Imperial personnel will be required to offer you a bow.
“Somehow I know you and your team are not done serving this small Empire of ours. I can only offer once more from my heart:
“Thank you for your service.
May your star rise early and set late.
As long as there is a Galactic Empire,
Your service will be remembered.”
After dinner, Jarra gathered her entire team into a small secure conference room. “Kaeden, since you have attached yourself to our team, I assume you are to be involved in our future mission when we depart for Borjon?”
When he nodded in the Borjon fashion, she went on, “We’ve been offered a new mission, but acceptance of said mission is optional for each of you in this room. As you will see, I believe it is the most dangerous mission we have undertaken to date. If any one of you wishes not to continue with us, I will release you with no reprisal. If as a group you say no, I will relay our wishes to my uncle.”
Jarra began her presentation using a display on the wall in front of them with the same view of the galaxy as her uncle had shown her. But with Amy’s help in deciphering Borjon documents, she was able to narrow down a view to display the section of the galaxy they were talking about. She relayed the same history of the last Borjon war with the Aerstone as given by her uncle, glancing at Kaeden more than once for his agreement that th
e information she had been given was correct.
Then she dropped the bombshell. “It has been requested by the Borjon government, and agreed to by my uncle, that we are to send a mission into this backdoor of the Aerstone Empire to gather intelligence information. As you well know, currently there is no other human ship equipped to handle such a mission. That is the mission that we have been offered. What are your thoughts?”
Jason knew he was the one with seniority and he didn’t want that to affect the others in their decision, so he just shrugged. “Wherever you go, I go,” he told Jarra. “I have some mission-related questions, but I’ll let the others talk for now.”
Kaeden bobbed his head. “I go with also.”
Jarra nodded. “You as much as told us before. I knew you would be with me. What about the rest of you?”
Galen looked around at the others as in times past he more or less had assumed the role of spokesman for the group. When no one disagreed, he went ahead, “I’m concerned about the limiting factors we face on the travel in and out of there. If we have any trouble with the drives or if we’re forced to fight, how do we escape? We obviously can’t give the fast ships away if it comes to that.”
“You’re absolutely correct,” Jarra told him. “And to make it worse, we have no way to send word back for help if something does go wrong.”
Kaeden had not intended to say anything else, but he had an idea that might help. “I ask Master to send Amfiltrite to edge of bad space. Hide and come out at day for message.”
Jarra smiled at him. “That would be a big help. It would also allow us to send reports in daily so that if something does go wrong, at least they would be able to return to the Empire with the information we were able to obtain.”
“What else?” she asked.
As usual, Gabo was thinking about practical things. “I’m wondering about what you both said about not being able to show them what we have if something goes wrong. I think we need to come up with something that we could use in that situation to make it look like the ship has been destroyed, but really we’ve escaped into the fast hyper level. None of us want this to be a one-way trip.”
“That’s a good idea,” Jarra told him. “Knowing our luck, we’re probably going to need it.”
Amy looked at Kaeden. “What can you give me on the Aerstone language? From what Jarra has told me, the reason I’m here is to provide my language skills. What if it’s their language that I’m needed to translate?”
“We must ask Master. Should have in archives. He will know, you be Translator, Prophecies tell.”
“Yes, I’m going to want to know more about that from the Master,” Jarra told him. “Everyone is asking good questions. Does this mean that you all agree we should accept this mission, even though we know it’s without a doubt more dangerous than any of the ones we’ve faced before?”
She looked around the group. One by one they all nodded their acceptance. “I will tell my Uncle in the morning. You guys are really special. I just want you to know that and I know you’ll do whatever it takes to pull this mission off.”
Even Jarra would be surprised at what they would have to do to accomplish the mission they’d been given. Even with the sight, the Borjon monks couldn’t see it all, or perhaps they would have been against this mission. Of course, prophetic visions are a difficult friend, as the Master could have warned her. Master Hadassah did know much more than he wanted to know, but he also knew it was critical to the future of the galaxy.
Despite only knowing enough to know it was going to be very difficult, for Jarra and the crew of the Katarina it didn’t matter; they would do their duty.
Chapter 4
The Journey Begins
Jarra was once more aboard her ship Katarina as they prepared to again take their leave from home. Freshly provisioned, they were ready to leave for Borjon and then on to the rest of their mission. Jarra had made sure her supply of coffee was on board before she signed off on the delivery. Of course, Jason had already taken care of that. He did know her. That matter secured, they were about ready to go.
Before she was ready to leave that morning, Jarra spent a few short hours with her father, knowing it might be some time before they would see each other again. He had decided to extend his time as Ambassador for a second year and she knew it made sense. He seemed to have developed a good rapport with the Borjon Ambassador, and they needed to maintain that relationship with all that was happening with the Empire. He would do his duty! Her father understood duty every bit as much as she did; after all, she’d learned it from him and her mother.
Jarra couldn’t help but think of the meeting she’d had with Master Sergeant Gibbons regarding the deployment of her ship’s Marines. She had decided before meeting him that it would be best if she didn’t take them on her mission to Borjon. It was bad enough to risk any of her team on such a dangerous venture, so she was determined to limit the number that would be involved. It wasn’t like they would be needed on this mission.
It hadn’t been an easy sell. She had met with Robert the night before.
“Master Sergeant, I have new orders for you,” she told him, not quite looking him in the eyes. “We are about to depart on a peaceful mission to Borjon and I have decided it would not look good for us to take our Marine complement with us. You should not be needed and we don’t want to offend our friends. Therefore, your team is to wait here until the Relentless arrives with your two rehabilitating Marines, and you are to join them in their rehab.”
The Master Sergeant started to object, but she didn’t give him a chance. “Since I know you would refuse true off time, I’m sending you on a rather unusual mission. I know you’re aware that while on our crazy flight in fast hyperspace, we discovered a new planet out on the edge of the Rim. Luckily, the Empire had a survey ship in the area and they were rerouted so that they ‘accidentally’ discovered it.
“The planet has a human population and they’ve already made contact with the planet’s government. Apparently, it was colonized centuries ago, but no one knew about the colonists until our discovery. It appears they drifted badly off course and were forced to do a crash landing on arrival. As a result, they lost the ability to communicate back to the old Galactic Federation and were left on their own.
“What you do not know is that they’re calling themselves New Earth and they have already petitioned for membership in the Galactic Empire. This morning my uncle provisionally accepted their application, pending a review before the final confirmation.
“Despite being on their own, the people of New Earth have done rather well for themselves it would appear. A temporary governor and his staff are in the process of being dispatched. The problem is, something just seems a little off to us, nothing that you can put your finger on, but their story just doesn’t quite add up. So we need some boots on the ground to get enough data to form a true picture. I want you to do that for me.”
Master Sergeant Gibbons knew exactly what she was doing. “Forgive me, Your Highness, but I know as well as you do that anyone could take care of such a mission. Our position is here with you.”
“It is,” Jarra told him, “but it really would be a problem if you were to stay aboard during our diplomatic mission. Plus, your team is still down two men and I don’t feel it would be fair to the two of them if we put someone else in their slots. That would send the wrong message to them and we really need them to be doing their best to rehab. You know how difficult that’s going to be.”
Jarra had known it was a difficult sell to the Master Sergeant, a man who also knew duty, but the last sentence was the money line. She recognized the look in his eyes when she said it. Even though she was holding nothing back, knowing how resistant he was going to be to his orders, they both knew just how important it was to them that those men receive the utmost support. They were heroes after all, and Jarra knew she owed them for saving Jason and Amy’s lives.
Master Sergeant shook his head. “You know me well, don’t
you, Your Highness? I would do anything to protect you, but I would also do anything to take care of the men on my team.”
Jarra finally looked him in the eyes. “I know you’ve heard about how dangerous our real mission is going to be, but I ask you, Master Sergeant, just how will having you and your men aboard for this mission make any difference at all? I won’t put you in that position of risk for no gain. It’s hard enough for me to allow the rest of them to go.
“I have to believe we’ll somehow find our way to make it back from this mission, but this way you’ll be doing something for the Empire that has real meaning for me. I know of no one I trust more to get this mission accomplished.
“Your assignment will be covert, so your official orders won’t reflect your true mission, but I will make sure it is well documented in case any problems arise, not that I expect anything to happen outside the norm.”
She couldn’t resist a smile at her phrasing. After all, she knew Marines quite well, having spent several months of her time in the most intense Marine training the Empire could imagine. She knew what the norm would be compared to everyone else.
Knowing he was beaten, the Master Sergeant dropped to a knee. “As you command, we will do.”
“I thank you for your service. Please rise,” Jarra intoned. “You are dismissed, Master Sergeant. May your boots press on your enemies’ necks and your blasters burn hot.”
“May your wings take flight and your missiles burn true, My Lady.”
Despite the words at their parting, Jarra knew the Master Sergeant would complain to himself all the way back to his quarters. She smiled again at the thought of what his reaction would be when he figured out exactly what she’d done to them.
One of the things the planet New Earth had offered up was a new resort they would dedicate to Imperial use. They were hoping to use the tourist trade to help persuade the Galactic delegation to rush their application. It was supposed to be a luxurious, all-inclusive tropical resort on one of the best beaches in the galaxy. The Marines were being sent there for a little R&R while the two recovered from their injuries.