Starbound (Lightship Chronicles)

by Dave Bara

  “Goodbye, Peter,” she said. “I’ll always treasure what we had.” Then she rose, and in a moment she was gone into the milling crowd. I stood and went to the window again, staring out at the still-frozen back gardens of the palace, teacup in hand, trying hard to keep my eyes dry. My emotions had been rubbed raw, right to the surface, and they were hard to contain. A gentle hand on my shoulder brought me back to reality.

  I turned. Karina, my wife, reached out to me. She put her arms around my waist as she pulled me close to her and held me.

  “It will be all right, Peter,” she whispered. “Everything will be all right, in time.”

  The next day, after a much-needed night of rest, I was feeling more myself. There was a series of meetings, one cluster with the leaders of the Union: Prince Benn, the grand duke, my father, Harrington, Serosian. I even caught a glimpse of Sunil Katara of Levant through an open door. He waved at me and I waved back, but I was headed for another meeting, one I was much more comfortable with, a military council with Grand Admiral Wesley and the Lightship captains.

  I shook hands with Devin Tannace, new captain of the Levant Lightship, Resolution. I met Wynn Scott of Earth, a tall, sinewy, African man. The captain of Avenger was there as well, Air Marshal Von Zimmerman’s son, Dietar. And of course Dobrina and Maclintock.

  Wesley cleared his throat and we all sat down at the table. “Let’s get down to business. The first item is assignments. We currently have six captains, but only five in-service Lightships,” he said. I assumed this was where I would lose my field command. “But that problem will soon be rectified. The Historians have informed us that three new Lightships will be delivered to the Union Navy within a month.”

  “Can they build them that fast?” Captain Tannace asked. Wesley smiled.

  “Apparently we’ve been a bit misinformed on that front. The ships to be delivered have been completed for some time. Seems the Earthmen were just humoring us, letting us build them ourselves. One each will be delivered to Quantar, Carinthia, and Pendax, as a condition of her joining the Union. Counting Levant and Earth, our fledgling Union now has five members, and many more resources. But we’ll need three more captains,” he said. “Permanent captains.”

  I tried to stay calm, and he continued, turning to me. “Mr. Cochrane, your performance aboard Starbound as her acting captain was exemplary, no other way to put it. You made very difficult decisions, but ultimately it is my judgment and the judgment of the Union Council that you saved lives, which you seem to have a knack for.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate that. But I couldn’t save Carinthia from attack.”

  “Not your job, Captain,” he said gruffly. “You did all you could. Let any guilt over Carinthia go, that’s an order.”

  “Yes, Admiral,” I replied. That would be a hard thing. Wesley continued.

  “Now, getting on with business, I’m afraid Captain Maclintock here wants his ship back, so I’m ordering you to give Starbound up. But I’m prepared to offer you one of the new Lightships in her place. Will you take permanent command of Defiant, Captain?”

  Defiant. If ever there was a name that matched how I felt right now. “I will, Admiral, and I hope to do her name honor as her commander.”

  Wesley nodded, then continued. “Carinthia will be receiving her new ship, designated Fearless, from the Earthmen. Air Marshal Von Zimmerman will be making the call on that assignment. The third new Lightship captain was chosen by Admar Harrington, who speaks for the government of Pendax. He’s requested that their new ship, Vanguard, be captained by none other than Lucius Zander.”

  We all had a good laugh at that. “He’ll be impossible to deal with!” said Maclintock. Wesley nodded again, smiling.

  “I had a good long drink when I heard that request, but I can’t blame them. He’s as experienced as they get, and he’ll be an asset to this team.” He paused before continuing. “Now there is one more assignment that I need to announce. Since we will soon be eight in number, and not all orders can come from my office, I’ve decided to name a fleet captain. Jonas Maclintock will be your new commanding officer and take up the permanent rank of Commodore, reporting only to me. He will be in charge of all fleet assignments from here on out. Jonas?”

  At that Wesley stood and shook hands with Maclintock, handing him a pair of crown insignia for his collar. We all stood and applauded. Wesley then went through the other changes being made. All the members of the Union would be mass-producing more Wasp-class frigates on a war footing, and they would be in charge of defending the home planets. There would be new First Contact missions to Jenarus, Sandosa, and places I’d only read about in history classes: Minara, Pharsalus, Ceta, Veridian, Spartak, Skondar, and Caledonia, plus one more.

  “We’ve got to grow this Union, ladies and gentlemen. Make it stronger, more able to confront the revived empire. And there’s one more mission that’s only in the planning stages. I’m sending Resolution home to Levant, where she’ll commence work on repairing the jump gate ring. We’re going to Altos, people, there to find out if our enemy still lives there, and if she’s left us a gateway to Corant,” Wesley said.

  “We’re taking the war to the Imperial home world?” I asked.

  “Not tomorrow, lad,” he said. “But soon enough. Soon enough indeed.”

  After two days of meetings, the leaders of the Union emerged united and set to one purpose: confronting the enemy wherever we found them, and making them pay for what they had done to Carinthia.

  The next day I stood behind the curtains in an upper room of the palace, dressed in my finest princely regalia. Navy blue tunic, sash of orange, family crest and a cluster of honorary medals I was sure I hadn’t earned. It wasn’t something I wore often, and I was definitely more comfortable in my navy uniform. But today I wasn’t merely a Lightship captain. Today I was also to be a prince.

  In the square below, a hundred thousand people had gathered on a sunny but brisk winter day. They were still hurting, still shell-shocked over what had happened to their world. But they had come here to see their sovereign, and their princess and her new husband. We were here for one reason, to give them hope.

  I stood on one side of the grand duke, Karina on the other. Together we each took him on one arm and helped him pass through the curtains and on to the balcony of the palace. The people in the square cheered their duke boisterously. He smiled and waved, accepting the adulation of the crowd. Once we had him safely to the podium, Karina and I stepped back as he spoke in German to the crowd. I didn’t understand a word of it. I could have used a translator module for my ear com, but I knew the gist of what he was saying: words of healing, words of prayer for his world. He was weak, of that there was no doubt, but he forged on, and I admired him for it.

  Halfway through his short speech Karina reached over and took my hand. She looked beautiful in the cold winter sun, her oval face framed by a luxurious fur coat covering her formal dress. My admiration for her was growing by the day. We both had much work ahead, but we had each other, and that meant something.

  As the grand duke finished his remarks, he turned first to his daughter, and then to me. He took our hands and joined them together above our heads, and symbolically led us to the front of the balcony, then stepped back. This set off a frenzy of cheering, and we couldn’t help but smile. Then the duke patted my shoulder, smiled broadly, and encouraged us to take the center stage.

  We both stepped forward to the balcony’s edge. I looked to my bride, a woman I didn’t love yet, but certainly could with time, then down at the jubilant crowd and waved. When I looked back at her she smiled at me with pride, and in that moment I was taken away by a sudden urge of spontaneity. I leaned in and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

  The crowd roared.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Shout outs for this one go to my editors, Sheila Gilbert at DAW, who is indispensable, and Michael Rowley at E
bury/Del Rey UK, for his insights into the nuances of the Europe/Rest-of-the-World market.

  Big thanks to my agent Joshua Bilmes, who constantly makes my work better, and lastly to my friend Tony Daniel, who I will continue to find new and interesting ways to kill in the future.

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