by Frank Carey
"Bay, Glit here. We've finished our sweep and have found no other pods in the vicinity. I'm sorry, Princess."
"Thank you all for saving me. We have to go back and find out why they attacked my ship. We were in Martok space, and they were not League ships. Something is wrong."
"She's right," Muusta said as he joined them. "Wrong the attack was. No reason for it that deep in their territory. Like old fish it smells."
The others nodded in agreement while looking to Nersa for guidance.
"Princess," she asked, "Shouldn't we contact your mother and tell her what happened?"
"Yes, I have been remiss. The captain should have gotten a log buoy off before the raiders destroyed the ship."
"Silvestri," Nersa called out to the computer. "How late does it make us for our gig at the mine?"
"We have a thirty-six-hour window, ma'am"
"How far to the location where the Princess's ship was ambushed?"
"Three hours thirty minutes best possible speed, ma'am,"
"Princess, what happens if your people find us nosing around and the news of your call to your mother hasn't reached them yet?"
"I will tell them you saved my life and were bringing me back to the arms of my adoring mother. They will fall over themselves."
"And Tobath?"
"I can hide in the Engineering Bay. They'll never find me."
"Hmmmm. Glit, set course to the ambush point. Silvestri can give you the coordinates. Best possible speed."
"Yes, mother."
"The rest of you can introduce the Princess to the life Tobath has been living for the last year. Princess, you should find this interesting."
Arriska missed the last part as she had returned to kissing Tobath.
CHAPTER TEN
Glit set up the commlink with the Martok while Nersa and Arriska made small talk.
"You adopted all of them?" Arriska asked, marveling that a single parent of any gender could care for so many children regardless of their ages.
"Yes. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do. It gives them a stability they lacked in their earlier lives. Now, they are a part of something, something bigger than the band. Look at Randolph. He is a valued member of a Space Marine squad, yet he comes home to this ship at a moment's notice. We are his center, and he is ours. We were very lucky that Tobath joined us. The others look up to him while he has found the family for which he was searching.”
"Did he tell you what happened to his family?" Arriska asked, fearful that the others would judge her harshly.
"Yes, and he clarified that you had nothing to do with the decision. May I share my thoughts with you?"
"Please."
"Your mother strikes me as a strong and wise woman. When I was a detective, I learned to read people, and I have seen your Mother on the newsfeeds. I see a woman who cares about all of her people, not just the high-born. The story Tobath tells me does not match what I have observed. We are all missing something. What do you know of this high-born responsible for the deaths of Tobath's family?"
"He was a member of a powerful family who made their fortunes in shipping and commerce. He had many powerful friends."
"And did Tobath's family have any direct involvement with this high-born or any of his ships?"
"Yes, they did. The high-born had a spaceship parts business, and Tobath's father was an inspector for the merchant spacing guild. What are you thinking?"
"It's nothing. I'm just indulging the cop-side of me."
"Mother, Princess, I have Colonel Issta of the Martok Defense Force on the line, and he is not at all happy that we're using Royalty communications codes."
"Give me visual, please," Arriska said.
"You are on in three...two...one...go."
"...you will cease... By the Gods, Princess, you're alive! I..."
"Connect me with my mother, Colonel."
"Yes, my Princess. One moment..." He said as the screen went to an image of the MDF Logo. A moment later the image of a worried Queen appeared.
"Arriska? Is that you?"
"Yes, Mother, and I'm safe because of the Musae family," she said almost crying.
"How is this possible?"
Arriska looked at Nersa who nodded. "Tobath had set their comm system to monitor Martok frequencies, and they picked up my pod's beacon. When they picked me up I had maybe five minutes of life support left."
"Tobath? He lives?"
"Yes, Your Highness, Tobath lives, and I adopted him," Nersa said. "My name is Nersa Musae, matriarch of this family, and he is now my son and under my protection. His actions allowed us to find your daughter, though he did not know it was her until she emerged from the pod. At one point, we were concerned that it was a high-born who would have killed him on sight or worse, a unit sent to find him."
"I am at a loss for words, but you are safe, my daughter?"
"Yes Mother, I'm safe."
"We have offered to rendezvous with one of your ships, but she wants to spend time with Tobath. We are at your service, Your Highness."
"You remember we are at war, Ms. Musae. You could hold her for ransom or hand her over to the League."
"Your Highness, I am Storen which means what you suggest is impossible. She can stay with us or we will bring her to you. No other choices exist regardless of how stupid our Governments are acting. I care about her safety and the safety of my family."
"Are all of your people as forthcoming as you?" the Queen asked.
"Yes. It is our way." Nersa replied.
"Arriska, what of the crew of the P'Kena?"
"I saw no other pods eject before it exploded. They died saving me."
"They shall be honored in song and poem. I will not forget their sacrifice. Ms. Musae, may I impose on you to watch over my daughter a little longer? All of my ships are...tied up at the moment."
"You have my word she will be as safe as if she were my own daughter."
"Thank you. Arriska, be careful out there."
"Yes mother, I will."
"Your Highness, may I speak with you alone for a moment?" Nersa asked. When the Queen nodded approval, Glit walked Arriska out of cockpit leaving the two mothers to talk.
Once the cockpit door shut, Glit looked at Arriska while lifting up her arms. "Where are you hiding the other two? And is she really as tall as she looks on the vid? Are you going to look like her? She's beautiful and all, but where does she get her clothes."
"Glit, stop. Yes, my Mother has four arms and is about eight-foot-tall, but I won't get that way until the marriage ceremony. Until then I will just be me."
"Wait, you mean when you get married you go from this to that?" she asked as she waved at Arriska's petite body.
"Yes, and she will become the finest ruler the Martok have ever had," Tobath said as he walked up eying the closed cockpit door. "How'd it go?"
Arriska explained, thankful for the change of subject. "She seemed oddly okay with you being here," she noted.
"Mom's in there having a confab with the Queen. Don't know about what, though," Glit said, looking at Tobath like he should know. He shrugged and looked at Arriska who could only shrug in return. Several minutes passed before the cockpit door slid open and Nersa emerged.
"Your mother is very nice, Arriska," Nersa said as she walked past them. "Why don't you come to the lounge? I think the family wants to give an impromptu concert for their honored guest.
Glit ran into the cockpit and made sure the autopilot was set. She caught up to the other two as they made their way to the lounge.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
"What do you mean there was an incursion? What kind of incursion?" Troon asked as he and the Station Director walked down the corridor.
"A small ship, courier class. It came too close and tripped the defense system. We sent in two attack cruisers, and they destroyed the ship."
Troon stopped and spun on his heel so he could face the Director. "They did what?"
"They destroyed the ship. I..." Tro
on's fingers squeezed the Director's windpipe shut, cutting off the rest of the sentence.
"What part of hidden facility do you not understand? That ship was coming from somewhere and going somewhere, so it will be missed. They will send out a search team to find it. Is any of this sinking in?"
"Gagh..."
Troon released him.
"Sir, it couldn't be important. It was out here alone. No escorts."
"Do we have a visual record?"
"Yes, sir. This way."
The Director led him to the communications room where he had a technician pull-up the record showing the ship being destroyed. Troon stopped the playback when it showed a full view of the intruder.
"Nakoor, do you recognize that writing on the side of the ship?"
"No, sir. I don't read the barbarian writing of the Martok."
"I do. It says, "Royal Courier Ship P'Kena" and that glyph at the end designates it as the private ship of the Princess Arriska."
"What? Sir, you must be mistaken. I..."
"Pray that I am, you little, self-important worm. If I'm right and she got a distress buoy off, we should be expecting the Martok fleet here in about six hours."
"Sirs, you should see this," the technician said.
"What?" Troon barked.
The technician zoomed in on the doomed ship moments before its destruction. They watched as an escape pod detached from the ship and sped off a short distance before disappearing. "It cloaked. Only the royal family has pods that cloak, sirs."
"Director, get out of my sight. You," he said pointing to the technician, "you're promoted two grades. I want course and speed. Can you get an estimate as to time to failure for life support and find where she would be at that time?"
"Yes, sir," the technician replied.
"Do it. I want a body or a living princess. Am I understood?"
"Like the singing of the angels, sir." the technician said as he got down to work.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Having never hosted a member of royalty before, Tobath's family was working overtime to make the Princess feel comfortable, even so much as to stage an impromptu concert for her. Tobath was overjoyed because it gave him time to come up with badly needed changes to their defensive systems.
"You should go up and enjoy the concert. My family is one of the top bands on the circuit. People pay cash money to see them perform."
"Naw, I want to help you. Anyway, Arriska thinks something's going on between us," Gloria said.
"She thinks that of any female that comes near me. For someone destined to be the future ruler of the Martok Empire, she has rather strange confidence issues."
"Wait a minute? If she becomes Queen, doesn't that make you King?"
"No, it makes me dead. Hand me that spanner," he said nonchalantly.
He waited a minute, but no spanner was forthcoming. He looked up and saw Gloria staring at him in shock.
"Spanner?" he asked, hoping she would let it slide.
"Dead?" she asked as she stood up and crossed her arms.
"Dead. My descendants were insects, and we've kept a few of their traits."
"Such as?"
"Such as the female killing the male after mating. According to the Queen once we consummate the marriage, Arriska will transform into a being like her mother—eight-feet-tall with four arms—before killing me, then eating my brain. I really need that spanner."
"To hell with the spanner. Your future mother-in-law is eight feet tall, has four arms, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. That's what's going to happen to sweet little Arriska?"
He walked over, grabbed the spanner, and returned to the workbench. "Mostly. The transformation is triggered by a chemical she ingests at the wedding dinner. It's in a ceremonial fruit she eats right after the main course. Combined with a chemical produced during mating, it triggers a series of genetic changes. If she mates without the chemical she is prevented from ever changing to the Queen form. Back aboard the Arriska I told her a fib when she got a little too randy."
"You stopped her? Why? You two could have lived happily ever after."
"And our people would have been cheated out of having her as Queen. She has all of her Mother's best qualities minus the megalomania. Our people need her, especially after this boondoggle of a war."
"Does she know?"
"That I'll die? Oh yeah. If she finds out that she can fix that little problem, she would be on me in a second."
"Tell her!"
"No, dammit! I will not condemn my people to being ruled by one of her half-wit cousins. I know every person in line to the throne and together they don't add up to a fraction of Arriska. My death will make sure that my people have the finest leader seen in the last thousand centuries. It's a minor price to pay."
"Can't she rule in her current form?"
"Sure, if my people had a clue, which they don't. The matriarchy went from an interesting idea to dogma centuries ago. Look at Tralaska. It is so entrenched in its matriarchy, its males are staging a war to escape from under the thumb of its females. How long did it take Earth to move from a patriarchal rule to joint rule? And they're a bunch of mammals. Look at my people, descended from a hive mentality and so tied to it we created Units. Look, Gloria, just try to help me get through this, and I promise I won't invite you to the wedding. I hear it's a rather bloody affair."
She walked over with tears in her eyes and said, "You idiot," before storming out of the room.
He watched her leave while not understanding what just happened.
Gloria ran down the corridor to her room with tears streaming down her face when she ran into Nersa.
"Honey, what's wrong?"
"Your son is an idiot, and I can't fix it," she stammered.
"What? Here, come inside," she said as she cycled the door to her own room. She sat Gloria down and made her a cup of calming herbal tea. "Now, tell me everything from the beginning."
Gloria unloaded on Nersa, telling her everything Tobath had told her. She stopped, spent, exhausted by the ordeal.
"Has he told you about his family?"
"No,"
"They were killed by the Queen for a minor infraction. At one point he planned to kill Arriska to avenge their deaths, but couldn't go through with it. Instead he fell in love with her. The execution shook him to his core when he saw her lack of empathy or mercy. It was bad. Now she's back, and I have never seen him happier. It is like he found a missing piece of himself."
"We have to do something?" Gloria said as her hands shook with rage.
"What? Tell her? He might be right. We could condemn all of us to an endless war by putting an idiot in charge. I agree, she has the right to know, but she must be made aware of the consequences. I don't know how to do that."
"Dammit, you're right. I hate this war. I hate stupidity, and I especially hate weird biology."
"And this from a woman with pointed ears and a prehensile tail that lives inside biocybernetic suits."
"Point taken. I need to go apologize to Tobath."
"What did you do?"
"I yelled at him. Called him an idiot."
"He can be frustrating at times and he knows it. Go apologize. Remember I'm here to talk any time."
"Thanks," Gloria said as she handed her the empty tea cup and headed out the door.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Tobath finished the modification to the mini shield generator and was about to power it up when he heard someone enter the room. He turned and saw Gloria. He looked at her, trying to figure out what he should do next when she walked over and hugged him.
"Sorry about that. I shouldn't have called you an idiot."
"I should be the one apologizing. I forget you and the rest of the sane universe don't have these problems. I'm sorry. I think I have a solution to one problem, though."
"What's that," she said as she wiped her eyes.
He pressed a button on a controller on the table and the mini shield generator disappeared.
&n
bsp; "What the hell? What just happened to it? She asked as she ran her hand into it. She could feel it, just not see it, but it felt funny, almost fuzzy.
"It's slightly out of temporal phase with the rest of the ship. I connected a spare time dilation compensator to the field emitter modulator and poof, the mini shield generator is now a picosecond out of phase making it invisible, but not having any other effect I can detect."
He pressed the button once more and the unit reappeared none the worse for wear. “It uses a tenth the energy of current league stealth field generators and can piggy-back on a standard defensive shield generator. The best part is it’s impossible to detect since the ship is technically not there.”
"Marry me. We could make millions."
"My heart belongs to another I'm afraid."
"My loss; her gain. Can we give it a try?"
"I don't see why not. We can connect to the grid over there and test it with a probe."
"Let's," she said as she grabbed the compensator, walked over to an access panel, and made the connection. Twenty minutes later they were invisible. "Silvestri, pop an inspection probe and scan us from radar to short UV."
"Working... No return at any frequency," Silvestri replied. “We are invisible.”
"Silvestri, return probe to bay. Thank you," Gloria said. “A completely undetectable ship. The mind boggles.”
"Probe returned. You're welcome, ma'am."
"We now have a cloak," Tobath said high-fiving Gloria.
"Why don't we take a break and join the rest of the family? I think Arriska misses you."
"I guess I've been hiding down here, haven't I. Come on, before they run out of steam," he said as he led her out of the equipment-filled room.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Troon paced the control room while watching the activity on the monitors as hundreds of ancient warships were brought out of stasis and prepared for fuel loading. Though built over a thousand centuries ago, each looked as fresh as the day it finished its first shakedown cruise. Without fuel, though, he knew they would just sit there all dressed up with no way to go anywhere.
