The Star Captains' Daughter

by Kimber An

  Trinh bowed again.

  Empress Araina covered her eyes with a hand and leaned elbow on the armrest. “End transmission.” Her image vanished.

  My heir designate will never suffer this. He will have the love and loyalty of his brothers and sisters. Ariez turned to Trihn. “Prepare a salutation for Viceroy Delano.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  Ariez watched him proceed to the communications station. Closing eyes, he breathed deeply. Only a little while longer, My Love, and the Pain of Separation will end.

  Delano watched the Mydis battle group on aft viewscreen of their shuttlecraft. He’d commanded it for so long. He looked back at his daughter, sedated and on the verge of losing her mind because he’d failed to protect her. “Nothing else matters now.” He worked the helm. He’d known every necessary trick to leave the Mydis undetected, but he monitored a secure channel just in case his crew turned on him. He’d considered telling his Kaiya Rangers, but decided their loyalty was to Menelae first. They couldn’t go along with what he was doing. From their point of view, he was kidnapping a newly bonded wife, an act which could kill her new husband who happened to be the next emperor.

  A soft beep brought his attention to the security monitor. He shifted focus in time to see dozens of yellow dots enter the black and white spatial grid. He hit the red panel and watched the viewscreen.

  The entire Front Talon Fleet appeared out of hyperspace, surrounding his battle group of just three starships.

  “My…God.” The viewscreen was full of battle ships!

  Then, nine ships broke ranks and moved on.

  “What the…” Delano tapped a few panels. “Computer, calculate course of those starships.”

  “Nine of the starships have laid in an intercept course with this shuttlecraft.”

  “Shit!” Delano raced fingers over the helm. “Computer, all power but life support to propulsion!” He kicked it up to maximum velocity, but the nine starships continued to gain.

  The flagship gained on him even faster.

  “Computer, identify the flagship.”

  “IMS Shirone.”

  “That ship wasn’t supposed to be operational yet!” Delano knew the specs.

  The Shirone was the first in a new fleet of starships, faster and more powerful than any which had come before.

  The communications beeped and the computer spoke. “Incoming communication from IMS Shirone.”

  “Maybe I can buy us some time.” Delano said it while still wondering who could be commanding the Shirone. “Let’s hear it.”

  Princess Ara did not go into battle, but sent her lapdog, Kaliban. Yet, Naana had not sensed his presence around Junior.

  The viewscreen illuminated with the face of a very old nemesis.

  “Jackson!” The rage boiling decades in his heart exploded. “I’m going to kill you!”

  “Prince Ariez, actually,” said the hated, but youthful face.

  “Prince Ariez.” Delano gripped the communication console’s edge. The resemblance to Jackson was unmistakable, but not even cosmetic surgery could have transformed Jackson into this boy. “Does the Empress know you’ve been feeding Menelaen secrets to the Intari?”

  “Babbling old fool.” Ariez stepped down from his command chair. “The only reason you will live is because you are the father of the Holy Bennu. Release my wife to me now and I will allow you to flee across the De-Militarized Zone. The Alliance may imprison you for crimes against them, but they do not practice capital punishment. We do.”

  Delano looked back at his daughter asleep in the medical bed, the side curved up over her. Getting her home to Olivia is the only thing that matters now. I'm as good as dead without them.

  “Lower your shields,” said Ariez. “We will teleport the Princess aboard this ship and then you may go. Consider the shuttlecraft a wedding present.”

  Delano wheeled his head around. “Go to hell!” He slapped com and the Prince’s image vanished. The brown spots on sensors revealed their true nature- asteroids! The starships were too large to follow the little shuttle into the field.

  The shuttle shook to all-stop, caught in a blue tractor beam.

  “No!” He rushed to reconfigure shields to prevent teleportation, but not quickly enough. He felt the shimmering sensation and looked back in time to see his daughter vanish. “Junior!” He lunged at her, as though he could keep her safe with his bare hands.

  Too late.

  The god of the underworld had taken Persephone for his own.

  Delano felt the loss of his daughter like a rock in the chest.

  Chapter 19

  Olivia leaned on the tactical console and wondered if she irritated Sachi working there.

  “Captain.”

  Olivia cocked her head at Ashley’s breathy tone. “What is it?”

  Lips white, Ashley responded, “Um, I’m intercepting a communiqué from the Alexander’s First Officer to central command.”

  “What’s it about?”

  “Captain.” Ashley looked up and pressed earpiece with forefinger. “The Alexander has been destroyed in battle and…”

  “Destroyed?”

  “Confirmed. The First Officer reports that…he says that Admiral Jackson wasn’t Admiral Jackson. He was a Menelaen in disguise- Prince Ariez.”

  “A spy,” said Lieutenant Mir from the helm.

  “Prince Ariez?” Olivia glanced at him. “Doesn’t make sense for the Empress to send her only biological son, a teenager, on such a dangerous mission. And wasn’t he dead?”

  Sachi raised brow. “Guess he got over it.”

  “Go on, Mr. Ashley.” Olivia straightened.

  “The First Officer reports they captured a shuttlecraft with a Menelaen princess on board. The fake Admiral Jackson then reverted to his true self and disappeared with the princess during the battle.”

  “Battle? With whom?” Olivia started for her command chair.

  Ashley checked the communiqué. “The Mydis.”

  Olivia lost all feeling in her face. “Mr. Ashley, if Edward Delano is a Menelaen Viceroy, what does that make Junior?”

  “Uh…” Ashley swallowed hard “…a Menelaen princess.”

  “Princess?” Mr. Mir let his incredulousness fly. “Junior? Our Junior?”

  “Good…lord!” Isaiah emerged from the lift. “So, it wasn’t a dirty old pervert we were dealing with. It was a horny little teenage boy all along.”

  “Not so little,” said Ashley. “He’s a Seventh Level Master of the Sword in the Kaiya Arts, trained from birth to rule the Menelaen Empire.”

  Isaiah propped hands on hips, forward of the command chair. “Not unlike Alexander the Great who set out to conquer the world at age twenty, coincidentally.” He gave her a look. “Menelaens achieve adulthood at age fourteen.”

  “Sachi…” Olivia started.

  “Captain,” Ashley interrupted for the first time in his life. “Captain, I’m receiving an imperial announcement on all frequencies. The Empress…the Empress announces that…that Crown Prince Ariez has completed the Marital Bond with Princess Rowan, daughter of Viceroy Delano and Queen Olivia of Denahi.”

  “My seventeen year old daughter is married?” Olivia sunk into her command chair.

  “The Menelaen form of government is a hereditary monarchy.” Isaiah came near.

  “Without children the ruling dynasty collapses and civil war ensues. The Empress has only two biological offspring and one is sterile. Junior’s reproductive system is completely healthy. Without contraception, she could give birth every other year well into her forties.”

  “Edward battled the next Emperor of Menelae over this.” Olivia stood and locked gaze with him. “He sacrificed all the wealth and power he’s accumulated over the past two decades to protect our daughter.”

  “Captain,” said Sachi. “This crew will go to hell and back with you.”

  Olivia looked at her. “Can we really charge the Menelaen Front Talon Fleet across the De-Militarized Zo
ne in this rickety old starship? We’ll be blown to bits and set off a war.”

  Isaiah harrumphed. “I’d sacrifice my own life for peace, but I will not sacrifice Junior’s freedom.”

  “Tactical Alert, Commander Owada.” Olivia resumed her command chair, red lights flashing around her head. The viewscreen revealed nothing but stars and floating rocks, but her mama’s heart knew better. “Hell, here we come.”

  Junior woke surrounded by warmth and filled with goodness. She blinked at the starry window and realized she laid open a white sofa, covered by a white silken comforter.

  The door slid open.

  She rose up and observed Ariez stride through, gray and black uniform, crimson cape, gold embroidered ra over his upper left chest.

  “Sweet sleep?” He smiled for her and went down on his knees beside her.

  “Very sweet.” Junior fingered the gold clasp holding his cape. “You look so knotty in this.” Her ears heated up and she reached for the clasp.

  “I have something for you.” Ariez held out his closed hand.

  “What?” She grabbed that hand in both hers.

  “It is very special. Perhaps I ought put it away until after dinner.” He tried to pull away.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” Junior pried his fingers, but he was just a little bit stronger and got to his feet faster.

  “Definitely too special. Sparkles too much in the starlight.” He started for the dressing room. “I will place it in a security alcove.”

  “Give it to me now!” She launched off the sofa and chased him across their living area, right up over the next sofa and through the dressing room and the bathing chamber. “Ariez!”

  Laughing, he escaped through another hallway, back into the living area and then into the dining room. He dodged her behind the table and raked hand through his wavy blond hair. “Perhaps, we should discuss this.” He swaggered back through the doorway.

  “You discuss it!” Junior scrambled right up and over the table and tackled him to the floor. Rolling with him, she grabbed his hand and tried to pry the fingers apart again. “Give it to me!” She jabbed his ribs until he laughed too hard to hold on any longer.

  “All right! All right!”

  A silver something fell from his hand to the white carpet.

  Junior picked up the silver necklace, sat up, and examined it under the lights. “It’s beautiful.” The whisper soft chain clasped a crescent pendent upon which was etched a bird, wings outstretched. “This is one of those birds I saw on Kursk, the ones which look like Japanese cranes.”

  “The emblem of the Holy Bennu.” He pulled back his collar to reveal a gold chain, wide, and etched with a dragon. “And this is the emblem of the Incarnate Ra.”

  She smoothed a finger over the face of it, and up his neck to his chin and drew his lips down for a kiss. “Let’s take a bath.”

  Ariez exhaled and caught her hand. “My presence is necessary on the command deck. I had only a moment to visit. I must go now.”

  “Why?” Angst spiked along the back of her heart.

  “I have been away from the Empire a very long time. I have a great deal of work to do now that I have returned.”

  “What sort of work?”

  “According to Sacred Law, the Imperial Heir Designate must have offspring to succeed the Throne, but Princess Ara is sterile. Now that I have returned, married, she no longer has an excuse to hold onto her power. Yet, she is not willing to relinquish it. The Imperial Council is holding a special session.”

  “Oh.”

  “I will stop in for dinner.” Ariez kissed her. “In the meantime…”

  “I’ll go with you.” Junior stood and offered him a hand. “I need to call my mother and I’ll need the communications console on the command deck to cut through static in the Mae Jemison Asteroid Belt.”

  “Impossible.” Ariez stood and laced his fingers with hers.

  “Impossible? There isn’t a computer I can’t hack.” But, maybe it wasn’t the computer he was talking about. “My mother is going to freak out when she finds out about us!”

  “The danger is too great at this time. As soon as the matter with Princess Ara is settled, I will send a consular ship to bring your mother to us on Pellosia.” Ariez kissed her hands. “I have awakened your Maternal Phase and filled you with my essence. Our baby will be with us when we arrive at Pellosia. He will keep you company when I am away.”

  “Baby?” Junior froze, mind suddenly rushing back over the previous hours since they completed their bonding. “Oh, my God, we didn’t use any… Ariez, we can’t…”

  “Shhh.” Ariez touched her lips with his fingertips. “Now that our bond is complete, we can have anything we want. I know how you love babies.”

  “But, that doesn’t mean I want one right now! I haven’t even taken entrance exams to the Academy yet. We need to talk.” Even as the words came out, she tried to fathom why contraception had never occurred to her before. Menelaens control fertility telepathically.

  “I have all your thoughts now.” He kissed her and strode for the door.

  “I don’t think you do.” Junior watched him pass through the doors and followed him on numb feet, but the door remained closed for her. “Computer, open door.”

  “Unable to comply. Imperial authorization, Crown Prince Ariez, required.”

  “Open the damn door!”

  “Unable to comply.”

  Anger flashed, but then Ariez’s calming hand passed over her face unseen like an extinguishing blanket. Filled with unreasonable goodness, she lost the battle to think and sunk to the floor, asleep.

  Some time later, Junior woke and discovered Ariez’s attention elsewhere. His thoughts were focused entirely on tactical status and incoming reports from the Imperial Council. She lifted her face off the floor and pushed herself up.

  Ariez believed he had access to all her thoughts, but now she was certain he did not. After their rocky courtship, perhaps it never occurred to him she might exceed a Menelaen female’s abilities through the Marital Bond. She closed her eyes, quieted her emotions, and listened in.

  You have something on Delano? Emotions dark, Ariez approached a station.

  Delano? Junior was sure she knew that name, as though it belonged to someone she knew long ago.

  Yes, Prince Ariez. A subordinate’s voice. He was rescued by Admiral Park and the Kaiya-Bennu in a small, cloaked battleship. It vanished on a pursuit course.

  Ariez’s emotions blackened. How did Admiral Park come into possession of an experimental ship? Pause. Nevermind. Delano is a cunning warrior. Even with one battleship, he could pose a threat to the Princess. Maintain scans.

  Junior lost interest when he moved on to the boring Imperial Council reports. A minute or two of that and she was ready to climb the walls. But, then, she heard a subordinate say:

  Prince Ariez, I have detected Princess Ara’s battle group on long range sensors!

  Ariez’s voice responded too harshly to comprehend.

  Shooom! All the windows went black around Junior. An energy shield activated within them, the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, buzzing her spine. “A gilded cage.”

  Through Ariez’s eyes, she saw plasma blasts on a screen, fightercraft hammering shattered bulkheads. A battle!

  Junior put one foot under her and shot up, towards the door. She knew it to be locked, but all Menelaen starships had computer interfaces located near interior doors. Spreading her hands on the wall, she reached out with all her senses. The energy shielding made a shooming sound which she disregarded at once. She felt along the wall until she reached the hum.

  Stepping back, Junior hoped like crazy the interface could be accessed through voice interaction. “Computer, display interface.”

  “Enter code now.”

  Junior frowned, but an instant later realized the code resided deep inside the mind of Ariez. She closed her eyes and searched. Deep breath.

  Ariez sat in the command chair, body fired with combative e
motion. He did not notice her.

  Junior opened her eyes in satisfaction. “Computer, the code is ‘rowanmysoul.’” “Acknowledged.” The cover slid away from the computer interface.

  “Main viewscreen, command deck.”

  The interface displayed the battle – a dozen battleships, countless fightercraft, spitting fire, bulkheads breaking apart, nacelles exploding and hurtling through space. In an instant, she broke through Ariez’s blockade against her father’s memory and much of what was lost returned. “Dad’s trying to get me back. He’ll never make home to Mom that way. He’ll just get himself killed.”

  A sickening feeling worked its way up Junior’s throat. “Computer, identify lead enemy vessel.” She looked over her shoulder at the bed.

  “The IMS Luhfay.”

  “Princess Ara’s flagship.”

  “Correct.”

  “This is the first battle of a civil war.”

  “Available data supports your conclusion.”

  Others before self. Junior drew a deep breath and released. She caught her forehead in hand. Others before self. Fisting her hand, she pressed it to her lips. There can be no happy ending for me. She narrowed focus on the emergency icon at the screen’s bottom left. “Computer, display evacuation plan for the Imperial Chambers.”

  The screen illuminated with a map of the entire deck and corresponding escape routes. She pressed finger to a pink line leaving the dressing chamber.

  Junior strode for the dressing chamber in her long, silky nightgown. “Don’t think. Just do.” She found her white Kaiya uniform and white boots to match. The nightgown dropped and she pulled the uniform top over her head. Pants and boots pulled on, she yanked her long, red hair back into a ponytail fastened by a fabric strip ripped from her

  nightgown.

  Thus clad, Junior faced the appropriate floor panel.

  Rowan, what are you doing?

  Junior felt the air on her eyes. Risk no thoughts.

  What do you mean?

  “I love you, but…” Junior took a deep breath and exhaled. A few tears escaped. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this with you.”