An unknown icon blinked on the bottom right of Daniel's tactical display. Curious, he selected it, and the view of local space displayed at his station warped into an expanded view of the entire star system, which was fed directly by the Earth star system’s sensor net. Daniel glanced at Lieutenant Howe, who was grinning as he fed the sensor data to all the bridge officers.
The Earth star system contained one of the more complex sensor nets in the universe and could reportedly pick up matter as small as a meter that passed through its massive reach. The sensor platforms were located at 50 million km intervals, throughout the entire star system, and used ripple space technology in conjunction with miniature SJS Gate transmitters, to track and report all movement.
Ripple space technology was based on the inherent properties of the recondite universe that created a type of ripple when matter moved within the standard universe, similar to how water rippled as boats passed over its surface. The sensor platforms punched a hole into the recondite universe, identical to the first step in SJS Gate creation, and placed an active probe within, allowing the reading and deciphering of the ripples. Once an object was located, more powerful, conventional scanners pummel the object, searching for gravity fluctuations, electrical signals, material composition, and any other identifying features. This data was then instantaneously transmitted to a central hub, through the use of miniature SJS Gate transmitters built into each platform, which analyzed the signals and returned the results to TSB command.
Currently, he could see the eight TSB battle groups, shown as medium sized blue dots, on the upper left side of the display, just outside Neptune's elliptical orbit. Seven much larger red dots, that could only be the HZBF invasion fleet, flanked at distance by two additional medium blue dots, could be seen about a million kilometers outside the official boundary of the star system, a third of the way around the elliptical. A solid red line projected the enemy fleets current trajectory, intersecting a small cross which Daniel figured was the location of the destroyed shuttle. After closer inspection he could make out tiny blue dots, TSB scout frigates, circling the large red dots of the HZBF at a little over five million kilometers. They were probably on station to keep eyes on the HZBF movements and report any activity, while staying out of weapons range...makes sense, he thought. A few additional TSB scout frigates could be seen a short distance from the blinking cross, within an hour flight time.
Where are the HZBF starships, he wondered, finding the sight odd. No red dots could be seen anywhere close to the destroyed shuttle, so how had the shuttle actually been destroyed? He scratched his head as a blue dotted line appeared, showing fleet commands planned course to move directly across the star system, to a point between the orbits of Neptune and Uranus, placing them in a better position to intercept the HZBF invasion fleet. Daniel released the image, bringing his mind back to the bridge to hear the last of the captain's speech.
“..and may you all fight for the glory of the TSB!” A round of cheers went up and Daniel joined in, with little actual enthusiasm.
“Helm, set course parallel to Mars One!” Daniel didn't hear the response, still lost in his thoughts. “Fleet countdown for high-speed travel initialized. One minute to high-speed acceleration. NSD field and propulsion is active and stable!” The helm started the countdown and the TSB Ero'Cia joined the rest of the fleet as they accelerated at 500 kps2 to a safe in-system cruising speed of 150,000 kps. The captain canceled battle stations, since the high-speed flight would last almost 20 Earth hours, and ordered everyone to rest, eat, and enjoy themselves. Daniel planned on doing all those things, catching a glimpse of a cute crewman delivering something to the bridge. He grinned, dirty thoughts filling his mind...he was definitely planning to enjoy the next 20 hours.
*********
Trent shifted uncomfortably in the stool by the entrance of medical bay one, watching the PDU displaying the promenade just beyond.
“I wonder what I’ll do now,” he sighed, thinking back to the events of the past few days.
His second trial ...they called it an interview...was almost worst then the first. It appeared the majority of the TSB crewmen present thought him in the wrong, wanting to believe the words of Sir Simwa and the other nobles over that of a lowly Earthling. Multiple times during his narrative he was interrupted and called a liar, many not believing his story, even though the owner of the monotone voice, called a Program by Taku, said clearly that they were true. In the end, most walked away in disbelief, but a few had approached, mostly junior officers, and shook his hand, providing him with kind words.
His attempts to find his own truth, namely which corporation was responsible for this experiment, fell on deaf ears. Everyone that would talk to him kept up the same story. They were part of the Terra Space Battalion, which was an autonomous organization within a gigantic intergalactic alliance, or empire, no one certain which was correct, called the New Universal Empirical Human Alliance, or NHA for short. Currently, the vast majority of TSB crewmen and officers were in space, defected to Sir Simwa, or prisoners...locked in freight storage facility five.
From what information Trent could glean, Sir Simwa was the noble son of a local earl, and the NHA representative to the TSB, that had much sway with a ruling noble named Duke Zehman, the head of the Hulk'Zif Duchy. Sir Simwa had started a rumor after the enlistment trial fiasco claiming that Trent had attacked and dishonored him, while Knight Captain Quinn and Vice-Commander Daiyu had joined the attempted murder. Trent knew all this to be lies, but he noticed most of the TSB crewmen seemed to trust and respect Sir Simwa implicitly, he guessed because of his noble birth more than his actions.
After the majority of TSB personnel had left Earth, Sir Simwa and his party of about 50 other minor nobles had stormed the command and control center and taken over the base in the name of the NHA. From what Taku had explained, only about 200 TSB personnel, not including the children in the orphanage, were left in TSB Earth Base at the time and about half sided with Sir Simwa. The loyal TSB personnel that escaped were forced to fortify the medical bay and fight off raids by the nobles, their personal guards, and the traitorous TSB crewmen.
In an interesting move, Taku found a way to transmit Trent's interview throughout the entire base, with the Program's monotone voice guarantying that everything he said was true. This had caused a few defections of non-nobles, but that quickly ended when Sir Simwa announced that it was all a fabrication and should not be believed. About a day had passed since then and Trent had been assigned guard duty, still unsure of exactly what was going on. He heard footsteps approaching and his hand instinctively went to his holster.
“I'm sorry about yesterday,” TSB Private Jan'Lus approached cautiously, “I saw the logs, I have trouble believing that Sir Simwa would lie. He is such a great and honorable man,” her words didn’t match her apology.
“Well,” Trent squinted, cautiously deciding to take her words for face value, “everyone makes mistakes. It's hard to judge a man's true character by his words and birth alone.” Jan’Lus’s eyes flashed, but quickly returned to normal.
“He must have a reason for all this. I'm from his father's earldom and they have been nothing but kind to all their people, common or petty alike,” explained Jan'Lus as she sat herself about a meter away from Trent on the floor.
“If you don't mind me asking,” he started, her words raising a few questions, “why didn’t you defect with the others who are loyal to Sir Simwa?” she flashed a snarl, and Trent could feel the heat of her stare.
“I did. The only reason I was here was to try to find information on your location. Unfortunately, I hesitated,” she let her anger cool as if admitting that she was a traitor had been all she needed.
“You know,” Trent sighed, “my life has been a load a crap for as long as I can remember. Then, due to some strange coincidence, I end up here, being hated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” his heart started racing, “and let me tell you this. I will kill this Sir Simwa,”
The declaration came to him from some deep, dark place, brought on by a sudden rush of pure hatred at the memory of the man who tried to kill him and Daiyu in cold blood. Jan'Lus's jaw dropped, glaring at him in disbelief.
“You can't kill a noble! It's...it’s wrong!” she shouted, stumbling to her feet. A feeling had taken him over. The same feeling that burst forth when in danger, the instinct to move with no emotion...but now he was in complete control.
“Are you going to try to stop me?” he asked, emotionless. Jan'Lus continued to stare, turning her head side-to-side to see if anyone else was present.
“If you do it, Duke Zehman will have your head!” she shouted like a child, using her words as a weapon.
“Then I will kill Duke Zehman as well,” he told, the urge for revenge on all those who had harmed him boiling within.
“That's blasphemy! Even stating such words are a death sentence!” she continued to scream. Trent snapped. He raised his weapon, which he learned was called a laser arc, pointing it at Jan'Lus's head. She froze, her face draining to a pale white.
“I will kill anyone who tries to stop me. This man you love tried to kill me in cold blood, then tried to kill Vice-Commander Daiyu while she was unconscious on the floor. All because he thought I was what...trash...that I didn’t deserve to live because of my birth,” he trembled, his voice like a freezing blizzard mixing with a raging volcano, full of his swirling emotions and rage. He steadied his breath, staring wide-eyed at the trembling woman, preparing to fire.
Don’t do it, Trent, a voice of reason appeared within the back of his mind, one he'd never heard before.
Why? Why shouldn’t I kill her? Trent shouted in response. He’d finally had enough, all his life they'd walked all over him, people like Jan'Lus.
Just don’t kill her, please Trent, the voice replied calmly, a gentle voice, a woman's voice. Trent blinked with confusion, an image of a woman flashing in his mind’s eye, seeming to be born of his BC node....or so he thought. He felt his anger release, then subside.
Trent walked over to the door, still aiming his laser arc at Jan'Lus, unhooked the bar and swung it open.
“Go.” That's all he needed to say. She sprinted out of the medical bay like the wind. Trent didn't even watch her leave as he closed and barred the door behind her, stumbling back over to his stool, trembling uncontrollably.
“You should have killed her. She knows too much about our defenses,” sighed Taku from the shadows, before sauntering over to Trent's side, “though she is right about one thing, Trent; say you're going to kill a ruling noble next to almost anyone in the NHA and they are well within their right to report you,” Trent looked up at the man who he had come to trust, but started to raise his laser arc at what sounded like a veiled threat. Taku quickly put up his hands. “Hey, I'm with you. Sir Simwa sacrificed his right to protection...but I just wanted to warn you,” Trent let his arm fall, placing the laser arc in its holster, then buried his face in his hands. He couldn't get the image of the beautiful black haired woman out of his mind.
“This is all so...so strange. My whole world has been turned upside down and my emotions are going crazy. She made me think I was willing to kill everyone to get my revenge but...but that's not me,” he explained as Taku walked over, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Well, they did mess with your genetics, so it may be a side effect. There should have been medical technicians present to help with any trace chemical imbalances when you awoke, but I think they were both killed early in the fighting,” Trent looked up, surprised. He heard about the BC node being grown in his brain, the origin of the voice in his head, but he didn't realize they actually altered his genetic structure, “I'm concerned about one thing,” Taku continued, seeming to notice Trent falling into confusion, “nothing seems to add up. I know Knight Captain Quinn has a bad history with the nobles, which is why most of us assume Sir Simwa is creating a ruckus now. But to go to all this trouble just to remove him...seems a little excessive.” Trent raised his head.
“What do you mean bad past?” he asked, deciding to dig deeper, hoping discussing someone else's history may help him forget his own.
“I don't know the details, but supposedly he disobeyed orders, then ended up killing a ruling noble, a marquees or earl I believe,” Trent nodded, though found it hard to believe that the kind old man that protected Trent from Sir Simwa's verbal and physical attacks had killed in cold blood.
“Do you know what the order was?” Trent asked.
“If I recall correctly, it was to raze a planet. But most of the information was muddled in the channels at the time...too much propaganda from both sides...it was hard to get the facts. The only thing I know for sure is that the NHA noble faction known as the traditionalists still want his head,”
That makes sense, Trent thought, Knight Captain Quinn seemed to have too much honor to follow an order to kill innocents. Trent pondered for a moment, an idea appearing in his steadying mind.
“Well, why don't we find out why they're doing this? If it's really about revenge or some other matter that no one has thought of,” Trent explained, though not his own agenda, Taku being another of those that fully believed they were part of this TSB, and not a corporate experiment.
“What do you have in mind?” Taku asked, intrigued, as he seated himself beside Trent.
“Well...I noticed that there are a lot of these.... biological access points I think they were called.... for BC node access within the walls.” Taku raised an eyebrow, “They must break from time to time...”
Chapter 13
Distant stars streamed slowly past the viewscreen as the ferry shuttle cut towards the heart of the Earth’s star system. The closest star, Earth's yellow-white sun, shined brighter than all the rest, threatening to drown out their faint existence as they moved ever closer.
Sasha yawned, stretching her stiff limbs in a useless attempt to release their incessant ache. Having been trapped in the tiny ferry shuttle for almost 12 hours, and spending the majority of that time trying to sleep in a chair never meant to be slept in. Whenever she closed her eyes, hoping for the embrace of sleep’s sweet nothingness, she found herself instead dwelling on her mistakes, the faces of the dead appearing one after the other, asking her why...always why. Though thankfully, during her latest attempt at rest, someone else, someone she never expected, touched her dreams.
She glanced over her shoulder at Regalia and Gil'Da, still curled up in their seats, sleeping fitfully. Lia'Sil lay just beyond, her breathing shallow, skin a pasty white. Tiana, having been the first to fall asleep from her tears, sat cross-legged in the co-pilot’s seat, her expression distant, probably recording a journal or composing a message, something to help pass the time. Sasha leaned over to lightly tap her friend’s shoulder.
“Oh,” Tiana feigned surprise, “you're awake,” she stretched, glancing to the ladies still sleeping behind them.
“I think they will be out for awhile yet, it's been a difficult few days,” Sasha whispered as she followed Tiana's gaze. Tiana nodded, yawning as she stared curiously at Sasha, eyes twinkling.
“You have something on your mind...I can tell,” Sasha stiffened.
“I had a dream,” she started reluctantly, knowing it useless to hide her concerns from her best friend, “a very vivid dream,” she caressed Terra with an outstretched finger, who mimicked Tiana’s exaggerated stretch as he climbed free of her cleavage, the memories of Trent returning. She felt herself flush and her heart race. Tiana caught the change immediately, showing a wide, delightful smile. She turned her entire body towards Sasha while keeping her legs crossed beneath her.
“I want...every...single...detail......understand? You are not allowed to leave anything out...anything!” Tiana lectured with obvious excitement. Sasha giggled and suddenly they were back on Tidelia, whispering about some silly prank they pulled on their guards, or the latest noble boy who would try to gain her favor. She sighed dramatically, already knowing the response to
come.
“I dreamt about that man from Earth, Trent I believe the name was,” she actually remembered his name quite well, but hoped to mellow Tiana's cresting enthusiasm, “I saw his face,” the young woman started bouncing in her seat, “and he was angry, Tiana. I felt like I could see through his eyes...a woman was shouting at him, telling him not to speak badly about Duke Zehman and Sir Simwa. It was so very strange...and so...so very real...” Tiana steadied, a curious look creeping over her face.”His anger, Tiana...oh his anger...it exploded forth like it’d been restrained for an eternity! It felt like he was going to kill her...that she was going to try get in his way. I screamed for him to stop, to calm down...that if he killed her, he would never be the same,” she remembered the dream like it was real, the feeling of his raw emotions, “and he listened, Tiana, oh he listened, letting the anger fade...and let her go...but oh...oh Tiana, the hurt in his heart, I could feel it! The pain from his past was like a shell, smothering him. I wanted to hug him so badly, but I couldn't...I just couldn't...” her voice faded, unable to mask the grief the memory called forth. Tiana stood, stepping the meter between them to kneel at her feet.
“It was just a dream, Sasha, based off everything you learned about him, mixed with the crazy emotions we experienced over the past couple days,” Tiana caressed Sasha's leg, looking into her eyes, the gentle smile on her lips telling that she did understand.
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