by Kal Spriggs
The unknown battlecruiser hung in high orbit over the planet, weapons, sensors, and defense screens active. A purple halo still flashed around it and Alannis frowned at that. “We still don't have an ID from sensors?”
“No, ma'am,” Petty Officer Muna said. “It doesn't match any of our target parameters. They're trying to put together a capabilities estimate now.”
“Right,” Alannis said. “Well, I'm online and briefed, I now have the auxiliary fire station, Petty Officer.”
A moment later, the intercom crackled to life, “Ensign Giovanni, report to the bridge.”
Alannis sighed, “Never mind, Petty Officer Muna, I think you'll have to retain control.”
She unstrapped and then hurried out of the compartment. Primary Fire Control lay only two decks down from the bridge so it only took her a minute to arrive at the bridge, her helmet under her arm.
Captain Beeson looked over at her as she arrived, “Ensign, it seems we're in need of you in your role as Princess.”
“Sir?” Alannis asked in confusion. While the title meant something back on Nova Roma, she didn't really have any political power in the United Colonies. At most, she had the ear of her brother. What that amounted to, she couldn't really say.
She followed the Captain's gaze to the main screen. A big, alien face stared back at her. It took her a long moment to recognize the brown hide and cat-like head as that of a Ghornath.
“Princess Alannis Giovanni?” The Ghornath asked. His brown hide had shaded slightly tan. If Alannis remembered her brother's stories right, that meant he was probably just as surprised as she was.
“Yes, Strike Leader Burbeg, this is Emperor Giovanni's sister.”
The alien peered at her, his mirror-like eyes unreadable. “You have the ability to speak for your brother, in his absence?” Strike Leader Burbeg demanded.
“I may...” Alannis said hesitantly. “At the least, I can hear what you have to say and relay it directly to him.”
“No!” Burbeg all but shouted. “Do not transmit anything by ansible. We have recently learned that such transmissions are not secure!”
Alannis rocked back at that. She glanced at Captain Beeson, whose eyes had gone wide. Until now, every nation had operated under the impression that due to the nature of ansible transmission projection through shadow space, that all such transmissions were secure.
She glanced at the communications icon in the corner and realized that they were transmitting and receiving only via laser, which meant no one should be able to intercept their communications.
“Sir,” Alannis said in a low voice, “have we told the Shogunate to stand down?”
He gave her a sharp look, but he nodded, “Good idea, Ensign. We wouldn't want them getting jumpy. “One moment, Strike Leader, I'll notify the Shogunate Fleet that you are friendly.”
“Captain Daniel,” Burbeg said, “I implore you, tell them no more than necessary. The news I carry, the information I have, thousands have died for it.”
“Of course,” Captain Beeson said. He switched channels and then went into privacy mode while the talked with the Shogunate officers. Alannis stood nervously. What was Burbeg doing here? She knew that he had served with her brother for a time. For that matter, she knew that her brother suspected the Ghornath had some kind of hidden shipyard or base.
That was more than most of the rest of humanity knew. The Ghornath home system, Ghornath Prime, had been raided and looted by the Nova Roma Empire over forty years previously. It had subsequently been conquered by the Chxor, who then proceeded on a genocidal campaign which left the life-bearing worlds uninhabitable. Since the Ghornath had only ever had the one system… that meant most of their surviving species were refugees.
Many of those refugee camps, spread across dozens of star systems, survived on the barest of margins. Anyone claiming that they had some kind of hidden shipyard and base capable of producing state of the art warships would be mocked. Yet here they are, with a battlecruiser that doesn't match any of our records, she thought.
Captain Beeson finished his private call and gave Alannis a look, “Whatever this business is, the Shogun is not happy that 'our' guest tripped half his warning systems and has him standing up his reserve forces. I somehow think that our diplomats will have to give him a bit more on this technology transfer just to keep him happy.”
“Sir,” Alannis said as neutrally as possible. She didn't really know why she was here... other than the fact that Lucius was her brother. Presumably Burbeg had asked for her... but why?
“Strike Leader,” Captain Beeson said as he opened up the communications channel again. “We've obtained a brief window do discuss what brings you here. Would you like to come aboard...”
“Captain Daniel,” Burbeg said, “We have served together and I value your friendship and wisdom... but these matters are of the utmost importance. I ask that you come aboard. Please bring Baroness Giovanni, as well.”
Alannis saw Captain Beeson cock his head, clearly unsettled. Could this be some kind of kidnapping attempt, she wondered, but if so, Burbeg must know that Lucius wouldn't give him anything. Her brother had dealt very harshly with kidnappers before. Besides, it didn't fit what she had heard about the Ghornath officer.
“I will come, Strike Leader,” Captain Beeson said. “Do you have any other requests?”
“Yes,” Burbeg nodded, “ready your ship for war.”
***
Alannis wasn't quite ready for the harsh metallic scent of the Ghornath ship. The honor guard who welcomed her and Captain Beeson saluted. Her eyes went wide as she saw that a squad of them wore powered armor. From what she knew, it took a tremendous effort to keep human powered armor operational... to the point that the United Colonies only bothered to do so on ships with a battalion size element. Furthermore, each suit cost almost as much as a combat shuttle.
Seeing the Ghornath with a new ship was one thing, seeing them field twelve suits of over-sized powered armor was another thing entirely.
“Captain Daniel,” Burbeg said, “I am glad you came. Baroness Giovanni, I am glad you can be here for your brother.”
“Sir,” Alannis nodded, feeling out of her depth.
“Follow me,” Burbeg said as he led them out of the hangar bay. Alannis looked around and she quickly noticed a number of signs that the ship was not only of new construction, but that it had recently seen combat. Along several of the corridors they passed Ghornath at work on repairs. “You've seen combat?” Captain Beeson asked.
“We have,” Burbeg said. The big, eight-limbed alien led the way into a conference room. Like the rest of the ship, it made Alannis feel tiny. Some helpful soul had put two human-sized chairs next to the table, but those didn't change the fact that everything on the ship was built for three-meter-tall centauriod aliens.
“What I tell you now, I ask that you do not allow outside of those you must tell,” Burbeg said. “My crew and ship were part of a fleet, a fleet we have spent the past ten years constructing.”
Alannis's eyebrows went up at that, “Wait, an entire fleet of ships like this?”
Captain Beeson gave her a sharp look, but Burbeg didn't seem to mind the question, “Yes, a secret fleet. Built for one task: to discover the Ghornath homeworld.”
Burbeg said that with such seriousness that Alannis could only stare at him in confusion.
Apparently, she wasn't the only one, “Burbeg,” Captain Beeson said, “I thought that the Chxor conquered the Ghornath homeword.”
“No!” Burbeg slammed one of his huge fists down on the conference table and the big piece of metal bounced a bit from the impact. His hide had flushed red and Alannis realized that the big alien could easily smash the both of them with his bare hands. And to think I listened to the Captain and left my pistol, she thought.
“My apologies,” Burbeg said after a moment. “I am distraught over what has happened, I should have better control.” His hide returned to a neutral brown color and he spoke slowly, “You
have heard of what humans refer to as the Eckard Paradox?”
“I have,” Alannis said quickly. When she saw her Captain's confusion, she spoke up, “Brooke Eckard was a xenobiologist who obtained permission to study on Ghornath Prime just after Amalgamated Worlds discovered them.” She thought back to the classes she vaguely remembered, back when she had still held out hope that she might be able to charter a ship and go exploring... before she realized that the authorities of Nova Roma would never have tolerated that. Well, she thought, joke's on them, here I am and they all died under Chxor occupation... “She took a lot of notes, but one thing that stood out to her was that besides the Ghornath and two of their domesticated species, the Drothir and the Roon, there weren't any other octopedal species on Ghornath Prime.”
Burbeg nodded, “It is something that our leaders did not expect her to notice. In fact, it is something that most of my people have ignored or been encouraged to ignore... until now.” He brought up a projector which lit up a section of star systems. At the center was Ghornath Prime, just to the galactic south of it was the former military outpost at Gebranyr, and then the handful of other systems, many labeled with unknown markers.
Some had been conquered by the Chxor Empire, such as Ghornath Prime and Gebranyr, Alannis knew. The latest she had heard from her brother was that most of those worlds had been abandoned by the Chxor. There was little of interest to them in that area, they'd mostly conquered it as a method to cut off support for Nova Roma from the southern regions of human space.
Granted, she thought, about half the Chxor worlds are now our allies... more or less. Some of the Chxor systems had even applied for membership within the United Colonies, though there were quite a few humans who opposed that.
As she watched, two systems that lay beyond Gebranyr began to flash. The first was Iota Persei and the second was Gamma Serpentis. “What few of even my own people knew,” Burbeg said, “was that Ghornath artifacts have been found in both of these systems. This ties back to some of our ancient legends and stories... stories about what we call the Sacred Stars.”
Alannis sat back. Her first impulse was to ask what this had to do with their presence here and the damage the ship had taken... but she didn't see a polite way to do that. A glance at Captain Beeson showed a patient expression on his face.
“We have always had legends,” Burbeg said softly. “About the Protectors, about the Sacred Stars. From the surface of Ghornath Prime, you can see them, a constellation, a beacon which has always been the symbol of our Emperors.” His hide flushed blue, “I thought it was just that, a symbol and legend... until Fleet Consul Faydeb told me the truth.”
“The truth?” Alannis asked.
Burbeg gave a nod, his cat-like ears laid back and his hide turning a deeper shade of blue. “The legends said that in ancient times, the Protectors discovered our race. They worked hard to defend us, so that there was but one path to our world: through the Gates of Hallidas.”
A binary star system appeared, it floated, disconnected and far from the other stars on the star map. “Beyond the Gates, there are five other systems,” Burbeg said. “The Wastes of Argolim, the Forge of Angrahad, the Gardens of Maar, the Fields of Targonis, and the Throne of Kopal Pesh.” Burbeg's deep voice went soft, “These are the Sacred Stars, a place of myth, the origins of my species.”
“But,” Alannis asked, “who are these Protectors? Why would your people leave... and if they did, why wouldn't you go back?”
Burbeg shook his head, “These are questions I asked. We only have bits and pieces. The royal family, they guarded and kept that knowledge, we only have the few pieces that others held and fragments of religion and myth.” His head hung low, “When the Nova Romans killed the Emperor, we lost the keys to put it all together.”
“I am sorry,” Captain Beeson said.
“It is not your fault, Captain Daniel,” Burbeg said softly. “Nor, Princess, is it yours or the fault of your brother... Strike Commander Maygar taught me this.” He gave a heavy sigh and his hide returned to a more neutral tone. “The details of what we have pieced together can wait for another day. What we believe is that those systems would be home to our race, that our refugees and warriors could return there, rebuild our civilization there.”
“So that's why you built a fleet?” Alannis asked.
“Indeed,” Burbeg said. “And we went to Gamma Serpentis... and there we were ambushed.”
“Ambushed?” Captain Beeson asked.
“By an unknown force,” Burbeg said. “A force both vast in number and fearless in assault. We lost two ships to their initial assault and withdrew to shadow space to recover, but we were pursued even then. At Iota Persei, they fell upon us only a few hours after our arrival, Strike Commander Maygar ordered a withdrawal to our rally point in the Gebranyr system. But when we emerged in the Gebranyr system, our enemies were already there awaiting us. We lost another three ships.”
“That's why you think anisible communications are compromised,” Captain Beeson said softly.
“Indeed,” Burbeg nodded. “All of our communications, all of our planning took place in secure areas or occasionally through the ansible network. Whoever our attackers were, they knew exactly where to find us at Gebranyr... and they knew with enough time to have forces there waiting.”
“So what happened?” Alannis asked. “Where is the rest of your fleet?”
“Strike Commander Maygar ordered my ship to come here, we had heard that the Shogunate had made allies of the Baron's United Colonies. He ordered me to find what help I could and then to finish our mission. In the meantime, he would use our fleet to lead our enemies away.”
“Do you have any idea who these attackers might be?” Captain Beeson asked. “Did they have emissions like humans, or Chxor, or Balor...”
“They were like nothing I have seen, Captain Daniel,” Burbeg said softly. “Their attack ships came into our fire without hesitation. They did not give us warning or offer us the chance to surrender.”
“Just what we need,” Captain Beeson grunted, “another alien threat.” He sighed, “So what is it you want from us?”
“Strike Commander Maygar told me to remind the Baron of the debt he owes us... the loan of a ship,” Strike Leader Burbeg said. “I ask that the United Colonies make good on that loan and repay us with your services. I ask that you join me that we might journey to the Sacred Stars.”
Well, Alannis thought with releif, at least this decision is way over my pay grade.
Captain Beeson looked over at her. “Well, Princess, what do you think?”
***
A few hours later, seated around his conference table, Captain Daniel Beeson considered his senior officers. He had related the information to them and while his XO wore the expected dour expression, Lieutenant Commander Voronkov from engineering didn't look any more cheerful. Lieutenant Commander Douglass wore a thoughtful expression.
Commander Gantry of the Regent had a mulish expression while Commander Xan of the Crossbow wore the same unreadable expression as always. I never want to play poker with her, Daniel thought absently.
And poor Ensign Alannis Giovanni sat at the end of the table, looking rather nervous in their company. She handled herself well enough, Daniel thought, and it isn't as if she's afraid, she's more worried about coming across as too opinionated for her junior military rank.
“Sir,” Commander Gantry said, “I think that our best option is to message Fleet and request orders.”
Daniel's eyebrows went up at that, “You don't think this possible enemy force could intercept the communications?”
“I think there could be any number of explanations,” Commander Gantry said. “The Ghornath aren't known for being great at keeping secrets...”
“They built an entire fleet in secret, Commander,” Daniel said. “I didn't get all the details from Strike Leader Burbeg, but he made it clear that his ship wasn't the largest. We know they had at least one battleship from the visit they paid
us at Faraday three years ago.”
Commander Gantry frowned at that. “I don't see what other option we have, sir,” he said. “It isn't as if we can go tearing off on a wild goose chase. We have orders to protect this shipment.”
“We also have orders to represent the United Colonies and Emperor Giovanni,” Commander Bowder said with a sigh. “The Ghornath helped out the Emperor back when he only had one ship. The 'loan' of a battlecruiser at that time provided far more assistance than we could easily repay... and he's said before that he considers the Ghornath to be our allies. I don't think he'd like it if we left them in the lurch when they needed our help.”
The various officers looked down the table at Ensign Giovanni. Daniel hid a smile as she sat a bit straighter at the combined attention. “He wouldn't,” she nodded. “In fact, I'm pretty certain he'd insist on helping them.”
“Exactly,” Daniel said. It was one of the reasons that he so admired Lucius Giovanni. The man simply didn't have it in him to deny help to people who needed it. Most times he turned situations like this into ones of mutual benefit. “I'm reasonably certain he would insist that we help... and I'm even more certain that if we did use the ansible to ask for directions that he'd relieve all three commanding officers for lack of initiative.” Well, he admitted, probably not, but he'd have some strong words for all of us.
“So,” Daniel said, “we're going to operate under the assumption that helping Strike Leader Burbeg is what he would want us to do. Which also means that we need to both complete our mission here and send word back to the United Colonies about what we've learned.” He saw confusion on the faces of a couple officers, “Look at it this way, there's someone around with a powerful fleet that doesn't seem to mind serious losses and just kicked one of our allies hard. Regardless of what else happens from here, Emperor Giovanni needs to know about that.”
