Alutia Rising

by Craig Gerttula

  But he found it odd. No red dots could be seen around the destroyed shuttle, so how had the shuttle actually been destroyed? He scratched his head as a new dotted blue line suddenly appeared, showing fleet commands plan 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. Daniel released the image, bringing his mind back to the bridge to hear the last of the Captain's words.

  "..and may you all fight for the glory of the TSB!" A round of cheers went up and Daniel joined in, with little actual emotion.

  "Helm, set course parallel to battle group lead!" 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 quickly accelerated to a safe in-system travel speed of 150,000 kilometers per second. The captain canceled battle stations, since the flight would last almost 20 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 chair by the entrance of medical bay one, watching the PDU displaying the now empty outside lobby. His second trial ...they called it an interview...was almost worst then the first. It appeared the majority of the TSB personnel 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 story he was interrupted and called a liar, many not believing his words, even though the owner of the monotone voice, called a Program by Taku, said they were true. In the end, most walked away in disbelief, but a few had approached and shook his hand, providing him with kind words.

  His attempts to find his own truth, namely which corporation was running 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 part of a gigantic intergalactic alliance, or empire...most seemed confused at which was right...called the New Universal Empirical Human Alliance, NHA for short, and currently the rest of the members were in space, defected to Sir Simwa, or prisoners...locked in the storage facility.

  From what information Trent could gather, Sir Simwa was the noble son of a local Earl, and the NHA representative to the TSB, that had much sway with a man called 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 members seemed to highly respect Sir Simwa, he guessed because of his noble birth more than his actions.

  After the majority of TSB personnel had left Earth base, Sir Simwa and his party of about 50 other minor nobles had stormed the command center and taken control of the base in the name of the NHA. From what Taku had told him, only about 200 TSB personnel, not including the children in the orphanage, were left in the base 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 and the traitorous TSB personnel.

  In an interesting move, Taku found a way to transmit Trent's interview throughout the 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. I saw the logs, I couldn't believe that Sir Simwa would lie......he is such a great and noble man..." TSB Private Jan'Lus approached cautiously, speaking sweet words.

  "Well...everyone makes mistakes. It's hard to judge a man's true character by his words and birth alone." Her eyes flashed with anger, 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." said Jan'Lus as she sat herself about a meter away from Trent on the floor. Her words raised a few questions in his mind.

  "If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you defect with the other people loyal to Sir Simwa?" Her eyes once again filled with rage and Trent could feel the heat of her stare.

  "I did. The only reason I was over here was to let him know if you showed up. Unfortunately, I hesitated." She let her anger cool as if admitting the words had been all she needed. Trent sighed, realizing she just admitted being a traitor.

  "You know, my life has been a load a crap for as long as I can remember. Then, due to some strange chance, I end up here, being hated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time..." He found himself staring at Jan'Lus, trying to keep his own rising anger in check. "...And let me tell you this. I will kill Sir Simwa." The words came to him from some deep, dark place, brought on by a sudden rush of emotion. Jan'Lus's jaw dropped, glaring at him in disbelief.

  "You can't kill a noble! It's wrong!" Her voice was accusatory as she quickly stumbled to her feet. Something strange had taken him over, it was the same feeling he had 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?" His voice turned cold, 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, using her words as a weapon.

  "Then I will kill Duke Zehman as well." His icy words steadied, the urge for revenge rising. The memories of the encounter with Sir Simwa flooded into him, the pain and sorrow he felt when the nobleman attacked the helpless Daiyu.

  "That's blasphemy! Even stating such words is a death sentence!" Trent snapped. He raised his weapon, which he learned was called a laser arc, pointing it at Jan'Lus's head. She stopped screaming, her face suddenly 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 trash...that I shouldn't live!" His voice had changed from icy cold, to smoldering hot, full of pure emotion and rage. He took a deep breath, staring at the trembling woman, preparing to fire.

  A voice of reason appeared in the back of his mind, one he'd never heard before, telling him not to kill her, to let her go. Trent yelled at the voice, saying no, he had enough, all his life they'd walked all over him, people like Jan'Lus. The voice replied calmly, it was a strange voice, a woman's voice...don't kill her. Trent blinked, an image of a woman flashing in his mind, coming through his BC node....or so he thought. He felt his anger release, then begin to 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 ran out of the medical bay at a full sprint. Trent didn't even look at her back as he closed and barred the door, stumbling back over to his chair.

  "You should have killed her. She knows too much about our defenses." said Taku from the shadows, before sauntering over to Trent's side.

  "She's right about one thing......say you're going to kill a noble next to almost anyone and they are well within their rights to shoot you." Trent looked up at the man who he trusted, but started to raise his laser arc at what sounded like a veiled threat. Taku quickly put up his hands.

  "Hey there, I'm with you, Sir Simwa gave up his right to protection...but I just wanted to warn you." Trent brought his arm down, placing the laser arc in its holster, then put a trembling
hand on his face. He couldn't get the image of the beautiful black haired woman, who had suddenly appeared within his conscious, out of his mind.

  "This is all 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 that's not me..." He sighed again as Taku walked over, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  "Well...they did mess with your genetics...it may be a side effect. There should have been medical technicians to help with any trace chemical imbalances, but I think they were both killed early in the fighting. It may be why you awoke without anyone around." Trent looked up, surprised. He heard about the BC node being grown in his brain and how it allowed him to access information with his mind, but he didn't realize they actually altered his genetic structure. The sudden thought confused him, causing the urge to fall into despair to grow, but Taku quickly changed the subject.

  "I'm concerned about one thing...nothing seems to add up. I know Knight Captain Quinn has a bad history with the nobles. But to go to all this trouble just to remove him...seems a little excessive." Trent raised his head at Taku's words.

  "What do you mean bad past?" Since talking about someone else's history may help him forget his own, Trent decided to dig deeper.

  "I don't know the details, but supposedly he disobeyed orders, then ended up killing the noble responsible, a Marquees or Earl I think." Trent looked curiously at Taku, finding it hard to believe that the big, gruff, kind man that protected Trent from Sir Simwa's attack had killed in cold blood.

  "Do you know what the order was?" Trent had to know, he couldn't think of Quinn in the same light as Simwa.

  "If I recall, it was to raze a planet. But most of the information was muddled in the channels...too much propaganda from both sides...it was hard to get the facts. The only thing I know for sure is that the traditionalists want his head." That made 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..." Taku stared at Trent as a small smirk inched its way across his face.

  "What do you have in mind?" Taku grabbed another chair as he spoke and placed it next to Trent's.

  "Well...I noticed that there are a lot of biological access points for BC nodes in the walls." Taku's raised an eyebrow, his interest peeked.

  "They must break from time to time..."

  Chapter 12

  Distant stars streamed slowly passed the shuttle as it cut through the emptiness of space, the closest, the Earth's yellow-white sun, shining brighter than all the rest, threatening to drown out their faint existence. The sight was eerily beautiful, the projected viewport curving before them providing a 180 degree view of surrounding space. So if you just stared straight into the darkness, into the growing sun, it felt as if you were the starship...floating through space's cold embrace.

  Sasha yawned, stretching her stiffened limbs in a useless attempt to work out their aches. They'd been stuck in the small ferry shuttle for almost 16 hours and she'd spent the majority of that time trying to sleep...unsuccessfully. Her mind was stuck in the past, in her mistakes, and whenever she closed her eyes, the face of dead men would appear. Except during this latest nap, when someone else...someone she never expected, touched her dreams.

  She scanned the tiny, dimly lit cabin, her eyes falling on Regalia and Gil'Da, still curled up in their seats, asleep. Guard Lieutenant Lia'Sil lay unconscious behind them, her breathing slow, skin a pasty white. Tiana, having been the first to fall asleep from her tears, was sitting quietly, with the look of using her BC node, probably recording a journal or composing a message, something to help her pass the time. Sasha leaned over and lightly tapped her shoulder.

  "Oh, you're awake." Tiana feigned surprise as she stretched her arms, glancing back to the two ladies still sleeping behind them.

  "I think they will be out for awhile yet, it's been a tough couple of days." whispered Sasha as she followed Tiana's gaze. Tiana nodded, finished her exaggerated yawn and looked at Sasha, eyes twinkling.

  "You have something on your mind...I can tell." Sasha stiffened...Tiana could always see through her, no matter how hard she tried to hide something. She sighed, smiling at her young friend while caressing Terra with an outstretched finger, his head poking out of her cleavage, his tiny arms mimicking Tiana's stretch.

  "I had a dream, a very vivid dream...." The vivid memories returned and she felt her face flush. Tiana caught on immediately, her own mouth wide with a delightful smile, turning her entire body towards Sasha while crossing her legs in the seat.

  "I want every detail! Don't leave out anything...anything!" Tiana said with unrestrained excitement and almost yelled the last part. Sasha couldn't contain a giggle and the two girls were suddenly back on Tidelia, whispering about some silly prank they pulled on their guards. She took a deep breath and prepared for the response she knew was coming.

  "I dreamt about that man from Earth, Trent I believe the name was...I saw his face..." She actually remembered his name quite well, but hoped to mellow Tiana's excitement, which she realized failed when the young girl started bouncing in her seat, barely containing herself. "...and he was angry. I felt like I could see through his eyes...a woman was yelling at him, telling him not to talk badly about Sir Simwa...it was very strange...and so very real..." Tiana steadied, a curious look creeping over her face. Sasha continued. "...His anger exploded and it felt like he was going to kill her...that she was going to try get in his way. I told 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. "...He stopped then, let her go...but 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 couldn't..." Her voice faded, hiding a tinge of sadness. Tiana stood, walking the half 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 as she spoke, looking kindly into her eyes.

  "But why am I dreaming of him......and why with such clarity? Why so vivid, and my emotions...they go out of control when I think about him." Sasha was staring through the front viewport, at the distant stars, squeezing her friend's hand. Tiana smiled up at her...a warm, kind smile.

  "Well, Your Highness, I believe you may be in love." Sasha froze and turned to her lady-in-waiting, whose voice hid a hint of amusement.

  "How could I be in love! I've never even met him!" Her response was all Tiana needed to start laughing gaily, skipping back to her seat. In love, her ...never! The thought was outrageous, and she'd promised herself never again after the incident with the noble boys in her teenage years...the hurt was just too much...too fresh.

  "Sasha, I think you're in love." Regalia's dainty voice rose from behind. She'd awaken while they spoke, overhearing at least a part of the conversation. Regalia carefully slipped around her seat, and to Sasha's surprise, sat on her lap.

  "Mother always said that love finds you in the strangest ways...and when it comes, you have to recognize and grasp it, because if you miss it...it may never come again." Regalia's speech was like that of a woman five times her age, her wide eyes staring deep into Sasha's, then down at Terra, who she gently pet with an outstretched finger.

  "The words of a child hold more truth then many wish to see, Your Grace." Gil'Da spoke as she leaned over Sasha's chair, looking down with caring eyes.

  "Not you too......I am not in love! Just fascinated...I want to know more about him....that's all!" Tiana threw her hands in the air in feigned disgust as she heard Sasha's response.

  "It's love I tell you. But just remember, my princess, the fi
rst time you see him and he rushes to hold you in his arms, you tell me then that it is not love, just fascination!" Tiana lectured with a tone that let Sasha know they would talk about this again. Sasha stared at Tiana, trying to quickly remove the image the other girl had placed in her imagination, but it was too late.

  "Your cheeks are red, Sasha." Regalia's smiling face was only a few centimeters away. Sasha turned away, only to see Tiana and Gil'Da with wicked smiles of their own. She was about to burst, the teasing too much, when Regalia started laughing, with Tiana and Gil'Da soon following suit. Sasha, trying her best to force a pout, gave in, and joined the now boisterous laughter.

  "Destination reached, transferring control to TSB Fleet Base." The women froze as Vin's monotone voice interrupted. They looked to the viewscreen, seeing the first twinkles of the inner asteroid belt and their current salvation.

  *********

  The screeching battle station alarm sounded as the TSB fleet closed in on its destination. Daniel had arrived early on the bridge, having successfully completed his mission. He'd spent the first 10 hours or so of his free time in the embrace of a foxy little minx of a private, then, slept for the next eight hours, followed by a large meal, and after a quick workout, arrived on the bridge early. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't the only one, everyone's nerves were on edge and the best way to relax was to do something you knew...and for most, that was their job.

  Daniel glanced over his shoulder, seeing the Captain and XO deep in discussion. He accessed the Earth star system sensor net feed that Lt.-Commander Xi had patched into his station earlier. The seven red dots representing the HZBF battle groups had changed course a few hours before he arrived on the bridge, having detected the TSB Fleet with their long-range sensors as they began their deceleration at a range of 100 million kilometers. From the current TSB fleet formation, Daniel thought he might be able to discern Knight Captain Quinn's current plan.