Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1) (25 page)

“Program, could you provide me with a full
explanation of the Star of Terra? Including what additional rewards
it entails,” she questioned, knowing that the King's Boon provided
the honor to choose ones duty, but that's all she could recall.

“Of course, Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia. The
Star of Terra is a commendation created during the founding of the
TSB by the NHA Emperor Noolis to commend duty above and beyond all
expectations. Along with the physical Star of Terra galaxy ring,
the awardee is allowed to wear the Star of Terra medal on all
uniforms, is immediately raised to the court rank of duke or
duchess, is awarded the Eye of the Emperor, receives the right to
choose duty assignments, and is provided command of a starship of
battleship class or smaller,” the Program responded almost
immediately, as if expecting the question.

“What is this, Eye of the Emperor? I have
never heard of it before. Could you provide me with additional
details?”

“Information on the Eye of the Emperor is
restricted.” the Program responded.

“Why is it restricted? Shouldn't the person
responsible for awarding it know what it is?” Sasha asked, beyond
baffled by the Program’s response.

“The restrictions placed on this particular
portion of the reward are meant to deter the excessive awarding of
the Star of Terra commendation.” Sasha cleared her throat,
realizing that in a way, that was exactly what she’d just done;
awarding the Star of Terra for reasons not solely of its original
purpose. “However, the recommendation for the Star of Terra would
never be allowed by the Programs if the individual that received
said award would use it for means unbecoming.” Vin seemed to have
read her mind and responded to her concerns without her having to
voice them.

Satisfied, she began to caress Terra, her
catillian, who had moved to her lap from the railing as she thought
about what she'd just heard and the cryptic message she had
received from her brother.

How could the Star of Terra help her with
the coming trials?
She wondered if she was missing something,
but quickly realized it was entirely possible her brother didn’t
know she couldn’t actually present the award to Trent, since Duke
Zehman's fleet now sat between her and Earth. So there was little
hope he could be of any help in the short term.

She sighed, rubbing her temples to help
subdue a growing ache, and looked to the projection of the bronze
fluidic sphere floating adjacent the CID. A curiosity that always
lay just beneath the surface, to find out exactly what the Program
was, pushed its way into her deadlocked mind.
It wouldn't hurt
to ask, would it
? Suppressing the idea, she instead thought
about what she already knew.

Common knowledge stated Programs were a type
of artificial intelligence created around 85,000 years ago, prior
to the unification wars. Most believed they were the eyes and ears
of the emperor, reporting back everything that happened in the
multitude of galaxies that the NHA controlled, while delivering his
will. This theory was sound, since Programs were generally only
located at important locations, and had final and absolute
authority on any decision of great importance by the ruling
nobility. In general, however, they would not interfere in internal
noble conflict, like what was happening now with Duke Zehman
breaking the sanctity of the special protectorate of Earth. But in
other matters, the Programs approval was required, such as when
someone was raised to noble status or the awarding of a prestigious
commendation, like the Star of Terra.

“Program,” Sasha started, having decided to
get one thing out of the way that always bothered her, “since you
will be involved in many aspects of my life, I think it would be
prudent for you to have a name,” The fluidic sphere rippled and
rapidly shifted its coloring before it responded.

“Regulations state that all Programs shall be
referred to as one...in this case, due to the nature of this
Programs assignment, this regulation will be overruled. This
Program has decided that Vin would be appropriate.” Sasha thought
she caught a tinge of happiness within the monotone words.

“Good, make sure to inform the rest of the
crew whe -.” She froze when an audible gasp rose from the bridge
below. Sasha, realizing her error too late, could picture tiny
spheres appearing on the corner of each bridge station. She rushed
to the railing, Terra whooping from her shoulder in apparent
laughter, and found that her assertion was indeed, correct, the
Program had just introduced itself to the entire crew.

“Flight Captain Jeb'Tol,” she shouted down to
the bridge, “forgive me. I forgot to inform you that we now have a
Program onboard. Could you let the rest of the crew know? In case
it missed someone,” The idea that she forgotten to inform the crew
about the Program bothered her immensely. If this had been an
emergency situation, the surprise could have caused a fatal
mistake.

“Yes, Your Grace...but this is fascinating,
I've never heard of a Program introducing itself or having a name.
What exactly is its purpose onboard?” Flight Captain Jeb’Tol
responded with obvious wonder, shifting in the captain's chair in
an attempt to get a better look at Sasha, who was now leaning
precariously over the railing five meters above his head.

“That would again, be my fault. I asked it to
introduce itself to the crew after requesting a name to allow for
easier communication. Apparently, it has taken over some minor ship
functions it found lacking...but that is all I know. I am quite
certain it would be more than happy to fill you in on the full list
of responsibilities it will now handle.” Sasha shouted in response
as a hand grasped the back of her uniform, Alutia Guard Private
Yu'Min making sure she didn’t lean too far over the railing.

“Thank you, Your Grace, I will do that...”
Flight Captain Jeb’Tol’s voice trailed off. Sasha pulled herself
back over the railing, pausing while Terra entered the hidden
pocket in her bodice that allowed him to have direct contact with
her skin, while not being smothered...or more importantly...Sasha
having to expose her cleavage. She nodded her thanks to Private
Yu'Min and returned to her seat.

“Vin,” she started when she regained her
composure, “how long until Knight Admiral Bhool arrives?” she
smirked, wondering if Vin would mind being delegated to her
personnel secretary.

“She has just boarded the ferry shuttle and
will be arriving within the hour, Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia,” the
smirk turned into a full-blown smile as Sasha realized the time she
could save by assigning menial tasks to Vin.

“Thank you, Vin. Send a message to Tiana and
Regalia to have them meet me in my quarters. I would like to dress
the part of Grand Duchess for this meeting with Knight Admiral
Bhool.” She stood and walked briskly towards the exit, barely
hearing the Program’s response.

“Of course, Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia.”

The combat information display on the bridge
of the TSB Ero’Cia flashed eerily as the red dots representing the
numerous starships of the enemy battle groups suddenly appeared at
1.1 million kilometers directly ahead of the stationary TSB fleet.
Battle station alarms blared, but were quickly silenced; the crew
already at their posts.

Daniel waited, with a calm professionalism,
for his tactical display to zoom into a small sector of the enemy
fleet, highlighting the target priorities for the battle group in
which the TSB Ero'Cia was assigned. He quickly targeted the highest
priority enemy starships, designated by battle group command,
selecting the appropriate LPAs to fire at each for maximum affect.
It took only a few seconds to complete before he turned to the task
he hated most....the calculations.

The plasma cannon beams and LPA bolts could
theoretically travel well beyond their approved ranges with no
external resistance, as many people assumed was true within the
vacuum of space. But even though space in itself didn’t provid any
latent resistance, there were certain other influences that had to
be calculated into the firing trajectory.

Daniel quickly went to work, first accounting
for the different gravitational forces that would affect the LPA
bolt’s path, then the turbulent solar and interstellar winds,
radiation, and particles that had penetrated the Earth's star
system. After he completed his calculations, he inputted the slight
adjustments into the targeting system, required for a direct hit at
max range, and awaited the command to open fire.

The tactical display continued updating as
tactical officers across the battle group responded to battle group
command’s target priorities, until all targets within their
assigned sector were accounted for with sufficient firepower to
hopefully destroy, or at least disable, the enemy starships.

The enemy fleet adjusted course and Daniel
cursed under his breath. They were heading straight for a small
gravitational eddy that would cause hell with his targeting
calculations. He began to recalculate when the range meter ticked
to a million kilometers.

“Fire all LPAs!” Daniel barely had time to
enter the new trajectories when the command to fire broke his
concentration.

As one, the LPAs sent multilayered streams of
neutrons, followed by massive amounts of laser energy, across the
emptiness of space at the speed of light. Multiple starships
exploded on both sides as the bolts struck home. Daniel cringed
when more than half of his own LPA fire veered off course, missing
his targets completely.

The small and medium LPAs continued to fire
freely on the targets he’d assigned after the first salvo, a short
delay occurring only when their charge would diminish. Within
milliseconds, the small LPAs would fully recharge with energy and
neutrons provided by the neutron star drive core, or NSD core,
while the medium LPAs would take a little longer, just under a
second. The large LPAs, however, would take almost 5 seconds to
fully recharge, given their exponentially larger size and superior
firepower to their smaller brethren.

A second salvo of large LPAs burst forth and
starships on both sides continued to break apart, a few violently
as their NSD cores were breached.

“Damn it,” Daniel cursed under his breath,
the TSB Ero’Cia’s LPA beams once again veering off course.

As fast as his fingers could work, he entered
new calculations as another large group of gravity eddies appeared,
attracting an enormous solar wind storm whose crashing waves of
protons would play havoc with the neutron particles in the LPA
streams. But it all was in vain, his LPA fire continuing to miss
more often than not.

The range to target ticked to below 500,000
kilometers.

“Fire plasma cannon!” Daniel punched the fire
icon for the plasma cannon, not bothering to double-check that the
helm had the starship properly aligned with the target he'd
designated. The swirling beam of purple plasma that erupted from
the nose of the starship traveled much slower than the LPA beams,
moving at only 50,000 kps from a standstill. Meaning, it would take
a little less than 10 seconds for the beam to bridge the empty
space between the battle lines.

Daniel turned his attention back to his
calculations, glancing to the bridge's CID projection out of the
corner of his eye just in time to witness a swirling beam of plasma
strike the nose of the TSB Ero’Cia.

The lights flickered, then went dark, Daniel,
along with the rest of bridge officers displays vanishing.

“Congratulations, we’re dead,” the Ero’Cia’s
Executive Officer, TSB Commander Geoff, said sarcastically from the
captain's chair off to his right, staring down upon the officer's
stations that lined each side of the bridge’s CID. A moment later,
the lights returned to normal, while Daniels station morphed back
to the standard tactical view, displaying just the assembled TSB
Fleet waiting in a standby formation.

A fleet wide battle simulation had been
initiated by Knight Captain Quinn when all the TSB starships had
gathered at the rendezvous point, just outside Jupiter's orbit,
minus the two battle groups and frigates on outer system patrol
duty. When the order was received, a collective sigh of relief
rippled across the entire TSB Fleet.

Daniel, on the other hand, didn’t feel that
same sense of relief, his gut telling him that something was
definitely amiss, since none of the captains were involved in this
simulation. They'd been called to the TSB Reverie for a command
meeting. The official explanation was to see how the XO's would
command in a situation where the captains were incapacitated, but
something definitely smelled fishy.

“Cancel combat stations, Lieutenant-Commander
Xi. Everyone is free until the captain returns. I would recommend
food and rest...knowing her, she will definitely have a “prize” for
our outstanding performance,” said XO Geoff with his ever present
sarcasm.

After the collective sigh faded, all the
officers knowing the captain’s “prize” would be anything but
pleasant, Daniel turned back to his tactical station and accessed
the battle simulation data as the rest of the bridge officers filed
off the bridge. He began reviewing the calculations he'd inputted
during the exercise, and to his dismay, they were all correct. He
was just about to run a system diagnostic on the tactical matrix
when the XO squeezed his shoulders.

“That gravity eddy is a fake. See how the
ripples don't have a noticeable effect on that micro-dust cloud,”
Daniel looked up at the XO, then back at the display, wanting to
smash his head into the semi-spherical PDU of his station as he
realized his mistake.

“Even the tactical matrix, when it handles
the calculations during normal combat, would have been fooled.
Remember, even though the tactical officer’s duty includes
verifying the tactical matrix’s calculations, the primary duty is
to prioritize targets and... locate fake signatures, such as, “ he
pointed to the gravity eddy the enemy fleet had maneuvered towards
at the beginning of the battle, “a false gravity eddy,” Daniel felt
his anger about to explode at the cocky XO...
of course I know
the tactical officers primary duty!
But before he could voice
his feelings, he was thrown forward in his seat, a painful slap
striking his back. The XO started laughing hysterically.