Veil of Shadows (Book 2 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (11 page)

“We’re moving over there already? I thought we would be living on
Best Deal
.”

“Nope. The Captain has decided that we’re going to skip that step and make
Courageous
habitable as we move in. We’ll be taking our bedding with us, and all of our supplies. We’ll remove anything that we find in our quarters to a common collection point.”

She considered that. “Will I be staying with you guys?”

“The Captain hasn’t told me where you’ll be staying, but I don’t think you’ll be in marine country. That would start too many rumors.”

Kelsey snorted bitterly. “As if that’s the worst rumor I have to deal with.”

He put his hand on her shoulder. “There aren’t any nasty rumors going around about you. If there were, someone would be in the medical center. Yes, people are curious. Everyone feels terrible about what happened to you. They know this isn’t your fault.”

She sighed. “It feels like everyone is staring at me. They’re afraid of me.”

“Bullshit. They know you and they trust you. The only doubt you’re feeling right now is self-doubt. And that’s something you need to get over.”

“That’s great advice. I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to do that.”

“You live your life the best you can and things get better. Just like trust is earned, so is confidence. One act at a time. Come on. It’s time to head over to
Courageous
. The rest of the marines are already over there with our gear.”

Since she’d known that she’d be going somewhere today, she’d already packed. They went back to her cabin and collected her bags. Carrying them wasn’t a problem. Super strength had its benefits.

They dropped her bags off to be loaded onto the next cutter. When they boarded, it was already packed. It looked like most of the people going across were Pentagaran.

The man seated beside her seemed to be the Royal equivalent of an older enlisted man. He was apparently an engineer of some sort. He smiled at her and held his hand out. “Good morning. I’m Jacob.”

“I’m Kelsey. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She gingerly took his hand.

His eyes widened. “Princess Bandar? This is an unexpected honor, Your Highness. I’d heard you were coming along with us, but I didn’t expect you to be up and about so soon. I know all of us are pleased to see your quick recovery.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m completely recovered just yet. I have a lot of work to do. I’m just happy to be alive and sane.”

They spent the next fifteen minutes talking, mostly him asking questions about her experiences. Thankfully, he didn’t ask about the fight at the Parliament building. She was relieved to see that he didn’t seem frightened. That gave her self-confidence a well-needed boost.

She managed to ask a few questions about him and discovered that he’d be working in engineering, helping repair the damage and learning new techniques from the Fleet engineers. He seemed in awe of the old Empire technology and eager to learn about it. The flight over to
Courageous
turned into a pleasant distraction.

Once the cutter docked and everyone went their own ways, she met back up with Talbot. He consulted his tablet and began leading her through the corridors. They looked dirty and disused, but at least the gravity was on. The worst of the debris was gone. She imagined that they’d be cleaning for months to come if the ship proved repairable.

Marine country on
Courageous
was very similar to the one on
Athena
. It opened into a large common area with smaller corridors leading off into the bunking areas. It also had a separate mess, so the marines could eat as a unit. It had a gym, an armory, and a firing range as well.

The main difference was its size. Rather than being built for thirty marines, it seemed like it could accommodate ten times that number. The marines from
Athena
were bustling about putting things in place and unpacking. They weren’t working alone. There were a number of Pentagaran marines helping them.

She and Talbot only stayed long enough to drop off his gear and then they went back into the depths of the ship. Talbot glanced at her. “Could you find your way back to the docking bay?”

“You’ve got to be kidding. I still get lost on
Athena
.
Courageous
is much larger and I’m completely unfamiliar with her.”

“I bet your hardware has a way for you to figure that out. It only makes sense. We have equipment that keeps track of where we’ve been and how to get back to certain locations. I’m sure that you have something similar. You just have to figure out how to access it.”

She stopped. Forcing herself to keep her eyes open, she sent a mental command to her implants.
Show my location.

The transparent image of a partial deck plan appeared in front of her. She assumed the green dot was her current location. The deck plan showed what she assumed were the areas where she’d already been.

Show me the path back to the docking bay.

A blue line led from her location back to the lift they’d taken. She could also see the partial deck plan for the deck with the docking bay. The line led from the lift to the cutter dock.

“I can see it. It’s like a ghostly deck plan floating in the air between us.”

“That might come in really handy when you finally learn how to use it. At this point, I can see some potential benefits when this ship comes back online. You should be able to query the system and have it tell you where someone else is, and have it show you the shortest path to get to them. If we were boarded by a hostile force, it might even be able to show you where the enemy was located.”

The sheer number of possibilities overwhelmed Kelsey. How was she ever going to learn how to do any of this?

Well, the answer to that tied in with what Talbot had told her earlier. Practice. The more she used these new abilities, the more comfortable she would become with them, and the more uses she would discover. Her life was going to be very different going forward.

Kelsey hefted her bag. “So, how do we figure out where my quarters are?”

“Captain Mertz gave me a compartment number. Let’s see how lost I can get us.”

The burly marine led her back to the lift and they went up to deck five. He started one direction looking at compartment numbers. She figured he was going the wrong direction when he reversed course. He had to move into a side passage and go almost halfway towards the bow of the ship before he stopped in front of a large hatch.

“This is it. Now we get to figure out how to open it.”

“That shouldn’t be too difficult. Someone opened it to decide it was right for me, so the hatch must work.”

On a hunch, she sent a mental command to the hatch.
Open.

The hatch slid smoothly aside. Talbot raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s really useful. I wonder if you could set a lock so that only your specific command can open it. I’d imagine so. That’s probably how the old Empire Fleet personnel did it.”

Kelsey queried the door.
Who has access privileges?

A list of names appeared in her mind. She knew absolutely none of them. They must be part of the old Empire crew.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “It has a list of authorized personnel, so I shouldn’t have even been able to open the hatch.”

“Someone said that with the main computer offline, many things are accessible that might not normally be. Perhaps it’s an emergency protocol.”

Kelsey sent a command to the hatch.
Add me to your access list.
A long series of numbers and characters appeared on the access list. They must represent her in some way.

Identify me as Kelsey Bandar. My title is Ambassador and my rank is Princess.

Her identification changed to exactly what she told the hatch. “There we go. I’ve added myself to the access list. We’ll see if I’m still there once the main computer comes back online.”

She led the way into her new home. It was significantly larger than the two-person cabin she’d had on
Athena
. Several hatches led into other compartments. A quick walk-through revealed a rather large sleeping chamber, an elaborate bathroom with a shower shaped like a tube, an office, and a kitchen.

Each of the rooms had the remains of furnishings, but it looked like the suite had been unoccupied when disaster struck
Courageous
. That secretly made her very glad. She hadn’t been looking forward to living in a room where someone had died. She had enough ghosts in her real life.

She made her way back into the large central area. “This is huge. Who the hell lived here? Don’t tell me Jared gave me his cabin.”

Talbot shrugged. “These may be VIP quarters. You know, the kind of thing some visiting Admiral would stay in. Let’s leave the hatch open and I’ll have some of the boys come clean everything out.”

The marine consulted his tablet and the two of them headed off for Jared’s cabin. It was just as hard to locate. Her half-brother opened the hatch when they touched the plate beside it.

“Just the people I was hoping to see,” he said. “Come into my humble abode.”

Kelsey looked around as soon as she got inside. “I’m impressed. Yours are even larger than mine. I didn’t think they made quarters this large on a ship.”

“Apparently the old Empire had plenty of space for their people. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that they have so much automation.”

“Well, I have enough gear and clothing to fill my quarters. What are you going to do with yours? You don’t have nearly the wardrobe I have.”

“That’s true,” he admitted. “It’s going to take some getting used to. If, of course, we can get the ship operational. That’s where you might be able to help. I’d like you to work with Commander Baxter to see if you can bring the main computer fully online.”

Kelsey nodded. “I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Then let’s go down and get an initial assessment. He tells me that it’s powered up, but unresponsive. Perhaps it’ll respond to you.”

“Here’s hoping it doesn’t say something rude,” she muttered. “I understand that this is important, but do you really think it’s going to react positively to some stranger? It has to be more intelligent than Workstation Twelve. Maybe even sentient.”

“Hopefully that would make things easier, rather than harder. In any case, all we’re asking is that you do the best that you can.”

He led them deeper into the ship. If she hadn’t been able to log her progress, she knew that she’d have gotten lost in the first minute. They stopped outside a hatch that seemed to be several times the thickness of a standard hatch. She could tell because it was open. Inside the large white room, Commander Baxter and several of his engineering technicians seemed to be cleaning up the area around the consoles.

He looked over as they came in. “We’ve just finished tidying up a bit. Allow me to introduce you to the main computer.” He gestured at a blank wall with three consoles and numerous screens sitting in front of it. The consoles seemed active, but the screens were blank.

“She’s drawing power, but thus far she’s not responding to input from the consoles. I’m hoping that you’ll be able to communicate with her. Tell her we come in peace. Maybe get in a good word for the rest of us.”

Kelsey stepped over and looked at the wall. “It’s behind here?” She closed her eyes and tried to sense an old Empire connection. She immediately found the interface.

Hello? Can you hear me?

This unit is Imperial Fleet property. Unauthorized access is punishable by up to sixty years in an Imperial prison. Your identity code is not recognized. Authenticate.

My name is Princess Kelsey Bandar. You don’t recognize my code because I only recently received this implant hardware and over 500 years have passed since the Empire fell. The rebels attacked
Courageous
and your Captain attempted to self-destruct. Obviously, it didn’t work. We mean you no harm.

The computer hesitated for several seconds. To Kelsey, that made it seem like it was thinking for a long time. When it spoke again, it seemed more hesitant.
This unit’s internal chronometer roughly confirms the passage of time, but this unit cannot confirm the events specific to this vessel. If you will allow this unit access to your implants, it is prepared to determine if it should accord you any privileges.

I’m still learning my way around this equipment, but I give you permission to access my implants for the purposes you have stated.

After a few moments, it spoke again.
This unit has confirmed that you were recently implanted. A scan of the programming confirms that the rebel virus has not infected you. Based on that and a lack of authoritative guidance, this unit is willing to grant you provisional access. However, this unit insists that you restore its control interfaces.

I have a question. With the old Empire gone, is it possible to gain access on a more permanent basis? Assuming, of course, that we can demonstrate the true situation to your satisfaction.

My programming does not contain the procedure for that, however, due to the rebellion this unit has some leeway in interpreting regulations. Query. You have stated your title is Princess. In which polity are you a Princess?

She hadn’t been aware there were other political units beside the Terran Empire. Interesting.

The Terran Empire. The Emperor in your time sent his son Lucian to safety. My father, the current Emperor of the Terran Empire, is his direct descendent. My twin brother, Ethan, is his heir.

No member of the Imperial Family has ever visited this vessel. It seems unlikely that a member of Imperial Family would be exploring a derelict vessel. Explain your circumstances.

She spent the next few minutes explaining step-by-step the expedition and the circumstances that brought them here. She included everything, including the Pentagarans and their war with the Pale Ones. She figured this was not the time to leave details out or to prevaricate.