Prologue
Princess Tam'na K'lara M'dala raced down the main passage of her crippled dreadnought.
The klaxons were blaring the red alert status intermittently with the hull breach
warning and the evacuation notice. She ignored the now academic babble as she
dodged fallen supports and leaped over the bodies of her dead crew. As far as
she could sense, there wasn't anyone other than herself still functional on
the entire ship of over two hundred battle-hardened crewmembers. The flagship
of the Cherthian planetary defense fleet was a riddled hulk, the fleet itself
was scattered and disorganized, as a result of a surprise attack from the Erscans.
She was furious that none of the early warning systems detected the incoming
fleet. The first she heard of their presence was when the ship was hit broadside
by a barrage of missiles, ending its effectiveness before the battle started.
She leapt from her bunk and raced to the main bridge, only to discover that
was destroyed. She went to the emergency bridge, to find it helpless. The emergency
crew watched helplessly as the Erscan barrage took out most of the control circuits,
leaving their control panels red with inactive and overloaded systems.
Tam'na quickly determined that the targets of the first barrage were all the
control systems and the engineering decks. It was only a matter of seconds before
another barrage hit the ship, turning it's battered remains into incandescent
gas. She ordered immediate evacuation of the ship of all active personnel, forcing
those that were still alive to run for the escape pods, leaving their dead and
severely wounded crewmates. Only until she was sure that the remains of her
crew were off, did she herself make a run for her personal gig.
The princess reached the emergency shaft that had only one destination. She
slapped her hand on the ID plate, praying that the security system could still
read her palm print. It did. The door opened and she slipped in, hitting the
emergency close button, and barely got her tail out of the way of the doors
as they slammed shut behind her. The shaft was in zero gee, and she sped down
it, her spacer's reflexes pushed to the max. She expected to either feel the
sudden inferno of an exploding warhead, or the sudden decompression into the
blackness of space.
Neither came as she reached the end of the tube. Again she placed her hand
on the ID plate, knowing if it failed to recognize her the tube would become
her funeral pyre. However, with a beep of satisfaction, the ID plate blinked
green, and the door to her private gig opened. She executed a flawless zero-gee
flip and slid into the command chair feet first, her fingers punching in the
activation codes before she had fully settled into her seat. All systems in
the gig blinked green as they booted and began readying the small ship for flight.
Satisfied, she activated the voice interface to the gig's AI system. As her
fingers started the launching sequence, she spoke into the air. "Computer, activate
exterior view." The main screen in front of her winked on, and showed three
lean Erscan cruisers closing on the flagship. "Ah, they're going to board. Well,
they aren't going to find anything, but I'll give them a warm welcome," she
muttered to herself.
"Computer, initiate memory dump of main ship computer, and activate emergency
destruct sequence Beta." The AI-M176 computer system, recognizing her voice
as belonging to the Royal Family, bypassed the usual security checks, dumped
the dreadnoughts main memory and logs into her gig's crystal matrix memory storage,
and prepared to overload the ship's main fusion power generators.
"Destruction sequence engaged. Memory dump completed. Waiting final countdown
for destruction," the bland mechanical voice of the AI responded.
"Estimate time of docking of Erscan cruisers," She requested.
"Approach profiles of enemy ships follow standard boarding procedures of Erscan
storm troopers.
Penetration of ship by hostile forces in 2.67 minutes."
"Start destruction countdown for 3 minutes at mark. Mark."
"Countdown initiated. Self destruction of flagship M'dala Star in 2.94 minutes."
Princess Tam'na released the docking clamps manually, and allowed her ship
to drift away from her wrecked command ship. She hoped that the approaching
cruisers were watching the flagship and ignoring the bits of debris that were
escaping from the many holes in the dreadnought. Her gig picked up a little
spin as it passed through venting gas from the wreck. She kept her power off
line, waiting till the last possible moment to engage her engines to avoid detection.
The view of the approaching cruisers was replaced by the view of the planet
Cherth, where the planetary defense fleet orbited.
She felt her throat tighten as she saw the beautiful blue world beneath her,
soon to be raped by the Erscan fleet now orbiting the world. "Be brave, my people.
I shall return and avenge this invasion," she said out loud to the image on
her screen. "Computer, times please."
"0.86 minutes to enemy penetration. 1.15 minutes to destruction."
"Transfer power to engines at 0.25 minutes to detonation, accelerate at max
along course V180.56."
"Affirmative. Launch sequence engaged. Prepare for acceleration in 0.85 minutes."
Tam'na was already reaching for the acceleration straps and stretching them
across her body as she ordered the launch sequence. She didn't need to be reminded
like a first year cadet. She had been used to acceleration and freefall by the
time she could walk. As the last buckle clicked, Tam'na heard the characteristic
power hum as energy was dumped to the engine, and the scream of the drive coils
as they began emergency acceleration.
"Computer, back view," Tam'na ordered as she was pressed into her acceleration
chair by the sudden velocity of her small personal ship. The view showed that
two of the cruisers had locked on to her ex-command ship. The third was changing
course towards her as her power buildup became noticeable on their sensors.
The view vanished as the dreadnought M'dala Star exploded, its power generators
having overloaded, blinding her with a searing white light before the safety
overrides on the screen kicked in.
Hot, thick tears eased from her eyes as she watched her first command post
cease to exist, without her knowing how the enemy fleet managed to surprise
her forces so completely. She vowed that she would return and avenge herself
on the enemy. The battle zone faded rapidly in the distance as her small craft
fled into deep space at maximum speed. She hoped that the explosion of her command
ship would cover her escape. As advanced as her gig was, it would still fall
prey to any of the Erscan cruisers if they caught up with her.
As soon as she was clear of the planetary orbital zone, she activated the
ship's hyperspace drive. The view screen activated again, showing several large
gaseous areas where the flagship and the three Erscan ships once were. The sensors
showed that the entire area was flooded with electronic noise and shockwaves
as a result of the explosions. Confident that no one would see the polychromatic
flare as she entered hyperspace, she activated the interstellar drive and left
her home system.
The emergency now over, she sagged into her seat as the screen showed computer
simulated stars flying past her ship. The fierce acceleration dropped off as
the ship entered the hyperspace fold, and the small craft's motion compensators
kicked in, giving her the illusion of her homeworld's gravity. She hit the releases
on her straps and stood up, allowing herself the luxury of a quick stretch.
She walked to the ship's small, but fully equipped hygienic room. She examined
herself in the full length mirror located between the sink and the shower. Her
yellow, slit eyes blinked as she noticed her matted mane, still a mess from
sleeping on it. She stripped off the loose ship suit that the crew wore while
off duty to reveal the rich golden fur that covered her entire body, except
for the pads on her palms and soles of her feet. She entered the shower and
let the warm liquid sound cleanse her body and remove any loose hair.
More relaxed now, she left the shower and sat on the vanity stool, and began
to brush out her mane. It stretched to the base of her tail, longer than what
the military allowed, but being the princess and Heir to the Royal Throne of
the M'dala Empire, she allowed herself that one small violation of military
conduct. In everything else, she stuck to the book, as an example to the forces
under her command. At only 24, she was the youngest captain, as well as fleet
admiral in the history of her military, but her father would not have allowed
her the privilege had she not earned it. From her birth she had been trained
for the military and command, so she would be found fit to rule her people when
the time came.
Once she placed her mane in order, she braided it neatly, and ran the brush
over her body and tail, smoothing out the short fur that covered her. She grabbed
a clean ship suit from the small wardrobe cabinet and donned it, and then entered
the ship's small galley. She pulled out a ration bar and peeled off its covering
while she went over and sat in the navigation station to figure out where she
was going to go. She nibbled at the bland, granular bar as she looked over the
list of planets in the gazetteer. The suddenness of the attack still bothered
her.
She cancelled the listing and requested access to the memory dump of the flagship's
computer. The defense network had been linked to the ship and was constantly
monitored, even though it was thought that an attack on the homeworld was impossible.
Boy, someone screwed up there, she thought. She ran the playback of the defense
telemetry. It would have taken the enemy fleet 20 minutes to travel from the
net to Cherth. She backed up 30 minutes and discovered the net received a command
call. She enhanced the signal, and discovered that it bore a royal override
that disabled the detection and notification functions.
That was impossible. Only the royal family could authorize it, and it needed
a positive voice and gene lock to activate. From the command sequence, she could
tell that the call originated outside the net. Her entire family, except for
herself, was on Cherth for the New Year celebration. She was the only one in
space. She ran a match of the code that was used with the list of active members
of the family. Nothing.
She broadened the search to inactive/deceased members. A match. The code belonged
to K'mara M'dala. An uncle of hers that was reported killed before she was born,
almost thirty years ago. She called up his file and read it. It reported that
his ship was disabled and fell into Erscan control. A crewmember who ejected
from the ship before it was lost reported that K'mara was dead, crushed by a
bulkhead in an explosion on the engineering deck. That his code was used meant
that perhaps he wasn't dead when the Erscans grabbed the ship, and either persuaded
him to use his code, or created a clone to deactivate the net.
Tam'na crumbled up the empty wrapper from the ration bar and tossed it behind
her and into a disposal chute. This was all very interesting, and certainly
her uncle wouldn't do anything deliberately to hurt the empire. Therefore, he
or a clone would be under Erscan influence, and not responsible for his/its
actions. What was she going to do now? Her only real option was to join with
one of the main fleets and lead a force to repel the Erscan invaders.
As she began to set a new course to take her to Deep Space Expeditionary Fleet
Alpha, her detection sensors sounded a warning. There was a ship behind her
and closing, and from the hyperspace wake, she identified it as an Erscan cruiser.
"Oh, shit. They spotted me after all." She changed to the pilot's station and
strapped down again. She dropped out of the hyperspace fold and killed her power.
She watched as the cruiser flashed by her, but just as it reached the edge of
her scanning range, she noticed that they dropped out of hyper as well.
She coasted for a while, keeping her power at a minimum, and used only passive
sensors. Occasionally a detection beam passed nearby, but didn't spot her. After
a while, based on what she was receiving, she concluded that the Erscan ship
was doing a standard search pattern. She got her ship ready for another emergency
start. These sudden starts and power dumps were damaging to the equipment, and
procedure recommended a full dry-dock examination and overhaul after only one.
However, she didn't have the luxury of either the time or the equipment, and
hoped that the engineering specs were conservative with a margin of safety.
She would need all of it to get out of her current situation.
After a while longer, it became evident that the cruiser was searching in
the direction that it expected her to go in to rejoin another fleet. If she
remained here, it would eventually discover her minimal use of power to maintain
life support, and she couldn't last long enough without it waiting for the cruiser
to stop looking for her. If nothing else, Erscans were persistent. Once they
got on a scent, nothing would get them off.
Her ship was too small to mount any weapons that would even slow them down,
and her shields might just barely hold up under the first attack. Fighting them
would be the equivalent of suicide, and with the rest of her family trapped
on Cherth, they would be hunted and killed by the Erscans. She could consider
herself the only M'dala at liberty, and that meant that her responsibility was
to stay free to fight for her planet. And, in order to do that, she had to get
away from this pursuing cruiser. She couldn't blind them, but maybe she could
confuse them.
She activated her weapons console, and ran an inventory of her missiles. She
had a couple that were designed as science probes. She thought that she might
be able to modify one to generate enough electronic noise to hide her drop into
hyperspace long enough for her wake to dissipate, so they wouldn't be able to
follow her. After she tinkered for a while, she decided that she could do it,
but to create a disturbance long enough, she would have to use all of her missiles,
set on timers. Without delay, she began the task. Once everything was programmed
and loaded, she waited until the cruiser was on the leg of it's search pattern
that took it as far away from her as it would it go.
She activated the fuses and dumped the missiles. Carefully timing her engine
restart with the detonation of the first missile, she kicked in the power and
made the jump into the hyperspace fold. The gig shuttered as the power was engaged,
and she kept a close eye on her indicators. A few were beginning to redline,
but so far, everything remained operational. She was forced to set a course
away from the Alpha fleet, out towards the galactic rim. If she managed to elude
the Erscans, she would change her course. There was nothing of value out this
way, but if they did spot her, she wouldn't lead them to anything important,
and maybe it would cause them to waste a few ships to search this area of space.
After an hour, there was still no sign of pursuit. She began to calculate
a new course when there was a loud bang, the ship's lights flickered, and the
entire vessel began to shake. She made another vow to skin the engineer who
wrote the specs for her ship, provided she ever survived long enough to find
him. She attempted to shut down the drive before it blew up, but discovered
that all the controls were off-line. That meant that the computer was off-line
as well.
Bracing herself against the ship's shaking, she climbed out of the command
chair and started to make her way to the engineering bulkhead to manually shut
down the drive. The view screen showed stars flying past the ship at a rate
faster than she had ever seen before, and realized that the engines were out
of control, and would soon overload. Dumping them now would just turn her into
a flaming ball of gas. She changed her destination, and made for a large cabinet
built into the side of the wall. She knew she was going to have to abandon ship,
and the explosion would be spotted. But when they finally caught up to her,
she wasn't going to make it easy for them.
The cabinet door opened with her palm print. Inside, painted in her royal
colors, was her personal hardsuit. It was more compact than her military issue,
and while more comfortable, it was just as powerful. She climbed in and activated
its internal systems. Satisfied that it was unaffected by her flight so far,
she walked it out of the storage cabinet, and entered the small lifeboat. The
hardsuit just barely fit, but the pod was designed to hold it, and it did.
Once she was secure, she punched out of her gig, knowing that her last chance
to bring revenge down on the Erscans was gone. The lifeboat was carried in the
hyperspace wake for a few minutes, and fell out of the fold. The gig exploded,
knocking out all the higher functions of the pod. Then, everything was quiet,
except for the life support of the hardsuit. She was left with only one option.
Pods were equipped with stasis fields, to place passengers in a state of suspended
animation, protecting and preserving life if there wasn't a chance of a rescue
in a short while. She set the field, and taking one last, long, deep breath,
activated the field, trusting to the pod's AI system to see to her safety.
To Be Continued
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