Starbound (Lightship Chronicles) Read online

  “May I come in?” she asked through the com. I got up and quickly opened the door.

  “My pleasure,” I said, inviting her in with a sweep of the hand. She came in and sat at the small table where my meal sat steaming.

  “Gods, that smells good,” she said.

  “Chateaubriand,” I said. “Captain Zander will put up with nothing but the best cuisine onboard.”

  “So I see.”

  From the way she looked at my dinner I could see that the evening meal had been an afterthought for her. I quickly ordered her the same meal from the galley, along with a bottle of Quantar shiraz. We made small talk until it arrived ten minutes later, then we both ate rather voraciously, I thought. Once we had finished, I refilled our wineglasses and we both sat back, pleasantly full.

  I looked at her for what seemed like the first time, reevaluating her under our new circumstances. She still wore her Carinthian Navy uniform, rank of lieutenant, with the appropriate Union patches. I took this to mean she intended to act for now as a military officer and not as a princess. Her hair was let down, and it was straight, smooth, long, and black. I remembered one of her father’s nicknames was “The Black Duke,” and she looked every bit the part, though her pleasant face held none of the harshness of her father’s. I could see that she had also freshened up with a bit of makeup. I thought she was very attractive, but in an entirely different way than what I had experienced with other women, especially Dobrina, who was taller, more lean and athletic. Karina was petite and rounder than most, although that roundness complimented her form in every way. She smiled as I finished pouring the shiraz, then we made our way to the stateroom’s small sofa.

  We sat on opposite sides and I cleared my throat, unsure how to start the conversation. I looked into her face. It was elegantly oval, with a pixie nose separating her large brown eyes. She smiled, and must have noticed me examining her. I looked away and took a sip of my wine before starting the conversation.

  “So tell me more about your family,” I said. “We really didn’t get the time to talk socially back on Carinthia.” She took a drink herself before answering.

  “Do you mean my parents and siblings, or the entire Feilberg family history?”

  I laughed. “I meant your immediate family, of course,” I said. She pushed back one of the long bangs from her face and then answered.

  “Well, you know all about Arin,” she said. “And I have to warn you, don’t underestimate his military acumen. He has been well-trained in strategy and tactics since his youth.”

  “Noted,” I said, and filed that thought away. “I was speaking more about your upbringing.”

  She nodded. “My mother died when I was sixteen. I don’t think my father ever got over that loss. Benn, I think, would rather be a diplomat than deal with all of this political wrangling. I, of course, had hoped for a career as a navy officer. That seems a faded dream now. I’m the youngest by five years. And you?”

  “I had an older brother, Derrick,” I said. “He was killed in Union Navy service three years ago. So I’m the only one left. My mother died when I was nine. My father is just now getting remarried. I think he married my mother rather late in life and at the insistence of his parents. I never knew any of my grandparents. They had all passed away by the time I was old enough to remember them.” She got a very serious look on her face then.

  “So you’re practically an orphan,” she said. I thought the comment was a bit odd.

  “Actually, I’ve never thought of it quite that way,” I said. She leaned in toward me on the sofa.

  “What I meant was that I have a large extended family,” she said. “Cousins, aunts, uncles. I can never remember celebrating a birthday or a holiday alone. I guess I was very lucky. It seems like we were raised very differently.”

  “Yes, I suppose we were,” I said. “But I never felt deprived of love. I was always well taken care of and I had good friends growing up.”

  “Girlfriends?” she said with a smirk, catching me in the middle of a sip of wine.

  “Um, yes, some,” I said. “But mostly after I left school.”

  “So at the Academy?”

  “Well, yes, there was one there, actually, Natalie, but she was killed in the initial incident at Levant. Part of the First Contact mission with Captain Zander aboard Impulse,” I said.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “Did you love her?”

  I pondered that. “I’m not really sure. It’s just another one of many difficult losses I’ve had to deal with in my life. I’m not sure where to place her in all that,” I said, then sighed. That was true enough. Karina reached out a hand and touched my arm, to comfort me. I let that linger. Then she pulled back and said:

  “And what of Captain Dobrina Kierkopf?” Suddenly, I didn’t much like this line of questioning.

  “What of her?” I said, eyeing her directly. She got a pensive look on her face and then continued.

  “It’s obvious you have, or had, a relationship with her,” she said. “I’ve read the intelligence reports.”

  “I see,” I said. “I thought we hid it better than that.” She shook her head.

  “We Carinthians are somewhat famous for finding out secrets. I’ve learned myself in the last few years not to evaluate people merely as I see them, but to look beyond their outer façade and see what they’re like on the inside. When I saw the report on you it all made sense, but I really didn’t know until I met you. It’s obvious that you have feelings for her. Your actions on Carinthia were very protective of her.”

  Now this was getting a bit too close to home for my comfort, so I decided to try to bring this line of questioning to a conclusion. “Circumstances have now changed, Princess, perhaps permanently. She is staying in the Carinthian Navy service and I am here,” I said.

  “So you’re available?” she said. Again she caught me in the middle of a sip of shiraz and despite my best efforts I coughed and hacked until I was red in the face. This made her laugh. When I had regained my composure she was smiling at me, but not backing away at all, either physically or emotionally, it seemed. I looked for a safe course of action through these troubled waters.

  “Pardon me, Princess, but I’m a bit at a loss for words at that question,” I finally got out.

  “Forgive me for putting you on the spot, but you haven’t answered my question yet,” she said.

  I looked at her from across the sofa. From what I had seen of her so far in our brief acquaintance she was clearly intelligent, resourceful, and deeply caring, especially about her family. I was deciding whether to add cunning to that list. I thought for a few moments and then formulated my answer.

  “Forgive me, Princess, but I haven’t really thought on that subject, what with the near civil war on Carinthia, the pending breakup of the Union, and the fact that I have your family’s sovereign in stasis in the cargo hold. Perhaps this isn’t the time,” I said.

  “Perhaps you’re right,” she quickly responded. “All of these things will be sorted out in time. I apologize for sometimes thinking too far into the future.”

  “Apology accepted,” I said, then yawned. It would have been a good way to deflect the conversation if it hadn’t been so spontaneous.

  She smiled at me again and said, “You’re tired,” then rose to leave. I got up with her. “I should let you rest.”

  “Thank you, Princess. I’m sure tomorrow, and the days after, will be better times to discuss all of these matters. At least for me,” I said.

  “Thank you for the dinner and the wine,” she said, then smiled and made for the door. I followed her and opened it from the inside for her, as a courtesy. She took one step out and then turned back to me.

  “I’m glad to know you, Peter Cochrane. Glad to know the kind of man you are, and that I can trust you. I have one request though. I think it would improve our relationship immensely if yo
u would stop using my title. Please call me Karina from now on,” she said.

  “I will, Prin—” I caught myself before I finished the word. Protocol was a hard habit to break. “Karina. And thank you. I enjoyed our evening.” With that she was gone out the door, and I turned back to my tiny bed, which looked like the most luxurious thing I had ever seen.

  The landing at the North Palace went off without a hitch. The pad had been built there primarily for personal shuttles and the like, mostly for use by the royal family, not for military vehicles, but Benfold’s “commercial” drop shuttle fit quite nicely on the pad.

  We had come down with just the single cargo container holding the Grand Duke Henrik in stasis, plus myself, Karina and her guards, and a single pilot. High Station Quantar had requested that we stop there first, but I had countermanded that, using my royal standing as authority. It made perfect sense that a planetary royal would want to get straight to his family vacation home without stopping for unnecessary checks and protocols. It also made perfect sense that he would be carrying a cargo container full of Carinthian liquor and other delicacies.

  Benfold for her part had docked at High Station and began unloading her regular cargo. Zander had offered to come down when he had cleared everything, but I told him to hold off until I called him. I was fairly sure I would need his help regarding our unexpected guests.

  The ground was covered in snow, as was typical for the Northern Continent in January. As we had come down to land I had pointed out the city of KendalFalk, covered in winter white and snuggled up against the Nandewar Mountains, to the princess. It had a population near 500,000, with most inhabitants working in the mining and timber industries, or in work related to the palace and other royal facilities. Our family’s presence here on an annual basis for several decades had turned the town from a dusty, cold, outpost into a much more cosmopolitan city.

  When we disembarked from the shuttle it was midmorning on the local clock. I made sure the princess and her father were safely ensconced in the palace before calling on the necessary medical and technical personnel to begin the process of bringing the grand duke out of stasis. It was a complex but well defined procedure, and I didn’t want the medical staff to know who they were dealing with until they got here. I asked the princess to list what kind of assistance she would need to care for her father, then assigned the proper staff to see to her needs. I also swore the staff to secrecy about our guests, as a precautionary protocol.

  I then excused myself and met with the Captain of the Royal Guard, a man named Walther, in the palace library, to see to heightened security arrangements.

  “How many men do you have on duty currently, Captain?” I asked. He looked at me for a moment, like it was an odd question, then answered.

  “We have two hundred men in palace barracks at any one time, Sire. Fifty share the active duties of the palace and grounds on six-hour rotations,” he said.

  “Do you have reserves in the city?” I asked. Again he hesitated before answering.

  “We rotate troops from the city garrison on a weekly basis, Sire. There’s sixteen hundred total at the royal barracks in the city,” he said.

  “Good. Call them up to the palace immediately, save two hundred for the city garrison. I want a hundred soldiers on duty inside the palace itself and another seven hundred patrolling the grounds at any one time. Two twelve-hour shifts. Do you have a plan to go to a heightened state of readiness at my command?” I said.

  This time he answered quickly. “We have three levels of heightened security, Sire, above where we are currently. What level did you have in mind?”

  I just gave him my exact desires rather than wait for a list of the different security levels. “I want barricades erected at the palace perimeter with constant patrols. All vehicles coming in or out of the palace are subject to search. Shut down the military airfield in KendalFalk and no units except the city garrison come in or out. I also want armored vehicles on the roads with multiple checkpoints between here and the city. All navy or army air units in the city are to stand down and go cold until further notice. Tell them this is all on orders of the crown prince,” I finished.

  “Yes, Sire. Immediately, Sire. Is there anything else?” Walther said, his pace of speaking and tone indicating he got the message that this was not a drill of any kind.

  “Yes. Set up an encrypted line to New Briz, Government House. I’ll be speaking with my father directly. Have it ready in an hour. That’s it,” I said.

  “Yes, Sire,” said Walther. Then he saluted, pivoted, and moved quickly out of the room to carry out his orders.

  I went to the library’s working desk and pulled out my encryption key, then entered my royal security code. It spat out a sequence of numbers and letters, which I then keyed into the main computer plasma display. Once inside the royal network, I began a search for nearby military units, especially navy ones. After just a few minutes of this I was interrupted by one of my guests, the Princess Karina.

  I stood and greeted her. “Please come in Karina,” I said, making sure to use her proper name as she had requested. “What can I help you with?” She smiled at me. She seemed to be getting more comfortable with me every day.

  “I just came to tell you that my father is awake in his stateroom. He’s groggy and a little confused, but physically he’s doing well,” she said.

  “I’m pleased,” I replied. She glanced around the room.

  “I have noticed there is increased military activity around the palace,” she stated.

  I nodded. “I think it’s necessary. Things are very delicate with the grand duke here, and we can’t take any chances,” I said. She eyed me pensively.

  “Surely you’re not worried about an attack on us here, are you?” she asked, a worried frown crossing her face.

  “There are legitimate security concerns, Karina. I don’t think at this point that we can afford to take anything for granted,” I said.

  “I see,” she replied. I turned back to my desk.

  “I was just about to call my father and request that he come up to the palace as soon as possible, to meet you and your father.”

  She smiled wryly. “I hope that won’t be too uncomfortable for you,” she said.

  I smiled back. “It shouldn’t be. I’m slowly getting used to making bigger and bigger decisions.”

  “I’ll leave you to it, then,” she said. We said our goodbyes and she left, and I returned to my analysis of navy materiel in the area of the city.

  There were about fifty aircraft at the combined military airfield in KendalFalk, a mix of fighters, escorts, VTOLs and personnel craft, with some Light Aerial Vehicles as well. There was also a reserve Royal Infantry unit of five hundred soldiers and light armor stationed at the airfield. Those infantry units were part-time volunteers and we had more armor and full-time soldiers in our Royal Guard units, so I was comfortable that we had what we needed to defend the palace for the time being.

  Sixty clicks away, though, was Laverton Airfield, the main military base on the Northern Continent. She had a full complement of soldiers, aircraft, a spaceport, and both light and heavy armor. If a foreign power decided to launch an assault, either overt or covert, on the North Palace and KendalFalk I was confident we could defend anything short of an atomic attack.

  Walther chimed in then with my encrypted channel to Government House in New Briz, some two thousand kilometers to the south. “Your father on line three,” he said, then signed off. The royal crest on my screen was replaced with an image of my father, bordered in red to indicate the encryption security was active.

  “Hello, sir,” I said. He nodded back at me. I could see he was taking my call from his official office, not the private apartments.

  “Hello, son. I was surprised to hear from you so soon. I thought you’d still be on Carinthia soaking up some of their infamous hospitality,” he said lightly. Hi
s look changed when he took a longer look at my expression. I couldn’t help myself. Things were serious. “What’s wrong?” he said.

  Clearly Wesley had chosen to keep him in the dark about my misadventures on Carinthia. “Sir, we have a serious situation here in KendalFalk, one I think is of the highest import to our family, Quantar, and the Union. I need to you to come up here straight away,” I said.

  “To KendalFalk? In January?” he replied. When my look didn’t change he quickly regrouped. “What’s happened, son?”

  I shook my head. “I can’t tell you that over this channel or any other. You need to come here and see the situation firsthand, to see it for what it really is. Carinthia was an ambush, sir. Rogue elements of their military put Dobrina and me on trial for losing Impulse, tried to blame me for her destruction. They tried to execute me, and they nearly succeeded.” The part about Impulse struck close to home for me as I was at least partly responsible for her demise, but not for her being put in that position in the first place.

  “I can’t believe this. The Union—”

  “The Union is in grave peril, sir, and Carinthia is on the verge of civil war,” I said as plainly and emotionlessly as I could. “You must come here immediately. There are things here you have to see for yourself that I can’t explain over any open channel, encrypted or not.”

  He looked shocked. “But Admiral Wesley hasn’t told me about any of this. How can that be?” he said. I had a ready answer.

  “Because for whatever reasons, he didn’t want you to know,” I said.

  “I’m going to call Jonathon and get to the bottom of this,” my father said.

  “Sir, that would be inadvisable at this time. Have the admiral brief you on the way up. I need you to see things here for yourself in order to make proper decisions. Please, sir. This is vital to Quantar, the Union, to all of us.” He looked shaken at this, but finally nodded his head.