TIME:
1 DAY LATER
LOCATION
HYPERSPACE EGRESS POINT ORENTHIA-3
30 AU FROM CYRUS
INNER KEIPER BELT
"HYPERSPACE EXIT... SUCCESSFUL. ESTIMATED TIME DEVIATION... WITHIN EXPECTATIONS."
I get up from my seat at the shared living space when I spot the thrall looking around confusedly, her head tilted at an angle. She was gripping onto a table like her life depended on it so what's her problem?
"What's the matter, why are you standing there with a foolish look on your face?!"
I step towards her as she immediately straightens her back before hurriedly bowing repeated, "I am sorry Mistress I am just confused at how smooth exiting hyperspace was, usually most of our ships are a bumpy and it's easy to get thrown around; I will try better to not be surprised in the future Mistress!"
I scoff at her hurried response walking past her on my way to the CIC. The girl seems used to serving those in positions of power over her, so at least I won't have to educate her on her manners.
We have finally arrived in the Orenthia system with us travelling for about five and a half days by Mother's estimate. This system is the base of the Orenth family who I have made deals with. I decided to go ahead and visit the system since this is the only system with a habitable planet in this region.
Though I also came here for other reasons, this world wasn't originally called Orenthia no it was also known as 'Sa'eth ploplansas doari' or as its rough translation would be 'Their Eternal flat fields of loss' or Sa'eth as the old Runethari referred to it as.
This system was one of the last defensive worlds of the human federation. It was a bastion built on a planet that optimizes the term savanna. It had few major geological features as you traveled inland. The savannas of Sa'eth were just barely hospitable with rain being a rarity. It was only worsened by the extremely harsh F7V host star making the world hot no matter where you went. I underwent leadership training using a simulation of the battle that finally took this world near the end of the war. That simulation was difficult, but I can't help but shiver at the thought of going onto that hellish place during the day without protective equipment.
I take a turn and walk into the CIC and step towards the rising command chair. Clearing my mind of the planetary conditions; those anecdotes can wait.
I sat down and started running tests on the panels to make sure they were all working fine. I was halfway through inspecting a panel that was just a little blurry when an alert suddenly came up on the chair's monitor.
ALERT TACYONOGRAPH HAS DETECTED A MESSAGE!
MESSAGE AS FOLLOWS: SOS! SOS! RUNETHARI VESSEL DETECTED AT EGRESS POINT #2RE! REQUESTING IMMEDIATE REINFORCEMENTS! ENEMY VOID SHIP(S) NUMBERS [ONE] VESSEL. NAME OF SUSPECTED SCOUT VESSEL "ASTRO DAWN." THIS MESSAGE WILL REPEAT THREE TIMES.
"Mother, what the hell was that!" I ask in a panic.
I bring up my left hand monitor and rush through the verification process before entering stealth procedures. This wasn't good, I knew that the humans' had nothing that could pose a realistic threat to this ship, but it doesn't mean they didn't hear that message. I would rather not have to explain why a satellite just named my ship as a hostile void ship.
A few seconds later Mother's voice starts speaking to me, "It's alright Lilith it seems that a satellite left over from the war spotted you. Don't worry I don't think we have anything to worry about but I have detected faint anomalous energy readings coming from the fourth planet in the system Cyrus IV. I would recommend we investigate later but I am unsure if the readings are just static or something left behind."
I take the second to relax before narrowing my eyes. I already had something worth looking into in this system. Hopefully it's a ruin of a military outpost might find something juicy inside it like weapon specification data crystals. I shake my head trying to regain control as I start to accelerate to enter FTL.
Just after I activate the FTL drive I take a chance to look at the map of the system. It was a system with a yellow-white main sequence star at its center and a gas giant orbiting rather close to the star shedding its atmosphere. It was almost completely gone after billions of years of solar winds exposing its hydrogen rich core with metallic hydrogen barely able to maintain its solid form with how little of the atmosphere remains. The rest of the celestial bodies are rocky, growing smaller as they get farther from the star. Orenthia is the second planet of the system sitting on the inner part of its habitability ring. The rest of the planets rapidly grow smaller with the fourth planet being just barely recognized as a planet by its size.
I stare apathetically at the planet map already trying to speculate what use this system has. I couldn't get anything on the composition of the planets, no logs were stored on the listening post. I had heard rumors that one of the planets was above average in metallicity.
I get up and stretch, we still had 10 minutes before we would reach Orenthia Primary the main station resting at lagrange point #1 of Orenthia sitting. I felt peeved but I would have to do some paperwork and pay some money to actually be granted the permission to land at one of Orenthia's space ports.
I end up pacing back and forth as I wait for us to arrive at the space station already dreading the annoying waste of time meetings I'll be forced to have with multiple "high and mighty" inferiors.
TIME:
30 MINUTES LATER
LOCATION:
CYSA, ORENTHIA
ORENTH FAMILY MANOR
POV:
Simeon Orenth
I sit at the table in my office filling out multiple forms that are sadly required of my position as system governor. Mostly just requisitions of resources and a variety of infrastructure maintenance plans.
"Sigh ... The 6th infantry brigade of the 2nd land division needs a new freezer... approved. What's next..."
Knock knock
I look over my shoulder and yawn as I ask who is there.
"It's colonel Meris sir." An equally tired voice responds.
"Come in... so what do you wish to report? Please don't tell me it's about the Trelin family." I stare at the man begging him with my eyes that this isn't related.
That entire situation has been nothing but a pain on my nerves. A group of 10 outlaw Void ships attacked a passenger void ship destroying its 4 freelance guards. By the time the system fleet heard about the situation the only operable vessel had long entered FTL. It ended with the void ship just barely managing to flee to my son's system; escaping the pursuing system fleet and sending a message that they are holding a girl named Allicia Trelin hostage.
The Trelins are a rather powerful family so this has been a rather big blunder on my part if she was truly kidnapped. She was their only daughter and was a bit of a tomboy if rumors are to be believed.
My focus returns as the colonel shakes his head, "No sir, rather the Tachyonograph on the Void ship "Alexander" has detected an odd message coming from the edge of the system. Our translators have a rough guess of what the message contains with what we know of the precursor’s languages. It seems to be a SOS and cry for reinforcements and something about an enemy scout vessel designated 'Astro Dawn.' What should we do? I plan to send a corvette out to the location of where the tachyon message was sent but it might take a few weeks before we actually find the thing."
By now my head was in my hands as I had a strange feeling that something troublesome had just landed in my lap. A growing pain in my head is already making me resign myself to my fate.
"Sigh, have the sensors spotted anything near ZF-3?" This was the most obvious question but I'd rather cover all my bases.
Colonel Meris responds a little less sluggishly almost eager, "Yes for a minute there seemed to be a vessel with the designation R.E.V Astro Dawn at the egress point but it soon entered FTL and hasn't been spotted since. Though it appears to be headed towards Orenthia Primary I suggest an investigation."
I nod my head slowly before responding, "... That’s fine just keep me informed if you can find this Astro Dawn and I want to know the captain of that vessel. I doubt they are actually an enemy but their vessel seems to have been mistaken for one, that is all."
‘Astro Dawn' where have I heard that name before it seems familiar. Eh, maybe I should look into it myself, it would be good to have an ally. I should also ask Mathew if he knows anything.’
Colonel Meris nods in an oddly stern expression for someone who was tired a few minutes ago. He quickly retreats out of my office. I turn my chair and stare out the window at the setting star Cyrus. 'I'm getting tired of this mummery... I hope my boy can inherit soon...'
TIME:
30 MINUTES LATER
LOCATION:
ORENTHIA PRIMARY COMMERCIAL FLOOR 2
NEARBY THE FREELANCE GUILD REGIONAL BUILDING
POV:
Lilith Runethari
I walk slowly as I enter the block that houses the freelance building. Looking back I see two security guards quietly trying to tail me causing me to frown ever so slightly. I look back towards the guild building. It was a more unique design, making me think of some tavern, just significantly larger. I wouldn’t be surprised if this single building took up an entire commercial block, and in this station each block was easily larger than Garnet Station’s blocks.
I picked up my pace as I strutted through the open doors of the Freelance Guild. I take the moment to look around, for all intents and purposes it looks like some stuffy, sterile office. Though I could see that there were multiple floors and also actually manned receptionist desks and no unmanned kiosks.
I walk towards a receptionist with the smallest line. I quietly observe how people seem to be looking at me. This time instead of the lecherous looks these gazes were etched with wariness. I had to give them credit though, they knew who was causing it.
I step into line making sure to give the next person in line—who reeked of alcohol—some space. As the line refused to move I looked around and groaned at the lack of kiosks. The man in front of me twitched however he seemed to not be that anxious no he felt angry. His hand was balled up and he seemed one bad comment from doing something regrettable.
I decide to restrain myself from teasing him as the memory of the security guards tailing me resurfaces; causing issues now would only hurt my chance at going to Orenthia. As the line slowly moved forwards, and the man in front of me slowly replaced his misjudged anger with a healthy dose of caution. I watched as he rushed through his task like every second cost him sovra.
Whispering, I asked Mother a question that has been bugging me, "Mother, any clues on why this station seemed to have immediately had its eyes on me? I never received this level of treatment even in Amber station. That felt like they were protecting me even if I told them it was pointless. This feels less like they want to catch me breaking some law though I can’t figure out why"
The response came a few moments later, "If what I gather from the few security related servers I have managed to infiltrate are correct your guess isn’t far off. Apparently it's a demand from up higher in the command ladder with the only thing requested being to observe and remain undetected. It’s vague but I’m more concerned about who ordered it as they didn’t name themselves. They appear to be in the capital city of Orenthia Cysa. I further traced it to the inside of a popular internet cafe, but after that the trail went cold."
I groaned, this certainly wasn't ideal. I still had a month or two of blood but the constant tailing wasn't good for other activities. The man in front took that moment to hurriedly step away from the counter. He walked out of the guild in something just short of a jog.
I stepped forward to the slightly pale face of a receptionist greeting me, "Hello welcome to the Freelance guild. Could I ask for your na-name and rating?"
I smirk at her fumble at the end, "Hi my name is Lilith Runethari my current score is 0.68. Would you like to read my combat scores as well?"
I pulled out my tablet holding it forward. It was a new one Mom had designed to look more normal; well at least compared to my clearly precursor one. The girl nodded and grabbed a cord from below the counter and extended it out to me. I heard a squeak of surprise as she was sent my full rating and not just my combat score.
"I see, thank you may I ask what you wish to request Miss Runethari!" She hurriedly responds.
I frown but not out of any negative emotion this girl seemed overly emotional. She was not like the people at garnet station who didn't even blink in my presence.
I guessed she is new so I ask her in a slow voice so she doesn't misunderstand anything, "Are there any requests on Sa'e– I mean Orenthia?"
She quickly looks down and a screen only she can observe. A minute of rapid tapping later she timidly looked back up though a ember of forced confidence stopped her from shaking like a leaf, "Yes, there does seem to be a request. It is a simple guard request for a hunting trip posted recently by the system governor's relative. Would you care to accept it, the pay is 2000Ʉ every day of the trip with a max length of 4 days. It only requires you fill out the proper forms to land on Orenthia and have a 0.7 combat score in firearms, CQC, and unarmed martial arts at the least."
I nod my head and she quickly sends the details to my tablet. Nodding while looking at the details on my tablet I step away from the counter, leaving her with an empty line. When I walk out of the building I quickly notice my two stalkers quickly stop leaning on a wall and begin their tailing once more.
'Sigh and now I have to visit the governmental offices with these two bumbling fools...'
Today was looking to be full of busy work wasn't it. Here's to hoping they won't try and ambush or demand something of me.
'Sigh what was I saying it's human nature of course they're going to demand something.'