AN: Hello all! This is the first chapter of my relaunched Rites of Passage. The previous first chapter will be deleted after 24 hours, which should be enough time for subscribed readers to be notified and see this!
Happy readings!
Chapter 1
Vertigo and nausea rose inside Anton Soloviev's gut as space folded in a corona of light and exotic energy, transporting the personnel shuttle across billions of kilometers distance in the time it took to blink. The immediate effects of the Hyperlight Jump faded quickly and the more subtle effects began inflicting themselves on Soloviev, but he paid no mind to the foul acidic taste that had taken hold of the back of his throat. Despite his discomfort it would fade by the time the ship set down. Plus it was nothing compared to the torture he had endured during Jump Week.
The junior officer puking into a barf bag next to him wasn't helping his control though.
"Feeling better now, Lieutenant?" Soloviev asked once the vomiting stopped.
"Sir yes sir," Aleksander Skarsgard replied with a weak smile. "Ready and able."
"Starting to regret that big breakfast?"
"Hell no, sir," Skarsgard stated a little too quickly. "Well, maybe for a second there. Still worth it though."
Soloviev just smiled.
A soft chime followed by a voice filtered through cheap speakers discretely placed throughout the cabin. "All passengers, this is your captain. We have arrived at Scorpia's aerospace and are on course to Fleet Yard Eta. ETA is twelve minutes."
Looking out the porthole the two colonial officers caught a glance at the extensive orbital space around the military hub of Helios Delta and Gamma. Despite the limited view they saw the hulls and drive flares of hundreds of starships ranging from Fleet warships to police cutters to civilian cruisers and several dozen space stations of both military and civilian design zipping by.
Eventually the impressive visual was far too quickly replaced with the cold grey of a hangar bay. The tiny spacecraft came to a complete stop and the dull thud of magnetic clamps attaching themselves to the hull reverberated.
Soloviev waited as Skarsgard grabbed his duffel from the overhead, his own already being aboard.
One of the perks of command rank, I guess, Soloviev thought.
Eventually the two were able to worm their way out of the congested shuttle and into the even more congested interior of Fleet Yard Eta.
"Apollo's balls," Skarsgard muttered under his breath after showing his ID and orders to a security checkpoint for a third time since disembarking. "How many checkpoints are there?"
"One more than your patience can manage," Soloviev replied with a half-smile, not even bothering to pocket his papers; he could see another checkpoint ahead through the churning mass of Fleet personnel and civilian techs.
"Is all this security really necessary?" Skarsgard wondered aloud. "I mean it isn't like this is the Naglfar Yards."
"Aleks," Soloviev said, "when have you known the Fleet to be anything but paranoid?"
"Yeah, but considering how loudly they've been showing off the Athenas you'd think that OpSec wouldn't be an issues."
Soloviev gave a shrug in response, his attention suddenly caught by one of the signs.
"Aleks," Soloviev said with palpable excitement. "Let's hit the obs deck. I want to see her before we board."
"Eh?" Aleks grunted. "Sure."
The observation deck for Berth 04 was practically deserted, which suited Soloviev fine as it allowed him to get a prime spot in front of the expansive window stretching from one end of the compartment to the other, allowing for a commanding view of the nascent warship berthed below.
"Gods damn," Soloviev gasped. "She's beautiful."
Aleks stepped up next to his friend, though not so close that he was practically pressing his face to the glass like Soloviev. Below them was the Battlestar Sentinel, fourth hull of the new Athena-class Medium Battlestar to be laid down and the freshly minted Commander Anton Soloviev's new command.
Pride swelled in Soloviev's heart as he beheld his new command. To be one of the lucky few to be chosen to command a battlestar of the Colonial Fleet, much less one of the first of a brand new class possessing the most advanced technology ever developed in Kobols colonies (as well as some tech of non-colonial origin), was as much an honor as any medal or award, but that pride was tempered by the knowledge of how his new command was not his by skill or bravery.
But as much as it offended the idealist in him years of experience that such practices were commonplace in human society since before humankind rose out of the mud, and as much as he disliked the reason for his promotion he couldn't, or rather wouldn't, bring himself to offer up more than a token protest.
He spent a few more seconds gazing at the Sentinel before stepping back with a breathy sigh.
Time for regrets is over, he declared to himself and the gods. He looked at Aleks. "So. Shall we?"
At the primary airlock one of Sentinel's lesser masters waited to welcome aboard the new commander. Colonel Mara Leonte fought down the urge to adjust her uniform. She knew it was as pristine as possibly could be, and CiC activity while at anchor was dull enough that it was almost impossible to cause even the smallest of imperfections. These kinds of situations always brought out her should devils, whispering their little insecurities in her ears. Not that anyone could pick that out through her cast iron outer persona of cool professionalism.
What in Olympus is taking them? the gemense grumbled. She checked her wristwatch again. Zeus' beard, their shuttle docked almost a half-hour ago!
Why am I so antsy about this? We're in space dock for gods' sake. Not like anything's going to happen.
Much to the relief of her nerves she spotted two officers, one a tall and wiry Aquarian whose face looked vaguely sick and the other a dwarfish Virgonian, at the far end of the boarding tube that resembled the expected duo.
Finally!
The pair of officers eventually reached Sentinel terminus but did not board.
"Commander Soloviev and Lieutenant Skarsgard," the Virgonian announced, "requesting permission to come aboard."
"Permission granted," Mara replied in a moderately friendly tone. "Welcome aboard the Sentinel, Commander. I'm Colonel Leonte. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Likewise, Colonel," Soloviev replied, stepping onto the ship proper and offering a hand. Leonte accepted it and they shared a polite handshake. For a long six seconds the two officers silently appraised each other. Both had read the others file before this meeting. They knew the others accomplishments and failures, but they didn't know the person attached to those files.
Leonte gave her new superior a once-over. He was a bit shorter than average which meant she, who stood at a little more than two meters height, practically towered over him. His body had a stocky frame that would have been perfect for a defensive Pyramid player and had thin, coal black hair that was beginning a long retreat from the the front of his scalp. Not exactly the person you'd see on a recruitment poster but his record was clean and indicated that he was worth giving a chance before any final judgement was made.
"I hope the trip from Picon wasn't too taxing?" Leonte said as they withdrew from the handshake.
"None more so than usual," Soloviev replied. "Allow me to offer my belated condolences on the death of Commander Argyros. It's a shame he didn't get to see his ship leave space dock."
"Thank you, sir. He will be missed," Leonte replied evenly.
"How's the ship and crew?" Soloviev asked before the conversation could become awkward.
"Able and ready, on both accounts" Leonte reported. "Crew's a little greener and a bit sparser than I'd like for a near-launch ready battlestar but we shouldn't have any operational problems should we need to launch prematurely."
"Good. Any new problems with the new equipment?"
"Yes, but just the usual round of problems that are to be expected. Aside from a few problems linking the laser batteries to the CIWS fire control everything is working as well as can be expected."
"Hopefully it'll stay that way," Soloviev replied, not believing his own words for a second. "Shall we head to the CIC? I imagine there's a small mountain ranges worth of paperwork waiting for me."
"Yes there is, I'm sorry to say," she replied simply. "If you'll follow me."
The three officers entered the brain of Sentinel, and Soloviev immediately found the CiC much to his liking. The compartment was arranged in a compact rectangular shape with the various stations necessary to control the thousand tonne leviathan placed in three tiers built into the deck, with the Command and Control Console lying on the lowest level in the center of the compartment.
The Watch and marine guards came to attention.
"As you were," Leonte said, and the crew resumed their previous duties. The colonel approached the seemingly oversized command console. She picked up two wired phones and opened the Main Circuit. A chime rang throughout the battlestar. Civilian contractors and ships crew alike halted their work, listened intently for the coming announcement.
In the CIC all eyes were upon Soloviev as Leonte handed him one of the phones. He Took out a heavily folded sheet of paper and opened it. After taking a moment to clear his thoughts, he read aloud from the paper with a voice that was more stilted than he'd like.
"'From the desk of Vice Admiral Robert Hague, commander of the 7th Fleet, to Commander Anton Soloviev. As of the Fifteenth Day of Maius, Year 2241 After Exodus, you are ordered to proceed aboard the Battlestar Sentinel, currently assigned as command ship of the 134th Battlestar Group and due to launch on the Twenty-First of Maius, to take up the duties and responsibilities required as Commanding Officer in service of the United Colonies of Kobol. May the Lords of Kobol smile upon you and grant you their wisdom in your times of trials.'"
Soloviev took a quick, silent breath.
"Executive Officer, I have the conn."
"Aye, Commander. You have the conn." And like that Sentinel was his. A chill shot through his spine as that thought solidified in his mind. An entire battlestar group at his command. His responsibility. Suddenly he felt very humbled, a feeling that had continually visited him since he was first assigned a wingman.
"Officer of the Watch, please note this in the ship's log," Soloviev said. He refolded the paper almost absent mindedly and returned it to his pocket. Now that protocol had been observed his voice was returning to its natural, smooth tone. "I know there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before we depart next week so I'll keep you as brief as possible. Our marching orders are to put this ship through its paces, starting with the hyperdrive module."
The faces of a few command crew betrayed a small sense of worry at that statement. An understandable concern in Soloviev's opinion considering how even the oldest interstellar civilizations, galaxy spanning empires who had existed for tens of thousands of years, still knew very little over the near-mystical dimension that made pan-galactic travel possible. He tried not to notice them. Right now was not the time to assuage their worries.
Soloviev continued, "We will be making three jumps tomorrow. The first will be a short ranged jump from Scorpia to Ophion. The second will be to the Philoctetes Weapons Range to test the offensive and defensive systems of this battlestar. After that our last jump will be to the Laurium Star System, where we will join the rest of our battlestar group in garrisoning the system. During our jumps the 32nd Fleet Auxiliary Squadron and the 588nd Raptor Regiment will be following us through conventional FTL as our safety net throughout the hyperdrive trial. That will be all."
Soloviev set the corded phone back in it's cradle and looked at his XO. "Colonel Leonte, if you would join me I'd like meet the department heads before we leave the Yard tomorrow." He turned to face the current OoD, a tall Sagittaron man by the look of him." Officer of the Deck, you have the conn."
"Aye sir, I have the conn," the lieutenant replied.
"Where to first, commander?" Leonte asked as they left the CiC.
"Medical," Soloviev answered. "If I remember correctly sick bay is the closest to the CiC, so it seems prudent to start there."
"Aye, sir. This way then," Leonte said with a slight gesture towards the corridor.
"So, where were you before you came to Sentinel?" Soloviev asked, figuring he had enough time to know a little more about his new exec.
"Third Officer on the Avalanche," she replied, the sea of rushing crew parting before her like she was the daughter of Poseidon himself with nary a word nor look required. It made Soloviev more than a little jealous of her seemingly easy control of the crew and perhaps worse made him feel redundant. How many of them thought that she should be in charge instead of him?
"Avalanche," he repeated, burying his doubt as deep as he could by searching his memory for the ship connected to the name. "She's one of the old Acropolis-class Baseships still in service, correct?"
"Correct."
"How was that?"
"Quiet. Very quiet. The most exciting thing that happened onboard was counting how many holobands came in with the care packages. It's amazing how many people don't pay attention to the No Send list, not that I'm complaining. It sure beat out border patrol on the Line."
"Couldn't agree with you more," Soloviev nodded.
"Here we are," Leonte said as they approached a hatch with the words SICK BAY written in large, bolded lettering above it. The two stepped inside and Soloviev's introduction to battlestar Sentinel began.