Vincent Haven Stood on the bridge of the Straosphere, hunched over the map of the Kingdom of Anatoray. The last three search sectors had turned up nothing but false pretenses of the target, or where the target had been. "What so important about this target?" he asked the deck officer
"Do
I have to remind you to use the proper terms when addressing your
superiors?" answered the officer, "The Empress must have a
reason to such a fine vessel looking for such a small target."
"But
it is impossible to find a vanship in the middle of Anatoray, Hell in
the whole kingdom." he muttered to himself. He really wished the
he would have kept his mouth shut at the academy, then he could have
his own ship... not stuck behind the belligerence of the current
captain. But if he had not given the tour to that small group of
students, he would be out of a job. Vice-captain Forrester was nice
enough to take him in after being booted from five different ships,
and he would not betray this act of kindness. He quieted himself and
glanced down at the chart.
"Sir,
I have picked up on a large number of ships now emerging from the
Grand stream... IT'S DISITH!" the sonar officer reported
"Three... five... eight ships emerging, all capitol
models."
"Sound the Alarm, Helmsman, 15 degrees down
angle, all engines silent running." came the reply of the
captain. "Haven, what's our current position?"
"Three
kilometers north east of the dragon's teeth. I suggest that
we-"
"Set course for the capitol, ready a vanship to
relay the message to her highness."
"Sir, with all due
respect, running towards the capitol will only make us clearer
targets, their new advanced sonar can detect us even in silent
running."
"Haven, I will remove you from the bridge if
necessary." came the captain, who was close to fuming.
"Sir,
it is my sworn duty to protect those of the royal family, and leading
this convoy straight to the capitol is strictly against the code of
chivalry. I must protest that we lead them on a detour, allowing the
vanship to reach the capitol." haven said with fire in his
eyes.
"Haven, what do you per pose?" he said giving his
a chance to explain.
"Well, we trap them in the dragon's
teeth. Its simple enough to work, but you will need me to navigate
you though-"
"That's ridiculous, not one ship has come
out unscathed, and this is the pride of Anatoray. I cannot allow you
to wreck this ship nor my career." said the captain, shutting
Vincent down.
Just
then the door to the bridge opened as the Vice-captain strode in.
"Captain, what's our situation?" she asked in a calm cool
tone. She was an officer alright, the tone and the look of
professionalism resounded when she entered the bridge.
"A
Disith war fleet of eight ships and current heading is towards the
capitol." chimed the captain. "But your little pet wants to
take and lose them in the dragons teeth, which is ridiculous."
he continued.
"Why
so, Mr. Haven?" she asked with the same cold tone as
before.
"Well, I am sure you're familiar of the exploits of
Alex Rowe. He defeated four Urbonus class vessels in the dragon's
teeth. I believe that with my navigation, we could ounce the Disith
fleet and still escape." he said tracing his index finger down
the line was the original route that the Sick'em All Silvana
took.
The Vice Captain walked over and examinded the map. "Why
does it stop here near the end?"
"That's where they
crash-landed, Mam'" Haven replied as if they should know.
"No
way, no way in hell!" the captain chimed as soon as he heard
'Crash-landed'
Captain, I urge you to reconsider Mr. Haven's
analysis, he was top of his class at the academy-" she started
but was interrupted
"Till he was kicked out for
insubordination. Continue course, helmsman." came the captain as
he sat down again.
"Just because I don have a rank by my name doesn't mean I'm an idiot. It just means I think for myself instead of the book thinking for me." Vincent snarled.
"Master at arms, remove him from the bridge." the captain ordered.
"Sir, sonar just picked up two more Disith attack cruisers three Kilometers ahead of us, heading our way..."
The bridge fell silent as the crew awaited a commanding order.
"Captain, do you have an order?" came the vice captain.
"All ahead full… prep main turrets… all hands to battle stations!" a shouted reply sounded.
The lack of haste in his voice caused Vincent's stomach churn. "You're planning on fighting eight Disith cruisers? That's insane! Not even Alex Rowe was this confident in his vessel." Vincent blurted out. He knew he had gone too far, but with the odds diminishing around him of survival, who cared?
"That's it, Master at Arms remove him from the bridge and throw him in the brig." Came the order.
"Master at Arms, stand down. Captain, I am asking you to change your order." Jerlea said with certain discernment for the crew.
"Vice-Captain, you can't risk the lives of this ship for the Captains career. You must consider the alterative!" Vincent struggled to say as the Master at Arms grabbed his hands to cuff.
"Shut his insubordinate mouth at this instant!" repelled the voice of the red faced Captain.
"Captain, I order you to relinquish command to me and submit to your quarters." The Vice-Captain stated, ever cold. "…By order of the royal family of Anatoray, I demand you relinquish your command." She said holding up a little pendant with a small crest of the royal family.
"That's… the royal crest of Anatoray…" the captain stuttered as Jerlea revealed her true identity. "I am Princess Jerlea Forrester. Forgive my deception, but you cannot allow this ship to be captured." She said with a narrowed glance.
'Princess… wow I didn't see that coming… to think I actually hit on the royalty of the country I serve. I have other things to focus on now' Vincent thought as he plotted the course towards the capitol.
"Mr. Haven, How long do we have till we reach the ship in front of us?" she asked walking to the table and glancing at the course he was plotting.
"We have one minute till we are within firing range, ninety seconds and we will enter close quarter combat. I recommend that we gain altitude and skip over-" Haven went on but he was interrupted as the princess walked over to the window and stated, "Helmsman, set course for the dragons teeth, 10 degrees down angle"
"Aye" came the helmsman who wheeled hard to starboard. The speed engineer chimed the speed as the dive officer spun the wheel and the ship dived into the clouds…