Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Crest of the Stars belong to their respective owners. This disclaimer will apply to all future chapters, unless noted otherwise.
Author's Note: There is one more series (and disclaimer) added towards the end of this story. This story is complete, but has been minimally edited. Based on file sizes it looks like around 40-50k words. I've had this written for awhile, and was just curious what people thought. I plan to post it weekly.
Viscountess Abriel Paryunu Lafiel was now 16 years of age and is nearing her final year in the Abh military academy. She is the granddaughter of the 27th Empress and the niece of the incumbent 28th Emperor of the Humankind Empire Abh.
The Abh are often called the Kin of the Stars. They are a genetically modified variant of homo sapiens that spend almost their entire lives in space. They consider space their true home.
Lafiel is a typical example of her species. She has indigo eyes and hair. She also has a less typical feature. Her ears are long and more resemble an elf of legend than anything else. Her ears are special, even among Abh, for they signaled she was a member of the royal family. For most Abh, with simple hair die they could often pass as human. It took more effort to hide the ears of an Abriel.
One of the skills she excelled at was piloting of small fighter craft through the Abh neuro-link system. The system was composed of two parts. First Abh often wore variations of simple diadems, either as a headband or over their hair. Lafiel's was of silver that went over the center of her head with a central tine. Two more tines covered it at 45 degrees to either side. These were known as Interface diadems. They could be connected to two slots in a standard pilot seat, via simple retracting earring like triangles.
The other part of the neuro-link system, which could be used both with and without the diadem interface was a control in a console where you opened then placed your left hand in before closing the cover over it. While the interface is active the nerves to your hand effectively interface directly with the pilot interface.
Lafiel's ability at piloting small craft was not why she was even now approaching the one. Appearance wise the craft looked more like a two seat atmospheric fighter, save that it didn't have any guns. It's blended wing design meant that the whole thing was simple elegant curves. The matte black finish seemed to just absorb the light. All around the perimeter of the craft a thin blue line of energy slowly circled. Of landing gear, there was no sign, nor did the craft seem to need them. It simply floated there, as if it didn't have a care in the world.
Nothing much changed until she got within touching distance of the wing. Once there she reached up, only to have the craft lower to where she could reach that thin blue line. Then it was as if she grabbed on and pulled the wing down to the ground. As she moved it the blue light grew in intensity until the craft was just barely off the ground with the one wing tip touching. She then calmly walked onto the wing. After her first step the apparent glass covering the cockpit vanished allowing her to step into the pilots seat and buckle herself in before submerging herself into the Abh neuro-link.
Back several rooms away teams of technicians were scurrying around various displays and checking systems. In the next room the core team leaders sat around a round table.
"This is foolish! You are risking an heir to the throne on unproven technology! You do not even know what an S particle is, let alone have any solid way to control it."
"I know and the princess knows as well. She has accepted the risk. We had four. Just four people the S particle system interacted with and only she was able to bring the generator over the activation threshold. We have no choice but to ask, and if we can do this..."
"We all know the theory. Just as Planar Space connects with all of real space allowing faster than light travel, you are hoping to Jump into a Linear space where apparent speed would be increased as much over Planar Space, but I still say the risk is too high. You can't even put a space time bubble generator on that ship. The whole thing would be too much mass."
"I know, but thankfully the organic hull technology integrated well with the s-particle system. Our test flights have confirmed that living matter is unharmed. In fact, strangely enough, it even thrives in Planar Space without a separate generator which is an impossibility onto itself. The jump will also be for the smallest possible distance."
"You do not know that. The tests with animals had Lafiel powering the launcher from the launcher cockpit. She is going to be inside the ship now, and every transition is based on theoretical probabilities. Worse, with the double transition, the possible error bands are galactic in scale. If things go wrong she will have no way back, unless you are counting on conventional propulsion from Empress knows where."
"She will run out of rations before that becomes an issue."
"Your not helping. The bottom line is the Empress believes we need to solve this and I don't know of any other path forward. I can't build a bigger ship. Lafiel couldn't generate enough energy to launch it, and neither could all of them together, since for some reason their energy does not work together. I also can't integrate the engine into the ship. I've tried. The mass is too high and the shift to Linear space does not occur. It just kicks the ship out of Planar space. I can't put a lot more mass in there. Everything is balanced. The only thing I really could do is remove the second seat, but as that is where we are storing her emergencies supplies, it won't do much good. You all know the numbers and the risks. We have minimized them, so give me your final vote. Go or Abort."
"Abort."
"Abort."
"Abort."
He sighed wearily. "Unfortunately, I have my orders. Open a com line to the ship."
"Opened."
"Viscountes Abriel, the members of my team unanimously recommend an abort. I do not see the odds improving. The Empress believes this flight is important, though she would not tell me why. My final recommendation is also to abort. Even a small error in our calculations could put you out of our ability to rescue you. The Empress gave you the final choice. Her exact words were, 'Though her path may change, I know that my granddaughter's duty will continue with honor regardless of her choice.'"
Somberly Lafiel saluted before saying, "Cadet Abriel is ready to begin the test flight."
The test flight started perfectly. The test aircraft launched directly from its launcher onboard the capital ship sitting in Planar Space in its own space time bubble and then it was just gone. Less than a second later they lost the telemetry from the craft.
The data they received was priceless, just as the young woman they had lost was, also, priceless.
The Empress was notified by fast courier forty eight hours later, which was the soonest a ship could transit through Planar Space to the capital at Lakfakalle. She accepted the courier's message without opening it and directed her staff to see to his needs before retiring to her private quarters.
Opening the letter she quickly read to the end before gently setting it on her study desk. She then pulled a small key from around her neck before using it to unlock a hidden cupboard in the wall and pulling out a seemingly delicate porcelain bowl etched with countless runes, curves and lines. She carefully set the bowl on her desk. The bowl had a delicate seeming lid that she carefully set aside. Inside the bowl was silvery liquid that seemed to swirl and glow with a light of its own.
When she touched it, the queen found herself transported to high atop an ancient castle looking over a great lake. Standing there was a barely older Lafiel along with a young man about the same age. Lafiel herself wore elegant blue robes, while the young man wore a rich black of similar weave. The image of Lafiel turned to face the queen and spoke.
"Highness. On the day this memory is released by the pensive, you should have heard news that my craft was lost. There were times when I greatly wished I would have chosen differently, but no longer. I hope the recollection of history I stored in here will have served my family well all these centuries. My knowledge of your future is at an end. I know that there are many possible struggles ahead for the Kin of the Stars and I wish we were there to help you with them. I will continue to update this set of memories from time to time. We have not given up trying to find a way to return, but we do not know if it is possible. There is so much I wish to tell you my Queen, not the least of which is the story behind my dear friend here."
The male figure smiled fondly at Lafiel, to which Lafiel returned her own smile. His hair color truly surprised her. Just how did that happen?
Lafiel continued. "Of course. At this point, this pensive is set to tell our remaining story at about the same pace we lived it. The struggles we have faced to get here today are something I still find quite hard to believe. The S-particle is not what we thought it was. It is something old and something wondrous. At times it can even be something horrible, if the wrong choices are made. I leave you with our story. The choices, as always, are your own."
The empress wiped a tear from her right eye and carefully put the irreplaceable artifact away along with her recent message. She knew from experience it would not work again for at least weeks, and based on their latest message it may take even longer. She sat back at her desk and requested her steward to again cover what they understood from the S-particle research, paying particular attention to who was sensitive to the particles. She, herself, had a higher sensitivity than two thirds of those on the list, though that fact was not known officially. It was unlikely they would be able to fill in the remaining pieces with the little data they had, but they would at least try.
She pondered again where they would be without Lafiel's advice and notes across the centuries. Yes, she had served well, and without a doubt had earned the name Abriel.