The Rise before the Fall
Chapter 17: Traitorous Hands
The Governor's ship came out of sub-ether space just 2,000 kilometers away from the wreckage and debris that made up about a third of the Coalition fleet. Most of the debris was no larger than a two-person hovercraft but there were a few ships that were mostly intact. The Governor's ship searched through the debris field for ships that still had their main bridge intact. This was easy to spot since the bridge on all Coalition war ships sat on top about a third of the way back from the front of the ship. Three such ships were located in relative close proximity.
"Alright Captain, I will board and inspect that ship personally," pointing to one of the ships on the viewscreen. "Divide the inspection crews between the other two ships."
"But Governor, boarding the ship on your own, isn't that just a little too dangerous."
"Not at all, unless those reptilian monsters have learned to survive in the cold vacuum of space." He replied coolly as he walked off the bridge.
The Governor went to the airlock closest to the assault bolt. He changed into his space suit and waited for the assault bolt to be launched into the dead ship. Once on board he headed towards the bridge, the assault bolt left him two levels below it. Shards of transparent materials and small chunks of metal floated around the corridors of the ship along with a handful of bodies. Working his way slowly through the corridor, Governor Jiudus used the small metal briefcase he carried with him to push these small bits of debris out of his way. Reaching the elevator at the end of the corridor, he opened his briefcase and removed a device that he placed over the elevator's control panel. Pressing a sequence of instructions on the device, the elevator doors opened just slightly. A rush of pressurized air shot out from the shaft. As the air stabilized, the Governor took hold of the slightly opened doors and forced them all the way open. Looking up and down the shaft, he observed that the elevator compartment was several levels below his current position. Taking hold of his briefcase again, he disabled his magnetic boots and jumped upwards into the elevator shaft. He drifted slowly in the direction of the bridge. Reaching his destination, he found the elevator doors ajar just as he expected it to be. Again he forced the doors all the way open and proceeded onto the bridge.
On the bridge he headed over to the communications systems. Checking it for signs of life which did not exist he pulled out a portable power pack from the case he had brought on board. He got down on his knees and opened a panel underneath the controls. He disconnected a cable from what was its normal power source and connected it to the power pack. The comms panel immediately came to life. He then pulled out a small control card and inserted it into the card slot to the left of the video monitor. After a few minutes the image of a Coalition officer appeared on the monitor.
"Governor, I'm surprised to hear from you after the way you betrayed us. It's a shame I don't have a deep reconnaissance ship in your sector. I'd direct him to your location so he could destroy you!"
"Save your idle threats Director, it was not my treachery that led to your defeat. It was your own. Had your ships not fired upon the Sabre Hone Hone with her shields down our destroyer captains may not have been so inspired to preserve the honor of the Empire. Besides you were supposed to send 500 ships, not 5,000. That was our agreement."
"Attacking with every ship in our fleet was the brilliant idea of our Chief of Staff, may the gods have mercy on his miserable soul. He assumed that if capturing the Governor of the outline regions would force your government to concede part of the disputed sectors than capturing your Emperor and High Council would force the surrender of all disputed sectors. And his plan may have worked if he had not clustered the fleet so tightly together, had responded more quickly to the attack, and wasn't facing such a fearless and innovative opponent. These destroyer captains of yours are going to ruin everything we've planned."
"You needn't concern yourself about our destroyer captains any longer."
"What do you mean?"
"The real problem isn't with all the captains but with one in particular. The captain that lead the attack against your fleet, Aisha Clan Clan."
The Governor could see the Director looking at something off screen.
"Yes, I seem to recognize that ship."
"It's the Al Tigaro Tigaro, it has inadvertently interfered in a number of our plans in the past year and a half."
"Yes, yes I remember now. Is it possible that the captain knows of our plans?"
"No, not at all. She is simply an over zealous, overly ambitious fleet commander that doesn't realize her own mortality."
"So how do we prevent her from getting in our way again?"
"I've already taken care of that. I've sent her on a special mission that will keep her away from the empire for years."
"What sort of mission?"
"I sent her in search of a Terran myth, the Galactic Leyline."
"The Galactic Leyline? I've never heard of it."
"Of course not you fool, I just said it was a Terran myth. Some legend about an ancient race of beings that left behind a vast treasure before they disappeared from existence."
"And how will this keep her out of the empire? What if she actually finds this treasure?"
"She won't because it doesn't exist. It's a myth. The only real treasure in the universe is the Estardian moon orbiting your home planet of Draxos. No where else in all the universe can such quantities of dragonite be found."
"Speaking of which, I am transmitting the coordinates of a freighter that will be loaded with your precious mineral. You will find it three days from now adrift in sector Alpha 60. I hope what you can provide in return is of equal value?"
"I think you will find it of particular interest." The Governor held up a disk. "On here are the engineering specifications and schematics of our latest navigations system and sensors system as well as our weapons array that enables us to have a greater range than your ships' weapons."
"What I would really find amazing is a way to stop a Ctarl Ctarl soldier dead in his tracks, literally."
"Hmm, I'll see what I can do, mean while prepare to receive my transmission."
"Go ahead."
The Governor inserted the disk into a slot next to the monitor and entered some commands on the keypad below. Lights next to the slot began to flicker for a second then stayed lit for several minutes.
As the data was being transferred the Director inquired. "Back to the matter of your ambitious Captain Aisha, what makes you certain she'll waste years searching for something that does not exist."
"Because Aisha Clan Clan is tenacious enough, ambitious enough, and just naive enough to continue searching as long as clues persist. And among the Terrans, there will be no shortage of clues. Besides all I need is for her to make just one mistake and I'll exile her on a Terran world as its resident officer. Either way, she is history.
"And what of the other captains. Surely she was not the only one with any ability to lead?"
"The others are skilled and brave captains but Aisha Clan Clan possesses something special. Her confidence and courage was contagious, even intoxicating to the other captains. I believe the acts of heroism that took place here will be a thing of the past without Aisha Clan Clan to lead them."
"Let us hope you are correct Governor."
Jiudus looked at the main portal and saw his ship coming about to pick him up.
"My ship is returning. Till next time Director."
"Till next time Governor."
The transmission ended and the Governor removed the comm card and disconnected the power port, placing it back in its case. Then he proceeded back to where the assault bolt had deposited him earlier.
**********
"Hello, … hello Augusta, can you read me?"
"Aisha," Augusta's attention was drawn off screen.
"Aisha, your signal is all distorted, I can hardly see you."
"That's because we're passing by a gaseous nebula. The transmission should clear up in a little bit. I see you're still home. Haven't they found a new assignment for you or have they finally grounded your ass." Aisha joked.
"Neither, they extended shore leave so they can do some additional refitting on the destroyer fleet. They're installing some new navigations system."
"Yes, I've seen it. The Orta Hone Hone is equipped with it. I thought it was only supposed to be installed on battle cruisers though."
"Apparently High Command figured what's good for the cruisers is good enough for the destroyers too."
"So what's happened since I left?"
"Well, Striker is now Captain Striker of the Al Tigaro Tigaro."
Aisha smiled.
"And Amery is now Captain Amery of the Al ship yet to be specified."
"So they went ahead and promoted her anyway, that's great."
"Yea, most likely she'll take command of the Al Onxe Onxe. Her dedication ceremony is scheduled for 10 days from now."
"And you, what have you been doing?" She asked.
"Oh you know, the usual, drinking, partying, bring home a new girl every night."
"Hey, that's not funny!"
Augusta smiled, "Actually, I've been spending most of my time at Fleet Headquarters just keeping busy. Some way to spend my share leave huh?"
"I wish I were there to spend it with you." She sadly replied.
"So do I." He responded soberly.
Suddenly the quality of the communication improved dramatically.
"Wow, that's better." He observed.
"We must be past the nebula. So have you been given your new assignment yet?"
"Yes actually, by this time next week I'll be patrolling sector Alpha 61, identifying planets for possible colonization."
"Hmm, no word on when a possible offensive into Coalition space will occur?"
"Surprisingly no, which is unusual for High Command not to take advantage of the enemy when we have them so badly hurt already."
"That is strange." Aisha acknowledged. 'Could things really be as bad as the Governor implied? So bad we can't even launch an offensive.'
"Personally, I think they're just waiting for you to come back to lead the attack." Augusta said only half teasing.
"Oh really?" Aisha smiled.
"Of course, who better to lead the attack than the savior of the Ctarl Ctarl Empire."
"Well, if that's the case I better hurry back."
"Absolutely. Turn the ship around and head back now." He teased.
"I meant I better hurry up and complete my mission so I can head back as soon as possible."
"Oh, well then I guess you shouldn't turn around just yet."
She laughed. "No I guess not."
"So have you whipped your crew into shape yet?"
"Oh, of course, no problem. I snap and they jump."
"Really?"
"No, not really. It's kind of like you said. The enlisted crew responds pretty well to my orders but the senior officers, well they think of me more as a passenger who's to be tolerated rather than as their commander, especially my first officer. He's constantly suggesting I do something other than what I want to do. The funny thing is his suggestions always seem to make sense at the time he makes them but half the time I think he does it just to keep me from doing what I intended on doing in the first place."
"Will this be a problem for you? You know in completing your mission"
"I don't think so. Once we get to Blue Heaven and begin our search for the Outlaw Hilda, I think they'll respond to my orders well enough."
Augusta had an obvious look of concern on his face. "I hope your right."
"Don't worry, everything will work out, you'll see." She smiled.
"Yeah, I'm sure your right." He smiled back, satisfying Aisha that she had eased his concerns.
She checked her chronometer.
"Well, I really wish we could keep talking all the way to Blue Heaven but I have a briefing with my Trade Liaison Officer to go over the relationship between the Space Forces and the Toward Star Empire and our treaties with both, how they relate, blah, blah, blah." Aisha rolled her eyes.
Augusta laughed. "Sounds exciting. I wouldn't want to keep you from your appointment."
"I wish you would but…"
"So when will we be able to talk again?"
"Well, lets see. We'll be beyond any signaling buoy by late tonight so we won't be able to have a video comm until we reach Blue Heaven."
"And I'll be on my way to Sector Alpha 61 by then."
"When are you scheduled to return to Ctarl Ctarl space?"
"We'll be charting Alpha 61 for at least two weeks maybe longer."
"Well, I'll try to contact you after three weeks, hopefully you'll be back by then.
"Three weeks till I get to see your beautiful face again. I don't know if my heart can take it."
Augusta touched the monitor as if he were caressing his lover's face. Aisha duplicated his action.
"Keep me in your prayers and maybe I'll already be on route to the Galactic Leyline by then." She grinned.
"You know I will." He smiled weakly. "Well, in three weeks then."
"Yes, three weeks."
"I love you Aisha."
"I," Aisha grinned playfully, "I know."
"Why you!" He faked anger.
"Don't say it." She warned, waving her finger at him.
He grinned. "Goodbye my love."
And the monitor went blank.
"I love you too Augusta." She whispered, "but you already knew that." She smiled, taking a moment to check her chronometer.
"Ah, still have time to get a cup of coffee before my briefing." She got up and headed for the galley.