9:05 AM; Earth Sol Time; Three months, fourteen days after the Battle of Deil Nine; Earth; Paris, France.
"All rise."
The loud shuffle of hundreds of feet echoed in the chamber, displacing the wall-to-wall sound of gentle conversation between the public guests. Some still mumbling were drowned out by the rising, then were quieted by complete silence. From the right doorway, the Judgement Panel filed into the chamber, single-file, all looking straight ahead at where they were going.
Oh boy, Emilie thought from behind the defendant's table as her body went rigid and fear gripped her heart. I'm dead. With a heavy sigh, she stood, ready for anything, though she did shudder slightly.
When the thirteen-person Panel reached their chairs, they remained standing in silence, as did the rest of the chamber. A split-second afterwards, the doors in the back opened, and Cemel Sadar, the trial's Nikite judge, walked in, taking his seat at the center of the top row. As his cat-like head stretched at least a foot above the headrest, he signaled everyone to sit down with a nod. "Be seated," came the translation of his voice. Again, another shuffle ensued. Emilie sat rather slowly, and tried her best to look as professional as possible, desperately trying not let her cold hatred of Sadar get control of her. She looked back and exchanged quick glances with her crew sitting in the front row of the VIP seating: bridge commander Lieutenant Commander Vigo Chimad, Ilan, Tilleper, and Maya. Maya gave her a frantic thumbs-up and beamed brightly, her pretty face shooting confidence at Emilie. Tilleper just gave the most positive grin he could, and then winked. Ilan locked eyes with her, pumping his fist once in a silent cheer. Vigo warped his Ghislen face, giving her his "crazy smile" that always made her laugh, including at that moment too. She went down the row a second time, grinning in thanks and friendship at them all for being here with her, even though she knew she was going down. Nothing would change Sadar's mind now. Her eyes then shifted around the room, trying to find anyone else to exchange a quick thanks with. But that's when Sadar started speaking, and Emilie was forced to hear the end of her career. She would have had more hope, had she not disliked any of the Congressmen on the Judgement Panel, who also despised her in return.
"Has the Panel reached their decision?" Sadar asked.
Rigel O'Kelley, the Irish human Congressmen, stood up from his seat at the second-to-last chair on the right. "Yes we have, your honor."
"What is your decision?" he asked passively
Scanning the audience with grim eyes, his gaze quickly passed over Emilie as he spoke. "In the case of Emilie Rodenski vs. The People of the Alliance Military Forces, the Judgement Panel finds Emilie Rodenski guilty of the charges of violating the Alliance Military Code; Article One; Section One; Paragraph's One and Two by a thirteen-to-zero majority, none dissenting."
A loud, shocked murmur bounced off the walls in response to that. The shock was reflected onto Emilie's own face, as she gaped at the Judgement Panel; gaped at all of them; all of their deathly serious faces, rock hard eyes killing the last of her hope and dignity. All thirteen of them! How is that "fair"?
None of the crowd seemed to take sides though. They just murmured surprisingly to each other. Even Emilie's own crew, who she knew still backed her up until the end. They didn't speak out. Emilie wondered why, but came to an answer a second later; there really wasn't much they could do for her.
O'Kelley paused before continuing, letting the Panel's results sink in. "The Judgement Panel also finds Mrs. Rodenski guilty of the charge of treason and insubordination of Alliance principles, policies, and common sense codes by a thirteen-to-zero majority, none dissenting."
The murmur spiked back up again, almost as fast as the Punisher's energy readings had, one of the many images that still remained glued in Emilie's mind. This was ridiculous! They couldn't have all agreed. At least one had to dissent. There had to be some bribe, some catch to voting against her. It had to be! There was no other way they could have all agreed! Angrily, Emilie once again looked back at her crew. Maya, Tilleper and Vigo in utter shock, Ilan in a passionate anger, balling-up his fists in anger and protest. Again, she mentally praised them for their support, then abruptly turned back to the panel to face down her sentence.
O'Kelley turned his gaze up to Sadar, and continued. "The Panel proposes that Mrs. Roden—"
But then Sadar held a hand up, stopping O'Kelley in mid-sentence. Emilie heard a single gasp, as well as several mumbles, and she definitely wondered what was going through the Nikite's feline mind. She briefly recalled that if the trial judge wanted to, he or she could overpower any ruling the Panel made, so long as he/she did so before a sentence was proposed. Somewhat similar to the "speak now or forever hold your peace" clause guests had at weddings. It was the veto power granted to trial judges, but it was rarely ever used by anyone, and Emilie knew, deep down, that that wasn't what Sadar was going to do. He had been her strongest antagonist for the last three months, utterly despising her in the public numerous times. She hated him with a passion that no other being could possibly have. But maybe...? Why else would he stop the sentencing from being proposed? No...no.
O'Kelley, mouth open in mid-sentence, abruptly closed his gaping lips and eyed Sadar in wonderment.
The yellow-furred Nikite lowered his clawed hand and spoke at last. "I beg your pardon, Congressman." His vertical eyes swept over the Panel. "But I now choose to evoke my veto power and overrule the Panel's decision." All at once, sound erupted like lava from a volcano, all throughout the chamber. Several "boo"s blasted their way to Emilie's ears, mixed in with the drum of clapping and minor "woo!"s, many of them coming from her dumbfounded but happy crew. Emilie's ears became veraciously filled with mixes of Tilleper and Ilan's voice, drowning out the minuscule shouting of Vigo, and Maya was nowhere to be heard. But when Emilie looked back again, she saw Maya clapping along with everyone else, a huge grin of hope across her face. Emilie grinned back.
What had changed Sadar's mind? With some of the mean statements he had made about Emilie, she thought that even one-hundred-million years would't have changed Sadar. There had to be some bad reason behind this. What would she have to give him to make him do this? But Sadar wasn't the bribing type, at least nothing Emilie knew of. Her eyes fell on the Judgement Panel, all of whom were turned 180 degrees in their chairs, staring in astoundment and revolt at feline judge, complaining and arguing. Ha ha you bastards, Emilie thought. Serves you right!
Sadar raised his hand, waiting patiently for the crowd's noise to die down so that he could speak. His face seemed to tighten after several seconds passed and the crowd had barely silenced at all.
Emilie's eagerness had built up over that time, and she wanted, so badly, to yell for everyone to be quiet, feeling as though some of her authority had been returned to her. She had always loved saying that she was an Admiral. "Jesus, you're worse than some Congressmen I know," Bryan had once told her. That had sounded strange coming from him, because he seemed to always love flouting "Commander" to all of the underclass officers and civilians he could. He was almost obnoxious about it sometimes.
At long last, the court silenced and let Sadar continue. "My decision has been reached on certain principles that the Panel has seemed to ignore, not only in this courtroom but in the last few months as well. You have let your personal opinions dominate your decision." The Nikite's eyes narrowed vertically into sharp, scary ovals. He cast the look down onto the Panel. "I hope you men and woman are proud of the political scandal you've manufactured, because it's about to come to a crashing halt."
"Admiral Emilie Rodenski has been framed. This—valiant woman has taken insults and accusations over the last three standard months that she is not guilty of! The Alliance Congress has gone far enough in its attempts to appear innocent! I never guessed that it would escalate this low, as to frame an innocent Admiral of an enormous crime. You say she murdered the 216,000 people that died at the Battle of Deil Nine; murdering them by not calling for help and overlooking the 'cautions and warnings' on the status of the Punisher superweapon. How can that be; when it was our job—you, me, and Congress' job—to gather the information Admiral Rodenski used to form her battle plan? How can we blame her for our mistake, when she was simply acting upon information that was misleading, that Congress said was genuine and accurate to previous information? I will answer that question in a moment."
Settling back in his chair, he continued. "I know that Congress' opinion of Admiral Rodenski is not high. In the last few months, we, as a body, have called her "incompetent," "incapable," "brainless," an "idiot," and I, personally, have called her "the worst Admiral I have ever seen." Nevertheless that is no reason to find her guilty of these charges. You have let...your personal opinions interfere with your judgement here today. Now you may accuse me of being a hypocrite. I said I think she's the worst Admiral I have ever seen...and I still think she is the worst Admiral I've ever seen. She is inexperienced, ignorant, and she takes too many unnecessary risks that often put her crew, and the crews of other ships, in danger. Those faults are null, however, when the situation is one that the Admiral has no control over. Such was the situation at the Battle of Deil Nine, and even if the allegations against her weren't artificial, she would still not be responsible for what happened, because the information she was given is what caused her to react the way she did to the danger."
"Now, getting back to my earlier point. How can we blame her for our mistake? The answer is that we can't." He didn't pause, because he might not get another chance to speak if he even stopped for a split second. "At this time I wish to announce to all present, that these charges against Admiral Rodenski have been fabricated by the Alliance Congress, in a attempt to gain political immunity from the Battle of Deil Nine. I was there the day Congress voted to deceive the public and military officials of the Alliance. Even President Gillia didn't know about it. They chose the Admiral as a scapegoat to prevent themselves from being blamed for the faulty intelligence they unknowingly gave to her."
The crowd's murmuring suddenly came alive again getting louder by the second. Immediately, the Panel, all red in the face, began to scream at the Nikite to "Be quiet!" and/or talk thirteen-on-one in a separate room. Meanwhile, Sadar nodded to his Court Services Officer, who gave him papers with the Alliance Insignia on the top of them, which Sadar accepted, while still ignoring the Panel. He furiously began to write on them. The Panel's complaint got louder, but Sadar continued on, against the odds, his voice rising with every phrase that passed. "And so, by order of this court, I hereby issue an order of calik marrs for Congressman Neelios Benza Piyirk Fogorn, the man who proposed the idea!" The Nikite's eyes blazed alive with fire as his hand moved in a blur across the paper. Nikite's were known for their fast but beautiful handwriting. "He is never to appear in Congress again!" The court erupted again in a frenzy. Many stood up in protest, "boo"ing Sadar, some pumping their fists in angers, others shouting, still others pointing in accusation. The other half of the crowd cheered wildly, starting a chant.
"Sa-dar! Sa-dar! Sa-dar!"
Emilie's brandy-brown eyes grew bigger, becoming hopeful now, not only knowing the truth about what Congress had been up to in the last three months, but also hearing her trial judge refer to her rank of Admiral, something that Supreme Admiral Poff had reluctantly taken from her nearly three months ago, on Congress' orders. She watched Sadar in excitement. An order of calik marrs was issued only to politicians. It was immediate impeachment from any office for sixty days, with a hearing after that time had passed.
Sadar's furious writing had finally stopped, and he now addressed the court again. Standing up, with the microphone held in his hands, his booming voice drowned out all others in the room. "Do not argue against me, Congressmen! I do this in the best interest of the Alliance! It may bring in the worst publicity the Alliance has ever faced, but I will sooner kill myself than let this government sink into the hands of political scandal and corruption!"
The angry members of the crowd raised their voices to riot level, while the Judgement Panel continued to scream endlessly at their traitorous Congressman.
"Mrs. Rodenski is free of all charges! I hereby restore her rank of full Alliance Admiral and place her in command of the Alliance Cruiser Liberty! She is free to go! This court is adjourned!" With that, he stormed out of the chamber, ignoring all the protests and all the antagonists.
Emilie stood up, breathing hard, overjoyed. In a rush, she turned around and charged straight at her bridge crew, wrapping each individual in a huge bear hug, tears starting to flow from her eyes by the time she reached Vigo.
I won, I won, I won! Yes, maybe Sadar is still a bastard, but he's a smart one!
The crowd was beginning to charge the bench, either going after the Panel or trying to go after Sadar where he exited. Whoever they were going after, Emilie didn't care. She had beat the odds again!
In no time at all, the reporters were flocking in her direction, throwing questions at her left and right, but she was too busy hugging people in joy to answer any of their questions except with things like "It's great!" As she hugged Ilan a second time, she saw over his shoulder Bryan Rawling coming forward, filled with energy and drive, beaming brighter than ever before. She could understand why. He had been criticized by Congress severely over the years as being "too radical." Nobody like a rebel. Apparently not even the Rebels. So when Congress got hit hard, she always knew he would be the first one to celebrate, with Emilie right behind him. Not to mention that he had been her strongest supporter, not only with his letter to the Congressional Review Board, but his confidence and his presence as Commander of the Pilot Corps. Breaking free of Ilan, she charged straight into him, and the two twirled in their embrace, laughing jovially. When they finally stopped and actually looked at each other, Emilie could barely contain herself. "I don't believe it!" she blurted in all of her excitement. She tried speaking again, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't form any words because she was laughing, and now crying, so hard.
Bryan just stood still and smiled from ear-to-ear, shouting over the many voices filling the room and the sounds of all the camera shutter's snapping. "Maybe there's hope for Congress yet!" he commented.
Emilie nodded fast in agreement, then pulled him into another hug. "You better not say that out loud again!"
Bryan broke into a laugh. "Oh well! I don't care that much anymore!"
"Good!"
They broke apart.
"So, you're coming back, right?" Bryan asked. "To the military I mean?"
Emilie's eyebrows lifted and her smile descended slightly into her chin; an "are-you-crazy" look. "Yes!" she said intensely, scaring herself.
"Okay, okay! Sorry; you know, after Darnold quit because of that whole Marinza scandal, I just thought..."
Emilie stared at him in serious disbelief.
He held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, you're not gonna quit. Got it! Good, 'cause I have the perfect Commander to take Kano's spot, if it's all right with you?"
By this time, security was starting to gently shoo everyone out of the courtroom. Bodyguards surrounding them, Emilie and Bryan strode out of the chamber, chatting busily, side-by-side, another test passed, another enemy broken.
11:57 PM Sallopian time; Four months, nineteen days after the Battle of Deil Nine; Sallop IV.
Emilie Rodenski clapped her hands, in front of her stomach, in back of her back, in front of her stomach, in back of her back, in front of her stomach...she was like a bored child during gym-class roll call, the one who always was caught zoning out in class. Her mind raced now at the speed of light, faster than the turbolift pod that was taking her to the bridge of her beloved Liberty. She felt soothed by the gentle hum of the pod blasting up the lift shaft, letting it carry away the stress of the last few months; doling out all the death certificates, attending so many funerals that it become a part of the daily agenda, not a special goodbye to the man or woman who always lay dead in the transparent casket; dealing with the bastards in Congress who tried to frame her for the Deil Nine disaster. These last four months had been hell, but she had beat it; she had beat hell, and was now getting back to her job again.
The excitement had established a fort inside her heart, and Emilie was forced to sigh to let some of it out before she exploded. Come on, why it can't it reach the bridge already? I don't remember the shaft being that big. As if on cue, the pod suddenly stopped, and a sound went off, indicating that the pod had arrived at the bridge.
Charged with energy, Emilie burst out onto the bridge, walking so fast that she nearly ran into the doors before they opened. The small room was alive with activity, people's voices bouncing across the walls and through the air, running through checklists and having casual conversations about who knew what. It was a little more social than Emilie had ever been used to, but she didn't mind it at all today.
"Admiral on the bridge!" called Vigo Chimad, grinning at her brightly as he rose from the center chair; her chair.
At once, all the talking died down and a hush took over the room. All eyes turned to the Admiral, and everyone stiffened up, some going flat as boards. Everyone dropped what they were doing to greet her. Tilleper, standing the farthest away towards the front, stood up tall and proud, waving to her, discreetly, by his waist. Ilan was by the nearest bulkhead panel, leaning against the controls, smiling widely. Right next to him was Maya, who beamed and then rushed to give her old friend and comrade a hug. Though she was still very much on the hook for her betrayal years ago, she and Emilie had become friends again, which was more than could be said for her and Bryan.
Emilie, blushing somewhat, nodded at them. "At ease, guys. It's not like anything's changed. I'm just back for a second term."
The bridge crew chuckled at that remark, and went back about their business.
Seeing Vigo standing behind her chair, with his hands on the top of its leather back, pushing it side-to-side and still grinning, teasing her.
Emilie strutted calmly over to him and her chair, giving him a "very funny" look.
"I was just warming it up for you, ma'am. No need to make the 'snotty-constipated' face." He twisted the chair around so that it opened onto her. "Admiral, your chair." He then backed off and stood tall with his hands clasped behind his back.
The Admiral stopped strutting and walked briskly towards the chair, spinning around at the last second and plopping herself into it. She sat back and sprawled out as far as she could, sinking her back into the chair cushion, feeling the old, familiar relaxation of it flooding her skin, a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time. Nothing could match the comfort of the center chair of a starship. Letting out a long, satisfied sigh, Emilie allowed her muscles to stretch largely, and she closed her eyes, enjoying every moment of the soothing stretch. "It's good to be back."
"It's good to have you back, Emilie." she heard Vigo say. "Hasn't been the same."
A smile slowly made its way across her face. "Hmm. Thanks Vigo."
"Your welcome, Admiral."
Emilie opened her eyes and sat up properly in the chair. Looking Vigo straight in the eye, she asked. "What ETA we looking at?"
Vigo shouted, "Tilleper! ETA 'til departure?"
"Five minutes, twenty seconds!" came the return shout, with energy.
Emilie spun around and faced front, her eyes falling on the lone bridge window. Directly behind that window was a lone chair that belonged to Maya; the navigation station. "Good. Can't wait to get started. How 'bout everybody else?"
"—Yeah!"
"—I'm ready!"
"—You bet I'm—!"
"—Bring it on!"
Emilie clapped her hands together in anticipation. "I'm ready. Let's go."
A burst of laughter cascaded around the bridge.
"No, really," Emilie pressed. "I wanna get outta here now. Can we do that?"
"Not without an argument probably," Ilan answered. "And you know how 'pleasant' docking control can be sometimes. They love to yell."
"Come on, it's only five minutes," Maya added. "We can wait, can't we?"
Emilie swung around to her, smile waning. "I don't want to though." She and Maya shared a light "haha." Then, a mental note flashed through her mind, and she pressed her thumb against the comlink button on her left armrest. "Rodenski to Commander Linwood?"
A short pause, then a light, naturally sharp voice. "Hey, Admiral."
"Hey...Maxie was it?"
"That's right, ma'am. Maxie."
"Okay." Eyebrows shooting up, she asked, "You wanna come up to the bridge for the launch? It's always fun."
"Ummmm. Sure, Admiral. I'll be right up, that's sound exciting. Be up in a minute. Linwood out."
Emilie smiled to herself, at the fact that Maxie's voice reflected the same excitement that she was feeling right now. Originally, Maxie had resigned her commission as Colonel, about two-and-a-half weeks after the Battle. But Emilie had found out from Bryan that she had done that simply to wait out her trial. Maxie had let her future rely on the miracle chance(at least, back then it had been a miracle chance)that Emilie was relieved of the charges brought against her. If Emilie had indeed been court-martialed and forced to resign from the Alliance, Maxie would have gone on with her life.
The Liberty had been given to the aspiring Admiral LeeDarte, during Emilie's trial. It had already been repaired and re-launched by the time her ordeal had gotten to court. But Cemel Sadar had issued an judicial order giving command of the Liberty back to Emilie, and giving her permission to change the crew roster. She had only made one change though. With a blessing from the Office of Transfers and Supreme Admiral Poff, she had successfully transferred Admiral LeeDarte's Commander, a Toski female named Pona Cayill, to Poff's new Bigel-class Cruiser, the Sovereign.
And since Emilie had been freed, Maxie had gladly reactivated her Colonel's commission. Soon after,Maxie was promoted to Commander by Emilie herself and assigned to the Liberty. Though she still would have preferred Bryan instead of his adept and somewhat eccentric student, she was impressed by Maxie's reputation, and her attitude towards the War. "I think we're doing the right thing," Maxie had said. "What else can we do?" Emilie had confidence in her from that moment on. She knew the Commander would be just fine.
Moving onto the next thing...(she wanted to leave!)
"Admiral Rodenski to docking control." She anxiously rapped her short fingernails on the armrest. Come on, come on, come on! "Is everyone on board that needs to be, Tilleper?"
"Control here."
"Requesting permission to–"
"–Yeah–" Tilleper answered softly.
"–launch."
A short pause. "Four minutes, Admiral. Suggest that you fire up your thrusters."
Emilie's eyebrow shot up, forming a "what?" look on her face. "Maya?"
But Maya had already slapped herself on the forehead, and was now bounding towards the navigation console. "Sorryyy. I forgot the engines don't start automatically like they do in Star Wars." She tapped two commands into the console. Instantly, a hum started to echo off the walls and floor. The engines were now powering up.
"Two minutes until start-up," Maya read. Smiling embarrassingly, she added, "Sorry about that."
"Not a problem," Emilie answered. "Thank you control."
"Three minutes, Admiral," control chimed in. The channel was then cut.
Emilie sunk into her chair, blowing a puff of air, as she now had to continue waiting. She let her chin fall into the palm of her hand, hunching forward in the chair. What was with all of these delays? If she was an Admiral, why did she have to always wait for someone else to give her orders? It was her ship, why couldn't she decide when it launched? That's because the Military Code said that all ships departing space docks and other launch facilities must run on a schedule depicted by...in other words, ships had to leave whenever docking control said it was okay. But why did they always make the wait so long?
"Emilie?"
Emilie blinked once, and noticed Tilleper staring at her from the operations console. "What?"
The Assalian smiled. "Nothing. Just seeing if you're still there."
She sat up straight in the chair, rubbing her thighs. "I'm here. Just wanna leave already."
"We know, we know," Ilan replied quickly.
Emilie laughed delightfully, probably overdoing it slightly, but she knew Ilan wouldn't pounce on her for laughing too much like some people might.
The lift doors part and admitted Maxie onto the bridge. "Hey, Admiral."
The Admiral waved and said, "Hi." Casting a hand around, she added, "Welcome to the bridge. Nothing special, but she'll do."
"Thanks," Maxie responded.
"Hope you weren't expecting anything...grand."
Maxie shook her head.. "No, not really. Every Cruiser seems to be the same, everywhere I go."
"That's the truth," Ilan commented sarcastically.
Emilie smiled wryly at that joke, and exchanged glances with Maxie. "We're just waiting for now. Nothin' else to do." She returned to her former position in the chair. Then, remembering etiquette, she gestured behind her. "Take a seat." She hoped there were empty chairs behind her. But gradually, the time passed, somewhat quickly it seemed. But all the same to Emilie, the launch code was finally given. The bulkheads rumbled momentarily around her as the magnetic clamps disengaged. She stood and pointed, energetically towards the window. "Let's go, Maya. I wanna get out of here."
Maya, after rolling her eyes, gracefully tapped in the appropriate commands.
The engines blasted to life majestically. Tingles shot up and down Emilie's spine as the force shoved her back and forth. Sitting back in her chair, Emilie grabbed and held the armrests anxiously. The Liberty began to inch forward, as the first two cage bars disappeared from view. With immense power and the grace of a giant bird, the Cruiser carved a straight path across the docking bay—to freedom to roam the stars again.
"Emilie, look," Maya pointed.
Emilie followed the finger, down to the observation deck below the floor of the cage. Hundreds upon hundreds of people had gathered there, with signs and banners all opened and facing up. They couldn't be read from this distance, but Emilie wasn't sure if she wanted to read them. They could be saying anything, bad or good, and Emilie didn't wanna ruin the spirit and excitement that was packing itself in her nerves and heart. However, as she continued to scan the crowd and all the banners, her mind wouldn't get off the topic of what they all might say, and it soon began to dampen her somewhat. What if the public had despised her like Congress did? So, with a frustrated sigh: "Tilleper, are those banners saying good things? Are those supporters or...non-supporters?"
Tilleper tapped commands and then gazed at the picture he got. "'Rodenski rocks!', 'Kick the Empire's ass, Admiral!', 'Admiral Rodenski, marry me!'—" he stopped to laugh. The entire bridge followed suite, highly amused. Emilie allowed herself a sigh of relief on the inside.
"Looks like you're a rock star now," Maya commented with a toothy smile.
Tilleper continued to read the banners. "'Emilie, will you have'—" he stopped again, staring bizarrely. "'—my babies?'"
Emilie burst out into pleasant laughter. "Are you serious? It really says that?"
He turned around and nodded. "Yep."
"Probably mean its too," Ilan said.
The Admiral's face shriveled up. "Eww. God I hope not."
"That's sick," Maya added. "Almost clear of the cage; twenty more seconds."
"That's enough Tilleper. Thanks."
Tilleper cut the visual to his console. "There were a few bad ones but nothing you need to worry about. Asshole citizens, that's all. No lives at all," he chuckled. "I've known a few of 'em."
"The ones standing down there?" Vigo asked.
"No," he snapped. "Just in general."
"Oh."
"Biggest bastards you've ever seen."
"Ten seconds," Maya reported.
The last bars disappeared from the window, and all that replaced it was open space, reflecting the light of a billion stars, with a nebula close by and a sun shining through that. It reminded Emilie of a beautiful picture she'd seen once, in a gallery on Trinity, an Alliance colony near Earth. The portrait had been a hand-painted masterpiece combining two planets, a rainbow-colored nebula, and a silver sun into a truly dazzling piece of art with coloration that Emilie had not seen in a painting before. It had been breathtaking, and she had come back to it several times during her trip.
"We're clear of the docking cage. Engines are functioning fine. Tilleper?"
"Engines are fine from what I can see. Power levels are normal, systems fully functional on my end. Tactical?"
Ilan ran a quick skim-diagnostic on his systems. "All weapons are offline and undamaged; no leaks. Shield energy is stored and uncontaminated; no leaks. Tractor beams are undamaged and functional; no leaks. All my systems are fine. Pilots?"
"All pilots are on board and accounted for," Maxie answered. "Just checked ten minutes ago. Bridge commander?"
Emilie nodded, impressed by her knowledge of the bridge regulations. But look who trained her...
"All stations report ready," Vigo said. "Our orders are in. We need to be at the Hassalin system. Admiral?"
"Let's get moving. Maya, take us...to Hassalin." Sitting back, Emilie pressed back into her cushion comfortably.
The Liberty turned elegantly to port, dipping its wings and banking, a boat on the calm sea of outer space. She blasted forward again after the turn, flying away from the docking cage. As the structures became more distant, she picked up speed, gliding parallel to the beautiful nebula-and-sun. Her engines suddenly lit brighter, fires in the night, and the Cruiser flashed into hyperspace. Slowly, space resumed its emptiness, and the light of the stars glowed brightly. Undisturbed, time continued to flow in sync, as it had forever.