Miliam’s anxiety had not faded by the time the Astrum Vitae arrived in the Paradise system, home to the colony of True Eden, but she was ready to play her part nonetheless. For the first time she- along with the rest of the bridge crew- had donned her dress uniform. The twins were disguised with the same spell they’d been using when she first met them. All grimoires had been stored outside of the bridge, even the one that Aoibhe typically used as a piloting aid.
Every preparation Abigail could think of was in place. Now they would see if it was enough.
“What do you see, Eun-ji?” Miliam asked immediately upon the completion of the jump. It was a moment before she received an answer.
“There’s a lot of ships here. I think most of them are mining vessels- there’s quite a few in the asteroid belts and around the gas giant, and some more hanging around most of the moons here. The local defense fleet is concentrated in one spot above True Eden…but there’s a grid of small space stations covering the planet,” Eun-ji reported once she had the full picture. Miliam couldn’t blame her for the delay given the sheer number of vessels present.
“What can you tell me about their fleet?” she asked next, unfamiliar with the icons being used to represent them.
“Looks like they’re all slower-than-light ships. Mostly sloops, but they have a handful of galleys and galleasses, along with a battlecruiser for a flagship,” Eun-ji replied. That didn’t actually help because Miliam only knew one of those words. She smiled apologetically.
“Sorry, I’m not familiar with those names…what are sloops, galleys, and galleasses?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry! They’re the slower-than-light equivalents to corvettes, frigates, and destroyers. A battlecruiser is a slower-than-light battleship. They’re not equipped with translocation drives but usually are at least as well armed as their counterparts, if not better,” Eun-ji hurried to explain.
“They’re a lot cheaper to make so even system defense fleets can afford to build a lot of them. Doubt these ones would stack up to the GC navy, though,” Aoibhe added derisively, in reference to the outdated technology in use by the True Edenites.
“Uh, they’re hailing us already, captain. We’re a good twenty light-seconds out so there’s going to be some delay,” Min-ji reported. The Astrum Vitae hadn’t moved since teleporting in, but most colonies would have waited until it approached within a light-second or, more likely, send a ship out to intercept. That wasn’t done much within the Gaian Collective since most threats would be caught at the border, but Aoibhe had said to expect it from an independent colony.
“…put it on,” Miliam ordered hesitantly. Her heart was already starting to point, but she plastered over her fear with a face she’d spent two decades of her life cultivating. Placid. Glassy eyed. Submissive towards authority. A man appeared on the screen mounted on the ceiling just behind Aoibhe’s seat- she was using this one specifically because she needed the camera to capture not just her face but her entire body in order to sell the performance, and it was easier to do if she had eyes to lock onto.
“This is Cardinal-Admiral Lionel Howard of the TEDF Isaiah’s Herald. Foreign vessel, you are to identify yourself immediately. Do not move your ship from its current position. Failure to comply will result in your destruction,” the man on screen ordered with narrowed eyes. He was human, unsurprisingly, and on the older side- certainly in his fifties at minimum. His uniform was a strange blend of robes and a navy uniform that didn’t look entirely practical with its loose mantle and skirt.
Before responding, Miliam rose to her feet. She’d spent hours practicing this part, which she had never in her life had to do. Her dress uniform was perfect for it- black with orange piping to match her hat, but more importantly, it had a detachable half-skirt that covered only the sides and rear in addition to pants. That allowed her to take hold of the sides as she bowed, placing one foot behind the other in the best curtsy she could muster.
Miliam would never admit it aloud, but she felt a flutter of joy as she did so. Not at the implicit act of submission, but at the fact that she was expected to follow feminine etiquette rather than male.
“I am Captain Miliam Stern of the Astrum Vitae, a humble pilgrim hailing from New Eden come to bear witness to the prophet’s holy land,” she said as an introduction. The surname basically just meant ‘star,’ which she’d found fitting given the name of the ship, though she hadn’t decided if she’d keep it or not. She knew it would be a good forty seconds before she received a reply, but she held her pose nonetheless, displaying the proper courtesy owed to a member of the Isaiaite clergy.
“Captain Stern? Might I ask why I am not speaking to your father or husband?” came the reply nearly a minute later, just as expected. These people had stubbornly held onto their patriarchal culture for centuries even as schism after schism gave ample proof that those times had long past.
“I must apologize profusely for the impropriety. I am sad to say that my father has been dead for many years-” not actually a lie- “and my husband passed just last year from cancer.” A lie, but one accounting for the customary mourning period and the fact that Isaiaite doctrine wouldn’t have permitted the magic-based treatments that could save a cancer patient’s life. “As I am left with no surviving male relatives, I have inherited my husband’s ship, and I thought the best way to honor his memory would be to make the journey he always dreamed taking of but never could.”
“I see,” Cardinal-Admiral Howard replied solemnly once Miliam’s words reached him, his voice softening. “I’m sorry for your loss. It’s admirable of you to make this trip in his name. Please, be at ease. I trust you have brought documents proving your identity and story?”
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Miliam rose from her curtsy but kept her head lowered as she returned to her seat, crossing one leg over the other and resting her hands atop each other demurely. The Cardinal-Admiral’s request sent her heart into the next gear, but she and Abigail had spent an entire day forging the requested documents. The death certificate had been tricky since it wasn’t like anyone on the ship was just going to have one of those on their grimoire, but they’d done their best to make it look official and could excuse any discrepancies as a change in formatting within the last year that the locals couldn’t possibly disprove. For the rest they’d used those of other crew members as a template for Miliam’s personal identification and created altered copies of the documentation showing her ownership of the Astrum Vitae to reflect its transfer from her fictional husband rather than the West Gate Port Authority.
His name was Jim. God rest his soul.
“Of course, sir. Please transmit my documentation, Min-ji,” Miliam instructed with a calm she didn’t feel. She kept her eyes trained on the floor while Min-ji acknowledged the request and did as asked, and she continued to do so while waiting for the documents to be reviewed. Finally, the Cardinal-Admiral hummed in satisfaction some minutes later.
“My staff tells me everything is in order. Flight control will be in touch shortly to give you your route and landing pad. I believe they should also be able to provide you with a male escort assuming you do not have one aboard. Welcome to True Eden, my daughter.”
Thankfully the transmission ended immediately because Miliam was barely able to hold on until Howard finished speaking before she started giggling at his use of the phrase ‘male escort.’ She knew what he meant and it wasn’t that funny, but her nerves were so frayed that it sent her over the edge. By the time the message from flight control came in she’d mostly gotten it back under control.
“New Jerusalem Flight Control calling Astrum Vitae. Your flight path has been transmitted. Please follow it precisely. You will be tracked on the way in and any deviance may result in corrective action. According to our information you may be in need of an escort, please confirm?” a faceless male voice said over the comms. This contact hadn’t come with a video feed unlike the previous one.
“Yes please, flight control. What should we do after we land?” Miliam replied somewhat reluctantly. She couldn’t keep the grimace off her face. There was no getting around the need for an escort here, though, much as Miliam would have preferred to avoid it. Having a local escort would make it easier to find their way around, but she would have to keep her act up at all times in return, and they would have to be very careful about what information they divulged around him.
But if Miliam could form some level of rapport with the guy, maybe it would come in handy when the time came to ask for a favor. Other than someone figuring out their ruse, the biggest risk the crew would be facing was the possibility that no one was willing to give them the orichalcum they needed even in exchange for labor…or worse, the locals could simply decide that a widowed woman and her crew of mostly non-humans had no business flying around on their own and try to force them to settle down and marry a nice Isaiaite man.
Miliam was shaken out of her thoughts when a reply finally arrived.
“Please wait on your ship until your escort has arrived. He’ll guide you anywhere you need to go from there, and you may relay your requests through him as well,” the man on the other end said before ending the call. With the talking finally done, Miliam melted into her seat, feeling like her bones had just ceased to exist.
“Did you get that, Aoibhe?” she asked head facing the ceiling and eyes sealed shut.
“Aye, that I did. I’m taking us in,” the pilot replied immediately.
“How’s our power supply doing?” Miliam followed up, concerned about whether the wave drive was safe to use after making both the jumps Engineer had predicted they would manage.
“Nominal so far. I’m thinking Engineer meant their jury-rigged connection would burn out if we made more than two jumps and that number was just the amount we were safe for,” Aoibhe speculated as she ramped up the wave drive. The Astrum Vitae was already close enough to the planet that it they needed it for less than a minute.
“That…would make sense. If they had meant two would burn it out we wouldn’t be able to do much when we arrived, huh?” Miliam realized. That was a big comfort because it meant that, worst come to worst, it might be possible to beat a quick retreat. The local fleet was even more antiquated than her own ship, so it might at least be possible to make it past the gravity well.
Assuming their technological weapons weren’t more advanced than their magical ones, anyway, but there wasn’t much Miliam could do about that right now.
True Eden rapidly grew in the window as Aoibhe brought them closer. It was odd. How scared such a beautiful planet made her feel. In a way this was a homecoming…even if this world was dozens of light years from Earth. Miliam wondered if her family had joined the Isaiaite movement after she disappeared. If not her immediate family, then maybe their descendants. Actually, knowing them, it wasn’t even a question. It was the ultimate irony that an honest-to-goodness spellbook had been hidden in their attic for so long. Was it messed up of her to want to find their graves and tell them all about it?
God, she needed some therapy.
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Codex Entry: Sublight Ships
Even in the age of faster-that-light travel, there are still many uses for sublight ships. These vessels are the most common variety among civilians, as they are an order of magnitude less expensive while still allowing their owners to travel through space. Mining vessels are nearly always sublight, as well. The issue of travelling to other star systems is handled through the means of sublight carriers, massive ships as large as freighters built with the express purpose of taking onboard sublight vessels and ferrying them to other systems. Within the Gaian Collective, a network of these carriers enables travel to any inhabited system, while more limited services are available for international travel.
Sublight vessels are also employed by system defense fleets. These defensive ships can be produced at a rate of ten sublight vessels for every faster-than-light ship of the same role, making them ideal for even poorer systems. As sector fleets are concentrated in their anchorage system and only leave on an as-needed basis, system defense fleets provide fill in the gaps and allow time for sector fleets to respond to attacks. Although these ships are typically about two-thirds the size of their FTL equivalents, it is not uncommon to build them to the same tonnage and use the extra space for additional armaments.
For the sake of clarity, STL ships are classed separately from FTL ships within GC parlance. FTL ships fall under the classes of corvette, frigate, destroyer, cruiser, battleship, dreadnought, and carrier. STL ships are classified as either a sloop, galley, galleass, galleon, battlecruiser, or monitor. No equivalent to the carrier exists as FTL carriers are purpose built for transporting STL ships, potentially allowing a navy to deploy a greater number of cheaper ships in exchange for reduced mobility and the need to return to their mothership before withdrawing.