Farbin frowned as he looked out from his console to the Griffonian craft that approached his train. It had followed the same trajectory as its predecessor, appearing to move faster than light for a time and slowing when it got within a certain distance.
Impossible readings aside, he was concerned about a second ship happening upon him in so short a time. A full-fledged armada of their primitive ships could not stop him, but it would be a nuisance he did not wish to deal with. He pressed a button, firing a disruptive ray of electromagnetic energy at the ship, and activated the beam that would draw it into his clutches.
***
“Nothing,” declared Grepk. He had tried everything he knew to reboot the Gladius’s systems, but the ship still lay dormant.
“I’ve got an idea,” said Trall. “But I don’t know if it’s a good one.”
“Well, shoot,” encouraged Grepk.
“The suits,” he said, jerking his thumb back to the cargo hold where the Marines kept their battle armor. “We could put the suits on, see if they have any juice.”
“Huh,” said Grepk. “They might. I’m assuming the anomaly knocked out our systems, but it’s possible the suits were shielded from… whatever it was that hit us.”
“And then what?” asked Krum-Bahk.
“I don’t know,” said Grepk honestly. “But it’ll mean we can survive for a while longer if anything goes sideways. Well, further sideways.”
“Hey, is the anomaly… getting bigger?” asked Keshri, pointing a clawed finger toward the window.
“Alright, suit up everybody,” said Grepk. “We’re on a crash course.”
***
The world swam into focus, and Vanbrook found himself still lying on the ground out at the mine. He reached a hand up to his aching head.
“Ugh,” he said groggily. “That thing hits like a freighter.”
“Well, the important thing is you stay conscious and let me do my job,” said Doc. “That thing walloped you good and I need to check for signs of a concussion.”
“Alright,” said Vanbrook. “I’ll do my best.”
“Glad to see you coming around, Van,” said Lawbine.
Vanbrook looked up at the man with a withering glare.
“That was an amazing shot, Law,” said Raivyn.
Vanbrook turned, realizing for the first time that Raivyn was crouched down beside him opposite Doc.
“Oh, hey,” he said, flashing her a sheepish smile.
She returned a warm smile of her own. “I think that one got the better of you, Van. Good thing Lawbine was here.”
“Yeah,” said Vanbrook. “...thanks.” The word stung, but he was committed to staying civil. Besides, the man had probably saved his life.
“All personnel, return to stations immediately,” said Triflin’s voice over the comms.
“Well, let’s get going,” said Vanbrook, trying to stand up.
“Woah, there!” said Doc. “You and I aren't going anywhere. Everyone else can head back in the ATUC. If the, uh, Guardian doesn’t mind we’ll head back with her as soon as we can.”
“That’s fine by me,” said Crush.
“Let’s go,” said Raivyn. She gave Vanbrook’s hand a quick squeeze and headed off.
He smiled wanly after them.
***
“Lady Rewna,” said Hunt smoothly. “I’m surprised to see you again so soon. Do the people of Cradle know you’re here?”
Inwardly sweating bullets, Hunt had silenced his communication with Glinya the moment he answered Rewna’s call.
“We know you’re in contact with the fugitives,” said Rewna. “I am calling only to warn you against harboring them. You can pass that on to the locals, as well.”
“Where are these so-called fugitives?” asked Hunt with a practiced calm.
“Do not worry about that,” sneered Rewna. “It is not your concern. We will find them.”
Hunt nodded. So they didn’t know. Not yet. The fact was they were landing, not too far off. Cradle may not recognize the Code, but they had readily accepted Astralbian refugees. Hunt was fairly certain the threat presented by the FRF was the only reason Wyven hadn’t swooped in and tried to press-gang the whole population into service.
Rewna’s eyes suddenly went wide, and she turned from the screen. “What was that? Well then go, go, go!” With that the screen went black.
Triflin wasted no time in bringing Glinya back on screen.
“Glinya, what can you tell me?” said Hunt.
“They’re on us,” said Glinya. “We’re on our way down but we’ve just confirmed on our scanners that they’re on our trail.”
“Drixen, this is Admiral Hunt,” he said, tapping the pilot’s direct line. “Get your squadron airborne! Our friends need an escort.”
“Yes, sir!” he responded almost immediately.
***
Glinya’s eyes darted around Riventius’ console. “They're right on top of us!”
Riventius shot a withering glare over his shoulder. “I can read the display, Glinya.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The old comm speaker on the dash crackled to life. “Shumriven vessel, this is Textbook of the Griffon Republic’s Blue Griffon Fleet,” said Drixen, using his call sign instead of his given name. “We're going to be escorting you from here down.”
Riventius’ face lit up suddenly. “The Textbook!?”
“I suppose so?” said Drixen uncertainly.
“The one and only!” said Cowgirl, also known as Kaihla, Drixen’s wife and fellow pilot.
“This is amazing!” exclaimed Riventius. “Let me know what you need, Textbook!”
“Just go ahead and land,” said Drixen with a friendly chuckle. “We'll keep out of your way.”
***
“This is an outrage!” screamed Rewna. “Call your dogs back now!”
Hunt glared at his screen. “Whether or not Cradle recognizes the code is irrelevant. They are within the orbit of a sovereign world and you have no authority to arrest them here.”
“That is as thin a defense as I have ever heard, worm!” she exclaimed. “You are violating the same guidelines, unless this intervention was approved by the ‘sovereigns’ of Cradle, which I sincerely doubt!”
“The Blue Griffon Fleet is here as a guest of King Hua, Queen Shiu, and Guardian Crush,” he said evenly. “You cannot claim that. And unless you plan to pursue these ‘fugitives’ on the surface, which I would strongly advise against, your pursuit has reached an end in favor of the pursued.”
Rage played across Rewna’s face. It wasn’t so long ago that the Astralbian Kingdom inspired fear and timidity across the galaxy. Unfortunately, Jylik had allowed his hubris to lead him to try to rekindle the Empire, leading to both his own demise and the fracturing of loyalties among the Astralbian people. Now the Kingdom was a laughing stock. She wanted to open fire on the foolish admiral and teach the Griffonians a lesson they wouldn’t soon forget. But Wyven would be furious if she started a war with the Republic now. He had made it clear that all interactions with the Griffon Republic and its allies were to be friendly, or at least not violent.
“You will regret this, Admiral Hunt,” she said, biting off the sentence with bitterly cold anger.
Hunt sank back into his chair, staring at the blank screen and sighing heavily. “Well, it’s done now.”
“Sir,” said Triflin. “I thought we won. Why do you seem so… defeated?”
He smiled wanly at his young communications officer. “I’m not sure the Navy will see this as a victory.”
“Our spy will not face execution, and the Telton refugees are free, or, at least, closer to freedom,” said Triflin. “That is a victory by any reasonable standard, don’t you think?”
“Well, let’s get a report submitted via ripmed,” said Hunt. “I want to make sure my side is the first report to reach Prime Minister Skritka.”
Despite his intentions, Hunt was still drafting a message when Skritka called the Fleet directly. Triflin looked questioningly at Hunt.
“Answer it,” said Hunt, projecting as much confidence as he could muster.
“Admiral Hunt, explain yourself!” Skritka’s face had hardly appeared on the screen when he began. Executor Grak-Yurp sat behind the Prime Minister, expression inscrutable.
“Our allies were in need of aid and within reach,” began Hunt. “I could not allow-”
“You could not allow?” interrupted Skritka. “Admiral, that is not your call. You were given explicit instructions and you ignored them. Our peace with the Astralbian Kingdom remnant is shaky at best, and you just put it in jeopardy! I received a live ripmed feed of our fighters interfering with Astralbian operations from Lady Rewna’s star tree.
“I am relieving you of your command until this breach has been fully investigated. Engineering Officer Dekken will be taking command of the Blue Griffon Fleet for the interim. You will confine yourself to your quarters.”
At this point, everyone on the bridge, Dekken included, was glued to the exchange.
“I will report to my quarters immediately, sir,” answered Hunt, his expression steely.
“You'd better,” said Skritka. “One more step out of line and you'll spend the remainder of the voyage in the brig, am I understood?”
“Yes, sir,” said Hunt. He snapped a smart salute and left the bridge, marching directly to his quarters to soak in his misgivings and self-doubt.
Back on the bridge, Dekken approached the screen. “Prime Minister-”
“Don't defend him, Dekken,” warned Skritka. “He'll have his day in court.”
“No, sir, though I'll testify on his behalf if I am called to do so,” said Dekken, earning himself a frown from the Prime Minister. Grak-Yurp’s face was somewhat harder to read. “For now I only wanted to ask how you'd like me to proceed?”
Skritka sighed. “We can't very well hand Glinya over to Wyven, and I need Hunt back here to stand before the Houses. I will correspond with King Hua and Queen Shiu and see if they will take on the refugees.”
Dekken wanted to note that the outcome of Hunt’s actions seemed desirable, but he resisted the urge. No sense getting them both thrown in the brig. Hopefully he'd have a chance to help the young Admiral, but now was not the time to speak up.
***
Outside, Drixen had landed his fighter by the refugees’ antique ship. With a rusty yawn that ended in a deafening clang, the ship’s door opened, folding down into a set of stairs which was quickly descended by a young Telton male. His furry, reddish-brown face was split with a wide, toothy grin.
“You are Textbook, yes?” he asked Drixen.
“Yes, sir,” answered the pilot.
“I am Riventius, but please, call me Riv!” said the Telton, thrusting his hand out to shake Drixen’s.
Drixen accepted the handshake. “And you can call me Drixen.”
“For years I have heard stories of Textbook, hero of the Griffon Republic and bogeyman to the Astralbian Kingdom,” said Riventius, dark eyes glittering with excitement as he spoke. “I always yearned to fly, but the Astralbians did not allow such technology on Shumriven, believing we would utilize it to revolt. They are correct on that count. But, despite how hard it is to get such things–you can appreciate that it is difficult to smuggle an entire spaceship–I managed to cobble together this beauty behind me and take to the stars! I bring much of my village with me. We hope to immigrate to the Griffon Republic now that the Astralbian stranglehold on our planet is weakening.”
“Wait, you built this ship?” asked Drixen. “How?”
“With great difficulty,” admitted Riventius. “For generations my family has collected parts, tools and knowledge. I am the ultimate beneficiary of a project spanning more than a century.”
“I’m–wow–I’m impressed,” said Drixen.
“Drixen–Textbook himself–is impressed! HA!” exclaimed Riventius.
The self-congratulatory ‘ha’ nearly made Drixen jump. The pilot looked up the steps to
see Glinya descending the ship’s stairs.
“The assist is much appreciated,” said Glinya. “I’ll be happy to put my days of spying behind me.”
“Maybe you can train us Navy folks how to ride wasps,” said Drixen. “Or does it take the same psychic abilities to ride wasps as it does to pilot star trees?”
“The processes are similar,” said Glinya.
Drixen looked crestfallen. “Ah, that’s a shame. I really wanted to ride one.”
“If you can get me a wasp, I will take you for a ride,” promised Glinya.
“You’re on!” said Drixen.
“And I can get a ride in one of your fighters?” asked Riventius hopefully, his eyes resting on the landed fighters that sat behind Drixen.
“One step at a time,” said Drixen with a wry grin.
Dekken stepped up next to Drixen, and when Drixen turned to see him he caught sight of Crush as well.
“Hey, Dekken,” he said. “Where’s the Admiral?”
“We’ll have to discuss that in a moment,” said Dekken, thinking better of explaining the situation to all parties.
“Welcome to Cradle,” said Crush, walking up and addressing Glinya. “We’re happy to have you as our guest. The King and Queen have been speaking with representatives from all refugee groups.”
“That would be me,” said Riventius. “Glinya is more a fugitive spy.”
“Oh, I see,” said Crush.
“And we are hoping to make it to a Republic world,” added Riventius.
“Very well,” said Crush with a nod. “I would still ask that you speak to the King and Queen. They are interested to know how the Astralbian Kingdom has treated its client worlds.”
Riventius’ face darkened. “Client world indeed. We are oppressed by those who would call themselves our masters, even on our own world.”
“I mean no offense,” said Crush.
“I know,” said Riventius with a shrug. “And Glinya has proved to us that not all Astralbians are like the soldiers who beat down our sick and old for sport. I will answer any questions that I can. I have no secrets from the people of Cradle.”
“Wonderful,” said Crush. “Come to the castle when you can. I am sure the Republic would like to discuss your plans moving forward.”