Fifteen hours later...

It was the next afternoon, roughly 15 hours later that I was summoned to Farsa’s study. Her servant girl, Iris, had come to fetch me. Currently, she was leading me down the hallways towards the double french doors leading into the private study.

As she pushed open the doors, I noticed that Farsa was alone with Galinae for afternoon tea. “Ah! Kara. please join us” Farsa smiles at me “Iris, thank you for bringing her here. You are dismissed.” she addresses the servant girl. Iris is in a flowy white outfit with her green hair up in a bun. She is slim with a non-assuming figure, Hazel eyes, and average looks.

After the servant departs, Farsa smiles to me. “Sit with us, Kara.” I nod in thanks and take the vacant seat next to Galinae across from Farsa, “Now then.” she continues. “I have arranged for a ship for you to travel in. As well as a crew I believe you will be quite pleased with.” Farsa sips the cup of tea in her hand before setting it down on the plate in front of her. “They are already waiting at the spaceport in the city. You may depart at your leisure.” she smiles at me, and I nod imperceptibly with Galinae looking between both of us. Farsa quirks a brow “Oh, I nearly forgot. Galinae, you are going with her.

The princess blinks several times silently “Eh? Me?” she jams a thumb to herself. “With Kara? Where?” Farsa sighs “I thought you wished to travel with her, Gali?” Farsa tilts her head in feigned confusion “Is this what you want, my dear niece?” She smiles.

Galinae sighs “Y-yes it is, but-”

“No buts, young lady! You asked, I am giving you the opportunity! Or I have another task for you to do.” Farsa smirks evilly at her and Galinae shudders “Fine.. I’ll go Auntie.” she harrumphs.

I stare at both of them blankly, not used to this sort of interaction between them. Since when did Farsa get pushy with the princess? I shake my head, discarding that train of thought to focus on the matter at hand.

“What ship did you manage to acquire, mistress?” I cock an eyebrow. Farsa looks at me and smiles “S.S.R. Void Star. one of the finest recently-discharged Commonwealth Navy stealth ships. It seemed to suit you. I looked into your past, and I have to say I was quite surprised to find out you were a Phantom.” she smirks at me.

I deadpan at her. This was no laughing matter! I keep that part of my past close to my chest, so if Farsa found that out it means she has connections with the Commonwealth’s military high command. Who or how, I had no idea of knowing for the moment. So I decide to leave it be for the moment.

Farsa softens her expression to a sly smile “As such, Void Star is a ship that will serve you well, Kara. for its size, it packs a heavy armament suite and it can slip past almost any planetary early-warning sensor system. The ship is yours. My final gift to you. May it serve you well on your travels.” Farsa’s smile grew with these words.

******

After my sendoff with house Regyn, I was approached by B’Nan “Kara, take me with you. I wish to leave this place and travel.” I blink at him “Mister B’Nan, do you not have your spouse?” he sighs “She has been having an affair and has seen fit to leave me for that other man. I have grown tired of her games and I simply wish to leave her be and travel.” he looks back at the estate “All I wanted is for her to be happy, but I have a feeling I am a mere third wheel now. Perhaps someday I will return to this place. But for now I wish to leave peacefully.” he pauses “besides, you are an interesting woman. You survived something few could have pulled off. That alone deserves my respect.”

I purse my lips in a thoughtful expression, then nod “Very well.” I glance to Galinae “Princess, from now on, you do as I say when I say it. If you refuse I will not be able to come and save you when you run into danger.”

The princess nods “V-Very well. And Kara?” she smiles at me meekly “Please, call me Gali.” I nod slightly in reply “Let’s go.” It was a short walk to the transit station. On the ride there using the mass transit tram system, I take time to ponder about a plan.

I had all of my personal effects shipped off ahead of us to the ship and my only weapons with me were two of my hairpieces and my Mk26 I had klepped off of the now-deceased Chimera from the Commonwealth.

I took time to ponder our encounter. He was a greenhorn, likely fresh from the rather brutal training programs. I still had good standing with the Commonwealth, so there had to be another reason for attacking me besides the Commonwealth suddenly having a change of heart. They had nothing to do with the Federation’s secret police that had likely been searching for me for months before declaring me dead.

That also means that the Commonwealth’s intelligence community would follow suit, The two heads were at odds but they also confirmed each other’s findings through their means. That all said, I had to find a way to re-establish contact in the future.

There were a few possibilities as to why their agent suddenly attacked me. The first option was a rogue agent. While this does happen from time to time, the context felt off. This led me down a path of cause and effect that caused my heart to sink into my stomach. There had to be another faction at play here.

This was unthinkable to most of humanity. A group in control of several key parts of both the Commonwealth and Federation military and government. Playing both sides for whatever sinister or benevolent goals they may have. Which means I am an outlier, a threat. A threat that must be eliminated.

I am unsure if it was my training under Farsa with Iridian plotting and Modus Operandi, but I was starting to click these pieces into place. Now I saw the need for allies. I could not uncover these people alone. The more I thought about it, the more this was possible and the more they played me for a fool. It was very possible as to the explanation to why I got that strangely well-paying job, and that woman. Her name was Kimiko, if my memory served me well still. Was she a part of this theoretical third echelon?

I thought about all of this as we rode the tram to the station close to the spaceport in the downtown district of the city. Which was named ‘Ilustrae’ after the Iridian ancient mythical city, which had supposedly been lost to the sea eons ago. It was a coastal city. With the downtown area back up to the shoreline of the continent it resided on. The coastline by the downtown area was dominated by the spaceport, which harbored anything from smaller corvettes to large destroyers of the Iridian navy.

Shuttles and guide tugs flew around the anchorage, which resided in an otherwise picturesque bay whose mouth was out to open sea. We walked towards the main terminal by the large space of concrete pad that went out for about 2 kilometers to sea - acting as a Drydock and landing site for various large spacefaring vessels. We walked past busy ground shuttles and cargo loaders, logistics personnel and yard workers. Then, after walking for what seemed like half an hour, I saw a black shape in front of the setting sun. Displayed right in front of us past all this bustle of spaceport activity sitting on the pad next to yet another mid-sized Altherian frigate.

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That black shape focused in my vision as my eyes adjusted to the light of the setting sun behind it. Long and sleek. It formed into a shape resembling a very large 21st-century jet-powered aircraft, yet was several-fold times the size of an old jetliner. The undercarriage consisted of 4 sets of 8 large wheels on the aft ventral portion, with a row of four axles per carriage. Spaced evenly from the centerline on outwards to distribute the sheer weight of the large frigate. It measured roughly 180 meters long, around 80 meters wide, and towered over us by at least a height of 20 meters. The vessel had a blended-wing body. Similar to a 21st-century fifth or sixth-generation jet fighter with no ventral or dorsal tail or lateral stabilizers.

The ventral section jutted out under the main hull for two-thirds of the length of the ship. A cargo boarding ramp stretched out to meet the ground and seemed to fit flush into the ship’s hull, with two rotating and sliding elongated doors covering it when stowed for flight. Cargo shuttles exited the ship after delivering provisions.

As I inspected the ship, I noticed several rectangular doors on the forelength one-third section on the ventral and dorsal sections towards the space where the wings met the main body of the ship. About eight in total with four on top and bottom. These were roughly five meters long and two and a half meters wide with a considerably larger one on the ventral side of the nose. As well as several other doors on the ventral side of the wings which were far longer than they were wide. Those must be weapon bays, particularly torpedo tubes and capital ship weapons. That made sense for a stealth frigate. It prevented the sensor cross-section from being enlarged by shapes jutting out of the hull. Which was smooth and free of any jagged, sharp angles.

The sleek shape of the ship was designed with sensor cross-section in mind. The exhaust nozzles and rectangular-shaped vectoring diffusers at the back indicated it had a class-A power plant setup. class-A was typical for smaller craft like shuttles or fighters, but to have it on a frigate meant that this ship was designed for atmospheric flight. These four diffusers seemed to be able to move vertically and laterally and jut out from two nacelles that blended into the body of the ship gently with gradual curvature. There was no apparent bridge viewing glass and the windows were not obvious to outside observers. Perhaps being covered up or they simply did not exist to prevent seeing inside the ship.

Gali and B’Nan were both gawking as they looked on at our new ship, Perhaps never having seen a ship such as this before. I glance back to look at them and I shrug as we keep walking closer, approaching the left flank of the vessel.

I observed an Iridian ground crewman in a white flight line jacket with two signal batons that glowed a bright red. He made several gestures looking up to the nose of the ship, and the control surfaces plus the main engine diffusers moved as he made these hand signals. Obviously, they were testing flight controls. There were a series of flaps on the top and bottom of the ship - likely for control in the atmosphere. After about 20 seconds of full-range actuation, he cut a line across in front of his body with the right baton.

As we approached to within fifty meters, I inspected further. spotting oval-shaped ports with a flush-cover door over them on the dorsal section farther aft in the rear third of the ship, roughly 5 meters wide by 9 meters long. Perhaps weapon tubes of some kind. Towards the front of the ship, there was a square flush-cover panel shaped and sized much like a typical airlock. The ship had wings that were of a double-delta configuration and were flush with the ventral section of the ship. There was a small hump towards the nose of the ship, perhaps a bridge of some sort with no windows.

Several small ports, initially covered by flush panels, also had their panels depress and slide aside, revealing Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters, which were obviously for control of the ship’s orientation in space. After a single gesture with both batons to cut the thrusters, the ground crewman lowered both batons. Carrying them both in one hand, he gave the nose of the ship a thumbs-up to signal that all was well with the controls.

As we head up the ventral ramp to the ship’s interior, we pass along the centerline of the spacious cargo bay which takes up the entire ventral section of the vessel. Inside on the port and starboard sides, along the bulkheads of the cargo bay towards the fore section of the large space were two shuttlecraft covered under canvas tarps on launch rail platforms. Rearwards of these were a pair of single-seat fighter craft under similar protective canvas tarps. Above these small craft were cranes for hoisting and moving them. As well as a few more storage bays for several more small craft.

In the Aft section of the cargo bay behind them was a large cargo section, which was accessed from the fore ventral ramp by the space in between the launch rails and reserve small craft bays.

Once we reach the cargo section, I notice there is a blast door overhead as we pass the last craft storage bay. Likely in case of a hull breach or for launch operations. The reserve craft storage bays have a door on the bulkhead, likely for recovery of a launched craft, where a docking arm can pull the craft into the hull.

We walk down the length of the cargo bay and come to an elevator platform, which takes us up to deck 3. Deck 3 has a balcony with a rail looking into the cargo bay below. We walk towards the bow of the ship, coming up to a bulkhead door. I tap the blue light on the door. It rotates clockwise and it turns green. The door opens and we continue past the crew quarters, galley, and to another elevator. This one is behind a bulkhead double-sliding door. After we enter. A computer reads a polite message back to us “Please say or choose a floor on the control panel” I smirk, and the reality has finally set in. This ship is mine, and mine alone.