Allison blinked a few times when she woke up. She had a mini-panic attack because this was neither the barracks nor her room at her parents’ house. She looked around. She was in a private medical bay. When her vision fully cleared she realized a statuesque woman with marble-like skin, long flowing black hair and eyes that matched her own was looking down at her. The woman spoke.
“Ah, you’re awake. Good.”
The woman smiled and turned to leave.
“Who… are you? Where am I? Why are you leaving?”
The woman turned.
“I am Isis, you are in the medical ward of Pluto Station, and I am heading back to my ship. I’m glad you are alright.”
The woman left and Allison blinked a few times. There was something oddly familiar about the woman but she could not put her finger on it. Shortly afterwards a woman wearing a System’s Alliance ground forces uniform walked in. She was a full bird colonel. She checked Allison over with a scanner. The woman who was in her forties with brown hair that had grey streaks spoke.
“You’re a lucky girl. Anyone else got stabbed by that thing they’d have died. They have a pretty nasty toxin, your body fought it off.”
Allison rubbed her face.
“How long have I been out?”
The colonel smiled.
“Only a couple of hours.”
Allison touched the spot where her wound was. She felt synthetic skin and winced.
“Careful, Ensign. We patched you up but even with your enhanced healing factor it will be a few days before you’re fully healed.”
Allison was a bit confused, she knew she healed fast but had never heard it called enhanced healing factor.
“I don’t understand, ma’am.”
“I’m sorry, I thought you knew. You’re a dhampir. Odd for one of the tube-born but not impossible. Likely some vampire blood made it into your supply.”
Allison was now very confused. Dhampir? Vampire? She’d heard of vampires, everyone had, but she was part vampire? She shrugged it off.
“Ma’am, that lady… the one who left just as you arrived, who was she?”
The medical officer seemed confused.
“Hmm, we should double check your meds, maybe we have the painkillers set too high. Your body metabolizes them so quickly it’s hard to balance. I’ll get a nurse to check. In the meantime, are you up for a debriefing while you eat?”
Allison nodded. The colonel nodded and left the room. Shortly afterwards an orderly appeared with food, it looked and smelled good, unfortunately she realized the mashed potatoes and synthetic meat tasted watered down compared to the food she was used to on Eden Prime. Apparently, there was something to be said for colony living. Shortly afterwards a teenage girl who was deathly pale walked in. She had long black hair, brown eyes and a kind face. She was wearing a black suit jacket with a System’s Alliance pin on the lapel, and a black skirt. She was maybe five feet tall. She wore an antique silver crucifix around her neck. It looked like a relic from the twenty-first century, which would have been almost a thousand years before. The girl smiled.
“Hello Allison, may I call you Allison? I am Maria.”
Allison blinked in disbelief, while she didn’t recognize the girl, she recognized her accent and her voice. This was no girl; This was the President of the System’s Alliance. A three-thousand-year-old vampire. The inventor of FTL, the inventor of wormhole generators, one of the founders of the System’s Alliance. The living flesh and blood sister of the Dark Mother. She was a living legend. Allison nodded. She didn’t have the capacity to form words for several moments. Maria waited patiently. Finally, Allison spoke.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, did… am I in trouble?”
Maria laughed.
“No! No, nothing like that. I was on the station for something and I saw you come in with the Qual’sa ship. I thought I would check on you in person and pass on the thanks for the System’s Alliance governing board for the recovery of such a great find. You’ll be happy to know your passenger, Mersin, is doing fine. We managed to patch him up and he is conscious, though he cannot get out of bed yet. He asked if I could pass on his thanks. You see, he is the last remaining royal guard of the Qual’sa people, and that girl you rescued, is their Queen. You’re a hero. Of course you are.”
Maria laughed softly again. If there was a joke there, Allison didn’t get it. She was just confused. Maria continued.
“I understand you are all patched up and have school in an hour. I know how important school is, so I have arranged to have the Inevitable and her escort drop you off on her way to investigate AGN07. You’ll find a uniform hanging in the closet there. Good work, Allison. I know we will meet again. Until then, try not to get stabbed by any alien bugs again, would you?”
Allison nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Maria waved and left the room. Allison sighed. It would seem even getting stabbed by an alien wasn’t grounds for a day off school. Her contacts were already updating her on her next assignment. Report to Hanger sixteen for shuttle launch in fifteen minutes, with a map. Allison pulled the IV pad off her arm and pulled herself out of bed. Her side ached dully but she was otherwise alright. She grabbed her school uniform, the military issue underwear she’d been provided with and started getting dressed. She’d been provided with leggings, obviously whomever fabricated it had no idea what the weather was like on Eden Prime. She bundled them up in her hand. Her armor and the rest of her kit were nowhere to be seen. She looked at her bed head and sighed. She pulled it into a bun and used a hair elastic someone had left in the bathroom. She still looked like a frumpy teenager that slept in but there was no help for it. She rushed towards a transit hub and managed to make it to the hanger with three minutes to spare. A private noticed her and rushed over carrying a pack and a hardcase. Her armor was hooked over it and her helmet hung off the side. He offered them to her when they reached her assigned shuttle. Her armor was covered in dried bug blood. She saw the hole torn through by the claw and twitched. She took them and the private spoke.
“Looks like you had a rough night, ma’am. Hope your trip home is smoother.”
Allison nodded and got onto the shuttle. Transit to the Inevitable was very quick, ten minutes and she was walking off the shuttle carrying her things. A yeoman was waiting for her specifically. The yeoman looked like a fresh recruit. Probably eighteen and just through basic, she was fairly non-descript. She saluted Allison.
“Ma’am, I am Yeoman Rand, I have been assigned to you during our brief stay. You may leave your things in the shuttle; It will be landing you on Eden Prime. The Admiral would like you to join him on the bridge.”
Allison returned her kit to the shuttle and followed the Yeoman to a transit tube. The Yeoman was shorter than Allison and kept glancing at her. Allison let it go. In the history of the System’s Alliance military only eleven people had signed up and graduated from the Academy by the time they were sixteen, being sixteen and having active flight status in the fleet was unheard of. Allison heard it all from, you look young, too shouldn’t you be in kindergarten. The door slid open, and the Yeoman rushed forward to speak to the captain of the ship. Allison couldn’t see him because his chair blocked her view. She could only tell the Admiral’s complexion matched her parents from his visible hand. The Yeoman motioned Allison forward. Allison saluted as she rounded the chair.
Stolen story; please report.
“I am sorry I am out of uniform sir.”
She smiled when she saw who was sitting there. A statuesque black man with a full beard. His hair and beard were greying. She’d recognize him anywhere, her Babu. Grandfather for those who used Alliance standard language. She leaned down and gave him a tight hug before he could even answer her. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek.
“Little Simba. I understand you lived up to your nickname yesterday.”
He stood and looked her up and down.
“You’ve gotten big. I’m sorry I missed your Academy graduation.”
Allison just hugged him again now that she could give him her usual bearhug. He groaned.
“And strong. You almost broke my back. Too bad we can’t have you on board for longer. I heard you needed a ride and volunteered. Apparently, we have a new mission, someone found a planet that was cracked in half, two new alien species and now we need to go investigate. Some upstart Ensign who can’t help but overachieve.”
Allison was on the verge of tears it had been two years since she’d felt her Babu hug her. He put his arm around her shoulders.
“Bridge Crew, I want to introduce you to my granddaughter, Ensign Allison Wanjala.”
He glanced down at Allison.
“So, little Simba, are you certified on the carrier dreadnought class?”
Allison nodded, she’d spent her spare time in her courses getting certified on piloting almost every class of ship in the System’s Alliance. He motioned to the helm station which was currently empty.
“Well then, Ensign, time to earn your passage, would you do the honors of taking us out of Spacedock and getting us to Eden Prime?”
Allison saluted and smiled. She was almost bursting. She’d done this on simulations dozens of times for her certification, but this was the real thing. Dreadnought carriers were the flagships of the System’s Alliance fleets. They were almost a kilometer long and carried the heaviest weapons systems and four dozen starfighters.
“Aye, sir.”
Allison slipped into the helmsman’s seat and started prepping to leave space dock. She waited for her Babu’s orders and blew the moorings and slowly pulled the ship out of its docking berth. Her escort was already in the Andromeda galaxy so it was just a matter of flying her through Pluto Station space and through the stargate. This time she didn’t blink when they hit the event horizon of the wormhole. It did not make a difference she was one place, then she was somewhere else. She spoke up.
“We have transited the wormhole sir.”
Her Babu smiled.
“Link up with the fleet, and set an FTL course for Eden Prime.”
“Aye sir!”
She plotted the jump which through the fleet link would coordinate the jumps. Standard orders were half of the escort jumps in, then the flagship, then the rest of the escort. The jump only took five minutes. Wormholes were dangerous to ships on the other side so the designated destinations were no fly zones, but you could not have a no-fly zone in colony orbit so they are always a short distance away. Allison sighed with relief when her home world appeared on the viewscreen. She parked the ship in formation with the rest of the fleet. Another ensign appeared beside her and relieved her. She stood up.
“Permission to disembark sir?”
Her Babu motioned her to follow him after dismissing the Yeoman. She rode the transit tube next to him.
“Well done, Allison, I knew you were a pilot from the first day you came home. I said to your father. She’s going to fly whether we give her a ship or not.”
Allison blushed.
“Thanks Babu. I didn’t think I’d ever get to pilot one of these even for a few minutes.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her tightly.
“I’m so proud of you, but I should warn you, your mother is on the warpath. I think she might have even called the President’s office to complain about putting her little girl in danger.”
Allison blushed.
“I joined the military what was she expecting?”
He laughed.
“You’re her only child. Of course she’s going to be overprotective. Some advice, my little Simba, maybe take a break from patrols for a little while? You’ll likely need a couple of weeks to have your full flight status reinstated be a teenage girl while you can. From personal experience an angry mother from the Africa dome is the most dangerous thing in the universe, hmm?”
Allison blushed and leaned her head against him.
“I wish you could stay longer.”
He patted her shoulder.
“Well, my fleet is assigned to the Andromeda galaxy until we’ve assessed these new possible threats you’ve discovered. I suspect we will be seeing a lot more of each other. I am sorry, you’re going to have to fly the shuttle. It’s a delivery for the colony. I’ve already had comms send a message ahead to have a ride waiting.”
The transit tube opened on the hanger bay level. The pair walked to the shuttle. He gave her one last hug. She kissed his cheek.
“I love you, Babu.”
“I love you too my little Simba.”
She rushed off to the shuttle and launched once she had clearance. Landing on base was easy because most of it was handled by autoguidence systems. She saw her father waiting in a military transport. If someone from the twenty-first century saw it, they’d mistake it for an armored Humvee. She tossed her kit in the back and got into the passenger seat. She leaned across and gave her father a tight hug and kissed him on the cheek. Her father looked at her.
“You made it. I heard you were injured, are you sure you’re alright for school?’
Allison nodded.
“I’m fine, all patched up, I hate school but I’d rather go there then deal with mom.”
Her father nodded.
“I’m dropping you off and heading home, I’ll try and calm her down before you get out of school.”
Allison smiled at him.
“Umm, sorry I was late, dad.”
“Considering the circumstances I’m glad you made it home at all. What were you thinking?”
Allison shrugged.
“I was following standing orders. I wasn’t really thinking. I was doing my duty. You didn’t watch the holos did you?”
He looked at her.
“Of course I did! Not that I have any feed from the ship yet, but once we’re finishing downloading that data from your holo-phone, I’m pretty sure I’ll never sleep again when you’re on mission. Thank the Dark Mother its classified so your mom will never see it.”
Allison nodded.
“How classified?”
“Need to know and your mother, never needs to know.”
“What’s the cover story then? I mean there is a whole new alien species, one of which is in our medical center.”
He kept his eyes on the road ahead.
“That you discovered a crashed alien ship, there were comms issues and rescued two survivors. You were taken to Sol system for debriefing. You were never injured during the mission. Which means you report to the base for the rest of your treatment and your mom, never hears about it, got it?”
Allison nodded. They were getting near the school. Her father still had a few things to say apparently.
“What got you anyway?”
Allison shook her head.
“Classified, you said it yourself. If you need to know, they’ll tell you. And I just got clipped its not even that bad.”
He stopped at a traffic light and glanced back at her armor’s breastplate. His eyes went wide when he saw the massive puncture in the abdomen area.
“Clipped? It tore right through your armor!”
Allison shrugged.
“Its worse than it looks. I’m walking fine and I carried all of that.”
He pulled up to the school and parked. Allison hopped out.
“See you later dad, thanks for the ride.”
Captain Wanjala watched his daughter run into the school and sighed. His wife was going to kill him.
*****
Wanjala Residence, Eden Prime
Jason was exhausted. He had not been able to sleep for even a few moments until he saw his daughter in person. He dropped her kit in her room making sure to press the pierced breastplate against Allison’s closet door so her mother wouldn’t see the damage. He was dead on his feet and was being powered only by military grade stimulants and coffee. His wife was waiting for him when he left his daughter’s room. Apiyo was a formidable woman. Jason had known this from the very moment he’d met her. She was a force of nature, but she always had sadness behind her eyes. He knew it was survivor’s guilt. She unleashed a tirade on him in Swahili.
“My husband, sneaks into our house like a thief in the night! Probably to avoid me.”
Jason held up his hands in surrender.
“I am just very tired, my love.”
Apiyo started poking his chest.
“Oh, don’t you dare, my love me. Our daughter is missing for six hours on patrol and what do I get? A text message! She’s just a bit behind! Everything is fine! Now my father-in-law, who is the highest ranking member in the System’s Alliance shows up! Then you come home looking like you haven’t slept in days. You will tell me everything, right this moment, Jason.”
He swallowed hard. She was far angrier than he had assumed.
“My love, she is at school, she is fine. She just had to go to Sol system for something, it is all very classified. It was just some communications interference and a rescue mission. That is all. She did exactly what she was taught to do and was never in any danger.”
She crossed her arms.
“Rescue mission. You’re going to need a rescue mission if you keep lying to me!”
He motioned to the holo-projector.
“You can check the news. She rescued a teenage girl her age and the girl’s legal guardian from a planet they crashed on. Our little girl is a hero. And father is just here because there was a couple of asteroids that collided with a planet. Purely scientific research.”
Apiyo wagged her finger.
“Science! His ship is the biggest in the Alliance and his fleet is comprised of warships. Science, he says! You must think I’m so gullible.”
Jason stepped back a few steps.
“Even if something more happened, and I assure you it didn’t, it would be classified and I wouldn’t be able to talk about it.”
Apiyo stepped closer getting into her husband’s face.
“You forget I am the Governor of this Colony, if it pertains to the security of this colony I will be read in, then we’ll have this conversation again. Now go get some sleep I’m not carrying you to bed.”
She put her hand on his chest and gave him a small playful shove towards their bedroom.