Arriving in the shuttle bay of the Seleucia was something to behold. The massive bay was littered with crew members scrambling from post to post, many were doing double and triple checks on the many smaller strike craft, others ferrying cargo from the other shuttles to transport carts labelled with the appropriate deck they would be heading to. Captain Kassandre led us out of the hangar bay to an elevator, where she began to lead us to the residential deck.
“Welcome to the Seleucia. The finest vessel in the Imperial Fleet, an A class Capital ship, built to the most advanced specifications.” Kassandre spoke excitedly, “She’s a full 4500 meters long and is staffed by a full crew of 16,500 officers, equipped with the most state of the art defence systems and long range weaponry. The Shuttle Bay is able to house an entire battalion of strike craft and each of those is armed with Arbalest energy lances and Starswarm missile pods.” She went on and on about the specifications of the ship, and rightfully so. This ship was one of the largest in the fleet, armed to the teeth and staffed with some of the absolute best the military had to offer. But something caught my attention the most of Elania’s explanation. “We have an Omega Instance LOLA acting as the ships AI, one of the few in existence. LOLA, why not introduce yourself.”
A holographic visage materialized in front of us similar to the LOLA I had met earlier, but incredibly different. She seemed to have a more independent air about her, “Well well, so this is the Last of the Loyal Knights and the Princess huh?” the hologram spoke, “The name’s Five, pleasure to meet you.”
“That’s quite a different personality compared to the LOLA’s that operate in the palace.” Avanna replied.
“Well yeah, I’m an Omega, the LOLA’s in the Palace are probably Alpha’s, with a Sigma or two running the show.” Five explained dryly, “There are only 10 of us Omegas across the Empire. And if I remember correctly, 1, 2 and 4 are in the Core Sectors managing the hyperlane systems. 3, 6, 7 and 8 are monitoring the frontier sectors for Ankarii activity, and 9 and 10 are working the penal station outside The Ebon Maw.”
Five, like her “Sister” instances, was located in a positronic brain in an incredibly secure position, she was built into every system in the ship, from habitation to weapons. Her sheer processing power is baffling, the amount of calculations she would have to perform just to plot a course for a system jump is dizzying to think of. The elevator dinged as we reached the residential deck, Kassandre escorted us down the hall, passing by identical door after door before reaching the end of the with two doors, much like all the others along the way.
“Ser Terrid, your room is 2151,” she said, handing me a card key, “This is a level 4 card key, it will give you full run of the ship and all its facilities. Princess, your room is next door in 2152, and have a card key just like Terrid’s. I’ll leave you two to get settled, our first jump will be in three hours, if you can Ser Terrid, I’d like you to be on the Bridge for the jump.”
I entered my room and began to unpack, the room itself was similar to my apartment in size and layout, so I felt right at home. The low hum of the engines could be heard through out the ship as we began our departure from our “anchored” position, travelling toward the edge of the star system at a brisk speed. I set my travelling bags on my bed and began to unpack, taking inventory of everything I brought with me. I always packed light, never really found need for a massive collection of stuff when all I’m doing is work. Only real sentimental thing I brought with me is the picture of my Mother and Father, back when we were on Xerathin. I remember coming home from school to see them polishing off ancient tablets and combing through historical records, the scent of tomb dust in the air. They always wanted me to go into the sciences, carry on the family business, but something always drew me to the military. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what, but it was like an invisible hand guiding me.
A knock on my door got my attention as I put the picture down next to my bed and answered the door. As it slid open I was greeted by a trio of women, their faces hidden from me by a crimson veil with a sigil I thought I’d never see, A sword through an eye.
“I wasn’t aware that there were Sisters of Vengeance on board this vessel.” I spoke, “What brings you to my quarters?”
“We are here, Ser Terrid, to warn you.” The first spoke, her voice deep and commanding, “Should you turn traitor, that you will be punished justly and swiftly.”
“It sounds like I’m being accused of treason by you already. As if you have something against me, Sister Vendalia.” I spoke, revealing her identity.
A soft chuckle came from her, before bursting out into an outright fit of laughter, gripping her sides as she removed her veil, “I never could hide from you could I?”
Vendalia and her retainers entered my room, the door closing behind them as the other two removed their veils as well. “I haven’t seen you since our tour on Betravan Four. I can’t believe you made it into the Sisters! Never thought you’d make it past the tests.”
“Well, she had no issue with the Physical test, the written exam she failed at least twice.” the shorter girl spoke, “I swear if I didn’t know any better I’d say she was guessing on the second attempt.”
Vendalia introduced her retainers, Astra and Lindri. Despite the nature of our conversation, Vendalia made it very clear that she was here on official business, and I was her business. There isn’t a lot of trust towards the Knights, or rather, me. During my hiatus it had been learned that the other four loyal Knights were slain by Eragus’ traitors and Ankarii warriors, this information has been hidden from the public as a means of keeping the peace and as such I was the only Imperial Knight left alive, but as far as Eragus and his cronies knew, I was dead as well.
“I don’t like that I’m here like this Terrid, but you do understand that should you turn, I’ll be the first to stop you right?” Vendalia spoke matter-of-factually.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way Vendy.” I held out my hand, “just make it quick when you do it.”
“A quick shot between the eyes Terrid, you won’t feel a thing.” With that Vendalia and her retainers left, placing their veils back on their faces. As they were leaving Astra handed me a note, on it were a list of names and at the top a very simple message, “Can be trusted”. Alongside the Princess and the Captain, there were a few others as well. It seems that these sisters also thought of me as loyal, despite their presence on the ship.
I passed time in my quarters, thinking on the mission and what it possibly meant for the Empire. The Ankarii are genocidal maniacs working in service of their “God”, The Unmaker, but for the last 150 years we’ve been the one force keeping them at bay. The Seiran Empire controls the majority of Star systems in the Eastern portion of the galaxy and the Ankarii don’t have the firepower to handle us in ship to ship combat, mostly relying on stealth tech to hide their fleets from us and engage in surprise attacks, but thanks to Eragus that can change. With the knowledge of how to fight Seiran fleets and the plans to construct a Worldbreaker platform they can just lay waste to entire star systems, killing billions without even trying.
I decided to get up and check up on the Princess, as far as I knew it was her first time this far from home. I went next door, room 2152 and knocked, waiting patiently.
“You may enter,” rang out Avanna’s voice, “Please excuse the mess.”
As the door slid open I carefully stepped in, the room was littered with tomes, grimoires and books, some titles caught my eye, ‘Ancient Relics volume 65’, ‘Mytho-historical records’, ‘Old Magic and it’s practices’.
“I never took you for the type to be interested in the past Princess.” I spoke.
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At the sound of my voice she shot up from behind a pile of books like a vesit, a pair of spectacles on resting on her snout as she slid a bookmark, holding her place in whatever book she had in her hands. “Oh yes! There is plenty we can learn from the past. Did you know that around 15 thousand years ago our race was able to practice Magic?”
“What, like an early form of psionics?” I questioned.
“No no, actual magic! Weaving matter from nothing, changing the properties of an object entirely, raising the dead!” she began excitedly, “I’m unsure as to what happened that kept us from retaining this knowledge to this day, but the Old Magic was very much a real thing!”
“Well I don’t doubt that. I just never expected printed works to be something you collected.” I replied.
“There’s something permanent about tomes, holding a book in your hands, feeling the weight of the words they hold, the smell of the parchment and ink, it’s serene in its own way.” Avanna said, hey eyes filled with a light that only one speaking of something they truly enjoy could have. “Anyway, I actually had something I wanted to ask you. Your family name is Korvo, correct?”
“Yes it is, it’s a fairly uncommon name,” I knew what was coming before she even spoke, “And yes I am related to Anais and Lotrel Korvo, they’re my parents.”
“I KNEW IT!” she said with jubilant fervour, “Your mother published my favourite scientific journal of the past forty years! Her discovery of the Witch Kings Tomb on Algar Four is my favourite thing to read!”
“Yeah, she called the Witch Kings Tomb her luckiest find, she was pregnant with me when she did her first delve into it. The word fear doesn’t exist in her vocabulary.” I said playfully.
“I’m confused, why are you a solider?” Avanna questioned, “Wouldn’t it make sense for you to follow your parents footsteps?”
“I... I don’t really want to talk about it.” I replied a hint of hesitation in my voice. “It’s a sore memory.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” Avanna spoke, “There’s just so much I want to know and...”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” I reassured her. We began to chat about books, which led to discussing newer fiction and the more recent adaptation of the “Tales of Zerphi.” We laughed over how utterly terrible it was, discussed the differences between the newest version and the original and a few other things. We lost ourselves for hours, we would’ve kept going until an announcement rang out over the ships intercom.
“All hands: report to stations and prepare for warp jump. Repeat, All hands: report to stations and prepare for warp jump.” Omega-5’s voice resounded through the ship. Avanna stood up, her dress flowing with her movement as she made her way to the door.
“Shall we make our way to the Bridge? We have to address the crew before we jump after all.” She asked.
I followed her, a sigh escaping my mouth as I replied, “Yeah... yeah let’s go meet the crew.”
Avanna and I entered the bridge, Captain Vos was standing at attention waiting for us. Her out had changed since we arrived on the ship, she was in more official attire, her sidearm holstered and hanging from her hip as a hat sat atop her head, signifying her rank.
She tapped a few buttons on her console bringing up a holographic display, as she turned to face it and address the ship itself, “Crew of the Seleucia, this is your Captain speaking, Kassandre Vos, as you are aware, we have been chosen by the Emperor himself to hunt down the Traitor Eragus Krei and those who have sided with him. This is considered a suicide mission as Eragus is the most powerful Psion the empire has seen since the Emperor himself, but we are not alone in this endeavour. With us we have someone who can help us begin our search for the traitors and stop them before any further tragedy can befall us and ours.” She beckons me forth, “The Last of the Knights, Terrid Korvo.”
I was unprepared for this, I figured I’d just give a good luck speech and be done with it, but I got nervous, I knew that some of the crew wouldn’t like the idea of me serving alongside them. They think I could be a traitor as well. I took a deep breath and spoke, “Crew of the Seleucia, Brothers and Sisters of Seira. I am Terrid Korvo, I know that some of you don’t trust me. I know that some of you had family who were hurt by the Betrayal those three months ago, but know this, I will see those who turned their backs on us for the Ankarii punished. They will not see the light of our Halls of Justice, for they will be slain by not just my hand, but by every hand on this ship.” I began, “I will see them given a traitors punishment, and on my honour as not only a Knight, but as a Guardsman, as a Seiran, as Terrid Korvo I assure you I am no traitor. This Mission will succeed. For the Empire, FOR SEIRA!”
I finished, stepping away from the monitor, the crew in the bridge, and I assume the rest of the ship sat in silence, unsure of how to react to my speech. Until I heard a chant starting from the helm in Old Seiran, “Kei Tal Seiratas, Kei Tal Terrid!” the chant continued to build, as more and more people began to join in, until the very ship roared with it, “KEI TAL SEIRATAS, KEI TAL TERRID! KEI TAL SEIRATAS, KEI TAL TERRID!” over and over.
Captain Vos raised a hand, silencing the crew in a near instant. It was good to know that even with everything that had happened, that the majority of people on the ship would trust me. “Ser Korvo is not our only VIP, may I introduce Princess Avanna Melthius, Heir apparent to the Throne.” Avanna stepped forward, as if she were a completely different person I had just spent the last few hours with. She had this kind of majesty around her, one completely different from the inquisitive woman I had spent the better part of a day talking with. The air around her was radiant, like a second sun was right in front of me.
“Brothers and Sisters of the Seleucia, I am honoured to join you on this mission. I wish us all a safe and successful journey through the stars.” she spoke, “I may be ignorant of the world beyond the Core system, but I wish us the best in our mission.”
There was a silence in not only the bridge, but the ship itself, as if the entirety of the crew was in reverence of her words, her presence. Her regal nature was something to behold. As Avanna stepped down from her short speech, Captain Voss stepped up and spoke once again. “Alright you Core System Kiddies, we’re on a schedule and we’re three months behind! Lets get this ship moving!”
The bridge began to buzz at the Her command. Every member of staff finalized diagnostic checks and system reports, The helmsman was on a line with Engineering, making sure the Jump Drive was ready to engage, navigators were triple checking their calculations, making sure we going to complete our jump as safely and swiftly as possible. A holographic screen come into view in front of the Captain, showing her the results of Engineering’s calculations. With a wave of her hand the screen dematerializes as a digital construct of Omega-5 manifests next to her, a silent nod between the two leads to an announcement that was heard throughout the vessel.
“Attention all crew, This is L.O.L.A. Omega-5, We are preparing for Jump to the Beta Sector in t-minus two minutes, I repeat, t-minus 2 minutes to Jump.” Five spoke, the announcement ended as the digital form of Five appeared before me and Avanna, “If you two would please find a seat, the jump will be a bit... jarring.”
Avanna sat next to me, strapped down to her seat and I in mine, a look of worry on her face, it was public knowledge that unlike the previous princes and princesses, Avanna had never left the Core system. I gave her a look of reassurance, though she knew if was somewhat false, I had never experienced a Jump either. I knew how it worked, on a basic level. The ship would accelerate to several times the speed of light after locking on the target systems star and moving to it in a matter of seconds. Five began to count down the last few seconds as Avanna and I strapped into our seats.
“Engaging Jump!” the Helmsman spoke. In an instant reality seemed to both stretch and compress before everything went black, then as if nothing happened everything was back to normal, yet the stars outside were different, The once azure glory of our home Star of Kalax was replaced with an infernal red star.
“Jump complete, brace for Aftershock.” the Helmsman commanded, mere seconds after speaking the entire ship shook like it were being bombarded from all sides, both inside and out, it only lasted a few seconds but it was enough to spook Avanna.
I took her hand reassuringly, “Its alright, it’s a side effect of jumping at FTL speeds. After all we did just travel several thousand light-years in... how long did that take Captain?”
“Clock reads two hours after we left, Ser Terrid.” Elena answered.
“Two Hours?” Questioned Avanna, “It felt like less than a second!”
“Permission to respond?” one of the navigators spoke, awaiting permission. Avanna nodded, “Princess, travelling at Faster than light speeds to US feels like an instant, but our perception of space-time can’t comprehend moving that fast. We still travelled through space, rather than transporting instantly, We just moved uhm... Five, how fast DID we travel?”
Five chimed in, her digital form unstable and glitchy, “By my c-c-calculations, 4.9985 t-t-t-times the Speed of Light. Sorry, most of my systems are still re-re-resetting from the jump, makes me buggy.”
The ships many decks sounded off, everything was in operating condition, but according to Five, we couldn’t jump that fast again. The Zero-Point energy core that powers the Jump Drive was put under extreme strain, So the Captain commanded that the Jump Drive be hard locked at 2 times Light Speed in order to avoid any potential damage to the core. After a full ship wide diagnostic was performed we confirmed that our target, Novux-em, was five systems away. We were so close to chasing them down. Bringing the traitors to justice was all that mattered to me. My arm pained at the thought of finding Eragus, and even more so at the notion of wringing that old bastards neck. I turned and left the bridge, heading for the elevator.
“Five, Where’s the training deck?” I ask, “I need to keep busy.”
“Deck 253. The 65th is currently running drills in most of the simulators.” she responds, “Shall I set one aside for you?”
“No, in fact, I think I’ll join one of them.”