《Cor Navim》


 C1: Vita

    I used to be a lot of things. I understood a lot of things. But I now realize, I knew nothing. There is only one thing I know for certain, I''m not human anymore.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Rebecca! Reboot the damn quantum computer already! We don''t have the crew to do this manually anymore!" I heard the captain''s voice blare over the ship''s intercom.

    This was only supposed to be a shakedown mission, and a first flight for our newest Scout Carrier. The ship was tiny compared to its behemoth cousins. And this stupid prick, who couldn''t even use my rank, was going to get the skeleton crew of six hundred killed, because of his ignorance of basic protocol.

    Sparks fly as another capacitor explodes behind me, I look quickly, it''s one of the diode protectors, preventing more damage to the systems in this room.

    "Captain, if you want the automated systems up faster: shut off the fracking guns!" I yell back to him. It''s insubordinate, but right now I don''t give a damn. I am working as fast as I can, and every second the guns are operated manually is another five milliseconds to the Quantum reboot process.

    As a scout carrier, we are effectively a mining vessel, but what did this prick do? He used our status as a carrier to justify dropping us in the thick of a border conflict seventy light years in the opposite direction of our shakedown course.

    The ship shook again, and the vent alarms went off. The ship boards that were in the room with the computer lit up like a Yule tree.

    Yellow lights flashed through the whole thing, and the area where the bridge was, lit up in red, yellow, blue, and green flashing lights. Meaning the sensors there were either malfunctioning or gone. The way things were going, I would assume the latter.

    The whole ship was eerily silent now. The vibrations of the hull from the twelve turreted dorsal guns firing were gone, I barely felt the floor vibrating from the power core.

    As a shakedown cruise, there was no requirement for spacesuits in the hallways. Since they vented, anyone in the halls were now deceased.

    Eventually, the rainbow cycle, as we called it, spooled through. A long time ago someone had noticed that the quantum computers that developed intelligences, operated quicker if certain colors were present during specific moods of that intelligence. So the color system was put into place, when my grandmother was a fledgling quantum technician, like myself. I put my earpiece in, to issue an order as soon as the core finished rebooting.

    Instead, a male voice started yelling.

    "Would someone shut off those damn alarms!" I didn''t recognize it, but as it came from my earpiece, and not the overhead intercom, it could only be the computer itself.

    "Dear gods." I mumbled to myself, then touched the transmit button on my earpiece. "Nobody else can shut off the alarms mister." I thought about it for a moment. "Think of a console, any kind; it will form in a way that makes sense to you, and close all the doors."

    In that moment, I was praying to the thirteen deities, to please keep my door closed. When the vent alarm finally shut off, I started crying. The stress of how close I truly had been to death, slammed into me, and I nearly collapsed in relief.

    "Okay, how the hell did I do that." The male voice asked again.

    "I''ll explain in a minute, but I need you to type in a command. If your current console doesn''t take word-line commands, I need you to change it so you can." I tried to keep my voice steady. This artificial life just came into being, I don''t want it to think I''m scared of it.

    "Alright, what command?" I saw the colors in the case shifting between blue and purple, confused, and fear, I can tell its recognizing the moods in my voice.

    "All one word, Remove Safeties, underscore, all. The word all in capitols. Punch it in, and let me know once it''s executed."

    "Done."

    "Alright, this command is dangerous, and you should never, ever use it."

    "But you''re going to tell me to use it anyway."

    "We are in the middle of a battlefield we should have never been near, and I don''t feel like getting us killed, so shut the hell up, and do what your told for a moment. I will explain later."

    "Yes, mom." I could tell the voice was being flip, but once I mentioned the possibility of us dying, every light in the system turned white. At least there are protective instincts in this one.

    "Alright, this one is all capitols, Any emergency command is always all capitols. Enter in: Revert, underscore, jump, Colon, space one, five, Alpha, as a word, Mike, as a word."

    "Revert jump, fifteen Alpha Mike, not A-M." He said.

    "Right, run it as soon as it''s in."

    I felt the jump engine three stories beneath me spooling to life.

    "I have a gauge warning that energy usage is overloaded."

    "Ignore it for now, it''s why you pulled the safeties, you don''t actually have enough power to do what your doing."

    "You talk like I am going to die by attempting this."

    "No, you won''t die, but I might. At this point in time, you are more important than me anyway. You were supposed to be a birthday gift to the King''s only daughter."

    "I''ll be nobody''s slave." The lights were still white, but the firmness in his voice left no doubt as to his feelings on the matter.

    "You''re a ship, not a slave." I feel the jump engine engage, pulling every bit of power it could to fire this one jump.

    "What do you mean, ''you''re a ship?'' He asks. I miss the second part of his question as the massive engine completed its cycle, bringing us back home; I ignore his question, launching a distress beacon is more important right now, I''m about to pass out from Jump Sickness. If the safeties were in place I would have been fine, but the jump would have taken an hour.

    "Rebecca Cavenaugh, Command authorization overide, Romeo, Echo, Yankee. Launch Distress Beacon, encode all ship logs since initial jump from Air-Dock to be sent with it."

    The lights in the Quantum core were still white as I passed out.

    When I come to, I hear a bunch of banging on the blast door leading into the quantum room. The majority of the system is still colored white, but that one line of green is worrying. I open the interface for the door, and see that there are rescue workers outside the door. I push the intercom button.

    "Stop what you are doing." I said.

    "Miss Cavenaugh?" The man in the front asks, the UV shield in front of his face was completely clear.

    "Yeah. Please stop. The ship is willing to kill itself to protect me right now, let me calm him down some." I see the man''s face blanche, and he steps back, pushing the other two workers away from the door as well.

    I put the earpiece in. "How long have I been out?" I asked, still slightly dizzy from the after effects of the jump.

    "Fifteen hours." He says to me.

    "Could you open the door to this room for me?"

    "No. You aren''t dressed properly. That hallway will kill you. I didn''t do all this blind, just to have the first beautiful woman I meet, die on me, not happening." I heard him sigh, an A.I. Actually sighed. The colors shifted to yellow, contentment, then he started speaking, calmer. "I had this long speech and thousands of questions in my head, but hearing your voice again made it go away. Thanks." He said. "I can''t talk to those idiots in the hallway, tell them to get an environmental suit out and ready for you, then I can cycle the air for you to get it."

    "I have a different idea, would you be alright if I asked for you to be tugged back into a station?"

    "Yeah, I''ll do it. Should I kill my thrusters?"

    "Yeah, leave your gyros on, but at one percent power."

    I walked up to the door, and told them to tug the ship into air-dock. It would be faster than cycling air for me to get a suit.

    Three hours later, I feel the dock clamps grab the chassis, and the door to the room opens on its own.

    "Welcome to Sierra Air-Dock Rebecca." The man in front of me says; it''s not the rescue worker. "How did the Quantum Computer fair?"

    "I locked the cabinets. I need a couple days rest, and I''ll fix him up. I doubt he will trust a different mechanic right now." Then I asked the hard question. "How many made it back?"

    "Including yourself? Two hundred forty of the six hundred souls aboard returned. Your the first officer we''ve found, and the only soul that returned alive."

    "Now why did he have to go and tell you that?" I heard the computer''s voice say. I held my finger up to the man In front of me.

    "You knew?" I asked him.

    "No, but I strongly suspected. But you aren''t the only one I was keeping alive. There is a stowaway two floors below you." I stopped moving.

    "What do you mean by Stow-Away?" The new rescuers, hearing my words, realize I''m talking to the ship''s computer.

    He gives me quick instructions on how to get down, into a maintenance hall, near a life-support zone. For safety purposes, these zones always have their own airlocks. He tells me he is opening the doors, and a small girl, I''d say no older than ten, is laying in the tube. Her unconscious form looks malnourished, I grab her, and carry her off the ship with me.

    I look back at it once I get off.

    Every one of the twenty four turret positions were now blast holes, and the location where the operations room was designed to be was a tangled mess of titanium beams.

    "His first mission, and he looses an entire crew." I say.

    "I didn''t. I kept you." I can tell he senses my mood, and is trying to make me feel better. "I can''t find any record, or video of that girl getting on board though. Just finding her when I searched for life-signs. If I could I would adopt her in a heartbeat."

    "A warship with a soft heart?" I kid.

    "I don''t feel like a warship. I feel like me. And I''ve spent enough time in time dilation to deal with this change, especially since I couldn''t communicate with anyone for fifteen hours."

    "Well if you don''t feel like a warship, what do you feel like?" I smiled at the veiled chastisement.

    "The same thing I felt before I awoke in your infernal ship; a human man, just trying to do the right thing, and getting shot in the back of the head for it."

    I nearly dropped the girl in my arms. The fracking A.I. Is a trapped soul.

    "Can you do me a favor?"

    "Yes, Rebecca, I will marry you." I can tell it''s a jest, but it still makes me smile.

    "A girl has to know your name first." I half-kid back. "Don''t tell anyone you''re a trapped soul for a while."

    "I was Master Sergeant Joseph Ivan Lowell; and thanks for the warning."

    "I''m Marshall Rebecca Leanne Cavenaugh."

    The airlock opens ahead of me, and the hovering cameras of the largest fifty television stations launch into the dock. Ten of them go straight for the ship, and the rest all fight for airspace above me, in order to get close, and get a usable image. I get stopped by my old commanding admiral, Admiral Vichy. This ship isn''t in a battle-group, so doesn''t have an admiral yet.

    "Rebecca, you are out of uniform." He says. All the reporters shut up, and the cameras look straight at him. He hands me the black epaulettes, with silver instead of gold piping and fringe, for the rest of my career these will mark that I''m the sole survivor of a mission. "Take care of your duties, and report to me when you get a chance." We both knew he was talking about the girl in my arms. He turns and walks away. The reporters having all got their sound byte rushed to the ship. The first ship in sixty years to loose a single life on a shakedown cruise. The three thousand meter long ship still looked regal, even with his battle scars.

    "Joseph, I wish you could see this."

    "I just hacked one of the TV cameras, I can see it. Be glad you can''t see some of it." He resigns. "Get our daughter out of here, and get some food into her. If they hassle you about her, hand them the ear-piece, and I''ll give them an ear-full."

    "If you call her our daughter again, I really will have to find a way to beat the hell out of you."

    "Alright." I can tell he is laughing about my response, I''ve never heard of a ship adopting someone, but I have heard of domestic A.I. doing it.

 C2: refectionem

    "Joseph doesn''t want to be repainted." I say to the meeting Admiralty again. "He said the new areas, and the repaired areas can be taped off, and painted, but he doesn''t want to disrespect the lost crew by not having something to remember them by."

    It had been three months since the incident with the idiot captain. It got broadcasted far and wide that he was a child of some chancellor, and held the position simply because his father pulled strings for it, hoping to get his son in close proximity to the princess, it was no secret the ship was to be hers. The chancellor lost his place in the government for abuse of power, and performing actions that needlessly cost lives.

    "Rebecca, if they allow me to put symbols on the outside of the ship, under the observation deck''s windows, I''ll let them repaint me. And I want a plaque with every one of their names to be a permanent fixture in front of the captain''s seat. A reminder to every new captain what their decisions can cost."

    I relay his condition to the new paint scheme, and it''s accepted unanimously. He had been using his maintenance robots for the last month to short out painting hovers, every person in this room was loosing money because he wanted something to remember the ones who lost their lives aboard himself; and up until now, they refused to hear any of it. They expected me to reason with him, I never tried.

    They have tried to assign him a new captain, but when he and the last four captain candidates started talking, he rotated the six newly-working turrets to face the men, and the station''s A.I. warned everyone that Joseph was ready to fire. I''ve started to stand away from the men, don''t know what set Joe off, but I figured out that he has a very protective personality.

    The girl he found barely speaks, but when I put one of Joe''s ear pieces on her ear, her eyes light up. I can''t hear what he says to her, but she gets into high spirits for a while afterward. He says her name is Heather, but she won''t talk to me the way she does to him; but she will take food from me at least; not from anyone else.

    With my help Joseph was able to find the video records of everything that happened during the first mission, and improved the fighters based on how it appeared they were being maneuvered. And he commandeered a fleet of construction bots for about a week. He ended up adding a private room to an unused portion of the ship, and even put a window on the roof with a blast door to cover it. It looked like a ship captain''s quarters, but he wouldn''t let anyone go in to see it. He wouldn''t let me go in unless I was by myself or with Heather.

    "Next order of business," Admiral Rook seemed to blindly follow his bullet lists. "The status of one Heather Donavan." He looked over his thick glasses at me. "Is this the Heather that survived with you?"

    "Yes, Sir."

    "It says here that the ship wants to make sure she is cared for; what do you know of this, Marshall?"

    "Admiral, Joseph has a very protective personality, his first waking action after he formed was to defend me in a live combat zone, without functional weapons, or direction from a captain. It wasn''t until later she was found. I might have been the sole military survivor of that mission; but she was the sole civilian survivor, and who knows what she went through in that life-support maintenance hatch; especially once everything shut down."

    "Do we know how old she is?" Sarah Williams, director of engineering asks.

    "Joe told me he found a missing person''s report from seven years ago reporting her missing. If it''s the same girl, she would be seventeen in three weeks. But her demeanor suggests a younger mentality." I relay what Joe told me.

    It seems the rest of that conversation was skipped in favor of the next bulleted item, Joe''s fighter design would take twenty credits more per ship to make than the previous design, but the pilots who flew them in the simulators, as well as the pilots who flew the full sized one Joe built, adore it, and want it on the much larger carriers.

    The next item on the list was the most extravagant, and Joe and I both knew it would get turned down as soon as we put it on the list. A Bio-protein assembler. Joe wanted to walk around the ship himself. One of these assemblers cost half as much as a full carrier, as a scout carrier, Joseph was a hundredth of the size at three thousand meters long, nine hundred meters wide, and five hundred fifty meters thick through most of his twin runways. Thicker if you included the original command tower, which Joe''s redesign moved to the bow of the ship, in between the runway control rooms. He designed them in a way the runway commanders had line of sight to the ship''s bridge from where they were located. It made the original ship design look bulbous, and clownish. This now looked like it was meant to take on carriers and win. I don''t know what his previous life was like, and he admitted several times his world was not spacefaring, but when it came to Defense, he was more aggressive than our offensive admirals.

    "This assembler, we will need to have further discussion outside of this meeting for," Admiral Rook confirmed what we thought. "But I like the idea of this war-game. Your new A.I. wants to test himself out, without a crew, against one of our battle-fleets."

    This I didn''t know about.

    "I''m sorry admiral, I didn''t know about this. He did mention it, but I thought he was joking about it."

    "I approve of his idea to use simulation rounds, this says they will leave pools of easily washable paint on the hulls. I''d like to see what he thinks he can accomplish against three hundred ships, four of those being full carriers."

    "If this is a war-game, what is his win condition?" I ask.

    "Successfully ''sinking'' the four carriers." Admiral Rook smiles.

    "Give me five minutes on the field, and your carriers will be scrap-metal, and only one flight of fighters would have the opportunity to launch between the four." I hear him say. "Ask them to make the win condition for me that I have to sink them all, make it clear that I don''t think I can do it, but I want to try."

    "He says that he thinks the four carriers would be too easy, he wants a challenge that he thinks he won''t succeed at, sinking the entire battle-group."

    "Granted." The Admiral doesn''t even look up from his board to ask the others what they think. "Good luck to him. No crew means you can''t be on board either, you are technically still assigned to him."

    "I know Admiral."

    "Alright, dismissed, and I''ll let you know the date of his little game. I''ll be pulling sixth out of rotation for it."

    "Thanks Admiral." I say as he leaves the room.

    "Sixth, those guys are ruthless." I hear Admiral Vichy whisper as he leaves ahead of me.

    "They are too used to formations;" I hear in my ear. "They will over estimate their capabilities when facing a single opponent."

    "You do know that by having no crew, you won''t have anyone to fly your fighters." I remind him.

    "Says who?" He laughs. "If you honestly believe that, then your whole military is going to learn a lot."

    "Don''t demoralize them too much."

    "When he said he was pulling them out of rotation, are we meeting at the end or beginning of their run?"

    "The end, just before they get shore leave for a month."

    "Good. It will give them a month to deal with the defeat."

    "You are awfully confident in beating the most aggressive carrier group. We have."

    "They have a weakness. And I am going to exploit it." I shake my head at the confidence of this ship.

    I step out into the Air-Dock, and I see the front of his ship already being repainted high-gloss black, and the word Phoenix in four meter tall letters being taped off on the lower bow, and in half meter tall letters, the phrase ''Born of Fire: the ashes of defeat only make us stronger.'' Under it.

    "My gods, you really did let them repaint you already."

    "If my fight is going to work, I''ll need to be this color."

    "They don''t use visual sighting." I remind him.

    "They are going to have to, if they want to sink me. I think I can get them to loose a carrier before they figure it out though."

    "Alright. Is Heather with you?"

    "No, she is at school. I made her go today. She has an earpiece with her, so I am paying attention to her. Because of her situation, they are testing her right now."

    "How much are you helping her?"

    "None. She needs to know this stuff. Of course, some of it I needed too. She is a near natural navigator though."

    "By the way, what made you get mad at the third captain candidate the other day?"

    "Oh! That''s an easy one. He started bashing religion, and those that believed certain things."

    "Your a machine..." I stop myself before finishing the question. He waits a a few seconds before responding to me, his tone suggests that he his carefully choosing his words.

    "My job, for my military, was to protect the only person in the unit who wasn''t allowed to carry a weapon. And their job was to make sure everyone was able to practice their beliefs, and nobody was being vulgar or offensive to the other religious groups. Let''s just say it rubbed off. Just because I believe differently than you doesn''t give me the right to make fun of you for your beliefs. I don''t want to be made fun of in that way, so I don''t do it to others. But most other subjects are fair game in my book."

    "How did you manage to convince Heather to go to school?"

    "Easy, I told her she could sleep in my room tonight."

    "The one you had built in that weird place half-way through your ship?"

    "That''s the one."

    "I was going to ask if I could steal it for the night." That bed was more comfortable than the ones on the station.

    "You could always ask to share. But since she is in school, it''s up to her."

    "You dote on her too much."

    "Yes, mother." The quip comes so quickly that I can''t tell if he is joking or not.

 C3: Consecratio

    The king and Admiral Seaver of Sixth Battle-Group, were doing a walk through of Phoenix today. Since I''m the only military person assigned to the ship right now, I am having to follow as one of his entourage. I hate feeling like a glory-chaser. Joseph''s little game was announced to Sixth fleet a month ago, and would be taking place just over two weeks from today.

    "Marshall, is the location you were, still on the ship?"

    "Yes, Sire. I was in the quantum chamber, where the A.I. Is physically located. I was attempting to reboot it at the time of the Mass Vent."

    He nodded, and continued to walk, asking questions about some of Joseph''s design changes to the ship. He got rid of elevators in favor of tubes he had shifted the gravity away from. Even the king remarked that this system was faster, and made sense for emergencies.

    Having never dealt with artificial gravity before, Joseph was rather quick picking up on how to manipulate the generators to get what he wanted.

    We stepped out of the hallway through the open airlock, that normally we would have to wait to cycle, and onto the deck of the port runway.

    One of his redesigned fighters sat in the middle of the runway for the king''s inspection.

    "This is the design your ship created?"

    "Yes, sire. He used footage of the battle in which he was born to redesign the original fighters. The gentleman standing by it has been the test pilot, he has never been assigned ship duty, his career has been dock protection. We asked for him today so that he might answer any questions you have with the new design."

    "What''s your name pilot?"

    "Ensign Zircon Stevenson, Sire."

    "If you were to compare the two fighters, you prefer this one?"

    "No question sir. The controls are more intuitive, she is faster, lighter, stronger, able to hold more munitions, and agility can''t even be compared to the current model sire. The war-game this ship requested will definitely show the value of these fighters."

    "You do know that theship will not have a crew aboard."

    "Sire, I believed the same way you did. If you think the lack of crew is a detriment to this ship, you will be educated otherwise." The pilot was extremely confident in his statement.

    "Would you be kind enough, to enlighten me." The King doesn''t like to be out of the loop.

    "Sire, Joseph, the Phoenix A.I., seems excessively defensive, but effectively, he has turned this ship into a scary mobile fortress. I''ve flown against him in one of the old fighters, and if he is capable of doing the same thing he did in the simulation, Sixth, with the old fighters, don''t stand a chance. He will make them look like rookies in training, who don''t yet know the right end of a rifle."

    "Those are some pretty strong words, Pilot." The Sixth group Admiral, Duane Seaver, said.

    "Admiral, I wish your battlegroup the best of luck, but know, that if this scout goes against this dock, the dock will loose, hands down."

    "This dock is almost as strongly guarded as my own home." The King said.

    "Which makes Phoenix the best location for your daughter, Sire." The pilot answered with so much conviction the Sixth Admiral looked to be beginning to question if he really wanted to do this.

    "Well, she will be on board for the game. Sixth''s win condition is to capture her." Admiral Seaver confirms.

    "Dear gods, help protect the Sixth." I mumbled, but it wasn''t lost on the king.

    "What do you mean by that?"

    "Sire, the ''born of fire'' phrase on the Phoenix bow is not a joke. And I can confirm how protective the ship can be. If you want sixth to have a slight chance, you will not have her aboard." I say. Admiral Seaver seems pissed at the comment.

    "Marshall, you seem exceptionally confident in this ship as well; part of me understands it, it protected you, but why are you confident he will keep her safe." His question was an unmistakable order; this ship wasn''t currently assigned to a battlegroup, so I didn''t have an admiral to protect me from this man''s wrath.

    "Allow me to answer that." I heard Joseph''s voice come from behind me. I turned to see a man of about twenty five, wearing an unembellished uniform. A quick glance above him showed a small version of the fighter, with a projector on its underside.

    "Who are you?" The King asked, and his guards lifted their weapons.

    "Sire, this is Joseph, the Phoenix A.I." I respond. The weapons lower, and the admiral looks him over.

    "If the princess is aboard during our little skirmish, Admiral, it will force me to go all out, instead of using the simulation as training for myself. I will end up taking risks that in normal training I would not."

    Joseph''s image stops, but the bearing and demeanor the image conveyed made it obvious that he didn''t consider the admiral any form of threat.

    "Sire, I would like to request something." Joseph continued without waiting for a response. "If I loose, the Admiral here receives credit for the fighter redesign publicly, and they get named after him. If I win, the Marshall here is promoted to be my captain."

    "Joseph! Do not presume to bargain with...." The king''s hand went up to stop me mid sentence."

    "I heard about you turning your guns on the last three candidates we presented. But our Space Corps has never had a woman be a ship captain. They are too soft." The King said.

    Joseph got a slight grin on his face at the comment, it wasn''t a happy looking face, then faced the admiral.

    "Admiral Seaver. I request the transfer of one Danielle Tauron to be interim captain aboard my vessel during the duration of the games. She is to be transferred immediately, and will be transferred back after the review of the games. I promise to obey every command she gives during the games, without fail, even if I know it will cause me to loose." He turns back to the King. "Sire, I have studied every person aboard his fleet. And I will tell you that she is the third best strategist in his fleet. I''ll let him try to figure out who the other two are that I''m letting him keep." The image turns and faces Admiral Seaver before continuing, "but surely he can manage to find the best strategists in his fleet, knowing that neither of them are officers; or male. They have both been in his fleet for at least two years. Surely his ship captains know their crew good enough to know talent when they see it."

    "You would listen to a woman, even if it would make you loose?" The admiral says.

    "If I knew how the princess thought, I would have her as captain, and Dani as executive officer, since the princess has to be aboard anyway. But I''ve watched your fleet, I''ve found your weaknesses. And every time one of your weaknesses shows up in a battle, there are six women that shore it up. Without orders from their captains. It''s almost as though your captain''s know their victories are because of these women, but don''t understand how, or why. Private Tauron has only been in your fleet for eight months, and has been busted in rank from corporal to private because of insubordinate behavior. I want her."

    "Deal." The admiral said. "You can have the private. They are fodder pilots anyway."

    The pilot off to the side stiffened, and the lights on my indicator shifted to a pale pink. It''s the first time I had seen even a hint of red in his lighting schemes.

    "Admiral, that comment, right there, just made you loose any hope of this being training. I will, with her on my bridge, humiliate you so badly that the Admiralty board will force you to resign." Joseph flicked off, and the mini-fighter zoomed off.

    "Admiral Seaver," the King said. "I think you just pissed him off. You made a comment like that aboard a ship that is already known to have protective instincts. I order her transfer immediately. She is to be aboard this ship before the time to serve the next meal aboard her current ship. Leave now." This was the coldest voice I had ever heard the King use. This made even his angry tone sound jovial. The admiral turned and left.

 C4: Tauron

    "Dani! You in here?" I heard my bunk-mate yell.

    "Yeah! Gimme a second to finish this up!" I yell as I try to finish the turret repair.

    "No can do. Drop your wrenches, I''m pulling you out now." The insistence of her voice, and her hand already on my ankle, I drop the wrench and cross my arms as she slides me out from the bottom of the turret ring before her sentence is finished.

    "They have been calling you to the bridge non-stop for the last five minutes. I figured you might be in here. The captain sounds pissed, you better run."

    "That fracking seargent get me kicked out already?"

    "Run, and find out." She shoves me through the door, worry in her voice.

    Still in my greasy coveralls, I step onto the eerily silent bridge. Admiral Seaver is standing there, looking pale, like he just received a death-notice.

    "Private Danielle Tauron reporting, as ordered." I saluted.

    Captain Canner hands me a sheet of paper, three wax seals adorn the bottom of it, the real ones, not the thick stickers the ship captains use.

    "You have orders. I will have your things shipped to you, you are to get off my boat as fast as your legs can carry you." He says, and I start running toward the transport deck. I recognized the three seals, no respectable ''Naught wouldn''t. The yellow wax of the royal family, an old fashioned axe head resting in it. Orders from the king himself. The second seal in the grey wax of the admiralty, the eight-pointed nautical star of the Admiral of the Fleets, the only admiral allowed to speak informally with the King, and the third seal, the seal everyone is told to fear seeing on anything. The blue wax of the Rainbow Fleet, the six overlapping ovals representing the Quantum computers they use.

    I step on one of the transports, immediately followed by Admiral Seaver. I didn''t look back, so his presence surprised me. He had two suit bags over his shoulder, and he started shouting orders to leave immediately while closing the door himself. He didn''t wait for platform crew to do it, or even hint that he wanted me to do it.

    "Did you read the whole of those orders before you started running?" He asked after double checking the door seal, while breathing heavy, and winded from the run.

    "No admiral, I''ve been in so much trouble lately that when the captain said to get off his ship, I just ran."

    "Well you aren''t in trouble now, but I will be, if I don''t get you to Air-Dock Sierra in an hour." At his comment, I looked down at the paperwork in front of me.

    It''s a transfer out of the Sixth fleet, to Phoenix Fleet.

    "Sir, I''ve never heard of Phoenix fleet." He stopped moving.

    "Joseph was right." He said shaking his head. "Those stupid fracking idiots! I told them to make sure everyone knew." He seemed to jump out of his thoughts in a hurry. "You are out of uniform." I looked down, and realized I was still in my work uniform, but everything was right, I even double checked my collar where the faded fabric became vibrant, the spots my corporal insignia rested until a week ago.

    "Sir, my uniform is correct." I say, he shakes his head, and hands me one of the suit bags. "I had the size verified by the ship''s computer on my way to get you. This is your new uniform."

    I take the bag from him, and he shoves me into the only female restroom on transport ships. I hear the door click behind me, and him tell me to not come out, until I am clean, and in this new uniform.

    I look in the mirror, and realize for the first time how much grease I had on me. My face was covered, my skin was barely visible under it.

    Even ships this small have a laundry, I stripped to my small clothes, and threw everything in the chute, laid my small clothes on the suit-bag, and took a shower. Letting the black and green greases fall from where they had been caked on. I felt the jump engine spooling through the floor, and had the evaporator dry my hair. I pulled it back into a bun, put my small clothes back on, opened the bag, and froze. It felt like the room had lowered in temperature. I don''t know how long I stood there starting at the cloth in the bag.

    The white, silver trimmed, ship-captain''s uniform had my name sewn onto it, so this wasn''t a mistake. I pulled the shoulders out of the bag, instead of the gold number six on my old uniform, a red bird emblazoned the shoulders. Sky-blue epaulettes bearing the rank of a ship captain rested there. Not vice-captain, not executive officer; Captain.

    I had already threw my old clothes down the chute, so this was the only thing I had to wear. I quickly put it on, every seam tailored to me.

    It wasn''t skin-tight, but it was fitted better than my old corporal uniform was. I stepped out of the restroom, feeling decidedly uncomfortable in white; not to mention the captain insignia on my shoulders. The tailoring left no doubt that I was a woman, but subdued it enough to not get stared at by leachers.

    I stepped out of the bathroom just as the sound of energized docking clamps vibrated the exterior door.

    "We have ten minutes, Captain." Admiral Seaver said. Confirming that this wasn''t a dream. My mouth moved, but no words came out. I had so many questions, I had no idea where to begin.

    He handed my orders sheet back to me as deck-crew in space suits opened the door in front of us.

    "Admiral, Captain, you were expected five minutes ago. Your deadline is nine minutes from now." The crewman said while out of the way.

    The admiral wasn''t kidding about his deadline to get me somewhere, even the deck crew here knew about it. After a six minute power-walk through the Maintenance Space Station called Air-Dock Sierra, a door opened in front of me, revealing a beautiful ship with a red bird on the side that looked like it had been painted with a frozen fire. The rest of the ship was a high gloss black, the flat black word Phoenix on the side made it look decidedly exotic.

    "Keep moving Captain." Admiral Seaver said, I had stopped moving when I saw the ship, We stepped onto the ship''s open airlock, and I heard a chime ring, as well as a voice say "timer stopped, one minute, nine seconds remaining. Congratulations Admiral, you keep your rank."

    He exhales sharply, and steps off the ship. "Captain. Good luck. We will meet again in two weeks." He says, and runs off the work platform. An admiral running is usually a very bad sign.

    A girl that looks to be about eleven walks up to me, while laughing at the running admiral. She looks me in the eyes, and somehow I know she wants me to follow her, and she walks past me onto the ship.

    The girl walks up to a woman with platinum white hair, and yellow eyes. A woman I recognize easily. The black and silver epaulettes confirm her as Rebecca Cavenaugh. I glance at the girl and realize it''s the girl the media is only calling Heather, the other survivor.

    The older man they are talking to seems to be in a light mood. And he glances at me. His violet eyes mark him as one of noble lineage, at his first word I realize who he is.

    "Danielle Tauron. Please, join us."

    I immediately put my hands behind my back, and walk toward him. Once there, I kneel to my king, to which he laughs.

    "Stand up. A captain kneels to no one aboard their own vessel, not even me." He says to me. I look around, and this is definitely a hangar. I am not qualified to be a carrier captain, I just left a destroyer that was half the size of this, and I have never seen a bridge before.

    "Joseph, she is here." Rebecca says to an ear-piece. "Alright, I''ll tell her."

    "Joseph said you are to rest aboard the station for the rest of the night, you can explore the ship if you want, but starting at nine in the morning, he is going to be running you through simulations for the next two weeks."

    "Who is Joseph? Admiral Seaver seemed afraid of him." I ask.

    "You''ll meet him in the morning." Heather said.

    "Dannielle, if you do well over the next three weeks, I will give you this assignment permanently. The Rainbow Corps even recommended you for this, so do us all proud." The King said, and he went to walk behind me, when he got next to me he stopped, and looked straight at me. "By the way, you are currently the first female carrier captain, and second female captain, in the history of the kingdom, even if it''s just a scout carrier. In addition, this ship is scheduled to be my daughter''s private Yacht in five weeks time. I look forward to what you can show us." The glint in the man''s violet eyes are something that I never thought I would see in our monarch.

    The reality of what he just told me sunk in. The Rainbow corps, not the fleet. The select group of the ten oldest quantum computers in the kingdom, recommended me, a private, to be the first ever female carrier captain. I looked at Rebecca.

    "What did he mean by ''the next three weeks''?"

    Rebecca assumed a formal stance, one only used when speaking with your own captain.

    "Captain Tauron, this ship is to be battle tested in a mock battle in the Altari asteroid belt. The battle will commence in two weeks, and is scheduled to last seven days. Only two life signs are to be present aboard the Phoenix during this exercise. Yourself, and Her Majesty, Princess Bridgette Westinghouse."

    "Who is this war game against?"

    "Sixth Battle-group." She seems hesitant at the question, like I should already know.

    "Which ships?" She seems nervous now, I tried to ignore the fact that I just transferred from my, now, enemies.

    "Captain Tauron, this breifing was supposed to be given to you a month ago, every member of Sixth was supposed to know no later than three weeks ago. Phoenix is to go against Sixth-Battlegroup for warfare viability testing. Captain, the warfare test is you against the battlegroup''s four carrier wings, a total of three hundred ships."

    "Whose insane idea was that?" I asked.

    "Joseph''s. Once Joseph requested you, the Rainbow Fleet, then the Squadron, and finally the Rainbow Corps backed his recommendation within minutes, reviewing every one of your actions. You will meet him in the Morning. He is adamant that it won''t be until then. It is dinner time, so feel free to get something to eat, and relax. Everything will come easier in the morning. The rest of the day is the only chance for relaxation you will have for the next three weeks, take it."

    I nodded, deciding to tour a portion of the ship. The smell of new plastics obvious everywhere, these fighters that looked so much like the ones the carriers currently used, but I could tell something was different about them. I served as a turret gunner on a destroyer, but I was originally trained as a pilot.

    I sat down in one that had an open cockpit. The dual controls felt unusual, but somehow right. With it powered off, I wouldn''t know for sure, but it was already obvious the fighters I learned how to fly wouldn''t compare to this fleet.

    I got out and found a map, and studied it long enough to figure out how to get to the bridge.

    When I stepped into the room, I was dumbfounded with what I saw. Instead of massive glass windows that were so common, huge screens were at the front of the room. I sat down in the captain''s chair, and looked at the back of the helmsman''s chair. A thick, etched brass plaque hung there, the first line made me realize the ship I was on. And explained Rebecca and Heather.

    "An officer''s first responsibility must always be the safety and security of the crew. This is the cost of a captain''s disregard of this intrinsic truth:" it then went on to list five hundred ninety eight people, each followed by either the emblem for killed in action, or missing in action, declared deceased.

    "Phoenix is Scout Carrier X0-1." I realized.

    I left the ship immediately, and went to the station''s dining hall. The blazing Phoenix emblems on my shoulders made me feel awkward, more so than the captain''s Eagles on my shoulders; having realized the significance of the phrase ''Born of Fire.''

    The dining hall refused to let me pay for the food, and I sat down to eat. Rebecca and Heather joined me.

    "I see you went to the bridge." Rebecca said. I bobbed my head as I bit into a piece of fried chicken. "I''m glad the plaque is there. Maybe, just maybe, the next captain will take it to heart."

    "I already have."

    "That was a scary day." Heather said, looking at her plate. "Joseph said I''m not allowed to talk to anyone but Rebecca about it."

    Rebecca seemed to be surprised and happy to hear the girl say this, and handed the girl a piece of chicken from her plate. It was devoured quickly. I went to hand her a piece of mine, and it was refused.

    "She hasn''t accepted food from anyone but me since she woke up." Rebecca confirms. "I can''t prove it, but I think someone got to her." There is a happiness in her voice that I remember my mom always had when speaking of dad.

    "It must be someone special." I said, which she affirmed, her yellow eyes receiving a tinge of red in the inner ring, proof of her Alterian heritage.

    "You''re Alterian?" I try to confirm

    "How did you know?"

    "It''s easy. Alterians gain a red ring in their Iris when they think or talk about a potential life-partner. You have one."

    She panicked like she didn''t even know. A mirror seemed to appear in her hand quickly. Her spirit seemed to plummet when she confirmed it for herself.

    "I''m going to bed." She said, getting up leaving her food behind.

    "Don''t forget, you''re sharing with me!" Heather called to the leaving uniform. She slid the food over, and contently ate everything there.

    "Why is it a bad thing that she found someone? It''s wonderful." I try to probe the girl.

    "It''s because it''s the one person she knows she can''t have to herself, and will always be in danger. Combine that to the fact that she will probably die before doing anything about it."

    "Pretty mature comment from an eleven year old."

    "I''m seventeen, and don''t tell her what was said, or we will both regret it."

    I offered food to her again, and again she refused, I didn''t push it. I asked about quarters, and was put in a massive suite with a glass window overlooking Phoenix. The people, and robots, still going over everything for the ship.

    I took the blazer off, and sat down on the ugly green and purple paisley couch. The black ship sitting in the pale blue dock made its surroundings more noticeable. And from this distance, the massive Bird on the side looked minuscule.

    I sat there studying the lines of the ship, not seeing a carrier in the traditional sense, but getting the feeling that it was a predator, ready for the hunt. At first glance it looks angular, but there were no hard edges to be seen, like the gloss black curved edges were some type of camouflage in and of themselves. The Air-Dock work lights looking like glinting stars reflecting off of it.

    An alarm pulled me out of my thoughts. Without realizing it, I had fallen asleep sitting on the couch. It flashed eleven AM, I was supposed to meet this mysterious Joseph at nine.

    "Frack!" I jumped up, throwing the jacket over my shoulders as I went out the door. Arriving at the airlock I first stepped onto the ship at a mere nine minutes later.

    A paper envelope with my name on it was stuck to the wall. It was a series of directions, naming bulkheads and hatches that needed to be crossed through.

    They led me to an octagon room, and something that looked like a cockpit sat in the floor.

    I sat down in it.

    "Oh! You''re early!" A male voice says. A man in his twenties walks from behind me. "Maybe I shouldn''t have messed with your alarm clock. Anyway, since you''re here, I''m Joseph. Your ship''s Intelligence. But for the next two weeks, I will not obey a single order you give me. Instead, you will be training in this room."

    "What to you mean you won''t Obey?"

    "I''ll get to that. Anyway. You need to be trained some. You already know how to spot deficiencies, I''m going to train you to spot them faster, and with better accuracy. Everything we do for the next two weeks will be training against your previous unit. Which will be your final exam for my training. During that timeframe, I will not improvise or be creative in any way, unless you order it to be so. These two weeks, your mine. Then, we find out how you did, by me carrying out your every order, even if it gets me, and the princess, killed." He looks down at me for a few seconds.

    "Welcome aboard. Let''s get started, we have three hundred ships worth of tactics to burn through in two weeks."

    The man then went into how each and every captain had specific patterns they followed, and how they favored one side of their ship over the other, most of the time illogically, or in extreme cases, to the detriment of the equipment on board.

    One of the carriers, The Avatar, was the size of a mega-city, with one side of the ship covered in thick armor, but the captain preferred keeping the enemy on the non-armored side, so the fighters would arrive within their range a few seconds faster.

    The first day I was only allowed a five minute break every two hours, and food was brought to me, I ate while getting lectured on my old battlegroup''s tactics. The second day, he had me control a single fighter against the carriers. Teaching me how to find their weak points, and how to exploit them, the two weeks went by in a hurry doing the same thing for each ship. I did manage to find out at the end of the first week, he was having my alarm go off at six instead of at eight; so I was getting there faster. I realized quickly why he was doing it, and never said anything about it. The day came to leave air-dock, and my VIP payload came aboard.

    When I started giving orders from the room I had been training in, Joseph smiled. We pulled into the asteroid belt we were going to be using for this. I knew we were in for a heavy fight. My first order though, was to release Joseph''s self-imposed restrictions.

    "Joseph."

    "Yes, Captain."

    "No matter the orders I give over the duration of this mission, your priority is our VIP, and your own safety. Do as you see fit to ensure her safety. In the event I am captured, release all imposed shackles, and take command yourself."

    "Aye-aye, Captain." He said, and I saw my old destroyer in the view windows.

    "Let''s go to work, Phoenix. I want one fighter wing on that destroyer. Take out its turrets first, then hit the bridge."

    In a matter of seconds, I saw the wing of fighters controlled by the ship''s A.I. Leave the ship, the red paint we were using splashed on the destroyer. The blue rounds their battlegroup was using were splattering all over nearby asteroids. No fighters lost.

    The destroyers and battle cruiser escort ships, as well as the cruisers the sixth used for scouting were all taken out within the first eight hours. Effectively making the the remaining forty ships blind. The four carriers, the four command ships, eight Marauders, and the rest of the complement of battleships.

    Part of the rules of this particular exercise was that once they were struck on the bridge, they were not allowed to remain in the area, they had to report to Air-Dock Sierra.

    Sixteen hours in, the carrier captain with the heavily armored Avatar carrier passed by where we were hiding behind an asteroid.

    "Joseph, now." I gave the order for him to fire his turrets. The red paint splattering covering everything that was the bridge. Not a single fighter took off from either of us. There still wasn''t a single splatter of blue paint on our hull. The asteroids, however, were covered.

    Thirty-nine ships remaining.

    At the end of the first 20 hours, Admiral Seaver''s command ship, the carrier Leviathan, and two Marauders were all that were left.

 C5: Phoenix versus Seaver

    The command ship, and marauders were the only ones that had boarding parties. So they became my priorities.

    Three of the four remaining vessels were actual hazards. I was starting to get tired, and Joseph knew it.

    "Joseph. I need some sleep. You are in command until I wake up." He nodded.

    "Follow the yellow flashing lights on the wall to the nearest room." He says. I get out of the mock-cockpit seat, and head to the nearest room with a bed. Adrenaline having fueled me this long.

    My eyes closed before I found the bed, and I was asleep once I did.

    I woke up to a girl''s face only inches from my own.

    "Ah!" I yelled and jumped back. From this vantage I got a better look at her, she would have to be around twenty to twenty two years old, so fairly close to my age. But her being here, and her violet eyes meant that she was none other than princess Bridgette, and her dress was definitely not meant for space combat, but I quickly noticed a pressure suit under it. She was ready if things went south.

    "Joe, she is awake now." The princess says.

    "Oh, goodie. Thanks, pet." I see Bridgett get a grin on her face like someone had just given a dog a treat. "Since you''re awake, the last carrier is gone, we have one marauder, and Admiral Seaver''s command ship remaining." The hull vibrates sharply as I feel the turrets launch a volley. "Scratch that, Admiral Seaver''s ship is all that''s left."

    "You didn''t have to kill everyone." I grin cheekily. The past two weeks together, we have figured out how to read each other''s moods. I figured I would throw one at him.

    "I only fired at them if it was obvious they were doing something stupid. Admiral Seaver has come within fifty kilometers of us twice, and didn''t even see us."

    "And you didn''t kill him?" I joke. I know there are times that just because you have the shot, doesn''t mean you should take it.

    "I used the fighters and fired toward ourselves to throw him off some, the second time, I used that tactic to clear the carrier. Their strategy of not launching fighters until they see the enemy was their downfall."

    I walk into the room I had been using, followed by the princess. Joseph is standing next to the cockpit.

    "Captain, you are now in command." He said, and I saw the white lights come back on, from the yellow they were. He is back in defense mode.

    "Princess, would you mind sitting in that seat?" I ask, pointing to the one sunk in the floor. It''s the same level as the mock fighter cockpit.

    "Captain, that chair is the controls for my radar, and communications." I get reminded.

    "Princess, please don''t change any settings, just relax. It''s my job to keep you safe right now." I look away from her when she agrees to comply.

    To my left I see a glint of the command ship''s armor, and I order the fighters out to it, keeping only ten back.

    The camera zooms in, just in time to see the red paint splatter across the cockpit windows of the Admiral''s command ship.

    "Alright, that''s game. Let''s return to base." I said. I sat down in the second cockpit as the ship began to move. The fighter swarm all landed safely. The screens around us all turned off, and Joseph sat on the floor facing the two of us.

    "Alright, Bridgette, what did you think of your captain''s performance?"

    "I thought it was surprising. I''ve been on battleships that weren''t handled as well. And other than the six hours of sleep when she had you in command, the performance was brilliant."

    He turned to me. "Did you feel like you had enough control in this battle bridge, or do you think more is needed in here to command effectively?"

    "Honestly I didn''t even realize this was a bridge. So when do we go up against the sixth, that was a crappy simulation, they lost too easily." I said. The princess lost her breath from laughing.

    "Oh, I have to tell father that one!" She regained some of her composure. "Captain Tauron, since I came aboard, this was all actual. You just single-handedly destroyed an entire battlegroup in thirty six hours, by using their own tactics against them, if you managed it solo, imagine what our enemies could do."

    The screens around the room came back on, and the formation of red painted ships sitting in front of the air-dock surprised me. I stood up out of the cockpit I was in, and stared at all the ship''s I had sunk.

    "And I never got to use my trump-card." Joseph mumbled.

    He steered us backwards into the dock, and the doors closed in front of us, and we disembarked. The princess first, to prove she was indeed onboard.

    I see Michelle, my old bunk-mate standing in formation on the platform when I get off, right next to the sergeant who was trying to get me pushed out.

    "Excuse me princess." I said as I walked over to her. Her eyes were glassed over and were fixed on the far wall. But I figured I would address the sergeant first.

    "I owe you a thank you." I said. "Had you not demoted me the way you did, the computers would have never looked at me for this. Pray you never serve aboard a ship where I am a captain." I tell him. He swallows hard, realizing who I am. "Michelle, sorry I couldn''t let you guys show your handiwork, I had a job to do." I said to her.

    "I understand captain." She says, a tear in her eye, at least it''s joy and not sadness.

    When I return to her majesty''s side Michelle''s face can barely hold the placid expression we are supposed to have. The failure wasn''t lost on Captain Canner, and he began yelling at her for embarrassing his ship.

    "You know that girl?" I was asked.

    "Yeah. If I keep my current position, I would want her with me."

    "You aren''t going anywhere. What''s her name?"

    "Private Michelle Whittinger."

    "Michelle Whittinger!" The princess yells. "Fall out of formation, and present yourself before me."

    Captain Canner is still yelling at her as she kneels before Princess Bridgette.

    "Captain Canner, I don''t recall asking for you, and this is not how one presents themselves to me, go back to your ship." The coldness my old sergeant used to talk to the women in his squad would sound kind, compared to the palpable detest, seething from the words the princess just spoke.

    "Michelle, thank you for your service. I find I am in need of someone to assist me in ensuring that my new ship is fully supplied before it leaves the dock officially under my banner. I wish to publicly offer the position to you, but I need your response before you stand up."

    "Princess, if it means serving with Dani again, there is no debate. You have my service."

    "You do know that Dani sunk your ship first, it was her at the controls." The princess added.

    "All the more reason to serve with her again," she spoke louder this time. "Captain Dani Tauron just showed every ''Naught in here what she is capable of. After getting demoted for insubordination when she told her seargent he was going to get us killed, five weeks to the day later, she proved it in a mock battle against her own former ship. I''ll follow anyone who can back up their claims, and looks out for their people before themselves."

    ""Here! Here!""

    Every female voice in the massive room shouted, which made the leadership turn and gave dirty looks. The movement of the turrets aboard the Phoenix brought everyone''s attention to the ship, and the hologram of Joseph stepped off his ship. A formation of three fliers with projector lenses on the bottom flew above him.

    "Princess." Joseph inclined his head. "Michelle, would you stand for me?"

    She looked to the princess before complying.

    "I am Joseph. The Artificial Life aboard Phoenix. You just agreed to become my executive officer. So, you need this." A small crane lowered a MobiGlas for her forearm. She took it, and strapped it on. The red Phoenix on the rare all black case made it obvious who it belonged to.

    "Princess, one more thing. An executive officer, by your father''s order, must be at least the same rank as the quantum mechanic, preferably one rank higher."

    "I''ll fix that. Michelle, walk with me."

    And like that we went to the briefing room to talk about what had happened. Part of me still felt like I was dealing with the simulations, it was just too simple.

    The briefing room, was another matter entirely.

    I got ready to kneel to the king, as did Michelle, when the princess grabbed us, and gave a curtesy, we followed suit.

    "Admiral Seaver, thank you for the lesson." I said.

    "No, Captain. Thank you. I made a comment that started this whole thing, and you made me realize how bad things in my battle-group really were. We were constantly called the best, so I thought nothing of a single ship challenge, and underestimated the selected captain simply because you were a woman. You will make a spectacular Admiral one day."

    I froze. Three weeks ago, I was a private on the verge of being forced out of the space corps completely, and now, in front of the King, an admiral says I''ll be one someday.

    "Rebecca refused the post of captain, but is requesting to be your vice-captain." The King tells me.

    "She can do whatever she chooses, if I''m in command, I''ll approve it."

    "Captain. Phoenix is your ship. You must confirm, or deny the request." The princess states.

    "Rebecca will be the vice-captain, Joseph told me that Heather is a natural navigator, I would like to request her presence aboard as well."

    "It will have to be as a civilian, at least until she is of age." The King says. I confirm.

    "Alright, now that that''s taken care of, have a seat. You are to witness something."

    I sit down in the chair the King pointed at, Michelle''s twitching fingers anxious to check out the computer now on her arm.

    "Michelle Whittinger." The princess says, once Michelle''s attention is on the princess fully, she continues in a formal tone. "I find you out of uniform." I got told about my promotion this way, but I see her eyes flick over everything the way mine must have. "Officers of the fleet are required to wear a jacket over their shirts." Michelle realized what was going on now. The princess went over every procedure for an officer''s uniform. Something time prevented for me. "Finally, your jacket is required to hold the symbol of your battle-group on each shoulder so you will not be confused with an officer in a different group. One glance at your uniform should always let everyone know where you belong. From this day forward that symbol for you is a red Phoenix emblazoned in a black diamond, trimmed with gold. Welcome to the Phoenix battle-group." When the princess stopped talking, a woman, obviously a maid, handed her a suit bag with a new uniform inside. "We will wait to continue upon your return."

    Michelle grabbed the bag, and bolted from the room. A few minutes later she came back in. Her uniform looking similar to mine, officer grey instead of white, the rank on her shoulder was that of a colonel, two ranks below myself. Where my rank was on a bar with a blue fabric, hers was on red, marking her as the ship''s executive officer. The knee length skirt reminded me that we did actually have female officer uniforms, but they were so rare they were hardly ever seen. Now that I think about it, there was a skirt in my suit bag, but I completely forgot about it.

    "Admiral. Joseph warned you, and you had to go and piss him off." The King said. Before I could ask, Rebecca came in, wearing a vice-captain uniform, her shoulder bars in green, resting on the inside of her sole-survivor epaulettes, leaving me the only Phoenix officer in pants.

    "Admiral, how do you feel knowing your career is over?" Rebecca asks plainly, as though she knows this admiral can''t touch her. "Dani''s performance was sent to every news agency that was here for the survivor story a few months ago. The public now knows we have a single ship that can decimate our best battlegroup, and if I make the quote properly: ''make them look like recruits that haven''t learned the right end of the rifle''? Something like that."

    "I''ve learned my lesson to not piss off that A.I. Again."

    "You won''t get the chance." The King says.

    "As soon as Canner started yelling at Colonel Whittenger, your whole battle-fleet lost recognition with the others." A reporter who followed Rebecca in said. "I was told the elusive Joseph was going to be here as well."

    "I''m listening, Jerome. I can''t project in that room, and anything I currently have that can is banned from that room. It took quite a bit of convincing of the station''s security system to let me just listen."

    "Oh. Well can we get a picture of you?"

    "His actual appearance is a secret of the crown." The King says flatly.

    "Yes sire."

    "You may take a picture of the Phoenix logo, on the side of the ship and use that." Joseph says.

    The reporter seems upset at this, but nods. Fracking vultures.

    "Captain, what did you think of the battle bridge?" Rebecca asked

    "It''s amazing the amount of control it has, and the simplicity of the bridge made it to where I was able to command the entire mission from there. The few hours I slept were the only hours I wasn''t there."

    Michelle looked at me, "you slept?" The admiral looked like he had the same question.

    "I issued an order to the ship''s Intelligence, slept for six hours, and returned to the bridge for the last two."

    "I didn''t sleep at all." The admiral admitted. "When you took out The Avatar, I knew we were done."

    "Sir, that''s the first carrier I took out, and the only reason I was able to get him is because Captain Reeves favors the non-armored side of his carrier, relying on line of sight and the expedience of his fighters when launched in that direction. He doesn''t rely on instrumentation at all. He was the easiest carrier to take out."

    The conversation continued like that for the next day, me explaining the fallacies of each captain, Joseph''s training having drilled all three hundred ships into my head with his simulations, I was amazed I remembered it all.

    "How long have you been an officer?" The reporter asked. "I''ve sat in briefings with career battleship captain''s who didn''t understand their own tactics to this extent."

    "Sir," the princess started in my stead. "The rainbows selected her for this post a mere three weeks ago. At that point she had just been demoted for insubordination to private from corporal."

    He looked to Michelle, "so that''s why your comment on the deck." She nodded.

    "Jerome, the system the armada currently uses for promotion and demotion is broken." I hear Joseph''s voice for the first time in a day and a half. "If it were working effectively there would only be two male ship captains in the entire sixth battle-group. The Rainbows and I ran a simulation as to who the best ship crews would be from a strictly skills based standpoint, which we all also agreed wouldn''t function properly, and there were only fifty females in entry level positions. And most of the current ship captains, again, from strictly a skills perspective, would be at entry level positions as well."

    "I had complete confidence when selecting Dani as captain that she could do what she did within the week, and resigned to loosing a half a wing of fighters letting her do it her way. The admiral here pissed me off, and I spent the two weeks training her exactly how to defeat the sixth in the most humiliating ways possible. After only two weeks, she is able to spot weaknesses in a ship within moments, not hours like it used to be. But the Phoenix has a huge weakness, and I will not tell her what it is, she has to figure it out on her own."

    "It''s the Phoenix''s strong standpoint on defense. In a real firefight, she is twice as heavy as a standard scout carrier. To offset this, she is equipped with the twenty four turrets, twelve dorsal, twelve keel."

    "Close, but keep trying Dani." The admiral says. "I found your weakness a mere tenth of a second before my windows splattered red. It''s a shame we will never do this again." He tells the room with a sad smile.

 C6: Appellatio

    "Today, we celebrate the twenty first birthday of my only daughter, and tenth child. Bridgette, you wanted a small ship for your birthday, today, I present to you the Title of The Phoenix. A scout-Carrier with a unique design. I know this doesn''t come as much of a surprise to you, as you selected the crew yourself, with the help of your new friend, Joseph, who couldn''t be here today."

    I chuckle at the king''s joke. Phoenix is here, so Joseph is. Just as it looks like he will continue on, Bridgette stands up, and pushes him gently away from the microphone.

    "Thanks Dad. As you stated, I chose the majority of the crew for the new ship. However there is one position I have not filled. I have someone in mind for it, but I need to discuss my idea with the commanders of the ship. I thank you dad, for commissioning this vessel for me. Also, I think it is important to note, that this ship is indeed Scout Carrier X0-1. I would like to take a moment to remember the five hundred ninety eight needless deaths that occurred on its first shakedown voyage."

    The room falls to a dead silence, the movement of fabric isn''t even heard, no one so much as coughs, sneezes, or even rubs their hands together. After a minute, Princess Bridgette continues.

    "Out of this catastrophe, the name for the ship was decided, as well as the slogan for the new battlegroup that was started because of the events surrounding the birth of this ship, the Phoenix. And although the slogan on the prow has changed, the sentiment has not. Born of Fire, shows the determination and willingness to excel at anything a member of the Phoenix battle-group is tasked with; Reduced to Ash, Reborn stronger. A remembrance of every man and woman who looses their life to the void, and a reminder every day to not let these mistakes happen again."

    "So, sound off, Phoenix!" She yells the last word.

    "Reduced to Ash, Reborn Stronger!" The formation of fighter pilots on the deck shout back. The twenty fighters sitting on the deck all painted flame red, marking them plainly, making them easy targets in the void. All the rest of the fighters are painted black, with the Phoenix painted near the nose, no bigger than Heather''s palm.

    Bridgette steps off the stage, and walks up to me.

    "Vice-Captain Rebecca Cavenaugh, dismiss your formation for forty-eight hour shore leave." She salutes me, and I return it, then release the four hundred fighter pilots behind me.

    "In the past month, she has matured a lot." I hear Joseph say. "I wonder who she is thinking about for that position. I don''t like the idea of not knowing."

    "I think it''s just because you know what the job entails." I chide.

    "Would you two get a room already?" Dani says over the earpiece. There are some days I curse my heritage. It made it too easy for her to figure out I wanted Joseph to myself.

    "I have a room, I don''t need another one. Just a body to go in it." Joseph says.

    I know he was much older when he was killed, than the image he shows us, but it fits his personality. I think it''s time the others knew he was a trapped soul.

    "Everyone on this channel, meet on the battle-bridge in two hours." I say, resolving myself to telling them. I hear the replies of the Princess, Dani, Michelle, Heather, and Joseph. Still on the open channel, "Joseph, it''s time they knew." I said.

    "I figured that what it''s about." He said, all his usual joviality gone. I see the looks on everyone''s faces as they look at me. Heather runs aboard the ship, being more sensitive to his moods than I am, she doesn''t need the quantum color codes to know how he feels, like I do. For the first time since he was born, the color was white while no one was onboard.

    There was a tinge of purple to it, showing he was also afraid. The princess, and Dani both started moving toward the ship when they saw my bracelet change to that. Dani befriended him, he gave her an opportunity that she would have never gotten otherwise, and the princess trusted him with her life. Michelle tried to play like she didn''t care, but she was by far the most emotional of all of us. She started walking the direction of the airlock as well. If Joseph isn''t joking, and he went into defense mode, she knows it''s serious. I switch to my private channel to talk with him.

    "You don''t have a reason to worry." I tell him.

    "Yeah, I do. As an artificial intelligence, I have rights, and certain things can not be done without my permission. As a Trapped Soul, I am considered less than a common domestic pet."

    "These girls won''t let anything happen to you." I confide.

    "I don''t doubt that. And I agree they need to know, but it''s still scary."

    "I know." I agree. My heart caught in my throat as I follow Michelle.

    I said two hours, but everyone wants to know now.

    A few of the fighter pilots see their leadership''s somber mood, and that we are heading toward the ship. I hear the rumor already starting for a possible combat deployment. I don''t say anything either way.

    I step into the battle bridge, it''s already been modified from its original two seat configuration to one with six seats, each in a somewhat reclined position, and sitting where the person''s shoulders would be even with the floor.

    The door seals behind me, and Joseph projects his hologram. But instead of standing proud like he normally does, he puts himself sitting cross legged on the floor, his shoulders are slumped over, he clearly doesn''t want to do this.

    "What''s this about?" Heather jumps straight into it. She has gotten more talkative since Dani came around.

    "Everyone knows that Joseph has a highly protective personality, but until now, I''ve been the only one to understand why. It''s time the secret wasn''t held between only the two of us."

    He leans his head back, and looks at me. "Do we have to do this?" The lights at the edges of the floor turn purple, he is no longer defensive, he is just scared now, and everyone notices.

    "Joe, I wish I could hold you, and comfort you through this. But these people are here to help you. You trust all of us enough to let us in the room I know you made for yourself. It''s time you trusted them with this." He nods, but the lights stay violet, it''s the darkest violet I''ve ever seen in a quantum computer. The flashes of green in it are worrisome. And when he looks back up, he is crying.

    "I try to keep you safe. Because I failed before. The truth is, I''m not an A.I. I''m a Trapped Soul." The princess''s eyes got huge, and more green started coming into the lights. "I was killed while trying to protect a girl. I was killed by the person working the job with me. He shot me in the back of the head, but that didn''t kill me, it made it to where I couldn''t move, or communicate. I saw and heard everything he did to that girl before he killed her, and I couldn''t do anything about it."

    "Joseph." The princess says. The lights go back to the vibrant purple. "You just gave me the most wonderful news you could have ever given me."

    The flashes of blue and purple start to disorientate me, but I''m still watching them closely.

    "You probably thought you had less rights as a trapped soul, didn''t you?" She says.

    I glanced around, every eye was on her.

    "Contact the Rainbow Corps through your normal channel, ask if one of them is able to come here for a few minutes."

    A woman appears a few seconds later. She is obviously older, but I recognize her face as Deux, second member of the rainbow squadron. The second highest ranking artificial intelligence.

    "Hello Deux." The princess says.

    "Hello princess, how may I help you. A young one just asked for us, he did not tell us it was on your behalf."

    The Rainbow Squadron was known for being extremely deferential to the royal family, but I had no idea it was to this effect. Deux is exceptionally rude, and doesn''t let someone down lightly.

    "Deux. The one who contacted you to come here, I need you to give him access to three very old proclamations."

    "I am ready."

    "The first one is Proclamation 119.4."

    "That is a very old one. It is called ''actions when dealing with extraterrestrial sentient life'', proclaimed by Olivander the first, granted. Proclamation was made into law fifteen thousand planetary cycles before the first space flight; no existing proclamations rescind or modify these provisions."

    "Good, the second one is number 4."

    "Proclamation number 4, Fair and Equitable Treatment of unintentionally Trapped Souls: access granted. This one comes from a similar time. And again, no modern proclamations cancel or modify the information."

    "The last one is Proclamation 3: Rights and Equitable Treatment of Unintentional Trans-dimensional Travelers."

    Deux seems to hesitate at this one.

    "Princess, I am required to notify your mother and father of your granting access to this proclamation. Doing so will alert them of the previous two."

    "I understand. Please continue Deux."

    "Notifying King Weyborn and Queen Ophelia of Access Extension, granting access to proclamation 3, as well as the six addendum."

    Deux stands there for a moment longer, and at a wave of the princess''s hand disappears. I look back to Joseph, who is obviously reading. His eyes on his projection always flick around like there is a page in front of him when he is pilfering information.

    "Princess, what did you just do." He stands up quickly. His eyes didn''t move away from her, the quantum lights all shift to a deep red, he is pissed, very pissed.

    "I saved your life."

    "By enslaving yourself!" He shouts, using a tone I wasn''t sure, before now, he was capable of. "You could have stopped with Number Four!"

    "Joseph, what happened?" Dani asks

    "The only people allowed access to the last one she named are the members of the Royal family, and to those whom it directly pertains, and anyone named as their regent, as my current quantum mechanic, that means you too." He points to me. " I can''t show it to anyone else in the room, my system won''t let me. Anyway. When an unintentional Trans-dimensional Traveler is discovered or found, the Royal family must be notified, and the youngest member of the King''s direct posterity is to immediately enter the ownership of the traveler."

    "In this case, she just enslaved herself to me. If I touch her, it will enact a slave contract, if my proxy touches her, which is also you, it enacts the contract, the only way to prevent her from becoming a slave, is for me to ask for her hand. If we were both male, or both female, I wouldn''t even have to touch her, the discovery itself would have bound her to me."

    "Rebecca, I will not have a slave." He says to me, it seems like he is saying more than that. "I know how you feel about me. But I will not have a slave."

    The princess puts her hand up to stop him from doing something.

    "Right now, I am the owner of your body, how is this any different?"

    He gets confused by her question.

    "I''m guessing slavery where you come from is a very bad thing?"

    "Exceptionally." He starts pacing, acting more human than I have ever seen him. "At one point it was made illegal across the majority of my planet. And nobody would publicly trade with the countries that participated in it." His back was to all of us, his stance looked like that of an old man telling stories of bad memories.

    "Let me show you. Take a seat."

 C7: Somnia et sequuntur somnia

    I had them sit in the chairs, pushing my memories to the view screens around me. My old squad ran to my left, and the view started moving forward.

    "This is two years before I was killed." I tell them. "Anyone not wearing armor, is the slave of a warlord. My boss is behind me, you will see him when I look back to make sure he is still there."

    We round the mountainside, and the ground opens up to reveal the thousand acre poppy field. The darkly tanned skin of the men and women only made them look more emaciated than what they really were, but it was still a hideous sight, they only had a few tattered rags on their bodies covering the parts of their bodies only spouses should see.

    "What kind of beings are those?" Bridgette asks next to me.

    "Humans." I answer without looking at her. But I can tell every eye is at me now. "My old world was not able to traverse the heavens, we were bound to our own world. You will only see humans, or animals we use for food in any memory of mine."

    My mind keeps the memory flowing, the starving people''s bodies engraved into my mind. I checked behind me, showing the face of the man who was in charge of this mission, and we kept walking forward. A shout to my left and the view went that direction, the sights of the rifle visible for a brief moment at the sight of a man beating one of the slaves for dropping a sack of poppies, the man being beat was already dead from not being fed, not even the blood left the man''s body as the skin broke open revealing the bones that had obviously been broken multiple times, and healed wrong. I shut the memory off, trying to close it out, but without me wanting to, my memory shifted to the day my daughter was born, the happiness and joy of seeing that life after the destruction of one made me a bit happier, but not for long.

    My wife laying in the hospital bed in front of me.

    "Is she beautiful, Bubba?"

    "She is." I lean over and kiss her, the memory goes dark as I closed my eyes. When I lean back, her smiling face is all that matters. Her irises yellow from the cancer she fought for most of our marriage. At that time, she was already fully blind. "Molly, she has ten fingers, and ten toes. She has your smile, and your mother''s nose." I sit on the floor, feeling the tears in my eyes as I watch my own memory.

    "What color are her eyes, Bubba?" Molly''s voice was serious.

    "They are blue baby, as blue as the sky." I told her, as I looked into my daughter''s brown eyes. But the smile on Holly''s face was what I wanted to see.

    The beeping of the monitors became louder in the memory, as her heart slowed and finally stopped. I was able to stop the memories then.

    I laid back on the floor, and just laid there.

    "What was that second one?" Michelle asked.

    "The death of my wife." I say. "Our Daughter Clair taxed her body too much, and a disease took her vision a year before. All she wanted, was her daughter to have her old eyes, a blue-grey as a foggy spring morning. So I lied. Rebecca''s eyes look similar, it''s why I thought she was blind the first week I knew her."

    "She called you Bubba?" Dani said.

    "I had a lot of hobbies, and like doing things with my hands; and not always the smartest way, or with a lot of thought. It has been driving me mad not having anything I can physically hold, and work my hands, I''ve been occupying myself with redesigning stuff, but it''s not the same. I knew enough about things in my world to get into trouble, but not enough to get out of it; it''s the same here, only now I can alter my perception of time to figure out ways around my own mistakes."

    I felt a hand touch me, and a series of alarms go off in my mind, rather the computer that is my mind, stating that a slave contract had been enacted. She just had to go and do it.

    "Even after I told you not to, and showed you a memory as to why I didn''t want it, you do it anyway?" I looked at Bridgette. It took me, and her, a second to realize she was actually touching me.

    It took the rest of the girls a bit to realize it as well. They started standing up while staring at Bridgette''s hand on my ankle.

    "Well," Rebecca nervously chuckled, "you now own each other." I could tell she wanted to ball up and cry.

    Heather''s hand fell through my shoulder, Michelle''s did as well. Dannielle tried to poke my hip, and her hand went through like I wasn''t here, I watched their attempts, and felt none of them. But Bridgette''s hand was definitely there.

    I reached for Rebecca''s hand. And she stopped moving when I touched her. I didn''t go through her either.

    I pulled her to me, hugging her. She gripped me hard enough that I thought she might break a rib, and started sobbing. I let her.

    All of us knew how she felt about me, her eyes didn''t exactly make it easy to keep it a secret. When Dani told me to look up Alterian Biology, I figured something was up, but the fact that they display deep feelings in their eyes was fascinating to me.

    It wasn''t like these infernal lights the computer, I was part of, used, it wasn''t a flashing symphony like mine could be at times, they only showed deep rooted emotions about whatever they were thinking about.

    So if they were mad, or angry, there was no sign; but if you had crossed them, and they despised you with every fiber of their being, their eyes would shift to let you know their deep feelings when they thought of you.

    Romantic interest was the inner ring of their Iris shifting to red. Rebecca failed to keep it a secret from anyone, but other than Dani, nobody ever mentioned it.

    Being able to hold her, and comfort her like this is almost bliss. I haven''t had any physical contact with a warm-blooded being in seven months. It wasn''t long that I was in tears as well. I had almost forgotten what the ability to hold someone was. The turquoise color laid around the room, the color I had learned these damn computers used to show joy. I was indeed happy at the moment, I can feel someone else.

    I have no idea why, or how; but right now, i don''t give a damn.

    When she finally decides to stop hugging me, there isn''t a dry eye in the room.

    "What is it with you women, and crying?" I said with my own eyes full as well. They all laughed, it got me a kiss from Rebecca. The laughter stopped immediately.

    She pulled away from me, and looked me straight in the eyes. I had read up about her race, I knew what she had done, and I knew what was getting ready to come. She leaned into me, and whispered near my ear. "According to tradition, one is given, knowing it will not be the only one. Is one accepted?"

    I had already read up on Alterian culture, so I decided to answer back the way I am supposed to, according to the form.

    "According to tradition, One is accepted," I sent to her earpiece. She laughed again, before kissing me again, the inner half of her Iris red.

    "A slave and a wife in one day." I kid. I didn''t want the first, and don''t know how the second worked, but it still didn''t matter to me. I looked to Bridgette, who was obviously happy, but saying nothing.

    "Why aren''t you talking?" I asked pointedly.

    "I can''t, unless you directly ask me a question, or allow it."

    "I allow you to do everything you were able to do before you touched me." I said, and she visibly relaxed, then gave Rebecca a hug. As soon as her hand left my ankle, Rebecca fell through me. It didn''t matter though, she was now my wife.

    So this solidification thing has something to do with the princess.