Royal Rescue

Keelin stretched out like a cat in bed, shrugging off the sleepiness. The soft tone that woke her up repeated itself twice, letting everyone on board the royal yacht Indomitable know that they’re approaching the jump point. Soft groans escaped her as she took the time to stretch out each of her limbs to the point of pain, leaving a pleasant tingle in her muscles in the aftermath. Rolling around on her back, she looked at the ceiling, completely overlooking the opulent yet minimalist flourishes decorating it, daydreaming about the new discoveries she was going to make after cracking the numbering system for the long-extinct Laxhit language. She might even be able to recontextualize everything they knew about this species, lost to the ravages of time. Giddily, she jumped off the bed and headed to the en-suite bathroom of the royal cabin to freshen herself up.

Being the daughter of Queen Aleena Sylir of the Morlencir Empire had its perks, including being allowed to use the Indomitable for expeditions that would further the Empire’s knowledge and understanding of its neighbors and the cultural history of the peoples inhabiting sectors adjacent to the Empire’s borders. A deep understanding of cultures coming to the diplomatic table and what shaped them was, after all, instrumental to the Empire’s foreign policy. Keelin was only too happy to play her part, feeling just as comfortable in dusty old tombs and ruins as she did wrapped in the understated opulence of the Indomitable and her ample quarters.

The vessel was, for the most part, automated. While it was able to comfortably accommodate up to ten dignitaries and thirty retainers across three decks, it only required a crew of five to operate at full capacity. A helmsman, a navigator, an engineer and a tactical officer, coordinated by a captain. The crew was complimented by a number of synth crewmembers, typically inhabiting one of the ship’s various systems, overseeing the numerous automated subroutines that worked in the background to take care of everything, from life support to sanitation. A marvel of Morlenciri engineering, the sleek outer hull was as much a projection of the Empire’s technical prowess as it was a fashion statement, with the primary colors being black and white, with sweeping sections of glimmering gold and bold accents of glowing light blue running the length of the ship. It was, after all the first impression many civilizations that came into contact with the Empire had. Not being slated for any diplomatic duties for the rest of the month, Keelin was able to request it for her expedition to Laxor Prime without much fuss.

She splashed some water on her face to drive away the last vestiges of sleep, then took a look at herself in the full-body holomirror next to the basin. Her emerald eyes flew over her reflection, her light purple skin contrasting her hay-blonde hair playfully, and considered what she would wear for this expedition. Not that it was ever an issue, with the omni-purpose nanites of the cysuit able to form any sort of garment, but Keelin felt an affinity for artifacts of the past, it’s why she’d become an archaeologist in the first place.

She stretched again and walked out of the bathroom and back into the lounge of the royal cabin. She opened one of the storage compartments on the wall, and pulled out a pair of old, long, tan cargo trousers and a pair of sturdy leather expedition boots. Simultaneously, she called up another holomirror, which was projected onto the opposite wall. She pulled the trousers over her long and slender legs, then secured the boots on her feet. She then willed her cysuit to form a golden cuirass with a bright red underlayer and intricate blue energy lines, a recreation of Morlenciri armor not used in over two thousand years. She took joy in the intricate design, admiring the craftsmanship of an era long gone, faithfully reconstructed by the nanites, down to the smallest detail. She then thought it looked too new, and the surface instantly assumed a slightly more weathered appearance, with tiny scratches and pits. That’s more like it, she thought. She didn’t need the trousers and boots, of course, but she felt there was something missing when those were formed out of the cysuit. No matter its shape, the suit was always comfortable and unintrusive. The trousers, on the other hand, were coarse and at times scratchy. The boots hard and heavy, she had had to break the leather in through multiple wears, blistering the tender flesh of her feet in the process, but to her these small discomforts just felt more authentic. Almost integral to the effort of diving in the past to dig up its secrets. She put her hair up in a ponytail, straightening her bangs to frame each side of her face evenly, then headed for the door, calling Jen as she exited the cabin.

“Hey, Jen-Jen!” She spoke playfully.

Jen’s voice came back through, transmitted straight into her mind by the nanites.

“Ah, Keelin. I wasn’t sure you were awake. I was about to come get you, we’re almost at the jump point.”

“I’ll be right up.” Keelin said and headed up to the yacht’s bridge, almost skipping with excitement.

The Indomitable’s bridge was minimalist, looking more like a lounge than an actual ship’s bridge. There were no control consoles or instruments, as the crew’s suits interfaced directly with the ship’s systems, precluding the need for controls or readouts. Every crew member had a complete readout of the systems relevant to their duties, projected directly in their field of vision. Every control input could be made by thought alone, no matter where someone was on the vessel. Still, the Morlenciri liked having a few basic status screens and readouts up on the bridge, for simplicity’s sake. Each of their comfy duty chairs were oriented forward looking out into the cosmos through a holowindow covering most of the oval room’s forward half and extending over them into the ceiling, where the holodome made for a unique experience, of sitting under the stars. More of a decorative choice, really, one more element to impress foreign dignitaries on tour of the yacht, as the crew could easily use their mind interface to see through the ship’s sensors or combine data to see through the ship itself.

“Strap in, Keelin. We’re about to jump.” Jen, the vessel’s captain instructed, preoccupied with overseeing jump preparations.

Keelin took a seat on one of the VIP seats set further behind the crew posts and the back of her cysuit anchored her to the chair. Despite that, she pulled the built in safety harness and secured it over her waist and chest. Jump transitions could sometimes get rough, especially on long range jumps.

“Gravity well alignment confirmed.” The navigator spoke.

“Trajectory locked.” The helmsman said.

“Jump drive charged. Systems nominal.” The engineer confirmed.

“Execute jump.” Jen commanded.

“Hyperspace window open. Executing jump.” The helmsman said and suddenly, Keelin felt her insides churn as the ship was suddenly propelled through the luminous portal that had just appeared in front of it, instantly reaching the destination system and landing back in realspace with a violent shake, as if landing on a runway.

“Status report.” Jen asked.

“Astrometrics confirming, standby.” The navigator replied. A few seconds passed, then he spoke again. “Position confirmed. Laxor system. Jump complete, captain.”

“Thank you. Good job everyone.” Jen said and got off her seat and brushing her short red hair out of her face.

She then turned towards Keelin’s seat, who was fighting the harness buckle, trying to get out of it. She leaned over and took the buckle in her hand, applying a little more pressure than necessary to get it undone.

“Thanks, Jen. Stupid thing got stuck.” Keelin said with a smile.

“I’ll have maintenance check it out. Might need some lubricating.” Jen replied, then continued. “Here we are, little one. After all those months in the library, I bet you can’t wait to get some dirt on those boots.”

“Oh you have no idea.” Keelin said moving towards the large holowindow. “I wonder which one is Laxor Prime.” She said aloud, but before she could finish the sentence, a bright yellow circle appeared on the screen, marking one of the luminous points in space.

“We still have a couple of hours sublight to get there, don’t grab the shovel just yet.” Jen chuckled.

Before Keelin could answer, the security officer spoke up.

“Captain, I’m picking up something on sensors.” He said.

“What is it?” Jen approached and asked curiously, as he shared his datastream with hers.

“Radio transmission, looks like a distress beacon. Automated.”

“How far?” she turned and asked her helmsman.

“About half a light-second.” He responded.

“We should be close enough for a visual. Project source on screen.”

One of the bridge’s large readout holoscreens changed to a live feed from one of the yacht’s external cameras, magnified onto a small, black vessel tumbling through space.

“Looks like a small shuttle-size craft. Light hull damage, mostly intact. No main power. Sensors detect a single life-form on board and…” The security officer hesitated.

Jen cocked an eyebrow. “And…?”

“Sorry, ma’am, confirming telemetry. We’re picking up Imperial ping response. It seems like an Imperial citizen is on board.” He said confused.

“All the more reason to get over there and help them out. Helm, get us there, double time.” Jen gave the order.

“Aye, ma’am. Setting course.”

==][==

The small black ship groaned as it touched down on the Indomitable’s shuttle hangar. It was still a tight fit even with the ship’s shuttle moved off to one side. Jen, accompanied by her security officer, looked on the service drones that had towed the ship into the hangar detached from it and started circling it, their scanner beams crisscrossing over its surface.

“Wow, now that is an ugly ship.” Jen commented.

“According to the database, it’s an Arcus-class light shuttle, manufactured by Kess Heavy Aerospace in the Crova Republic.”

“That’s in the Husker sector, right?” Jen asked, half-remembering the name.

“That’s right, ma’am. We share a border with them.” The security officer said, then continued. “Now, this particular model has not been in production for over half a century, but it was popular back in the day, especially with smugglers and couriers, due to its durability and ease of customization. Arcus variants have been used for nearly every role, from low-budget interceptors, to racing in the Nebular 500.”

“Any idea what happened to this one?”

The security officer directed one of the drones to interface with the ship, and it proceeded to pour a stream of nanites onto it, which spread across the surface and into cracks, feeding the data back to him.

“Checking event log.” He finally said. “Right, this ship is called the Maven. It was involved in a firefight and took some light damage. It uses a pair of fusion power cells forming a double feedback loop to power its FTL drive, which operates under the warp principle. When a damaged power cell failed mid-warp, the loop collapsed and the warp drive drained the remaining cell in a matter of seconds, losing main power altogether. Life support continued operating on emergency power for a further ten hours, until the auxiliary batteries ran out. Other than that, the ship appears to be inert, no radiation leaks or other pathogens detected. She’s safe to open up.”

“Crack her open, then.” Jen directed the drones and they started overriding the Maven’s rear cargo hatch, supplying external power.

The ramp lowered with a hiss and a bit of a whine, but stopped around a foot above the deck, refusing to lower all the way. Jen hopped on it and proceeded into the cargo hold, followed by the security officer. Cargo containers were strewn all about, having snapped their restraints. Jen had to vault over a couple of them to get to the door on the other end of the hold. Having to pry it open manually as it seemed to have malfunctioned, she found herself in a narrow corridor, with a cramped airlock to one side and a small sleeping alcove on the other. The next door must lead to the cockpit, she thought. With external power connected, she used the buttons next to it, and it slid open. On the pilot’s seat, still strapped in, lay a woman, dressed in a cysuit, helmet sealed. She seemed to be unconscious. The cysuit was in its default configuration, however, the impact plates on shoulders, knees and thighs and all the golden decorative elements were colored dark grey, the bright blue lines normally adorning the base design a muted orange. This wasn’t strange by itself, as every Imperial subject had the freedom to customize their suit as they saw fit. What struck Jen as unusual was the use of an additional utility belt with pouches over the suit and the laser pistol strapped to the woman’s thigh. It certainly wasn’t of Imperial make. What was an Imperial doing flying an old banger out here in the middle of nowhere, anyways?

“Give me a hand.” She called her security officer over.

Together, they carried the stranger out of the damaged ship and into the Indomitable’s sickbay, laying her on one of the state of the art treatment beds. The security officer put his hand on the stranger’s shoulder, interfacing with her suit.

“Running diagnostics. Her suit seems to have put her in hibernation, slowing her metabolic state. Probably to keep her alive as long as possible after life support power ran out. There’s also a synthetic in here, also in a suspended state.” He paused. “Hmm, no identification data.”

“Could be corrupted. We’re far from Imperial network hubs.” Jen noted.

“Removing helmet.” He said and the stranger’s helmet dissolved, the nanites flowing back into the lower part of the suit.

Out came spilling a luscious head of bright red hair, framing a beautiful face. Jen moved the hair aside to get a closer look, but then noticed the ears. This wasn’t an elf. It was a human!

“Now that, is unusual.” She said.

==][==

Raz sat up on the bed gasping for air. She definitely wasn’t where she was supposed to be. As she looked around her, a touch of panic started setting in, her heart started racing. She tried to make sense of her environment. She was in a spacious room, on a large bed with a canopy. She felt something ridiculously soft enveloping her thighs and looked down to discover she was nude, tangled in the best fabrics she’d ever felt touching her skin. She clenched her thighs and fists around them, taking in the sensation and calming herself. She took a deep breath and collected her thoughts, examining the room around her once more.

It was definitely a lot more lavish than she was used to. The colors were a tactful combination of earthly tones and metallic, with thin wooden inlays alternating with golden flourishes that calmly stated wealth and power, instead of screaming it with gaudy intricate sculptures and pretentious art. Up on the bed’s canopy, draped with ethereal sheer fabrics, there was an embossed crest. She’d seen it before, but couldn’t quite remember where.

Suddenly, the door to the opulent bedroom slid open and a blonde elf with dark purple skin, lithe and graceful stepped inside, wearing perhaps the oddest combination of armor and expedition gear Raz had ever seen. Instinctively, she jumped off the bed and willed her cysuit to form over her, ready for a fight. The elf stood there and stared at her. Then Raz realized she was still feeling the cool air on her skin. She jumped back on the bed and grabbed the sheets, clutching them tightly in front of her and blushing like a beetroot.

“Please, do not be alarmed.” The elf giggled. “You’re quite safe.”

“Where am I?” asked perplexed.

“You are aboard the IDV Indomitable. We found your ship adrift in space.”

“IDV?” Raz muttered to herself, then it all clicked. The opulent surroundings, the crest, the designation. There were only three ships in the Imperial Fleet carrying the designation of Imperial Diplomatic Vessel, and every two-bit pirate from there to Caliban’s rings dreamed of capturing one. “This is a royal yacht!” She said aloud.

“It is.” The elf smiled. “Apologies for disabling your cysuit, but we had to make sure you weren’t a threat. It’s not every day we see a non-Imperial subject using one of these. Your friend is currently explaining your circumstances to the captain.”

“My friend? Spark?” Raz wondered. They’d called each other many names in the few months they had been travelling together, but friend wasn’t one of them.

“Yes. Your synthetic companion.” She smiled and took a seat on a short ottoman that rose out of the floor near the foot of the bed. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they won’t be long. I was hoping to talk to you about something, meanwhile.” She said, showing Raz what she’d been holding. The Crimson’s golden brooch.

“I’m sorry, who are you again?” Raz did a double take.

“Oh, pardon my manners, my mother would be most disappointed. My name is Keelin.”

“Your mother?”

“The Queen. This is her ship.”

“But you’re a drow.” Raz cocked an eyebrow. “Everyone knows what the queen looks like.”

“Half-drow.” Keelin said in a serious tone. “I take after my other mother. Despite the wild stories outsiders spin about drows, we don’t have dark magic powers, the Empire neither fears us, nor treats us like second class citizens. Being few in numbers, we look mysterious and exotic to those outside Morlenciri society. There’s no end to what you’ll hear about us.”

“I’m sorry.” Raz said, casting her eyes down. “That was ignorant of me, your highness.”

“Oh no, please. None of that.” Keelin laughed, cheer returning to her face. “I may be the Queen’s daughter, but that doesn’t make me royalty. Our society isn’t a hereditary monarchy. Now, can I ask, where you found this artifact? You had it with you when we recovered you.”

“Found it in a bazaar. Why?”

“You aren’t here by coincidence.” Keelin said studying her. “You know this belongs to the Laxhit.”

“I’m just a history buff. Love learning about ancient cultures.” Raz said in the most neutral tone she could muster.

“It’s a rare find, thousands of years old, you’ve got a keen eye.” Keelin said mildly impressed. “But there’s something odd about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“The writing carved along the periphery.” Keelin showed Raz, tracing her finger over it. “There are no toolmarks. This was laser-engraved.”

“So?” Raz shrugged.

“The Laxhit went extinct before their society was industrialized. I don’t see where they’d get a laser from. I’m surprised you didn’t know that.”

“Oh, yeah. Right. Totally forgot.” Raz played it off “Who inscribed it though? Isn’t that their language?”

“Someone with a very intimate knowledge of the Laxhit, although much more recently. No more than a few hundred years.”

Raz’s eyes lit up with realization. That sly dog Silas must have carved it, it was definitely a clue to his hidden treasure. She had to know more.

“I was able to decipher most of it.” Raz said. “‘Life on the apex of glory.’ I can’t identify the last few characters though.”

“‘Life at the peak of its glory’, would be a more accurate translation. The rest you can’t decipher because it’s not a word. In fact, I’m surprised whoever made this carving knew to use these glyphs, I thought I was the first to crack the Laxhit numerals.” Keelin said perplexed.

“Numerals?” Of course, Raz thought. How didn’t she think of that?

“Yes, it’s a string of numbers, probably a date or…” Keelin suddenly paused, her eyes looking off to the side, as if she was listening to something. “We’ll be up shortly.” She said finally, and stood up, handing the brooch back to Raz. “This can wait. The captain has asked to see you.”

“Alright.” Raz said, feeling the clue slip through her fingers, but not wanting to show her disappointment. “Do you have something I can wear besides a sheet?” Raz asked taking it.

“Your suit has been reactivated, although, feel free to use the sheet. We’re not prudes.” Keelin chuckled.

Raz smirked and got off the bed still draped in the sheet’s impossibly soft touch. Saddened to let it go, she let it drop on the floor as the cysuit reconstituted itself over her body. She followed Keelin out of the room and into the hallway, towards the bridge.

“I’ve seen some strange suit configurations among your kind.” Raz commented, pointing at Keelin’s outfit. “But never something quite so peculiar.”

“Oh, that.” Keelin chuckled. “It’s just my own little love letter to the past. How about yours? You keep it so… subdued.”

“Heh, you might be used to seeing these every day, but outside the Empire’s borders they tend to draw a lot of attention. I’d rather avoid that.”

“Up to no good, huh?” Keelin teased.

“Let’s just say I’m a very private person.” Raz replied. “Some people out there would do anything to get their hands on it.”

“I’m sure they would.” Keelin said in an ambiguous tone.