Fading Stars Ch. 01

"Attention, we will arrive in one minute. Hold on back there." The pilot sounded awfully cheery over the intercom. Deeva slithered her hand off Vecora's thigh and placed her fingers near a seam in the interior paneling. A heartbeat later, she again had access to the shuttle's sensor system. They were inside the hangar now, along with the three other shuttles bringing crew and supplies. A squad of five boomerang-shaped Scarab Interceptors was being loaded into their launch chambers as she watched, the hulking loading mechs easily slotting the delicate-looking space superiority fighters into place while the pilots, with their mirrored, faceless helmets, waited for the go-ahead to board them.

The shuttle touched down. Deeva disconnected herself again. Not a moment too soon. Captain Orix was already shouting orders. Years-long training kicked in and the passengers disembarked in a quick and orderly fashion.

Outside, the noise levels were impressive, with shuttle engines roaring, loading mechs whirring and stomping around and dozens of people yelling. Orix slashed his hand towards the exit. Deeva fell in as they marched off the hangar deck. When the bulkhead slammed shut behind them, Orix allowed himself a quiet sigh.

"Believe me, I don't like this any more than you do," he said. "Alpha shift, find your quarters on deck 2, toss your bags in, hop under the Ultrasounds and report to the bridge in ten. Security, meet with Sergeant Delcas on deck 5. He's got the deployment plans. Marines, you can settle in for the moment. Barracks are on deck 16. I doubt we will run into any boardable ships in the next few days. Move it!"

A chorus of "Yes sir!" answered him. Deeva, Vecora, Zamos and Gaia sprinted towards the nearest stairwell and made their way up towards Deck 2. While they walked, the wrist communicators of her fellow graduates hummed sharply, indicating an important message. A nanosecond later, a notification window appeared in Deeva's field of vision as well. She opened the message. It was from the ship's AI and told her that she would reside in cabin 203 from now on. Underneath the announcement was a four-digit key code.

Arriving on deck 2, Deeva looked around. Like most corridors on the ship, it was warmly lit, with cream-colored wall panels intersected by a strip of dark glass at about shoulder level. Padded braces were set in regular intervals and, between them, terracotta-red sliding doors led to the quarters and a small common area.

Vecora touched her arm. "Which room?"

"203," Deeva replied.

Vecora sighed. "I'm in 204. Who else?"

"Me!" Gaia chirped up, already tapping the keycode into the panel. She stepped inside.

"So much for sharing a cabin," complained Vecora. "Now it will be extra-difficult to fuck you."

"We're just three girls in Alpha shift. Maybe I'll have the room to myself," Deeva mused, hugging Vecora. "We will find some peace and quiet. Unless the enemy is right here in the Norwan system, we will have a few days of transit time. If all else fails, I'll hack an escape pod."

With a hiss, the door to 203 opened behind Deeva's back. Vecora stiffened in her arms and gave an exasperated sigh. "Seriously?"

"Hi to you too, Pinky," a cheerful, high-pitched voice said. Deeva disentangled herself from her friend and turned to study the newcomer. She was quite a bit shorter than either of them, maybe four feet ten, with a slender, yet curvy body. She wore a long, auburn braid reaching to the belt of her uniform, which didn't have any insignia. A long tail, covered in auburn fur, curled gently to about her ankles and a pair of triangular cat ears twitched. She was a Felinoid. Her species had been genetically engineered as sex toys but over the centuries they bred true. Usually, they worked as dancers or, as the fleet used to call them, "morale officers," basically chefs and waiters. Seeing one on the officers' deck was curious.

"Who are you?" Deeva asked politely. It wouldn't do to antagonize her future roommate seconds after meeting.

"My mom called me Tabitha but most people just call me 'Tabby.' Or 'that damn cat,'" Tabby said without a trace of humour. "Pick yours." Then she cocked her head and looked Deeva up and down. "You're sharing with me?"

The Silician nodded.

"Yay," Tabby snorted. "The exotics lumped together. Nice to meetcha." She shook Deeva's hand. "I'm off to the bridge, go take a look-see what the captain so desperately wants me for. He practically had me dragged me here at gunpoint. Meow. See ya girls later."

Deeva turned back to talk to Vecora but her friend had already left. Shrugging, she entered the cabin she was to share with Tabby. It was a bit larger than the room she had had on campus. The extra space was to accommodate the second inhabitant. She spotted two bunks in one corner of the room while an L-shaped desk was permanently attached to the wall opposite that. The wall panels hid storage spaces as well as a small synthesis engine and a narrow door led to the tiny bathroom. Deeva engaged the "full release" circuit and shed her body plating in one move then she grabbed the scented powder used in ultrasonic cleansing and hopped under the shower. She itched to use the water faucet but if the captain said 'make it quick' it would be prudent not to make him wait. She dusted herself with the powder and waited until it had reacted with her skin and any foreign particles which might have stuck to it. Then she activated the shower cubicle's ultrasound emitters which thrummed everything off her. It was the most un-erotic way of body maintenance imaginable but it was indeed quick. Ninety seconds after entering the bathroom, Deeva had already put on the first pieces of her body plating. Three minutes and eleven seconds later, she entered the bulkhead leading to the bridge.

The doors opened and Deeva froze mid-step. In the VR simulation, the effect had been much less pronounced but now she felt as if she had stepped out of an airlock and into the vastness of space. Around her, she could see the green orb of Norwan and the gantries of the orbital facility holding the Novitar and Celerus. In the distance, she saw the tell-tale red flicker of the system's TransNet gate opening. The video-projection surfaces of the bridge's wall panels worked at incredible resolution.

"Hey, stop gawking," Vecora said, nudging her. Deeva fully entered the bridge, clearing the way for her fellow graduates. With her eyes adjusting for the lighting conditions, she could make out their stations. The helm and tactical were pointing towards the bow, placed side by side with only a narrow walkway between the wrap-around consoles and cushioned seats. Zamos already was at his post, hands busy on the control consoles. In the center of the bridge stood a semicircular quartet of seats, each with control systems laid into the armrests. Seats for the captain and the Mentalist and any other personnel a mission might require. Facing the sides of the bridge were the remaining stations, Engineering, Science and Comms as well as a door leading off to the captain's office. Deeva made her way to the Science station, noting with surprise that someone actually had mounted Silician hand-interfaces to the seat's armrest. She wouldn't have to fiddle with keyboards and data cables after all. Placing her palms on the interface pads, she connected.

"Greetings," a synthetic voice hummed inside her head.

"You're the ship AI," Deeva said. Feeling the huge, synthetic consciousness next to her made her feel small, nearly insignificant. "I hope we will get along well."

"I hope you can follow a few simple ground rules better than the last Silician aboard this ship," the AI replied. "My designation is ATLS-404 but I'm called ATLAS for short. Rule 1: No tampering with my core routines. It would be in violation of the AI rights bill of NY 3205 which guarantees the same set of basic rights organic life possess. Altering my core routines would 'hurt' me. Please refrain from doing so. Rule 2: No tampering with ship systems unless you are a recognized Engineer. No 'adjusting the temperature' through hacking, no overriding system privileges, no circumventing synthesis limits. Doing so would require me to alert Security who then will apprehend you on charges of endangering the ship. In an emergency situation as this, it is equivalent to treason and punishable by the captain's discretion. I hear 'spacing' is becoming quite the thing again."

"Anything else I should know?" Deeva asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm looking for a suitable opponent to play 'Galactic Conquest' against. I would be honored in dueling you," ATLAS said, his earlier gravitas forgotten.

"Maybe," Deeva purred. "But prepare for a humiliation of galactic proportions. I love the game."

"Challenge accepted." ATLAS withdrew from her and the virtual console of the science station enveloped her. Her consciousness expanded until it was the size of the ship, the sensor net amplifying her senses and adding new ones. She could hear electromagnetic waves and feel subspace vibrations in her insides. The optics alone allowed her to survey most of the system. What she couldn't see, she could ping using long range radar, magnetic field detectors and ion trail sniffers. Should that too prove to be insufficient, she had a swarm of long-range sensor drones at her disposal, remote feelers, eyes and ears to place when it was too dangerous for the ship itself to go. Deeva routed the data streams and processed terabytes of information in mere heartbeats. The active sweep of the system revealed twelve capital ships and untold smaller vessels heading for the red eye of the TransNet portal. She mirrored the sensor image onto the captain's console and allowed her consciousness to return to the bridge.

The captain had left his office, Tabby in tow. Another person was with them, a bald man with black trim on his white uniform and the gold nexus symbol of the Mentalist Corps on his shoulders. Tabby threw the captain one last nasty look before padding to Comms and flopping into the chair. Every movement oozing defiance, she picked up the visor/headset combination and put it on.

"Everyone present?" Captain Orix asked. "Good." He took his seat. The bald man remained standing behind his command chair, hands clasped behind his back.

"Let me introduce the last two members of Alpha shift," the captain went on. "The bald gentleman behind me is Olchos, of the Mentalist corps. He will assist us on this mission. Comms duty has been assigned to Ensign Tabitha here for the time being." He nodded towards the Felinoid

"What is our mission, sir?" Zamos asked.

"I was getting around to that, ensign. High Command received word that an unknown entity has attacked a string of systems along our border with the Zuthrian Dynasty."

"Seems a little excessive for a border skirmish," Gaia said. "Don't we have ships for that?"

"If this indeed was a simple border dispute High Command surely wouldn't issue a general mobilization order," Orix said, a dangerous note in his voice. Gaia closed her mouth and busied herself at the helm controls. "As it turned out, contact with the affected systems has broken off completely. Eyewitnesses speak of whole planets disappearing." His eyes rested on Tabby's back. "So, our mission is two-fold. First, ascertain the nature of the threat and, if possible, contain it before it seeps deeper into the Republic. To do so, we are to join the fleet gathering at Centuria VI, from where we will be assigned as Admiral Chrysia sees fit. Questions?"

Silence answered him. Each member of the bridge crew was digesting the news. Orix nodded to himself. "Good. Ensign Deeva."

"Yes sir?"

"I'd like to promote you to acting First Officer."

"Me? Sir?"

"The post of First Officer usually goes to the cadet with the highest scores which would be you. Do you accept?"

"I'm honored, sir."

"Don't be. It's extra work and I expect you to pull your weight. Helm, set a course for the TransNet portal and take us there, two-thirds power. Try not to ram any other ships on the way there but we're in kind of a hurry."

"Understood," Gaia snapped. She hated it when her skills were questioned. The ship awoke under her fingertips, a barely audible hum announced the engines firing up.

"Engineering, I want a full system diagnosis. You have about two hours to check the ship top to bottom. The last we need are system failures when push comes to shove. Have Science assist you."

"Yes sir!" Vecora said. "Low-level diagnostics initiated, waiting for manual sign-offs."

"Tactical, once we're out of the 'Net, I want the ship battle-ready. Yellow alert, silent, shields up and weapons primed, security on station and marines ready to kick some ass."

"It will be so, sir."

"Good man. Helm, take us out."

Deeva raised her gaze. Slowly, the gantries holding the Novitar in place drifted past. Gaia used the maneuvering jets to guide the massive ship from its moorings then she fired the main engines, accelerating towards the tiny red dot at the edge of the system. The TransNet would enable them to travel at a speed of multiple lightyears per day through a series of interconnected extradimensional pathways, like "space highways." It was much faster than using a conventional FTL drive but you could only enter and exit the 'Net through fixed portals which not every system yet had. TransNet technology had been discovered a little more than a century ago in ancient ruins on a border world of the Republic but it had given the widely-flung Republic a distinct advantage over its neighbors, being able to reposition its fleets in a matter of weeks instead of months.

Deeva's console demanded her attention. Vecora had requested her help in diagnosing the plasma conduit system's integrity, a drawn-out, mind-numbing routine task which nevertheless was important to the ship's operation. No plasma, no maneuvering jets. For the next hour or so, Deeva would be pinging each and every distributor valve and checking its operational status. Much faster than having a team of engineers crawling through maintenance tunnels. She placed her hands on the interface pads, fingertips dissolving and making contact with the ship systems. Somewhere nearby, she could feel ATLAS's presence, hovering like a spectre over her shoulder, ensuring she wouldn't try anything funny.

* * * *

"All right, all engines stop. We're almost there," the captain ordered. Ahead on the all-around viewscreen, the imposing structure of the TransNet portal loomed, a roughly circular gateway hovering in space. Inside its nearly thousand-feet diameter, a tiny pinprick of red light gleamed as it spun up, the dot expanding. A quick glance over at her console showed Deeva immense energy levels emanating from the gateway as it broke down the boundaries between dimensions.

"Portal fully open in sixty seconds," Tabby said, relaying the information the computers operating the TransNet system provided.

"Gravitational forces negligible," Gaia muttered. "It's even easier than in training."

"You didn't have an AI helping out," Deeva said with a smile. "I'm sure ATLAS doesn't want to be sucked into a half-opened portal and ground to space dust."

"That indeed would be unpleasant," ATLAS agreed over the PA system.

Tremors pulsed through the ship as the portal opened ever wider. The ship hummed as the entire hull reverberated with the tremors. The cadets traded uneasy glances; for most of them, it was their first TransNet jump.

"Portal fully open in twenty seconds," Tabby announced.

"Prepare to accelerate on my mark," Captain Orix ordered.

Ahead, a gigantic red opening yawned, poised to swallow the Novitar and, hovering slightly behind and to the right, the Celerus. At first, it had simply appeared as a red hole in space but the longer Deeva watched it, the more details she saw. Currents whirling inside, darker whorls inside the demonic red nothingness. Like a thunderstorm in the void, painfully bright lightning cascaded over the rim of the portal. The tremors had intensified and another quick look over at her console showed Deeva that the gravitational forces had mounted tremendously. Were it not for the counter-push of the Novitar's reverse thrusters, the portal would have swallowed them whole already. The hull sang under the stress of the forces pulling it in two directions at once.

"Portal fully open in three, two, one... now!" Tabby called.

"Helm, punch it!" Captain Orix snapped.

Gaia already was at work, taking her foot off the proverbial brakes. The Novitar lurched ahead, maneuvering jets left, right, top and bottom screaming to keep the twelve-hundred-feet behemoth steady as it pierced into the heart of the portal. From one heartbeat to the next, the violent tremors, the thrumming of the hull, the scream of the engines had subsided and the ship was engulfed in the flickering red-on-red of the TransNet.

"ATLAS, cancel viewscreen," Captain Orix sighed. The eye-watering light show dimmed down, replaced by ship status readouts and screen savers. Soft, white lights came on, turning the bridge into a much smaller space than it had appeared before.

"Good job, everyone," Captain Orix said, rising from his chair. "Ensign Tabby, call Beta shift up here. It think we all have earned a little rest. See you in sixteen hours." He rose, stretched and headed for his office. On the threshold, he stopped. "FO Deeva?"

"Yes sir?"

"Until Beta's here, you have the bridge."

"Understood."

Alpha shift filtered out of the bridge until only Deeva remained. In theory, ATLAS could easily keep the ship on course but prudence demanded the AI wasn't left alone in such a precarious position. Deeva switched over to the captain's seat and pulled up a private viewscreen window, marveling at the unbridled energies pulsating outside the ship. Without its reinforced hull, the forces propelling the Novitar so swiftly along would have easily torn the proud ship to shreds.

The bridge doors opened and Beta shift entered. Deeva transferred command to her Beta shift counterpart, a curvy Zuthrian lieutenant named Zelkya, then left for her quarters.

* * * *

The door of cabin 203 hissed shut behind her. The shower was running already. Tabby hadn't bothered to put her uniform away, the garment thoughtlessly discarded on the floor. Deeva picked it up and placed it onto the bunk Tabby had claimed with her bag. Softly humming to herself, a habit she had picked up from Vecora, she proceeded to undress herself.

A quick shower and some sleep would do her good. The last few hours had been much more exciting and draining than anything she had experienced before. Once she had fully rested, there would be enough time to fulfill her promise to Vecora and finally bed her. Smiling, she put away her discarded body plating and sat on the edge of her bunk, waiting for Tabby to finish her shower. A pleasant warmth was spreading from between her thighs as her arousal levels rose. Was it because of Vecora? Or because she knew that there was a wet, naked Felinoid showering next door? Deeva grinned playfully and caressed the inside of her thigh, next to the barely visible seam of her thigh pouch. Whatever the cause, she was getting excited. Maybe Tabby wasn't averse to some xenobiological studies of her own?

The sound of running water stopped, replaced with a beautiful, wordless song, interspersed by "meow, meow," every now and then. Deeva's grin widened and she came to a conclusion. With quick, deft motions, she opened her thigh pouch and slid her own pleasure probe from it. The maintenance and cleansing systems built into the pouch left it warm, soft and slightly wet to the touch. It was made from the same bio-plastic as most of her body, apart from a conductive contact plug at the rear end. Hoping Tabby would be drying herself off for a bit longer, Deeva teased herself with fingers of her left hand until her juices were flowing freely then she gently inserted the rear end of her pleasure probe into herself until the contact ring slotted into place. Internal actuators gripped tightly, locking the phallus in place. The probe went from alien object to an integral part of her body as connections were established and circuits connected. Her right hand around it felt like a perfect sheath and the probe went hard within a few seconds.