Chapter 2
Prince Xarin
Contacts. The ship had encountered the Zorv.
Though I expected a small battle, as there were barely any Zorv strike ships on the sensors, I underestimated them.
Again. For it seemed as if every single time I fought them, they evolved.
Before any of us knew what they were doing, they attached some kind of device to the underside of the ship.
All Royal Arterian war cruisers possessed organic technology, with the ability to self-repair.
But the Zorv weapon, whatever it was, managed to punch a hole right through the hull and access one of the cruiser’s fuel lines.
It emptied half of our fuel in a little under five minutes.
Somehow Zorv bots managed to transport onto the lower deck, too.
They were overwhelming my security forces.
So I ran, in full royal armor, to the battle.
Before I punched out of the superfast lift and accessed the right deck, I brought my royal sword around. It was an ancient weapon, a traditional weapon that harkened back to the original founders.
The modern galaxy was built upon a universal empire that had fallen almost 2000 years ago.
We had little left from that time, for whatever grand war had destroyed that empire, it had done such a complete and thorough job, that every single planet had been stripped of its technology.
Amongst the Arterian Royal Family, however, a few weapon survived.
As I released the royal sword from the holster on my side, and it sprang to life, I felt its unique power. For it too was from that time.
It had belonged to the ruling elite of that once great universal empire – the Illuminates.
My family were, according to secret legend within the Arterian Royal Family, directly descended from the Illuminates.
That was why we alone could use the Illuminate weapons.
As soon as I sprang onto the deck, I saw chaos.
My security forces were being ripped to shreds.
The Zorv bots punched down the corridor, extending their metallic claws and clutching hold of every security guard in reach. They either tore them apart, pulling off their armor one section after another, or they simply tossed them through structural shields that were supporting hull breaches.
I wasted no more time. I drew my lips back and let a guttural bellow punch from my throat. I sprang forward, activating the Illuminate sword. Light, true power, charged down the blade.
It hinted at a force so great it simply shouldn’t belong in this galaxy.
But it did, and I wielded it.
Several bots sprang toward me, swarming around my position.
They were programmed to attack me. Because the Zorv knew that if they could take me down, my ship would follow.
I slashed forward, shunting one of my armor covered feet against the wall, pushing off it, and plunging into a tight roll. As I came up, I swept my blade to the side, and it caught all three bots that were at the vanguard, slicing them in half. Their electronic bodies were split apart and struck the floor. They twitched as great pulses of energy discharged from their remains and sank into the floor.
Several crackles of electricity caught around my armor, but none could push through. For my armor too was a vestige from the Illuminates. There was nothing as powerful as it in the entire modern galaxy.
So it resisted as several bots swarmed toward me and locked their metallic claws on my shoulder. Where they had been able to pull through my security guards’ armor with ease, they could not even dent my shoulder plates. Their claws slipped off as the armor shocked them with bolts of electricity.
It was enough that I could swipe around with my blade and slice them in half.
Another scream split from my lips as I thrust forward.
The battle became a blur, of shrieking metal, of my screaming guards, and of the constant red alert blaring through the ship.
But with every bot I sliced in half, the threat diminished, until finally I faced off against the last one.
I waited for a fraction of a second as I stared right at it. Though the bot was nothing more than a robotic security drone, I knew it would be streaming a live feedback to the Zorv. And it was them that I now stared at with all my anger, with all the rage that erupted from my heart.
They had cost me so much.
So I thrust forward, and without another second’s hesitation, sliced the bot in half.
It was obliterated in a hail of sparks.
I ticked my head to the side and activated the internal communicator within my armor. “The last Zorv bot has been dispatched,” I informed the primary operation room.
“We thank you, Prince Xarin,” the Captain said.
My jaw hardened at his tone. He wasn’t dismissive, just the opposite – too respectful.
The Arterian Royal Family was founded on tradition. A tradition we forced upon all those who served us.
While it fit the rest of my family, I often found myself drowning beneath it.
I set my jaw even harder as I jerked my teeth open. “Have you dispatched the remaining Zorv vessels?”
“Yes. The battle is over.” I heard those four words echo through my skull. They couldn’t sink in, because it was a lie.
The battle would never be over.
I twisted on my foot, marching through the singed, broken corridor until I reached one of the superfast lifts.
I went straight to the primary operations room, wasting no time.
When I reached it, I was met by the blare of several warning alarms.
The Captain rose from his seat, and went through the full rigmarole of a traditional greeting, locking one hand against his stomach, leaving the other pressed straight against his leg, and bowing low for five seconds.
It was such a waste of time.
I strode past him, stood by his command seat, and looked up at his personal viewscreens. “How much fuel did we lose?”
He snapped to his feet. “Over half of our reserves.”
I swore. Perhaps I should have shown more dignity around my subjects, but I couldn’t.
Dignity would get me nowhere.
As I continued fighting this fruitless, unwinnable war, every tradition I had once held dear fell by the wayside. Because traditions, no matter how important they had once been, could not keep me safe, nor could they save the rest of the galaxy.
I pressed forward, and waved my hand to the left, instructing one of the Captain’s holographic floating screens to scoot toward me. It stopped in front of my face, and I commanded it with several gestures of my hand. Soon it showed our exact fuel supplies.
“We have enough to make it back to Arterian space using priority transport routes,” the Captain informed me.
I ignored him as I continued to scroll through the data. Soon enough I found a better option. “No,” I said as I brought up a hand and tapped it into the holographic screen, the light shifting and eddying around my fingers as if I’d thrown a stone into a pond.
“Your highness?” the Captain questioned.
“There is a fuel refinery plant in this sector,” I continued to tap the hologram.
I had heard a tale that before the great fall that had wiped out the previous universal empire, they had possessed holographic technology so perfect you could not discern it from reality.
Our current holograms were far from perfect; they flickered and shifted, and simply could not keep up with reality.
I had also heard tales that the previous Great Empire had possessed ships that did not require constant injections of fuel but were rather powered on specialized wormhole drives.
To think, you could traverse the galaxy without stopping off every few weeks to refuel. You could explore the universe without ever having to return to your home base. The galaxy and beyond would open up to you.
My mind became distracted by that huge thought.
The Captain cleared his throat.
“We have to refuel,” I s
aid, tone dropping low and becoming serious. “We have no idea when the Zorv will attack again. Though it is unlikely that they will come after our ship on primary transport routes, we can’t take that risk.”
I could tell the Captain thought I was overreacting. His crew would think I was a fool, too.
They had not fought the Zorv as much as I had.
I turned and locked my imperial gaze on the Captain. “Make it so,” I snapped as I turned on my foot and walked from the operations room. I was still wearing my full armor, and my boots slammed and rang out against the floor.
Before I reached the bank of lifts that would take me down into the center of the ship and my own deck, a man in white and silver armor peeled off and followed me.
Once we were safely in the lifts, I turned to him and smiled. “Where exactly were you during the fight?”
Mark, my personal guard, tipped his head low and mumbled through an apology.
I brought a hand up and slammed it on his back in a friendly move. “There is nothing to apologize for. You are protecting the rest of the ship, this I know.”
Mark straightened up and grinned.
I had known Mark for years, back on the Arterian Royal planet, in fact. Before I had been thrust into this impossible war and given the responsibility for ending it, Mark had been a friend. Back then, I’d had very little responsibility, and had developed a reputation for being a somewhat infamous playboy.
Mark had followed me into space, to take up the position of an imperial star guard, and now – and hopefully forever – would stand by my side. For at least it was a window back into that old life, back into a time when I’d never known war.
The grin dropped from Mark’s face as he looked at me seriously. “What is it?”
I chose not to answer as I locked my gaze on the door. It took around 10 full minutes for the lifts to traverse this enormous vessel. It was around 3 km², and in many ways was a floating city.
It had to be. It took a lot of technology to traverse interstellar space. A lot of crew, too.
Mark continued to frown at me, that knowing look playing in his gaze. He tipped his head back and locked a hand on his chin. “You’re worried,” he commented knowingly.
I half turned and locked a hand over my face, letting it slide down slowly until it dropped to my side. “We’re low on fuel reserves. The Zorv attacked us out of nowhere. And in the past few weeks, their attacks have become increasingly more brazen. Of course I’m worried.”
“Not about that. About her.”
Electric nerves shot down my back. I couldn’t stop from twisting my neck around and staring at him.
Mark gave me another knowing look. “It’ll happen. Don’t worry.”
I didn’t answer. There was no point.
Instead, I waited until the lifts stopped and the doors slid open.
I strode out of them without another word. But before I could walk away, I stopped, twisted, and inclined my head toward him. “It is taking too long,” I found myself saying through clenched teeth.
Though Mark was a friend, there were some things I should not discuss with him.
This was one of them.
It wasn’t just personal – it was dangerous.
My betrothed was more than the woman I would marry. She was my sanctuary. The greatest force who would ever stand by my side.
Without her, I was a target. Not just to the Zorv, but to certain members of my own family.
The Arterian Royal Family were not all related. There were over 5000 members of it, all with different statuses.
I was a prince to one of the most powerful houses – the Fays.
There were other families greedy for my power. If I failed tradition and did not find my betrothed, they would turn against me and depose me.
Mark’s gaze flicked between my eyes. That knowing look was still pressed over his brow. Mark had an almost preternatural ability to put people at ease. Even the most suspicious would grow to trust him in time.
And share their secrets.
Mark remained in the lift, never taking a step forward to join me in the corridor.
It was, after all, forbidden. This entire deck was my realm. Others could only enter with my permission.
He continued to look at me with an even stare. “You shouldn’t let this stop you, though. Princess Arteria is still waiting for you,” his tone dropped.
My heart rate went up. Doubled, perhaps tripled.
“You’ve told me yourself, there’s nothing wrong with having a real relationship beyond your betrothed. They’re nothing more than tradition. You can tick that box and get the rest of your family off your back, but you can still be with Arteria. Don’t keep her waiting forever.”
I couldn’t answer.
So I walked away from the doors, and they closed automatically.
Mark would not be able to follow to continue the conversation, and sure enough, with an electronic beep, the lift disengaged from the deck and continued down the shaft.
I stood there staring at the door, thoughts a thunderous mess.
Arteria….
Yes, she was waiting for me. But she would have to wait a little longer.