Tides of Mars (Omnibus Version) Read online

  Chapter Nineteen

  Seeing a small icon projected onto the inside of the faceplate asking her to ‘check status’ she sat back down on her bunk to prepare herself for more bad news. She used the left cuff interface to display the status message.

  It reported that all systems were nominal. However, she had inhaled a great deal of the bad air in the pod, so the suit was administering more oxygen to compensate. It advised her to limit physical exertion and activity for the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours to aid in the removal of the toxins, and prevent permanent damage to her lungs.

  ‘Well, I can’t stay in this suit forever; I’ll go bonkers.’

  She returned to the life support panel. Since it was the control computer for the pod, she needed more information. She selected ‘emergency beacon’ from the menu. The system reported it was working properly with no faults detected.

  Ariel wasn’t sure about this beacon, but the standard Imperial pod beacon was a broadband unencrypted pulse beacon. Which meant anyone with the right kind of receiver would hear the pulse and be able to find her. That might not be the best thing if the Kragen had indeed invaded. She switched the pulse beacon over to a scrambled IFF channel only, and told it to tell her before replying to queries.

  Then she switched over to the diagnostic menu. After going over the information, she determined that the pod must have been hit by something in exactly the wrong place. The connection from the emergency power cell for the replicator had been severed. It also appeared that whatever had done that, had also crushed the manual CO2 scrubber, ruptured one of the three reserve air tanks and cut another in half. The remaining tank had kept her alive until now.

  She would also have to devise a way to generate power without it being detectable from orbit. The power cells were nice, but they were still nothing more than super-batteries. They would eventually die and shortly there-after, if she hadn’t been rescued by then, would she.

  She noted a small icon at the bottom of the main menu; it read ‘anti-detection’. Curious, she touched the icon, and a warning came up.

  Use of this system will greatly reduce power cell life. Maximum continuous use time is forty-eight hours before unit power cell is depleted. Deployment of solar panels will increase service time, however, periodic recharging will be required.

  Solar panels? That would certainly take care of the power issue, but why would she need to deploy them? Shouldn’t they already be deployed? Maybe the designers had wanted to give any survivors something to do to pass the time? Instinctively, she once again tried to reach out to Cole, to make a note to talk to the designers about this.

  The mostly empty spot in her mind where Cole usually resided was still empty, and once again she felt very alone. She forced the thought out of her head, and made an audio recorded note in her suit unit’s memory.

  The panel told her where the solar panels were stored and also where she could find a tool kit. She ported the schematic of the damaged replicator system to her suit, and just turned the reserve air system completely off and disabled it.

  With all internal life support systems offline, she vented the toxic atmosphere before opening the hatch. Now she understood why the cabin doors had been recessed so deeply into the bulkhead. Not only to make room for the armored walls of the life pod, but to also accommodate the small airlock for the pod.

  When she finished cycling through, and the outer door opened, Ariel wasn’t prepared for what she saw.

  It was sometime during the Martian night. Since Mars and Earth days were so close in length, (Mars ‘day’ was 2.7% longer) she somehow felt that it should be daytime here. It was unreasonable to think she had crashed on a place in the same time zone on Mars as Las Vegas. Then again, she had no idea what time it was in Las Vegas either.

  The beautiful Martian sky momentarily held her transfixed. Both Phobos and Deimos were up, although it was hard to tell which one was Deimos, and the stars twinkled brightly. It was just different enough to be new and exciting to her. Until a falling ‘star’ crossed into her vision and fell to the planet’s surface several kilometers away. She stood for a moment awaiting the boom from the crash before she remembered that she actually shouldn’t hear anything except the carbon dioxide wind; which is exactly what she heard.

  Steeling herself, she checked the charge on the small laser pistol that was with the suit, then turned to the tasks that needed to be done for her to survive, otherwise she would be seeing all her dead friends again soon, and they would be highly pissed off.

  By the time she finished the repair and mounting, the sky had been getting considerably brighter. She cycled back into the pod and saw that the control panel reported good atmosphere and a comfortable temperature. She set the anti-detection unit to activate automatically if they were scanned.

  Satisfied that she had taken all the precautions she could, she stripped out of the environment suit, and the skin suit before stepping into her bathroom for a shower. She’d been feeling a little off, and the feeling had gotten stronger as she neared completion of her tasks outside. She found that, even after her shower, she felt a bit more ill.

  Getting something to drink from the replicator, she sat on her bunk prior to letting the built in medical unit check her out. Without being attached to Cole, the unit was mostly just a diagnostic tool, but it was the closest thing she had to a medical facility at the moment.

  She finished her glass of water, and laid back. The unit beeped and scanned her then promptly reported that everything was well within acceptable parameters. Briefly she wondered if someone should tell the med unit that she wasn’t a piece of equipment.

  Frowning at the descriptive readout, Ariel got a small sandwich from the replicator, rechecked all the readouts and sensors, and then decided to lie down for nap. She’d need to keep her energy up if she ever hoped to get out of this mess. Maybe tomorrow, she could do some scouting of the nearby area to see what she had to work with. With only a vague idea of how to proceed; Ariel’s first day in a hostile environment came to a close.

  “So, how was Ariel’s first day?” Sean asked as she sat down to dinner with Thorn and her daughter, Tabitha.

  “Well, she hasn’t caught on yet, so that’s a good thing. She’s also doing remarkably well. She figured out what repairs to make, and got the solar panels deployed. She did push herself too much in making the repairs, but finished before it became life threatening,” Thorn reported, proud of his student.

  “Do you think she’ll make it the whole week before she figures out she’s on a holo-deck?” Tabitha asked.

  “There’s a ship wide contest taking bets on how fast she’ll figure it out. I think there were a few that thought she might not be fooled at all. She told me that she didn’t want the ‘larger-than-life’ galactic superhero image, but somehow, I don’t think she’s going to be able to avoid it forever,” Sean said sighing.

  Tabitha nodded in agreement. “She’s very beautiful, single, and the second most powerful person in the galaxy. Some believe that since she isn’t hindered by the Council that she is the most powerful. The Emperor obviously loves her, so the people do too.”

  “She lead the counter attack to catch her assassins, she didn’t panic when she discovered the bomb, but instead asked how to diffuse it, proving she’s fearless, and tough.”

  “Once she learned the truth, she freed the captive slave that had been sent to kill her; proving she is compassionate and understanding. The fun with the marines has only fueled the fire of her already growing legend. Don’t think for a minute that every person on this ship doesn’t know that she personally performed the duty for her fallen guard.”

  “If I didn’t know she was working for the best interests of the Empire, I would have to say she is fast becoming a larger threat to it than Altrov’s Cabal or the Kragen.” Tabitha sipped her wine. “I’ve found even my own loyalties shifting towards her, and I’m aware of the danger!”

  “Danger, yes, that’s probably a good word for
it. She is going to make an excellent Empress, and the legend she builds now will only help to secure her rule, but how long do you think it’ll take for the Baron and the Cabal to figure this out as well?” Thorn asked.

  “You don’t think they haven’t already? Why else would they be willing to destroy one of their most profitable slave planets just to kill her? Altrov may be a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them. Yes, he has a temper, and Ariel seriously embarrassed him, but he’d never let that get in the way of his profit margin. No, I think the Cabal is all too aware of the threat our beautiful Princess poses. I’m willing to bet that there isn’t a corner of the Empire that doesn’t know of her; give it another six months, and she’ll have the hearts and minds of most of the population,” Sean replied.

  “What about the plans she wanted to get in motion? Did she get a chance to talk to you about them before we crashed her on the holo-deck?” Thorn asked.

  “Only in a general sense. However, I am acting on part of them. I sent a team out to the largest moon of the sixth planet. They are to start building the shipyard, and a flight training base. I sent along the engineers that designed Cole’s and Tewney’s new ships. I asked them to try to come up with completely new designs for their ships,” Sean answered.

  “Okay, so how are we going to hide the whole thing?” Tabitha asked. “We not only have to hide from Altrov’s forces, but our own fleet as well.”

  Sean chuckled. “There is a reason I picked a spot so far away from the raw materials we’re going to need, dear. The materiel in those ice rings plays unholy hell with a scanner’s sensor readings. Not even mass/energy detectors work since the readings are always changing.”

  “And you want to put a flight school there? Won’t that be a bit hard on the recruits?” Thorn asked, concerned.

  “Well, I’m sure it’ll keep them on their toes, but there is a moon that’s far enough out that can be used without killing off the trainees. Honestly, I’m more worried about getting the newly built ships out of that dead-zone. I’ve been assured by Denise and her team that it won’t be an issue,” Sean said. “So, the rest is up to you and Ariel; finding a place for the rest of the training, and barracks.”

  “I might have to wait for her, she knows the system far better than I do,” Thorn said.

  Tabitha snorted, and looked at him. “How does Tewney let you be that dumb?”

  After she quit laughing, Sean asked, “How is Cole doing? It has to be difficult for him to be separated again.”

  “It is; I think he’s monitoring her more closely than any of us are. Both Ariel’s crew and mine talk to him to keep him company, but it’s not the same. The bond is really strong between those two,” Thorn replied.

  Sean nodded in agreement. “Every day, it seems that something happens or is observed about her that underscores just how special she really is. She’s still kind of naive about our social customs, but she’s learning incredibly fast.” Tabitha nodded in agreement with her mother.

  “I suspect that mental link to Cole she has goes far deeper than just her conscious mind.” Thorn paused to take a drink of his wine. “Sometimes I think she’s simply absorbing information without even realizing that she is.”

  “That could be it. Still I wake up every morning, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. Life around our Princess certainly isn’t dull,” Tabitha said.

  While she slept, Ariel had developed a healthy suspicion that her current situation was fake; created so she could complete her guardian training. The only solid evidence she had was her inability to ‘connect’ with the small, dumb, computer in the pod. Although, she had to admit the failure could simply be because there was no real intelligence there for her to connect to.

  Sitting up in her bunk, she stretched, got up, and went to the bathroom to begin her morning ablutions. That was the one nice thing about her whole cabin doubling as the escape pod: her sanitary facilities came with her.

  She finished up, got dressed in coveralls, got her breakfast from the replicator, and sat at her small table to eat. After a few bites, and a sip or two of coffee, Ariel looked up at the ceiling, and spoke.

  “Do I need to stay in here for the whole week, or does one day constitute a valid test? I can stay in here longer if I need to.”

  Suddenly, she felt a very relieved Cole back in her mind. “How did you figure it out so fast, Ariel?”

  “I actually hadn’t until just now. I suspected, but had no proof. I figured I’d ask my question, and if the situation was real, no one would ever know I asked. If not, you’d think I figured out the ruse, and respond.”

  “Very clever, Milady,” a grinning Sean said from the airlock door. “Normally, just figuring it out this early would force us to retest you. However, since you were smart enough to trick us into revealing the test; it’s obvious another test would be a waste of effort. Since your instructor agrees with me, I’m officially recording a pass for this test.

  “Imperial Princess Ariel Parker, having completed acceptance, enhancement, and training for the position of Guardian, do you now wish to renounce your claim on that title?”

  Ariel stood and straightened to a position of attention. “No, Guardian Admiral Hs'ean, I do not wish to renounce it.”

  “And so it is recorded. As your Commander, I order you to report to bay Alpha no later than twelve hundred. Dress is Guardian formal, and bring the pin His Majesty gave you.”

  “Aye Ma’am!” Ariel replied.

  Smiling, Sean extended her hand. “Welcome to our ranks, Ariel.”

  Ariel returned the smile, and clasped Sean’s arm. “Thank you, Sean.”

  When Ariel left Cole in her new dress uniform, she had no idea what awaited her. The first thing she noticed was that the big hanger doors that separated the maintenance ‘shack’ from the rest of the hanger bay were closed. She had no idea if it was normal to have the doors closed, but it struck her as odd since she had only ever seen them open.

  Once again she thought to herself that it was just amazing that something man-made, which flew in space, could have so many huge, cavernous areas inside of it. Most of the time it was hard to remember you actually were on a spaceship.

  Corporal mKail seemed to appoint herself Ariel’s personal guard, and she was taking no chances with her charge. When they opened the hatch into the main bay, mKail entered first, to make sure it was safe.

  When Ariel stepped through, she knew something was wrong because mKail was at attention. Since Ariel had already had a ‘talk’ with mKail, she figured there was a reason for it. She knew what it was a moment later when she heard a stereo-typical Gunnery Sergeant calling his troops to attention. Ariel felt the deck shake under her booted feet as over two thousand personnel jumped to their feet and came to attention as one.

  “Ariel, turn and salute the ship’s colors on the bulkhead to your right,” Cole whispered in her mind.

  “Thanks. Will you help me through the whole ceremony? I don’t want to screw this up,” Ariel asked. “I just wish you could be here too.”

  “Of course I’ll help you, Young One! That is, after all, my primary function, Guardian,” Cole replied. “As for being there... We wouldn’t miss it.”

  Just as he said the last, the huge doors began to open with a smoothness that belied their size. Although it was difficult for her to see through the doors from her angle, Ariel saw a lot of activity on the inside.

  “You need to head for Admiral Hs'ean and Commander Tho’ren, we’ll be with you shortly,” Cole told her. She could hear the pride in his voice and feel it through the link. He was very proud of her.

  Sending a silent acknowledgment back through the link, Ariel headed for her friends awaiting her on a raised dais, mKail was one step back and one to the left. When she climbed the steps, mKail took a post beside the steps so she could easily scan the large gathering for threats.

  As she climbed the steps, Ariel got a look back the way she’d came. She saw Cole being pulled out of his berth by a
small anti-grav crawler. When he was turned so he could be parked, she saw that her crew chief had already painted the ship’s new name and number on the intake cowling just forward of the main-wing.

  Tewney was also being pulled out for the ceremony. Thorn looked like a proud parent as his girl made her debut. Watching the reactions from the crowd, Ariel again wasn’t sure this had been the best idea, but Sean had reassured her it would be okay.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw mKail tense, and slowly begin to move up the stairs. She’d just noticed the armed and armored marines at every exit from the bay. Ariel regretted that there hadn’t been time to brief her before the ceremony. Ariel turned back to her, and whispered to her.

  “Don’t worry about the marines, or the floaters if you see them. I didn’t have time to brief you before we started, it’s all part of a huge trap. Some of these people are the ‘questionable’ crew members from Divine Light that Cole and Tewney could find among the crew. Except for my accepting the shoulder guard, everything else said and done in here is classified ultra-secret.”

  “I understand, Milady; it’s the bait. I’ll keep an eye out now that I know the situation. Thank you,” mKail replied.

  Ariel nodded and winked at the woman before heading back for her friends. As she came to a halt before Sean, she came to attention and saluted. Sean returned the salute and had her turn to face the crowd. Unseen by everyone except the armored marines was the force screen being projected in front of the dais. It was strong enough to deflect even a bomb blast.

  “Hear me, all of those present; attested to by her trainers and certified by myself, this Guardian Candidate has successfully completed all the training and testing required to become one of the elite.” She turned to Ariel. “Princess Lady Ariel Parker, you have qualified on merit and skill for the title of Guardian. Do you possess the ethical and moral qualities to uphold the honor of the Guardians?”

  Ariel was very serious when she answered. “More than most, Guardian Admiral.”

  “Ariel, what are you doing? That’s not how you’re supposed to reply!” Cole said urgently.