Hornraiser’s Confederacy

Sanxing Star System

NSW Liberty

The Sanxing Star System was an oddity in human space, a Trinary star system, with the main star system containing a G-type star(SanxingA) orbited closely by a small red dwarf(SanxingB). This was where the main planet of Di orbited far from the close binary that formed the first two parts of the trinary star system.

It’s very distant third was a white dwarf(SanxingC), functionally meaningless to most humans, as the star has long blasted away any rocks worth exploiting. Had long study in SanxingAb not noticed the distant pull of SanxingC, it probably would have been ignored forever. Except SanxingC was the ‘anchor’ of the end of the Free-Confederacy Trade Route, almost on top of the limit which stopped ships from activating their hyperdrives inside it. So there was a small emergency station here, tangentially owned by the Confederacy, but staffed mostly by those from Sanxing, it was by most considered to belong to them, not the government as a whole.

These were distracting thoughts as Lieutenant John Savor once again went down the checklist the lead engineer had assigned him to work on with Chief Petty Officer Dawson. Both of them were currently checking the power feed lines from the reactor, a task that had Dawson nearly halfway buried in an access panel, reading out data from the scanner tool he had in there with him. It was his job to mark down the numbers and then check them against the safety standards set by the navy. If something was off, he would need to call it in to the lead engineer and they could work on it.

“0.54% Lieutenant.” Dawson called out from inside the bowls of the ship, a few seconds passed, “and 0.56%.”

Savor didn’t even need to check the listed safety thresholds to know that was perfectly within tolerance, the only way it could have been better is if they had just taken the ship out of the builder’s dock for the first time.

“God this is boring as hell.” He muttered, marking down the numbers on the tablet. “Everything looks good on this panel.”

The chief pushed himself out of the access, sat up, and twisted his back with a grimace. “Boring means things are working as they should be. Interesting means your life is about to go to hell Sir.”

“I don’t get why we have to do it again so soon after the last check, we did this three months ago, a detailed inspection isn’t scheduled for another three!”

Dawson looked up Savor with a bland expression then pulled himself up to his feet. He was short and somewhat skinny which made many people underestimate him. Savor knew better than to underestimate any enlisted, they ran most of the ship after all. “Sir, you probably know more about what we are doing than I, but the rumor mill has us here, secretly I might add, to fight the Murderer of Centurion IV.”

Savor blinked and gave a slow nod. That’s what he had heard too, most of the senior officers were being awfully cagey about details, operational security apparently despite them having come out here on a mission to hunt pirates. If they were going after the traitor that bombed one of their worlds…

“Then you know she is a tricky person to fight. We might have the firepower, the armor, maybe even the stealth. But never she managed to trick then murder her entire crew before she rained hellfire down on Foundation. We need to make sure everything is in working order or else she will find a way to exploit it against us.” Chief Dawson paused. “You best remember that Sir. It could save your life.”

Savor swallowed a nervous reply and just nodded, looking down at the numbers that seemed more important than they had before. “Thank you Chief.”

Hornraiser’s Confederacy

Zenith Star System

TMS Tensi

The meeting room was crowded with the holographic forms of every Callisas ship commander that was in the Zenith Star System.

The convoy had come here because Zenith was a wealthy star system by Confederacy standards, unusually well protected by what Confederate warships weren’t actively involved in a rebellion or suppressing one. It was also where larger formations of Novu warships tended to linger when they came out here due to the Zenith Government Authority being in their right pocket. So the Callisas convoy had expected to see at least the battleship here, if not a good chunk of the formation they had met at the beginning of the Free-Confederacy Trade Route.

They were nowhere to be found and that made Captain Nava Emmet suspicious.

“Alright settle down.” She called across the low noise of conversation and waited until all of their eyes were on her. “I called you all into this meeting because there’s something missing. In our travels we have come across a few of the Novu Sol formation we saw on our way into the Confederacy, but never the battleship. I thought we would see them here.”

“They aren’t.” One of the older captains said bluntly. “To be fair to them Captain, while the ZGA’s connections to Novu Sol are the worst kept secret in space, a battleship is a bit much to expect to hide and keep secret.”

Emmet shook her head. “I would usually agree but anywhere else would be a dead give away and it means they would have to be self-sufficient. Battleships are capable of that but these are ships used to always being in friendly territory with a planet nearby for support and shore leave for the crew. They’re up to something.”

None of the ship commanders looked pleased at the idea of Novu Sol being ‘up to something.’ Over a year ago they had all but invaded their capital system, so it wasn’t out of the question, especially with a battleship at their disposal.

“So,” Emmet continued, “I want to send a ship to keep a close eye on the Trade Route entrance in SanxingC.”

“I’ll go.”

Emmet wasn’t surprised to see Captain Fitzkeller volunteering. She shook her head at him. “Captain, as much as I’m grateful that someone volunteered, I think it would be safer to send someone who isn’t deep in The Admiral’s pocket.” She held up a hand as he started to object, his dark eyes flashing with anger. “If the Novu Navy sees you out there keeping an eye on them, they will probably think you are a scout of some sort for her. It’s such a badly kept secret that you are her favorite that I’m surprised that Novu Sol hasn’t tried to arrest you. No, I am not going to put you in a position where the Novu Navy might have cause to try to capture in order to bait The Admiral in.”

“She’d sooner shoot me than fall for anything like that.” Fitzkeller mumbled.

“Yes but Novu Sol is not known for their subtlety.” Emmet said dryly. “Anyone else before I start handing out orders? I need someone with at least a little plausible deniability.”

There was silence at the holographic conference for a few seconds before one of the destroyer commanders raised his hand to gather attention. “I’ll go Ma’am.”

Emmet made sure to check the name tag as Commander Daniel Clark of the TMS Swiftsure hadn’t ever been a big presence at any of these meetings. (Though that was more due to the man's lack of seniority.) A pale man with neatly kept facial hair and short hair that was light brown bordering on dark ginger. Not exactly who she had expected to step up after Fitzkeller’s attempt to volunteer but she was pleased that she had a person to voluntarily send rather than order.

“Alright Commander Clark,” Emmet said, pulling up information on his destroyer, making sure the ship was up to the task. “I want you on your way out of Zenith in an hour. You are to take all due precautions in making sure Novu Sol doesn’t see you there. You are to stay quiet until we return with the convoy. There are only two circumstances in which you are to go active and that is to either stop a pirate attack or if you are in imminent danger.”

Clark nodded. “And if they actually do something before you get there?”

“Depending on when that is, you are to come find us and warn us.” Emmet tapped a command into her console. “If Novu Sol is making a move to seize the end of the Trade Route we need to know as soon as possible. It’s likely that would be a precursor to taking over the Confederacy.”

Fitzkeller frowned. “Ma’am we don’t have anywhere close to the firepower here to stop them if they want to do that.”

Emmet gave a snort of laughter. "We can definitely try to lodge a complaint, but no, we aren't going to start a war with the Premier power in space for the disaster that is the Confederacy. We are going to rush home and warn our government. On the way we can warn The Nation of the Free given that the Confeds are in their backyard. But we need information." She looked down at Clark. "And you Commander are going to get it for me."

"Yes Ma'am. Is there anything else you need?" He asked.

"No, now go," she looked at the clock, "I want you gone in 55 minutes."

Clark gave Emmet a crisp salute before he vanished from the conference.

Hornraiser’s Confederacy

Commander Daniel Clark

TMS Swiftsure

"So you think Novu Sol really is going to grab the Confeds?"

Daniel Clark looked over at his XO, Lieutenant Commander Jessica Harrington, standing beside the junior tactical officer on duty.

"Not particularly. It doesn't seem like their style." Clark responded. "Too blatant."

"And you didn't bring this up with Emmet?" She asked.

"It wasn't worth bringing up. There's little worse than what the captain already guessed, except maybe if they were invading Callisas. Operational security would keep any sign of that locked up tight back in Novu Sol, we wouldn't see anything out here suggesting that. Too far away." He explained, sitting back and relaxing his posture, doing his best to seem unbothered by the idea. "We are going to SanxingC, and seeing what is going on." He motioned Harrington over and his XO came to stand beside him.

"Yes Sir?"

"Novu Sol are bastards but they are smart ones. Something has triggered them to not be here. I believe Emmet was right to assume the battleship would have been here, it makes the most sense for a pampered ship used to flag runs. Whatever it is, we need to be prepared for anything in SanxingC, understand Jessica?" Clark said quietly.

"Of course." She looked around the bridge. "I'll make sure the ship lives up to her name."