Stars of Blood and Glory by Joe Vasicek

I’m
sure she’ll be found and rescued.”
    “ I hope so,” said Katsuichi.
Suddenly, all his preparations for battle seemed as small and
insignificant as a tempest on an uninhabited world.

Part II
     
    Chapter 6
     
    Roman stepped heavily through the open door
to the officer’s lounge and grunted as he took his customary seat
in the front corner. A quick glance around the cozy room showed
that all the officers were back from leave—even the new cybernetics
officer, Lieutenant Al-Najmi. She leaned against the wall in the
back, arms folded across her chest. On the foldout couch nearby,
Lieutenant Yuri Avanadze sat with his arm around his wife, the
doctor. Mikhail Konstantin, the chief engineer, sat in the chair
next to them, laughing good-naturedly at some joke. The gray-haired
drone fighter specialist, Corporal Zura Tajjashvili, sat next to
the ventilator with the smoldering butt of a cigarette nestled
between his fingers. His old, sunken eyes met Roman’s, and the two
men nodded in silent acknowledgment of each other. Though neither
of them had served in the same unit during the short-lived
revolution, they were some of the only remaining members of the
crew with enough years behind them to remember the old days.
    Captain Danica Nova stood in front of the
entertainment center, which had been retracted back into the wall.
Her face was stern, her expression unreadable, same as with every
briefing. Roman detected no unusual pulse or heat signatures on her
body, no hidden anxieties or tension beneath the surface of her
commanding demeanor. With luck, this next mission would be an easy
one.
    “ Men,” said Danica, nodding to no
one and yet everyone at the same time. Instantly, the room fell
silent, and all eyes turned toward her.
    “ Fifteen minutes ago, I received
an urgent call from our employers at New Rigel. They have a job for
us.”
    “ Good,” said Lieutenant Yuri,
leaning forward in his seat. “How soon do they want us to head out
for the rift?”
    “ Actually, they want us to
withdraw from the main fleet. We are to conduct a private mission
in conjunction with the palace guard. If we’re lucky, we might not
see any combat at all.”
    The lieutenant’s expression fell, and his
body stiffened. Doctor Avanadze reached out and gently rubbed his
shoulders, but Roman knew that the young man’s spirit would not be
calmed so easily.
    “ Five standard days ago,” Danica
continued, “Her Imperial Highness Hikaru fled the palace on
Fukai-Nami and took a commercial ferry shuttle into
orbit.”
    She keyed a command onto her wrist console,
and the holographic projector on the coffee table displayed a three
dimensional image of the princess. Roman squinted; she was a pretty
girl, probably in her late teens, with a slender, well-developed
body and eyes that betrayed a wild and spirited character. She wore
one of the fancy kimonos of the royal family, but from the
expression on her face, it seemed that she’d be more comfortable in
something else.
    “ According to her servants, the
princess left the palace of her own volition. However, the palace
guard informs me that there are several rogue elements both inside
and out of this system that would readily seize her if they knew
she was unprotected.”
    “ So they want us to get her
back?” asked Zura, stabbing his cigarette in the retractable
ashtray next to the ventilator.
    “ Essentially,” said Danica.
“Discretion is a priority, which is why the palace guard contacted
us first.”
    “ And what about the Hameji?”
asked Yuri, his lips curled up at the edges. “What about the
upcoming campaign? This isn’t a time to be chasing after a runaway
princess—not when the Hameji are almost within our
grasp.”
    “ The captain will decide which
mission is best to take,” Roman interjected, turning to face the
young lieutenant. “We are not Federation soldiers—it is not our
fight.”
    “ Have you forgotten who slagged
Tajjur V?” Yuri shot back. “Who slew