Hilda
The ‘Royal Dragon’ had much of it’s passengers unloaded to the planet of Cinders by the time Hilda’s shuttle landed on one of the hangar decks. Hilda could still see the flight crews moving about as others shuttles departed, and arrived. It likely wouldn’t stop so long as thy remained in the Cinders System, any more than it would in any system.
A starship the size of the ‘Royal Dragon’ always had movement. The Victory class Dreadnought had more than five thousand crew than her own Sword class Battleship. Twenty thousand men, and women serving as the crew, not to mention the thousands of other passengers who accompanied the king, and his court. The ‘Royal Dragon’ could hold more passengers than most ships of her class for that very reason, and yet Hilda hadn’t set foot on board since the fleet had left.
Hilda had been busy after all. Her own crew was still learning to work together, and although she was proud of them for how they handled their short time in the Furia Sector, they were still rough around the edges, and there were more green members than she liked to admit. She might have been able to find time if that was all she had to worry about, but it wasn’t.
Hilda wasn’t a fleet commander, admiral, or other flag officer, and yet she had been handed thirty two newly built Sword class Battleships as part of Task Force Bravo. She was too young for that, she knew it, and everyone knew it, and she almost resented the King for that. She was happy to accept them of course, but she knew it also made her life harder, and the whispers louder.
Nor was the task of commanding a Task Force an easy one, and like her own crew, they had been made up of freshly recruited members into the King’s Guard Forces. Worse, Hilda didn’t even have a say over the captains of each ship, and while none were as young as her, many were on their first command.
King Oswald had requested that Hilda join him, and his wife on the ‘Royal Dragon’ countless times, but she had refused each one as politely as she could. The Task Force ran training drill, and simulations in each system. They were better each time, but one thing had been clear to Hilda, and that was that the ships, their captains, and the Task Force itself had as much to learn as Hilda did at leading them, but slowly they were making strides in the right direction, and once again she was thankful for Captain Atwood.
“Hilda,” King’s Guard Melvyn Tallhart welcomed her on board the starship.
“Melvyn,” Hilda greeted, and gripped the King’s Guard second in command.
“It’s good to see you,” he said with a smile. “We have been placing bets Task Force Bravo’s progress during your wargames.”
Hilda frowned. “Win much?”
“Only when I bet on you,” he smirked.
Hilda smiled back at Tallhart. “Bet on me often?”
“Every damn time,” he told her with a bigger grin, and than raised his hand for her to follow him. “The king is in his study.”
“I would have thought he would want to go planet side with the first shuttles,” Hilda replied as they made their way through the hangar.
“He does wish to get off the ship, but he needed to meet with you first, before we reach Isca,” Tallhart said.
“Isca?” Hilda asked with a raised eyebrow. That was their next stop, but there was something in his voice.
“The King will inform you,” Tallhart said.
They made their way through the ship, and reached the king.
“Lord King,” Hilda greeted with a respectful bow, but noted the Bishop next to him.
“Hilda, my loyal protector,” the King greeted, and followed her eyes to the man next to him. “May I present Bishop Keyes. Loyal friend, and subject, and someone who you must hear.”
“Hear?” Hilda asked. “Hear about what?” she finished.
“Traitors my dear,” the Bishop said from behind his fine clothes. “I am here to speak with you about traitors.”
