Galen
Galen would miss the busy system of Calraid. Never had he seen a system so busy in all his life with starships, and people from all over the Settle Worlds coming and going. The Old Ruins might be filled with old abandoned worlds, decaying after thousands of years, but it was also filled with pirates, raiders, and slavers, but hundreds of starships seemed to take the risk each day.
Galen had always had a safe fear of the Old Ruins. Ever since he was a kid, his father would tell him horror stories. Legends of some of the ancient core worlds of Furse space which fell to their ancient enemy, the Skoll, thousands of years ago. The Skoll themselves were wiped out from the Old Ruins by the Furse kingdoms after the fall of the last Furse Empire, and the many Skoll hunting Orders, among them the Order of the Jom.
“Are you all set?” Lord Cinders asked Galen as he brought her a cup of hot coffee.
“Yes Ser,” Galen responded, and handed her cup which she took with a simple nod. It was nothing that any number of Bots on the ‘Long Serpent’ couldn’t handle, or the hundreds of A.I. systems other than the ‘Long Serpent’ itself, but the Lord General liked to have her aides perform such tasks.
“It’s a shame to be leaving so soon,” Vanir said softly.
Galen had to agree with the Techno-Mage. Most days he had plenty of time to spare to explore the many worlds in the System of Calraid, but he could spend a year and not see everything the system had to offer. He didn’t know if there was another system in all of Furse Space with that many habitable worlds, and he took advanced of the fact that his position gave him more free time than most.
Galen knew his position as one of General Cinder’s aides was only due because of his father, that the fleet itself had only left Highpass Space itself because of him, but he didn’t care.
“I’ll be glad when we are back in Highpass,” General Earl, the commanding officer of the 213th legion stated.
“Indeed,” General Dyer agreed.
“Ah you lot have no sense of fun,” Vanir told the Generals.
“Fun has its place, but so does home,” Lord General Cinder said, and took another sip of her coffee.
Galen looked at the main command table they stood around as the small fleet flew it’s route to the edge of the system where they could jump to lightspeed away from the gravity wells of the planet, and safely away from the other dozens of starships that were in orbit around one world or another in the System. The traffic of dozens, perhaps hundreds of starships were shown as they flew about the system in their own orbits or routes confirmed by the Star Fortress Oregar.
Throughout the command deck the sensor information from the fleet were displayed on screens, holographic projectors, command tables, and other information read outs around the command deck as dozens of personal went about their duties as the ‘Long Serpent’ went through the normal chaos of readying themselves to jump out of the system.
Galen watched as the General stood at her regular position. She hardly spoke as her crew went about their duties and prepared for the starship to bring it’s faster than light engines online so it along with the rest of the fleet could jump. When the command was given the ‘Long Serpent’ and her escort ships of the rest of the fleet would jump through space at almost a light year in an instant.
“I hate the Reaper’s Run Sector,” General Earl said.
“It’s not as bad as it once was,” General Dyer responded.
“Still, the faster we get to Hartholm, and than out of the sector, the better in my books,” General Earl stated.
“What’s wrong with the Reaper’s Run Sector?” Galen asked.
Both Generals gave a short amused snort before the Lord General spoke. “Clan Reap were once rivals to Clan Aegis for control of Furse Space, mostly what is now the Kingdom of the Wanes. Reaper’s Run gets its name for the Reaps often raiding the sector or ships traveling through it. It was often a major battle ground between the Kingdom of Fist and Kingdom of the Wanes, and the Reaps took advantage of it.”
“The Reaps fell in line though,” Vanir cut in. “The sector might still have it’s fair share of raiders, but they are smart enough not to attack Furse ships, at least those allied to the king, not unless they want to face the wrath of Sector-lord Isadora Hound Reap.”
Galen knew a little about Clan Reap, but history had never been one of his strong suits.
“We’ll be fine,” The Lord General stated. “Hartholm is a thriving system, and one which does not take kindly to it’s trade routes being raided. Sector-lord Hound Reap isn’t the only lord’s wrath to worry about.”
The fleet could jump every three hours without bringing the emergency jump drive engines online, and could even push the engines to jump every two hours, although they could not maintain that speed for more than a few jumps. The fleet would travel more than six and half light years in a twenty four hour period, which meant that they would reach the Hartholm System in seven and a half days of jumps through space, and minor systems.
Roughly ninety FTL Jumps from the Calraid System to the Hartholm system, and Galen was glad that they were on a Furse ship. There were no faster ships in all the Settled Worlds of Mann for either sub light speeds or FTL speeds, although Baatar ships came close.
“Fleet is in position at the edge of the system Lord General,” called out High Companion Egbert Cobbs, one of the four XO officers of the ‘Long Serpent’ to Lord General Cinder’s as she stood at the main command table and sipped her coffee. The command table projected a display of the fleet, and other objects that the sensors could pick up.
The Lord General nodded as she stood flanked by the two Generals commanding two legions which made up the crew of the ‘Long Serpent’. Galen was still in awe of the starship his father had captured from the former King of Highpass when he defeated his fleet in combat with the aid of the King of Fist, King of the Wanes, and Jom.
Almost a hundred and ten thousand men and women were assigned to the ‘Long Serpent’, two full Imperial Legions. The 5th and 213th Imperial Legions matched the crew size of the other five ships in the fleet together.
“Jump,” the Lord General replied after a moment, and Galen reached out and grabbed one of the railings as the ship jumped forward through space, and was gone from the Calraid System as though it was never there.
