Yuki Yoshirou stood at the door to his grandmother’s residence. The residence was on the outskirts of a major port colony known as New Osaka. To Yoshi, New Osaka was home, he was born here, he went to school here, stolen his first kiss from behind the temple building here and more than likely will die somewhere else. Such is the way with Fleet Officers.
Yoshi brought his thoughts back to reality and pressed the intercom button. A fragile old voice answered through the speaker, inquiring who was at the door. “Hello sobo, it is yoshi, I have come to see mother” although English is predominantly the universal language spoken by all, the use of some old Japanese traits had lived on, like referring to ones grandmother as sobo.
“Oh Yoshirou, come in, come in” the buzzer at the door acknowledge that he could push on the door. Yoshi smiled, his grandmother had always as far as he could remember pronounced his full name, although he much preferred being referred to as Yoshi.
Yoshi pushed on the door and entered the tiny abode, he followed the typical protocol of removing his shoes and putting on some indoor slippers. He slowly walked down the corridor to a room at the back of the abode where his grandmother and mother would be gathered.
His mother was a striking woman, even in her early 50’s her skin was taut and her beauty still held much of its former glory, her hair was never ruffled and her clothes were always pressed and neat. But today he would not expect his normal greeting of cheerful smiles and warm hugs. There was sadness in this room, actually not just this room but all rooms across New Osaka will be tear soaked.
“Is it true, Yoshi” her eyes a mixture of fear, hope and sadness.
“Yes Mother, I have just come from Fleet HQ, the jump gate back to Earth does not work, they have send Jump probes back to the Earth system but within microseconds the probes are destroyed or malfunction and do not report any meaningful data”
“Nobody knows what is going on?”
Her eyes expanded, like a possum at night ”What of Takuma and Osamu?”, her nails involuntary gripped the arms of the chair she was sitting in, she then watched the pain in her sons face as he looked for the words to answer her with.
Takuma and Osamu were his younger brothers, Takuma was the youngest and mothers favourite although she never said so, and she had always smothered him with love and affection. Even from a young age Takuma lived up to his namesake, a true pioneer. He would escape mother’s clutches and run out into the woods and seek adventure. As he got older instead of day trips they became overnight, then weekly, much to mother’s fretting.
Osuma was the black sheep of the family, he had always been stubborn and was determined to lead his own destiny, he clashed with mother often. Mother often referred to Osuma as father’s mirror and many respects Osuma took the abuse that was often meant for father. Father of course could not take the abuse directly, because he had been with the ancestors now for over 15 years.
Yoshi bowed his head, understanding that he must reassure her, give her hope and perhaps believe some of that hope himself. “Look Mother, Osuma as you know has been living at the academy for the last two years and still not been assigned off planet.” Yoshi then proceed with a more gentler tone, “as for Takuma he was flying escort for a trade delegation to Eurlia, he was scheduled to be there a week before returning, all indications he had left the Earth system before whatever happened, and there is no indication that whatever has happened has spread outside that system.”
Her lips began to tremble as she was about to speak Yoshi cut in, “Look Mother, everything will be ok, I have to leave and head back to Fleet, if we are to figure out what is going on, they are going to need every officer.”
Her back stiffened as she regained her self control, she brushed some imaginary dust from the fabric of her skirt and rose to wish her son the best of travels, for she did not know how long before she would see him again.
Yoshi hugged his mother, their embrace was warm but staid, he then turned to his grandmother with a tight lipped smile he mouthed the words “Please look after her”, with that he about faced and walked towards the front door.
---
“504 Heavy, this is Crane One, we are now 1 hour out from Eurlia, I will need to move ahead and make way for your landing”
“Crane One, we confirm”
The small military vessel accelerated past the transport ship, heading towards the distant planet now coming into view by the naked eye. The Flight had been slow and uneventful one, with two gate jumps and a longing to check out the various delight on Earth only to float past and admire the rings on Saturn, maybe next time.
The young ensign turned around to spy the commander of the vessel, the man was relatively small in stature approximately 5ft 6, but what he lacked in height his presence seemed to add an extra inch or two. The young ensign admired the Lt Commander, although the age between the two was only a few months the commander seems to have an old soul.
She proceeded to gain his eye contact, which he acknowledge “Sir, 504 Heavy have confirmed”
“Very well ensign, contact Eurlia now and start arranging docking procedures for us and 504 Heavy”, he proceed to give her an ever slight smile and with a nod of his head for her to carry on.
The ensign turned back to her duty station and opened up into Eurlian Civilian Traffic communications, the noise that blasted out into her earpiece was astonishing, panicked reports, Governmental warning broadcasts, and general chatter back and forth between various commercial ships. She started punching her fingers across the virtual console, isolating various chatters eventually selecting only the Governmental Broadcast warning, which seemed the most important. Her mouth began to gape as she registered the details of the message.
She slowly turned her neck towards and stammered ”s sir, you need to hear this”
With a puzzled expression, he eyed her for a second trying to attempt to a wild guess why the ensign has such a frighten look on her face. “Very well, ensign, switch the message to bridge intercom”
This is a Eurlian governmental broadcast, the Earth bound jump gate is closed, do not attempt to jump use this gate, all ships with jump engines are not allowed to jump to the Earth system. The Earth system is under quarantine. All new arrivals from the Earth system are to report there presence to Military Traffic Command 001. All foreign vessels are to report to Military Traffic Command 001 and await instructions. This is a Eurlian governmental broadcast…
“What the hell is going on, Ensign get 504 Heavy on an encrypted channel and prepare them to stop and get ready to jump out of this and back to Earth on command. Then patch me through to MTC 001”
First friggen command, first friggen outing and I get this, just my luck. Yuki Takuma ran his fingers though his hair, and sat back down in the command chair. On the outside he was a calm sea of tranquillity on the inside command situations punched through his head. Were they at war, has earth been attacked, has the Eurlians lost their mind and actually split from the Earth as they have always threatened to do.
Even as a young child he was able to master the discipline of the Deer, an outside appearance of calmness, even if his inner being was a complete storm of emotions, his two brothers struggled with this training and were tortured day and night by their tutors.
The ensign broke his thoughts, with acknowledgement that MTC001 was on the line.
“MTC 001, this is the Osakan Military Vessel Chimera, we are currently escorting the Civilian transport liner, John Woo to a trade delegation meeting with your government. Could you please tell us what is going on”
“Chimera, this is MTC 001 you and the Civilian Liner are required to dock at Military Dock 7, we are sending the coordinates, we are dispatching two escorts to your position now”
“MTC 001, please state your intentions, we are a peaceful trade delegation, we have committed no breaches of interplanetary law, if you are attempting to take us into custody, not only will you be committing a serious act of aggression against our colony, we will resist.”
“Chimera, we have no intention of impounding, imprisoning or committing any breaches against the planetary articles, we actual are trying to protect you, we cannot divulge the necessary information over space channel, you will need to trust us, we do request you do not attempt to Jump back to Earth System for your own safety.”
Takuma rubs his hand across his chin with deep contemplation, if there is a serious problem in the Earth system then, he could risk the lives of the two ships, and if this is a trap to ensnare his ship then he risks the losing two ships and an international incident from an elaborate hoax.
“Ok MTC 001, we will play it your way for now, over and out”
---
Yanagi Sakiko considered herself to be a tough and determined woman, she made Kaigun Shosho by the age of 34,the youngest rear admiral ever to grace the Nihon Imperial Forces. Sakiko found that military life suited her well, there was no ambivalence or flowery conversation that filled the air to create a pleasant tone for other peoples benefit. Sakiko liked facts, hard and fast and preferred to make her decisions in the same manner, unfortunately sometimes to the displeasure of her junior staff.
Today Sakiko found herself in a new role, the commander of the entire Nihon Imperial Forces, even to her own ears, it did not sound right.
The Nihon Imperial Forces were a branch of the Earth Alliance Forces, made specifically after the settlement of New Osaka. The forces were a mixed bag of survey craft, transport craft, home defence gunboats and three escort frigates, not what you would call the Pride of the Earth Alliance Forces.
Sakiko studied the star map on the command console laid out on a desk like structure, running her fingertips across various stars, that zoomed and repositioned itself, displaying geometric and gravimetric data. Sakiko then pauses.
Looking up from the console she studies the personnel standing around, most are mentally someplace else, either thinking about love ones or lost dreams. These people are relying on her to make the correct decisions and not lose lives in the process, and not one of these souls have confidence she can do it. Perhaps it is because she is young, perhaps it because she only has just made a Fleet Senior Officer, either way it did not matter. It was time to be decisive, it was time to find a path back to Earth.
Tapping loud enough on the console to gain her staff broken attention, she maintains a steely glass gaze towards her Survey Fleet Officer. “Shosa Yoshifumi, we will start here” gliding her hand until it reaches a grav sink well, which indicates a position to do interstellar jumps from. Gravity Sink Wells were discovered a century ago, which eventually enabled humans to make interstellar jumps, which would not be possible even if human were travelling at the speed of light. These Wells are like strands of thread that pass through time and space, connecting systems together and give the stability and rigidity it needs to keep from collapsing in on itself.
“Shosa, I want a standard recon flight from our scout vessel, and then a standard grav survey of the system, then rinse and repeat in the four grav wells we have in our system.”
After thumbing through her very thin potential of survey ships, and reaching one that that was named George Ogden Abell.
“Shosa, I want to meet the commander of that vessel today, please make it happen” her tone was far from courteous.
---
Yoshi strode through the garden courtyards of Fleet Headquarters towards the side entrance. The front entrance was only for visitors or dignitaries, and leads you to nowhere important. The myriad of cherry blossoms were in bloom, but then again, they were in bloom all year round thanks to genetic engineering.
Only three hours before, he was making his way back to a naval skiff, which would have taken him to his ship. All shore leave had been cancelled. But instead of checking lists, analysing overhaul reports and making sure the crew chiefs were getting his ship ready for departure, HQ decided he needed to visit the new CiC, for a verbal briefing which is very unusual especially for such a lowly officer as himself.
Breaking stride to amble up the final three steps before entering past two open wooden doors into the Naval Headquarters, actual those two wooden doors as well as every brick and decorative panelling, has more history then the New Osaka Colony. The old japan island was decaying from consistent earthquake, tsunamis and human created disasters, the whole island was becoming to hazard to live.
The decision was made to find a new place to live, some people migrated to other earth countries, but some real enterprising business leaders and politicians, were opposed to, what they saw as the annihilation of the Japanese culture and race, decided space was the answer. Eventually they found New Osaka, one out of the eighteen moons orbiting a gas giant capable of supporting a human existence. Many of the buildings were transported and reassembled brick by brick from old japan, even the garden landscapes were made to be identical.
Admittedly the moon was not perfect, with temperatures around the mid to late thirties near the equator, a gravity that is 60 percent of earth gravity and a single day that is 70 hours long, makes for unusual eating and sleeping habits. But it has plenty of water, and the air is clean and it is big enough to support the 220 million population, that is share its resources.
Yoshi stopped and inspected the two wooden doors, the same doors that would have seen entry to many of the Japanese fleet greats, like Takeo Hirose and Yamamoto Isoroku, all those long years ago when the building was the Kure District Naval Headquarters.
Yoshi proceed through to fleet command, which was located within the honeycomb of rooms and hallways, only a previous visit and tour allows him to navigate to the room he seeks.
After a short wait, the administrative assistant lieutenant informed the CiC of his arrival. Yoshi pondered how strange that all ranks below a command rank are westernise, where as any rank of command distinction has reverted back to the old imperial terms. He always did like the old ways.
“You may enter, Kaigun Shosa Yuki” the lieutenant opens the door to usher Yoshi in.
Yoshi enters with a slight nod of appreciation to the junior officer.
Upon entering he is struck by the wood panelling surrounding the room, the early 1900 décor and furniture scattered around the office, with little or no technology obvious to the untrained eye and even the air has a smell of staleness around it.
Lastly his eyes settle on the woman sitting behind the rather over sized oak desk, her small physique is dwarfed by her surroundings. Her smooth skin and young complexion could confused someone that they may of entered the wrong room, and perhaps say something foolish. But there was no mistaking the rank of Kaigun Shosho on her neck collar, and fortunately the Command officer corp in the Nihon Imperial Force is quite small, small enough that in the past a fellow officer had pointed her out and told him she be CiC one day, at which he mocked. Damn he thought, I just lost my finest bottle of sake.
Kaigun Shosho Yanagi lifted her eyes to Yoshi, he then natural straighten his stance to show his reverence to her high position.
“At ease, Yoshirou” she was sizing him up “may I call you Yoshirou, yes?”
Yoshi relaxed a little, he would have like to have said, only my grandmother calls him that, but prudence was best and he would play along politely and show his approval.
“Yoshirou as you are aware we have had no signal from Earth, nor have any of our jump drones sent signals back after jumping into the Earth-Osaka Grav Well” again she paused, his superior is looking for some sort of reaction, perhaps surprise or fear, Yoshi is well use to these command games and only provides the adequate look of interest needed to shows he understand the situation but is confident it will be resolved.
Saikiko deciding to fall into her natural fact delivering speeches “I won’t dally around the issue, we need to explore new Grav Wells and fast, you won’t have any backup or escorts into unknown territory and if you get into trouble then more than likely it won’t be a rescue mission but a body recovery mission.”
Saikiko was relieved to have gotten all the hard stuff out of the way and slowed her speech “I need to know that my commanders understand, and can handle the situation. I am also trying to avoid any political pressures or heaven forbids, public disclosure from reluctant commanders.”
Yoshi gave a slight smile now feeling he had some semblance of authority over himself which is a rare feeling when standing in front of an Admiral even a lesser one at that. Normally it is a case of butterfly nerves or leg wobbles and the usual case of I want this finished and fast.
“You can rely on me Kaigun Shosho, I will get the job done”
Saikiko smiled, more so to settle the nerves, and here she was terrified that he would not respect her position or authority as CiC, such silly thoughts she need to get a grip on this position and wrapping her head around it, if she wanted to command respect.
“Very well Yoshirou, report to Survey Fleet Officer Yoshifumi, he has details for first assignment you leave as soon as possible”
Yoshi gave a quick salute and was about the head out of the room, when her voice spoke as if she just remembered something, “You’re going to need these as well.”
Saikiko was pushing across the desk, a small dark green velvet styled box, Yoshirou instantly recognised it, but dared not opened it. Saikiko sounded genuinely apologetic, about not being able to provide a proper presentation, mutter something about time and urgencies.
Yoshi after exiting the room and closing the door behind him flipped open the lid, and stared down at two new neck rank insignias. The lieutenant raised his eyebrows and gave a genuine smile “Congratulation, Kaigun Chusa” before quickly then ushering Yoshi down the hallway to see the Survey Fleet Officer.
<editing based on much appreciated feedback>
