There was a time, Adrian Dalstrom had heard, when his ancestor, Charles Dalstrom had traveled the galaxy in search of adventure, gaining favour with the Imperial House, for exploits in the name of the Imperium. His grandfather had always told him stories when he was younger, of the escapades of the Dalstroms, before they eventually arrived at Vesper.
Vesper was like many tundra worlds. The harsh climate made farming and habitation difficult. The northern and southern poles were large, desolate landscapes of ice and frozen rock. A small temperate green belt circled the equator, where most settlements were concentrated. Between the temperate and polar regions, lay an enormous stretch of permafrost, permanently frozen soil. This barely hospitable planet turned away all but most hardy and determined of souls. Here Charles Dalstrom finally settled down with his family as Viceroy of the Protectorate of Vesper.
The Dalstrom’s lived in the capital city of Gerdiom, located near the center of the temperate region, peacefully maintaining order over the few cities and agricultural and mining settlements of Vesper, in the name of the distant Imperial Capital. Adrian had heard that they had attained the position, because no other House had any wish to rule such a cold, isolated planet on the edge of the Imperium. Whatever the case, House Dalstrom had a rather boring and unimportant job as far as Adrian was concerned.
Aboard the space liner, Adrian pondered why his father had called him home. Why would he interrupt my training at the Imperial Academy on Brigandy? Thought Adrian. His father had mentioned that a vein of Celestite Amethyst, the energy crystals that powered the latest generation of new space travel technology, had been found on Vesper, far below the permafrost. The existence of Crystals could be a boon for Vesper’s economy. At the same time, it was bound to attract the attention of a multitude of greedy Houses and Guilds. The Trade Consortium will no doubt soon arrive on Vesper, and begin the process of auctioning shares of the planet’s estimated Crystal yield, realized Adrian.
“Sir, we will be entering Vesper orbital space shortly, and docking at the Cadeus Space Station II,” said the captain as Adrian turned to face him.
“Right, thank you captain,” replied Adrian.
House Dalstrom was too poor to afford a proper Space Defence Fleet. Until the discovery of the Crystals, the only economy on Vesper was through agriculture, and basic ores found in the frozen rock. The Dalstrom militia forces consisted of little more than a division of weather hardened soldiers, and a few obsolescent Space Fighters from the Imperial Guard surplus. But then, who would ever attack Vesper? A small garrison, and a police force seemed all that was necessary for a planet of barely 2 million.
Lieutenant Malcolm Hyde was one of the few Imperial trained pilots of the Dalstrom Air Force. As such, he was one of the first to be scrambled to intercept an unscheduled arrival of several ships.
“Roger that, this is squadron 102 headed for intercept of fleet detected by comm sat,” said Hyde.
“Copy that squadron leader, unidentified fleet is traveling through a hyperspace conduit, bearing directly towards the Hypergate at Delta Station, and has ignored all hails,” replied the communications officer.
“Intercept in ETA 4 hours over,” said Hyde.
Adrian reflected on how strange it was to be traveling through Hyperspace. All around the ship, time and space were being bent and distorted to allow the ship to reach a point in space without traversing the corresponding time. It shortened the travel time between civilized systems to a matter of days. Or at least, that was what he’d been told.
At the other end of the conduit, a Hypergate sat, waiting to receive them back into real space. You needed a Hypergate at both ends of a journey to travel through a conduit safely. Thus, in order to reach new systems without a Hypergate, one would need to travel at less than light speed, taking years to reach their destination.
At least, that was to way it was until the Crystals were discovered. The Crystals were the source of natural temporal energy deposits, and the Trade Consortium had developed a way to tap into this energy, allowing for Hyperspace travel without any Gates. It had begun to make expansion of the Imperium possible again.
Governor Zachary Vandrake glared angrily at the hologram.
“What do you mean they’ve detected you?” yelled the angry Governor.
“Well sir, they’ve sent a squadron to intercept us,” replied the fleet Captain.
“Fool! You will continue on your mission! You will not turn back! You will die fighting! Do you understand!” ordered the Governor.
“Yesssir” replied the shaken Captain.
The hologram flickered out of view, and Governor Vandrake began pacing around the dark, smoke filled room. Little do they know, that I have another surprise for Dalstrom, thought Vandrake. The Imperial House, and the Consortium both now want your little planet, with its precious Crystals, and who am I to deter them from helping me destroy you?
Viceroy Leonard Dalstrom stood at the frost-ridden windows of the prestigious stone citadel that overlooked Gerdiom. The capital of Vesper spread out before him like a sprawling metropolis, the largest, most populated city on the planet. Above, he could see the darkening night as Vesper’s two moons made their way silently through the sky.
“So what do we know so far?” asked Leonard to the men standing at attention behind him.
“My liege, we must be prepared for a Vandrake reprisal, they certainly will not sit idly by while we suddenly become an economic power,” replied an advisor.
“Heh, I wouldn’t put it above them,” responded Leonard.
“Sire, we must take precautionary measures,” continued the advisor.
“I’ve already sent for my son,” said Leonard. If only I did not have to involve him in this, thought Leonard. “When will he be arriving?”
“In two hours my liege,” said another official.
“Excellent, we must make preparations for the Trade Consortium, and attend to any uninvited Vandrake guests,” said Leonard.
Hyde looked closely at the sensor readings. Only six light frigates, and an assortment of marauder fighter craft, he wondered. We can easily defeat that with the orbital planetary defences. Heck, if we closed the Hypergate, it would annihilate them, along with any other unfortunate traffic, without a single weapon being fired. What could the Vandrakes be up to? He knew that the Vandrakes weren’t suicidal. Something was wrong.
Adrian stepped out of the airlock, and into the rotating space station. He saluted as a military officer approached him.
“Sir, a shuttle will be arriving in an hour to take you done to Gerdiom,” said the officer briskly.
“Very well, thank you,” replied Adrian absently.
Adrian looked about the station, its sharp, metallic structure illuminated by dim artificial light. Around him, a crowd of people weaved back and forth, a bustling spaceport. He peered out one of the many port windows and watched as ships were repaired and refuelled by mechanical arms. Beyond the ships, Adrian could see the rotating axis of the Hypergate, its Crystal-threaded archways glowing with a bluish tint.
“My liege, we have reports that the Vandrake fleet exited the Hypergate to a withering crossfire that decimated the force in seconds,” declared the officer as a holographical representation was displayed in front of the Viceroy and his staff.
“I don’t understand what they could be doing,” continued the officer. “Their attack was an obvious suicide run.”
“There is more to this than meets the eye,” said the Viceroy.
Suddenly, another officer ran into the room.
“My liege,” said the officer. “A Hyperspace conduit has opened up over Vesper air space!”
“What? That’s impossible!” shouted another officer. “Only the Imperial Fleet and the Consortium have the technology to generate a conduit without a Hypergate!”
“What’s coming?” asked the Viceroy.
“An armada, sire.”
From space, Adrian was able to watch in horror as an Imperial Armada descended on the planet. Thousands of sleek, metallic ships from the Imperial 4th Fleet, carrying Vandrake colours, descended like a swarm of insects upon the planet. In a matter of minutes, fires could be seen from space. The entire temperate region was set aflame. In the final moments before Adrian was forced to escape with the few survivors through the Hypergate, he could see the ships advancing towards the space station.
Celes Peroth was a major industrial planet near the center of the Imperium. It was also the home base of House Vandrake, and it’s large mercenary force. It was a planet of darkness, as smog blocked out the sun, while at the same time, kept the planet warm. Its cities were made of grayish bricks that slowly decayed from the pollution, leaving ugly brown streaks, to compliment a thoroughly industrial architecture.
In a back alleyway in the second largest city on Celes Peroth, a young, blond haired girl raced quickly, her face white with fear. Behind her, two soldiers, covered in the black and red of the Vandrake military followed in pursuit. In the shadows, a hooded figure followed at a distance. As she turned a corner she found herself staring at another pair of soldiers.
“Where are they?” yelled one of the soldiers.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m a citizen of the Imperium!” cried out the girl.
“Heh, around here, the Vandrake army makes the rules,” replied another soldier.
“Maybe we can force her to talk,” said the first soldier.
“Oh, we can force her to do more than that,” said a third soldier, a smirk spreading vilely across his face.
“Ahem, four big mean soldiers against a little girl? Isn’t that a tad unfair?” asked the girl.
“Perhaps I can even the odds,” said a voice from behind one of the soldiers.
Before the soldiers could locate the voice, a hooded figure spun past two of them, leaving deep knife wounds in his wake. The remaining two soldiers turned and raised their rifles, but fell to the ground as a blast of gunfire met them. With the soldiers dispatched, the figure removed his hood, revealing a boy, with brown hair.
“Are you alright miss?” asked the boy.
“I…I’m fine, thank you,” replied the slightly shocked girl. “Uh, who are you?”
“Allow me to present myself. My name is…Adrian…Storm,” said Adrian as he lifted the girl to her feet. “And who’s company do I have the pleasure of?”
“Sarah…Sarah Avalise,” replied Sarah.
“Nice to meet you, Sarah, but we should be leaving before any more soldiers come this way,” said Adrian, as he looked at the bloodied Vandrake uniforms.
[To Be Continued…]