Chapter 1
A Change of Command

“Commander Kaelor?” chimed the WMCU next to the Commander’s bed.
The orange-and-white furred Commander’s black-furred hand hit the appropriate control on the device, opening the Line, “Yea?” he said groggily and somewhat hoarsely.
“You… asked me to wake you once we passed into Fentic territory?” continued the feminine voice carefully.
Kaelor cleared his throat, “Yes, thank you. I’ll be in soon.” He waited to see if there would be a reply, then closed the Line. After a good stretch and a wide yawn the Commander tossed his digitigrade legs over the side of his bunk and got to his paws. As he crossed the room toward the refresher, his bushy white-tipped tail swaying slightly behind him, he touched a control at the head of the bunk, turning a large portion of the opposite wall transparent and allowing the stars’ light to stream into the room. Kaelor preferred their soft, natural light to the harsh artificial lighting the ship provided. He stepped into the narrow stall that was the refresher and keyed in a medium cycle. As the cleansing microbursts of air and sound began washing over him, he took the time to reflect.

Fent and Laurc were the fourth and fifth planets out from Vorn, the star they orbited. Life and civilization developed at about the same rate on both of them, and both civilizations discovered one another at about the same time. First contact was peaceful enough, harmless probes sent out of sheer curiosity, but since the language barrier was insurmountable at the time, the suspicion and fear both planets felt made hostilities inevitable. As is true in any war, technological advances abounded on both sides as they each tried to outdo the other. After two generations of war, the language barrier was finally breached, and the two combat weary worlds finally set aside their differences, and for a while there was peace in the orbital system, a peace that facilitated the still controversial introduction of interplanetary space travel to the ‘Taurians.
Keltaur and Sholtaur were the second and third planets from Vorn, but their orbits were strangely unique in the fact that they not only orbited the star, they orbited each other as well. Their binary nature wasn’t all that made Keltaur and Sholtaur unique, however, their inhabitants were just as strange. They had six limbs, one pair of arms and two pairs of legs, with each pair more or less evenly spaced along their bodies. Their normal position was at a square angle when viewed from the side, their heads and arms at the top of the upright portion and their legs at either end of the horizontal portion. While standing like this, they were about the same height as the Fentians and Laurcians, but that wasn’t the only similarity. Inexplicably, the physiology of the Keltaurians exactly matched that of the Laurcians, save for the second torso and extra legs, even so closely as to have the same races. The same was true for the Sholtaurians and Fentians. This uncanny resemblance was still the cause of much speculation among scientists from all four planets.
The ‘Taurians, as they are commonly called, were still incapable of interplanetary travel when the Fentians and Laurcians declared truce, but the peace was uneasy, and both sides watched the ‘Taurians carefully as potential allies or enemies. The first craft launched from Sholtaur to Keltaur was taken as a signal by Fent and Laurc, and they both rushed in to bring the ‘Taurians “up to speed” technologically. Only afterward was the question of the morality of their outside influence on the budding civilizations brought up.

The refresher chimed once it was finished, and Kaelor stepped out and grabbed his uniform from the clothing refresher and began to dress.

With Keltaur and Sholtaur’s technology at the same level as Fent and Laurc, tensions began to rise and a confrontation seemed inevitable. Just as combat forces began to mobilize from the four planets, something unexpected happened: a fifth fleet entered the orbital system from somewhere else. It was easily large enough to decimate any one of the other four fleets, and was bearing down on the two ‘Tauric fleets. Confronted with a common enemy, all four fleets worked together to drive back the invasion.

Kaelor found himself standing in front of the transparent wall, staring at the stars. His grandfather had died driving out the Korlonians, the scaly-skinned species whose invasion had brought the four planets together to form the Federation of Vorn. And yet it had taken from then to now for the Federation to get a ship in service that would have all four species on it. Kaelor sighed. For now he was still the Central Commander of the Luterin, a Laurcic Interplanetary Combat Ship he’d made somewhat famous during the subsequent Korlonian invasions. But that fame had made him a prime candidate, and now he was to be reassigned.
“Commander Kaelor?” the WMCU on the counter next to his bed chimed again, snapping the Laurcian Commander out of his reverie.
He crossed the room and opened the Line, “Yes?”
“We are now within visual range of Fent.”
“Thank you. I’ll be right in.” After once again closing the Line, Kaelor lifted the device from its berth, closed the energizing port, slipped it onto his left wrist and snapped it tight. After a quick check to ensure everything worked properly, he touched the control to turn the far wall opaque once more and left the room.

. . .

The Luterin’s Command Center was located in more or less the middle of the ship, same as any other ship in the orbital system, with direct access to most of its vital functions. It was a round room with a display hub in the middle, over which hovered a miniature representation of the Luterin, dwarfed by the curve of Fent, which faded past the display’s range. Between the Luterin and the planet loomed the largest armored construction station in the orbital system, the Ferlont. Although armor plating had since become obsolete with the rise of energy shielding, this Fentic station remained in operation, mainly because it had the ability to produce twenty mid-sized ships at the same time when working at capacity. Now, however, it was only working on one.
“With all due respect, Commander,” said the female Laurcian sitting in a seat on one side of the room, “This isn’t your first visit to Fent.”
Kaelor chuckled, “It’s an impressive sight no matter how many times you see it, Kalayna,” he told his grey-patterned Secondary Central Commander as he strode over, “But you are right, I do seem to be in a reflective mood.”
Kalayna nodded understandingly, then stood, “Take your seat,” she said kindly, “Enjoy your last few moments as Central Commander.”
Kaelor gave a nod and sat down in the chair, passing his hands over the controls built into it with a sigh as his Secondary sat in a similar chair nearby.
“We’re receiving a Comm request from the Ferlont,” the Communication Overseer announced.
Kaelor nodded, “Put it on and open the Line.”
The Communication Overseer tapped the appropriate controls and a domineering voice rang through the Command Center, “Laurcic ship, identify and state your purpose,” it demanded in Fentic.
“This is Kaelor, Central Commander of the Luterin, designation LPCS-1-10-7” Kaelor replied in Fentic, “I request permission to dock.”
“Permission denied, Commander…” the voice continued, sounding preoccupied.
“Kaelor,” the Laurcian commander repeated, confused and slightly annoyed, “I was sent here by the Federation-”
“For re-assignment,” the voice interrupted, “yes, I know. So were many others. If we allowed all their ships to dock it would take several Fentic weeks to get everyone in. Ah, here you are, Kaelor. Confirmation code?”
It did make sense, they were crewing a whole ship from scratch after all. Kaelor sighed, glad he wasn’t in charge of this particular logistics nightmare, “One, Eleven, Seven, Nine,” he recited.
There was a pause, “Confirmed. You have permission to bring one craft over with one pilot to take it back after dropping you off.”
“I’m afraid the smallest thing we’ve got that’s large enough for two is a Landing Craft,” Kaelor said apologetically.
The voice at the other end of the Line heaved a frustrated sigh, “Bring it in, we’ll have a spot cleared by the time you get here.”
“Understood. Anything else?” Kaelor asked.
“Not from me,” came the reply, followed by a click as the Line closed.
“Glad I’m not the one setting this up,” Kalayna said.
Kaelor chuckled, “My thoughts exactly.” After a moment he stood with a sigh, “Well, better not keep them waiting. Prepare a Landing Craft for departure,” he said to the Communication Overseer, who nodded his understanding, “In the meantime, there’s something else I need to do.” He turned to face Kalayna, “Secondary Central Commander, please stand.”
“Yes, Commander?” she asked as she stood, seeming to know what was coming.
Kaelor removed the Wrist-Mounted Computer Unit from his arm, “Due to a re-assignment, I will no longer be in command of this ship. Therefore, I place you in command until you lose your life, are re-assigned yourself, or pass on command to another of your choice,” he held out the WMCU with both hands, “Do you accept this responsibility?”
Kalayna blinked disbelievingly for a moment, overwhelmed, then tentatively placed her hands under the offered device, “I do…” she said softly.
Kaelor smiled, “Then it is yours,” he said, placing the unit in her outstretched hands.
The grey-furred female simply stared at the piece of technology in her hands for a moment, “I… I knew I’d have to take command after you left,” she began slowly, then looked up, “but I thought it’s just be temporary, until a more qualified replacement was sent in.”
“There isn’t a more qualified replacement to be had,” Kaelor assured her, then began listing off her qualifications on his fingers, “You’ve had all the proper training, you’ve got more than enough command experience in both mundane and combat conditions, you already know this ship better than the ones who built the darn thing, and everyone on board already trusts you with their life. Not to mention the… glowing recommendation your predecessor submitted on your behalf.”
Kalayna raised her eyebrows and gave her tail a soft swish, “Glowing?” she repeated, a hint of humor in her voice.
“Well, I’d best be going,” Kaelor said, ignoring the new Central Commander’s comment, “Don’t want to keep them waiting…” he paused, then looked down at his hand where it rested on the back of his old chair, “You take care of her, understand?” he said softly.
Kalayna nodded understandingly and gave a reassuring smile, “I will,” she replied just as softly.
Kaelor gave a slow nod, “I know,” he said with a sigh, then suddenly straightened and stood at attention, “Commander?”
“You’re free to go,” Kalayna said, “And good luck to you!” she called after him as he turned and walked out of the command center.

. . .

A short time later, Kaelor was staring out a window at the receding profile of the Luterin. “I’m going to miss her,” he said quietly.
“The Luterin?” guessed his pilot, a lean white Laurcian covered with large, irregular black spots.
“Yea,” Kaelor answered with a sigh, “Her too…”
A chime from the pilot’s station brought Kaelor out of his reverie, “I’ve just received our landing protocol,” the pilot announced, tapping a few controls and looking over a small display as the protocols scrolled past, “By the fifth moon, these are the most complex protocols I’ve ever seen! There must be at least eleven or twelve vector changes in here, acceleration and deceleration rates, even what time we should arrive at each point on our way in!” his head was slowly shaking back and forth, “Not even the protocols on the final test were this complex, and that was supposed to be a worst-case-scenario!”
“The more crafts you have coming and going, the more complex the landing and take-off protocols,” Kaelor reminded him as he watched a Keltauric craft glide past the window he was looking out of, “And there are a lot of crafts out there…”
“Crewing a new ship from scratch in three days…” the pilot softly exclaimed, “Whoever it was who enforced this rush clearly didn’t understand the implications of their demand… passing buoy eleven-six-one in three, two, one, mark.”