Rigel Rising

Stage 15- Islands of Decadence

"We've been hit! Damage to the starboard armor by shrapnels!" Trey reported as he slammed his control panel in frustration, "Damn it! The modular armor is still malfunctioning! It is working at below maximum capacity!"

"Incoming missiles from the Beluga-Class Missile Frigates! Three waves!" Mariana reported as Candice quickly ordered her sister to do something about it.

"You better get those Caracals and Ocelots working, sister. We are sitting ducks here!"

Cailee nodded and began opening a defensive barrage, but it is not enough, "Captain, if we don't move, we will "literally" be sitting ducks! More than half of the Caracals and Ocelots are still not repaired in case you have forgotten."

"Raise ship out of the water! Port sixty. Evade!"

With the help of our barely working anti-air defenses and Drew's masterful maneuvering, our barely moving ship managed to dance around the wave after wave of missiles as we inch closer to the principality's water being blocked stalwartly by its formidable naval armada.

"I must admit, I never expected Baldur to put up this resistance! Scratch that. I never expected them to even have ships capable of defending their waters!" Cailee said as she now manually controls our close-in-weapons-systems because I ordered her specifically not to shoot down any fighters or bombers of the principality.

Drew groaned as he weaved straight through a barrage of artillery fire from the Dugong Class- Battleships firing all its gigantic guns at us, "So much firepower! And here I thought they are so weak, the empire just forgot about them!"

"You don't understand, Baldur's self-defense capabilities are said to be almost on-par with the kingdom. They just won't let anyone disturb their way of life," Mariana explained clearly and then suddenly gasped when she heard something from her earpiece, "Captain, the Admiral of the Northern Fleet of the Principality of Baldur is on the line!"

I quickly nodded and looked at the screen before us, "Patch him through!"

"Roger! Please standby..."

A man in his early thirties wearing the gold and white naval uniform of the principality appeared before us with a grim look on his face, "This is the Admiral of the Northern Fleet of the Principality of Baldur, Kit Maca to the vessel of the Kingdom of Regeinland. You have entered our maritime borders illegally and refused to heed our warnings despite our nations' demarcation treaty! In defense of Her Majesty, the Grand Princess' honor, and her principality's sovereignty, we will be forced to bring to bear our full naval and aerial might against your ship if you don't alter your course right now!"

He then just cut off the communications and left us all speechless.

The attacks have stopped, but we know that if we don't turn around right now and leave, they will come at us at full strength.

Earlier attacks are just a warning.

"Captain, should we leave?" my second in command ask tentatively as Mariana reported several fleets from the main islands of Baldur are coming to reinforce their Northern Fleet, "We can't possibly get close to even see their coastlines if our hands are tied. I understand that we cannot make an aggressive action against them, but it's either we get destroyed here, or we leave."

I took a deep breath and slammed my hand on the armchair that made them all flinch, "And what, choose to surrender ourselves to the empire? They made a cordon back at our crash site to make sure we have sunk. It will be only a matter of time before they discovered our ruse. The path to Regeinland is across the principality and nowhere else."

Before anyone can answer, the door of the bridge suddenly opened, and Justice marched right in quickly, "Looks like we are in a deadlock. As your superior, I am formally taking over the control of this ship, captain."

"Wait, what?!" I asked in shock as she stood next to me and grabbed my headset brashly.

"It is clear you are no longer capable of making the right decisions giving our current situation. I have zero intentions of dying in these stinky waters, so I will do something about it," he then looked at Mariana, "Open the same channel the Admiral of Baldur used! I have a few choice words for him."

My communications officer looked at me, and I just nodded, "He is of higher rank than me. Do what he says, Mariana."

"Yes, of course! Opening main channel, sending a line request, please standby," she then waited for a few seconds and quickly looked in Justice's direction, "I have the admiral on the line!"

We saw the man again, and this time, he can see us as well as our cosmo armor pilot stepped forward and begin speaking, "You are to let us through, Admiral Maca, and you will do it now."

"Who are you to order me to do that?!" he asked incredulously as he glanced at his crew, "I have enough of this games, all ships weapons-free, target, the kingdom's vessel!"

This time, a rain of barrage from all directions fall down upon us as Rigel groaned while its armor slowly collapsed under the relentless siege.

Justice grabbed my armchair to steady himself, and to our surprise, he removed his leather choker to reveal a voice manipulator and removed his wig to reveal a long and smooth brunette hair in contrast with the short and dark one we are so used to seeing.

"Have you forgotten who I am, Kit?" Justice asked in a completely different voice of a female that bears the same conviction as she manipulated one, "I am Karina of the House Garayev, Crown Princess of the Principality of Baldur, your liege."

The admiral and his crew just stood there on the other side of the screen jaws dropped as another explosion rocked our ship dangerously.

"If I died here, the principality would die with me," she said coldly and seriously, "Now, let's start from the top, shall we, Kit? Get the f**k out of our way!"

To our surprise, the admiral quickly nodded and ordered a complete cessation of the attack.

-0-

"...have reportedly sunk off the edge of the principality's territorial waters. Officials, however, are not sure whether they really destroyed the ship or it managed to escape as it has the capability of operating as a submarine vessel. Officials from both the kingdom and the empire are inquiring about the recent incursion of a renegade Regainlander ship said to have decimated an entire armada of Veralian spaceships after the attack of the Regina Space Colony before turning against its own government by leaving without clearance the kingdom's Argonaut Base above Gearth's orbit..."

"Definitely not good news, right?"

I turn around and saw a beautiful but greased early forties woman in a Baldurian maintenance uniform standing behind me and watching the news footage of the Rigel weaving through the defensive line of the principality before sinking into the depths, seemingly after being hit by stray artillery.

"Definitely not, that's for sure," I agreed as I leaned on the wall of the empty cafeteria except for the two of us, "I don't know what to do anymore. It's like the whole world was suddenly against us."

She smiled kindly and nodded, "Oh, believe me, I do know what you mean. It's like you know you are doing what you believe is right, then suddenly you will realize, no one is amused by your actions. Even your supposed friends or superiors."

"Right. Well, I can think about it later. For now, I must deal with the problems that I can solve," I then offered my right hand, "I'm Caerus, by the way. I'm one of the crews of the Rigel in the port."

The woman accepted it happily, "Pleased to meet you. You can call me Yeka, as you can see by my grimy hands; I am one of the many servicing your ship, and boy, it really is something. My coworkers are scratching their heads so much they are complaining they will lose most of their hair by afternoon! The Rigel is one tough and odd ship to take care of, that's for sure."

"As my friend from the maintenance always says, just like a capricious and annoying cat, you can never please and know what it needs," I agreed as we both took a seat after our meals have arrived, "Can you give me a rough estimate on how many days before the Rigel's repairs are finished, Yeka?"

"Days? Oh dear, not days, my boy. A month at worse and weeks at best. After being chucked from the space all the way down to the bottom of the ocean while being pummelled by the empire and principality, it is a miracle the outer armor has not fallen apart completely. Several parts of the ships are fully exposed, and if not for the bulkheads and watertight compartments, you will not be able to see the skies ever again. That's only the armor, mind you. We are not even talking about the friend circuitries, the damaged heat sinks, and the barely working main engines. The maintenance team of Rigel was in tears when they learned that the gravitational perpetual motion reactor survived intact without any damage."

I heaved a sigh of disbelief as I took a bite out of my bread contemplatively.

"But really, every Baldurians who are working servicing your ship can't believe how it managed to survive such punishments intact."

"Dumb luck, Yeka."

She giggled and looked at me like a mother gazing upon her amusing child, "You don't say?"

"It is what it is," I answered nonchalantly as I try to change the subject, "Anyways, I am surprised to see such a big military facility here in Baldur."

"Well, we don't create our military hardware out of thin air, nor the kingdom or the empire will sell us weapons that we can point at them. No, we can manufacture our own. After all, we are one of the big three superpowers of Gearth. It wouldn't do good for our reputation if we just roll over and allow Regeinland and Veralia to trample over us that easily."

I glanced at the television screen showing footage of the returning fleet of the principality, and I am inclined to agree, "Even in the colony, Baldurians are well known for chasing only decadence and excesses. If you can see the expressions of my friends when they saw an entire naval armada off the principality bearing down on us."

"Well, I can't blame you all for thinking like that. After all, it is the truth. We prioritize pleasure and happiness among all else. There is only one life to live. Why not live it in comfort away from harm's way?" she asked as the military minister hailed the sailors for a job well done for defending the integrity of the nation, "That is not to say we will just stand by and allow ourselves to be pushed around by those around us."

I shrugged as I remembered Justice, who turns out to be the real deal Crown Princess of Baldur, "Well, the only Baldurian we know off lived a life of thrill and danger."

"Ah, yes. "Princess" Katerina, the wayward scion of the principality," she said rather coldly after finishing her meal with a huff, "There is always an exception to the rule, and it just has to be her."

I blinked at her as she just rubbed her face with her dirty hand that made her grimier, but she didn't mind at all, "What the heck is your heiress to the throne doing as a disguised high-ranking prototype pilot anyways? Are the Baldurians aware of that?"

"Well, at least I am aware of it, I can tell you that much," she brushed off my question rather suspiciously before standing up and putting on her safety helmet, "Nice to meet you, Caerus, by the way. I hope we can meet again somewhere away from a military facility.

She then offered her right hand, and I accepted quickly, "Of course. See you again, Yeka."