Rigel Rising

Stage 4- Crumbling Paradise

In just two hours I will finish the final system checks for the Rufus. The one hundred and ninety-centimeter helical railguns of the Rigel, the prototype carrier ship I have been assigned to.

When I declined the king's generous offer, he graciously allowed me to do as I please with the life he owns.

He also assured me that there will always be a place for me in his council or household.

Now, he is never the perfect monarch, but he does have this kind of benevolence and loving aura that is rarely seen in the leaders of Gearth.

A strong mind and a soft heart.

Most rulers and so-called leaders have the opposite.

So here I am.

Thanks to my acceptable resume that I submitted to the naval fleet, I managed to secure a job as a gunnery control for one of the main armaments of this top-secret ship.

I have to sign several confidentiality contracts and agreements and be vouched by the Royal Household to be accepted as they triple-check the crew members' loyalty.

That, and as one of the leading crews who control the weaponry, I've got the chance to meet the aging captain of the Rigel before I start my job.

He didn't question my loyalty or my capabilities. On the contrary, he said that I am more than loyal enough as the king's scholar. But his problem is that why I am applying for such a low-ranking job at all in the first place.

A waste of talent and skills, he said.

The captain offered one of the positions in the bridge crew to me, but I respectfully refused. Leadership skills are one of the things I am severely lacking.

"Bridge to Rufus control system. How are the final checks?"

I walked towards the intercom immediately, "Two tests, all clear. The third one on the way and showing promising results in less than two hours."

The communications officer seemed pleased by my report, "Perfect. Please be advised that the bridge crews, together with the captain and executive officer, will be departing the ship for a final briefing with the Lord High Admiral in thirty minutes, and the meeting may last for four hours. Any reports or concerns must be redirected to the maintenance chief. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

The com-link died, and I returned to my seat immediately in front of several screens showing different statistics, reports, information, and specs of the weapon I was assigned.

I stretched my arms and cracking my knuckles before typing away my final report before launch five hours from now.

We are told that since the ship is a top-secret prototype of the Nebula Class carriers and not commissioned yet by the Royal Space Navy, it must be brought to the Regus Asteroid Fortress located at the far another side of the Regina Space Colony for review and official launching as part of the leading forces.

It seemed that the kingdom is in dire need of ships so much they activated this mothballed prototype testbed for battle.

The Imperial Space Armada, though technologically inferior to the kingdom, is however numerically superior, and in battle, it is not only quality that decides the outcome but quantity as well.

The Royal Kingdom of Reginald is outnumbered ten to one by the Imperial Dominion of Valric. Together with their vast territories and resource-rich lands, we cannot win a war of attrition with them, so we are forced to rely on our cutting-edge research and developments to at least even the odds.

I heard from other crew that the king ordered the shipyards to produce more ships, re-activate aging vessels of the fleets that are in retirement, and use every available prototype lying around hidden in ports collecting dust like the Rigel.

There is a sense of achievement when after six months of trying to make it work, I managed to fix the system error of the Rufus and made it possible to be activated because it has been sitting in its dock for more than a decade, and the manual and instructions have already been destroyed after the launch of its Nebula Class successor.

They never really thought that the time will come for them to even look at its way, but the king really needs a ship, and we must deliver for the sake of him and our country in peril.

Though there are several hundreds of crew and staff here, I barely leave this place at all. I don't see the need to socialize and eat in the pantry when I can have it delivered here instead.

There is also a living quarter attached to the weapon controls system to stay here indefinitely and do my job around the clock.

Peace and quiet.

Or at least until now.

It happened so fast. Everything was a blur in my eyes and mind.

I, no, the ship itself was hit by several explosions so great, it threw me from my seat, and because of the zero gravity, I was hurtled to the floorl first and next into the ceiling, hitting my ribs and head in the process.

The last thing I saw was the screen flickering dead and the ship's interior shuddering because several explosions made the metal groan loudly.

-0-

"Anyone in here?!"

"Damn, open the door quick!"

"Bypassing security codes, unlocked!"

"Hey! Is someone in here?!"

"He has to be here! I heard from the weapons officers that he is the only one of them not leaving his station at all."

"They better be right! If the rumors are correct, he might be our only and last hope to get the heck out of this unmitigated mess!"

"Wait, there's someone in the ceiling!"

"In the king's name, hurry!"

"We are detecting vital signs, but he is injured!"

"Hurry, bring him to the gathering room! All available medical staffs are already there!"

I felt my body being dragged through the zero-gravity carefully but quickly, but I am in so much pain, I can't even manage to open my eyes at all.

Then finally, I seemed to arrive where many crew members are gathered, and I felt several hands began checking on my body quickly for a pulse, breathing, and consciousness.

"He is conscious, but the pain is too much for him to bear! Administering anesthesia before we remove several broken rib bones! Thank goodness they didn't puncture his lungs!"

I felt a prick on my arm, and slowly, the pain melted away even though I know they are cutting me up right now and performing an operation as quick as they can.

"We need to stitch the back of his head several times as well. The poor boy must've been working when it happened. His body showed signs of being thrown into the floor and ceiling."

"Doctor, can he recover fast after the operation?"

"How fast are you talking about?"

"Like right away?"

"In normal conditions, he will need several days at least of complete bed rest, but since we are in a combat situation, as long as we administer painkillers, he can function reasonably."

"By the king's name, that's a relief!"

"Why are you all treating him like that, as if he is someone special? As far as I know, he is just one of the several weapons officers of the ship."

"No, he is more than that. With any luck, he may be the one who will save our lives, nurse."

"What?!"

"Wait, he is opening his eyes!"

I blinked several times to return my hazy vision to standard, and to my surprise, I saw several dozens of crew members huddled around me as the doctor quickly closed the wound, and the nurse bandaged it and my head securely.

They are all injured, even the medical staff, to varying degrees but nonetheless alive, and I seemed to be the only one who is worse for the wear.

Tough luck.

"What happened?" I asked weakly as I took a deep breath and tried to remember what the heck happened, "I remember I am doing final checks for the Rufus, and then an explosion rocked the ship suddenly. I was thrown around."

They all looked at each other grimly, and it was a man a few years older than me who answered, "Regina Space Colony is under siege by the Imperial Space Armada in direct violation of the ceasefire treaty! They decimated all the Nebula-Class Assault carriers along with its escort fleet in a battle of attrition."

"No!"

Tears fell from my eyes when I learned the fate of those ships.

The ships that carried my friends...

"We also received dire news that the captain and all higher-ranking bridge crew and officials of Rigel are killed when the explosion engulfed the pneumatic tunnel they are using."

I can only look at him in awe as I slowly realized how dire our situation is right now.

"No..."

"All civilians of the colony are now successfully evacuated on the shelters, and they are about to be launched in an hour if the attack doesn't stop."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I asked quietly as I winced in pain when I touched my wound a little, "I am nothing more than a petty weapon's officer."

The man looked again at the other crew members, who nodded hopefully before speaking, "You are Caerus, right?"

"Yes."

"Caerus Aeter."

I looked at him curiously as he spoke my name as if I am someone they never thought will be here with them or something, "I am Caerus Aeter, yes. Why?"

"The very same Caerus Aeter who graduated top five in the Royal Space Academy. The one who is in the same thesis group as the captains of the Nebula-Class ships?"

I nodded slowly as I don't like where this conversation is going, "Yes. What of it?"

They all screamed and shouted in joy when I answered and looked at me expectantly as the man heaved a sigh of relief.

"By the king's name! There is hope! Please! We need you to captain this ship! Without the higher-ranking officers and crew, you are the only one here of us who is qualified enough to get this ship moving. Though I am just a propulsion crew, I am trained enough in basic ship navigation. I am sure we can find four more people who have a rudimentary knowledge of bridge procedures. We have to launch Rigel, or the dock will be our grave and the ship, our coffin!"

I quickly shook my head as I try to stand up, but I almost fell to the floor miserably if not for the man catching me, "Look, you are all misunderstanding things! You, who are you?"

"Drew. Drew Fornier, Chief Petty Officer."

"Okay, listen carefully, Drew, because I am going to level with you all here. I may be part of the top graduating group of the Royal Space Academy, but that's it. I am just a part of it. I never did the heavy lifting, if you know what I mean. I sort of just hanging around is all."

He shook his head in disbelief, "That can't be right. You can't just join a thesis group without doing anything at all."

"Well, I did something but most inconsequential stuff. You see, I am more of the logistics and supports member. You know, the one who does errands, prints papers, submits things. Not really the one contributing other than that," I explained slowly and clearly that made him and the rest of the crew look crestfallen, "If you know that I am the top five of my graduating batch, you should have known that out of our group, I'm the only one not given any ship to captain. I am nothing compared to my teammates."

They all look at me hopelessly as I managed to finally stand up unassisted and started to limp towards the door.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to return to my station. Must mourn for my teammates."

But Drew refuses to give up, "Wait! Even if you are not like the rest of your teammates, you should know about captaining a ship! The thesis is just a part of your overall grades. I should know, I graduated from the academy. You would not reach the fifth position if you didn't score admirably on your other subjects like battlefleet tactics, spaceship command and control, and weaponry tactics. Tell us the truth, can you launch this ship or not?!"

Before I can even answer, the ship is rocked again with another violent explosion, and I was thrown in Drew's direction, and he caught me quickly.

"If I can indeed move this ship, we will all die regardless. There's no way a single prototype testbed junk like Rigel can do something the Nebula-Class cannot."

He looked at me straight into the eyes defiantly, "Better than just sit by and wait to perish here doing nothing, right, everyone?!"

The crew members roared in agreement as I winced again and bit my lip to endure the pain, "You ask for it. If you are all suicidal enough to put your lives in the hands of the runner, then it's your choice."

"The runner?"

I smiled sadly at Drew as we walked towards the door on our way to the bridge, "That's what my teammates called me. Caerus the Runner."