Her next words would end her career in Fleet.

  “Admiral Greve—”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Rahel said, stepping between them. “Admiral, there’s something you should know about Captain Serrado.”

  His furious glare turned expectant. “Your timing could be better, First Guard. What is it?”

  She moved so quickly that Ekatya could never recall the exact sequence of events. One moment Rahel was standing there, the next she had him in a chokehold with an injector pressed to his throat.

  “She’s my oath holder,” she growled.

  The injector hissed.

  He tried to speak, but managed no more than a groan before slumping in her arms. With startling care, she lowered him to a supine position, even making sure his head didn’t impact. Then she straightened and held her arms away from her body.

  “It’s an Alsean sedative,” she called out, opening her hand. The injector clattered to the deck in the shocked silence. “He’s unharmed, but you have no counteragent aboard. Captain Serrado is in charge of this battle group.”

  Ekatya stood dumbfounded, unable to believe what she had just witnessed.

  On the display, the icebox’s shields failed. New explosions began to tear its hull apart.

  “Uh. Captain?” Lieutenant Kitt ventured. “We’re getting a second pikamet reading.”

  “Understood.” The automatic response unlocked her brain. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”

  Rahel unclipped the stave holster from her belt and offered it on an open palm. “I submit myself to your authority, Captain. I ask only that you understand the law I’m obeying. My oath is to Alsea first. We need you to lead this battle.”

  She accepted the weapon. It was heavier than she expected, a weight that recalled Rahel’s words from bare minutes ago.

  I wouldn’t give it to just anyone.

  Rahel had sensed her intent. She had known Ekatya was about to disobey orders. By stepping in to prevent it, she had traded away her own career in Fleet.

  Ekatya could almost admire the poetic tragedy of it. Her disobedience was years in the making, a long journey that had prepared her for the inevitable outcome. It was time. She was ready to leave the institution that had never stopped punishing her for making the right choice—and for the choice she had not made. Though she hadn’t asked for a tyree bond, Fleet acted as if its mere existence was treachery.

  Rahel was on a very different journey. How many times had she called this her dream? Yet Ekatya had no option but to confine her. She needed to follow every rule now to have any chance of saving her later.

  Unless . . .

  Her hand tightened around the stave as an idea struck. “Serrado to Dr. Wells, send a gurney to the bridge. Admiral Greve has been dosed with an Alsean sedative.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  She caught the eye of the lieutenant at the security station. “I assume you’ve informed Commander Cox?”

  “Yes, Captain. He’s on his . . . way,” he finished as the lift doors opened and Cox stepped out.

  Ekatya waved him over. “Lieutenant Scarp, prepare to take us to the minefield. Line us up with the Victory and the Thea in a delta-prime formation.”

  “Acknowledged.” The stars moved around them as the Phoenix began to turn.

  “Weapons, launch all fighters. Tell them to hold position for now.”

  “Launching fighters, aye, Captain.”

  Tuning out the sound of barked orders, she faced the astonished captains on the display. “Captain Kabbai, Captain Teriyong, your primary objective is unchanged. Fire first and fire hard. I expect two more iceboxes after this one, then the true assault. My weapons teams and fighters will do their best to take down missiles fired toward Alsea, but we have to prioritize the ships.”

  They responded with a crisp acknowledgment that told everyone watching who was in command. The mood of the bridge settled, a low hum resuming as officers made their preparations.

  Cox straightened from where he had been checking Greve’s pulse. “Your orders, Captain?”

  “First Guard Sayana has sedated the admiral in accordance with a higher oath than the one she swore to me. Given that she has chosen to observe Alsean law above Fleet regulations, her Fleet rights and duties are hereby suspended. Get her off my bridge. I want her deported to Alsea at the first opportunity.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Yes, Captain. First Guard, please come with me.”

  Crossing her arms, Ekatya held the stave against her chest.

  It would look like a disapproving stance on the security record, but Rahel received the message. She dipped her head in a faint nod and followed Cox off the bridge.

  Ekatya walked back up the ramp to her command chair, secured the stave in the compartment beneath her console, and hit the all-call.

  “This is Captain Serrado. Our situation has changed.”

  Read the conclusion of this story in…

  ALSEA RISING

  THE SEVENTH STAR

  Glossary

  UNITS OF TIME

  piptick: one hundredth of a tick (about half a second).

  tick: about a minute (50 seconds).

  tentick: ten ticks.

  hantick: ten tenticks, just shy of 1.5 hours (83.33 minutes). One Alsean day is twenty hanticks (27.7 hours) or 1.15 days.

  moon: a basic unit of Alsean time, similar to our month but 36 days long. Each moon is divided into four parts called ninedays. One Alsean moon equals 41.55 stellar (Earth) days.

  cycle: the length of time it takes the Alsean planet to revolve around their sun (thirteen moons or approximately seventeen stellar months).

  Alsean days are divided into quarters, each five hanticks long, which reset at the end of the eve quarter. The quarters are: night, morn, mid, and eve. A specific hantick can be expressed in one of two ways: its place in the quarter or its exact number. Thus morn-three would be three hanticks into the morning quarter, which can also be expressed as hantick eight (the five hanticks of the night quarter plus three of the morning). In the summer, the long days result in sunrise around morn-one (hantick six), lunch or midmeal at mid-one (hantick eleven), dinner or evenmeal at eve-one (hantick sixteen), and sunset around eve-five (hantick twenty).

  UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

  pace: half a stride.

  stride: the distance of a normal adult’s stride at a fast walk (about a meter).

  length: a standard of distance equaling one thousand strides (about a kilometer).

  GENERAL TERMS

  ADF: Alsean Defense Force.

  AIF: Alsean Investigative Force.

  bana: an endearment between lovers or bondmates.

  block: the emotional equivalent of fingers in the ears; a mental protection that prevents one from sensing another’s emotions.

  bondmate: a life partner.

  cinnoralis: a tree valued for its aromatic leaves (which are dried and burned for relaxation purposes) and the rich, brown color of its wood, used in woodworking and carpentry.

  cintek: the Alsean monetary unit.

  crateskate: a motorized platform for easily moving large crates or heavy equipment.

  dartfly: a small, bloodsucking fly known for its speed and agility.

  deme: honorific for a secular scholar.

  dokker: a farm animal similar to a cow. Slow moving and rather stupid, but with a hell of a kick when it’s angry or frightened.

  dokshin: vulgar term for dokker feces.

  empath (low, mid, high): the three measured levels of Alsean empathic sensitivity. Low empaths normally detect emotions only through skin contact. Mid empaths can detect emotions without touch, but only at short distances. High empaths can sense emotions at significant distances and are also capable of projecting emotions onto others.

  evenmeal: dinner.

  Fahla: the goddess of the Alseans, also called Mother.

  fairy fly: a pollinating insect famous for its camouflaging ability and gossamer wings.

  fanten: a farm animal similar to a pig, used for meat.

  front: a mental protection that prevents one’s emotions from being sensed by another. Selective emotions can be fronted; a “perfect front” refers to a protection so solid that no emotions can be sensed at all.

  gender-locked: an Alsean who is unable to temporarily shift genders for the purposes of reproduction. Considered a grave handicap, denying the individual the full blessing of Fahla.

  grainbird: a small, black-and-red bird common in agricultural fields. It is known for singing even at night, leading to an old perception of the birds as lacking in intelligence—hence grainbird is also a slang term for an idiot.

  grainstem powder: powder derived from the crushed stems of a particular grain, which yields a sweet taste. Commonly used in cooking; also used to sprinkle over fresh bread.

  hairgrass: a tall grass covered with soft, silky hairs.

  hangers: the middle echelon in the Voloth Empire, higher than slaves but much lower than citizens.

  holcat: a small, domesticated feline.

  hornstalk: a thorny, fast-growing weed.

  horten: an Alsean delicacy, often used in soup. It comes from a plant that, once harvested, stays fresh for a very short time and must be processed immediately.

  hyacot: a tree whose twigs, when snapped, provide a pleasant and long-lasting scent. Used in fine restaurants and as a room freshener.

  joining: sexual relations. Joining is considered less significant than Sharing between lovers. The two acts can take place simultaneously, though this would only occur in a serious relationship.

  leafthrum: a large, arboreal insect known for its nocturnal mating calls, which can be heard at great distances.

  losslyn: the Alsean male reproductive organ, which takes five days to produce a sperm packet. The name means “hidden seed,” referring to the fact that a losslyn is rarely visible except during a creation ceremony.

  magtran: a form of public transport consisting of a chain of cylindrical passenger carriers accelerated by magnetic fields through transparent tubes.

  marmello: a sweet, orange fruit.

  midmeal: lunch.

  molwine: the curved apex of the pelvic ridges on both male and female Alseans. A very sensitive sexual organ.

  molwyn: Fahla’s sacred tree. It has a black trunk and leaves with silver undersides. A molwyn grows at the center of every temple of decent size.

  moonbird: a bird with brilliant courtship feathers that it spreads to impress a mate. Also engages in a graceful courtship dance.

  mornmeal: breakfast.

  mountzar: a large, carnivorous animal that lives at high elevations and hibernates during the winter.

  palm touch: the standard greeting among Alseans in which two people touch their hands together, palm to palm, at eye level. The skin contact allows an exchange of emotions regardless of empathic sensitivity. It is impossible to lie during a palm touch. A double palm touch is done only among very close friends or family.

  panfruit: a common breakfast or dessert fruit, with an orange skin and blood-red pulp.

  Pit (the): Alsea’s highest security prison, consisting of five underground levels. It is reserved for empathic offenders; the underground location prevents outside contact and weak points. The worst, most violent offenders are housed in the fifth level.

  posthead: heavy wooden mallet used for driving stakes without splintering them.

  probe: to push beyond the front and read emotions that are not available for a surface skim. Probing without permission is a violation of Alsean law.

  rajalta: a spicy drink made by adding toasted seeds to shannel. A famous Whitesun specialty.

  reader card: a portable computing device composed of a flexible material that rolls into a cylinder and tucks into a pouch worn at the belt. Reader cards unroll and stiffen into a sheet for use, then relax and roll back up for storage.

  Return: the passage after death, in which an Alsean returns to Fahla and embarks on the next plane of existence.

  Rite of Ascension: the formal ceremony in which a child becomes a legal and social adult. The Rite takes place at twenty cycles, after which one’s choice of caste cannot be changed.

  sallgreen: a tree with prickly, needlelike leaves that have a pungent fragrance when crushed.

  sansara: asexual.

  shannel: a traditional hot drink, used for energy and freshening one’s breath. Made from the dried leaves (and sometimes flowers) of the shannel plant.

  skim: to sense any emotions that an Alsean is not specifically holding behind her or his front.

  Sharing: the act of physically connecting the emotional centers between two or more Alseans, resulting in unshielded emotions that can be fully accessed by anyone in the Sharing link. It is most frequently done between lovers or bondmates but is also part of a bonding ceremony (in which all guests take part in a one-time Sharing with the two new bondmates). It can also be done between friends and family, or for medical purposes.

  shek: vulgar slang for penetrative sex. Usually used as a profanity.

  sonsales: one who is empathically blind.

  Termegon Fields: the home of the Seeders, according to Voloth belief.

  tintinatalus: a tree with silver wood used in woodworking.

  torquat: a slimy, swamp-dwelling mammal that has expanded to numerous worlds in the Protectorate due to its ability to thrive in sewer systems. Often used as a pejorative.

  tyrees: Alseans whose empathic centers share a rare compatibility, which has physiological consequences. Tyrees can sense each other’s emotions at greater distances than normal, have difficulty being physically apart, and are ferociously protective of each other. Tyrees are always bonded, usually for life.

  vallcat: a large, solitary feline species, striped for camouflage in the open grasslands they inhabit. Vallcats are known for their strength and ferocity, though they do not attack Alseans unless provoked.

  warmron: an embrace. Warmrons are shared only between lovers, or parents and children—and then just until the child reaches the Rite of Ascension. A warmron is too close to a Sharing for it to be used at any other time.

  winden: a large six-toed mammal, adapted to an alpine environment. It is wary, able to climb nearly sheer walls, and the fastest animal on Alsea. Winden travel in herds and are rarely seen.

  winterbloom: a small, low-growing plant that flowers in the cold seasons. Its leaves have a fresh, invigorating scent.

  wristcom: a wrist-mounted communication device, often used in conjunction with an earcuff.

  zalren: a venomous snake.

  Published by Heartsome Publishing

  Staffordshire

  United Kingdom

  Available in paperback and ebook.

  First Heartsome edition: July 2020

  Book cover design by ebooklaunch.com

  Molwyn tree illustration by João T. Tavares/GOBIUS

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to action persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.

  Fletcher DeLancey asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  Copyright © 2020 Fletcher DeLancey

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  About the Author