Valiant Class Destroyer-Carrier
"Remind me
again why we came out this way?"
Albert sighed to
himself. He had lost count of how many times he had been asked this question
over the past several weeks, as the jumpship carrying him and the Star League
ambassadors made its way east. Every jump took them farther into the Periphery,
farther from the glowing lights that were the war-fires of the Inner
Sphere...and closer to Albert's home.
"Because,"
Albert said with a deliberately even tone, as he kept looking out the window,
"the Veiled Republic has long wished to make contact with the new Star League. We are on our
way to make that happen." He was staring at a wall of inky blackness in
the near distance...the Widow's Veil. He doubted that this Spheroid he had been
saddled with had even noticed it, let alone knew where they were.
"You speak so
formally, mein herr," the Spheroid observed with a grin. Albert
kept his thoughts to himself. The man was a Lyran, one of the infamous social
generals, who had been "retired" from military duty and
"dispatched" to the Star League as a diplomat. He was living proof,
Albert thought, of an old maxim: that no one with a silver tongue should ever
wear a uniform.
A cheerful voice
interrupted Albert's reverie. "Are we there yet?" The other
ambassador had entered, and joined Albert at the window with a smile and a pat
on the back. The Kuritan was much more pleasant to deal with than his Lyran
counterpart...much less full of himself, and much more patient.
"Almost,"
Albert replied, and nodded out the window into the darkness of the nebula.
The Kuritan raised an
eyebrow, and leaned forward to look out in all directions at the immense
blackness. "What's this? Did some baka forget to pay the light
bill?"
Albert smiled,
"That is the Widow's Veil. It is a dark nebula, an old stellar nursery.
Prior to the Exodus, it marked the edge of known space in this direction."
The Kuritan raised an
eyebrow. "And after the Exodus?"
Albert smiled knowingly.
"That changed."
The Kuritan looked at
Albert, and nodded slowly as he considered the reply. The Lyran chuckled.
"But what's so verdammt important about it?"
Albert turned and looked
the older man right in the face, the directness in his voice an indication that
he was finally about to lose patience. "To you, nothing. To me, it is the
path home." He paused, wishing he hadn't been so abrupt; both men were
looking at him in surprise. He composed himself, then looked at the Kuritan.
"To you, it is important, as there is a nation not so far outside your
borders. A nation that...well, you shall see." Albert turned back to the
window, leaving the men to think.
After a moment, the Kuritan
spoke. "You know, you never really have told us much about yourself."
He paused as Albert glanced at him, and held his gaze. "We have
time." And the Kuritan smiled. "Besides, it's not like you didn't
just let at least one cat out of the bag, eh?"
Albert considered a
moment, then sat. He paused, as if considering where to start. Then finally, he
just started talking. "C'est la. It is no secret that I am from the Veiled Republic. I have already told you at least the start of our history; we have spent
the large part of three centuries in isolation, and now we are trying to reach
out. I am what is called a Pioneer, one sent to contact other nations. I am a
diplomat, though not all Pioneers are so overt. We gather information, and
based on that, our government decides whether to make contact, or remain
isolated." He paused. "We have been watching the Inner Sphere for
most of this century. Only now, with the new Star League, have we decided to
make contact."
The Lyran seemed
fascinated for the first time. He began to ask, "How have you been
watching..." but a klaxon that interrupted his question.
The announcement came to
make ready to jump, and Albert grinned slyly as they all buckled in for the
ride. "Ask Wolf's Dragoons." A low rumbling hum slowly vibrated
through the vessel, and Albert's grin widened. "Here we go!"
Suddenly, almost without
a break in perception, they were elsewhere. Albert was on his feet almost
immediately, looking out the window like a child looking into a candy store.
The Lyran shook his head as he slowly unstrapped himself. "No matter how
many times I do that, I'll never get used to it." He joined Albert, and
the now silently serious Kuritan at the window, and exclaimed aloud. "Lieber
Gott!"
Outside was a streaming
sea of stars, leading from the Widow's Veil out into deep space along the
galactic arm. In the near distance floated a jump station, bustling with
activity. Anchored next to it, was a long, flat vessel with a large triangle of
engines, bristling with guns...
"A warship!?"
The Lyran couldn't believe his eyes.
"A warship,"
the Kuritan said with deadly seriousness.
Albert just laughed, and
slapped the two men on the back, a gesture of true happiness at being back
home. "Welcome, my friends, to the Veiled Republic!"
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AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout |