Another Reboot

Uneddited again lol

The Huntress
Sat atop her horse dark eyes scanned the surrounding, rifle resting on her shoulder. She knew that her prey was in there somewhere, birds flew above the canopy, dear frolicked by a small pool of water, all scenes you’d expect to see in a typical game reserve. Many of the creatures had been seeded to provide the optimum experience; this forest however had a few extra delights this curly haired huntress had imported specially for her own hunts.

Follow up:

Stalkers, genetically modified animals that had originally been designed for warfare often deployed on worlds deemed too difficult to capture effectively. Original Stalkers bred quickly, were expert hunters, deadly pack instincts, and possessed effect chameleon abilities. On top of that they had excellent wide vision, claws that could go through most field armour and, teeth that make short work of living things. For Risa that only increased the excitement.

Her horse trotted, used to these hunts it wasn’t phased by environment and constant state or alertness of its rider. Risa could make out a slight discolouration in a rocky outcrop a few dozen yards away, the horses ears pricked, and eyes danced across to a shadow in the pool of water. Risa twisted and aimed her rifle at the shadow as it exploded from the water its claws glistened as it sliced through the spray. She squeezed the trigger, a loud bang; she ducked as the beast soared over her crashing into the ground. Risa turned back towards the rocky outcrop, trees to the right of it were rustling, and she urged the horse to bolt to the left whilst trying to pick out her mark.

Risa could feel that she was on the edge as the stalker leapt at her; she couldn’t get a shot in the fraction of a second that it took for the mass of muscle teeth and claws to close on her. Dropping the rifle she grabbed her energy sword, the huge beast was literally on top of her, vicious claw crashing down towards her. But it was too late, with a flash her blade sliced through the beasts arm, impossibly fast Risa kicked off from the beast and elegantly back flipped a good five meters away. Confusion at the loss of both its’ claw and prey Risa leapt into battle the horse meanwhile ran from danger leaving Risa in hand to hand combat with the beast.

It was hardly a fair fight, Risa, bred to be the heir of the Imperial Guards modified and trained to be a near perfect weapon. She respected the creature infront of her and pitied it, so used to being the predator but now the prey. As the creature tried to land a strike on her she gutted it with an effortless upward strike.

“That was a bit closer then I like it.” Risa looked at the creature’s corpse lying on the floor. She stood in the quiet thinking about the close call she’d had, and how quiet it was in the parks. “I think I’ll miss places like this...”

“Mistress! Niigaki Sire!” A flustered advisor came up on horseback yelling, Risa could see that it was Sam, one of her favourite and closest aides, she waited for her to get near.

“Whatever is wrong? You look flustered.” Risa offered Sam her hand and helped her down.

“Th, the, the.” Sam stuttered, Risa felt a wave of concern.

“Now calm down a moment, take a breath.” Risa said looking up at her shaken aide, a few moments past.

“Something terrible has happened; the, the, the throne ship has been destroyed.” With those words a wave passed through Risa’s body.

“The throne ship? That’s not possible.” Disbelief in her voice, her face had become pained.

“No, no it isn’t impossible...” Sam stared at the ground.

“The Empress? How is the Empress?” Risa panicked.

“She’s believed to be lost, along with the ruling council and the court of Laws.” Sam’s voice was low and apologetic.

“Ai? What is Ai doing?”

“She was at the Imperial Palace on the House home world. So she’s fine at the moment.” Risa started to pace, as she did the Aide steadied, when the master was in turmoil the servant had to be stable.

“I need to get to the Imperial Palace!”

“I think first a meeting with our house elders to decide an approach?”

“They can communicate via fold communication.”

“Are you sure that’s wise, your parents would be furious.”

“It is my first consideration to serve the Empire and the Empress..., dammit I can’t leave Ai alone at a time like this.” A look of determination from Risa was answered by a smile from Sam.

“I’ll prepare an immediate transfer, the guard war cruiser Trinity is ready for manoeuvres and has a suitable task group.”

Risa looked at her aide, and then at the horse, remembering her own had bolted and was likely already back at the stables. “It looks like we’re going to have to share a horse.”

“Eh,” Sam gasped as Risa enjoyed the slightly uncomfortable look on her face as she mounted the horse and offered her, her hand.

The family had been furious at her decision to leave immediately however they accepted the need for her to go to the side of the new Empress to show solidarity and support, her mind was awash with concerns. Was it an accident? If it was sabotage who and how? Why would anyone want to assassinate the Empress? The Empire had been stable now for over two hundred years its only worry has been pirates, civil unrest of outer worlds, and newly acquired neutral worlds. She couldn’t imagine any having the ability to destroy the only titan class ship in Imperial space.

Risa stayed was in her study when the door intercom activated, she touched a button on the table.

“Who is it?”

“Sam, Sire” with that Risa pressed another button and the door slid open, Sam in smart dress skirt entered the room Risa couldn’t help but be Jealous of her height. She was holding a silver tray with a tea cup, small silver tea pot and a small jug of milk. Under her arm was a datapad.

“Place the tray here” she indicated at a clear spot on her desk, “and then please have a seat.”

Sam placed the tea tray on the table and sat down.

“Do you have the latest data on the Al Arabia incident?”

“Yes, it is too early to come to any conclusions; however it is believed that there were no survivors, and that some kind of fold reactor failure resulted in a critical power system imbalance that resulted in a cascading power disaster.”

“Do they know if it was an accident?” Risa asked – pouring her tea.

“They can’t be sure, they can’t be sure that their hypothesis about the fold reactor is correct – however senior starship technicians within our house find it hard to believe that this is an accident.” Sam reported.

“Then the chance of sabotage?”

“As much as the technicians don’t believe it could be an accident they also have no idea how it could be sabotage – at the moment it’s six of one, half dozen of the other.”

“What’s your take on the situation?”

“The most important thing is ensuring the succession of the Empire, Ai Takahashi must be placed on the throne as soon as possible and all the great houses must throw their weight behind her to make sure the Empire stays secure.”

Risa side and sat back, “However what is the chance of all the Houses falling into line, House Tanaka is a rebellious upstart, House Michishige is desperate to reassert itself, and House Kamei is quietly waiting for an opportunity to expand. Not to Mention House Aika and House Kusumi both of which though small have desires to expand their influence.”

“Sometimes it seems as though Niigaki is the only supporter of the Imperial House.”

“All Houses need their own agenda, if they didn’t nobody would progress.” Sam looked confused for a moment, Risa smiled as she watched her.

“I don’t quite understand.”

“If it weren’t for the Houses desires to expand and consolidate alot of technology and policies wouldn’t exist, also our constant internal tensions create energy and a skill base that allow us to move forward and deal with any variety of problems.”

“What have the House decided on advising?” Sam crossed her legs.

“We’re to suggest moving Tanaka House forces that are part of the Imperial levy to the outer systems, and reducing the fleet levy on the lesser houses.”

“Are we suspecting House Tanaka to be troublesome?”

“Hopefully not, but it’s best not to take any chances, we’ve also doubled our agent deployment.”

“That will take some time.”

“We’re also thinking about increasing our fleet production. How long until we reach our destination?”

“Two hours and seventeen minutes until we enter the Imperial Capital star system. Have you prepared a gift?”

Risa paused a moment, it had slipped her mind. “I’m sure Ai will not be expecting anything. I’m sure House Niigaki will come up with a suitable gift however.”

“All of the data we have so far is on this datapad, I’ll leave it here for you to look at. It includes the news feed from the ships arrival.” Sam placed it on the desk next to the tea then stood up.

“Thank you, I can always rely on you.” Risa smiled. “You’ll get to see your sister again when we reach the Palace.”

“Yes, it’s been quite some time.”

“I’m sorry it can’t be under happier circumstances.”

“No, it’s a far worse affair for you and Ai” Sam placed her hand one Risa’s shoulder. Then left the room.

“Yes, it would seem so.” Risa looked at the datapad and sighed.