The New Holland Incident

About the story: I decided to go back in time 17 years before Tash and John meet to tell the story of what exactly happened at New Holland. I reference it enough in the other stories that I figured I might as well write what actually happened to spark the Human-Breten Hvas conflict.

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Prologue

The transport reentered normal space with a 'whoosh'. Or at least that was what the young Kai'ani assumed it would sound like. The reality was that it didn't make any noise at all, but that didn't stop her from imagining it anyways. She fidgeted with the buckles on her chair's harness. Her small hands just weren't strong enough to undo the magnetic seals that held them to her. She had always wondered why they had to wear them. When she asked her father he had told her that it was for safety. 'But why?' She would ask back. When they went into fast space nothing moved. Why did they have to sit in the chairs? It seemed like more of an inconvenience than anything. Her father had just smiled back at her. It was the warm and comforting smile that radiated from him that she had come to know. He would tell her that it was 'just in case'.

'Better to be cautious then be made a fool' Her father had said. The words had stuck with her. He was such a wise man. The young girl was sure that he knew absolutely everything. After a moment more of restless fidgeting her harness was undone and she scrambled out of the chair, determined to be right next to the window as it opened back up. As if it had heard her thoughts the large blast shields over the window retracted, leaving the young girl to stare out towards a large orange orb the hung firmly in the blacked star field surrounding it.

"Are we there yet?" She asked, not willing to take her eyes off the vast expanse lest she miss some magical occurrence.

"No darling." Came her mothers voice from behind. "We still have a ways to go before we make it home to Kai."

That was alright by her. This whole trip had just been one new experience after another. Her first time away from home and first time traveling through the stars. She peeled her eyes away from the room's view just in time to see her mother walk up next to her.

"See anything interesting?" Her mother inquired, smiling down at the little girl.

"There's a big orange star out there!" She proclaimed excitedly.

"I see." Her mother replied, seemingly very interested in what her young daughter had to say. "Do you see any planets?"

"No..." The little girl said after a moment of pressing her face against the cool window.

Her mother chuckled lightly. "Well maybe we'll get to see one in a little while. Are you hungry?"

"Yes." The young girl stated matter-of-factually with a curt nod.

"Okay, why don't we head to the cafeteria and see what they have then, hmm?"

"Okay." The young Kai'ani said, peeling herself away from the allure of the expanse outside the window.

She walked over to her father and took his outstretched hand. They were so big and strong compared to hers. She was convinced that not only was he the smartest, but he must also be the strongest person in the whole universe. Well, after her mother of course. Her father lead her after her mother, making sure to walk at a pace that the little girl could manage. Before long all three of them were in the large blue room that housed the tables and chairs that the guests on the ship used to eat at. The cafeteria had large windows that wrapped around the entire length of the room, allowing the little Kai'ani visual access to a near complete view of the space around the transport.

Breaking free of her fathers hand she rushed off to claim a booth while her parents chuckled and called out to her. She only semi ignored them as she found the perfect seat for which she could watch the stars. Her father brought a tray over and sat it down in front of her. She was able to peel her eyes away long enough to see what had been set before her. A frown crossed her lips.

"I don't want to eat Rash'hat." The girl said, continuing to frown at the blood green bowl of mixed cooked vegetables, steaming on her tray.

Her father smiled at her. It was the smile of a patient man. Someone who was all too well aware of his daughters picky eating habits.

"You're a growing girl and you need your vitamins." Her father tried to reason with her. "I have to eat them as well you know."

"I don't wanna!" She pouted in defiance.

"Well," Her father began to smile. "If you don't eat your Rash'hat, you won't be able to have any Felpei later."

The young Kai'ani's eyes lit up.

"Do you mean it?" She said excitedly, mouth already watering at the prospect.

"Mmhm, but only if you eat all your Rash'hat." Her father insisted.

Deciding that the risk was worth the reward, the young Kai'ani reluctantly dug into her Rash'hat. She chewed and swallowed and suffered through the entirety of the nutritional meal for what seemed like all eternity. Once she had finished the final piece she knew it had been worth it. As promised, a plate of Khazon Felpei, her favorite desert, was set down in front of her. She began to devour it, savoring every bite of the fruity pastry. Taking sparse pauses to grab a breath and chew.

She found her eyes began to wander back towards the window as she ate, the curiousness of the starfield was just too much to resist. There the same large bright orange star from earlier once again greeting her with it's powerful life giving rays. She wondered if the Light Giver lived in this star as well. It must she thought. The star of Kai can't be the only place where it lived

She was about to ask her father if he knew when her eyes became drawn to the deep blackness in front of her. In the void between the stars, new lights appeared. She felt as if they were tiny glowing insects lazily traveling through the night. They began to move. A few more appeared, brighter than the others this time, and moving much faster. They almost seemed like they were coming towards her. But that couldn't be possible. They were on a ship in space and as far as she knew there were no glowing insects in space. But yet there they were, getting ever so much closer.

"What are those father?" She asked, pointing curiously at the now increasingly larger balls of light.

She knew that he would know what they were, he knew everything. She looked at him while his eyes shifted, gazing at the point in space that his daughter was gesturing at. The young girl was shocked to see that he seemed just as confused as she was. That couldn't be right, she thought, turning her attention back to the approaching lights. As if knowing they now had an audience, several of the lights made sharp turns, angling themselves towards the transport. As luck would have it, she had also turned just in time to miss the expression of dreaded realization on her fathers face as he finally figured out what they were. Her world was suddenly a blur of detached feelings, as if the world was traveling in slow motion. Someone grabbed her and pulled her down off the booth bench.

The transport shuttered in a cacophony of overwhelming noise. She could feel herself being held tightly, uncomfortably so. Alarms were blaring all around. The sudden shrill of the noise and movement had left her stunned and breathless. The young girls brain was trying, and failing, to process the sudden chaos. When she tried to stand up another jarring movement of the ship caused her to be knocked off her feet, and out of the grip of her father. She skidded along the floor for a moment before being stopped by a chair, letting out a pained cry as they collided.

Her movement was not halted for long as an explosion ripped through the air, causing her to once again be thrown across the floor. She made an attempt to pick herself up. Her arm hurt but she continued anyways. The jerky movements of the ship had now stopped, allowing the small Kai'ani a chance to look around the cafeteria. As far as she could tell she was across the room from where she once was. Her father and mother were still clinging to the booth where they had been seated at. Carefully she attempted to make her way back to her parents.

The cafeteria was now a labyrinth of upset tables and chairs. Cutlery, cups and meals were littering the floors. She made the best time she could around them. A thick, acrid smoke had begun to pour into the room. Its was a malevolent, black haze that stung her eyes and burned her throat. Dropping to her knees she attempted to crawl under it. Thankfully she was small enough that the air by the floor was still clear and clean. Cautiously she approached a nearby doorway. She could hear her parents calling out to her, concern and fear echoing clear in their voices. They weren't far, just past the entryway. It would be no issue for the young Kai'ani to reunite with them as long as she took it slow.

That, however, all changed in an instant. An imposing figure stepped out of the smoke in front of her, it's metal boots making a distinctive clanking against the floor of the room. It wore a black and red set of armored clothing that covered the entirety of it's body. From it's four long legs, up past it's rounded abdomen and sharp, pointed arms, right to it's helmeted, beaked head. It was standing in the doorway directly in front of her. It held something. She grew cold. It was a weapon of some kind. A weapon that was now pointed directly at her.

"Tashaiea!" She could hear her father yell over the noise of the room.

Tashaiea just screamed.

February 2nd, 2172 -- 1027 Hours Local Time

Commonwealth Patrol Ship HMS Battleaxe

Commonwealth Controlled Space, New Holland System

He was anxious. He wanted to pace but knew that he shouldn't. The older command officer didn't want to give off any indications that he was more nervous than he currently was. The urge to watch the timer on the display in front of him was tempting. He attempted to occupy his attention elsewhere, failing only once his eyes glanced over the slowly increasing numbers.

"Status!" He demanded, hoping to temporarily distract himself.

"Almost there, sir." A voice, that of which belonged to a Lieutenant Mason Blevins, said from a console off to the side of him. "Just a few more seconds."

The command officer fidgeted. He wanted to reach out, to help, to do something. At this point though all he could do was wait. The seconds on. He knew it was impossible but it felt like time was slowing as it passed him by. The only relief came when he finally heard Lieutenant Blevins call out.

"There! Finished!" The Lieutenant yelled out. "We're back online!"

"Time!" The command officer shouted, as a small wave of relief washing over him.

"Fifteen minutes, twenty seconds." Another voice stated calmly. This time it was his Executive Officer (XO), one Commander Irene Hayes.

He hadn't exactly needed to ask how long it had took. The timer in front showed him, and everyone else on the command deck, plainly enough. It was the act of hearing the words that he wanted to sink into the crew. He sighed.

"Bloody hell, that was two minutes longer than last time!" The officer exclaimed, the frustration in his words clear enough for all to hear. He attempted to compose himself before continuing. "Mister Blevins, what happened?"

The young Lieutenant turned to meet his gaze, a look of shame washing over the mans lightly tanned, young and clean shaven face. His dark brown hair was short cut and neat. The finely defined lines only just visible under his duty cap.

"I'm sorry Captain," Blevins said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "The system crashed on me during the reboot, so I had to reboot it again."

Captain Hugh Llewellyn sighed again and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. An old habit.

"It's not your fault Leftenant, you did everything by the book." Captain Llewellyn admitted, ceasing the rubbing of his nose and dropping his hands back to the sides. "I just wish the MoD would test these things before they send them out."

"With respect, sir, I'm sure they did." Commander Haynes spoke up. "But the Battleaxe isn't exactly a top of the line ship. We're a forty some year old gen one destroyer. The architecture's old. It's not surprising that we're going to have some issues getting new software to play nice."

Captain Llewellyn sat back in his command console chair and stretched out. Haynes was right. The HMS Battleaxe was an old ship. One of the first commissioned by the British Commonwealth Navy in 2130 as part of the first generation of deep space capable warships that the nations of Earth had ever created. Only a spare couple years after Humanity's First Contact with intelligent and extra-solar life. Which, by association, made the ship only younger than him by about fifteen years. But that didn't mean he had to like it. The Battleaxe was his first real command.

Sure he had commanded patrol skiffs and such, but those were always changing hands. New command officers were always given them to test their worthiness of a coveted captaincy. They had always been in preparation for this, for the Battleaxe. This was a real ship. A true black sky command. Llewellyn loved every minute of it.

"I suppose you're right Commander." Llewellyn agreed and turned to face the younger Lieutenant once more. "Leftenant, get with the engineering team. See if we can't find a way to make this software work. At the very least I want to have a way to switch back to the old OS if things end up going pear-shaped on us."

The Lieutenant stood up and gave a crisp salute with a 'Sir!' and quickly made his way to one of the bridges access points. Llewellyn sunk back in his chair, the support gel hugging him ever so slightly as he did.. Just a few short days ago they had received the the newest and latest upgrade from the British Commonwealth Naval Command (courtesy of the Ministry of Defense) to the primary operating system that all Commonwealth ships used.

The OS controlled everything from the flight controls and target acquisition right down to the ships internal communications system and lighting. It was essentially the brain (or probably more accurate the consciousness, as the physical 'brain' would be the memory banks in the computer core) of the whole ship. Without it they were pretty much floating in a vacuum tight air bubble in space.

These upgrades weren't terribly uncommon. The MoD would have their tech labs cook up a new one every few years or so. This was the first update that Captain Llewellyn had the pleasure of putting HMS Battleaxe through himself. Some of the more senior staff that had been around for the last upgrade had made sure to inform the new Captain that his new ship was starting to become a little finicky in her old age when it came to new computer systems, or really any new systems in general.

The Battleaxe had at one point been a state of the art warship, the envy of its numerous other human counterparts. That time, however, had passed. Now she was a relic of a past age. Refitted time and time again with newer and more incompatible and complex parts. The only reason she was still in service was because the Crown had yet to authorize funding for the building of newer, more advanced ships.

Besides, they needed something to stick in the ass end of nowhere to show the public that the Commonwealth wasn't leaving their new colonies completely undefended. And that was definitely where they were, nowhere. New Holland was a large ball of mainly rock and snow with an ecosystem that was not unlike the taigas of northern Europe. The equator was fairly temperate with an average seasonal temperature of about fifteen degrees Celsius. It had trees, rivers and lakes for as far as the eye could see, not to mention it's share of cold hardy critters.

As far as anyone with any kind of knowledge could tell, the planet seemed to be going through some kind of ice age brought on by what they thought was a major global cataclysmic event some 3000 years previous. The generally accepted theory was a large asteroid collision had caused the orbit of the planet to shift slightly, along with throwing ash and dust into the atmosphere causing a 'nuclear winter' of sorts. That theory seemed to be backed up by a massive collection of rare earth metals and other valuable elements in a fairly tight grouping in the planets southern hemisphere.

And hence the desire to stage a colony here. The mineral wealth of the planet was incredible and the oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere (just a little thinner than Earth's, but not unbearable) was just an added bonus. It was much easier to attract miners if you could guarantee them that they would have a solid 1.2 G's under their feet and breathable air around their head. It had become almost a constant in the news hearing about asteroid mining accidents. While it was a very lucrative career, the statistics didn't lie.

Since it's inception in the later 21st century, it had quickly overtaken all others as the most deadly profession in Human history. At least on New Holland if shit went sideways, you could still breath. There was however one other issue however that seemed to cause a bit of concern from future and potential colonists/employees. It was simply that they were at the very edge of Human explored and inhabited space. What laid beyond Hew Holland's seven planet solar system was a general unknown to most people. The wild frontier as it were.

That was in part the reason why Captain Llewellyn had insisted on running tests of the new ship OS in the first place. While Humanity in general wasn't in any kind of active hostilities with any of its galactic neighbors, Llewellyn wanted just to be sure that if it did ever come down to it, they would be able to defend themselves from whatever threat may be posed to them. Running a drill for the possibility that their ships computer system failed was what they were practicing today.

The computer would be shut down in different ways simulating an electronic attack on their system. It was up to the engineering teams to diagnose the issue and get the computer back up and running before the ship became nothing more than a slowly expanding ball of debris and ionized gases. Their new OS however seemed to be fighting them every step of the way. Perhaps the MoD had left some kind of error in the core programming before they sent it out. Or perhaps it was just the age of the Battleaxe showing itself.

In any case it would most certainly be another day or so before they could know for sure. In the mean time the Captain didn't enjoy the idea of being defenseless for 15 minutes while their computer decided whether or not it wanted to come back online. Hopefully the young Lieutenant Blevins and the engineering team would be able to work out some kind of solution. Just in case. Letting the thought stew in his mind, Llewellyn started halfheartedly tapping away at his terminal's keyboard.

He had about a dozen or so department reports to review before the next shift change. Operational reports, inventory lists, new department duty rosters... Nothing terribly interesting. He supposed he could go to his office and read them, but the bridge was as good a place as any. Besides, the tapping of keyboards and the low chatter of his crew was kind of relaxing. It was those little sounds of life that he couldn't get locked in his office. He was scanning over some long range telemetry report when his thoughts were interrupted.

"Captain Llewellyn?" He could hear a voice call to him.

Llewellyn looked up from his screen to see Sub-Lieutenant Rodger Sheppard turned around in his seat, his deep brown eyes looking intently at him. Sheppard was the ships junior communications officer. A pleasant enough young man if not a little quiet some times. Captain Llewellyn shifted himself straighter and acknowledged the young officer.