Gayle gazed out of the large view port of the Protectorate Orbital Command Center at the brown planet beyond. From up here, Sora X looked almost as bleak as it did planet side with the monochromatic browns that wrapped around the celestial body in almost totality. But there was a particularly lighter brown patch a little west of the College that caught her attention. It looked like a massive shapeless creature that was slowly eating up the land below as wispy arms reached out in front and behind and a lighter haze surrounding it in all directions.

  She’d gotten a report from the Pledge that had manned her station just an hour ago when Gayle had come on duty. A class four sandstorm had formed in the Cazemon Wastes late last night and appeared to be headed right for the College. It wouldn’t be a problem for the most part. They were used to these sort of storms and the shield dome protected the complex from any real danger, though a class four was a little more aggressive than they’d seen this year. It would, however, affect traffic to and from the College, so it was something she needed to know about.

  A beeping sound brought Gayle back to the present. It was a proximity alert to let her know that a ship had just exited hyperlight just outside Sora X’s planetary world shield. Another beep sounded to let her know the ship was sending a hail. Gayle tapped to bring the holo-call to her terminal.

  A head and torso image of man in a light blue flight suit declaring him a pilot of Vector Star Transports appeared on the transparent imaging screen in front of her. “Orbital Command, this is Captain Beulet from the Saranova asking for clearance to land.”

  Gayle turned her gaze to the second display of her terminal that had a list of all the arrivals and departures of ships expected for the day. Sure enough, the Saranova had already received preauthorization to land. That made things easy, but it still required her to run a full scan of the ship and go through her customary script. She activated the call button to send the ship her response.

  “This is Orbital Command, do you have any passenger or cargo changes to declare?”

  “No, everything is as the manifest says,” the pilot said.

  Gayle switched to the traffic screen so she could pull up the Saranova’s manifest. It showed it to be a regular passenger transport with a handful of those bound for the College, including four members of College staff traveling back from a low level security job, two Protectors reporting in for training recertifications, and an instructor coming back from a temporary leave of absence. There were others on board, but they were bound for different destinations.

  “Only those with College membership are allowed off the vessel. You and the others must stay in the transport at all times.” Gayle told the Captain, which she knew he knew, but it had to be said when transporters came in with additional passengers.

  “Copy that, Orbital Command,” the Captain said with a terse voice.

  Gayle almost said don’t get snippy with me, it’s not my rules, but she held it in and made sure to keep her face as neutral as possible as she looked back to a third screen that was running the scan. A moment later, it completed and showed a list of green checkmarks to declare everything was as it should be on the Saranova.

  “What is your expected return time?” Gayle asked.

  “It’s a stop and drop, so we shouldn’t need more then fifteen minutes.”

  “Copy that,” she replied as she put in her authorization code giving the ship its final endorsement and to put it into autopilot landing mode. “I set in your course with a fifteen minute delay to unload your passengers, and then bring you back into orbit, if you need more time, please contact Orbital Command.”

  “Affirmative,” the Captain responded, and then his image blinked out and her first holo display was left with a fist-sized College crest on a black background.

  She switched the manifest screen to show a tracking report of the Saranova as the autopilot program took control of the ship and caused it to start the brief trip down to the planet.

  Gayle felt a presence come up behind her. She turned to the man in the black Protector uniform, and waited for him to speak. He stood there for a long moment, no doubt looking over her screens to see if he could find any discrepancies.

  The ex-Protector was the most paranoid man she had yet to run into at the College, and that was saying a lot, because the Program itself encouraged it’s trainees to have healthy dosages of suspicion in the protection of their charge. Though she was quickly learning that there were varying levels of paranoia with some being plain common sense and others that are so over the top to almost appear deranged.

  Commander Felix was decidedly in the latter category, and it was no wonder he had been assigned to the Orbital Station far away from the College and the impressional minds of the younger trainees. Only Pledges got assignments up here, and that wasn’t just because this was the first line of defense of the College.

  “Did you check to make sure there were no changes in the passengers?” the Commander asked.

  “Yes, and no sir, no changes.” But Gayle didn’t stop there, because she already knew the other questions that the Commander would ask. This was only her third day at this post, but between things she’d heard from others who had been posted here and her own experiences, Gayle had learned very quickly how to make things go more smoothly with Commander Felix.

  “And besides carryons there will be no major baggages or cargo to unload.” She continued. “I agree with Captain Beulet’s assessment that he only needs a fifteen window to have the College bound passengers disembark. There are six passengers total coming into the College, and all their identity chips checked out when I ran the scan.”

  The Commander pursed his lips as if he wasn’t sure if he agreed with her assessment, but he turned to the large view port that covered half the front of the Orbital Station and gave a stunning view of the Sora X and the space surrounding the planet. “What of the storm? When will it start affecting traffic?”

  Gayle checked the data pad on her desk that was keeping track of the atmospheric telemetry being received from the world nanite network used just for this sort of situation. “Closest models say we should start suspending traffic in about sixty-eight minutes give or take a few minutes to ensure safe travel to and from the College.”

  The Commander nodded for a moment as if he was deciding if her answers were good enough before he turned around to address the other Pledge in the Command Center. “And what of our guests?”

  Gayle almost sighed with relief that he’d moved his attention on to the other Pledge on duty, but she knew better than to get too comfortable until Felix had returned to his office across the hall.

  A dark haired Pledge sitting at the opposite end of the center from Gayle shifted his body so the Commander had a clear sight of his view screen. Gayle didn’t need to look. She’s seen it more than enough her last shift when she had been manning that station.

  If she was honest, she preferred the station she was at. At least she stayed busy with the incoming and departing traffic. The other station was just keeping an eye on any ships parked in orbit and the perimeter monitor for the Sora Star System. It was so boring she’d nearly fallen asleep several times while on duty the two shifts she’d had there. The last thing she needed was a reprimand in her file that would keep her from getting back on the active Pledge list.

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  “Same as before, Commander.” Pledge Saibawn replied, trying his best not to look half asleep himself as he addressed their commanding officer. “All four ships haven’t moved from their assigned trajectories.”

  “They still scheduled to leave later this morning?”

  “Yes, within the hour, sir. Though, I was going to send a suggestion that their departure be delayed until after the storm.”

  The Commander frowned like he wasn’t keen on that idea. “I don’t like my skies full of Vanguard, but it would be prudent for them to delay until the storm passes I suppose. Go ahead and make the recommendation, Pledge.”

  “Yes, sir,” Saibawn said.

  “Any word yet on when the Vanguard’s tech team will have Sector Four’s communication back up?”

  The Pledge shook his head. “No. They said everything would be back in three hours, but that was six hours ago, and we still have nothing.”

  Gayle almost snorted. That was pretty standard for just about anything in the Outer Reach of the Empire. Those in the backend of nowhere didn’t get the same service as the civilized and more populated parts of the galaxy. In fact, she’d be surprised if the Vanguard had even sent out a tech team to fix the Sector Four communication relay station yet. It would probably be tomorrow before they were able to get the Nanite Network to the Inner Rim and the Galactic Core back up again. That didn’t bother her in the slightest, but she knew that the higher ups, including Commander Felix were sweating losing direct contact with half the Empire for any length of time.

  “That’s the third time it’s gone off line this year. Can’t those yavit Vanners keep their equipment going?” the Commander muttered in complaint.

  Gayle lowered her head to conceal her smile at the slang term some people used to express their dissatisfaction with the military force controlled by the kings. Though she really shouldn’t laugh at the Commander’s unease. If something really bad did happen to all those on the Sector Four relay, then they’d be solely relying on the Vanguard on Vega Prime, and they were a good nine hour trip away by hyper-light.

  The Commander gave another look around the center, not that there was much to see. It was just the two workstations in the small oval room. The small, but important place that oversaw all the incoming and outgoing traffic of Sora X, and on the rare occasion, the supervision of fighter and weapon deployment for planet security. Gayle had only heard of the latter being used once since her ten years at the College, and that had been a false alarm.

  The ex-Protector then turned on his heels and marched out of the room like he had urgent business to attend to, which Gayle very much doubted. There was a reason why the Orbital Station was the most hated duty posting at the College. It was a repetitive and boring desk job, and for those in training to become bodyguards, it was the worst kind of job possible. Gayle found herself wishing she was back helping the new Cadets. Even the misery of being a glorified babysitter for the newbies was better than this monotonous torture.

  Gayle blew out a long and exasperated sigh as she exchanged a look with her fellow Pledge. He shook is head as he turned back to monitor the four Vanguard ships, not that there was much to see. The battle cruiser and the three V-class corvettes had been in a steady and silent orbit since sending shuttles down to the College days ago in response to the incident with the Heir. First, with Arch-Major Roth and a squad of his men, and then King Rainus when he arrived a few days later in the battle cruiser.

  “Well at least your time up here is almost over,” Gayle said to her co-worker.

  Saibawn smiled like he’d won a prize. “Three more shifts and I’m done. Thank the universe. Then I get rotated into wall security, and will have my boots back in the sand where they below. This is not what I signed up for.”

  Gayle nodded. “I hear you. Too bad my time is just starting. I have four months in this yavit place.”

  A look of sympathy crossed the dark complexion of the Pledge. “That’s a heck of a remediation for helping the Heir. If you ask me, they should be giving you a commendation for what you did.”

  Gayle shrugged, trying not to let that whole situation bother her. It had at first, especially when Director Shiperii decided to take her off the Cadet class and send her up here. And with the news she’d been put on the non-active Pledge list until she could prove her loyalty to the College. It had almost been enough for her to loose it. She certainly would have done Markus Nador bodily harm if he hadn’t been holed up in the chalet watching over the Heir. Instead, she’d spent the little down time she had beating the yavit out of the practice dummies in the workout room in the Orbital Station.

  Her anger had dimmed significantly after the dinner she had at the chalet last evening with the Heir and several others. It had been an uncomfortable affair, most especially since she had ended up sitting right next to Markus during the meal. But at least the food had been good, and even better was the short conversation the Heir had with her right after dinner.

  All her dreams had come true in that one most important conversation. Prince Adar Zahn wanted her as his Protector. Out of all the hundred or so Pledges currently awaiting to be paired with a charge, the Heir to the Empire wanted Gayle to watch his back. Gayle’s head was still spinning from the news. Naturally, she’d eagerly agreed. And her anger toward Markus had been reduced as well when the Heir had told her that Markus had highly recommended her.

  Granted, with all that had happened since the Heir arrived at the College, she wasn’t sure there was anyone else he could pick to be his Protector and be sure they wouldn’t stab him in the back later. Many had a lot of hard feelings toward the Heir since he’d bested a Renowned Protector and showed he learned a martial art that only those trained at the College should know.

  Though, since the Heir was nearly killed by members of the College three days ago, that sentiment had changed somewhat. Now there was a lot of confusion about what to believe, and many felt a distinct embarrassment that a member of the Zahn family had nearly perished right under their noses and by people that should have been trusted and above reproach. Gayle wasn’t sure how everything would shake out from recent events, but she was sure that Prince Adar’s options would be limited when choosing a Protector, if he even dared.

  But since she had been one of the few to help him during his recent struggle on Sora X and Markus had recommended her, Gayle had landed the detail of a lifetime. Did it bother her that it was nearly by default? Nope. Not in the least. And if she was honest, she never would have gotten the job if Markus hadn’t have asked for her help when he’d come back to Sora X to shadow the Heir. So she supposed in a round about way he made up for getting on the non-active list. But yavit if it hadn’t been a hellish ride to becoming the Heir of the Empire’s soon to be Protector. And while her anger towards Markus was reduced it wasn’t gone, not by a long shot.

  Gayle realized that Saibawn was waiting for her to respond to his comment about her getting a commendation for her recent involvement in helping the Heir, which of course she’d gotten a lot of attention and pats on the back for that from many of her fellow Pledges. She was bursting to tell him that she got way better than a commendation, but since it wasn’t yet official, Gayle thought it best to keep the news to herself. Command did not like Pledges talking about potential bondings until at least the paperwork had been filed, and the last thing she needed was to anger the higher ups off more than they already were.

  So she frowned like his comment bothered her and decided that it wouldn’t hurt to at least be a little mysterious. “Perhaps, but things have a way of working out.”

  Saibawn raised an eyebrow. “Four months in this forsaken place doesn’t sound much like things working out. That’s the longest I ever heard of anyone being assigned at the Orbital Station.”

  Gayle shrugged and turned back to her terminal and screens, even though every part of her wanted to tell him the truth. She eyed the monitor that was tracking the Saranova. It was now just landing. She toggled the screen to show a live feed of the shuttle activating its landing thrusters and pretended to be absorbed in watching the ship.

  “Not everything is as it seems,” Gayle said as she pulled up a report on another screen so she would look like she was busy.

  She had expected Saibawn to say something else, but he must have taken the hint because when she threw a quick look over her shoulder after a minute’s silence, he had turned back to his workstation to do the task Felix had given him.

  Gayle turned back around thankful he had stopped that line of conversation. She’d get to tell him and anyone else that listened the truth soon enough. She just had to wait for the Heir to submit an official request to Command for her to be his Protector. Until then, it was business as usual.

  Would she have to finish out her entire four months of remediation before they would allow them to bond? She wasn’t sure. Maybe. Maybe not. The Heir needed a Protector sooner rather than later and the College knew this, so she hoped that they would at least consider shortening her remediation time. The least she could do was to go by the book as much as possible and not to do anything to put her on their radar, which shouldn’t be a problem. Before Markus had come back to the College, she had had no problems staying out of trouble.

  Gayle heard Saibawn behind her making the call to Command to inform them of the suggested change in travel for King Rainus and the Heir as she adjusted the times on her manifest screen to align with the new delay. They had two cargo ships that had brought supplies down to the planet scheduled to depart over the next three hours and a client coming in from the Wynn Kingdom that would be delayed. She sighed. Her bonding to Prince Adar couldn’t come fast enough that was for yavit sure.