Novu Sol

Chapter 6

Novu Sol Star System
Novu Sol
Genesis City

Admiral Julia Vales was a busy woman. Being the head of Novu Sol's navy was no easy feat, wearing the stellar burst was a heavy burden and she would have it no other way. She'd worked hard to get here and there was no better way for her to serve her nation than being one of the top Admirals  that ran the show. Sometimes she did miss having an actual ship or fleet to command, but so was the sacrifice of rank. One could not stay a captain forever.

She smiled at the young man sitting at a desk outside her office. Her personal yeoman, he kept her on track and always seemed to know what she needed. "What's on the schedule for today Zander?"

"Your biggest commitment is a meeting with the rest of High Command at 1400. We had some files come in for review from the Buffer Zone and  I believe that yesterday you told me you wanted to be reminded to..." He squinted down at a note on his desk, "Check with the Logistical Office about the shortages they reported about a week ago."

Vales snorted. "Of all the things to run short on, you'd think they'd learn to check their decimal points when ordering things."

"Ah but surely you remember the plight of trying to get Logistics to cough up what you want Admiral." Zander grinned. "How much fun it was to fill those forms."

"I still get night terrors to this day of trying to get those extra parts for my heavy cruiser command when they absolutely would not cough them up for my engineers." She chuckled. "Thanks Zander."

She walked past him into her office, then paused when she saw his hand press the accept call button on his screen. She watched as he began his usual spiel and then stayed unnaturally silent for a long period of time. Vales leaned on the frame of her door, Zander began to take a furious note then shot up and turned to obviously tell her in person about the call. He stopped short as he saw her still standing there.

"Uh Ma'am..." he seemed a bit stunned. "We have a training request."

Vales quirked an eyebrow. That was unusual. It had been a while since anyone had taken the Novu Sol's navy up on their long-standing promise to train  warships in proper space warfare and pirate protection measures. She knew a good portion of the reasons why people didn't is that they were hiring that traitor Desson, but another part was that there weren't very many nations left that had the ships to request the training and not just straight up ask for regular patrols.

"Who is it? Did they already pass screening?" She asked.

"Yes, or else we wouldn't have gotten the call." Zander made a motion to his ear piece. "The Ambassador of the TriStar Systems is on the line, it's just so unusual to get the requests I thought I better warn you face to face."

She nodded and gave a warm smile to Zander. "Thank you, transfer it over and I'll speak with her." She closed the door to her office, sank into the comfortable chair, and took a deep breath, using the moment to gather her thoughts.

The TriStar Systems was a set of three relatively close star systems each with a habitable world in its third orbit and a notable gas giant with an expansive moon system. Almost mirrors of each other, the odd trio of stars had long shared close relationships with each other and merged to form a tiny nation that despite its small number of systems, did well by itself by trading materials, goods and the occasional service. They never boasted a huge naval presence, some patrol craft in the actual star systems, some destroyers and obsolete frigates to police the merchants. They never needed a large force due to their proximity to the Stellar Democracy.

She wondered what caused this change of heart. She hoped it was just them wanting some extra punch to their minimal navy rather than a disaster.

Vales accepted the call once she felt she was ready to talk to the ambassador. The face of the ambassador appeared, her dark eyes seeming troubled. Not a good sign. "Hello Ambassador Surya, my secretary told me you were approved for our naval training program?"