Stories from the Shepherd Moon #1: After the Storm

Stories from the Shepherd Moon #1: After the Storm



Stories from the Shepherd Moon: Interviews #1 - After the Storm

(this day-in-the-life filler story is to be inserted after the Epilogue of Shepherd Moon)

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Hello, Dear Reader.

This particular story is part of the Stories from the Shepherd Moon, and is a fun and funny kind of vignette about a royal event in Mias life, covered by the famous Elyran TV personality, Jem Tevann-Losira.

This is what is usually called a companion piece, to the story Shepherd Moon. Timeline-wise, this follows the epilogue/ending, but has no material contribution to that story. However, it does give answers to some questions you might have about Shepherd Moon tech.

There may be some redundant information, so I hope you bear with me, and you enjoy this little companion piece.

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"To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult."

- Plutarch, Earth biographer, ambassador and magistrate, 1st Century Earth



"Before we blame we should first see whether we cannot excuse."

- Georg C. Lichtenberg, Earth scientist and writer, 18th Century Earth

Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

What do you know? Haven't you heard of suspension of disbelief?"

- Ed Wood, Earth screenwriter, producer, author and actor, 20th Century Earth

"Tasha, I just got dressed!"

- Prince Ren Tevann-Reshanii-Kerr, at the Great Plains Palace, Elyra, GY 9994

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Following are some behind-the-scenes and excerpts from an interview by the Royal Elyran Broadcasting System, with Heir-Apparent Crown Princess Tasha Liaran-Kerr, Crown Princess Amelia Catherine Liaran-Kerr-Steele and Her Excellency, Duchess Sahsha Marie Liaran-Kerr-Delyer, conducted after the events of the Seeker/Shepherd Moon Missions, and just before the inauguration of the new Elyran Republic and the crowning of the Crown Princess.

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It had been a while since the events of that first Seeker/Shepherd Moon mission, and a lot had happened since. But Mia, Sahsha and Princess Tasha weren't thinking of anything remotely related to that. They were in one of the interview rooms (Mia would have called it a studio) in the Royal Elyran Communications Institute in Tasha's home city, and they were currently standing around, waiting for the cameraman to do some color and light tests. The about-to-be-crowned-queen was insistent that the people would always see her new family at their best. For the first family of the new Elyran Republic, image was important.

"Tasha, do I really need to wear this?" Mia asked as she fidgeted with the ornamental dress sword of her new royal squadron commander's uniform. The uniform reminded her of a formal man's morning coat, especially with the tails. Except for the royal blue color. And the blue waistcoat, ruffle cuffs and collar, and the tight-fitting white trousers...

The princess herself wore a full set of a royal warrior's armor, including a full breastplate, vambraces, gauntlets, greaves and a short mail skirt. "Stop it, my love," Tasha said. "It is part of the uniform. Get used to it. Look at me." She gestured at her own sword.

"The difference," Mia said, "is that it looks good on you." She leaned down and gave the princess a kiss. Before it could progress any further, Sahsha interrupted them.

"Hey!" Sahsha exclaimed. She had taken to wearing her translator everywhere nowadays, and by now, Mia and Tasha were used to the odd double-sound of Sahsha's voice speaking simultaneously in English and Elyran. She was actually very fluent now, but still used the translator out of fear being misunderstood or committing a gaff.

She went to Tasha, hands on hips and huffed irritatedly. Tasha smiled in delight and turned to Sahsha, took the Terran diplomat's face in her hands and kissed her soundly on the lips.

After a while, Sahsha broke the kiss and tried to get her balance back. "Umm," Sahsha said, trying to catch her breath. "What was I saying?" Tasha and Mia laughed.

Tasha looked her up and down. "It's too bad you didn't choose to wear the clothes I selected for you. You would have looked beautiful. But your EarthForce uniform suits you. You look lovely... in an Earther sort of way."

Sahsha smiled and reached for Tasha's hand.

"Excuse me, ladies," the cameraman said, interrupting them.

"Apologies, lad," Tasha said. "Here she is." Tasha ushered Mia forward.

The taller woman stepped forward. "What should I do?" Mia asked in fluent Elyran.

"Just stand at ease, Your Highness," the cameraman said. "I just need to get some light readings."

After Mia, the two others joined her and the cameraman continued calibrating his video equipment. Normally, he'd just adjust on the fly, but this was the crown princess and the Earther warrior. He didn't mind the little unnecessary make-work chore, if it'll put them at ease.

Other people bustled around them, fixing up the stage and adjusting overhead lights. The three of them sat down and enjoyed a few glasses of the tart-sweet Dixx wine that Mia and Sahsha loved called krahnng.

Krahnng this fresh had almost zero alcohol content, and they treated it like orange juice from back home.

When the cameraman signaled everything was ready, Jem, the planet's most famous video celebrity, came in, dressed in an outfit that Sahsha's mom might have said was a little too froufrou for a grown man. But here in Elyra, that was how most men dressed.

Good morning, ladies," Jem said.

"Truth be told, Jem, I was offered that," Mia answered, "but I declined. As a recently-drafted military man... I mean woman, I thought it would cause resentment. As it was, Beth had to be demoted, although temporarily, just so I could take command of her ship."

"Beth?"

"Elizabeth O'Connell," Sahsha replied. "She was the Captain of the Seeker before Mia took command."

"My reason for going on the mission," Mia said, "was so that I could be part of First Contact. Benjamin..."

"That's Admiral Benjamin Silverman," Sahsha clarified again, stressing the Earther way of pronouncing the name so that no mistake would be made. "Hes the head of our armed forces."

"That's right. Admiral Silverman insisted that I take command, and that would mean resentment from career military folks who would see me as an outsider butting in. The best compromise I could get with the admiral was a temporary posting as Seeker's captain, and an agreement with Captains Dupont and Okonkwo of the Constellation and the Hermes that Seeker would be the flagship for the mission."

"Temporary?"

"Well, it was supposed to be temporary. Little did I know..."

"How did Elizabeth O'Connell take it?"

"She didn't like it at first, but now she's become quite a close friend, actually," Sahsha said.

"Indeed," Tasha said. "In fact, she was our, what do you call it, Sahsha? She was the 'maid of honor' in our nuptial ceremony."

"'Wedding,' honey."

"Yes, 'wedding.'"

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"Since we've been talking about the Seeker," Jem said, "I mean, the Shepherd Moon, I'm sure a lot of people are curious about it. I've seen many pictures of her. I mean, who hasn't? It's the most famous spacecraft in the galaxy. I have to ask, though - why does it look so different from the other Earth battleships?"

Mia smiled. "Thank you for saying so, Jem. If ever they see this program, I'm sure Beth and the crew will appreciate it. Why is she different, you ask? Well, she's over fifty Earth years old. One of the oldest, in fact, still flying. She came from a time when there were no deflector shields yet, nor skyhooks..."

"Skyhooks?"

Another word probably not in the translation databases yet. That's what we call geostationary orbital tethers. You have five of them here on Elyra."

"Ahhh! The beanstalks!"

Mia smiled. "Yes, the beanstalks. So since they didn't have beanstalks then, all of their spaceships were designed to manage both flight in space and in Earth atmosphere, so resupply, cargo loading and maintenance could be done dirtside. But, all of that can be done in space, thanks to beanstalks. And when ships absolutely need to enter the atmosphere, like shuttles and other smaller ships need to, with deflectors to manage aerodynamic effects and more powerful engines, new Earth ships don't need to be streamlined nor use the atmosphere to assist in lift. This makes their construction faster and cheaper. They're just as functional, but a lot less good-looking."

"Yes. To be frank, Earth ships are as good-looking as, well, Dravidian cruisers... if you know what I mean..."

"Well, you'll be pleased to know, the new ships currently on the drawing board will look a lot more aesthetically pleasing."

"That's good news. How about that thing, what Elyrans are calling Earth min-ku -"

"Min-ku?"

"That means 'lightning' in Elyran," Sahsha explained to Mia.

"How..." Jem was confused momentarily.

Sahsha pointed at her ear. "My translator," she said.

"Ahhh!"

"Lightning..." Mia said. "You mean the inertia converters?"

"Is that what they are?"

"Though I cannot give specifics, Im able to tell you that our generators are able to convert inertia to radiant energy. That's the 'lightning,' I suppose you're referring to. There are enormous energies involved, but the conversion process limits the conversion to wavelengths in the visible spectrum. Otherwise, Earth ships would have the same effect as an x-ray pulsar, and would fry any object in the path of the generators' beams. There are differences, though. The new ships like the Constellation keep the conversion nearer the red wavelengths whereas Seeker's original converters are less precise so her 'lightning' is white, but with the current modifications, we can actually select the wavelengths that are emitted."

"You mentioned enormous energies?"

"Well, our system is able to manage it. There would just be more... lightning if there's more energy to convert, especially at the end of a long trip."

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"In the many engagements where Earthers were involved, we never saw them use atomics. Except that one time, of course. It seems odd."

"Well," Mia said, "Earth people do not like nuclear weapons. It took Earth a long time to recover from its nuclear war, and a lot of people died in that war. The race was almost wiped out. It's therefore not surprising that we don't like atomics... And, although Earth warships all carry nuclear weapons, only a direct order from the fleet admiral can authorize their use. Actually, most of EarthForce wondered the same thing about the Federation and Empire ships..."

"It's no surprise, really, my love," Tasha said. "Creation of the raw fuel for such weapons, and managing that fuel safely, makes atomic weapons quite expensive, therefore our spacecraft only carry two or four low-yield missiles, of types that could be mounted on small ships if need be. Like in my own Talon."

"Really," Mia said, looking at Tasha.

"Really," Jem said. "Most Elyrans know that."

- end -