Just thought I should let you all know that it’s a Lundaaran thing to speak beyond the age and without contractions. (Thanks, Alankria)

Prologue

- Planet Lundaar, Royal Palace -

The squire frantically shoved his way through the Royal Chamber guards and into the throne room, dropping hastily to his knees when the King and Queen looked at him.

Your Excellencies, I have terrible news. The squire’s mind-voice echoed through the consciousness of everyone in the room.

The King stood. Speak, Hyat. What is this emergency?

There is an Earthling ship outside of our borders. It has not shown hostility, but…

This time, the Queen stood. By the name of the Goddess of the Deep, what is it?

The squire flinched. The traitorous Fallah has launched the Princess on a crash course with the star ship.

The Queen sat down heavily on her throne and fought to keep tears back. She looked desperately at her husband. Our daughter…We must get her back! Her mind-voice only went to the King, as she had learned to direct the private signal years before.

The King laid a hand gently on her shoulder. And by the Goddess, we will. He directed his mind-voice to Hyat. Track the land-dwellers’ ship. Once it has landed, we shall devise a way to get the Princess back. And bring Fallah here. He shall answer to me for his traitorous ways.

Hyat nodded and rushed off to do as he was told.

- Earth Starship Orion, Andromeda Galaxy -

General Phil Walton stared out of the Starship’s special glass observation eye, usually called the Cyclops, at the little blue planet called Lundaar. What the hell kind of mission is this? The water people of this planet are only legend. There’s nothing out there but a bunch of water, he thought.

“Sir?”

Phil turned to see Capitan Alice Esiln standing at attention. “What is it, Capitan?”

“Sir, we’ve got a radar blip headed for us.”

Phil waved his hand and turned back to look out of Cyclops. “Take evasive action.”

Alice sighed. “We can’t, sir. Impact is impossible to avoid. If we stop now, it will hit the bridge. If we gun the engines, it will hit the engine room.”

Phil cursed quietly and turned around to face Alice fully so she could get the full impact of his dark looks and steel-grey eyes. “What the hell is it that we can’t avoid?”

“Sir, it seems like a twenty-third century private rocket. But it seems to be running on water instead of fuel.”

This time, Phil’s curse wasn’t nearly so quiet. “Just what we need,” he murmured. “A fucking water bomb. Question is, where the hell did it come from?”

Alice glanced out of Cyclops at the floating Lundaar. “My guess would be from there, sir.” She looked back into his eyes. “We’ve calculated impact with our current velocity at just before the Hospital Wing.”

The Red Alert alarm sounded behind them, indicating one minute until impact. Phil took one last glance out of Cyclops to try and see the rocket hurtling toward them, but couldn’t. He then jogged back toward the bridge.

All of the techs there stood and saluted when he entered. Saluting back so they would sit, Phil continued over to the shield tech. “Focus all shield power to the impact zone.” The ensign nodded and immediately got to work on it.

Phil walked over to the communications desk, commonly called the CD, and disrupted all broadcasts throughout the humongous ship, which stretched the lengths of three twenty-first century naval carriers, the equivalent of about nine hundred yards. When the clear communications light blinked green, he spoke. “Brace for impact on starboard in T-minus twenty seconds.”

Imagining the entire starship gritting their teeth and leaning against a port-facing wall, Phil did the same.

The impact jarred his teeth and rattled his brain. People on the bridge spilled out of their chairs, most of those standing fell. Phil was one of the few that remained standing and helped the others up when the quake stopped. But at least it hadn’t been a bomb. Instead of dead, everyone was just shaken.

The first person he went to was the oxygen monitor. “Are we leaking?”

With a few taps on the screen, the ensign brought up the oxygen report for the impact zone. His brow furrowed. “No, sir. It seems the hull sealed itself after penetration.”

Phil’s brow furrowed as well, but he thanked his luck for that little bit of peace.

“Sir, all of the shields are down. It will take at least an hour to get the secondary shields online.”

Phil rubbed his temples. “That’s fine. There’s a recovery station not far away. Set a direct course, but don’t rush it. We don’t know how much damage the hull took. Don’t start out until I give the order.”

Nods and salutes waved around the bridge.

Leaving them to their tasks, Phil walked briskly toward the chute that led to the Hospital Wing. Noting the red light above the entrance, he prepared for no gravity and slid into the chute.

He floated out into the HW seconds later to find people trying to adjust to the zero-gravity and float over to the backup gravity generator. A veteran astronaut, Phil did the honours of just that, slowly raising the artificial gravity so people wouldn’t fall flat on their faces.

Once everyone had successfully regained their feet, and saluted, of course, Phil took out his laser gun and motioned for a few others to do the same.

Luckily, the ancient rocket had broken the hull in one of the sealed rooms that were spotted about the starship and contained mostly weapons, though Phil knew that this one contained only research.

Putting on an oxygen helmet, just in case the oxygen in the room was less than habitable, Phil cautiously opened the door, leading with his laser gun and checking the room for safety through the infrared camera on the sight.

Not seeing any immediate danger, he motioned the other men with lasers to surround the rocket as he opened the door.

When he stepped inside, he noticed that the ancient exterior had no influence on the interior. Most of the technology inside the rocket even surpassed the most current in 3012. Lowering his laser, but staying alert, Phil stopped for a moment to admire the technology before continuing on.

Rounding a corner, Phil found himself about to run face-first into a wall of water that seemed to come from nowhere and defy every law of gravity he’d ever heard of. Remembering he had an oxygen helmet on, he passed through the sheet with ease, only to be confronted with a sealed door.

Cursing quietly, Phil turned back and cleared the rest of the rocket before stepping out and allowing the team of specialists that had come to investigate the rocket in.

Phil walked up to the nearest CD and gave the order to begin the journey to the recovery station, if only at an eighth of the total speed the starship was capable of, not including warp speed.

The trip to the recovery station only took about an hour, including docking, which took about fifteen minutes itself, just because the recovery station had to move docks to accommodate such a large ship.

The specialists in the crew couldn’t open the sealed door on the rocket, so they got the more advanced specialists at the recovery station to help. Phil continued on until he reached the guest decks. He needed a decent shower.

About halfway through the first hot shower he’d had in weeks, Phil’s personal communicator beeped. Cursing in annoyance, he stepped out of the shower and answered it.

The face of his head specialist on the crew popped onto the screen. “Sir, you might want to come take a look at this.”

“I’m assuming that this means the sealed door is open?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll be right there. Keep whatever’s there guarded until I get there.”

The specialist saluted and clicked off.

- Starship Orion, Recovery Station, Andromeda Galaxy -

The air-lock door slid open in front of Phil as he walked into the sealed room in which the rocket was still sitting, though this time, the door was open and there were armed guards standing in front. They let Phil pass once he had given them his identification.

All of the specialists were gawking at the advanced technology in the ancient rocket. The head pulled himself away long enough to report to Phil.

“Sir, we got just past the door. Afterward, there was this high-pitched screech that wouldn’t go away, no matter how much ear protection we wore.”

Phil glanced back toward where the wall of water was. “I’m going to check it out anyway.”

Instead of passing through with an oxygen helmet this time, Phil just ducked and ran through the sheet of water that separated him from the now-open door.

As soon as he broke through the barrier of water, an ear-piercing shriek blanked his mind. It was then that he realized that the shriek was coming from inside of his mind, indicating whatever inside the room as a telepath. Gritting his teeth, Phil pressed onward.

He came to a second doorway, much like the first, but this one wasn’t sealed. He patted his waist for his laser, but realized it wasn’t there. Deciding to take the chance, Phil stepped through the door.

He walked into a room with accommodations like a normal bedroom. A small bed sat in one corner, while chairs and dressers decked the rest of the space. Sitting in one of the chairs, hugging her knees to her chest, was a little human girl, who couldn’t be more than two. At least, the girl looked human but for slightly elongated eyes and flattened ears that were slightly pointed.

Phil noticed that the screech had stopped. He looked curiously at the girl, who was staring at him intently with the biggest sapphire eyes that Phil had ever seen.

Who are you? And where is my mommy?

Phil jumped and gaped at the girl. “You - you’re the telepath? But you’re just a child!”

The girl tilted her head so that two thin brown braids on either side of her face swung. What is this telepath you speak of? Her brow furrowed. And how do you speak without a mind-voice?

“Okay, so we both think this is weird. So we’ll start with an easy question. What is your name?”

I am called Kithaeme. I am Princess of Lundaar. Tell me, stranger, what is it you are called?

Phil shook his head. “Did you say Lundaar? You’re from Lundaar?”

The little girl nodded. I have answered your question. Answer mine.

“My name is Phil. Phil Walton.”

That is not a Lundaaran name. Are you not Lundaaran?

“No, I’m from Earth.”

The huge sapphire eyes widened. You are not going to eat me, are you, land-dweller?

“Eat you? Where’d you get a crazy idea like that?” Phil grimaced as it hit him. He took a step closer to Kithaeme and dropped to his knees. “No, contrary to what you’ve been taught, people from Earth are very nice and never eat other people.” Phil gave her his best smile. “I promise.”

Kithaeme unfolded herself from her chair. She stood regally before Phil, looking at him with those big sapphire eyes. It was then that Phil noticed the single wavy line indented in the middle of Kithaeme’s forehead.

Phil of Earth, how is it that I come to be in your presence? I was assured that no Earthling could pass through Lundaar’s waters to our city.

“You’re not on Lundaar anymore. You are on the Earth starship Orion. Your…room…crashed into the side of our ship.”

Kithaeme’s eyes filled. Are you telling me that my mommy is not here? That she has left me alone in this vast universe to die?

“I’m sure that’s not the case, little one. She probably just thought you were in danger and launched you out here where you would be safe.”

Kithaeme looked seriously at Phil. Then I command you to launch me back to my planet. I must learn my power before I can travel safely out of my mother’s arms.

“Sorry, kid. You broke your space ship when you hit ours. I can’t send you back.”

Kithaeme drew herself up so that she was as tall as she could get, which was at most three feet. Then you must teach me my power. Kithaeme dropped a hand to her growling stomach. And do you happen to have nourishment? I have not eaten a good meal in days.

Phil scrambled to his feet and began walking out of the chamber, looking behind him to make sure Kithaeme followed. “I’m sure I could get you something. What do you want?”

Do you have any Dolind?

“I’m sorry, what?”

Dolind is the plant that grows on the bottom of the oceans. It is green and wavy and smells of salt.

“Seaweed?”

I am guessing that this ‘seaweed’ is the same as Dolind on your planet. I would like some.

“I don’t know if they have any here. I could probably check, though.” By this time, the pair had reached the curtain of water. “Get ready to hold your breath.”

You jest, correct?

When Phil looked back at her, Kithaeme walked up next to him and tugged him down. She gazed intently at his neck, then jumped back.

You do not have breathers! How can you survive underwater?

“Breathers? What on earth are breathers?”

Kithaeme pulled back her shoulder-length black hair to reveal a slender, pale neck with small slits in the side.

“Holy Mother - You’ve got gills!”

Kithaeme smiled. They are the Goddess of the Deep’s gift to the Lundaarans so that we may swim freely in her waters. Kithaeme’s stomach growled again. I shall pass you through.

Kithaeme flicked her wrist and the curtain of water parted. As Phil gaped, Kithaeme pushed him through ahead of her. That is only part of my power. You must teach me the rest. She placed a hand over her angry stomach. Just as soon as I get nourishment.

Kithaeme stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the specialists crowded into the small space. Are these all Earthlings? She backed solidly into Phil, who had stepped behind her.

“Yes, but I promise, they won’t hurt you.” At Phil’s voice, everyone in the crowded area turned and stared.

Phil had to growl to get their attention. They snapped to attention and saluted, forgetting that they were not in the military. Phil rolled his eyes and pushed the terrified Kithaeme ahead of him. He leaned in to speak to the head specialist as he passed. “Get this ship patched. I need to get back to Earth as soon as possible.” The man nodded fervently and ordered his men to work.