Chapter 2: Disaster

“Come, you guys, we need to go,” Ruth insisted as she and Aster came charging into the boys’ dorm room.

“You want us to go as well?” Peet asked as he rolled from a laying down position to a sitting position on his bed.

“Sure, why not?” Ruth replied with a big smile. “Two girls, three guys, we get to feel very special,” she added as she plopped herself down on Olaf’s bed. Aster was a lot shyer as she stood demurely with her hands clasped in front of her, while watching Olaf’s face.

The two girls were rather flirty when they were together and would be friendly with anybody else as long as they were in Olaf’s presence. He had watched them from a distance in the past to see them ignoring other boys, boys they were all friendly-like with earlier when he was with them.

Over the past four months the weather had improved from the stormy snowy winter conditions to a balmy late-spring Day-Six. It was late afternoon and there was a concert being held in the park next to the beach, a few blocks from the school. The school kids, especially those who lived in the dormitories, as well as the students attending the nearby campus of the Asgaard University, loved to gather on the beach when the weather got warmer. The sea water was still too cool and unsettled so few of the youngsters bothered go into the water.

“Only one exam left, then it is vacation,” Helm said as the three men escorted the two girls down the tree-lined boulevard towards the park next to the beach. “Just think, a whole month of doing nothing.” Helm was the more outgoing of the three men, as well as the most handsome since most of the female students tend to gravitate towards him and whoever happens to be around him. Peet, their third roommate was the arch-typical wing man and follower. Being an introvert, Olaf seldom tried to hang out with Helm and Peet unless they specifically invited him along.

“Just think, after the vacation we are seniors,” Peet added as he glanced at the two girls. They were a year behind the three boys. They were also both holding Olaf’s hands, to the disappointment of Helm and Peet.

“Wait for us!” some girls called from behind them. The group slowed and waited as three more girls, juniors who were in most of Olaf’s and Helm’s group classes with them, came jogging up to them. The three gave Olaf and his two girls a calculating look before they fell in between Helm and Peet.

“The island looks so close today,” Ingrid commented. “Nearly as if one could swim there.”

“I’m surprised you have not tried it yet,” Aster commented as she nudged Olaf.

“You swim a lot in the pool,” Betta responded as she looked at Olaf. “Have you ever swam in the sea?”

“Before we came here, he swam in the sea every morning,” Aster said. “There is this buoy on the far side of the island, you can barely see it but he used to swim to the buoy and back every morning. Have you ever contemplated swimming between the mainland and the island?” she asked Olaf as she leaned against him.

“No, the sea currents between the island and the mainland are too strong,” Olaf said. “There is no current between the island and the buoy.”

“You are quite mysterious,” Ingrid commented as she looked up at Olaf. He might have been the tallest man on the entire island, but even in the school he was one the tallest guys around.

The group of five girls and three guys settled on blankets that the girls brought along and waited for the music to start. The sun was on the horizon but it was still warm. The various music groups were already behind the low stage busy setting up. The sign on the huge marquee behind the stage was already being used to display the names of the various vocal and instrument groups that were going to perform that evening. As usual, Olaf was sitting on the edge of one of the blankets, with both Ruth and Aster leaning against him. The open attachment of the two girls to Olaf was well-known among the students but the other girls still gave them weird looks.

“Something is happening!” somebody said out loud. The voice came from another nearby group. Olaf looked around and noticed more people sat upright.

“Hey, Gerrit!” a college-aged guy called towards the stage. “Put the news on the marquee!”

It took a few seconds before the marquee went blank. Then it lit up again but this time with the local news team on display. The female news anchor was not saying anything as she held her hand against her one ear while looking down. Then she looked into the camera.

“We just had confirmation that an attack was launched against Duke Eric, “ she said in a tone much higher than her normal tone of voice. “Here is what we know so far. The duke had just returned from Secundus where he had a personal interview with the emperor himself, concerning the emergence of anti-imperial groups on Ceres. We have been informed that the duke’s hovercraft was grounded in front of Government Hall and the duke was in the process of getting out of the hovercraft when a commercial hovercraft jumped the barriers and collided with the duke’s hovercraft. We were told that there had been an explosion. We do not know the condition of the duke yet.”

Then the news broadcast changed to include a man anchor. The two news anchors then started discussing the duke’s most recent visit to the capital of the empire, and the emergence of anti-imperial elements on Ceres as well as two other systems. They specifically stated that no anti-imperial elements had made their presence known on Pleiades Prime Habitat or on the planet Secundus, the home of the emperor himself.

Most of the spectators, either school or university students, were very quiet as they watched the news on the huge marquee. Some were whispering among themselves but everybody was watching the news.

“I wish I had a communicator,” Ruth muttered.

“Why?” Ingrid asked.

“My mom is the assistant to the duke’s personal assistant,” Ruth said. “Maybe I could find out more from her.”

“Does she travel with the duke?” Olaf asked. Ruth had a very concerned look on her face.

“Not usually,” Ruth said. “She usually stays behind and acts as the duke’s local assistant when he goes away.”

“Here, use mine,” Ingrid offered as she passed Ruth her mobile communicator. They all watched silently as Ruth typed in a code. She listened and then frowned as she glared at the display.

“It just disconnected,” she said in surprise. “Let me try again.” Everybody watched as she repeated the process but it was obvious the same thing happened again.

“Let me call my mom,” Ingrid said. “She should be home now,” They watched as Ingrid called home and had a short conversation with her mom. Her mom had also heard the news but knew nothing more than what they had heard so far.

When the news did not get updated immediately, one of the music groups got on stage and started playing soft background music. Everybody called out when the marquee operator removed the news feed so that got put back but muted.

Olaf was sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him while leaning back on his arms with Aster cuddled tight against his side, half under his one arm. Ruth was leaning back against Olaf’s hip as they listened to the soft music while watching as the two news anchors analyzed the breaking news.

“What’s that?” Somebody called out from a nearby group. Everybody looked where he was pointing, up into the sky. High up in the atmosphere and way off towards the east were four light streaks, like meteors. The four light streaks were all next to each other. Then all four gradually turned, indicating they were most likely re-entering space shuttles.

While Ceres had a sizable space station orbiting the planet, and regular weekly cargo shuttle launches, seeing the light streak of a shuttle re-entering the atmosphere was not unusual, but seeing four shuttles re-entering the atmosphere at the same time was highly unusual. Everybody with some knowledge started speculating out loud about the significance of four shuttles as they got lower and then disappeared towards the north where the space port was located.

About ten minutes later the group on stage stopped playing as the audio of the news came back on.

“We now know that it was a deliberate attack on the duke’s life.” The female anchor said. She had a grim look on her face as she faced the camera. “It has just been confirmed that another, similar, attack was launched against Viscount Asgaard, the ruler of the continent and the second most powerful man in the system. We also know that the Council of Barons are in emergency session and have been isolated from any outside interference. The council just confirmed that they made a special request to the commander of the local Imperial Marine Corps platoon, to assist the planetary security forces in securing the extended ducal family as well as the family of the viscount against any more attacks.” Then the screen shifted as the male anchor joined the female anchor.

“It is not general knowledge, but Duke Eric just returned from Pleiades Prime on board an imperial navy cruiser, “ the male anchor said. “The cruiser, the Taygete, with the Fourth Imperial Marine Battalion onboard, is still docked at the Ceres space station and has already dispatched some imperial marine forces to the surface.”

“Those shuttles!” somebody called out. “I bet they are full of imperial marines!”