Shaking out

It took a few weeks to get the audit put together and completed but you were overall happy with the quality of the crews. You had more experienced crew than pilots simply because the threshold for success was a bit lower but that didn't make them any less important. A skilled crew was essential to the smooth running of a ship and its performance in combat and general operations.

The recruitment drive had mostly brought in complete newcomers but there was one veteran who was still young enough to come out of retirement and decided to rejoin thanks to the gate opening. From what you understood that was Alexandre's doing.

The mining ships and their escorts left before the new crew could be oriented so they were mostly left at home, Stephanie putting them to work helping her with installing the new pilot simulators, the veteran evidently being a big help for getting the rest up to speed even if their own skills were a bit rusty.

The planetary economy and administration of course didn't take a back seat to space and most of your time was in your traditional duties. The nation when it was first founded had a good number of noble houses. Over the years however most of them had become completely irrelevant due to some heir or other squandering their wealth and status. Unlike the monarchy which enjoyed popular support as a national symbol the nobility had managed to earn themselves widespread scorn. There'd only been three families that had held onto some semblance of past glory and that was through business and smart inheritance rather than their titles. Your grandfather had completely revitalized the nobility. Raising up those who'd helped him rebuild the planet as a reward for their loyalty and in some cases their resources. The three 'Old Families' had become the model.

Your birth mother was from the Sato family. They were essentially the most classic of the three in that they controlled a good deal of the farms that fed the planet. They also were the only one that maintained good relations with both of the others.

It was no secret that the Reyes and Mason families hated one another and it was your grandfather's fault. Not that you could blame him considering that both were suspected of the **** attempt that had made your father an only child. After recovering from his injuries he'd set himself to turning the two families against one another. You didn't know if he'd intended to turn it into a multi-generation feud but your father had at least gotten them to stop with the attempted murders by threatening to disband both of their houses. Now they competed in other ways, one of which had been which one would win your hand in marriage.

Your father had of course tried to arrange for you to marry both candidates put forward but the risk to home and thus royal harmony made the idea untenable. The Reyes family had maintained their position through the development of technology, in recent years particularly focused around the new materials that had arrived. They'd been essential to making sense of the update to your wharf and verifying that the new ships were safe and had the necessary software.

The Mason family on the other hand was more focused in manufacturing and construction. Two of the stations in orbit wouldn't have been possible without their backing.

Elizabeth Reyes was a proper lady. A wizard with both a terminal and a household. Your dates had been high society affairs, balls, dinners and that sort of thing.

Spoiler: Elizabeth

Jessica Mason on the other hand was not. She was an explorer at heart and many of your dates had consisted of visiting obscure places around the planet.

Spoiler: Jessica

Both of them in their own way liked working with their hands. In the end you'd married Elizabeth

It was as you were getting ready to go to bed though that a communication came in from Selina. Yala had managed to get the materials together to 'help get that bitch out of here for a while' and she'd started laying out your satellite network. You received two notifications. The first a simple message that the ship was under attack and then a bit later one with a message attached.

"My prince. I was engaged by a small group of Kha'ak Protectors. My ship suffered no damage to anything other than its shields and all enemies were destroyed. However, I noticed something strange. The enemy had clear signs of battle damage that we didn't cause. They've been fighting someone and whoever it is must have hurt them pretty badly if they're not even able to repair something as small as protectors before sending them out again. I'll put together a full report when I return from my mission. Selina out."

She'd been able to deploy the satellite for the area so you were able to playback what had happened from an exterior view rather than just relying on the Katana's sensor reading. The Kha'ak triangles had come zooming in at the Katana, two of them opening fire immediately. It was all downhill from there for them as the Katana shot back. Their fire simply not doing enough damage to get through the Katana's shields Selina was able to pick them apart in high speed passes, knocking out their shields with her forward weapons and leaving them for her turrets to fend off without presenting her ship's belly through a series of careful rolls. Most other enemies likely would have had the good sense to run at that point but not the Kha'ak. It matched everything you'd heard of them. Of course, the mystery of their pre-existing battle damage left you with some serious questions.