POV Commodore Aric von Falkenstein

  As I stood in the middle of the bridge of my ship, the hyperspace tunnel began to detach and we entered normal space. I could see Anaxes in the distance ahead of me. Everywhere around my home pnet was teeming with all kinds of spaceships that wanted to get to or from the pnet. They flew around space stations and the many Gon-type defense stations defended by the Anaxes.

  After we had transferred our access code, we headed for one of the many military supply stations and docked at it. I handed over command of my ship to Captain Nivas and proceeded to the surface of the pnet in my private Lambda-css shuttle. I instructed the pilot to fly to the von Falkenstein family estate so that I could meet up with my family.

  After my shuttle nded on the estate's personal nding pad and the nding fp lowered, I immediately wanted to make my way to the family estate to pack up all my personal belongings and check my finances. But once the nding fp was down, I knew I wouldn't be able to leave quickly. My mother stood in front of the shuttle with a tense face. She was accompanied by four men who were part of our security force. When she saw me, her face lit up with joy.

  "Aric my son. Come hug your poor mother." She shouted in tears, running towards me.

  After I had taken her in my arms and she had cried herself out, I asked her if everything was all right and if she was okay.

  "No, I am not okay! Your father almost died and lost his left arm to a pirate attack on the ship."

  "Everything will be fine, mother. Think positively. He's still alive. It could have been worse for him. Everything will be fine, as always."

  "Oh Aric, first your father Theodor almost dies and now you're to be transferred to the Outer Rim where I'll never see you again. This universe is coming to an end."

  "Mother, think positively. Father is alive and I've been promoted and will have my own system."

  "Yes, but at the st edge of the universe. That's more of a demotion than a promotion."

  "We can sort out the little things ter. Why don't you take me to the estate first and then tell me everything that happened in the family during the time I was awake?" I steered her onto a new topic so that she wouldn't cry so much.

  After we arrived at the estate, I told my mother that I was going to get changed. In my private room, I informed Captain Nivas that our departure would be deyed by two days and that he should load the cargo in peace. I took my time to change my clothes and exchanged my officer's uniform for traditional Anaxes clothing. I put on a white top and over it a dark blue toga that reached down to my knees. I also put on a pair of white trousers. I left my room and went to the main room of the estate, which was often used for important meetings and decisions.

  Once there, I saw that the room was filled with all kinds of family members. From the looks of it, something interesting was happening. In the middle of the room was a rge round table at which my parents, grandparents and my four uncles were sitting. When I arrived at the table, my father waved me over. He announced in a happy and not so composed voice.

  “After the raid in the Mandalore system and the destruction of my ISD, I was transferred back to Anaxes and from now on I am to lead the defense of our beautiful home pnet.”

  Everyone at the table ughed for about three minutes because they couldn't believe what my father was saying. I knew something was wrong when my father was promoted after the embarrassment. Finally, one of my uncles asked how he managed it. He answered calmly.

  "I just asked my old friend Austin Bentkof for help. We just put the bme on my former captain who is flying through space. He can't compin."

  “And what did you have to give him in return, father?” I asked tensely.

  "Nothing important. He simply demanded from me that you have to run an unimportant pnet as governor in the Outer Rim for the time being. Then you'll be reinstated in the Core. It's very simple. Everyone is happy and benefits."

  "Everyone except me! You're throwing my carrier in the garbage can for yours! I'm not getting off this pnet. The transfer is for life, you fool!"

  "Aric von Falkenstein, you don't talk to your father like that! He has decided that for the good of the family. The post of Senior Commander for the Defense of Anaxes is much more important than your career. We can bounce off the other big families and finally show that we are better than them."

  Without saying another word, I left the room and stormed towards my room with my fists clenched. Inside, I was about to wring my father's throat.

  "I'm surrounded by fools in this family! Don't they see that this post Bentkof ‘gave’ my father is a career-ender? Certainly not!"

  I shouted into the air after arriving in my room. Think positive Aric. You're finally getting rid of your family full of idiots, I shouted several times in my head, trying to calm myself down. With the stunt my father pulled, I'm sure I'll be amply compensated by my grandfather.

  Once I calmed down, I started packing up. I prepared everything for my departure to Astralis IV and went through my finances once again. My assets were around 695 million imperial credits. You can do a lot with that and modernize and improve a pnet a lot.

  I stayed in my room for the rest of the day and received a message from my grandfather that he was transferring 30 million credits to me as compensation for the stupidity my father had committed. I was to use it to build up my pnet. That's a nice sum. The next day, I headed straight to my ship without saying goodbye to my family. Once there, I took command of the Venator again and prepared everything for departure. Loading up ammunition, food and other equipment deyed the start for another day.

  I used this time to check my orders for news. It turned out that the 126 would be joining us via Ord Mantell.

  With a three-day dey, we now began the journey to Astralis IV.

  Silberkugel