CHAPTER ONE

ommander Tara Lilliard sat in the large command chair on the bridge of the Artemis and stared at the swirls of coloured light. In all her years of space travel she had never seen anything like the astonishing and strangely beautiful display that filled the large screen and anything new and unexplained tended to make the conservative, old warrior wary.
"What the hell is it?" she asked, turning to Lieutenant Zabibi, the head of operations, who was nervously punching at the buttons on her console.
"Well", replied the lieutenant tentatively, "sensors indicate it's a nebula, ma'am, but I've never seen a nebula that could move around like that."
"Run a sensor diagnostic" Lilliard ordered and sat back to wait for the results, her hands unconsciously gripping the armrests of the command chair that was temporarily hers. As first officer, she was currently in command of the great starship Artemis, Captain Yael having been called to an audience with the queen, and she was absolutely determined that nothing was going to happen to the beautiful ship in its first days out of drydock if she could possibly avoid it. This determination had made her even more wary of anything anomalous than usual, and it was also making her uncharcteristically tense. She let out a sigh and tried to relax as she waited patiently for Zabibi's report, but she had a bad feeling about this 'nebula' and her bad feelings usually turned out to be as well-founded as Captain Yael's.

The pride of the Amazon fleet, the Artemis was a state of the art 'huntress class' starcruiser, built in the shape of the business end of a labyrys and equipped with all the most advanced technology. Her weapons and defensive systems were second to none and she had a top speed of warp 9.98, faster than any other ship in existence, as far as anyone knew. Surrounded by what must be considered the safest vessel in the universe, the commander really had no reason to be this nervous, she was certainly not the nervous type, but her gut was doing sommersaults, its accustomed way of telling her that something wasn't right. 'Oh goddess!' she thought, 'if anything happens to this ship on my watch, barely a week after her launch......it doesn't bear thinking about.' When Diana Zabibi announced that the sensors were in perfect working order, the commander's sense of foreboding grew deeper still.

Commander Lilliard was a warrior of the old school, strong, uncompromising and fiercely loyal to the goddess Artemis, the Queen, the Amazon Nations and her commanding officer, Captain Cassandra Yael, not necessarily in that order. Although the captain had always been her superior officer, they had been through many hard times together, fighting side by side in the Second Interplanetary War, and they had become firm friends as well as trusted colleagues. Yael had come to trust her second in command implicitly and to rely heavily on her famous intuition and Lilliard had twice turned down a chance at her own command to remain at Yael's side. In truth, she was greatly in awe of the celebrated and heroic Captain Yael, as was almost anyone that had ever met her and, although she would never admit it even to herself, she was also a little in love with the woman.

Tara ran a hand through her slightly greying hair and brushed an imaginary bit of fluff from her trousers in an effort to appear relaxed.
"Well, it doesn't seem to be presenting any threat at the moment," she observed, "but keep it under observation, Lieutenant, I don't want any surprises".
"Aye, Commander" came the immediate reply. Perhaps a walk would calm her down, she thought. She was reluctant to leave the bridge with a potential threat hanging around outside but she was equally unwilling to let the crew see how unnerved she was by this apparently benign phenomenon, knowing that the senior officer's mood could affect the rest of the crew deeply. So, she stood, smoothing her jacket down over her prominent hips, and turned to Lieutenant Commander Zenobia Jehane, Head Pilot and next most senior officer present. "You have the bridge, Commander", she announced as she strode toward the exit, "I'm going to stretch my legs for five minutes."

* * * * * *

Moving purposefully through the wide corridor that followed the outer curve of the Artemis's left 'blade', Lilliard approached the doors to the infirmary and decided to look in on the doctor to arrange an appointment for her annual check up. All military personnel were required to pass a physical once a year and, despite the fact that only six months had passed since her last exam, she felt that it would be appropriate to schedule another now, since she was taking up a new post. At least, that was what she told herself as she strode through the infirmary's doors but, as soon as her eyes landed on the gorgeous form of the brilliant, young Doctor Xanthe, she knew she had been fooling herself. Her breath caught in her chest, as it did every time this woman looked at her, and she was appalled to find herself flushing like a teenage virgin on her first serious date.

"Commander", greeted the tall, deliciously curved young woman, her mellifluous voice sending an almost imperceptible shiver up Lilliard's spine, "This is a pleasant surprise....but I hope you're not ill?"
"No, no, n..not at all" Tara blurted, disgusted with her incoherence, "I just thought, as I was passing, now would be a good time to arrange my physical."
"Ah, I see", the doctor said and she glided over to her computer terminal to call up her diary and Lilliard's medical records, frowning a little when she noticed the date of the commander's previous test. "But you've already had your annual, Commander. You're not due for another for six months," the doctor informed her, turning her face towards her visitor, "do you have any reason to suppose your health has deteriorated since then?", and her eyebrow rose questioningly.

Xanthe was standing before the terminal, leaning over it, with one hand on the desk supporting her weight and the other hovering over the keypad. Since she was a civilian she was not wearing the high-collared jacket of the Amazon military uniform and her white coat parted to give Tara a tantalizing view of her slightly plunging neckline and the smooth cleavage it was intended to conceal. Lilliard swallowed hard and clenched her fists tighter behind her back.

"Commander?" enquired the doctor when she got no response to her question, snapping Lilliard away from her fixation.
"What?" asked the flustered commander, "um, no...I just thought that since I'm taking up a new posting...I should..."
"Of course", Xanthe agreed smoothly. She knew exactly what was causing the commander's discomfort, she had known for some time, and she wanted to spare the warrior's further embarrassment, even though it brought a tiny, surreptitious smile to her lips. She found it amazing, and not a little gratifying, that she should have such an affect on a seasoned toughie like Lilliard and, despite the two decades between them, she found herself increasingly fascinated by and attracted to the hardened warrior. 'Fancy a bit of rough, Xanthe?' she asked herself, sending an intentionally coquettish smile Tara's way and broadening it at the commander's surprisingly girlish blush.

The young doctor accepted the commander's explanation without further question, even though she knew it was nothing more than a ploy, and arranged a time for the examination to take place. She was determined not to be too easy, however, even as she was determined that the commander would win her in the end. 'She's an Amazon warrior' she told herself as Lilliard reluctantly left the infirmary, 'she thrives on challenge.'

The thoughts going through the commander's mind as she stepped into the corridor were along the lines of 'My Goddess! She's just too good to be true!' As her heartbeat slowed to normal for the first time since she'd entered the doctor's domain, she comforted herself with the thought that Xanthe had arranged the medical for a time when she herself would be absent, assuring her that her assistant was authorized and perfectly capable of carrying it out. Initially Lilliard had been disheartened, but the look in Xanthe's eyes and the tone of her voice had urged her to look beyond the obvious implications and realise that the doctor's ethics would not allow her to become involved with a patient. By arranging for Tara not to be her patient she had left the door open to her, indirectly encouraging her attentions. Part of the commander smiled smugly, making her want to punch the air and scream 'YES!' in triumph, while the other part chided her for her 'overactive, imagination,' her 'desperate clutching at straws' and her 'incredible arrogance'. Wasn't it arrogance to think that a perfect, nubile, divine creature like that could ever find a hoary, cynical old warrior - however distinguished and handsome she may be - in the least bit attractive? And yet.....

* * * * * *

When Lilliard walked back onto the bridge the smug little smile that had grown on her lips evaporated almost immediately and she instinctively ducked to avoid a flying infopad. The pocket computer slammed into the wall behind her head and clattered down, landing on the carpeted floor with a soft thud.
"Who threw that?!" she demanded, something of the tone of her old schoolmistress slipping unconsciously into her tone.
"Sorry, Commander," came the contrite tone of Tactical Officer Cybele Medb, "that would be my daughter. I think she's going to be a shot-putter, or something." The look on Lilliard's face showed clearly that she was less than amused and the offender's mother cringed and grabbed the toddler's hand as the commander's piercing amber eyes bored through her. Tara had little time for children at the best of times. She found them loud, irritating and intrusive; she hadn't even liked them when she had been one herself, preferring solitude or the company of adults. She shot a look of disdain at the pilot she had left in charge and asked in a dangerously low and controlled voice "What is she doing on my bridge?"
"C...commander Jehane said it would be okay....just for an hour, while my wife pops down to the surface" stammered the woman, drawing her daughter behind her as if trying to protect her from a ravening beast.
"Did she?" was the terse reply, and Jehane withered under her superior's glare. It wasn't appropriate to berate the woman in front of the crew but Lilliard made a mental note that, as soon as the opportunity arose, Lieutenant Commander Zenobia Jehane would get the sharp end of her tongue. That one was too accommodating for her own good.

"Ms. Medb," she said through slightly clenched teeth, "as you know, I was against allowing children on this ship at all. I am certainly not going to tolerate them on the bridge and I can assure you the captain won't either." She stepped back a pace and decided that since her encounter with the doctor had put her in such a good mood, she could afford to let this go, for now. "I'm going to my office to run a molecular scan on that nebula. I expect it will take about half an hour. When I return you will be at your post but your daughter will have miraculously disappeared. Is that clear?"
Cybele relaxed visibly, aware that she had been let off lightly for this breech in protocol, and answered "Yes ma'am, absolutely. Thank you."
"Hmmm" grunted the commander as she spun on her heal and exited the bridge.

Cybele sighed with relief and allowed her body to slump slightly. She had known she was pushing her luck, but she was already in her wife's bad books after forgetting her birthday and hadn't felt up to refusing her. She looked pleadingly at Jehane, who merely smiled and nodded, turning her head to stop the mother and child before they exited and order "twenty minutes, max. Yes?"
"Yes, ma'am" acknowledged a scurrying Cybele, "thanks."

As the lieutenant ran out in search of a baby sitter, Jehane smiled to herself. She had only been married for a couple of years herself, but she had been on the wrong side of her own wife a few times and her spouse wasn't nearly as formidable as Medb's. The pilot knew Lilliard would give her a good talking to, no doubt something about being too soft, too accommodating, but it didn't overly worry her. Her philosophy of life was to give everyone what she believed they deserved, whether that was good or bad. Cybele was a nice woman and a damn fine officer, she deserved some latitude.

* * * * * *

Down in the bowels of the ship, in a section where no one would ever go except during a major refit, a shadowy figure lurked in the darkness. There was minimal heating down here and the girl pulled her thick cloak closer around her, wrapping her hands in the warmth of the soft lining. Amongst the provisions she had brought with her in her backpack was a portable heating unit but, with no way to recharge its batteries once they were drained, she told herself she must wait until her need was more desperate. It would be a long journey, at least three weeks, and she knew that once the Artemis entered the vastness of deep space, away from any civilization, it would get colder. It was little enough to endure for the woman who had saved her from a life on the streets, given her a home and security, become her teacher and her mother. She had never known her real mother but, whoever she was, she couldn't have taken care of the girl better or given her more.

After eating her meagre meal, she arranged a couple of blankets into a makeshift bed in the corner of the chamber and, with her backpack acting as a pillow, settled down to get some rest. She had to conserve her energy for the long days ahead and the tasks that she must accomplish along the way. Before falling asleep she swore a silent oath to her mother and to the great goddess that she would not fail in her mission.