Space Knights: The Arrival by Gregory Samuelson (buy e reader .TXT) 📕

and helping passengers fasten their seat belts. They were very responsive to every request and swiftly had everyone at ease and ready for takeoff. One Ships Aide came up and inquired if Corena needed anything and then turned to Trance and asked him.

“We’ll have a couple glasses of water, thank you,” said Corena courteously. She seemed to be in her element as Princess at the moment. She knew what she wanted and knew how to act as a member of the royal house. When giving commands or requesting something, she was always courteous and yet direct. Her voice, which was always sweet and loving when she talked to her family and especially to Trance, could command anyone to obey her wishes. She didn’t demand a lot and it seemed that everyone obeyed her because they loved her and the royal family.

In just a few minutes the Aide was back with their water glasses. Trance drank the cool water and leaned back, trying to calm his nerves again. He remembered his very old fear of flying and there were moments when he’d had second thoughts about flying to the end of year tournaments. He felt Corena take his hand and he turned and gazed into those beautiful brown eyes of hers and felt himself relax. She seemed to always have a way of calming him. He smiled as she leaned close to him and touched her head to his shoulder. With her beside him he felt he could do anything, go anywhere, endure anything, and accomplish whatever he needed to do.

The ten minutes were just about up when the ship’s captain once again addressed the passengers, “Ladies and gentlemen we’re about to get underway. Make sure you and your belongings are stored and fastened correctly. The Aides will assist you.”

A moment later the great engines were fired, the boarding tunnel was moved away from the ship and the doors were securely closed and sealed. Rather slowly at first the ship started to move away from its station and started moving toward the line of ships waiting to take off.

Trance sat back in his seat and tried his best to concentrate on Corena, who was rather relaxed and ready to fly. He trusted her and knew that nothing could or should go wrong. His nerves quieted and he took the time to look out the window and took in all of the sights he could see from where he sat. Then four minutes later he heard and felt the engines really start to wind up.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are next to take off,” spoke the captain’s voice.

It seemed a very long minute before the ship moved again and then stopped. The engines were definitely roaring now. Trance felt the ship start to accelerate down the runway and very suddenly leave the ground behind. He felt himself pushed back in his seat and his heart seemed to be racing the ship as it started to make an incredible climb. He noticed the ship’s cabin conditions change very slightly. There seemed to be more air pumping into the cabin where the passengers sat and his feet felt weightless only momentarily before the ship’s gravity system activated and everything felt like normal again.

The ship continued to gather speed as it climbed accelerating to escape velocity and in a few minutes was leaving the planet and starting its journey through space. It took a few more minutes for Trance to calm his heart rate enough to look around and see that everything was just fine. Three minutes later the Aides began going down the aisles again and taking care of the passengers. Trance took another glass of water, drained it in one gulp and immediately asked for another one.

Corena smiled at him and held his hand reassuringly, “How are you doing? Look out there, there’s another ship heading in the same direction as we are. They’re probably heading to the end of year tournaments also.”

Trance looked out the window and was stunned to see one of the other ships flying in formation with their ship. As he looked out further he caught sight of one of the great battleships flying through space defending their progress. He easily imagined that there were other battleships in the area to protect this particular ship. Suddenly he saw something that caught his attention. He was almost sure that he had imagined what he’d seen until he saw the flying object again.

Flying fairly close to the Scorpio was a very striking winged robot horse. The horse seemed to be rather more heavily armored and sleeker than any robot horse that he’d ever seen. The knight riding the horse was also more armored than what he’d seen before. The armor was thicker and a bit sleeker and it was evident that the helmet was completely sealed to the rest of the armor and had a built-in conduit for air for the knight. The helmet’s faceplate was also rather large for the knight to give him a wider view of his surroundings. As he watched in wonder he saw six more winged horses and knights riding them in formation near the ship.

“Hey Corena, look at them,” Trance said amazed at the knights on their winged horses flying in space.

“Oh, those must be a group of space knights,” Corena said in a knowing voice. “They are very specialized knights that train to fly their special horses in space to help protect our space battleships. There are seven groups of those knights assigned to a space battleship. Their horse’s weapons are specially designed to fire and be effective in space against enemy knights and other enemy space vessels.”

“Wow!” replied Trance. He was becoming more amazed with his new home world and military. “Are they more elite?” he asked curiously.

“A little,” she replied, “They’re more specialized you might say. The most elite armed forces are still the Golden Griffins. As one you’ll have to learn how to be a knight and be able to defend Althora