Triptych

by S. C. Mitchell

  Beams shot at them from the aliens standing further away from the fighting. Maggie used her sword to deflect the beams, sending the attacks back at the aliens. It was a matter of speed, aim, and timing, but she made it work. In seconds she’d honed the technique to be able to choose specific targets, returning shots toward their senders with pin-point accuracy.

  Still, there were a dozen more aliens set to fill gaps for every one that fell.

  Ahead, Guinevere pulled herself up from the floor. “You’ll pay for that,” she yelled.

  “We’ll see.” Maggie strode toward her, swinging Fragarach right and left, flinging alien attackers from her.

  If she could take out Guinevere, maybe the others would be able to enter the fray.

  Mary stayed right with her.

  Poor Quantum continued to struggle with her containment. But cracks appeared on the surface of the sphere. Maybe she’d be able to free herself.

  I need to keep Guinevere unbalanced, take the fight to her, don’t let her gain control.

  With a flap of her wings, Hanma sprung up and over another group of aliens, then dropped in the midst of them. She swung her long tail around, throwing aliens back as she clawed, bit, and breathed fire in the midst of them. Aliens pushed and trampled their own companions in an effort to get away from the fierce dragon.

  Hanma proved to be the unbalancing factor, something Guinevere couldn’t have planned for—a wild card serving to keep the majority of the aliens occupied as Maggie maneuvered into position.

  Uncertainty shone in Guinevere’s eyes whenever she glanced at the dragon. Would it be enough? The Fae Queen pulsed with immense power. More, it seemed, than when they’d fought before.

  Gunfire rattled from behind Maggie, and occasionally an explosion erupted within the masses of aliens. Paul and Luke were doing what they could.

  Still, aliens continued to pour in from the back of the chamber. They grouped around Guinevere, giving the Fae Queen a thick buffer to regain her footing.

  There were so damned many, Maggie couldn’t fight her way through.

  Guinevere formed a dome of energy around herself, pulsing with dark power. She rose up in the chamber to hover ten feet above the floor. “I will destroy you,” she shouted at Maggie.

  ~ ~ ~

  Paul fired off his last round of ammo as the aliens regrouped around the Fae Queen. The hollow click of the empty chamber had him gnashing his teeth.

  Crap.

  There was more ammo on the Xi-1, but it might as well be on the other side of the galaxy.

  Between Maggie, Quantum, Mary, and Hanma, the aliens were taking a beating but still able to protect their leader. Reinforcements continued to pour in from the back entrance. He could see the tide of battle turning against them.

  Luke launched a grenade from his Punisher in a high arc toward the back of the chamber. The explosion rattled through the chamber and sealed the doorway with a mass of twisted metal.

  “Nice shot,” Paul said. That should at least cut off her reinforcements.

  Luke smiled and handed Paul a clip of ammo. “I brought a little extra.”

  He sure as hell had.

  But as Paul moved to accept the ammo clip from Luke, iciness slithered up his legs.

  “What the—” Luke froze in place.

  This was Guinevere’s magic, paralyzing them as she had in the basement level of the Xi Force headquarters that day weeks ago when she’d freed those four aliens.

  Paul fought the effect, but lost. A tingle, like his whole body had fallen asleep, spread through him. He remained aware of what was happening around him, but was unable to act.

  First Quantum, now him and Luke. Guinevere was picking them off one by one.

  ~ ~ ~

  Maggie threw up a magical shield just as waves of dark energy radiated from Guinevere toward her. Power crackled in the air and her shield dissolved.

  She spun sideways, dodging another energy attack, then sent a barrage of magical missiles toward the Fae Queen.

  Her attack fizzled before it even reached its target, but another few swipes with her sword cleared enough aliens to bring her close to Guinevere.

  How had Gran beaten her? How had the others over the ages? She was so powerful.

  Why not ask the source?

  Close enough now, Maggie pointed Fragarach at Guinevere’s neck. “How do I beat you?”

  The Fae Queen laughed. “You can’t. Not this time. My powers are augmented by Sha’Xari technology. I have never been so powerful.

  The sword pointed at her throat, Guinevere couldn’t lie. Then again, maybe she didn’t need to.

  Maggie switched to eyes that saw, and noted the deep purple aura around the golden belt Guinevere wore. An energy enhancer of some sort, hooked to who knew what kind of power source, fed mystic energy into the pulsing globe of crimson surrounding her.

  From beneath, Mary leapt, grasped Guinevere’s foot to pull herself higher into the air, and slashed with her claws, rending fabric and leaving three bloody scratches across Guinevere’s stomach before dropping to the ground.

  “Get away from me you cur,” Guinevere shouted as she fired a beam of energy from her fist.

  The explosion hit Mary and sent her tumbling back.

  “No,” Maggie shouted.

  With a wave of Guinevere’s hand another energy bubble encapsulated Hamna. “I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but that should hold you.”

  The dragon breathed fire and clawed the barrier but had no better luck than Quantum in breaking out of the imprisonment.

  Guinevere landed on the deck in front of Maggie. She spread her arms wide and the aliens pulled back, forming a circle around the two of them.

  “Now, it’s just you and me. Finally I will end you and gain my permanent release.” She put her hands on her belt. “With this, I don’t even need those paltry powers I stole from you all those years ago.”

  Maggie raised Fragerach, preparing to charge, but with a gesture, Guinevere shot a wave of energy that wrapped around Maggie, confining her. Yet another use of the dimensional energy she manipulated.

  It formed so tightly around, Maggie couldn’t move. She could barely breathe.

  “These others, all your friends, I needed to keep alive. They will be publicly executed in full view of the mass media of your world. That will show the people of Earth who rules them and break their will.”

  Guinevere was ranting now, but Maggie couldn’t do anything to stop her. “The Earth and all its resources will be mine. I’ll repair this ship and build a dozen others. Then the Sha’Xari and I will take to the stars, leaving Earth a dead, desolate planet. The first of many we will conquer to the glory of Dun Loon.”

  “Dun Loon,” the aliens echoed with one voice.

  She stood face to face with Maggie, a cruel smile creasing her mouth. “You, however, I will end now. Time to die, little bird.”

  She clenched her fist tightly, right in Maggie’s face, and the energy field constricted further.

  Maggie fought the crushing force, gasping for air that suddenly wasn’t available.

  She didn’t have the power to break free.

  Chapter 32

  As her head reeled under the pressure of the constricting magical force, Maggie struggled to find anything she could do to fight back.

  The purple aura surrounding the Fae Queen’s waist pulsed wildly. That was the alien power source that was making her so much stronger. Did the random constricting mean Guinevere was pulling too much power? Surely the melding of magic with the alien technology had to have limits.

  Guinevere had a crimson aura of her own sizzling around her. But the aura went brown at the outer reaches. A curious muddling of energies that created a greenish tinge in the corona.<
br />
  Maggie spied the thin, emerald-green thread stretching between her and Guinevere. Their connection.

  She’d have never been able to see it without El Brujo’s instruction, but now, looking with eyes that saw, that connection became her lifeline. Something she could work through. The brown at the edge of Guinevere’s aura was the power stolen from the Morrigan during the time of Arthur, the energy the young girl, Maggie’s ancient ancestor, had given up willingly with the promise it would be returned.

  It was power that belonged to the Morrigan, power that now belonged to Maggie.

  That emerald thread was the connection bringing Guinevere across the dimensions to Earth each time the Morrigan died. But the connection ran both ways.

  Using fingers of magic, Maggie followed the thread, letting her being connect with that power, her power, glowing around the Fae Queen. In this way she found herself inside Guinevere’s defenses, and able to manipulate the magical force that belonged to the Morrigan.

  She sent a spike shooting into the purple aura, the alien energy, disrupting its flow.

  The already weakened and wavering energy source pulsed strongly, then went out. The purple vanished from Guinevere’s aura as the belt around her waist split, and clattered to the deck.

  “What?” The Fae Queen hadn’t noticed Maggie working inside her defenses. At least not yet.

  Still, Maggie needed to move fast. She couldn’t breathe and her head was spinning toward unconsciousness.

  With a vicious mystical yank, she pulled all of the Morrigan’s powers into her being, returning what was stolen all those hundreds of years ago, then she sent the full force of her powers against the restraints around her, battering the magic forming her prison, pushing the walls away from her, and funneling the energy back to whatever dimension it’d come from.

  “No.” Guinevere fisted her hand and gritted her teeth. “No!”

  The force dissipated around Maggie. She was free. “You’re nothing without my power, are you?”

  “I am Guinevere, Queen of the Fae, favored of Dun Loon.” She sneered. “I will still prevail.”

  She pointed at Maggie and shouted, “Kill her.”

  The Sha’Xari forces closed on Maggie as Guinevere backpedaled into the mass.

  There would be time enough to deal with Guinevere now, her aura reflected an almost empty energy reserve. She’d burned herself out. And without the power belt to recharge, it would take hours to build back her reserves.

  Quantum burst from her energy prison, popping the sphere like a soap bubble and dropping to land on the deck below with a perfect three-point, superhero landing. “Yes.”

  Her one hand still on the floor, she pulsed a wave of power rippling toward a group of aliens, turning the floor beneath them to grains of sand and sending the creatures plummeting to the deck below.

  ~ ~ ~

  Paul’s whole body tingled as the paralysis left him. He blinked, then snatched the clip of ammo Luke had been holding out to him for the long moments they’d been frozen. He ejected the empty clip from his Magnum and slammed home the full one.

  For whatever good it would do him, at least he was armed.

  Luke moved as well, his arm sagging under the weight of the Punisher he’d been forced to hold at an awkward angle for long minutes.

  Paul holstered his Magnum. “Let me borrow that.”

  Passing him the XM25, Luke gasped for breath. “Nice weapon, but that thing is a bit on the heavy side.”

  If Paul was reading the situation correctly, Guinevere’s powers had been reduced somehow by Maggie. Maybe the barrier confining the rest of Xi Force had weakened as well.

  He spun and aimed the Punisher’s grenade launcher to the right of the Xi-1. He didn’t want to hit the jet if the blast did get through. “Move back,” he shouted, and Z-Bot, Shade, Phaze, and the rest scurried toward the Xi-1.

  Once they were sufficiently away, Paul triggered the weapon. With a thump the explosive charge sped toward the invisible wall.

  The resulting blast caused a ripple of waves along the barrier. A weird screeching sound, like metal twisting, emanated from the wall as it became visible for an instant in opaque white before dissipating completely.

  Phaze, Shade, and the other previously confined Xi Force members rushed toward him.

  “Good work, Paul,” Shade said as he raced past, toward the mass of aliens.

  Xi Force hit about the same time Hanma broke out of her confinement. Complete chaos dominated the chamber as Earth’s defenders let loose on the alien invaders.

  Paul was in the process of handing the Punisher to Luke when a beam from one of the alien blasters fired toward them.

  Luke leapt forward and pushed Paul back. The beam struck him with an explosive concussion, tearing the fabric of his shirt and exposing the silvery exo-armor beneath.

  “Ugh.” Luke dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap.

  “Luke! Damn it.” Paul dropped to his knees. He rolled the man over, checking for any sign of life.

  “Take the bullet,” Luke mumbled through shattered lips. “Too few supers. But only one Ranger’s commander.”

  Luke’s eyes rolled up and his body went limp in Paul’s arms.

  Then Mary, in her wolf-woman form, was beside him. “Luke?” Her form shimmered and she became Mary again. Jimmy appeared next to her. “I wanted to field test the suit, but damn it, not like this.” There were tears in her eyes. “He’s not breathing.”

  Paul placed his hands over Luke’s chest and began CPR as Mary continued to check for any signs of life.

  Paul’s eyes blurred with moisture. “Come on, Luke. Don’t do this.”

  ~ ~ ~

  With the full Xi Force team in on the battle, Maggie could turn her focus to locating Guinevere. Even with the Fae Queen’s powers drastically reduced, she still remained a threat. That grenade had sealed off the back exit, so she had to be in the chamber somewhere.

  It didn’t take long to locate the Fae Queen’s bright costume. She lurked at the back of the room surrounded by Sha’Xari troops. She was chanting and waving her arms as an oily plume of gray smoke puffed up from an open space of floor.

  El Brujo appeared next to Maggie. “Looks like a summoning,” he said.

  “So we should probably try and stop that.” Maggie focused another bolt of energy through her sword and sent it straight at Guinevere.

  “Effective,” he said. “Would you mind if I tapped into some of your power. My resources are strained this far above the planet.”

  She now had more power than ever. Maggie opened up her power reserves to him. “Help yourself.”

  His hands wove an intricate pattern in the air as El Brujo sent a wavering bubble hurling toward Guinevere. As it hit, there was a splooch sound, and the Fae Queen was pulled inside the bubble.

  “A taste of her own medicine,” he said. “I figured out how she compressed that dimensional material into a prison.”

  Watching Guinevere struggle inside the shimmering egg brought a broad smile of satisfaction to Maggie’s lips. “You are going to have to teach me how to do that.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Paul puffed short breaths as he continued to apply compression to Luke’s chest. “Come on, Luke. Please.” Tears trickled down his cheeks.

  Suddenly, Luke spasmed, then coughed as he began to breathe once again. Mary laid a finger to his neck to check for a pulse. “He’s back.”

  Luke’s eyes fluttered open, his voice weak, “Guess I should have worn that red shirt after all.”

  Paul didn’t get the reference, but Mary huffed. “You are not dying on me. You know how mad that makes Dr. Logan.”

  She glanced up to Paul. “Let’s get him to the Xi-1’s medical bay.”

  Paul gathered Luke into his
arms as gently as possible and hoisted him up. He noted Mary and Jimmy limping as they led the way toward the Xi-1. They’d taken their share of lumps.

  As they approached, Birdy rushed down the exit ramp to help carry Luke inside.

  They placed him on the bed in the medical bay while Mary pulled on a pair of rubber gloves from the cabinet.

  She disconnected the power pack on his exo-armor and pushed up on the shirt. “Help me get this off him.”

  Paul pulled the garment up and off as gently as he could. Still, Luke stiffened and groaned.

  The area along the lower left side of his torso was already purpling.

  Mary shook her head as she surveyed the damage. “Nothing got through the exo-suit, but he still took some massive concussive damage from that blast.”

  An attention alert buzzed in Paul’s com unit.

  Mary waved him and Birdy off. “Go ahead, I’ve got this.

  Kirk’s voice crackled in his earpiece. “There’s an alert humming over the alien’s network. They’re getting ready to launch their entire fleet. If I’m reading this right, they’ve been given orders to exterminate all life on the planet.”

  Where the hell was Kirk that he could hack into the alien’s network?

  It was Maggie’s voice that answered. “Get out of there, Kirk. Come to us. Have Olivia fly the ship outside our hanger. We’ll get everyone else out on the Xi-1, but I’m going to need some help getting it back to Earth.”

  Kirk and Olivia here on a ship? Obviously he was out of the loop on something.

  Shade chimed in then, “Everyone, back to the ship.”

  As Xi Force and Pike’s Rangers scampered on board, Paul noted the tension between Quantum and Wylde.

  Shade pulled them both aside but faced Dove. “Quantum, you’re sure about this?”

  “Dead sure.” There was ice in Dove’s tone.

  John Wylde pulled her around to face him. “Dove.”