by Ramy Vance
Time stopped for a bit.
Finally, after a long period of silence, while lying on the bank of the pond, Alex sighed and said, “I think I really needed this.”
Jim was waving his hand back and forth in the water. He looked up absentmindedly, as if the heat from the lake had drained him of his thoughts. “I think we both did.”
Alex stared up at the moon. Everything felt perfect. She couldn’t imagine it could be better. “I’m glad you asked me,” she said. “It’ll be nice to come back here with everyone. But I’m glad that it’s just us this time.”
As Alex stared up the sky, something bright and green streaked across. It looked like someone had carved open the sky and whatever was underneath had bled green. It was gone within a moment, only a flash. And that was all the attention Alex gave the streak.
Chapter Four
Alex and Jim had lost track of time. It was a pleasant feeling, one Alex couldn’t really recall having shared with another person before. Especially not such interesting conversation. Jim didn’t seem to like small talk very much. He kept asking Alex questions that made her stop and think.
That wasn’t to say Alex wasn’t trying to do the same thing. This was the first time they’d gotten to talk for an extended period of time outside of VR or work. It felt like they had a lot of catching up to do. Or at least, to get to know each other.
As Jim told Alex about the first time he’d ever broken a bone, she noticed that the streak was still bright in the sky, almost as if it had slowed its descent. When Jim was finished speaking, Alex pointed at it. “Seems like that’s been there for a while, right?” she asked.
Jim smiled as he leaned back to look at the green streak. “Was my story that boring?”
“Are you going to give me crap about looking up at the sky when it’s so beautiful tonight?”
“When you put it like that, I’ll pull my foot out of my mouth. And to answer your question, yeah. It does seem odd that it’s been like that for so long.”
Alex stood, walked over to Chine, and grabbed her HUD. She stared through the visor at the streak. “I’m going to check in with HQ about this,” she said before hitting her comm. “Hey, I’d like you to check out my coordinates. I’m seeing an anomaly in the sky. Not quite sure about it. I was just wondering if you could take a look at it or watch it.”
An obnoxiously gruff voice came over the comm. “What are you doing out that far? That’s a restricted area,” the voice chastised.
“No, it’s not,” Alex replied. “There aren’t any restricted areas around the Nest.”
“Oh, well, it’s not for first-year students. That’s what I mean by ‘restricted.’”
It was obvious to Alex that whoever was talking to her was messing around. “Okay, I’m not in the mood to play games right now,” Alex said, certain that whoever was on the comm was someone she knew. “Who is this?”
The gruff voice disappeared and was replaced by the bright, cheery tones of Jollies, a pixie, one of the other members of Team Boundless. “Aw, you suck the fun out of everything,” she whined.
“Only when I’m trying to seriously ask something. What are you doing on watch tonight?” Alex asked.
Jollies sighed as she explained. “Well, first-year students get the short end when it comes to night shifts. Brath and me got them two days in a row. Say hi, Brath.”
Brath’s annoyed voice came through the comm. “I don’t know why I have to say hi,” the gnome groaned. “It’s not like she called me.”
“She didn’t call me either, jerk. She called the night watch, and seeing as how you are also working the night watch, the call applies to you too. Now say hello.”
Brath grumbled under his breath before he said, “Hello. How’s the date going?”
Alex felt her face flush with a mixture of embarrassment and irritation. She had figured Jollies was going to give her a hard time about it, but she would have thought it would be beneath Brath. Although, Brath was Gill’s best friend. It wouldn’t be out of the question to assume Brath was being defensive, but Gill hadn’t seemed the least bit bothered by Alex and Jim going on a date.
Jollies erupted into gales of giggles at Brath’s question. “Oh, my goodness, I completely forgot you two were on a date right now. Are you guys holding hands? Did he kiss you yet? Does he smell good, like cologne-good, or did he just decide to go the human ‘this is how I smell’ route? You should have tried the pixie perfume I told you about, the one my mom sent me. It’s soooo good, and I think you would have loved it. But I need details—”
Alex interrupted Jollies. “I’m still on the date. Like, Jim’s right here next to me.”
“Oh. Kinda awkward to be talking on the comm while you’re on a date.”
Jim’s voice came on. “Just so you all know, the comm is an open channel. I can hear you.”
Alex wished she could shrivel up and fade from the realm.
Jim spoke again. “Whatever we are doing is our business, though, Jollies. Maybe you should ask Alex when the entire Nest doesn’t have the ability to hear you.”
Alex could imagine Jollies pouting. If there was one thing the pixie hated, it was having her fun taken away from her. She would probably be upset about this for the next couple of days. Even if Alex told her roommate what happened in explicit detail, it wouldn’t be enough. She wouldn’t be satisfied.
“Fine,” Jollies finally said. “I’ll talk to you in private about it when you get back, Alex. But I’m going to want all the details. Even things you don’t want to admit to yourself.”
“Sheesh, Jollies, you make it sound horrifying.”
Alex could practically see Jollies turning a different color as she spoke, jumping from red to black and maybe deep purple. “All the details,” the pixie growled. Then her voice returned to its chipper tones. “So, what was it you wanted to talk to us about?”
Alex had almost forgotten the reason she had called the night watch. “There’s a weird light in the sky near Jim and me,” she explained. “I didn’t think anything of it at first, but I don’t know, it doesn’t look right. It reminds me of the meteor we just recently fought.”
Jollies was all business now. Alex wondered how long the pixie had been helping with the night watch. “Oh, then that would be something to pay attention to,” Jollies said as professionally as she could be. “It’s a good thing you two were out that way. Nothing is showing up on our screens.”
“Yeah, I thought it was really weird-looking. So, what now? Will you guys stay up all night watching it?”
“You know, that’s exactly what we’re going to end up doing. Night watch is so boring. Even if there isn’t anything important about the light, there’s nothing else to do. Brath is refusing to talk to me. Jim gave him some sort of human video game, and he hasn’t put it down, even though he’s supposed to be helping me with my dragon anatomy quiz.”
There was some scuffling over the comm, and Brath yelped in either fear or irritation. “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing with that?” the gnome shouted. “I swear, if anything happens to it, Jim is going to kill me. And I’ll help you with your damn quiz. We’re going to be here all night. Don’t see what the huge rush is.”
Finally, the commotion settled down. Alex had enjoyed the brief chat, but she was much more interested in hanging out with Jim than listening to Jollies and Brath argue. Before Alex could disconnect, she heard Brath asking her to hold on. “Looks like we got a problem,” Brath said. “That’s not a meteor. That’s a ship, and it’s still coming down.”
Alex sighed, remembering the meteor she’d come across. It had been a living ship that had warped reality around itself. If this was anything like that, it was going to take the whole Nest to deal with it. The last one had almost killed most of Boundless and had resulted in Alex losing her arm. This was the least ideal way a date could have ended up.
Jim was already on his feet, climbing into his mech. Guess that was the end of the date.
A
lex had hoped Jim would be happy leaving this for someone else to take care of, but she and Jim were the closest. It made sense for them to check it out. Still, Alex had been hoping to at least get kissed before risking her life again.
Chapter Five
Alex and Jim thanked the pixies, bade them goodbye, and made their way toward where they expected the ship to come down. It was difficult to tell the trajectory from where they were. Alex wondered if the ship had the same kind of reality-warping abilities as the meteor they’d come across before since both shared the same green streak.
From where Alex was, she figured it could take up to two hours to get to the meteor if it was descending. She logged this information back to the Nest, hoping someone would know what to do with the intel. Being out all night on a mission was the last thing the rider wanted.
Usually, Alex would have jumped at the chance to investigate something like this. She’d always been about the mission, regardless of what it was. Something had been different recently, though, if only just the last few days. Getting up and going to class was a drag. Even running through combat scenarios had been more lackluster than usual.
The only thing she’d been looking forward to in a while was having some alone time with Jim. Now it looked like that time would be spoiled.
“Chine, what do you make of that thing up ahead?” Alex asked aloud.
Chine snorted loudly as he turned his head to look at the streak of green light. Here I was thinking you had forgotten about me, the dragon said, chuckling. I didn’t realize humans were so one-track-minded when they fell in love.”
Alex switched over to her purely mental channel with him and snapped, Don’t tell me you’re jumping on board with the immaturity. I would have thought this was above your dragon stateliness.
There’s nothing in my code of honor or action that dictates that I can’t have fun or make jokes. Not that you have to worry about it happening often. I like a little teasing, Dustling. As for the streak, I am uncertain. From here, I cannot tell what it is, but it does not fill me with the dread I felt from the rock that we saw before. Whatever this is, I assume it is more benign.
Alex liked the sound of that. It would be nice for something enjoyable to fall from the sky for once. But it wasn’t in her nature to be too positive. Maybe we just aren’t close enough to see how bad it is, she muttered to herself.
As she, Chine, and Jim gained on the object, Alex could tell reality around her hadn’t changed, the closer she’d gotten to the green streak. That meant whatever was keeping the object from falling was natural, which somewhat put Alex at ease. “Hey, Night Watch, did you guys get the coordinates we sent you?” she asked.
Jollies’ voice crackled over the comm. “Why don’t you just use our names?” she asked. “We’re the only ones working here. Tonight, at least. And yeah, we did. I uploaded it into the system, and we’ve been waiting to see if anyone can head over to give you backup. There aren’t a whole lot of agents available, though. We’re having a hard time getting hold of anyone.”
“Where is everyone?”
“Holiday, remember? Most of the Nest is on leave. The only people left are the first-years, and I don’t think any first years are up to something this big. Seems like anytime we get involved with something, it gets a lot more intense than most of the first-years can handle. Hell, some of them are still dealing with the attack on the Nest.”
Alex had done her share of work to keep from thinking about the attack on the Nest. Much like her lost arm, it was better not to dwell on it. Thinking too much opened a well of emotions Alex didn’t want to feel. Painful guilt clenched her chest and bent her thoughts toward that simple feeling of shame she couldn’t hide from.
If there was one thing Alex wanted to stop feeling, it was guilt. No matter how she looked at the situation at the Nest, it rubbed the inside of her chest raw. But she could push it away for now. She’d grown pretty good at doing that.
Jollies was still talking, but Alex had zoned out for a second. She brought herself back to the conversation. The pixie was going on about who to send out into the field. “We might be able to pull in some of Roy’s mech riders. I don’t think those guys ever take a day off, or maybe they don’t take their days on seriously. Oh, and Gill is going to head over shortly.”
It was the first time all day Alex had been happy to hear Gill’s name. Having her team around right now sounded like the best idea. “You should avoid confronting the ship, though,” Jollies said. “At least until you have a better idea of what you’re up against. Otherwise, it could be dangerous.”
Alex agreed with the pixie. Getting close and taking a good, long look at whatever the hell had fallen out of the sky sounded like the best idea. “What’s Gill’s ETA?”
“Probably half an hour or so. He wasn’t at the Nest, and he wasn’t too far from you guys.”
Jim’s voice came over the comm. “Wonder what he was up to today?” Jim wondered.
Alex did, as well. Neither she nor Jim was suspicious of Gill like the rest of the cadets at the Nest. Apparently, drow didn’t have a good reputation with the other races in the realm. Even though Gill had been a part of several decisive victories, many of the elves at the Nest still looked at him with mistrust.
Alex and Jim were finally close enough to the descending ship to be able to scan it. Alex pulled up her HUD visor and gave the ship a simple yet thorough scan. She didn’t bother looking at the information but sent it straight to the Nest.
What Alex really cared about couldn’t be seen through the visor. She squinted, activating her superb dragon vision and focusing on the energy trail around the ship. It was definitely the same energy that had been attached to the meteor Team Boundless had fought. That meant that even if this wasn’t the same kind of ship that had come through before, it had come from the same place.
In addition to the energy, Alex could see there was a host of vrosks and harpies near the ship. Great, Alex thought. Had to bring friends along with you. Alex was preparing to report to the Nest that the ship was definitely going to be a problem. Then she looked closer.
The creatures surrounding the ship were attacking it, both the vrosks and the harpies biting at the ship’s steel sides. Now that’s interesting, Alex thought to herself. She commed Jollies. “Hey, so there’s a shit-ton of dark creatures around the ship, but they’re going after it. I think this might be something the Dark One wants.”
Jollies answered quickly. “If that’s the case, you need to stay a good distance away. You two just keep an eye on things until Gill gets there. We don’t want to escalate anything beyond what we’re staffed for at the moment.”
That made sense. Alex was about to disconnect when a voice broke over her comm as her HUD flashed the message Urgent.
Alex picked up. Myrddin, the ancient wizard responsible for the majority of humanity’s resistance against the Dark One, spoke up, and he sounded drunk off his ass. “Alex!” he bellowed.
Alex was glad her comm was partially mental and not completely physical because the volume of Myrddin’s voice would have ruptured her eardrum. She could practically smell the booze through the comm. “Yes, sir?”
“Just got your message from the Nest. A bit of a problem…yes, bit of a problem. Most of the staff at the Nest is gone. Vacation. You know all about that. But…but…what were we talking about again?”
“I think you called concerning the ship, sir?”
“Ah, yes…yes…well, you see, that ship is going to be a problem. We can’t just have other-dimensional ships landing anytime they want to, but I’m going to need you to wait for backup. Just wait—”
Alex was trying to be polite, but she felt like Myrddin was wasting her time. “Sir, Jollies just told me not to engage. What’s your position on that, sir?” A loud cheer bellowed through the comm. “Where are you, sir?”
Myrddin burped loudly before shouting something unintelligible at someone who must have been walking by. “Huge victory on the Dwarf homeworld.
Was celebrating, but doesn’t seem like the best time. I’m using magic to sober up. Still takes a moment. Be there once I am. An hour, two at the most. Until then, you’re in control of the mission. There’s a tactical planner on your dragon anchor. It’ll give you access to some things you might need. Be in touch in a bit.”
Myrddin signed off, and Alex signaled to Jim to stop. He popped open his cockpit and leaned out. “What’s going on?”
Alex sat down on Chine and watched the ship in the distance. “Just got off the comm with Myrddin. We’re gonna take this mission. Let’s find a place to set down, wait for Gill, and figure out what we’re going to do.”
Jim pointed to a small copse of trees in the distance that seemed to have enough cover to obscure the mech and the dragon. “How about there?”
Alex scanned the area around for the next couple of miles. Those trees would be a good place to start, but they were going to have to keep moving if they were going to catch up with the ship. “Yeah, this’ll work. We better get started.”
Chapter Six
Alex and Jim touched down and started to make their way through the forest. Alex wanted to find a place where they were not visible to whatever was following the ship, but they could still get enough intel to make sure they weren’t leading reinforcements into a trap.
Even if all the battle prep classes Alex had been taking were extremely boring, she was glad some of it had rubbed off on her. She’d started to look at fights as something more complicated than “Make a good plan and hope it all works out.”
After the last mission Team Boundless had been on, Alex had been able to speak briefly to the leader of another squad who was a few years older than her. Suzuki of the Mundanes had been lauded as one of the best strategists Middang3ard had to offer, and despite his age, some of his battle strategies had been taught in class.
