Space Knights: The Arrival

by Gregory Samuelson

  A second innovation was that he came across a very rare flight pack for a Muster Type 18B. This feature was so unique that only three other Muster Types had a flight pack available. Type 19D, Type 20E, and Type 23B were the other three. The flight pack could be attached where the saddle was and had wings and powerful jets to provide flight. True, it wouldn’t fly nearly as well as a full-blown winged horse, yet it could take to the air and fly.

  The most exciting innovation Trance made to Odin was to increase the horse’s firepower. One weekend when Kyle had the day off the two brothers had gone to scout out more parts at some local used military stores. They were about to leave the last one when Trance spotted something very rare and unusual.

  It was a complete pair of rotating crossbow cannons from a very old and huge warhorse known as a Type 14TR. The crossbow cannons had four crossbows on a side, set in a square. The crossbow on top of the square was set to shoot. When fired the square-shaped shaft would rotate toward the body of the horse and bring the second bow to the top, ready to shoot while the first bow now nearer the body had a small hydraulic piston push the bowstring back into firing position.

  After the second bow fired the shaft rotated again and now the second bow was near the horse’s body and having the bowstring pushed back into firing position and the first bow was now at the bottom. A small swift mechanism took a crossbow bolt off a chain belt and loaded it up into firing position and a small catch swiveled to hold the bolt into place. On the next shot the first bow would now be on the outside waiting for the following shot when the rotation brought it back on top and ready to shoot.

  Trance was blown away by the ingenious weapons and very carefully collected them and all of their parts. The cannons were in remarkably good shape for being found in an old military store. He had to slightly modify Odin’s weapon bays to accommodate the cannons and the loading chain belt. The standard warhorse carried twenty to thirty bolts per side, but the cannons he’d installed had a forty bolt capacity belt per side.

  To increase the firepower of the cannons Trance found four micro compound bows from a couple of newer warhorses that had been just recently dumped in the scrapyard. Almost nightly Trance had his dad take him out there to find four more micro compound bows. He found three more four days ago, and he hoped to find the last one either tonight or tomorrow so that he could have the cannons completed.

  He wouldn’t need Odin for a couple weeks, but he was trying his best to have him ready to go a week early so he’d have a chance to practice with the horse before the jousts started. Trance had done his best to upgrade Odin to such a high level, higher than he even knew. He even found upgrades for Odin’s eyes and ears. He polished the horse and inspected it every few days to ensure that he’d installed everything correctly and made sure everything operated as efficiently as possible. His prayer was that he’d done enough that Odin would pass all inspections and be his warhorse.

  Trance was excited this afternoon. His dad was going to take him out to the scrapyard this evening so he could find the last compound bow he desperately needed. He was excited that he had Odin almost fully ready to go. Trance had even found and installed stronger pistons to arm the compound bows. On his test runs the weapons had performed magnificently. Odin seemed to have become more upbeat and excited about being upgraded. That morning as Trance had done a little more work on him before he left for school Odin spoke.

  “Master, will you be able to finish my new weapons before your first contests with me?” Odin spoke with a crisp anxious voice. It wasn’t a nervous anxious but an excited anxious. To Trance the voice sounded like a young soldier excited about his first mission talking to his superior officer.

  “Yes,” said Trance with a grin on his face. “It depends on whether or not I can find that last compound bow for your cannons.” Trance patted the horse one more time before he left the garage and shut the door. He walked to school and felt rather proud of the work that he’d done on Odin. All he needed was that one last bow. Could he find it tonight?

  The day seemed to drag on today. He had three tests, one quiz, and one report to give. He thought that he’d done well on his quiz and on two of the tests, yet he wasn’t so sure about the third test and the report. He did have a little enjoyment during the day. Between classes and during lunch, Trance spent time with Corena and their friends.

  They sat at lunch and talked about their teams’ records and about the upcoming field competitions. Gracer and Zam were impressed that Trance had a warhorse, and they were astonished to hear the story of how Corena had given it to him. It seemed that Trance was full of surprises. Trance even told them about what had led him to the town where he met Corena and her Golden Griffin escort and the events that were the reason for him getting the horse.

  During the knight class Trance, Zam, and Gracer learned more about the upcoming schedule for the field competitions. They would face almost all of the same schools they had met during the castle competitions. Trance started to plan field strategies for his team. He had earned their respect with his castle strategies and because he had led them to such great success so far they listened rather closely to what he had to say.

  Near the end of the class Neklon had registration forms for anyone with a horse and wanted to enter the jousting competitions. As usual there were only a very few boys that had a horse to use for the jousting competitions. Gracer had his grandfather’s old horse that he used and Zam had an old farm horse that his uncle had loaned him the last two years. Two other boys had horses. One was a son of a local bank president and had bought a new warhorse, and the other had inherited a horse that was new four years ago. Trance raised his hand and noticed how surprised most of his team looked to see that he had a horse also.

  Neklon was also surprised that Trance had a horse. He had gotten to know Trance and trusted him as a very good captain. He had coached a lot of boys and seen many become very fine knights, only Zak Karry had went on to be a Golden Griffin. He hadn’t been sure how a boy from Earth would do in the knight class, but he now respected Trance’s efforts to lead his team. He handed the form to Trance and then started to explain the training schedule for jousting.

  The bell sounded and the class broke up. Trance gathered up his backpack and headed for the door with the rest of the class. He made his way to his locker and grabbed the books that he needed so he could do his homework. He headed for the front doors of the school and started walking, when he heard a beautiful voice call a greeting to him. To his great joy Corena came out of the school right behind him and hurried to catch up to him.

  “Hi sweetheart,” he said happily as she approached.

  “Hi,” she said and took his hand as they continued to walk toward Trance’s house. “Did you understand the science homework we got today?”

  “Yeah, it’ll be fairly easy once we get started on it,” he answered smiling. He warmly remembered that she had asked if she could come over to his house and study with him.

  “You’re so smart. You must have been a very bright student before you had to leave your home world,” she commented.

  “Well I wouldn’t say that,” he said blushing, “but I usually did get good grades. Some things just come more easily to me. I was always pretty good in math and science. It’s amazing that math is math and that the same formulas work anywhere in the universe,” Trance commented.

  They talked on the way to the house. Trance admired her as she walked beside him. She was a little shorter than him and had gorgeous brown eyes that glowed from within and she had the most beautifully shaped lips he’d ever seen. His heart always beat faster when he saw her smile, and she had started smiling more and more since they had started dating. He had heard from some of his friends that she hadn’t smiled very much when she had been dating Rex.

  “So how have you been doing with the old horse you rode when we met? Are you going to ride him in the jousting events?” she asked, being curiou
s about the horse. She remembered that he had gotten rather attached to the horse.

  “I’ve been doing great with him. I almost have him ready to go before the jousting begins,” said Trance brightly. “I’ll show him to you when we get to my house. I’ve been really upgrading him and I think you’ll be impressed. I just hope I’ve done enough to get him to pass the inspection.”

  It took just a few minutes for them to get to the Sonderson house. Trance opened the garage door and led Corena in to see the horse. “Corena, this is Odin,” Trance said introducing her to the horse.

  “Hello Odin,” she said smiling as she approached the horse and checked him out.

  “Hello Princess,” said the horse, making her jump.

  “How did you do that? Robot horses don’t have a voice mechanism,” she said in surprise.

  Trance began to explain all of the improvements he had made in the horse. He told her about finding the voice box of the old robot knight and his logic of installing it in Odin. He told her about his going to the scrapyard and finding the various parts that he needed to upgrade Odin into a very versatile horse in the hope that it’ll be enough to allow him to ride him as his warhorse. He got a surprise when he told her about the leg motors that he had found. “They came from a pretty beat-up pair of horses that I came across. I think that the model of the horses was a Type 16RR; I still don’t know how to distinguish the various types of robot horses. I’ve taken him out and run him about ten miles an hour faster than when I first got him.”

  “Did you say the leg motors came from a Type 16RR?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Why? He runs faster now. He should be able to keep up with the more modern and up–to-date model,” he explained.

  “Well you wouldn’t know. A Type 16 RR is a racehorse. No wonder he can run ten miles per hour faster than normal. He might actually be a slight bit faster than the new models.”

  Trance felt even prouder of his horse now. He showed her the new cannons he’d found for Odin and the improvement he’d even made to them. He was so pleased that she was impressed with how he’d upgraded the horse. He told her about trying to find the last micro compound bow that he needed to complete the cannons so he could finish installing them and make sure that they worked properly. After he was done showing her the horse he took her into his house and she greeted his mother and siblings. Then they went downstairs to what had become his retreat at home.

  He had taken over the front third of the downstairs family room. His bookshelves were against the far wall and he had a small white table with red legs under the window. He had a small television on the table and there were two old comfortable chairs set at the table. This was where he did most of his homework. Also along the far wall was a fairly simple desk with metal legs where his small computer and printer sat for him to write and print his essays and reports for school. They took the chairs at the table and took out their schoolbooks and started on their homework.

  After a few minutes Eileen, Trance’s mom, came down and asked if they needed something to eat or drink as they worked. “Now your family knows where you are, right?” Eileen asked. She was slightly nervous. She had never hosted a princess before.

  “Yes ma’am,” Corena answered politely. “I called my folks at lunch and told them that I was coming here to study. They’re going to send a coach for me at six, if that’s alright with you.”

  “Yes dear, that’s fine. I just wanted to make sure that they knew where you were,” Eileen said. Trance smiled to himself. His mother was like that with all of his friends. She was a very good mother and tried to look after all of the kids that came to the house.

  “Your mom’s a very nice lady,” Corena commented.

  “Yeah,” Trance grinned. “I think she really likes you. She’s just a little nervous since you’re the princess. She wants to make a really good impression since you’re here, and she wants to make sure you’re safe.”

  They laughed and then went back to their homework. The time went by more pleasantly and they got all of their work done. They packed their books back and looked at the clock. Corena’s coach would be there in seven minutes. While they had been working Trance had kept glancing at Corena and he felt even luckier and more blessed that she was now his girlfriend. He kept thinking to himself about how he truly felt about her.

  He knew deep down that he’d really fallen for her. He wanted so much to kiss her that he almost ached. He knew that she was the princess and that seemed to go right in line with his childhood fantasies about being a knight and meeting a beautiful princess. Well he was now on his way to being a knight and here with him was the beautiful princess. As gorgeous as she was he felt that he’d have fallen for her even if she weren’t the princess.

  Suddenly as he was about to stand because he couldn’t bring himself to kiss her, he felt her warm lips on his. They parted and he felt his face blaze red. “I’m sorry,” she said feeling embarrassed.

  “Don’t be sorry. I’ve wanted to kiss you all afternoon,” he said trying to calm down. His heart was really racing now.

  “I know, I saw it in your eyes every time you looked at me,” she said smiling. They kissed again just as the doorbell rang. They parted and Corena grabbed her backpack and Trance escorted her to the door. They said good-bye and she gave him another quick kiss before climbing into the coach. They waved at each other and both felt that they had met the love of their lives.

  Trance seemed to float for the next few days in school and reveled when they were together. Two days after her visit to his home Trance received a package in the mail. It was actually addressed to Odin in care of him. Curious Trance opened the package and pulled out a micro compound bow.

  Chapter 17

  Jousting

  Trance had Odin finished, as best he could. He was now ready for the field competitions to begin. Trance would be leading his team at home for their first battlefield match against the Black Knights today. He had planned out his strategy carefully and thought that if his team did as instructed they could win.

  The day was crisp yet sunny with a very slight breeze. Trance was amazed at the fact that the stands on both sides of the field were packed. He’d gotten used to the fact that most of the crowd was there to watch him; however, he used the crowd to rally his team and got them to see that even though he was probably the main focus for the crowd, each of them should be proud and should use the occasion to show their talents as well. He continued to encourage them to showcase their skills, because the scouts for the various knight branches were still out watching for prospective talent to be the new defenders of Cator and Althora.

  At a signal from the main judge both teams began to march toward each other. There was nowhere to hide as with a castle; everyone was exposed. Part of Trance’s strategy was to have the spearmen lead the march, followed immediately by the archers. His reasoning was that the spearmen had larger shields and could protect the archers.

  Trance marched with the archers and nocked an arrow to his bow. He was carrying his shield on his back where he could reach it when he was too close to be able to shoot the bow at approaching enemies. He watched the distance between the two teams and waited to signal his team for the start of the battle. The tension in his team was quite tangible they were ready to try the new battlefield strategy.

  Suddenly the Black Knights launched a great volley of arrows. “Raise your shields,” shouted Trance as he ducked himself behind the spearman in front of him. “Return fire!” was his second command as he launched an arrow that was lost in the crowd of arrows that took flight toward their opponents.

  Now that the battle was begun the next phase of Trance’s strategy started. As the Black Knights’ archers loaded and launched another volley of arrows, Trance had his archers divided up into two groups, with one group launching a volley shortly followed by the second group launching another, with the goal of catching their opponents off guard.
The Black Knights were very able to block the first volley, but they lowered their defenses and several went down with the second set of oncoming arrows. As the Black Knights tried to plan for the next set of volleys Trance also started having random archers pick out individual targets and just zero in on them and try to shoot them down. Both teams tried to drop the number of opponents while still marching toward each other.

  The distance closed and soon both sides would be too close for arrows. Trance signaled his team to draw their weapons. He put his bow over his shoulder on its carrier on his back next to his practically empty quiver and in the same motion grabbed his shield and put it on his left arm. With his right hand he drew his sword and raised it, ready for the last phase of his strategy. He carefully watched as the remainder of his team drew their weapons then raised them. Across the field the Black Knights had also drawn their weapons. Trance took a very deep breath and waited for the right moment.

  The teams had sped up, but Trance waited until they were just five feet apart and then yelled a signal and his team split in two. Trance led one group out and around and then straight into the right side of the Black Knights, and Zam led the other half of the team out and around to attack the left side of their opponents. The Black Knights were completely taken by surprise and uncertain how to react. They had never had another team split like this and attack them from two sides. Both teams battled each other bravely. In the end the Gray Mountain Warriors won. Lamden, the captain of the Black Knights came over and shook Trance’s hand. The two talked for a few moments and then shook hands again.

  The Gray Mountain Warriors celebrated all week and planned for their next opponents, the Harmon Hawks. The Hawks were also taken by surprise and were defeated. Trance was feeling pretty good about his team and his chance on traveling to their next opponents’ home field, that of the Azarians.